Please see above a collection of images from throughout the entire seminar process. Some of the photos are from our film shoot, some are from meetings that we had regularly and a final group shot of everyone after our seminar!

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this whole experience. Leading up to the seminar was chaos – organising technical equipment, marketing and finalising the questions that we were going to ask the guests. Once the seminar began, the rest was out of my control. We had a meeting early on in the week leading up to the seminar. In this meeting Mollie went through everyones roles on the day and what needed to be done prior. We went through the existing questions for the interviewees with Prani and Mollie and I helped to tweak them. Although, there wasn’t much to be said at this meeting and not many people could make it, it was helpful to all be on the same page with what was going on.

I agreed to meet Mollie early Friday morning to help her print and cut up the brochures. Mia met us as well and we did this before our meeting commenced at 11:00am. I was in charge of collecting the gear from building 9 tech room and taking it over to building 80. Everyone arrived and as a big team effort we split off into our departments carrying the tech gear, sets and props across to building 80. Prior to the seminar was a huge rush. It was chaos. Everyone was running around trying to set everything up. I set up the video cameras. I kept them relatively close together. I didn’t have much breadth with the cameras as the lighting set up restricted my coverage. I set up a camera for Kim to use and I used the other one. I filmed the wide shot and Kim swapped between two shots of the guests and mid close ups. Once the seminar concluded I quickly off loaded all of the footage and still images from all of the cameras onto my hard drive. I knew that this would be very time consuming and needed to be done efficiently.

I was very impressed with our seminar. Overall, I thought the content and discussions that Prani generated were very insightful and inspiring. There was a diverse panel which allowed for a conflict of views at times. The issues raised and discussed were very interesting. Mitu’s comments on culture within film resonated with me. Over the weekend I watched a film and was consciously looking for a multicultural cast.

At the beginning of the seminar I was worried that it would be too directed to females. Prior to the seminar, we actually restructured some of the questions to not be as direct and to cater for a male audience as well. I was impressed by Helen’s comments on the issue by saying that the timid nature of females in a classroom is also evident in some males. The comments raised by all of the guests were relevant to both males and females.

Overall, we had a very efficient group. Everyone was passionate about producing an engaging seminar and therefore most people put in 100% to their area. A good example of this is on Monday after the seminar we arranged to edit the highlight reel for our seminar. Mollie and I met early and offloaded all of the footage. Matthew and Mia met us and we all began editing. Throughout the day people from our group drifted in and out contributing to the edit. Sam set up the timeline so that it was all synced and everyone could trim the quotes that they liked. In the end, it was a group effort. A majority of the group arrived and edited the reel around their other classes. We exported the highlight reel at the end of the day!

It was interesting to see everyone slot into their positions of expertise. There was the tech savy people (I slotted in here), the social media people, the graphic design people etc… I think we were lucky to have such diverse qualities amongst the group. Over the entire process, I think I missed 1 or 2 meetings. I didn’t want to let the team down by not showing up. It was important to contribute your ideas to the discussions during the meetings. Mollie was incredible! She oversaw every component of the seminar. She kept us up to date on our group Facebook page. This is where, if a job needed to be done, people would volunteer.

I feel as though I have contributed well to the seminar group. I made sure that I was reliable and approachable. I enjoyed the whole process and have become closer to my peers as a result.

Job well done team! It was a good team effort.

 

August 31st, 2015.

Last week we progressed very efficiently. We scheduled our promotional video shoot for Friday in the morning. I wrote up the shot list that would allow the shoot to run smoothly. I passed the shot list on to Mardy who was our Director of Photography for the day. We shot the video in the Building 10 stair well. At the beginning we had some issues with the amount of traffic coming through the lower levels. Once we shot this section of the script we were able to venture up the stairs where there weren’t as many people. The filming of the video took a couple of hours, but all in all, we ran through everything very quickly. There were no conflicts regarding the style of the video. Everyone had the same vision and therefore, it was easy to coordinate. We off loaded all of the footage and began editing. Matthew and Mardy were the main editors of the film. The rest of us watched and gave constructive criticism throughout. We all contributed to the editing process in some way. Everyone had arrived at 9am and it took five and half hours to film and edit nearly the entire video, with the exception of three shots. I filmed these shots during our tutorial after the TV seminar. The promotional video has now been fine tuned and is ready for exposure.

