THE FINAL EDIT

How exactly does a live-session tell a story?

This was the question I aimed to answer through producing our final piece: The Attention Seekers Live in the Plastic Jungle. Unlike a documentary, the viewer isn’t hearing the subject express themselves through a conversation. The subjects here, The Attention Seekers, are telling a story through their music and lyrics. Yet, like a documentary, there can be other factors which assist this such as the location or b-roll. Our main intention was to express the personality of the band while showcasing their music and I believe this was achieved. It was extremely beneficial hearing from industry professionals in class and the feedback they had in regard to our work. What stood out for me was the comments made on how well we had showcased the personality of the band; the story they told. With that being our aim, we knew that viewers were following what we wanted to express.

I am really proud of the shot-construction we were able to deliver for this assignment and how that paid off in the final edit. Having three people on camera duty meant that we could generate a lot of footage from a variety of different angles; inspiring experimentation. We didn’t go in without a plan, each one of us figured out a spot to stick to and worked with the subjects in that spot. That way, our footage and time wasn’t wasted on sloppy framing or irrelevant shots. The shot I was able to create from sitting in the middle of the band’s circle particularly paid off in the end and is one I’m really proud of.

In term’s of media-production skills, in the future it would be beneficial for myself if I learn to play around with lighting more. Ziggy was a professional when setting up our lights, and although last year I did learn how to create a good lighting space, I do need a good refresher. I also didn’t get to work on the edit of this piece, meaning my editing skills have become a little shabby. Hopefully next semester I get to work more on the editing side of things rather than just on the production.

REFLECTING ON THIS SEMESTER

Looking back on my goals for this semester which I outlined in week one, I had the major goal of experimenting with photo-journalism. I remember expressing this in class and being excited when Rohan told me we were in fact going to work with photography. I loved working with a different style of camera and creating an alternative style of non-fiction content. In the first assignment, I walked around the streets of Melbourne City and Fitzroy and captured street art and graffiti. I had never been a professional at taking photos, especially considering I don’t have much experience with a proper DSLR. I am happy I had the opportunity to gain photography experience within this studio and properly investigate this interest of mine.

Although I expressed my love for documentaries in this blog post, I was quick to realise that they may not be my topic of interest in regard to creation. Most of the groups in our studio made a documentary style non-fiction piece. My group and I made a live session piece, quite different to a documentary. I don’t regret not choosing a documentary as my piece of work. I knew from the start that I would much rather enjoy telling the story of a band through music as opposed to sitting down with a stranger and asking them questions. However, it would have been a good experience to know what it was like telling the story of a stranger in this format; beneficial to myself in regard to my media practice.

I never experienced many challenges in this studio! I was blessed to be put into a great group and work with other creative individuals. I found that the work I created was of a high standard and I was never disappointed with what I had made. If anything, taking the course ‘True Lies’ alongside this studio was the only challenging aspect. This was due to the fact that True Lies works on exposing the unethical aspects of documentaries. In this studio, we also had to ensure we were being ethical at all times. Having this in the back of my head made me view the way we filmed documentary style content very differently. It was also quite the overload at times having to partake in two non-fiction focused courses. Other than that minor aspect, this studio was extremely rewarding and overall helped me achieve my goals in advancing my practice as a media student.

WORKING WITH THE GROUP

Group assignments. As a university student, you either learn to dread these or become lucky enough to be placed in a group made up of motivated and talented people. In my case, it was the latter. Jamie, Jonah and Ziggy were an absolute pleasure to work with. From the beginning, we all listened to each others thoughts and bounced off each others ideas and concepts. No one brought the team down in any way and I am really pleased with how well we will worked together. Although Ziggy didn’t become an official member of our group, it was generous of him to still give up his time to help us film and then later, colour grade. The group was basically broken up into the content producers being Jonah, Ziggy and I and then the editor becoming Jamie. From the get go, Jamie took a majority of control over this assignment with the idea of a live session being his to begin with. Basically, the other members and I were there to film Jamie and his band and then Jamie wanted to have creative control over what was shown to the audience. This would also be because he plans to post the live-session as a form of advertisement in the future.

