Film-TV 2

There are 10 posts filed in Film-TV 2.

Film/ TV2 – Analysis/ Reflection 5 #2

“In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. You may rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.”

You were asked this at the beginning of the semester. Now, could you review constructively what you got from this semester – has the course lived up to your expectations, delivered what you expected, maybe even surpassed it?

Documentary did not interest me as much as drama at first. I found so abstract from developing ideas to building up the film. We did not follow everything we planned in the treatment. Making documentary is way more intuitive and inventive than I expected. It is more like how we improvise the interviews or research we have about the subject throughout the production. There is way less planning to be done compared to making a fiction film. I feel totally different on the documentary structure while shooting and when I start editing. I always find many more other perspective to portray the subject if I arrange the same materials in another way. The feeling of the film changes everytime I watch it. Producing a document can be very much concerned with the filmmakers ‘ personalities and emotion responses rather than the factual information. Another interesting thing in making documentary is that how we evoke the subject’s desire to be in the film from wanting to be wanted. I feel successful when my subject becomes far more excited in showing and revealing more stuff in front of the camera. I fall in love with documentaries and the course has definitely surpassed what I expected.

 

Film/ TV2 – Analysis/ Reflection 5 #1

As per lecture –  in a sequence you’ve called ‘colour’ you will have clips that are indicative of a particular colour or lighting state. To the right of that clip you will have that same clip repeated 2 or more times with different colour grades on it. 

Take screen grabs of each clip then upload to your blog the series of stills that show us ‘before and afters’ of your colour grading. Provide a few different examples of at least two different clips – each with a description of what you did to the clip and why.

Before
After
 
 I adjusted the colour temperature to a small degree of cooler level to make contrast the kitchen scene with the warmer tone in the dining area. I lowered the brightness as the ceramic wall in the before clip was slightly overexposed. I increased the contrast to make the bamboo baskets more prominent from other objects.
 
Before
 
After
 
I used the Three-Way Colour Corrector by shifting the handle towards pink colour to neutralise the green cast in the background. The green tint makes the kitchen look rather unclean. I adjusted a little sharper contrast to remove the white mist like feeling in the before frame. The dumplings look undesirable dull and doesn’t look appetising. To enhance the colour of the dumplings, which should be kind of white in the clip, I used the white balance option in the Fast Color Corrector.  I clicked the eyedropper tool on the dumplings. 

Film/ TV2 – Analysis/ Reflection 4 #3

“From a distant gaze …” (1964) directed by Jean Ravel, picture Pierre Lhomme & Chris Marker, words by Louis Aragon, narrated by Jean Negroni, music by Michel Legrand.

Describe a few things that intrigue you – it might be shot construction, camera work, editing, overall structure, thematic concerns etc. Describe the camera work and why you think it has been shot that way.

 

The camera acts like an observer. There is always a person or an object to be focused in each frame. We are likely to watch aimlessly; then look attentively at certain people’s behaviour or things in the surroundings. The camera follows people in a natural way like an observers’ eyes. There is a moment in the film when a car drives past and as the camera is set on opposite side of the road, it cannot see the subject at that moment so it looks at something else it feels interested. The camera zooms in the subjects as if it is “from a distant gaze”. The close-ups create a sense of intimacy; I can observe them in a short distance away yet they are unaware of being filmed, in which the subjects look so truthful in front of the camera.

Film/ TV2 – Analysis/ Reflection 4 #1#2

In this clip from Forbidden Lies, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded/sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

The clip starts with a love song; create a music parody of romance between the characters according to the truth of women from Jordon claimed in the book. Along with the song, there are foley sounds in the background such as birds chirping, the car engine when it drives past, and the swishing of scarf in the wind. As a woman starts talking after the song is suddenly cut off, there are constant comical sound effects when she points out the lies in the book.  The use of jingles, chimes and some sharp sounds enhance the amusement in each lies. I also noticed some moments that two women’s voices overlapped when  they are reading the same thing. This is quite distracting to me but got me into a sense of confusing with the truth and the lies. In the latter part of the clip, when more lie are revealed, the music becomes more upbeat which creates a fantasy feeling.

