‘Film Seminar’ – A New Hope (post 8 – Final)

SUCCESS! As hectic as today was I felt it was a great success. I gained valuable knowledge from Clayton Jacobson, Alicia Gleeson and Julian Lucas.

The day started off at 2.30 where the team met at building 9. James, Nat and I needed the candy bar table in building 80 so we lugged the wheeled table across buildings and into the seminar room. I spent the next half an hour just unpacking all the lollies and decorating the candy bar. Luckily Caley brought a mass amount of chocolate so as to fill up the white space with chocolate bars that were aligned based on their type (as you’d see in a regular candy bar at the movies). Caley also brought a range of red bull drinks that her friend had kindly donated from his work so we poured ice into a bucket and put all the drinks in. Unfortunately we turned the popcorn machine on too late to do all 10 packets so Linh and I searched the building for microwaves to pop them. Thankfully we found some on level 9 and popped all the popcorn in time to run downstairs and pour them all into the popcorn cups.

My job was then to be a ‘candy bar lady’ and hand out the popcorn cups during intermission.

‘Film Seminar – A New Hope (post 7)

I went out and bought everything on my list. I made sure to be conscious of the prices and chose lollies that came in ‘2 for 1’ deals, as I did with the popcorn bags. The total cost came to $35. As discussed earlier with James he would spend $12 on the popcorn machine and $7 on the popcorn cups. This took us up to $54, leaving us with $16 for the gift voucher. This obviously causes a problem so James and I decided it was appropriate to purchase a Cinema Nova membership for $13. This membership has benefits of:

  • $11.50 entry for members to opening day sessions (Thursdays) of every new film (excludes advance screenings)
  • $15.50 admission to all other sessions of any film ($17 for 3D)
  • $16.50 adult admission Saturday night after 5pm
  • Exclusive member screening invitations (email address necessary)
  • Concession prices for film festivals and special event screenings
  • Monthly paid preview screenings.
  • $12.50 tickets for students and seniors ($16.50 Sat night, $13 3D)

I decided it was pointless to purchase the lolly jars when we had very little money left so instead I contacted James, Caley and Nat to bring any lolly jars they had at home.

‘Film Seminar’ – A New Hope (post 6)

Today the promo vid team shot our film (3pm Building 9). We decided to go with Dominic’s idea:

 

A theatrical trailer in the style as a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Lot of shots fading to/from black, ominous voiceover being all like “This summer…(except it would be like, this September or whenever the seminar is)”, as well as epic music, possibly even the Star Wars theme or something similar. Visuals can be shots of RMIT campus, shots from films by the guests, behind-the-scenes footage of the guests on set, maybe even media students “learning” how to use camera/sound equipment (like how Luke trains with his light saber). It’s all very fast paced and epic, might even be funny if it ends up looking like a parody of proper trailers.

 

We struggled a little because there weren’t any empty rooms to film in (our pre requisites were simply (we needed a black wall and space enough to fit the camera, tripod and c stand for the light). Once we settled in however, things smoothly progressed. We filmed close up shots of the camera, of Jim rotating in his chair, of the lights being turned on etc. The rest will be stock footage

‘Film Seminar’ – A New Hope (post 5)

Today the promo vid team shot our film (3pm Building 9). We decided to go with Dominic’s idea:

 

A theatrical trailer in the style as a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Lot of shots fading to/from black, ominous voiceover being all like “This summer…(except it would be like, this September or whenever the seminar is)”, as well as epic music, possibly even the Star Wars theme or something similar. Visuals can be shots of RMIT campus, shots from films by the guests, behind-the-scenes footage of the guests on set, maybe even media students “learning” how to use camera/sound equipment (like how Luke trains with his light saber). It’s all very fast paced and epic, might even be funny if it ends up looking like a parody of proper trailers.

 

We struggled a little because there weren’t any empty rooms to film in (our pre requisites were simply (we needed a black wall and space enough to fit the camera, tripod and c stand for the light). Once we settled in however, things smoothly progressed. We filmed close up shots of the camera, of Jim rotating in his chair, of the lights being turned on etc. The rest will be stock footage.

‘Film seminar’ – A New Hope (post 4)

We decided on our first guest Anna McLeish, whom James contacted.