I was completely happy to let Jamie take the reigns on the editing as I knew he had a vision that he wanted to achieve, however, I wish I could have maybe helped contribute a little more. Although I’m no expert editor, I felt a bit bad at times because I didn’t want Jamie to be overloaded with work and feel like no one was helping him out. This, however, was only a minor personal issue and I kept in contact with Jamie throughout the post-production process to ensure he knew I could help out if needed.

To be a good collaborator is to ultimately ensure you are communicating effectively and efficiently with your fellow members. Everyone needs to be on the same stage and be aware of the duties they have towards contributing to the group. You need to be reliable and motivated to perform to the best of your abilities. I was lucky enough to be in a group where all members did their best to create a piece of work that we could all be proud of.

FIRST EDIT SEQUENCE // SPLIT SCREENS

When we originally pitched our idea for this assignment, we had the intention to include split screens within our editing. Inspired by other music videos such as Vampire Weekend’s ‘Sunflower,’ our initial aim whilst filming was to generate many shots from different angles in order to develop content for a split screen. This particular sequence begins establishing the space and the characters. From the first shot we are introduced to Laneway Studios and the character it exhibits. The first shot is particularly striking, one of our members Ziggy capturing perfect details at the right moment such as the car lights flashing and a bat flying by. We are introduced to sounds of the crew and band setting up and visuals of the studio space. I believe these first establishing shots to be a real strength of this sequence. No matter what you create, whether that be non-fiction or fiction content, establishing shots are crucial. They help the viewer develop an understanding of where the characters/subjects are and what story is about to unfold. I feel this has been achieved in this sequence. Another strength of this sequence is the use of ‘titles.’ Because this non-fiction piece is a live session, it is easier to get away with using title cards in order to introduce the subjects. Jamie did an excellent job creating these in Photoshop. They ultimately fit the quirky and ‘out-there’ nature of the band. However, the major weakness of this sequence is the use of split-screens. Once again, it was our original aim to use split-screens, but once we got to the editing stage we realised how they didn’t come out as nicely as we anticipated. They begin at 25 seconds in and last for a majority of this sequence. Firstly, the actual appearance of these split screens is not visually pleasing. Both shots are from different cameras and therefore look completely different; they don’t compliment each other at all. Sure, a colour grade may help slightly but there is a difference in quality here that I don’t think could be fixed. Secondly, the split-screens carry on for far too long. There are only two or three shots in this sequence that introduce other members of the band. Although we aimed to stick on the lead singer while he was performing, we could have experimented with different shots in the split-screen to change things up. Hence, we decided to get rid of this idea and remove the split-screens in our final edit.

SECOND EDIT SEQUENCE // NO SPLIT SCREENS

Like the first sequence, we included the same edit of the establishing shots and title cards. The main difference in this sequence is the removal of the split-screens and the inclusion of normal, well framed shots. The aim in this edit was to try and introduce more members of the band and experiment with different shots so the viewer wouldn’t become bored staring at one single member for too long. What I believe to be a major strength of this sequence is achieving that exact aim: showcasing the other members in a better way. In our first sequence we stuck on the lead singer for a majority of the time, only drifting over to the other members a few times. This time, we show that there are two singers in the main shot of the lead singer, allowing viewers to distinguish who is who and that there are in fact two as opposed to one. In the middle of this sequence it cuts to another part where we try to achieve the same thing. We included a variety of different shots from wider or lower angles which we hoped would keep the viewer engaged. I am really satisfied with the amount of experimentation we as a group were able to conduct with our camera work. This allowed for the editing stage to become easier as there was more to work with. A downfall of this sequence, however, would still be the fact we are stuck on the lead singer for perhaps a beat too long. Our aim is to ultimately keep the viewer engaged but this might not be achieved if we keep the camera on one member for too long. The music and band itself is energetic and upbeat. It encourages us to be able to play with rapid shots and having the edit even become a little frazzled as it cuts to different members; the viewer is then encouraged to keep up with what is being shown to them and not become bored. There is also a shot in this sequence where you can see a light behind the bassist. This could be fixed in a colour grade but it is best to avoid these types of shots in general as it looks messy to the viewer.