The other departments of the preparation are running very smoothly. We have all allocated ourselves into jobs for on the day, taking note of call times. We had two major meetings last week where we discussed these jobs in detail. From here, I will help Mia with cooking for the big day. I am also going to try to contact the RMIT webpage designers to see whether they would allow us to feature our promotional video on RMIT’s official site. This may be difficult, but it would provide us with a huge amount of exposure.

Until next week!

Cheers, Sarah.

Over the past three weeks the momentum has been slow. With so many people in our group it is easy for everyone to jump in and fly five steps forward! The first week consisted of everyone working out our strengths and weaknesses. We all wanted to be on the same page with what we wanted to get out of our seminar. So we asked, from what industries did we want our guests? A majority of our group were interested in film, although there were also some people interested in photography, fashion and journalism. We all put forward ideas of potential guests and were asked to provide the group with a short pitch of why that person would be an asset to our seminar. I chose the Producer of ‘The Dressmaker,’ Sue Maslin. ‘The Dressmaker’ was a predominantly female driven crew and this is why I thought she would be ideal for our seminar. Unfortunately the premiere of ‘The Dressmaker’ is featuring in Toronto on the week of our seminar. I didn’t feel that I contributed too much to the first week besides basic ideas for guests. I attended the meeting and contributed to the Facebook group page.

The second week I was EXTREMELY sick for the entire week. I fell behind on ALL of my course work but I am slowly catching up. I was consistent with contacting our team leader, Mollie, to let her know that I wouldn’t attend the meeting. By the sounds of it, half of our group was also sick that week so I don’t think Mollie was overly worried. The REAL work has just begun.

This week we saw the first seminar, ‘Social Media’. There was a lot to be learned from this seminar. In our meeting that followed this seminar we discussed the positives and negatives of their seminar and how we can use this constructively in order to better ours. We then put the message around to everyone – JOBS. We allocated all of the major departments and jobs that would need to be done in order to pull off a great seminar! First thing’s first, the poster. Two girls volunteered for this. These girls have experience with print and graphic skills. We are still trying to establish our guests. We have one guest confirmed and are waiting for two more. A few too many guests have declined due to being interstate or overseas. I have put forward an idea for a guest who I know personally and who I think would be delighted to attend. This is a back up if our other guests decline. Knowing my strengths and weaknesses I put down myself to be apart of the visual & audio team who will be in charge of producing the promotional video. I have also put myself down to help with the production side of the event. Sam is overlooking this and has my name down to help with anything. This will mean that I will help on the day with film recording & setting up and anything prior to the day. I also put my name down for food, to help Mia with cooking food for the day. We all put our names down for the various roles and off we went! It has been so difficult to gather everyone together for meetings etc… We have set up group chats and pages on Facebook in order to communicate with everyone. Last night I had an idea for the promotional video. My idea was that we use our host, ‘Prani’ and follow her through RMIT trekking up flights and flights of stairs (because the escalators are out of service). She passes other people on the stairs who have given up. When she finally makes it up the top floor she barges through to a tutorial room and asks, “WOMEN IN MEDIA?” and the people reply with “That’s in building 80”. We close the video with text of the location and time of the event including the logo design of the ‘Epic Adventure’.

I thought that this idea could be quite satirical and would relate to RMIT students very easily. I think that they would find the little references quite humorous. We could even have Prani getting a coffee on the way up at the Library in building 8. Yes, this idea appeals mainly to RMIT students but I believe that’s where we will find most of our public guests. The seminar is about JOBS IN MEDIA so it is relative to students. I have put the idea forward to the video group and am waiting to hear everyones thoughts. I have given people the option to nit pick the idea, to add to it or put forward their own ideas. As we only have a week to make this I think people will go with it. It would be easy to produce, as we wouldn’t need to worry about rights to film. It should only take a couple of hours and we shouldn’t be in the way of other students. Filming equipment can be easily borrowed and returned. Maree has offered her equipment that we can use as well. I put the word out to the video group, asking what everyones strengths are – there might be someone who has really good skills with lighting, sound, camera or editing. I am happy to contribute to any form of the production process so wherever we fall short with this, I will complete the tasks. I am hoping to film next Thursday or Friday before class at 3:30pm. The video can then be edited over the weekend and posted the following week. I am going to ask RMIT if they would show the video on the main webpage for RMIT. This may be difficult but we may as well try! We would have far more exposure if this is accepted.