After she agreed it was my job to research a little about her and update our Facebook page which will be entitled Media IV – A New Hope. I did some research on Anna’s work history and came up with the following facebook post:

Anna comes from a distribution background and has previously held positions at Walt Disney Pictures and Madman Entertainment where she managed the theatrical division and acquisition, managing release campaigns including Warp Films ‘ This is England’. She launched her development and production company Warp Films, which produced the Cannes award-winning ‘Snowtown’. She was also an executive producer of two chapters in Robert Connolly’s Tim Winton’s ‘The Turning’ and the feature film, ‘Partisan’ featuring Vincent Cassel.

 

‘Film Seminar’ – A New Hope (post 3)

In today’s session we decided I would be in responsible for catering. We discussed foods that would make sense with our ‘film’ theme. We finally came to the conclusion that we ought to create a candy bar with a popcorn machine and chocolates/lollies. It was then my responsibility throughout the week to create a budget. I decided 5 dollars from each individual –which would equate to 70 – would be sufficient enough for:

  • 10 x popcorn bag (100g)
  • 2 x packet of licorice bullets
  • 4 x packets of assorted lollies
  • 2 x packet of Jaffers
  • White table cloth
  • 75 x popcorn cup
  • 2 x packets of scoopers (4 in 1)
  • Popcorn machine (James’ suggestion) – $12
  • Nat to bring fruit platter

 

I informed the group of the five dollars they each needed to transfer so that I may go and buy everything.

 

‘Film’ Seminar – A New Hope (Post 1)

Session 1 (Week 3)

Soooo we were asked to choose a group in which we will work for the rest of the semester to create a seminar featuring members of that particular industry! We had options but let’s be honest, I was dying to pick Film given it was my major and the field I am most interested in. We were shuffled over into groups based on our choice of field and luckily we decided to present in week 9 of this semester, so that meant we had a decent amount of time to prepare. The first step we as a team decided: MAKE A FACEBOOK GROUP.

 

Our entire course theme was the ‘journey’ so we spoke about the notion of how, often many industry members shift from job to job with different requirements in the industry (say producer, turned director, who was once a boom mic holder).

 

The idea here is that we have a single communicative platform so that we stay united and can liaise with other team members. We then decided to allocate some responsibility and I jumped on the film promo video for the seminar. At this point we hadn’t establish many of the jobs so we all slotted ourselves into broader categories until we delved more into the project and new jobs cam up.

Final Post – Looking back at my semester :)

It’s been a BIG semester. It’s not too far a stretch to say I’ve learnt the most practical techniques in the past 10 weeks than I have in three years. That’s definitely personal because I was taught techniques in the past semesters, however I chose to avoid filming and editing – instead sticking to being the ‘idea’ person. I learnt this semester that things will never turn out exactly how you envisioned them… and that there’s something so inspiring in that. Furthermore, just as you don’t need to know all the answers when you start an essay you don’t need to know all the answers before you start your project: You figure things out as you progress.

 

I was incredibly fascinated with Hitchcock’s ability to achieve that kind of suspense that makes you anxiously sink into your chair. I was much more impressed that he didn’t need to use a loud ‘BANG’ to achieve it either. Through further research I found inspiration in one of the last takes in Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’. I have already discussed this take in detail in previous blogs however I want to reiterate that I was drawn to the smoothness of the tracking shot, combined with the intensity of Norman’s psychotic gaze. Thus, I chose to attempt to achieve suspense in a similar fashion whereby I used a tracking shot that slowly encroaches upon a central character. However I wanted to add my own touch to this. Therefore I decided I would add a pan from the top of the room (high angle shot) that slowly lowered to a face level before tracking in.

 

I chose to work with my friend Daniel because I had done so on previous projects, which have been greatly successful in my eyes. I think I struggle to work collaboratively (when it is my personal project) unless it is with people who I know integrate well with my vision. Throughout multiple meeting sessions, Daniel and I decided upon the filming location, the central character, the theme etc. This information is elaborately discussed in my ‘Method of Working’ blog posts.

 

Come filming day, we were ready to go! Unfortunately – as per usual – setting up the equipment proved to occupy much more time than planned (approx. 2 hrs.). Luckily however, we were not relying on natural daylight to film as the light entering from the window constantly changed, particularly by the time we were ready to film. Once into the motion of filming, things were much smoother. What was so great about this process was how certain hindrances (such as the chandelier intruding on the frame) turned into positive additions to the take.

