After composing our second draft of our group Korsakow film we came across a few issues that needed solving before we began constructing our final film. Emily, Ren and myself have come up with these solutions and guidelines for the final week of class and Korsakow construction.

We decided against creating a GIF for the preview thumbnail clip. Instead we will edit a few seconds of footage containing the most movement, adjust/drain the colour (so it is almost black and white), remove the audio and export a low quality h.264 file for Korsakow. We think the different visual will help avoid detracting from the main viewer window and create some consistency amongst the variety of shots that were created using different cameras and film making styles.

We have also practiced exporting our H.264 files and compressing them further using Mpeg Streamclip. We aim to compress our h.264 files to below 10 MB (as small as possible whilst still containing a bit of quality). We will then label our preview and main video files the same so it is easy to match up during the SNUifying process.

At the moment our interface design is going to consist of the main viewer window placed centrally in the window and surrounded by preview windows, resembling a frame surrounding a photograph. We have decided to base our interface design on an idea that relates back to our concept of personalities contradicting appearances.

We have tried to capture a variety of shots of feet from a variety of angles, but found that most of them were shot while the subject was sitting or standing, only a few were walking. The movement in the camera will hopefully make up for the lack of subject movement.

Our key wording process is evolving as the clips are being created. Themes are being drawn from the information provided by the subjects in the interview. These themes are present in many other responses and will help connect the clips.

No major dramas with filming or editing the footage. Some audio contained some wind that we will try to remove using audacity.

Emily, Ren and myself have been refining out concept and developed our interview techniques. After showing our class another draft we were told that it is more interesting if the subject elaborates on the question and gets more personal. We were also told to shoot the clips in varied set ups (some close ups, some extreme close ups in a different angles and using static and hand held), to develop a collage of our styles.

We have moved away from asking “what is a significant lesson you have learnt?” to “What is an important piece of advice you would give somebody?” and then getting them to elaborate and get more personal by asking “How did you learn this?” or “Who taught you this?”. The developed questions are much easier to answer, especially when we are approaching a stranger on the street.

We are also shooting the footage of the subjects feet without them realising, creating an opportunity to capture more relaistic movement and stances. We will select the best part of audio with the best part of video and edit them into a complete fragment. We will then view our clips and note down the themes present in the responses and connect our fragments based on those theme. These could include love, happiness, relationships, self-respect and success.

We are recording the video footage using a DSLR camera and recording the audio using a lapel mic to capture a close and personal audio response. After shooting the footage and capturing the audio, I convert the footage to apple pro res 422 (HQ) using Mpeg Stream clip and this free audio convertor to change my clips to .wav for use in Final Cut Pro 7.

We are in the process of editing our fragments and so are still undecided about whether to remove the section of audio where individual states the question in their answer e.g. “The most significant lesson I’ve learnt is…”. We believe that removing this will make the film more ambiguous and therefore poetic.

We will put together our first draft of the final project this week.

Through developing our K-Film, my group have devised some techniques that we aim to employ for the production of our project.

Emily, Ren and myself have refined our concept and discussed recording the audio with the subject first and then film the footage of the feet second as the response to the interview will give us ideas about how to shoot the feet. As the audio and video will be split, it will give us an opportunity to edit the best response with the best part of the footage.

We discussed that it will be important to get the sound quality as good as possible so we may use a lapel microphone to record the audio close and personal. We would also like to make the visuals as interesting as possible so we may use visual effects and camera movement to make the footage as interesting as possible. These two techniques may help engage the user and hopefully make the concept as interesting as possible.

Our keywords will form from themes that are present in the responses from the subjects.

We will also be making GIFs for our preview window displays through Photoshop.

Some tech notes in response to the sketch film meetings

• The fewer the in or out key words, the more lives needed to reach another cluster of clips. This will help ensure the user sees all of the clips that we created.
• Conceptual keywords are ideal.
• The clips on the interface do not have to be structured around the grid.

 

In the lead up to creating the group K-Film I have been reminding myself of some of the elements from my K-Film inspiration searches that can be utilised in my own work.

I do not want the clips to take too long to load. The viewer is likely to lose interest in the film as a whole is there is too much ‘space’ for processing. I will aim to make clips small in size.

I would like to utilise the darkened exposure and (potentially) slow mo editing within the preview clips in the K-Film.

A name/title for the preview clips visible to the user. This may help them remember what clips they have and have not seen, as the visuals may not be memorable for some.

I have established some constraints for filming major clips. These include the angle on which to film. In preparation for the test clips, I have found a camera mount that can be used on the floor and in the correct height for filming feet. I will film 30 seconds, with the audio overlaying a medium close up of feet with or without movement (from front on or the side- whatever looks better). We will all be filming on a DSLR and editing our clips in a similar fashion to create a pattern.