 

That is all the information that I have for now so until next week! ADIOS

Over the past semester I have experimented with various methodology of filming short scenes. The practical approach to learning has given me the breadth to focus my investigation on my own personal filmmaking skills. I played the role of the director, the writer, the editor, the producer, the sound mixer, the cinematographer and many more. My primary role, in all of the scenes that I worked on, was the ‘Problem Solver’. Before working on my personal exploration, in class week by week, we experimented as a group with camera coverage exercises.

Collaboration is essential in the film and media industry. It was good working in teams throughout the semester, although it was difficult if everyone didn’t have designated roles. The game of ‘what do you think?’ ‘What should we do?’ was a constant back and forward time waster. When we shot the door scene in the editing suites, regardless of the final product, the work dynamic on set was far more productive than the previous weeks. We filmed two full scenes in two hours. Everyone had their individual priorities and there were no overlapping or contradictions of ideas. Being a new class we weren’t familiar with one another and our abilities. earlier in the semester people would question and doubt their decisions. They would cross reference with the entire group to make sure that what they wanted to do was ‘O.K’. Once we started allocating roles people felt more comfortable and would experiment with new and exciting ideas. The only issue that I noticed with this, was that some people would fall in to being the ‘actor’ every time. I tried to encourage the people, that were less confident, to use the camera. The more confident everyone felt with one another, the more experimental and less questioning we became.

As a part of my personal ongoing investigation I focused on the camera and how it can be manipulated to reveal a short scene. Initially I thought that this would be my only focus. Of course, filming comes with hurdles and limitations. I filmed multiple shots in Fairfield Park for a script that I wrote. Even if you set yourself minimal constraints to work with, they always arise. The main pressure on set at Fairfield Park was time. We were racing against the sun, which also meant I had to keep changing and matching settings on the camera as the light and colours changed quickly. I enjoyed doing this as it challenged me technically. I had to learn to use my camera quickly and to use it well. Overall, the camera coverage that I captured was not enough. I should have focused less on the long drawn out panning shots, and attempted to capture as many different angles and shot types that I could. This was not evident until I entered the role of the editor. My intention as the ‘director/producer’ in preparing for the scene, was to shoot it with the moving camera and compare this to a short staggered version. My main objective as the cinematographer was to capture what was intended by the ‘director/producer’. This experience of filming a scene by myself, without a crew influencing my decision making, has allowed me to problem solve based on the limitations that I set myself.

Each section of the filmmaking process required me to play a different role and to understand where I went wrong in previous roles. For example: I played the role of the Director/Producer right through the entire production process. I played the role of 1st Assistant Director preparing for the shoot. When I walked on set I played the role of the Cinematographer. When I began editing I played the role of the Editor and then finally, as the Sound Mixer. It was clear filming on set that my position as the 1st Assistant Director, I didn’t schedule enough time for both scenes. I should have scheduled an extra hour (this schedule was due to the availability of the actors and could not be altered). From the perspective of the 1st Assistant Director, other aspects of the shoot ran smoothly; all props were on set as required; the shoot ran to schedule perfectly; the rights were obtained, therefore there were no interferences throughout filming. As the cinematographer, I didn’t recognise my faults until I played the role of the editor. Once I entered the editing room, the issues that I faced were indicative of my role as the cinematographer. It was when I played a different role that I learnt where I went wrong in my previous role. During editing, colour and lighting were not an issue, I was able to adjust these through post production colour correcting. Aesthetically, all of the shots look engaging. the issues that I had as an editor were related to continuity, pace and the ability to cut more than one scene. Reflecting on my role as the cinematographer, from a technical perspective I am satisfied, but from the perspective of coverage, I struggled. I was lost in the middle. I tried to  create an ‘organic’ filming approach/methodology as well as trying to fit in with my preconceptions of what I envisaged.

