May 2014

There were 7 posts published in May 2014.

Film/TV 1- Analysis/ Reflection 6

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Premiere and note two or more functions that you’ve never used before that may be invaluable to editing.

Grouping clips: COMMAND + G

Select the clips to be grouped and press command + G. Grouping allows me to move multiple clips in one time. Grouping also let me to interchange edit several clips as one.
 

Adjust content of a shot: COMMAND + OPTION + SHIFT (with the right or left arrow)

In this case the duration of the timeline will not change. The selected clip will not appear to move down to the timeline so there will not be any gap between clips after snipped. 
 

In this clip screened in the lecture from the Coen brothers’ ‘Blood Simple‘ describe what is happening in terms of the edits specifically in terms of the audio and video. Also name the different kinds of audio you can hear. 

There are jump cuts between the two characters when they are talking within the 180-degree rule. In the sequence after one of the characters is passed with an envelop, the edits compose with a close-up shot of Marty when he was watching carefully the photo followed by the close-up of the photo; then return to his face, and after that another close-up of a particular part in the photo. Here is showing the man’s reaction to that photo. The audio of the characters’ conversation keeps running even when it cuts to another shot for continuity. Therefore we can still hear one character is talking even it is showing the other character on screen. I can hear the crickets in the background even they are not on screen which brings out the silence in the scene and builds up tension. I also hear very slightly the bug buzzing near Visser’s head, the creaking of the chair he is sitting as well as the sound when Visser was grinding the cigarette on the metal plate. I can hear the sound of Marty vomitting when he was in the bathroom and the water running. I get the sense of what is going on even though things are not happening on screen. It is the climax when I heard the pulling of a gun and the gun shot in comparatively loud noise and dramatic effect, which happened very fast.

Film/TV 1- Analysis/ Reflection 6

Consider Sandra’s lecture “Directing Actors” and describe at least a couple of points that you took away from it (even if you’re not the director).

– Sandra emphasised the importance of the role of director. Not only crew members get instructions from the director, but also the actors need the most guidance from the director. The actors can easily sense the mood of the director which greatly affects their performance. Sandra suggested to be honest but delicate. The director should point out what has not been done right but not saying it in front of everybody. She also recommended that we should let the actors to comprehend the script by themselves without telling them too much about every lines or gestures. That allow the actors to convey their characters in the way they understand them.

– Another inspiration from Sandra was the preparation of  B-scenes in case any bad situation happened or if time is running short on the actual shooting day. But we should still aim for shooting the A-scenes; rather than putting focus on the B-scenes option. 

– Sandra talked about getting the actors to rehearse the script the day before shooting. A rehearsal will make the actors feel more engaged and develop the interaction between actors before the real shooting. She also discussed about the rehearsal of a film without dialogue. What we need to do is to get the idea of shots and go to the location and rehearse with the camera.

A Major Multilinear Korsakow Film

Brainstorming…

Our group came up with an idea around autism, a disorder characterised by impaired social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication. We were thinking to have footages in different camera angles or techniques  like the fish-eye effect, low angle shot, fast- motion, etc. It is a bit hard to construct concepts of what to film. We are at the moment building video clips on the compulsive behaviours appeared in autism such as arranging objects in line. As well we are trying to show how autistic people express themselves; for example, with less eye-contact, very simple body movements. Another thing we have considered is using both black-and-white and coloured footages. We want to create the connection between the reality, which is coloured; and the things happened in autistic people’s minds, which will be in grey scaled. 
 
Here is one of the clip I took:
https://www.mediafactory.org.au/wingkam-chow/files/2014/05/shoes-in-order-qwmqfy.mp4

Integrated Media 1 – Week 11 Symposium

1. Does the design of the interface force the users attention to follow certain lines of focus as opposed to others?

– think of the interface as a visual space that presents all relation and hierarchy in the work
– it doesn’t show the lists of keywords, numbers of videos, etc.; what not to show is as important as what is shown
– Korsakow is composed of thumbnails, videos and text, everything is basic
– in Korsakow, it is more than just showing but asking viewers to explore on the creators’ behalf
– the design is again similar to seduction; do not tell or explain things in the beginning, let them explore and find things out
 

2. What are the key considerations when constructing a multilinear work?

– how to connect the video clips; what are the different layers and threads
– think about the design not only in temporal but also a sense of spatial
– how do I want it to end; is the work going to end or last forever
– draw map of the relations until I start building, the direction or shape comes in the process of building it 
– learn to listen to the material
– what material is being filmed; and in what kind of media form (e.g. visual or audio)
– the smaller and more abstract material, the more possibilities to mix and match with other things
– risk; it is taking risk to construct a thing because we have no idea what it will look like next, yet we may discover unexpected connections
 

3. Luers talks about databases in K-Films working on relational knowledge, and as such you can replicate narrative film techniques like flashback and montage. However is this disregarding the K-Film’s intention of exploring non-narrative?

– ideas of using flashbacks because the past generates meanings
– we can still explore small narratives in individual SNU
– narrative film has a fixed timeline going on in it therefore it is easy to do flashback; Korsakow does not have a fixed timeline
– montage is more like creating explicitly or implicitly a meaning between images

Film TV 1 Analysis/Reflection 5

Select from one of the readings from week 5, 6 or 7 and describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you.

