"How to become 'UP AND RUNNING' in important elements of Creative Media, leading to seriously good films."
This whole assignment was a complete eye opener for productional work that I had never even come across before. We did a number of creative projects in groups and I really enjoyed working with my friends throughout this assignment. Planning a production is a lot more complexed and time consuming that I ever though it would be, but I really enjoyed the concept of every project. I can honestly say I have learnt a ton of new things within this assignment.
1) Evaluate how you have grown and developed as a practitioner, during this assignment?
I feel I have grown as a person during this assignment. I appeared properly on camera in a number of single productions that we have completed in groups, which was a complete learning curve for me. I hate being in front of the camera but in order to take one for the team, I had to be. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I still 100% prefer being the camera operator as opposed to the actress and on-screen colleague.
I also feel like my editing has made a vast improvement since the last assignment. My favourite production for me to edit was the One Shot project we did as a whole class. I did a number of effects and transitions during editing the video and I was really pleased with the outcome. This was actually the first production we did in this assignment, but was one of the most enjoyable for me. It was good for the whole class to bond and interact with each other, and during this project I made some new friends.
2) What two things were you most proud of?
The two things I am most proud of is how I overcome my fear of being on camera and how my editing skills have vastly improved since joining this course. I have a complete phobia of being in front of a camera that I have no control over, I feel like a bit of a puppet being told what to do. I've never liked it, even as a child. It was a massive learning curve for me that we will all eventually have to be in front of the camera for at least two productions per assignment, otherwise it isn't fair on the people that are always on camera, as they may want to be behind it. I think people contributed to this more than a 'thing', as my friends said it was fine for me to go on camera. They promised they wouldn't laugh. I have severe anxiety about that type of thing and I'm so pleased that my friends helped me through it. I couldn't have done it without them!
My editing skills are just on a different planet now. I found that in the first assignment I was asking every five minutes how to do something on Adobe Premier Pro, but now I have muscled in and worked things out on my own. I've come to terms with the fact that not every video or production we do will be a success, and any editing I do is a learning method. My editing skills in the One Shot video we did were a complete shock to me, and even watching it now still amazes me as to how I actually did it all myself.
3) What two things do you think you could improve in the future?
I think one major thing I would improve is my technique in writing blogs. As we had over 2 months for this assignment to be completed, I presumed we had a lot of time to write a few blogs. I sat down one Thursday and realised I had about seven to write, and panic stations kicked in. I caught up and was up to date with everything, until Blogspot failed me. 6 weeks worth of work just disappeared, literally. Approximately 10 blogs were deleted from Blogspot and I was gutted. The deadline was creeping up on me and I was getting into a complete panic. The one thing I would improve in the future is to back up my assignments on to a hardrive and complete blogs as soon as they're set, so I don't have a traffic jam of 5+ blogs. This will help me to achieve the best possible grade and I look forward to making it my New Years Resolution to complete blogs as soon as possible!
Another thing I would improve is my editing skills overall. If I were using a music track for a particular video, I would cut and edit the video to fit the beat of the music. This is something I regret not doing with the More Soon project. I just plonked all of the clips together and made a bloopers real at the end without any thought and consideration. Looking back, I really wish I followed the inspiration set by Carl Burgess (director of Ratatat - Drugs) and fit the video with the beat, volume and design of the music.
4) Write down some future targets you would like to achieve...
There are two main targets I wish to achieve for the future. One being the sound techniques used when I film a production with members of my group. Instead of using the camera microphone, I will hire out a boom mic from the ELC to make the sound appearance the best I possibly can. We used a boom mic for a recent production we did, which was the In The First Interview. This went really well as the environment we filmed it in was a compact corridor, with no echo or background noise. When it came to our next project, the In The Third Interview, this is when sound was a problem. I won't go in to too much detail here, but what I will say is that we should've taken into consideration that there was background noise. We didn't realise the mic would pick that noise up more than our own voices! Read the blog about the In The Third Interview here: http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/documenting-doing-13-in-third.html
The second technique I would like to improve is setting a specific amount of time for my blogs per day. I had a bit of a nightmare this time as I stated above. I have decided to set around 2 hours per spare day (Weds afternoon, Thurs, Fri, and Sun) for blogs. This way I will be able to keep on track and up to date with all of the assignments and written work without getting too stressed about it. If I have no blogs to do that have been set in class, I will perhaps to a critique or review of a film or television show I have watched in a forgiving time bracket.
See you next year for a fun packed year of productions and blog work!
Merry Christmas to all reading this...
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 11 December 2013
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Documenting The Doing #14: The Coffee Cup
THE PROPOSAL:
My colleagues:
- Jade Popham - Actress
- Katie Patrick - Actress
- Naomi Doddridge - Camera Operator (with me)
Risk Assessment:
Storyboard:
Logline:
Once Upon A Blind Date.
Synopsis:
First time blind dating, first time meeting and twiddling thumbs. After being match made, showing the awkward mishaps between two social rejects with very high standards. “Is that a 6 pack? I think not.” Images can be deceiving.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This project was based on the conversation between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in a coffee shop. Based upon the film Coffee and Cigarrettes - Somewhere in California, it's an old fashioned themed black and white short film. The conversation consists of two gentlemen having a rather awkward-to-watch conversation whilst smoking cigarrettes and drinking coffee. Oh the irony. The film was directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1993. This short film would eventually be the third part of an eleven-piece production, all of which were shot in black and white.
Our idea of this production would be based upon a Blind Date. We had to make our video as real as possible and something that happens in every day life, therefore we needed two pretty good actresses. Jade and Katie were the two people that appeared in the production, and they were on the blind date. Jade dressed up as a man, whereas Katie a woman. The slight twist in the story was that Katie had thought the guy she was meeting was a hunky heart throb with a six pack, but when she walked in, the man couldn't have been any different.
We chose our setting to be in a realistic environment of two people to have a blind date in. A cafe across the road from our studio kindly lent us their upstairs room for 90 minutes to film. This meant we were on a strict time limit and had to be done and out by 11.30am. We began by shooting a few of Jade's shots first, (the man), and then chose to shoot a few of Katie's shots, (the woman). This is because, as a single camera production, it was more time consuming to move the camera every time we wanted to take a different shot. As a group, we decided to shoot it like this as it would be less time consuming.
Overall, I think our production turned out really well. We used the sound from the camera as oppose to hiring out a separate microphone, as the atmosphere and noise in the cafe was only us, with a little bit of backing music. The only problem we came across was that the music in the background kept changing from shot to shot, so when we edited it all together, there were different songs. We came to a solution in the end put our own chosen music over the top. I think this worked quite well.
We decided to take these shots free hand as the positing of the tripod would've been a complete mess. The close-up shot of Jade involved me sitting on a chair next to Katie. I think shots always look a bit more in depth and natural if they're taken with a free hand as it's almost a form of point-of-view. The second shot looks like a simple layout, but it was more complexed. I sat in Jade's seat, and she held the menu in shot whilst looking at the footage next to me. It was pretty uncomfortable but it turned out okay. In this shot, I also had to keep aware of the focusing and positioning of the camera. I had to twist the lens to be sure that when I needed Katie to be in focus, she was, and when I needed the menu to be in focus, that was too.
My colleagues:
- Jade Popham - Actress
- Katie Patrick - Actress
- Naomi Doddridge - Camera Operator (with me)
Risk Assessment:
Storyboard:
Logline:
Once Upon A Blind Date.
Synopsis:
First time blind dating, first time meeting and twiddling thumbs. After being match made, showing the awkward mishaps between two social rejects with very high standards. “Is that a 6 pack? I think not.” Images can be deceiving.
- - - - - - - - - - -
This project was based on the conversation between Tom Waits and Iggy Pop in a coffee shop. Based upon the film Coffee and Cigarrettes - Somewhere in California, it's an old fashioned themed black and white short film. The conversation consists of two gentlemen having a rather awkward-to-watch conversation whilst smoking cigarrettes and drinking coffee. Oh the irony. The film was directed by Jim Jarmusch in 1993. This short film would eventually be the third part of an eleven-piece production, all of which were shot in black and white.