I was still not satisfied with my investigation after I finished two edits of the scene. The timing was off slightly in both of them. I was contemplating analysing other existing cinematographers and films. Instead, I put my directors cap on and began editing the scenes with a fresh mind. Once you have looked at the same footage over and over again, you begin to miss things. With a fresh perspective I could instantly pick out the mistakes that Robin had noticed from my edit. I started a fresh edit. I began to play around the with second, eerie edit as I had more fun with this one. The long drawn out shots didn’t allow for me to cut when I wanted, I had to wait for the shot to move into position etc… The second edit was a little more abstract. I was experimenting with compressing time so that we wouldn’t have to watch the girl wake, stand up and then walk over to the tree. The style of the scene played with an ominous feel. I experimented with the final edit that I posted onto the drive (not the exhibition version). I  reversed the clips, emphasising the ambiguity of the scene. If only parts of the scene are ambiguous, they feel out of place. If the entire scene is abstract, you are more curious to make sense of everything. I really enjoyed playing around with this edit. I think I was reluctant to edit it this way as it wasn’t what I had initially intended. Visual effects could have again lifted the scene, making it more obscure. I didn’t bother to take it this step further. Instead, I focused on a short sound design to lift the intensity of the scene. I added diegetic sound that I had recorded on set, as well as an eerie sound track. I chopped it up and shuffled it around the scene where it would evoke a greater reaction.

Reflecting on this project, I think that I became a little lost with my objectives and intentions. Personally, I needed clearer intentions within each scene to drive me with my cinematography and with my editing. In hindsight, I should have prepared to shoot the scene four times. I should have determined two objectives for the same scene and then established two ways of covering the scenes. I could have shot the same scene four times swapping the objectives with the camera coverage plans. Only filming two scenes demotivated me to capture more than I needed. Overall I learnt a lot throughout this process. I realise a lot of my strengths and weaknesses of roles within the entire process of filmmaking. I wasn’t just the Director of Photography – I was the 1st AD, Producer, Writer, Director, Editor and Sound Mixer. I feel more capable to film using my camera. I understand the creative decisions that need to be made throughout the entire production, from writing the script to editing the final sound design. Perhaps I could have asked someone to complete an edit or asked someone to film it for me. This would have defeated the purpose. I wanted to experience all of the individual roles to learn more practical knowledge, rather than analyse how someone else edits and compare it to how I would have edited it. I learned more, practicing the entire production process and developing my craft as a filmmaker.

 

Below is the link to an edited version of my scene:

https://drive.google.com/drive/#folders/0B-TlsDdLEC7jQnFmVlUwOXdYYms

The editing process has begun! I have sifted through the footage and established a flow of moving images. Looking over the footage, visually I am happy with the ‘look’ of the images. The lighting is soft and works well, the colours provide most of the images with depth.

Approaching my first edit I chose to investigate the shots that I had prepared from my shot list. There are multiple shots which link visually (similar white balance etc…) and the characters movements. In saying this, there is also a lot of footage that does not link visually or with the characters movement. The character is performing the same action; waking up, standing and walking over to the tree. Her expressiveness alters and there are simple continuity errors (her arm is in the wrong position or she is looking in a different direction). As the director on set, I wanted to make a lot of the movements quite slow in order to develop a pace that might evoke pathos or a surreal environment. This has drawn out my first attempt at cutting the scene to one minute. I will ask for a family member to watch the scene to give me a raw, fresh interpretation of the cut.

I positioned my intended shots on the timeline and then watched to see the flow of the images. Once I was convinced with my chosen shots I began to colour grade and match the shots. The colours are so incredibly different. With minor colour grading, saturating and desaturating the timeline continuity was less disorientating. I began to fine tune my edit points. Once I had done this I began a fresh edit of different footage.

