Collaboration
Oh man, where do I start?
We all know that collaboration can be a tedious process. A lot of good can come out of it, and a lot of bad can come out of it. I guess, when I was working on this project, I noticed two things:
- Working collaboratively opens up opportunities and directions in which you never thought you could go. It also gives you secondary opinions which keep you grounded.
- Working collaboratively can also be messy when there’s two or more minds that aren’t exactly on the same page.
The main thing I learned, however, was that the key part in the process of collaboration is organization. Everyone must be organized, and on top of what they’re doing at all times. Writers need to have a finalized script by a certain date, actors need to be organized as soon as possible, and crew members must be aware of specific dates. Everyone must also be aware of the organization of their fellow group members, so that there is room to adjust schedules.
Being the slightly disorganized person that I am, there were a couple of things that fell a little behind schedule. But because they were minor things, I assumed it would be fine, and that we could just quickly plan it before shoots and such. But by the time we actually got to the shoot, these tiny things that we were planning to quickly organize beforehand completely threw us off. One of the main things that made things a little messy was that we hadn’t finalized the costume arrangements. The night before, we had a minor disagreement about the order of costuming, which resulted in a complete rearrangement of it. This completely threw us off, and so, halfway through the shoot, we realized that the costumes used in the first section of the footage didn’t match up to the costumes in the footage we were about to shoot. So we had to readjust the costumes according to what we had already shot. But in doing that, we also messed up the order that we were supposed to be shooting the scenes in. So, overall, it was a bit of a nightmare.
On top of this, because scheduling was a mess, we essentially had one crew member at a time on set, which made things quite difficult. And so, nothing was logged, the audio files are all over the place, and some of the camera angles look really dodgy. This should make editing a… fun process.
So, in the end, I guess the main things I have learned in this process of working collaboratively, is that everyone needs to be organized, everyone needs to be aware of everyone else’s organization, and nothing is changed last minute.
The First Pre-shoot
So, this day was planned more for setting shit up, and making sure that everything was going to work for when we started, as the first location we were shooting in was all the way up in Cape Patterson. Overall, we spent a bit less time on the whole ‘planning’ process than I had hoped, because we got a little distracted by food (Pinos in Cowes has some bloody amazing pizza). But yeah, a lot of the time was spent driving from place to place, picking up the people who needed to be there for the planning process, and also to pick up food and stuff, and before we knew it, it was already dark outside. And so, the whole planning process which I originally had thought would be a long and focused procedure, essentially had to be crammed down into about half an hour.
In this half hour, we briefed over everything that needed to be briefed over, we just felt very rushed about it. We read over the script, paced it to how we wanted it as best we could, and discussed character movement and stance. We also attempted to plan out costuming, but as I said in a previous blog post, was a bit of a mess, due to time constraints and disagreements.
Overall, I’m just saying, I reckon we should’ve gotten shit done asap, as opposed to in the last half hour of the day.
Shooting Scene 1
This day, we actually shot shit. We got up at 5am to make sure that we could shoot the first scene at the cliff side in the sunrise. We only had about a half hour window before it got too bright, so we definitely had to hurry. There were a couple of problems we faced during this part of the project. The first thing was the rapid change of daylight. As it was just constantly getting brighter, I had to slowly adjust the ISO, and sometimes the aperture to keep the lighting as close to the first shot as possible. The angles looked great though, it was exactly what we had pictured in mind.
The other problem we had was wind. Oh boy. Yeah, it was really windy when we got there. That’s what you’d expect when you’re at a cliff side by a beach at 5:30 in the morning. Dialogue and stuff was definitely clear and audible, but there was that constant rumble of the wind blowing into the mic over the top, which was very distracting. We ended up just shooting wild lines in the car afterwards, so hopefully they’ll match up to the video.
The Second Pre-shoot
Scenes two to four were shot in Rowville, so we had to take another road trip back down. And because it was daytime, we had to wait until it was dark again before we started shooting. So, basically, the whole day was spent rearranging the house to be a set. We moved tables and shit. It took a while because we also had to make some trips to Bunnings to get firewood for one of the scenes. But once that was all done, we still had hours to go before darkness. So we spent a couple of those hours rehearsing the scenes, pacing the dialogue, and organizing staging. So this planning day was much more productive than the last one. Once that was all done, we thought we’d treat ourselves to some food and watching Cody shit himself playing Resident Evil 7 in VR, y’know, to get that crew morale up a bit. But yeah, it hit night, and we were all ready to go.
Scene Two
Here are some photos!
The second scene went mostly according to plan. I was kind of worried that getting a fire lit in a suburban backyard would be problematic, but it was actually the opposite. I liked the aesthetic that it added to my backyard. So we quickly did some final rehearsals, and started recording. The shoot itself went really well. Actors knew their lines, there wasn’t any interrupting wind, and the fire illuminated the shot really nicely. The one thing that didn’t exactly go according to plan was that we were hoping to completely fill the shot with smoke from a smoke machine to get a kind of misty effect. We found that the smoke just completely disappeared into the air while we were outside. So, in the end, we just kept the background black, and illuminated the characters. Overall, this scene was the easiest to shoot because, aside from some stylized close ups and cutaways, it was essentially a shot reverse shot setup. So, we shot most of it live.