Our idea of this production would be based upon a Blind Date. We had to make our video as real as possible and something that happens in every day life, therefore we needed two pretty good actresses. Jade and Katie were the two people that appeared in the production, and they were on the blind date. Jade dressed up as a man, whereas Katie a woman. The slight twist in the story was that Katie had thought the guy she was meeting was a hunky heart throb with a six pack, but when she walked in, the man couldn't have been any different.
 |
| Jade dressed as a man! |
We chose our setting to be in a realistic environment of two people to have a blind date in. A cafe across the road from our studio kindly lent us their upstairs room for 90 minutes to film. This meant we were on a strict time limit and had to be done and out by 11.30am. We began by shooting a few of Jade's shots first, (the man), and then chose to shoot a few of Katie's shots, (the woman). This is because, as a single camera production, it was more time consuming to move the camera every time we wanted to take a different shot. As a group, we decided to shoot it like this as it would be less time consuming.
Overall, I think our production turned out really well. We used the sound from the camera as oppose to hiring out a separate microphone, as the atmosphere and noise in the cafe was only us, with a little bit of backing music. The only problem we came across was that the music in the background kept changing from shot to shot, so when we edited it all together, there were different songs. We came to a solution in the end put our own chosen music over the top. I think this worked quite well.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: The Coffee Cup
Editing our production was a pretty straight forward process as all we had to do was put the shots together in the right order. We found that the sound turned out better than we expected, so we didn't have to play with the volume or anything. The lighting was also a big bonus as we chose a table situated in front of a large window, and this really helped.
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| The Edit Decision List |
The Edit Decision List is a compile of all of the different edits we did to end the production on a high. The file name, time frame and description of all of the shots had to be in this work log to achieve the best possible outcome.
Overall, I really enjoyed this production and feel as if we worked well as a team. The filming went really well and both Jade and Katie did an amazing job in front of the camera. There were a few sections in which me and Naomi decided to remove the camera from the tripod as it would be easier to film, and this would result in me holding the camera, as I have a more steady hand compared to Naomi.
 |
| Three shots we took free hand |
We decided to take these shots free hand as the positing of the tripod would've been a complete mess. The close-up shot of Jade involved me sitting on a chair next to Katie. I think shots always look a bit more in depth and natural if they're taken with a free hand as it's almost a form of point-of-view. The second shot looks like a simple layout, but it was more complexed. I sat in Jade's seat, and she held the menu in shot whilst looking at the footage next to me. It was pretty uncomfortable but it turned out okay. In this shot, I also had to keep aware of the focusing and positioning of the camera. I had to twist the lens to be sure that when I needed Katie to be in focus, she was, and when I needed the menu to be in focus, that was too.
I look forward to doing another single camera production in an environment outside of college as it gives it a little more warmth and makes it more unique to film in an outside space, rather than within the college walls.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
A Script Writing Masterclass
On Wednesday 27th November, the thing I was least expecting was to walk into class and not hear my tutor, Tim, speak a word for approximately 90 minutes. He began typing a script and we all had to follow the script. If it said ''class jump'', we had to jump. If it said ''pretend there's a hurricane'', we had to pretend there was a hurricane. It was pretty intense at times because he then began choosing people to get up and follow the script in actions at the front of the class.
After it finished, we had to write our own script. The decision was ours as to if we made Tim's script into more of a layout-ed document, or completely made our own.
As I wasn't too confident on writing a script, I decided to make Tim's look like a script, using the correct layout. We had to use a particular font, Courier, in a size 12. This is what professional script writers use in television and film.
I made a few changes to Tim's original script as I did not have enough time to make the whole thing a detailed and well-written document. I did however enjoy writing this script, and it has given me knowledge I didn't know before. I now know what font to use, and what size, and a basic layout of writing a professional script.
After it finished, we had to write our own script. The decision was ours as to if we made Tim's script into more of a layout-ed document, or completely made our own.
As I wasn't too confident on writing a script, I decided to make Tim's look like a script, using the correct layout. We had to use a particular font, Courier, in a size 12. This is what professional script writers use in television and film.
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| My very random script |
I made a few changes to Tim's original script as I did not have enough time to make the whole thing a detailed and well-written document. I did however enjoy writing this script, and it has given me knowledge I didn't know before. I now know what font to use, and what size, and a basic layout of writing a professional script.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Documenting The Doing #13: In The Third
I guess you could say that this production was the sister to In The First, which is the exact same concept but in the first person's perspective. The blog is available to read here:
http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/documenting-doing-12-in-first.html.
This production was handed to us in the perception of it has to be the same concept as our In The First project, except this time, it will be in the third person's perspective. I found that it was easier to shoot and produce within the third person perspective, than it was the first person's perspective. I think this is because it came from an outsiders point of view and the camera didn't have to keep switching to dramatically different places, it just had to be moved to a different angle.
Whilst we were filming our production, we found it went very successfully. We opted to use to boom mic again as this really improved the sound of our previous video, In The First. I feel like the interview went much better than the previous one, as this was more of a generic conversation between myself and my colleague, Naomi Doddridge. It was only when we came to editing the footage, we realised we were in serious trouble. As we filmed in the ceramics room, it was a very echoey environment. There was also another group filming behind us, and their production included a lot of noise and chair-scraping, which we found very hard to work with. We were on a time limit and couldn't think of anywhere else to go, as the corridor we filmed in before was a nightmare.
http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/documenting-doing-12-in-first.html.
This production was handed to us in the perception of it has to be the same concept as our In The First project, except this time, it will be in the third person's perspective. I found that it was easier to shoot and produce within the third person perspective, than it was the first person's perspective. I think this is because it came from an outsiders point of view and the camera didn't have to keep switching to dramatically different places, it just had to be moved to a different angle.
 |
| The Third Person Perspective - an outsider looking in |
Whilst we were filming our production, we found it went very successfully. We opted to use to boom mic again as this really improved the sound of our previous video, In The First. I feel like the interview went much better than the previous one, as this was more of a generic conversation between myself and my colleague, Naomi Doddridge. It was only when we came to editing the footage, we realised we were in serious trouble. As we filmed in the ceramics room, it was a very echoey environment. There was also another group filming behind us, and their production included a lot of noise and chair-scraping, which we found very hard to work with. We were on a time limit and couldn't think of anywhere else to go, as the corridor we filmed in before was a nightmare.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: In The Third
When it came to editing, as I stated before, the sound was just a no no. It was a complete disaster. You could hear the other group more than you could hear us, which was a real shame because I feel my acting skills had improved.
Although our editing didn't go as well as planned, we have all, as a group, learnt from this. We have learnt to think about our environment more and plan our shooting locations, and if they will interact well with our props and more importantly, our recording equipment. I am gutted about how the footage turned out, but I guess not every video is going to be perfect!
BLOOPERS REEL: In The Third Interview
Once again, we made a few mistakes and there were a few moments of madness. I made a bloopers reel! Click the link above, but make sure your volume is turned up as it's pretty quiet due to the sound failure!
I have learnt from my mistakes during this production and in future, I will remember these. For every problem, everyone must solutionate to have the best possible outcome in everything they do.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Mise En Scène
A half-a-day challenge led us to individually describing what we thought was happening in four scenes. This is called a Mise En Scène. It is an expression used to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production, which essentially means 'visual theme' or 'telling a story' - both in visually artful ways through story-boarding, cinematography and stage design, and in poetically artful ways through direction. Mis-en-scène has been called film critism's 'grand undefined term'.
Scene 1 seems like a simple-themed but there's much more depth when you read in between the lines of props, layout and body language. The first thing that is noticed in this shot is the body language of both the man and the woman. They both have the same posture with the typical hands-on-head language which shows a sign of anxiousness and stress, perhaps? The other feature I noticed almost immediately was the expensive looking necklace on the table, facing towards the man (i.e. bottom of necklace closest to him). This, to me, shows a sign of betrayal that the man has caused against the woman. My theory is the woman found the necklace, then discovered it didn't belong to her, and had an instant assumption that the man was having an affair with another woman.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Scene 2 has a lot more going on within the background of the scene as opposed to the foreground. Our main focus in this scene is the woman standing on the left hand side. Her facial expression shows she is a little shocked and apprehensive, almost as if she's waiting for something, or it has already happened. Maybe she's seen something? This particular element of the scene can be seen in so many different ways when reviewing. I personally think this is the woman that the man seen in Scene 1 is having the affair with.