As it began to get dark on set some of the shots, although look quite pleasing, didn’t fit with the other sequential shots. Therefore, these needed to be graded to match the others. I chose alternative shots from my first edit. This pace was a lot faster. They were static shots which allowed me to cut whenever I felt necessary for the narrative. The panning and tilting shots dictated the timing of my cutting decisions. I much preferred cutting at my own pace. This second edit runs for just over 30 seconds. I desaturated most of the images and matched them all appropriately. I compressed the time that it takes the girl to stand up and walk to the tree. The edit points felt almost like jump cuts. The quick editing style eluded to the surreal nature of the narrative. This worked quite well.

Analysing both of the scenes independently I am still not convinced. The camera work has dictated the editing of each scene. I have not made editorial decisions that allow for many cuts and interpretations. My interpretation of them is that the fast paced edit evokes a sense of danger and urgency. The slower paced edit does not feel threatening. The moving camera makes you feel as though you are discovering the environment empathising with the girl. I decided to layer the two edited scenes together. I placed the faster paced scene after the more drawn out scene and left the final wake up shots at the very end. Surprisingly, this worked. The first scene is over saturated and the subject is curious (inability to walk independently). She wakes up for a second time displaying more detached, cautious characteristics. The second sequence is desaturated and eludes to the idea that someone might be watching her (psychotic behaviour). She awakens at the end to reveal her wheel chair sitting next to her. I am satisfied from a narrative point of view, but I am not investigating the narrative (I just get anal if things don’t make sense). The reception of these scenes have reinforced my main contention, although I feel as though there are extraneous variables that I have not considered.

1. The shots dictate the edit – Timing, camera movement, character movement (continuity)

2. Preconceived bias – On set I was trying to fit the shots into my preconceived ideas. I wanted to achieve a threatening scene therefore I produced shots that were quick, dark and detached. If I had shot a slow panning shot with the subject urgently moving through the space perhaps the final reception would have been different. I want to investigate this from another angle.

So far I have heavily relied upon visual editing with the omission of non diegetic sound/underscore. I do believe that an underscore would really lift the piece and allow for a more effective flow and rhythm. In saying this my intention has not been to produce a master piece scene interpretation. It has been to investigate how the camera can manipulate the narrative or reception of the narrative. I will add an underscored piece to my final scene that is exhibited, as I believe that this will allow for a better audience reception.

 

Final reflection of this investigation:

My anticipation of this task essentially, was that I would be able to produce multiple interpretations of the same scene with a main focus on two very distinctly shot scenes. Why was I stuck in the editing room, forced to cut both scenes a particular way? I am always going to be obsessed with narrative. I want to be a director and one of my favourite hobbies is to write stories. I feel as though I limited myself and did not consider how my own preconceived ideas would effect my investigation. In a large feature production I do believe that cinematographic decisions, yes are based on logistics, accessibility and constraints, but I also believe that they are fundamentally made with motive and objectives. They are revealing what the audience needs to see, based on directorial decisions that will drive the narrative forward. In hindsight, perhaps I should have prepared a more concrete shot list with more shots than anticipated. This may have given me more breadth and coverage of the scenes. I should have shot the two interpretations twice swapping my intention e.g. experimenting with the moving camera to try and create a more menacing feel and vice versa.

I am not satisfied that this investigation has given me enough resolution with camera coverage and shot decisions. I need to explore this further. I am going to start exploring different cinematographers. I will choose a cinematographer and investigate two very similar scenes from two different films. The context of the films will be completely different. I will compare and contrast how the cinematographer captures these scenes. I will not comment on the production design and acting of the scenes.  I will also turn off all sound focusing entirely on the use of the camera.

Sarah Petrie-Allbutt

My intention was to explore and compare how the camera can be manipulated to convey different meaning. I focused on altering camera movements, angles, depth-of-field and white balance – using a large space in order to create an organic production environment.

I have mapped out a day by day schedule that I will endeavour to follow. This will work as a guide to structure my time and prepare me for the final exhibition.