I found what Rabiger describes in the reading from week 7 Developing A Crew relatively important throughout the production that again emphasises the importance of a teamwork. A significant point brought up in the reading is the idea of keeping a formal working structure. Even though the scale of what we are doing for this student short film is smaller than an actual film crew and so we have fewer people in a group to deal with all the roles required, it is still crucial to clearly define the responsibilities of each roles and establish a chain of command. Each one should know exactly what their part is in contributing to the production and commits to his duties. I found it difficult when we are working in a group with limited number of people because everybody is hoping to learn and participate in every area of the production even only a bit. Some team member probably need more pressure on focusing on his jobs, some may be doing it for the first time with no experience, and some may actively want to play a part in every aspects. It is efficient at this moment if everybody communicates and understands each other before the productions starts. We should trust one another and hold back from action or comment in others’ roles. In this way, we will work with less pressure and avoid any conflicts which will have an effect on the morale or ends up with anyone being detached from the team. Another point from the reading which is fascinating to me is that how we can in fact develop our personal traits to suit different role in a film crew. I reckon it is vital to recognise the strengths and weakness of oneself before we make a decision when assigning each members to be in different roles apart from self-interests.

Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
In this scene note the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe the things Antonioni would have had to consider when directing the actors and the camera.
This scene seems so complicated to shoot. Antonioni would have to have heaps of rehearsal of the camera operator and the characters since there are lots of movement of the character, either one of them or both. Actors should have be well informed where they start to move and stop to ensure a better flow of movements. It is important to have the continuity of the spacial distance between the two characters when one of them is walking back and forth to the other one. It should also be aware of the constant framing at which the camera panning to follow tightly and smoothly the character to make sure the character is always in frame. For the part of dialogue in the scene, director should have also shot in both angles from the characters to make sure not to cross the 180-degree line which will affect the temporal and spatial continuity. Otherwise that will be confusing for the audiences. Another thing to be considered is the changes of shots  in this scenes. It is important for the camera operator to make sure things are in focus if it is planned to be every time he shoots from a different angle.

“Humans of New York” blog

“Human of new York” 

the storyboard: capturing the human of New York

 

This is a blog created by Brandon. He photographed many New Yorkers and collected quotes as well as short stories from them. The blog is displaying a collection of portraits and captions. To me, I find things become interesting when they involve people, all kinds of people. It is fun to notice how they act; and everybody has his reason behind, or even a big story to tell.

Film TV 1 Analysis/Reflection 4

Question 7

Please outline some points that you took away from the Lighting Lecture. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you, perplexes you or even one you take issue with.

 

I am not familiar with lighting at all. I know we need to make consistent light shades, shadows and color tones throughout the film but I do not really know what to consider in designing and setting up the lights. It is a basic concept, yet I have always forgotten that we cannot shoot without changing any lights. Or it is very hard to just rely on the natural sunlight we have at a location since the weather is changing every minutes. One main idea I took away from the lecture is that lighting is more related to the situation when we film, that is, what lights we have and how we place our camera and the subject to the light to get the visual effect we want. I became aware how important it is for us to learn about our filming location. We also have to know, for example, shooting indoor with windows, how the sun enters the room at different periods in a day earlier on. It is as well very interesting to learn about ways to create amount of light we want artificially. By bouncing hard light sources off the wall or a white reflector, we get a softer light which is more diffused and creates a shadow with soft-edged. Softening light can make the actors look more natural. With the use of silver reflector, light becomes a lot harder and a hard, dark shadow will be created which can make the subject’s features more prominent or provide a dramatic effect. The concept of ‘negative fill’ is new to me, which is when we take away some light and it is great to create certain moods in the scene. For example, we cover the window with black cloth to reduce the sunlight entering. Since light is all around, what I understand from the lecture is that negative fill helps to control the contrast between key light and shadows by reducing the lights caused by reflections. I found it quite intriguing that by adding different colored gel we can create different colour temperature. For example, if we cover the camera lens with blue gel, the set shown on the camera will very much look alike in daylight. I suppose lighting is so important that what seems natural and making sense on the camera is actually constructed in our eyes.

 

Question 8 

Please insert the link for your Lenny ex2 here. (use insert link tool) List the things that you learnt from this experience – this could be things that went well or not so well.

Link for Lenny Ex2: https://vimeo.com/92134409

Lenny exercise taught me so much about group cooperation. To be honest, we had not prepared much before the shoot. Therefore our filming is rush. It was raining that day so we were restricted from only shooting indoor. We got to change our filming location at the time right before we shoot. And unfortunately at the moment we were going to begin shooting, the sound mixer and recorder weren’t working. We also did not have enough time to cover all the shots we wanted. Still I am impressed with us come up with the low angle shot up the stairs and how we manage to edit the shots together coherently. I don’t have much experience on set yet I guess planning is crucial. I suppose it will be so much better if we know well about the filming location. Then we do not need to spend extra time dealing with the people and noise that poped up suddenly. Communication between crew members are also important. Everybody has to pay full attention on set, to the director and their roles while shooting.