This is the final scene and this links up all of my theories that I have given. To me, this woman looks like the same woman in Scene 2. The dark and dingy surroundings show that this is perhaps a secret hideaway in which these two go to do their thing, and have the affair. With the woman appearing to be in nightwear, and the man is suited very scruffily, this almost shows that it's the 'morning after' they did their shenanigans.
 |
| Scene 1 |
Scene 1 seems like a simple-themed but there's much more depth when you read in between the lines of props, layout and body language. The first thing that is noticed in this shot is the body language of both the man and the woman. They both have the same posture with the typical hands-on-head language which shows a sign of anxiousness and stress, perhaps? The other feature I noticed almost immediately was the expensive looking necklace on the table, facing towards the man (i.e. bottom of necklace closest to him). This, to me, shows a sign of betrayal that the man has caused against the woman. My theory is the woman found the necklace, then discovered it didn't belong to her, and had an instant assumption that the man was having an affair with another woman.
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| The French Flag layout defined |
This is shot is also laid out with a French flag like template. There are 3 main sections within the scene that are split up into 3 columns. Section 1 is the man, section 2 is the centre of the table where all of the props are based, and section 3 is the woman. This gives the audience 3 main areas to focus on.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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| Scene 2 |
Scene 2 has a lot more going on within the background of the scene as opposed to the foreground. Our main focus in this scene is the woman standing on the left hand side. Her facial expression shows she is a little shocked and apprehensive, almost as if she's waiting for something, or it has already happened. Maybe she's seen something? This particular element of the scene can be seen in so many different ways when reviewing. I personally think this is the woman that the man seen in Scene 1 is having the affair with.
Focusing more on the background, we see a young boy at a desk or table fiddling with the props on it. With the woman being so close to the camera, she almost looks like a shield to whoever is in the background. The camera angle is slightly looking up at her showing that she's a hero and she's made to look larger than normal.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My opinion with this scene is simple. This is clearly the same woman as the one in Scene 1, and I then described that I thought she had just discovered her husband was cheating on her. Her body language shows she is slightly nervous and apprehensive of her surroundings and is slightly bewildered on what to do. She's making the audience watching feel for her - which gives an emotional connection between us and her. The way she's looking down on to the bed perhaps shows that she found her husband having an affair with another woman, and caught them in the act on this bed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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| Scene 3 |
My opinion with this scene is simple. This is clearly the same woman as the one in Scene 1, and I then described that I thought she had just discovered her husband was cheating on her. Her body language shows she is slightly nervous and apprehensive of her surroundings and is slightly bewildered on what to do. She's making the audience watching feel for her - which gives an emotional connection between us and her. The way she's looking down on to the bed perhaps shows that she found her husband having an affair with another woman, and caught them in the act on this bed.
The lighting in this scene appears to be quite simple. With the light on the table behind her, it makes her face seem a lot darker than everything else, which gives us a tense and mysterious atmosphere to deal with during this scene. Also, with the lights being on in the first place, it shows that this scene is portrayed as being night-time. Linking this with the apprehensive-looking woman - it could show that she is about to go to bed, but doesn't want to sleep in this bed as it's where she found her husband with another woman.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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| Scene 4 |
This is the final scene and this links up all of my theories that I have given. To me, this woman looks like the same woman in Scene 2. The dark and dingy surroundings show that this is perhaps a secret hideaway in which these two go to do their thing, and have the affair. With the woman appearing to be in nightwear, and the man is suited very scruffily, this almost shows that it's the 'morning after' they did their shenanigans.
Focusing more on the body language now; the woman looks very nervous and guilty. The man, however, looks very surprised and shocked with how the woman has reacted. My instant thoughts on this scene is that the man has just told the woman that his wife, (pictured in Scenes 1 and 3) had discovered her necklace (on table in Scene 1) and now the woman in this scene is feeling very guilty.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
My overall view:
The four scenes tie together quite nicely with the way I reviewed them. My final theory is that the man is having an affair with another woman, and got caught by his wife, who found a mysterious necklace in her bedroom.
Who the affair woman was? We will never know. However, Scene 2 shows a child. Perhaps she was a baby sitter for the husband and wife's child, and that's how she met the husband?
The scenes overall show a dark and dingy atmosphere with the slightly vintage twist, with the curly hair and older-fashioned ornaments (especially in Scenes 1 and 3).
I actually really enjoyed doing this quick review. It shows that I have more of a creative mind than I thought I did, and that pictures speak a thousand words.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Documenting The Doing #12: In The First
First Person Perspective is a film technique that shoots entirely from the ''eyes'' of the character. This way, it captures the emotion of the character more for the audience. By affecting the audience's point of view, it puts the audience in the right frame of mind to capture the essence and role of the character, giving them a deeper connection. Using the first person perspective also gives the production crew a wider variety of shots that they are able to use, as most shots won't last as long, because people don't tend to stand dead still for very long.
I worked with my colleagues Naomi Doddridge and Lauren Walke to create our own rendition of a first person perspective. Instead of choosing the typical tension and fear emotion that is most common, we chose to host an interview. Naomi would interview me, and I would be the 'celebrity'.
We began by planning the production very thoroughly with a lot of thought and style within our production stamps. We worked together as a group to create the best production plan we possibly could as we knew this particular project was vital for our end-of-assessment grade.
Production Lists:
- Shot list
- Equipment list
- Risk assessment
- Storyboard
- Synopsis
Synopsis: ''We aim for our production to be approximately 1 minute 30 seconds long, Naomi will be asking Olivia questions as if she is interviewing her, and Lauren will be operating the camera and positioning it to create different moods, depending on the subject of the question. Throughout the short film, we will have a different range of medium and close-up shots of the interviewer and interviewee to create some personalities for them.''
When it came to filming, we struggled to find a suitable place to set the interview. No matter where we went, there was always background noise or people walking past. We tried outside the canteen, in reception and in the ceramics room (which is a big open space). None of these were successful so in the end we ended up outside of our studio. Looking back, this probably wasn't the best place to sit as there were a number of people walking in and out of our studio, but we made do and got on with it.
Our filming technique changed a few times due to the circumstances of where we were situated, but in the end we all finally settled on an agreement. As the scenes set-up was a small table with two chairs either side, it would be quite tricky to keep moving the camera from place to place to take either mine or Naomi's place. The easiest and most productive way to film was to shoot Naomi asking about five questions in one bulk, then shoot me answering them in another bulk. This saved a load of time and worked really well.
As there were so many shots taken and people walking past, we had quite a lot of bloopers. I decided to make a separate video to display these as they were absolutely priceless. It was such a funny process and I just feel like it's an honour to share it on this blog!
I worked with my colleagues Naomi Doddridge and Lauren Walke to create our own rendition of a first person perspective. Instead of choosing the typical tension and fear emotion that is most common, we chose to host an interview. Naomi would interview me, and I would be the 'celebrity'.
We began by planning the production very thoroughly with a lot of thought and style within our production stamps. We worked together as a group to create the best production plan we possibly could as we knew this particular project was vital for our end-of-assessment grade.
Production Lists:
- Shot list
- Equipment list
- Risk assessment
- Storyboard
- Synopsis
 |
| Storyboard, Shot List, Equipment List, Risk Assessment and Synopsis |
Synopsis: ''We aim for our production to be approximately 1 minute 30 seconds long, Naomi will be asking Olivia questions as if she is interviewing her, and Lauren will be operating the camera and positioning it to create different moods, depending on the subject of the question. Throughout the short film, we will have a different range of medium and close-up shots of the interviewer and interviewee to create some personalities for them.''
When it came to filming, we struggled to find a suitable place to set the interview. No matter where we went, there was always background noise or people walking past. We tried outside the canteen, in reception and in the ceramics room (which is a big open space). None of these were successful so in the end we ended up outside of our studio. Looking back, this probably wasn't the best place to sit as there were a number of people walking in and out of our studio, but we made do and got on with it.
