Pre-production:

• The camera feature:  Sony A7MII
  • Base on the past experience of filmmaking, I would like to change a camera for the film project 1. We have asked the technical store. They have the camera called SonyA7MII, which is good for filming. Then I do a research online to see how to use it well.
    • More stable frames: Sony uses the 5-axis image stabilization technique for A7MII. As a result, it strongly reduces the annoyance of shaking frames. It provides more chance for people to handheld film, makes the camera movements more convenient and gives a greater clarity.
    • Compatibility with wide-ranging mountable lenses: A7MII is suitable to change almost all the lenses, such as E-mount lenses and A-mount lenses.
    • High-performance Fast Hybrid AF: Sony A7MII has the remarkably fast AF system for the Full-frame filming. Besides, it has the extremely high-speed response, highly accurate prediction and wide area coverage for autofocusing and tracking. In other words, it can catch the fast movement in a wide size frame.
    • A formula for beauty:  Because SonyA7MII uses the courtesy of Sony’s 35mm full-frame Exmor CMOS image sensor and BIONZ X™ image processing engine, the image looks high quality.
      • The most significant part is SonyA7MII doing well at expressive moviemaking. It gets good visual quality and sound quality. Besides, it is good at exquisite background blur and it is sensitive to bring dark scenes to life.

• Camera tutorial:

• This is a tutorial about some general questions of the use of SonyA7MII. Actually, there is no big difference between Sony cameras. Thus, it is not hard for me to get used to it. For the setting part, I choose to use the automatic ISO, exposure, white-balance and choose manual focusing(because I need to use it to achieve some camera movements to make the film more interesting).
• Stript & Storyboard :
  • <https://www.wikihow.com/Draw-Storyboards>

• Storyboard is more like the comic and preview version of the film. It shows all the camera angles, timing, and movements of the idea director and cinematographer want to achieve. The storyboard is significant because it can present all the creative idea and expose problems early. Thus, we can figure out and solve problems before the filming to make the production process more efficient.

• • Complete the script before starting to draw the storyboard.
    • To avoid some missing transition between script and storyboard, I prefer to write the description of shots on script first then draw the storyboard. It is more convenient to check both of them when I shooting.
    • Focusing on the action and movement of characters when the background is stable.
    • Using more notes and arrows to make the storyboard clearer.
    • Write dialogues under the box, also can think about the soundtrack.
    • Draw specifically for the important shot.
    • Improving the storyboard: use 3D compositions rather than 2D compositions. / Expose the emotion and feelings of characters by changing various camera angles

Production:

• Discuss with director
  • As a cinematography, it is important to have a complete and creative idea of scenes and shots. However, it is more important to discuss with the director and work out the achievement of the film. Thus, we discuss and remake the storyboard couple times. Both of us agree to film the same scene by using different shot sizes and angles to back up. As a result, we will have more choices for editing.

• Lighting practice
  • In the beginning, I planned to try some lighting practices for this film. For instance, I would like to use filters for lighting. Thus, there can be two different colors in contrast in one scene, which is pretty cool. Because James said he got lightings, I gave up the plan of borrowing from the technical store. I am not sure which is the problem, lighting or filter. I did not get the ideal image. However, we still use the red filter for a couple shots.

• Communication with actors
  • A good scene not only based on the production team but also the actors. Thus, it is obviously significant for actors to understand the story well and perform naturally. Marcus has talked a lot about the main idea of the story to actors. Then actors practice a couple times, we found that there are some sentences need to be changed more natural. Besides, we didn’t tell the actor how to talk or how to do actions based on the suggestion Arthur Angel gave before. Thus, actors can perform freer and they did give us a great surprise.

• filming: angles/ cameras
  • This time, I still follow the filming principle, which is using wide-shot first to show the environment, mid-shot to present the dialogue and close-up to show the details. In addition, I choose to follow the actors to film their movements. I think it can make the scene more interesting and attract audiences’ attention. Next, I didn’t film the dialogue by using OTS shot because they didn’t share the same emotions at that time.

• Personal Release forms

• For avoiding some possible trouble in the future, we asked actors to sign the personal release form to indicate they are willing to perform and agree with our use of the film.

