Today was a lot more productive than my last attempt at filming some of the skating sequences with my friend. This time I had three friends who were all available to participate in the process. I went to their house and we just filmed relatively short clips of them coasting down the street and doing a few tricks. I had them hold the GoPro whilst doing a few tricks which looks pretty similar to at POV shot, so that’s been incorporated – so I am happy about the fact that we trialled that. I really like the way the GoPro footage looks stylistically, I thought I wouldn’t be into it as much. I feel that the difference in footage from my Nikon D3100 and the GoPro could look a little weird when edited next to each other but I may find that I actually like the contrast. Might make for a more interesting viewing experience.

Although today was a lot more successful than last filming session, we did not have a lot of time to film as the friends involved had band practice and recording to get through as well. I think I will aim for another shoot and this time I may wear my rollerblades and see what it looks like when I film skateboarding from them. I’d also like to trial attaching the GoPro to a skateboard while following another, we got some shots from low-down following, but it would be interesting to see from the exact view of the board.

I’m looking forward to sifting through this footage and putting something together, I don’t really have a storyline to go with it at all but I’m not sure that it really needs one… with my work in this project I’m trying to heavily focus on being creative with the angles I use and gaining more ideas of how to film differing motions, rather than creating a set storyline to follow.

Today was a disaster. Went to my friend’s place with the intention of getting a lot of filming done. Started filming him skating down the street but realised that it’s really difficult to film someone who is skating when you don’t have a skateboard to use and therefore, cannot follow them at the same pace. The camera work also looks really shaky because I had to walk by him. This could be an interesting effect for some parts of my filming but the footage I have doesn’t look great with this film style.

When we left to head to my house via bus, we were also gifted with lovely Myki fines so were pretty annoyed about that, definitely altered the mood. When we got to my house we were going to film more and head to the skatepark, but the skateboards we had weren’t suitable for bowls and ramps. By the time we thought we may be able to film some more on the streets, a cloud rolled over and it started getting pretty dark. I decided I’d rather get more on a nicer day when we actually had a good chance of filming more fluidly where we could take videos where the camera followed the skateboarding smoothly.

Next time I’m going to make sure I have more than him and I, so that there’s someone to film whilst on a board too. I’m sure I could do it, but directing my friends who are actually experienced in skating and filming it will make it easier for me to see my artistic filming visions play out. I’m looking forward to having a better and more productive day of filming than this one – I feel like it was a big waste of my one day I had to film.

Hoping to get my bike tyre fixed soon as well, excited to film some stuff from my bike. I may just use myself as the subject in this sequence of shots, but I may have my mother to help out in this department as well. Making times to film is proving very difficult when myself and everyone around me is so busy all the time!

Last year in my final semester, I was in a studio called Specific to Site where Robbie Rowlands was our tutor. This class really inspired me to make film and sound works which had my own style to them, rather than sticking to specific guidelines – I think this is when I realised it was more important for me personally to turn the task into a creative project, rather than to very plainly adhere to the task and make something basic with nothing to say for it. It was more about trial and error to see what looked good, what didn’t and what you liked, or did not like.

In this class I was particularly drawn to the sound aspect of it. I had never used any software to make sounds from before, so it was a challenge at first, but I ended up playing around making soundscapes for my work and found it really interesting. I think I will use this again in the filming for this project, as I feel like it doesn’t really tie in with your typical skate video at all, so there’s beauty in that as it is.

This clip from Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park (as well as the one I showed in class), has a very eerie feeling to it which is not typical to skating per se, but more to the film itself. The setting of both of the clips are still typical to skate culture, but the music does not allow for the skateboards to be heard, and creates a detachment from this culture – changing the atmosphere.

I think I want to use solely the sounds I pick up with my Nikon D3100 and the GoPro of the skating. I like the way the GoPro captures a sort of muffled sound when it has its case on. I want to alter these sounds in Garageband and warp them into something that does not correlate with the movements of the boards – manipulating the sounds so you cannot easily pick up that they’re skateboard noises. I will also try altering the sounds so they are warped with effects, but are the same sounds from the filmed clips.

Today’s lesson allowed us to trial and explore manipulating the depth of field when filming. We learnt how to mark the points of focus on the camera and manipulate them as we were filming. This meant that we could change the focal point on demand. Particularly helpful when actors move around the frame or are the central topic within a scene. The depth of field can be controlled and manipulated through three technical adjustments; lens focal length, lens aperture and the positioning of the camera.

Using camera tape, we marked the places on the camera’s focus ring which correlated with the appropriate focal lengths we needed for the subjects in our scene. This meant we had to map out where each character would be positioned and would move within the frame, deciding on what needed to be in focus, and when. We numbered the points we marked with tape, so that we could change the focus with the appropriate timing to relate to the movement within the frame. Everyone in the class was able to try out the adjusting of the camera’s focus in pairs. This meant one person would be checking the framed imagery and one would watch the action whilst moving the focus ring with the movement in relation to the numbered marks.

I look forward to using this skill at some point in my filming endeavours! I don’t think I will need it for the idea I have for my project this time around. This is mainly because I’m filming rather active movement and will be doing this alone. I can see what I can do with my Nikon D3100 and have a play around though – will be using this to film as it’s not bulky and I can travel with it easily.

While I was on the bus today, I realised that it could be interesting to film the motion of the bus and possibly team it up with the skateboarding clips (or possibly the cycling/rollerblading if I decide I want to look at those too). Where I’d switch between similar shots, maybe POV, but of the very different modes of transport. To show a contrast, yet enforcing that they are both valid ways of transporting oneself via wheels.

As I am very busy with both work and uni, I can actually get some of this filming done on my way to both of these commitments. At this stage it’s important that I utilise my time well as I feel I will fall behind if I don’t take advantage of these moments that I have which can aid to my final work(s).

Arranging times to film will prove a little difficult as well, as I am either at work when my friends who skate are free or my friends are often at work, band practice or recording. I’m hoping that there will be a day where we are all free to film, soon! I don’t want to end up in a position where I am panicking about getting all of this done on time.

I’ve been trying to find some readings which are relevant to my work from the RMIT library, possibly about contrasting shots in the editing process. It’s proving kind of difficult, I feel like maybe some video research of people discussing and explaining ways of filming skateboarding and also someone discussing editing contrast/parallel choices might be something I could look for…

Very excited to get this all underway, I look forward to working with my friends in the filming process as they’re interesting people and will probably have some good ideas to contribute to the project.