Our filming technique changed a few times due to the circumstances of where we were situated, but in the end we all finally settled on an agreement. As the scenes set-up was a small table with two chairs either side, it would be quite tricky to keep moving the camera from place to place to take either mine or Naomi's place. The easiest and most productive way to film was to shoot Naomi asking about five questions in one bulk, then shoot me answering them in another bulk. This saved a load of time and worked really well.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: In The First Interview
I feel as if our production went really well. There were a number of different elements we used to make it more challenging for us as a group. We actually hired out a boom mic! We weren't 100% sure on how to use it, but as a team, we made it work. This came in really handy as the camera microphone isn't particularly loud - and neither me or Naomi were keen on shouting at each other, just so the sound would be okay.
Editing the production together was actually quite difficult. As above, we weren't 100% sure how to use the attaching mic, and this unfortunately meant that our sound recordings weren't connected to the video footage. This meant we had to match the sound and videos together, i.e. lip sync. This added an enormous amount of time to the editing as it took us a while to match it all up, but in the end we did it. I think it looks pretty genuine in the final production!
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| A quick shot of our set up |
As there were so many shots taken and people walking past, we had quite a lot of bloopers. I decided to make a separate video to display these as they were absolutely priceless. It was such a funny process and I just feel like it's an honour to share it on this blog!
I really enjoyed this project and I think my colleagues, Naomi and Lauren did too. We had a right laugh filming it and it gave me a real insight in how to film a short movie in the first person perspective. I hope we do another movie in this perspective throughout this course as I would love to improve this and see the differences I have gained with experience.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Review: Ratatat - Drugs
Well, what can I say? Yet another hard-to-watch video from the director and producer, Carl Burgess. I'll give him his credit, it's pretty cool how he produces the track to interact in collision with the video. There are many segments within this production that are fascinating to the eye, and I only noticed them from when I watched the video for about the 7th time.
Throughout this video we see a selection of emotions being portrayed from a wide variety of people. Some older, some younger, male, female, groups. Pretty much every emotion possible is in the production.
I noticed when I was doing the screen shots above that the camera angle changes during a distinctive emotion. The more happier people seem to be as a medium shot, and the people looking more content, upset or angry seem to have an extreme close up shot. I think this is because happiness is easy to spot, whereas people will need to study more into what other emotions are. The cheesy smiles would be too much to handle if they were close to the camera, like the woman in the middle-left photo. Too close, too close.
Throughout this video we see a selection of emotions being portrayed from a wide variety of people. Some older, some younger, male, female, groups. Pretty much every emotion possible is in the production.
Ratatat - Drugs
In this production, all of the characters were allowed to keep their own clothes on, as opposed to being given them by the production crew. With this, you can see that they are 100% being themselves and I think this is a great thing to portray when you are giving away your emotions.
Another thing that is quite a discreet yet effective edit throughout the production is the slight hint of smoke being blown behind them. This gives the video that little bit of depth that we don't normally see with this kind of layout. I think it's really creative that Burgess has done this and I really admire him for that. When doing my own edit for this video we did in class, I also put a slight smoke effect in the background and it really made the video look special. My video is available to view here: https://vimeo.com/79204083
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| Screen caps of the production |
I noticed when I was doing the screen shots above that the camera angle changes during a distinctive emotion. The more happier people seem to be as a medium shot, and the people looking more content, upset or angry seem to have an extreme close up shot. I think this is because happiness is easy to spot, whereas people will need to study more into what other emotions are. The cheesy smiles would be too much to handle if they were close to the camera, like the woman in the middle-left photo. Too close, too close.
Overall, I think this video is edited and created very well. Carl Burgess did an excellent job at displaying people's emotions and feelings in the most creative and dignified way possible.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Documenting The Doing #11: More Soon
All I can say is thank heavens our class have personalities and an amazing sense of humour. Without those two traits, this project would've been a disaster.
We had to create Carl Burgess (More Soon)'s 'Ratatat - Drugs'. This pretty much consisted of the whole class individually (sometimes in pairs or 3s) standing in front of a camera, performing a chosen expression which would fit within the mood board that More Soon had created.
We were all given the option to bring in an object that meant a lot to us so we could use it in our shot for the production. Some people decided to use them, whereas others opted for the cheesy-focusing-on-the-face side. We all had to do 2 shots each that lasted 10 seconds, and we could make it our own. We got to choose the emotion, and the lighting of the shot as we would do our best to make it fit with the emotion, (e.g. darker light for angry/sad and bright light for happiness/laughter).
When it came to my part of the production, I became really anxious and nervous. I did not, for the life of me, want to be in front of that camera. I felt so embarrassed and apprehensive to the extent where I was almost in tears. I really didn't like it. Thankfully, the amazing Katie offered to do my shots for me. I had to choose her expressions and lighting as they were still classed as my personal shots, it's just she was on camera for me. (Seriously Katie, thank you.)
As you can see from the shots above, when I chose for Katie to be angry, I made the lighting very dark so her face didn't have much light reflecting off of it. This way, it really captures the atmosphere correctly and I'm really happy with how this shot came out. The happy shot (left), I positioned the light so it was on the left hand side of the shot as this reflects the sun. Sunshine = happiness.
We had to create Carl Burgess (More Soon)'s 'Ratatat - Drugs'. This pretty much consisted of the whole class individually (sometimes in pairs or 3s) standing in front of a camera, performing a chosen expression which would fit within the mood board that More Soon had created.
 |
| More Soon's mood board |
We were all given the option to bring in an object that meant a lot to us so we could use it in our shot for the production. Some people decided to use them, whereas others opted for the cheesy-focusing-on-the-face side. We all had to do 2 shots each that lasted 10 seconds, and we could make it our own. We got to choose the emotion, and the lighting of the shot as we would do our best to make it fit with the emotion, (e.g. darker light for angry/sad and bright light for happiness/laughter).
When it came to my part of the production, I became really anxious and nervous. I did not, for the life of me, want to be in front of that camera. I felt so embarrassed and apprehensive to the extent where I was almost in tears. I really didn't like it. Thankfully, the amazing Katie offered to do my shots for me. I had to choose her expressions and lighting as they were still classed as my personal shots, it's just she was on camera for me. (Seriously Katie, thank you.)
 |
| Katie The Great |
As you can see from the shots above, when I chose for Katie to be angry, I made the lighting very dark so her face didn't have much light reflecting off of it. This way, it really captures the atmosphere correctly and I'm really happy with how this shot came out. The happy shot (left), I positioned the light so it was on the left hand side of the shot as this reflects the sun. Sunshine = happiness.
When it came to editing the production together, it took longer than I thought. There were 2 shots for every person, and this meant 100 shots in total. Importing them and sorting them in Adobe Premier Pro was a bit of a headache, as I kept on getting confused with who I'd included in the final take and who I hadn't. Whilst I was watching the recorded footage back, I decided I wanted to make a bloopers reel as I found some pretty funny bits that couldn't be missed.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: More Soon - Ratatat: Drugs
I really enjoyed editing this production as I think that getting the whole group involved in the large project was a perfect bonding point, and it really made us feel happy because it was absolutely hilarious to edit.
If I had to choose one thing that I would do differently, it would be the approach I had towards the editing of the whole production. Whenever I watch it back, it seems like I just plonked a load of 10 second clips together without thinking about putting them in synchronicity with the music beat, volume and speed.
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| More Soon expressions by this wonderful bunch |
Overall, I really enjoyed this production and I thought it was one of the best of this whole assignment. Editing it was just pure joy and I hope we do one like this again in future months.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Review: Kap Bambino - Obsess
Burgess has been involved in a number of productions during his active years as a director and there is one in particular I wish to talk about. Kap Bambino - Obsess is a music video that involves expressive cheesiness from different people.
Kap Bambino - Obsess
Throughout this video we see a number of people with different expressions on their faces. It begins with couples hugging and the faces on camera looking very sympathetic and slightly confused.
The whole production itself is very simple and it seems it would be quite a low budget project. There are a number of different elements which add dimension to the video, such as the low-key smoke in the background. This adds a little drama and tension between the actors and actresses throughout the film, and it's an effective movie feature that not everyone will notice if watching this for the first time. The characteristics of each person in the video are portrayed by their choice of clothing and first initial facial expression we see when it cuts to their shot.
