For this exercise I used one of my ideas that I came up with whilst sitting in my room. It was in one of the earlier Blog posts.

Instead of choosing from one of the scenes we had already done and ‘perfecting’ them, I decided to think up of something and have different set constraints presented to me.

I faced a couple of problems, it’s expected of me to encounter some procedural issues. I waited late at night to shoot the scene. It was done under 1 hour, but they were quite loose. The shots were shaky because I wanted to use my phone to record. Although image processing is usually top notch, the settings are not as versatile. So I used a DSLR camera which Robin already mentioned was ‘shaky’. And his advice was correct. In class We are provided with Cameras and Tripods. I was set on using ‘similar’ constraints without having the required equipment. I would usually be in motion when I experiment with the camera. But for this exercise it was best to do it the traditional way.

The story is very simple and nothing ground-breaking. It’s about a girl going home late and I was hinting that it had something to do with the piercing. There wasn’t enough shots/ any dialogue to suggest so. I wanted to record separately an audio voice over to go on top of the scene. But I scrapped that idea thinking that the scene shout stand for itself as ‘pure coverage’. The fear of fixating on dialogue might also trouble me.

I was ill prepared to shoot at night, it ended up grainy because i had it on auto. not that i could have reduced the grain, I had no lighting. I used ‘natural lighting’ from the location; garden lights and stair lights.If I could redo the shots, I would. There were a few that were just not making the cut. But it was the only one i had that was done in time for the editing.

How does this relate to what I’m exploring in this semester?
Well, I was discussing about truth in Cinema. How to capture a moment in its ‘natural form’, how you’re ‘supposed to see it’. But then I thought, that would be a documentary and it would be a whole different course. So to certain extent I had to ‘lie’ and ‘manipulate’ shots so it would make sense. Like the part where Jasmine runs up the stairs. I pulled a ‘Battleship Potempkin’ making the actual journey longer by fast editing.

In class we discussed the use of music, and instead of going through the archive of free music online, I decided to record a tune that I thought might have enhanced the scene. It was a song I heard from a lounge album. there was Horns, and bongos. but i only managed to record the main riff on guitar and looped it whilst I played a lead guitar over it. then i added percussion, which worked, but it was too sloppy. But then again it isn’t a music making course, but I just wanted to fully present my vision of this scene. I actually spent most of the night re-recording the music. And spent about an hour to shoot.

I also used black and white as my effects to rid the smell of mediocrity. Or at least thats what i think I’m doing. I also played a bit with the focal point while doing close ups because when I’m awoken in the middle of the night, my vision is never clear. so that blurry effect was intended, just not sure if it played off too well.

There was a shot of Jasmine reaching the top of the staircase and her touching the piercing. she then does a giggle which I kept in there to add a different dynamic to it. it totally wrecks the meaning and it totally breaks the fourth wall.

And that is the whole purpose, so that it feels like we are just passerby who see a little girl going home late.

I think I did alright in my ‘research’ by practice. trying old techniques and shining a different light on them.