In preparation for the upcoming major K-Film I will be making in a group, I have been revising some of Adrian’s notes and suggestions for using the software.

Some links that will be of use to me…

• A visual technique for mapping out my plans for the film… How to Think About Korsakow
• Some ideas for designing the interface… How I thought about designing a K-Film

Some thoughts I have had in relation to my own film…

• I would like a changing interface to reflect the mood of the clip being played in the main SNU window
• I will map out my connections between the clips before I start SNUifying.
• I will use a table to test my film before I publish
• I will ensure I follow my notes for down-sizing files and creating thumbnails before I organise my folders for the project

I developed a much deeper understanding of the technical components of Korsakow software, as well as an appreciation for developing meaningful keywords through the processes involved in completing my sketch film (and the challenges I faced in doing so).

I took to using pen and paper to map out my ideas visually, much like examples provided from Adrian in explaining how keywording works. As a visual learner, I intend to carry this process through to my final K-Film in the early stages of development.

This How to description for publishing the films on the internet by Adrian proved extremely useful. The use of screenshots made the step-by-step process easy to follow. I may try to adapt the technique of screen-shotting windows when I am learning a new technique (as a future visual reminder).

In future K-Films, I will add the folder firstname.lastname within my exports folder and relocate the ‘save’ to this location so it is ready to be added to the FTP client. I’m weary of renaming folders mid-project, I’d much rather add a new folder and save my work to that. I’m yet to make any huge mistakes in my file management, phew!

Matt Soar’s article mentioned refining the film through test screenings. Although this may seem obvious, I guess it is good practice to ensure my films (of sketch film clip size) are test screened at least 3-4 times before publishing. I can not expect to have it working as intended after the first SNUifying session. It requires finessing.

I found a table useful for testing the film. I marked each individual clip as it was played as well as noted down any other obvious errors in the interface etc. This helped me to determine whether each of my clips were being played and how easy they were to access. I also had a good idea of how my patterns were forming and if the concepts were working. Each time I tested the work, I had fewer and fewer problems listed so it gave me satisfaction knowing I was making significant progress with each viewing. I was aware that each clip needed to ‘die’ therefore I tried to make the number of lives as minimal as possible without restricting the viewer to only a small portion of my clips.

I found listing the clips were a good way to determine concepts in my work, specifically for the last task as we had to develop connections based on a series of fairly random audio-visual files.

I will utilise the VLC screen shot technique as discovered by Ren.

• Open clip in VLC
• Position the playhead for the exact frame wanted
• Preferences> video>JPG>Set Folder
• Video>Snapshot

I also discovered the importance of resizing the frames within the interface.

I employed the full screen button, the play head and a simplistic font and size within my interface which I intend to carry across to my major K-Film.

I have progressed to making connections between my sketches. Some things I will need to learn/practice this week before I submit my sketch K film

• How to change the interface
• How to add and change text
• Ensure aspect ratios are correct
• Ensure all videos die
• Ensure all clips appear in single viewing
• Ensure ‘index.html’ is rename

A question I will investigate this week… How do I change my interface and apply it to one single clip? Should I be doing this for this assessment or should I leave it for later? Note to self: ensure the screen shots you import are around 70KB JPG files. Export your png files through preview to do this. I learn from my mistakes.

Surprisingly I was not overwhelmed by the software at first glance. I was expecting something much more complicated. The idea of creating connections from the sketches I have developed seems possible. I am already starting to imagine how they may connect.

I realise I have not completely grasped the Korsakow lingo at this point in time. I expect this to develop over the coming weeks whilst using the program.

Some things I have learnt:

•  File management is integral. Create a folder at the beginning of a project. Create a media assets folder for all JPEG and H.264 files. Create an exports folder. Save your Korsakow project file to the original project folder. Do not move items. 
•  Save frequently. I am determined not to lose any valuable work.
•  Ensure I am double clicking on the video files (not the picture files) when SNUifying. Assign Jpegs (preview) to videos.
• Refer to the keywords window frequently. This will show me if there are any ‘dead ends’ within my work.
• Replace old export with newer version when exporting. Do not ‘save as’. I had more success opening my .html file in FireFox than Safari. Allow all plug ins.
• I can alter the layout of my preview windows.
• Red= in, Blue= out.
• SNU= smallest narrative unit. POC= points of contact (in and out), created by keywords. K film= connection of SNUs (web of relations).
• Define lives of clip and whether there will be loops.
• Do not be too literal and do not be too ambiguous.
• Refer to the Korsakow resources on Seth’s blog.

What I am expecting to learn next

• The best way to capture a still. I am wondering if a screen shot will do.
• I am also expecting to face a few problems.

I intend to post on Adrian’s tech help page, questions and answers!