Scenes Three and Four
Some more photos!
Because scenes three and four happen back to back chronologically, they were shot consecutively. It was all shot within my house. These chapters were a bit more challenging to shoot. Because the camera is so animated in these scenes, we had to constantly be cutting. We couldn’t shoot live this time because it was bloody difficult co-ordinating the camera with the constant rearranging of the staging. Characters were moving around everywhere, and the camera was very fast paced. There were also a lot of whip pans in these two scenes, and because panning directly into perfect frame from the last is almost impossible, we had to cut in between each pan, and leave it up to editing to join them together. This method of shooting, even though it was the most convenient at the time, was still very messy, especially because we had minimal crew members on set. The constant cutting and continuing footage was exhausting, especially because all of our camera batteries were running on low, and so we were racing against time.
The other thing that didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned (more in scene four), was the use of fake blood. We didn’t have something that was powerful enough to widely spray, and so it all just streamed out instead. We may have to enhance it a little in post production. Also, I think that we lost the audio files for this part, so we may have to record some more wild lines.
But yeah! All in all, even though it was a fucking mess, it was a successful shoot, and hopefully, we don’t get too slammed in post production. The end!
Test Shoots and All
I just thought I’d leave a couple of test shoots here
Here’s the first test shoot. Don’t worry, your audio’s not broken, I intentionally didn’t include sound in this one. This test was purely an experiment with cinematography, and method of filming. So, I used my brother for this shoot, and it went pretty well. The camera movement was fluid, and the staging worked well with the camera pans. I started recording mid pan, and cut during the next one, and joined each shot together in post production. It was much easier this way, as I didn’t have to restart recording the whole scene, had I messed up a pan or something.
Here’s another test shot. This one was purely an experiment with animation, and could honestly make it to the final cut with a couple of touch ups. Because of our limited amount of time and funds, I found it difficult staining my house with a massive burst of fake blood, and so I had to resort to other means. Yeah, sure, it doesn’t look perfect, but it’s still pretty cool.
Editing the Final Project
Editing is usually the part I look forward to when it comes to working on these kinds of projects. This one wasn’t any different. Even though all of the footage and audio was a big clusterfuck of shit, I was eager to tidy at all up into one organized video.
The overall project is split up into four chapters, which we split up among the group to each edit individually. So, I got started on the second chapter, because personally, it was the one that I felt I had the most control over when shooting.
For the most part, it was basically just shot reverse shot. I had a couple of issues in which both cameras knocked off focus for that one fraction of a second, and so there was no way of hiding it, but it’s not that big of an issue.
Colour-wise, it looks really good. There’s a nice orange glow contrasting with the black background, and the flickering light of the fire which added to it.
The main challenge I had with editing this chapter, (and it’s probably going to be a problem with later chapters too), was matching up the audio with the video. Because we were a little short on crew members during the shoot, nothing was logged. So, I had to go through each individual file and match it up to their respective audio files. And some audio files went for the duration of two to three video files, which also made things difficult.
But overall, it looks great! It’s a good start to this whole editing thing, which is a massive confidence boost.
Snowpiercer, and International Co-Productions
The days of Blockbuster and Video Ezy are long gone, and have been replaced by internet streaming. With platforms such as Netflix, and Stan, home viewing has never been easier. In some cases, internet distribution is a preferred method of marketing to worldwide cinema release. An example of one of these cases was the 2014 Korean film, Snowpiercer. Bong Joon Ho’s Snowpiercer was not widely screened, but appeared on the list of suggestions of many Netflix in America and Australia. The film, however, was originally planned for wide release in North America, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, but was delayed due to Harvey Weinstein requesting that certain footage be edited. Did the platform of release have a big impact on the film’s success? Personally, I believe so. Since its opening, Snowpiercer earned USD $86.8 million, and holds the domestic record for the fastest movie to reach four million admissions.
Another aspect that impacted the box office success and popularity of the film was its international co-production. Snowpiercer was very much marketed and presented as a Hollywood film. With intense fight scenes and stunning visuals, the film was everything an American Blockbuster-head needed. However, at heart, it’s still a Korean film.
The main thing that made it feel like a Korean film was its production value. For example, even though Snowpiercer was classed as a high-budget film in Korea, some of the CGI (especially of the frozen wastelands), was very obviously CGI, in comparison to some of the extremely high-budget blockbusters of Hollywood. (Not saying that Snowpiercer was a bad film because of its CGI. Films can look good but still be bad). The production value of Hollywood is generally much higher than the production value of Korean cinema. By 2014, Snowpiercer was the tenth highest-grossing domestic Korean film. In comparison, the tenth highest-grossing film in America in 2014 was 300: Rise of an Empire. The budget for Snowpiercer was 40 million USD, whereas the budget for 300 was 110 million USD.