I think the concept of this production as a whole is to portray the in depth emotions of different people. We see a mix of people from older men to younger women - all doing different expressions to bring their twist to the video. There are also a few random moments within the production where cars get scratched and smashed, and a bowling ball landing on a plate of food and drink. All of these segments happen when the music is at its lowest point in terms of pitch, and other times when the music beat drops, yet it's still loud.
I also like the way this video has been edited in synchronicity with the beat, volume and speed of the music. When quiet music is played, we see emotions of sadness and contentment. When loud music is played, we see emotions of anger and stress. When the beat of the music drops from high to low, we see the destruction of people and objects (like middle-right photo in above collage).
Overall, I really like this production. I think it's a very clever way of showing the different emotions and portraying them in a way nobody has ever seen before. My favourite part of the video is how the emotions link with the music because I think this is a very unique way of editing. It's clear this is a pretty low budget production as not many props or production antics have been used - but I think the directors and producers made the most of what they had a created a successful video.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
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| Screen caps of the production - very random! |
I think the concept of this production as a whole is to portray the in depth emotions of different people. We see a mix of people from older men to younger women - all doing different expressions to bring their twist to the video. There are also a few random moments within the production where cars get scratched and smashed, and a bowling ball landing on a plate of food and drink. All of these segments happen when the music is at its lowest point in terms of pitch, and other times when the music beat drops, yet it's still loud.
I also like the way this video has been edited in synchronicity with the beat, volume and speed of the music. When quiet music is played, we see emotions of sadness and contentment. When loud music is played, we see emotions of anger and stress. When the beat of the music drops from high to low, we see the destruction of people and objects (like middle-right photo in above collage).
Overall, I really like this production. I think it's a very clever way of showing the different emotions and portraying them in a way nobody has ever seen before. My favourite part of the video is how the emotions link with the music because I think this is a very unique way of editing. It's clear this is a pretty low budget production as not many props or production antics have been used - but I think the directors and producers made the most of what they had a created a successful video.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://www.promonews.tv/videos/2011/07/15/kap-bambino-obsess-carl-burgess - accessed on 5th-Dec-2013
More Soon aka Carl Burgess
The staple reference More Soon originated from a particular video that Carl didn't get round to finishing, and he stated in an interview that there will be 'more soon'.
More Soon, also known as Carl Burgess, is a film maker and artist who's work is full of surrealism, absurd-ismand the abstract appeal found in mutating, shimmering forms. As a designer and director based in London, Carl works in expanding areas of creative productions, such as; sculpture, design, illustration and film. Carl's versatile approach is united by strong, visual and creation, giving the flexibility to work on a wide range of projects and productions from large scale commercials to small, independent briefs.
Carl Burgess was involved in a number of productions for big names such as Mercedes, Nike and Kenzo. His productions bring something very unique to the advertising spectrum and this is why he has such a wide range of audience members. An example of Carl's work for Kenzo Fashion is shown below:-
An interview with Carl Burgess allowed us to take an insight into how the idea for this advertisement came about:
Q: How did the idea behind 'Marble Punch' come about?
Carl's answer: "We started from the print patterns which we absolutely loved. We were fascinated by the idea to create an environment directly inspired by the prints in which the clothes would blend in or be in some kind of dialog to the rest of the scene. We imagined this powerful woman walking through this environment crushing and smashing things."
Throughout all of Carl Burgess' productions, there has been a sense of mischief and cheesiness about them, and that is partly the reason that they're all so unique. Burgess once stated in an interview with thecreatorsproject - questioning his mischief:
Q: There's often a sense of mischief in your work, what draws you towards it?
Carl's answer: ''I suppose there is a bit of mischief going on in my work. It's not really intentional, I think it naturally just works its way out during the creative process. I don't like my work to be too dry; and I always think a touch of humour helps make your work more accessible.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Looking at all of Carl Burgess' productions, I really like the way he works. I think his productions are so crisp and smooth, with a touch of elegance and pure class. My personal favourite is one of Carl's productions called 'Advanced Beauty'. It's quite a slow moving video however I really like the movement and authenticity of the whole production.
The sound used in this video matches all of the features that a visually active within the design of the features. The naturalistic sound effects seem to have been edited in a program to make some echo and some a lot more dense and sharp.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/carl-burgess/a/550/b97 - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.thefoxisblack.com/2008/12/06/more-soon-aka-carl-burgess/ - accessed on 12-Nov-2013
http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/2628-more-soon - accessed on 12-Nov-2013
http://butdoesitfloat.com/filter/carl-burgess - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.sundancechannel.com/blog/2010/06/carl-burgess - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662128/carl-burgess-director-of-the-years-creepiest-coolest-music-video - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/carl-burgess-is-gonna-find-you-and-take-it-slowly - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
http://motionographer.com/2008/03/26/more-soon-now/ - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
https://www.kenzo.com/en/blog/carl-burgess-thomas-traum-marble-punch_5962/ - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
More Soon, also known as Carl Burgess, is a film maker and artist who's work is full of surrealism, absurd-ismand the abstract appeal found in mutating, shimmering forms. As a designer and director based in London, Carl works in expanding areas of creative productions, such as; sculpture, design, illustration and film. Carl's versatile approach is united by strong, visual and creation, giving the flexibility to work on a wide range of projects and productions from large scale commercials to small, independent briefs.
Carl Burgess was involved in a number of productions for big names such as Mercedes, Nike and Kenzo. His productions bring something very unique to the advertising spectrum and this is why he has such a wide range of audience members. An example of Carl's work for Kenzo Fashion is shown below:-
'Marble Punch' for Kenzo - directed by Carl Burgess
An interview with Carl Burgess allowed us to take an insight into how the idea for this advertisement came about:
Q: How did the idea behind 'Marble Punch' come about?
Carl's answer: "We started from the print patterns which we absolutely loved. We were fascinated by the idea to create an environment directly inspired by the prints in which the clothes would blend in or be in some kind of dialog to the rest of the scene. We imagined this powerful woman walking through this environment crushing and smashing things."
Throughout all of Carl Burgess' productions, there has been a sense of mischief and cheesiness about them, and that is partly the reason that they're all so unique. Burgess once stated in an interview with thecreatorsproject - questioning his mischief:
Q: There's often a sense of mischief in your work, what draws you towards it?
Carl's answer: ''I suppose there is a bit of mischief going on in my work. It's not really intentional, I think it naturally just works its way out during the creative process. I don't like my work to be too dry; and I always think a touch of humour helps make your work more accessible.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Looking at all of Carl Burgess' productions, I really like the way he works. I think his productions are so crisp and smooth, with a touch of elegance and pure class. My personal favourite is one of Carl's productions called 'Advanced Beauty'. It's quite a slow moving video however I really like the movement and authenticity of the whole production.
The sound used in this video matches all of the features that a visually active within the design of the features. The naturalistic sound effects seem to have been edited in a program to make some echo and some a lot more dense and sharp.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/carl-burgess/a/550/b97 - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.thefoxisblack.com/2008/12/06/more-soon-aka-carl-burgess/ - accessed on 12-Nov-2013
http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/2628-more-soon - accessed on 12-Nov-2013
http://butdoesitfloat.com/filter/carl-burgess - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.sundancechannel.com/blog/2010/06/carl-burgess - accessed on 12th-Nov-2013
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662128/carl-burgess-director-of-the-years-creepiest-coolest-music-video - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/carl-burgess-is-gonna-find-you-and-take-it-slowly - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
http://motionographer.com/2008/03/26/more-soon-now/ - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
https://www.kenzo.com/en/blog/carl-burgess-thomas-traum-marble-punch_5962/ - accessed on 13th-Nov-2013
Monday, 11 November 2013
Documenting The Doing #10: Technicolour Yawn
Technicolour Yawn? Another word for vomit, basically. This weeks production was to film a member of the group pretending to be sick everywhere and we would have to Photoshop the contents of the vomit in for the final production. For once, this video was about the editing rather than the filming, which I was really looking forward to as I prefer to edit than film. We were shown an example of a Technicolour Yawn created by a few Japanese students and this was the inspiration behind the project. We had to use our own creative minds to decide what type of 'vomit' we'd do.