 

Week 11 –

Wednesday 20th May: Edit Scene 1 – Personal interpretation

Thursday 21st May: Internship

Friday 22nd May: Blog Post Week 11

Saturday 23rd May: Work & Edit Scene 2 across both Sat and Sun

Sunday 24th May: Same as above

 

Week 12 –

Monday 25th May: Blog Post – Reflection & Comparison of two edits

Tuesday 26th May: Edit Scene 3

Wednesday 27th May: Additional sound design for chosen final edited scene

Thursday 28th May: Internship

Friday 29th May: Blog Post Week 12 – Comparison & Reflection

Saturday 30th May: Work

Sunday 31st May: Work

 

Week 13 –

Monday 1st June: Fine tune final scene

Tuesday 2nd June: Write final substantial blog post/Report

Wednesday 3rd June: Finish & Submit final scene

Thursday 4th June: Internship

Friday 5th June: Edit exhibition 40 second clip

Saturday – Monday: Echuca holiday for long weekend

 

Week 14 –

Tuesday 9th June: Submit final 40 second exhibition clip

Wednesday 10th June: –

Thursday 11th June: Exhibition!

 

Filming Complete!

 

The filming went quite well. We were lucky that it didn’t rain while we were there. The main issue we had was that it got dark very quickly. I had to keep on adjusting my aperture/F-stop and then my ISO.

Method of Working:

I used my shot list as a guide, but predominantly I improvised camera movements. I positioned the character where I wanted her and blocked out her movements. After this, I manipulated the camera around her shifting angles, camera tilts & pans, changed lenses. I ignored the 180 degree rule of crossing the line and organically shot as much coverage as I could in the time frame that I had.

I adjusted the White Balance a couple of times (as seen above). I over saturated the image and then brought more cooler tones and hues into the image. I experimented with depth of field. Filming on a Canon 5D is always going to be difficult to keep the moving image in focus. I spent a lot of time focusing and refocusing to ensure the picture was crisp. I tried not to attempt a focus pull or follow focus. The character moved through space and at times this was not an issue but sometimes she would fall out of focus and I would ‘cut’. Follow focus is too time consuming and difficult on a DSLR without the appropriate equipment. I maintained shot types to stills, pans and tilts.

I was lucky with the expression of natural light. I had prepared a small LED light and reflector, but I didn’t use any of this equipment. Not only would it have been a time consuming to match the light (shot continuity) as she moved through the space, but the natural light complimented the image without having to add artificial light. The lighting was soft and as the sun went down, it became quite expressive, which complimented the tone of the scene (my intention was to create different tones to allow for different cuts of the same scene).

The acting was minimalistic. I didn’t want to get caught up in teaching a non actor to act. I let her feel the space and wander curiously through it. Focusing on genre forces you to focus on acting and the portrayal/representation of that genre. Once I began filming I realised that I didn’t want to get caught up in the logistics of the ‘genre’ and the acting. The exercise for me, was to focus on camera coverage and the manipulation of the camera to reveal new meaning. This will be evident within the multiple edits that I conduct. There is room for more than two edits of this scene. I will work on multiple edits, focusing on the cutting of the shots and then choose the edited scene which is most effective. I will then fine tune my chosen edited scene by adding in diegetic sound (that was also recorded on set) and non diegetic sound. This final edited scene will be used for the RMIT Media exhibition/presentation.

I will compare and contrast all of the edits reflecting on the process of filming, how I can improve, how the scene tells a different story and how the camera is manipulated.

This week has been challenging, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the filming process. It was simplistic, yet the results surprised me.

May 11th, 2015.

I have been in contact with the ‘City of Yarra’ council. They will be contacting me shortly to notify me of the progression of my application of filming at the Fairfield Park. They seemed quick to respond. I am confident that everything will be sorted within the appropriate time frame.

I am picking up the gear at 1:30pm on Wednesday. My cast/crew will not be arriving on set until 3:30pm. I am going to visit the location prior to their arrival and begin testing my proposed shot types. One is quite complicated, this shot has been described in my Week 9 blog post. I am going to test film this shot on location. I will also test colour, contrast and adaptations to the weather conditions. These tests will be posted to the blog Wednesday night before I begin editing the scenes.