Another aspect that made it feel like a Korean film was its action. Generally, the fight scenes in a lot of eastern films are shot in very tight spaces. This can also be seen in Park Chan Wook’s Oldboy, and Gareth Evans’ The Raid. Again, this is reflective of the production values of Asian cinema in general.
One thing that boosted the popularity of Snowpiercer was its diverse cast. The cast was made up of a variety of international actors, from Britain to Hollywood, such as Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt, and Tilda Swinton, in an effort to utilise their stardom to attract audiences, and also to fit in with the global crisis theme of the film. Shujen Wang, of Emerson College, and Harvard University, points out that “in recent efforts to diversify the local market in Korea are not without a ‘nationalistic’ influence” (Wang, Shujen. 2010). The main character is played by Chris Evans, who also played Captain America. Even though it was shot prior to Captain America: The First Avenger, the film was strategically released shortly after the success of the Marvel film that made Evans an icon of the Marvel Universe, taking advantage of his new level of fame.
Storywise, Snowpiercer is very much a Korean film, especially in the conclusion of the film. The ending of the film was very open ended, and a bit of a cliff hanger. Hollywood blockbusters, on the other hand, especially those with a less overtly political agenda, “offer a spectacular acting-out of a very simple story of humanity’s salvation in a struggle of good against evil — whether vampires (Blade), viruses (Outbreak), mad science (Jurassic Park), natural disasters (Volcano, Armageddon) or hostile extra-terrestrials (Alien, Species), to mention some usual suspects” (Morris, Meaghan. 2004). In other words, the obvious hero wins or loses, and same goes for the obvious villain. The difference between Hollywood and Eastern Cinema, is that Asian films generally tend to leave the movies very open ended, and leave the audience with a question of morality, which, again, without spoiling, is seen in Oldboy, and also Andrew Lau and Alan Mak’s Infernal Affairs.
Another aspect that tends to show up in many eastern films is the theme of religion. Snowpiercer didn’t have any direct reference to particular religious beliefs in Korea, but instead, it commented on the general idea of having a God. The society portrayed in the film had a religious conviction to its political beliefs. The pre-school scene was very reflective of this, in which the pupils are taught to recite and believe that “the engine is sacred and Wilford is divine”. They’re taught that the train is their only saviour, and that if they were to leave, they’d “all freeze and die”.
The thing about Snowpiercer is that at first glance, it’s very Hollywood, especially in its casting, its dialogue, and cinematography. But when you pay enough attention, it’s very much a Korean film. Firstly, it doesn’t have the hundred-million-dollar budget of a massive Hollywood Blockbuster. Secondly, it tells a story much like a Korean film, in that it leaves the message and meaning very open ended, and it blurs the lines of morality, unlike Hollywood films, which are very black and white in its questions and answers. Snowpiercer also indirectly deals with themes of religion, and comments on the idea of having a God figure.
Snowpiercer is a big cluster of transnationalism, in its themes, visuals, and casting, yet it’s still a Korean film at heart. The idea of implementing various cultural ideas from different nationalities is still young, and there is much to explore, but Boon Jong-Ho’s film is definitely a positive example of it.
REFERENCES
Wang, Shujen. (2010). East Asian Cinemas: Exploring Transnational Connections on Film(review). Cinema Journal, 49(3), pp.166.
Morris, Meaghan. (2004). Transnational imagination in action cinema: Hong Kong and the making of a global popular culture. Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, 5(2), pp.191
MOVIES LISTED
Snowpiercer
300: Rise of an Empire
Oldboy
The Raid
Captain America: The First Avenger
Infernal Affairs
POSTS I HAVE COMMENTED ON
International Co-Productions & New Distribution Platforms
I have finally found the beauty of horror!
Editing the Final Project Part 2
Fellow group member, Cody, was having some difficulties in getting the audio in his chapter sounding good. And understandably so. Locationwise, this scene was the most difficult, as it was by a cliffside overlooking a beach. The sock over the boom mic, and the hidden lapels weren’t enough to fight off the strong winds that morning, and so the audio sounds absolutely terrible. Our only saving grace was the wild lines that we recorded in the car after the shoot. The only problem is that they have the ambience of a car interior.
So, I decided to help out with the equalizing and all. Looking over it, I decided that the lines could be paced a little differently in accordance with the video, so the first thing I did, was get rid of all the sound in the original rough cut, which I then replaced with the wild lines only, and fit them all in as best as I possibly could. After that, I got rid of the harsh frequencies and noises via Audition, and added some filters to make it sound more outdoorsy. I then layered over some ambience noises and foley tracks that I recorded in my backyard, which I also equalized and filtered in the same way.
It’s not perfect, but its definitely not bad. I think the best thing to do is look at the challenges faced in the making of this chapter as a steep learning curve.