 

Most applications reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Add Marker (M) – I used to just add title to each clip but this is really useful to add marker to add notes and comments in detail on different part. The markers make things easier as I can just read it on the same workplace while editing rather than the notes I jot down with pen and paper.

Add Title (CMD +T) –  I am sure there will be heaps of different interviews for documentary. This keyboard shortcut of adding titles will save me time to name everything.

Razor Tool ( C) – Razor tool is used quite often. Before I know this keyboard shortcut, I used to pause the clip, scroll the sidebar, click on the razor tool and move back to the clip before I can actually cut it into segments.  Now it is more efficient without dragging my pointer and switching tools.

Track Tool  ( A – selects the Track) – This is very helpful when I want to apply some effect or adjust the audio for all the clips at a time. In this way I do not have to drag my pointer all the way to select the clips.

 

Film/TV 2 – Analysis/ Reflection 3 #1

Paste the link here from your version of the abstract editing exercise.

Then reflect on the whole process – Consider: the quality and usability of your recordings; the effect of layering and juxtaposition of both the audio and the video and; the things you learnt from working with this kind of audio and video.

It was a shame that we did not record more so not many clips to choose. Each video was collected around the themes of stillness and movement. While editing, I decided to make use of colour and speed to relate all the visual clips. We had footages of hair blowing in the wind, shadows of a tree on the ground, and leaves with glint of sunlight. We also had shot through a rotating water bottle; which is already quite abstract. I had repeatedly used the footage of rotating water bottle as a transition. I hoped to make a rotation effect that was similar to a merry-go-around. I changed the colour and saturation to give a different feeling when the same footages appeared again. It is quite hard to add in the audio files Kimberley and I collected because we did not record in a good quality. I feel like working with the audio files with the video clips make it quite confusing. I found an absence of sound may in fact work well so I put in silence along with the footage of the still leaves. They were more like to create a contrast with all the movements; and the absence of sound may as well bring another space to the overall video. I really enjoyed working on this abstract exercise. It inspires me to look deeper into things from different perspectives; and to compile them with that one particular relationship that do not intend to have meanings for a creative content.
 

Film/ TV 2 – Analysis/ Reflection 3 #2

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

Rabiger, M. Directing the documentary. 4th ed. Burlington: Focal Press, 2004.

Rabiger: “Truth is always provisional and to some extent fictionalised.”

There are so many things such as stories of people and cultures that we have not learned about but been touched by films. Rabiger once says that audiences define films of fantasy or reality by the moment they “compare true claims on the screen with what they know viscerally from life”. It may be easy to make the information known to audience by simply presenting the fact; however what really change the audiences is to trigger their emotions. I guess that is why making documentaries is hard. Filmmakers may be criticised as not being objective if he raises certain truths while putting down the rest to present certain idea in his perspective. I used to think documentaries were a record of the flat, tedious truth but honestly there are so many anomalies when presenting and experiencing the reality.  As Rabiger writes, “Like great fiction films, great documentaries tend to play out aspects of the human predicament in order to dramatize and organize what is troubling, unjust, or unanswerable”. 

Interviewing Technique

1. Get comprehensive cover of expository information, from a variety of interviewers for more flexibility during the edit.

2. Give direction to the interview, and ask relevant questions when the opportunity arises. It doesn’t matter about order, this can be fixed in the edit. As I heard this a lot from people, this is very important to keep an ear out in case of the interviewees disclose any clue for a bigger story. We will prepare a list of questions but we will be flexible in asking questions like having a relaxing conversation in order to encourage our subject to build up his stories and elicit the emotions.

3. A subtle way to steer the interview is to outline what you have so far understood, to allow the interviewee to build on this understanding. This could be a way to show our subject that we are fully engaged with his stories as well as for ourselves to remind ourselves what we have collected from the subject at certain stage in order to be aware of what we miss or need.