 

Upon viewing and editing my takes I took down many notes – both major and minor. The smoothness of the shot, and the exact directional flow of the camera seemed to undermine the potential suspense of the piece as the audience is in total knowledge of the fact that the shot will end in a tight shot on the girl’s face. Luckily we had shot multitudinous takes and I was able to work with shots that had a little bit of a dip before tightening on the girl’s face. I am very happy with the lighting technique in this take. I feel, for the very first time, that I was able to achieve the exact lighting scheme I had envisioned (saturated warm colors: yellow, green, red etc). I feel the ‘hominess’ was established eloquently through the comfortable cream couch, faded green drapes and light stands.

 

I certainly struggled with creating a soundtrack for this piece. I had a very clear vision of what I wanted but when that materialized I felt it was too explicit and lacked subtlety. I had intended to do a kind of ‘sound’ story of the central character’s life and struggles (sounds of her mother dying, playing in the park with friends etc). Daniel and I then decided to work with simple music/soundtracks and the result was, in my opinion, much more intense. I learnt through this process that the audience doesn’t need to be explicitly told things. I was trying so hard to deliver a narrative and was oblivious to the fact that you can affect the viewer just through a particular feeling you instill in them. The soundtrack trials were fun to work with because I got to experiment with elements such as pacing. I was enlightened by the possibilities of pacing. Suspense can be achieved through timing the sound with the vision alone. This does not mean I must have a loud ‘Bang’; rather, I can gradually build up to a climactic moment etc.

 

After completing my work on this particular project I sat with Robin and he suggested the idea of attempting a still shot as opposed to a tracking shot. I guess I had never considered the still shot because I always imagined to be encroaching on a subject to create dramatic effect. So I decided to attempt the still shot. I realized I wanted there to be some sort of movement in the shot, just to create a bit of dynamic. I have properly discussed the process and outcome in my ‘Method of Working’ posts however I want to again point out that I found it much less effective for multiple reasons. Firstly, I, the sole character, was blinking multiple times as I stared at the camera, which I find broke the intensity (in the tracking shot I had started by looking away from the camera and then turning to stare at the camera, which meant I didn’t have to keep my eyes fixated for a long period). Secondly I think I needed more movement in the shot – besides just the swaying trees. This would have made the 30 seconds be a little more visually satisfying. I do not however, simply disregard this project, as I believe if I changed these particular elements and had contextualized the piece and character more, the intensity would greatly increase.

 

Overall, I learnt a great deal this semester. I learnt of the importance of planning but also of allowing yourself space for experimentation. I learnt of the importance of going beyond your intended objective if you find that there is potential for more inspiration in changing directions. I learnt that I truly admire the use of the long take and that it has so much potential, when used appropriately, to create suspense. I learnt that I am majorly interested in the pacing and choreography of the camera movement with the accompanying soundtrack. I learnt fundamental techniques of using the equipment and programs around me (ex3, z7, blondes, premiere pro, dolly etc).

 

Safe to say I learnt a lot this semester 🙂

My method of working – part 11 (still shot- long take trial)

Here we are, nearing the end of the semester. Robin suggested I try a still long take and see the effect. I filmed a most basic shot and added the same eerie/ominous soundtracks I had put for one of the tracking shot takes. So that the entire shot wasn’t completely stagnant, Daniel and I filmed me against the backdrop of a transparent window with swaying trees behind me. Visually, this really lifted the take because it gave it a subtle dynamic that otherwise wouldn’t be there.

Certainly, the girl’s stare is more central and foregrounded since the viewer is not distracted by camera movement or changes in framing and composition. However, I feel there lacks a great deal of intensity that was present in the tracking shot. This still shot is quite confrontational as the girl simply stares at the camera. The viewer is brought into perhaps a more immediate, personal relationship with the girl as opposed to having that develop over the progress of the tracking shot.  What I also love that enhanced the eeriness of this shot is the heavy breathing apparent. Because of the lack of movement elsewhere, the heaviness of the girl’s breathing is accentuated. This is an advantageous aspect of the still shot: the viewer has the capacity to notice and be much more affected by the subtle elements within the frame.

The focus pull works well here to create a depth in the frame. Because of the stillness of the entire shot, there is a risk for a kind of blandness without a deeper field. This is why we chose to have me in focus and the trees in the background. There are in fact three levels of depth here: myself and the chair, the space between the chair and window, and the space between the window and trees. Perhaps, for future suggestion, I could play around with focus changes that coincide with the movement of the trees.

Ultimately however, I think this worked much less effectively because there was such little movement in the frame that the stare on it’s own didn’t seem to make up for the lack of motion. I do believe however, in a different location with a more creative character, this still shot has potential to be much more intensified (Say in a hospital ward etc)…

link

🙂