(Without blowing my own trumpet, I kind of know Photoshop like the back of my hand so this production and the editing concept was right up my street.)
We had to go into small groups as it was this video was more about the editing that the filming. We filmed with a Canon 600D and a tripod. It was quite a straight forward filming process as the footage was only about 10 seconds long.
I was in a pair with Lauren, and we really wanted to be different and step out of our comfort zones and create the vomit to the best of our ability. We're both really in to the Marvel films, and seeing as this was just a quick project, we'd make the vomit different segments of Marvel. I began with importing the photos from Google Images into photoshop. I tried my best to find images that had either a transparent or white background so it would be easier to cut out the characters. I used the magic wand tool to delete the white background so it would be clearer and more professional in the final production.
When we had deleted the backgrounds on the images that needed editing, we began creating the final animation. We had to individually insert the images one-by-one, and each frame we had to make them move slightly, so they would eventually end up off of the screen come the end of the production. The elements of the whole production were to spin in opposite directions to make it all look very random, and I think we achieved that in some respects.
(Without blowing my own trumpet, I kind of know Photoshop like the back of my hand so this production and the editing concept was right up my street.)
We had to go into small groups as it was this video was more about the editing that the filming. We filmed with a Canon 600D and a tripod. It was quite a straight forward filming process as the footage was only about 10 seconds long.
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| Screen caps of 3 stages throughout our Technicolour Yawn |
I was in a pair with Lauren, and we really wanted to be different and step out of our comfort zones and create the vomit to the best of our ability. We're both really in to the Marvel films, and seeing as this was just a quick project, we'd make the vomit different segments of Marvel. I began with importing the photos from Google Images into photoshop. I tried my best to find images that had either a transparent or white background so it would be easier to cut out the characters. I used the magic wand tool to delete the white background so it would be clearer and more professional in the final production.
 |
| Editing the original images - 2 step background deleting |
When we had deleted the backgrounds on the images that needed editing, we began creating the final animation. We had to individually insert the images one-by-one, and each frame we had to make them move slightly, so they would eventually end up off of the screen come the end of the production. The elements of the whole production were to spin in opposite directions to make it all look very random, and I think we achieved that in some respects.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: TECHNICOLOUR YAWN - MARVEL THEME
Although the production as a whole took about 3 hours in total to edit, to footage was only about 5 seconds long altogether. Looking back, I should have probably imported it into Adobe Premier Pro and slowed the whole thing down a tad to make it last longer. As it was so short we decided to add the Marvel soundtrack over the top for more effective noise, and add the traditional Marvel logo at the end of the film (always seen in the Marvel films).
Overall, I really liked the concept of this production and I think if I had the chance to do it again, I would make the editing slightly less complicated so I could make the footage longer in the final production. I would also keep some of the background noise (the sound of Jade vomiting...) hearable, but fade it out a tad just so it isn't too hard.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
The Kuleshov Effect
Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov was born in 1899 and died at the age of 71 in 1970. He was a Soviet filmmaker and believed to be one of the fist film theorists for his experiments in editing.
Kuleshov believed that the truest element of film and cinema was the editing side, and the transition from one shot to another. He then because well known for his most famous piece of work, known as the Kuleshov Effect which was experimented in the 1910s and 1920s.
His original experiment used shots of the face of actor Ivan Mozzhukhin, in which the actors expression did not change. This was then edited with shots of different items that he appeared to be 'looking at', (a bowl of soup, a woman and a young girl in a coffin).
From this video, there are three emotions shown. Sadness, hunger and lust. Sadness is the point in which the actor appears to be looking at the girl, hunger is from the bowl of soup, and lust is the woman posing in a desirable manor. I think this video is really cleverly put together as I have personally never fathomed at how one expression can mean three completely different things.
Kuleshov once stated: ''During this time I created a montage experiment which came known abroad as the 'Kuleshov Effect'. I alternated the same shot of Mozzhukhin [a Tsarist matinee idol] with various other shots (a plate of soup, a girl and a child's coffin), and these shots acquired a different meaning. The discovery stunned me - so convinced was I of the enormous power of montage.''
There have been many references to the Kuleshov Effects in modern day television and film, such as Oblivion, District 9 and Star Trek, however there is an earlier example used which has become the most well known. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, an English film director and producer refers to the effects of the effect of the Kuleshov Experiment in conversation with Francois Truffant, who is an influential film director and critic.
The different emotions in this video are portrayed in a slightly different manor than the original Kuleshov Experiment. He portrays himself in two different ways; a kindly old man (with the woman and child) and a dirty old pervert (with the woman in a bikini). This is all basically proves that by cutting and alternating when editing images in a certain order, it can portray many emotions even though the emotion on a characters face remains the same.
I really like the purpose of the Kuleshov Effect as I think it's amazing how one facial expression can be a tease to the audience, all depending on what the object is that the character is facing. Unfortunately, I was absent when the class made their own variances of this experiment, however now I researched more into it, I fully understand what it is.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://emotionalcinema.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/kuleshov-effect.html - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGl3LJ7vHc - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
http://www.thekuleshoveffect.com/index/2010/1/2/the-top-16-films-of-2009.html - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
Kuleshov believed that the truest element of film and cinema was the editing side, and the transition from one shot to another. He then because well known for his most famous piece of work, known as the Kuleshov Effect which was experimented in the 1910s and 1920s.
His original experiment used shots of the face of actor Ivan Mozzhukhin, in which the actors expression did not change. This was then edited with shots of different items that he appeared to be 'looking at', (a bowl of soup, a woman and a young girl in a coffin).
Kuleshov Effect / Effetto Kuleshov
Kuleshov once stated: ''During this time I created a montage experiment which came known abroad as the 'Kuleshov Effect'. I alternated the same shot of Mozzhukhin [a Tsarist matinee idol] with various other shots (a plate of soup, a girl and a child's coffin), and these shots acquired a different meaning. The discovery stunned me - so convinced was I of the enormous power of montage.''
There have been many references to the Kuleshov Effects in modern day television and film, such as Oblivion, District 9 and Star Trek, however there is an earlier example used which has become the most well known. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, an English film director and producer refers to the effects of the effect of the Kuleshov Experiment in conversation with Francois Truffant, who is an influential film director and critic.
Hitchcock Loves Bikinis
The different emotions in this video are portrayed in a slightly different manor than the original Kuleshov Experiment. He portrays himself in two different ways; a kindly old man (with the woman and child) and a dirty old pervert (with the woman in a bikini). This is all basically proves that by cutting and alternating when editing images in a certain order, it can portray many emotions even though the emotion on a characters face remains the same.
I really like the purpose of the Kuleshov Effect as I think it's amazing how one facial expression can be a tease to the audience, all depending on what the object is that the character is facing. Unfortunately, I was absent when the class made their own variances of this experiment, however now I researched more into it, I fully understand what it is.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
http://emotionalcinema.blogspot.co.uk/2007/09/kuleshov-effect.html - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gGl3LJ7vHc - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
http://www.thekuleshoveffect.com/index/2010/1/2/the-top-16-films-of-2009.html - accessed on 9th-Dec-2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
Documenting The Doing #9: Swish Blog
It's time for yet another quick project and this one took a lot more time to plan than we thought it would. The project as a whole was based around transitions from one shot to another.
We were shown a few examples before-hand and our group clasped the concept quite quickly and we all thought it would be quite simple to think of an idea, but we couldn't have been any more wrong. There were so many ideas flying around the studio from other groups, but we wanted to do something unique. We only had 1 day to film and edit so we were under a lot of pressure in terms of the production side. We were racking our brains to think of a funky idea but in the end we settled for jumping and landing in a different destination.
The concept of our design throughout the production was Naomi (pictured) would jump and appear to land in a different part of the building. We would then edit the individual shots together to create the effect that Naomi was transporting to different places. We understood it was a simple idea but we thought if we kept it simple, we could perfect the edit and make it look really sharp and sophisticated.