 

Film/TV 2 – Analysis/ Reflection 2 #2

Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 
Pawel Pawlikowski. In MacDonald, K & Cousins, M. Imagining reality, (p. 389-392). London: Faber & Faber, 1996.
Pawlikowski writes that ‘the point of making films is not to convey objective information about the world, but to show it as I see and to find a form which is relevant’. I guess making documentary can become quite abstract; to present what I believe to be with the materials I am able to access. I used to see documentary as a serious and boring topic; which is supposed to show audience the plain, dull fact. Yet Pawlikowski suggests that documentary films ‘ought to disturb and show really to be surprising, ambiguous, paradoxical, tragic, groesque beautiful…’. It inspires me with the idea that making documentary films lead filmmakers to think and interpret differently; out of the norm. Filmmakers are to show audience the world in another way they see it; not the usual common world in everyone’s point of view. Making documentary is a challenge that requires filmmakers to be creative in an approach to draw audiences attention to the subject which they have seen, in a new way without changing the reality.

Film/TV 2 – Analysis/ Reflection 2 #1

In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill. 

Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.

You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing. The treatment which we showed in the lecture is available here. 
My first impressions of End of the Line are that it has successsfully portrayed the life in outback. I very much like the red tone of the landscape shots which gives a sense of the place. This red tone makes Broken HIll look strange and frightening; it is wearing down. Yet, I do not feel that filmmakers have captured the ‘beauty and magnificence of the outback’as mentioned in the treatment provided. The film has rather presented a feeling of completely isolation and depressing environment with its selection of participants. Especially the old woman, she says that she moves to live in Broken Hill to die; followed by the shot of desolate, rugged land. This further emphasise the emptiness of Broken Hill as well as the dissociation from civilisation. Her story is best fit in the film. It makes the idea of living in the outback very unsettling to me. Besides, there is no narration along the film. I guess with only the people living in Broken Hill carry the narrative, it becomes more intimating and the story of the people involves close connection with audience. I also remember the three guys being interviewed at night. They look shy and embarrassed so they laugh at each other. They have not said much stuff but they are impressing. They show that the happiness in Broken Hill is so simple which probably based on them not knowing anything.

Film/TV 2 – Analysis/ Reflection 1

In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Ruo’s ‘Four Images’, Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ and Chantal Akerman’s ‘D’Est’ were screened. Choose one of these, and consider, in a single paragraph, what might have intrigued, interested, displeased or repelled you.

I found the scenes from Chantal Akerman’s D’Est quite interesting. I felt discomforted at first with the tracking shot of the desolated, snowy street and lines of anonymous people. But then I liked the way in which Akerman makes the scene speaks. It portrays not only the human faces but also the spaces between people; what is showing and what is hiding. There is no dialogue; yet a world of sounds and background noises. The camera records people’s silences, it constructs the abstract emotional qualities such as the endless cold, and the mundane lives, the spiritual emptiness. I have ever come upon this use of camera. Akerman pans the camera in a straight line like a journey. I remembered there is a young boy, at one time he is in the edge of the frame and he keeps walking on the way to across the frame. He appears on screen again when the camera continues to pan; at some point some people who I have seen before show up on the frame again. I have that anticipation to look for them. I guess it is an idea of the film, the hope and the hopelessness.

 

Listen to the first 10 minutes of Glenn Gould’s radio documentary, “The Idea of North”.

The idea of North 10min.wav or Files are here (experimenting with different sizes and file types) If possible, use headphones.  Record your impressions in a paragraph or two.

 It is confusing of the overlapping of male and female’s voices. I am not able to concentrate on either of the voices. I do not understand what the woman is talking about most of the times; she does not speak very clearly and her tone is not interesting. Sometimes the background noise probably is too loud that makes the guy’s voice unclear and is distracting. I just do not find this radio documentary engaging, as it is a piece of unsettling recording.