Reflection – Week 10

This week I’ve decided on my two films I’m going to have as my final pieces for Assignment 3. The first will be the one I discussed earlier in last week’s reflection, about the guy working out and listening to music. Nathan has agreed to help me work on this one. I’ll be shooting most likely in my backyard / garage, and my actor(s) will be either one of Nathan & I, or one of my friends who like to act in my films. There will be two roles required: one of the main character, who is working out, and the second of the neighbour popping their head over the fence to tell them to turn it down. The main focus of the piece will be on the idea of the man getting lost in the music, entering a trance state before being taken out of it by the neighbour. I have yet to decide the song I’ll use. In the original reflection I say it’s west coast hip hop, but I may change it to something else that suits. I have not yet decided how I’ll shoot the scenes with the music, as I want him to be working out in sync with the music, but I want to add it in post-production as to get a higher sound quality.

I like the idea of having several shots of the main character’s sweaty body, ideally a muscly guy. I also plan on shooting during the day. For props, obviously I’ll need some kind of workout gear. In the observation it’s a rowing machine, but I don’t own one of those so we may have to improvise and use something else, just lifting weights will be fine as a final option.

And for my 2nd film, if I don’t join a group and help them, I will shoot a film solo based on my observation about procrastination. That observation highlights the effect that having impending due work has in that you are more likely to do other activities you wouldn’t usually want to do, just because it puts off your original thing you need to do. I have an idea of shooting some time lapse, or simply shooting a long shot of me cleaning or doing some activity while the camera remains static, and the shots jump in time, showing a before & after.

For this film I’ll be shooting alone, and I can shoot it all at home, in my living room, kitchen, bedroom & laundry. As I plan on having no dialogue, it’ll be important to tell the story (albeit a short and simple one) using just visual cues. I plan on shooting some writing on screens such as my phone and computer screen. The entire piece will also be soundtracked in a montage style.