When it came to editing the production it seemed to fit together quite nicely and looked very good. We did the simple thing by cutting the clips to fit in synchronicity with each other and this was quite straight forward most of the time. The way we did this was by using the Razor and Cut tools in Adobe Premier Pro to link up all of the footage.
I really enjoyed doing this production because I enjoyed the concept of making something synchronised with a number of shots and shooting around the college. It didn't take us too long to film as it was quite a simple concept of shots to edit together. When I did my own edit, I decided against using original sounds because there were background noises that didn't exactly match to our production. Instead, I put Girls Aloud's 'Jump' song over and completely cut out the original noise that we had. Looking back on this, I wish I kept some of the original sound as it would've been effective to hear Naomi's feet landing each time.
We were shown a few examples before-hand and our group clasped the concept quite quickly and we all thought it would be quite simple to think of an idea, but we couldn't have been any more wrong. There were so many ideas flying around the studio from other groups, but we wanted to do something unique. We only had 1 day to film and edit so we were under a lot of pressure in terms of the production side. We were racking our brains to think of a funky idea but in the end we settled for jumping and landing in a different destination.
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| Naomi jumps and lands in a different place between each transition |
The concept of our design throughout the production was Naomi (pictured) would jump and appear to land in a different part of the building. We would then edit the individual shots together to create the effect that Naomi was transporting to different places. We understood it was a simple idea but we thought if we kept it simple, we could perfect the edit and make it look really sharp and sophisticated.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: SWISH BLOG - JUMP
When it came to editing the production it seemed to fit together quite nicely and looked very good. We did the simple thing by cutting the clips to fit in synchronicity with each other and this was quite straight forward most of the time. The way we did this was by using the Razor and Cut tools in Adobe Premier Pro to link up all of the footage.
 |
| Screen caps of the two main tools used to edit |
I really enjoyed doing this production because I enjoyed the concept of making something synchronised with a number of shots and shooting around the college. It didn't take us too long to film as it was quite a simple concept of shots to edit together. When I did my own edit, I decided against using original sounds because there were background noises that didn't exactly match to our production. Instead, I put Girls Aloud's 'Jump' song over and completely cut out the original noise that we had. Looking back on this, I wish I kept some of the original sound as it would've been effective to hear Naomi's feet landing each time.
Tuesday, 15 October 2013
Documenting The Doing #8: The Lone Ranger
20 shots. 4 people. 1 video. The Lone Ranger was all about producing a single camera film and we could only shoot 20 shots; no more, no less.
Me, my colleagues and our roles -
Olivia Searle: Camera Operator
Naomi Doddridge: Victim (actress)
Scott Friday: Villain (actor)
Lauren Walke: Floor Manager
Planning the production was a bit harder than we expected because we didn't know how to cram a horror film into just 20 shots. It seems like a lot but when you go to plan it, it really isn't. We had a mixture of long shots, medium shots, points of view, close ups and over-the-shoulder shots. Looking back, we did have quite a variety of shots and they all came together really sleekly in the final video.
We didn't hire out too many pieces of equipment as we were sure we were going to use a soundtrack to go over the top. This is because no members of the group were comfortable using extra sound equipment, as we didn't know how to edit it all together just yet. In the end, we hired out a camera (Canon 600D) and a tripod.
There were a collection of shots in particular which I thought worked really well when we edited them together. A section in which Naomi is running from off camera at the outside corridor to the door at the top was shot to look like a multi-camera shot. Half way through when she is running, we cut it, and shoot the scene from a different angle to give it more depth and style. This segment can be seen at 0.15-0.20 seconds in the film, (link above). The other section of the film I liked was the 'doors' scene in which Naomi is running from the masked character, trying to find a hiding place. Like the other scene, we cut the shots so they were in sync with each other to give it more edge and make it more professional. This segment can be seen 0.38-0.42 seconds.
We began the day by choosing our own groups and selecting a theme for our production. As we had to use at least one long shot and one extreme close up, we thought a horror would be ideal. Finding a theme to use as a horror was quite a challenge as we didn't come prepared with props or costumes as we didn't know what we were doing. It was by a complete coincidence we found a white mask in the studio from a previous production we did, and we were all set to go.
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| The Mask we used for our 'The Lone Ranger' recreation |
Planning the production was a bit harder than we expected because we didn't know how to cram a horror film into just 20 shots. It seems like a lot but when you go to plan it, it really isn't. We had a mixture of long shots, medium shots, points of view, close ups and over-the-shoulder shots. Looking back, we did have quite a variety of shots and they all came together really sleekly in the final video.
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| Our shot list (L), and scenario we had to follow (R) |
We didn't hire out too many pieces of equipment as we were sure we were going to use a soundtrack to go over the top. This is because no members of the group were comfortable using extra sound equipment, as we didn't know how to edit it all together just yet. In the end, we hired out a camera (Canon 600D) and a tripod.
The beginning shot was set in stone; we knew we wanted to film it in the ceramics room. This room has good lighting and we were sure this would match with the first shot, which was an extreme close up of Naomi's eyes. This would capture the mood of the video as we wanted to make the audience feel apprehensive (in the nicest way possible!) about what Naomi was looking at. The shots from then on-wards were a mixture of different angles. I thought the way the production turned out was really good considering it was on a weather-watch day, our timing's were brilliant. It was a cloudy and windy day to the atmosphere was set automatically.
OUR FINAL PRODUCTION: The Lone Ranger - The Mask
Editing the video consisted of importing all of the shots in to Adobe Premier Pro and choosing the ones that came out best. We filmed most of our shots twice so we had a selection to choose from, and we found this to be very helpful as there were quite a few errors in some shots. Some had reflections of the camera operator, others just didn't look right and the lighting was all out (with outside shots).
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| Some of my favourite shots |
There were a collection of shots in particular which I thought worked really well when we edited them together. A section in which Naomi is running from off camera at the outside corridor to the door at the top was shot to look like a multi-camera shot. Half way through when she is running, we cut it, and shoot the scene from a different angle to give it more depth and style. This segment can be seen at 0.15-0.20 seconds in the film, (link above). The other section of the film I liked was the 'doors' scene in which Naomi is running from the masked character, trying to find a hiding place. Like the other scene, we cut the shots so they were in sync with each other to give it more edge and make it more professional. This segment can be seen 0.38-0.42 seconds.
I really liked being on the camera for this production as it gave me an insight of how single camera films are put together and created. We would've liked it to turn in to a horror but it ended up being a comedy because of the sound effects we used. The production as a whole went really well and we all worked together as a team and pulled it off.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
Wednesday, 9 October 2013
Review: She Wants by Metronomy/Jul & Mat
'She Wants' is a one-shot music video by Metronomy, directed by Jul & Mat and produced by SoLab. The video itself has won multiple awards, including the Grand Jury prize at the International Music Video Art Festival in 2011.
''We focus on high impact, light images. Working with cut up pasteboard, glued together with After Effects, we're about returning to primary materials and rediscovering slow. Animated toys and crumpled paper, changing faces, changing clothes, all improbable settings, a mix of reality and post-production, of simplicity and techniques. Our videos are for sharing, are accessible to everyone and go beyond any language barrier.'' - Jul & Mat's statement.
Joseph Mount, founder of Metronomy, stated ''The story behind this video is being late about things whilst your other half is sleeping soundly and probably having wonderful dreams.''
She Wants - Metronomy
I really like this video. I think the quirkiness of the whole production and find it really interesting to take in. There are lots of different elements and aspects of randomness which keeps the audience on edge about what might come next. There are a lot of features throughout the production that I took on board when it came to edit our own production inspired by this piece.
Many elements in this production are noticed by the audience and taken into account when watching it. As this is a music video to Metronomy's 'She Wants', the beat of the music fit with some of the actions that the actors and objects create.
There are spots of magic during the video at points in the song that are most significant and have the most temperament beats. Abnormality is often seen in these parts to make the video altogether that little bit more unique than it already is.
In the photo compilation above, there are 9 pictures that represent the main magic parts of the production. These are called the 'magic' parts as some are near-enough impossible to be physically eligible to do so in the real world.