Post-production:

Editing

•  Premiere Pro

  

  • To present everyone’s idea and make it an easier work, we decided to divide the whole editing process into three parts, the outside scene, inside the scene and the soundtrack. We are not gonna do the color-grade before all of us have finished our own part because we want to achieve the same style on the film.
  • I used the same order to edit the video as filming, wide-shot first then mid-shot and close-up.
  • In addition, I take example by some art films. Some art film prefers to show the detail of the environment first then film the real scene. From my perspective, it is more acceptable for the audience to get used to the environment and it makes the transition more natural. Thus, I also use this method for my part.
  • Basically, we use a large number of effects to make the transition between clips more natural, such as fade in, fade out effect for audio and video.
  • Additionally, we have discussed the color we want and James did the most color grading. We show the changes of time and emotion in the color and lights. It looks more cinematic.
  • Finally, we talked about the advice James and classmates gave when we did the presentation. We re-cut some failed shot James mentioned before and keep the idea of hiding some secret.

 

• After Effect
  • At this time, I prefer to try something I have never down before. I choose to add some after effect for our film to make it cooler and more professional. Because this is my first time using after effect, I choose to make the title with stroke effect and moving credit effect, something easy to achieve.
  • I search the tutorial on Youtube. From my perspective, Youtube is really a good place for learning this kind of stuff. These uploaders always explain clearly and easy to understand.

• After Effects Tutorial: Text Animation in After Effects – Writing Text Effects
  • Firstly, he introduces the basic operation, such as creating a composition and create a new text area.
  • Secondly, he introduces how to adjust the font and adjust the title.
  • Third, the most important part is penning the words. Basically, we need to find the toolbar, select the pen tool then draw the mock along the movement of writing the title.
  • Next, we need to search the stroke effect and add it to our title. Besides, we need to increase the brush size to make sure it can completely cover the text layer. Then just change paint style from ‘on Original image’ to ‘reveal Original image’.
  • Then, set two keyframes both at the beginning point and the end point. In addition, choose the ease-ease selection.
  • Finally, insert the background video and adjust the order, make the text layer is on the top.

• Moving credit
  • This effect is pretty much an easier one to achieve. Before I start to use after effect, I typed down all the roles and names on the excel form. Then I just need to create a text layer, copy, paster and set keyframes. I may use this effect in every film I gonna make in the future, such a useful experience.
• Music free copyright:
  •  <https://www.youtube.com/watchv=r6En29azNBA&index=2&list=PLzCxunOM5WFKZ4pr8Jfj9O3ZJ7msYjZ2p>
    • Because the main idea of the film is quiet and sad, we choose to use various soundtracks rather than just using a lot of music. However, this music is pretty suitable for the emotion and feeling of our film. We use some pieces to make the feeling stronger and it just matches up perfectly.
    • This is a no copyright music that I found in Youtube Audio Library. Here is the license.

 

•  Reflection
  • I chose narrative film for this time because I know it is harder to shoot a complete narrative film than others. Narrative films ask a great and logical script. Besides, the control of storytelling, emotions, and details are obviously significant because we can not use a lot of effects like other experimental films. I realized I am lacking in ability in the finish of a narrative film. It also makes me start thinking about if I should be a film director or an advertising director. I may have various great ideas. However, I may not tell a story and visualize a story well.
  • As I mentioned before, I planned to do some lighting practices for film project 1. However, it failed. Thus, I am going to continue trying it in film project 2. For example, use light from various angles to explore the difference between brightness and shadow. Besides, I will also use various colors of light in the same scene to show the contrast.
  • The language skills also limited me to play a role at this time. There is a lot of moments I cannot express my idea clearly.

Reference:

Digital Goja 2015, SONY Alpha a7II Mirrorless TUTORIAL | Sony A7 II Mirrorless Full Frame Camera | Most Asked Questions, Youtube, DigitalGoja, USA, viewed 3 September 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSmDzScPsTY>.

FILMLION VisualIFX 2017, After Effects Tutorial: Text Animation in After Effects – Writing Text Effects – No Plugin, Youtube, FILMLION VisualIFX, India, viewed 8 September 2018, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSmDzScPsTY>.

Extra files:

Presentation file: Film Project 1_ Dear You-1ctkfvk