The more prepared I am prior to the arrival of cast and crew, the more fluent the shoot will be. I will need to quickly adapt to the conditions on the day. Each day, the weather is constantly changing. This is a concerning factor.

I will also need to remember to bring my computer and hard drives in order to back up footage if I run out of space on my CF card. NOTE TO SELF: remember that!

I have arranged for the important prop – the wheel chair! I will bring this up to Melbourne with me.

The next progress report will be on Wednesday.

My focus this week has predominantly been revolving around preparation of my shoot next week. I have organised my actor, crew, location and shooting style for both scenes. I have had a bit of a fall back with my location agreement. I posted off my location permit application forms to the ‘City of Darebin’. They contacted me quite promptly to inform me that the location where I am hoping to shoot is within the ‘City of Yarra’. One step backwards! I have emailed new location permit applications to the ‘City of Yarra’, along with the updated insurance forms and I’m waiting for their response.

I have completed my pre production booklet. This booklet incorporates my annotated research, call sheets, release forms (some are pending) and a shooting schedule. This is a visual representation of my preparation for shooting. It has helped me to organise my thoughts, ambitions and purpose. I researched the film ‘Gothika’ in order to study the aesthetics and use of shots. This films expresses a lot of moving camera. I am going to shoot my thriller genre themed scene different to this. I will shoot my scene the old fashioned way; with quick cuts and still shots. I will juxtapose images, cutting them together appropriately.

I also researched a number of films that I believe are aesthetically beautiful from a production design point of view and from a cinematographer point of view. I watched ’12 Years a Slave’, parts of ‘The Great Gatsby’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind’. I have included in my booklet screen shots of scenes that resonated with me.

Another task that I have been working on this week is filming the Australian Directors Guild Awards. This ceremony is tonight (Friday). We have been practising with the cameras this week. We will be shooting Vox Pop interviews with the nominees as well as the ceremony. Any experience with a camera is preparing me for my shoot next week. The faster and more confident I am, I will execute my ideas more effectively.

In our class today we were given the opportunity to create our own exercise. I wanted to experiment with a shot that I am going to shoot next week – The camera points to the sky through an overhanging tree. Leaves fall from the tree. The camera moves clockwise 360 degrees. I envisage this camera movement as a window into a surreal world. It will represent a true Autumn’s day.

We found a tree relatively quickly. The shot wasn’t quite as I had pictured. I think the actual tree that I will film will be more obtrusive and will fill the shot composition more effectively. This tree was more staggered and sparse. Another conflicting factor is the tripod. We were able to manipulate our tripod to point the camera up into the sky. The tripod that I will be using won’t have this flexibility. I will experiment with this shot on location before the actors arrive on set.

Another factor was the falling of the leaves. This shot has the potential to take a significant amount of time on set, in order to pull it off effectively. I will have to make a 1st AD decision on set, as to how much time is allocated to this shot. I may have to shoot what I can, move on and determine whether I use it or not in post production. This exercise was very valuable. It allowed me to practice a technique that I am not very confident executing. Angus and I were the only ones who had an exercise idea that we wanted to explore. Everyone was enthusiastic in involving themselves in both of our ideas. I think this was beneficial not only for me, but for the entire group. It allowed us to use trial and error and to problem solve until we were happy with our result.

An issue that arose with my exercise was the lighting. The exposure changed constantly as the sun hid behind clouds. This moving shot also lends itself to an aperture pull. One angle was over exposed and as the camera moved away from the direction of the sun, it became under exposed. We used a ND filter to compare the ‘look’ of the image. The view finder and zebra pattern were detrimental with the set up of this shot. The harsh light hitting the monitor effected our individual perception of the image.

I am excited to shoot my scenes next Wednesday, although I am worried about time. I may have to reschedule to shoot one again if I run out of daylight. If I am prepared and set, the shoot should run smoothly. There are many contributing factors that could impact on the shoot; the weather, if it rains; the public, if there are a lot of people around; losing daylight or the light changing significantly between shots. As I am shooting so late in the afternoon the lighting is going to change quite dramatically and quite quickly. I will have to adapt very quickly to these conditions.