Many elements in this production are noticed by the audience and taken into account when watching it. As this is a music video to Metronomy's 'She Wants', the beat of the music fit with some of the actions that the actors and objects create.
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| Moments of Magic during this music video |
There are spots of magic during the video at points in the song that are most significant and have the most temperament beats. Abnormality is often seen in these parts to make the video altogether that little bit more unique than it already is.
In the photo compilation above, there are 9 pictures that represent the main magic parts of the production. These are called the 'magic' parts as some are near-enough impossible to be physically eligible to do so in the real world.
Shot number 1 is the first scene of the music video that is of relevance and coincides with the rest, in terms of the action taking place. The feathers float off from the actress and this would be virtually impossible in real life, as she is left completely clean with no feathers. At the end of the music video, it transports back to this scene to show the 'real' version, and this is when the audience see that the beginning section was backwards.
Shot number 3 takes place when the main actress is walking upstairs towards the party that's going on, and this is where another 'moment of magic' takes place. When she knocks a woman out of the way, the water seems to hop from outside of the glass back into it, filling it up, which again would be physically impossible in real life. Gravity wouldn't allow that type of thing!
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The moments of magic that are quite surreal yet interesting to the eye (for me, anyway) are shots 6 and 7. I think they're so seamless and it's very clever how the director has put the designs in synchronicity with the beat of the music and the lyrics. Shot 6 takes the lyrics and portrays them in an art form on the floor. This ties in with the statement that Jul & Mat have on their website, ''we're about returning to primary materials...'' - the primary material perhaps linking with the string. Such a simple effect for the video yet to effective to the audience.
My other particular favourite moment of magic is the segment in which the Jenga game is portrayed in a backwards manor. It's quite a simple technique to use but it's so seamless and effortless - it's a really nice feature. This part is also where the audience finally see for definite that some of the production is super-imposed and 'not real'/impossible. It gives the video that extra bit of edge and quality which other videos don't normally have.
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Overall I really like the concept of this video. The moments of magic make it really interesting to watch and throughout the production you're glued to the different elements to see what comes next.
Cheerio. :o)
Olivia.
http://www.juletmat.fr/ - accessed on 9th-Oct-2013
Shot number 3 takes place when the main actress is walking upstairs towards the party that's going on, and this is where another 'moment of magic' takes place. When she knocks a woman out of the way, the water seems to hop from outside of the glass back into it, filling it up, which again would be physically impossible in real life. Gravity wouldn't allow that type of thing!
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The moments of magic that are quite surreal yet interesting to the eye (for me, anyway) are shots 6 and 7. I think they're so seamless and it's very clever how the director has put the designs in synchronicity with the beat of the music and the lyrics. Shot 6 takes the lyrics and portrays them in an art form on the floor. This ties in with the statement that Jul & Mat have on their website, ''we're about returning to primary materials...'' - the primary material perhaps linking with the string. Such a simple effect for the video yet to effective to the audience.
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| My favourite moment of magic - ''light'' spelled out within synchronicity to the lyrics |
My other particular favourite moment of magic is the segment in which the Jenga game is portrayed in a backwards manor. It's quite a simple technique to use but it's so seamless and effortless - it's a really nice feature. This part is also where the audience finally see for definite that some of the production is super-imposed and 'not real'/impossible. It gives the video that extra bit of edge and quality which other videos don't normally have.
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| My favourite moment of magic #2 - Jenga backwards |
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Overall I really like the concept of this video. The moments of magic make it really interesting to watch and throughout the production you're glued to the different elements to see what comes next.
Cheerio. :o)
Olivia.
http://www.juletmat.fr/ - accessed on 9th-Oct-2013
Tuesday, 8 October 2013
Documenting The Doing #7: One Shot
Class projects are always the big ones, the ones we always want to get spot on and make sure everything runs smoothly. For this particular project, we were situated at points around the college - starting in our studio and ending up in the ceramics room for the finale.
It all started with nominating the production team, based upon who we individually thought would be the best and most hard working at their given job. We had to choose 2 Directors, a Camera Operator, a Camera Operators Assistant, a Floor Manager and a Main Character. I think the production team as a whole did very well. There were 45 of us to tame and keep under control, and considering they're our colleagues, I think they organised the whole thing superbly. *round of applause for the production team, without being patronising.*
The production team had the roles of coming together and finding a theme for the project. We already knew as a group that it would be based on Metronomy's music video She Wants (my review of the original video is available to read here: http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/review-she-wants-by-metronomyjul-mat.html). We'd also be using the song used in the original music video. Baring in mind that the music video She Wants is an interesting one - including some VERY random features and elements, it was perfect for our group as we're quite a funny bunch. In the end, the 2 Directors of the production pitched their idea to us and asked the rest of the group to bring in necessary props and costumes.
The production as a whole was based around Jade, the main character, in a strange dream. Throughout the final production, we saw lots of random objects and characters flying around, such as monkey, zombies, horses, backwards people, morphs, and weird gothic creatures. It sounds absolutely bizarre but I think it all came together really well, and considering there were 50 of us, it all ran as smoothly as it could have.
It all started with nominating the production team, based upon who we individually thought would be the best and most hard working at their given job. We had to choose 2 Directors, a Camera Operator, a Camera Operators Assistant, a Floor Manager and a Main Character. I think the production team as a whole did very well. There were 45 of us to tame and keep under control, and considering they're our colleagues, I think they organised the whole thing superbly. *round of applause for the production team, without being patronising.*
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| Our fabulous production team! |
The production team had the roles of coming together and finding a theme for the project. We already knew as a group that it would be based on Metronomy's music video She Wants (my review of the original video is available to read here: http://strictlysavage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/review-she-wants-by-metronomyjul-mat.html). We'd also be using the song used in the original music video. Baring in mind that the music video She Wants is an interesting one - including some VERY random features and elements, it was perfect for our group as we're quite a funny bunch. In the end, the 2 Directors of the production pitched their idea to us and asked the rest of the group to bring in necessary props and costumes.
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| Our list of props |
The production as a whole was based around Jade, the main character, in a strange dream. Throughout the final production, we saw lots of random objects and characters flying around, such as monkey, zombies, horses, backwards people, morphs, and weird gothic creatures. It sounds absolutely bizarre but I think it all came together really well, and considering there were 50 of us, it all ran as smoothly as it could have.
In terms of problems throughout the production, there wasn't actually that many. I think the biggest problem we faced was making sure our camera root was cleared in terms of people that weren't in our production (i.e. other students, teachers). Our Floor Manager, Jay, had a really polite way about him and kindly asked people to either move for a couple of minutes or not look at the camera when they saw it as this would've looked slightly odd for the audience.
Looking back on the production, I really did enjoy it - especially the editing. I have the role of being a backwards person with Katie. This meant us both wearing clothes backwards, with sunglasses on the back of our heads and baseball caps the opposite way round. It was really good seeing us all work together as a team, as opposed to individually or small groups like we normally are. I found the editing really fun to do as I wanted to make it quirky and different to everyone else's. We were all set to edit it individually and I was determined for it to be my best edit, as I knew it would be going in my portfolio at the end of the 2 year course.
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| Behind the scenes of our production |
Throughout my final edit of the video, I'd used a number of transitions and speed editors to create an in-depth final production. There were certain difficulties with slowing certain parts down without making them jumpy, but using the 'problematise/solutionate' mind-set I overcome the problems and made them work... somehow. The points I sped up in the production were the sections that I thought were a bit long to start with, for example the beginning segment where Jade is walking out of the room, and the fighting scene between the two boys (scene at 4.06 minutes). Slowing down some scenes proved to be a little tricky as it made the final footage a little blurry, but in the end I settled with slowing down only 2 parts. The dancing doll (scene at 23 seconds) and the horse (scene at 1.08 minutes). With speeding up and slowing scenes down, the ratio meant that matching the production footage to the original song was easier than I thought. It's quite a vastly finishing ending so I decided that the music would fade out when we all threw the balloons and confetti. Looking back, I wish I had perhaps put the original sound of us all cheering at the end over the top of the track to put our own stamp at the end. This is something I've taken into consideration and something I'll definitely work on in future productions.
Cheerio. :o)
- Olivia.
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