Monthly Archives: May 2014

superwho? – week 10

by

now that we are well underway into working on our major k-films,we’ve started setting ourselves weekly goals. so for my weekly discussion of my attempt of the constraint i will be discussing my attempts at our weekly goals. this week, each member of our group had to go out and film 5 of our 60 clips for the major film. just so that we can start to get a hang of things and understand what it really is that we’ll be making.

our idea is reality vs. fabrication. will people be able to tell the difference between which clips are real and which have been edited? probably. but hopefully not. and that’s what this week is for. for us to get an idea of what we’re gonna shoot and practice shooting it. we have three distinct categories of filming style

1. real –  this is the basic level of clips. stuff that implies a super hero. or kids pretending to have superpowers. pretty much it’s just things in every day life that may have something to do with super heroes or super powers.

2. fabricated – this is where the rehearsals and the editing starts to come in. each of these clips will be fabricated, i.e edited. these will be done to show things that could never really happen, happening. even something as simple as someone disappearing by cutting the film and continuing  it after the person has left the frame.

3. magic – this is the most important section, where we are blurring the lines between reality and fabrication. we want the viewer to be questioning whether or not what they’re seeing is real in these clips. magic tricks or science tricks, slight of hand or clever camera placement. this section will require the most thought and set up but could also contain the best clips if we get them done right.

my task this week is to practice with different types of editing of clips as well as get some of the real ones out of the way. we want a broad spread of videos that show different things but still all link together. at first i was just thinking about trying to edit these while filming or on my phone. but having started to film and actually think about them, i’ve realised that it may be much simply and also more effective to upload any videos i take and put them into the computer and edit them there where i will have a far greater amount of tools to use to make these the best that they can be.

hopefully they come out well.

narratives and conclusions – week 10 lecture

by

more discussion about k-films in this week’s lecture, we discussed themes, emotions, narratives and conclusions. looks like everyone has the major k-films on their minds. the major point that i took from the whole lecture was about  the k-films not being a way to literally express any point but as a way to experience something for each individual. the point of the k-film is for everyone to interpret the content individually, they become a part of experiencing something without being told exactly what they are supposed to be experiencing.

how important are themes in a k-film? a theme gives us something to work around. like we discussed in one of the previously lectures, constraints are good. they allow for greater creativity. and a theme can do just that. limits that we work both within and around. even without a defining theme, as humans it’s within our nature to try and find any form of pattern or link between things, without pattern, all we see is chaos. our lives are associational because we link everything together so a them in a k-films allows them to feel more cohesive than they may be without one. however, the important part, like in the previous point, is to not always be too literal with the themes. infer a theme or idea without explicitly stating it. give the audience a means to enjoy and experience for themselves. its not so much the theme itself but how the content explores the theme. of course, this also depends on what the theme is, some can be far more obvious than others. for example the theme we have decided on for our k-film is superpowers and reality vs. fabrication. one of these is more obvious with the other and we are using this first theme as a means to explore the latter one. so while the superpowers themselves might seem obvious, the way that they are delivered and the ideas that they are being used for (reality vs. fabrication) will be more inferred than explicit.

does a lack of narrative or conclusion give an unsatisfying experience? the first answer to this was that we really need to move away from the ideas of linear narrative storytelling as a way of communication. that’s not what this course is about. of course, simply moving away from that isn’t that easy, it’s something that we have grown up with as part of society and is pretty much all we know. even though adrian says that non-linear is how we think, that’s how we think sub-consciouly, consciously we live in the world of linear narratives. what was a good point is that narratives and conclusions are separate. you can have one without the other. k-films can end. they can provide a specific ending clip. but even for the ones that are meant to go on forever, they must end. and that is when the viewer gets to decide the conclusion, which in a way makes that conclusion even more powerful because the viewer has decided upon it themselves (even if it’s just because they were bored with the film they were watching). and even without a set conclusion, we will always try to prove some sort of context or meaning to whatever we’re watching. even if the ending doesn’t make sense.  we don’t watch a film for the ending, we watch it for the experience. our k-filsm are the same. another really good point i liked was that the internet is kinda like a giant k-film. its comprised of links in and out, is uniquely experienced by each individual and has no end (except for those decided upon by the user). there is no meaning on the internet, we give meaning to what we see and contribute to it as well.

finally, we discussed the kuleshov effect, a topic that was brought up a couple of times last year too. the kuleshov effect reminds us that when we are making, not just our k-films but anything, that it’s not the shots themselves that meaning anything but rather each shot in its relation to those around it. meaning only comes from relations, the shots or clips themselves have no meaning.

film/tv analysis reflection 5 – question 3

by

although it seemed like a relatviely simple scene, that scene from “Blow up” was very technically complicated. there was almost always movement, either of the actors within the fraem or the frame itself. as a director, Anotioni would have had to have done extensive rehersals with both the actors and the camero operators to ensure that the scene goes smoothly. every action would have been choreographed specifaclly to suit a particular framing or a specific camera movement. thus, while directing the film, Antonioni would have had to have worked very closely with his actors to ensure they were getting each action and movement exactly right. this does not only require rehersals beforehand but a close communicative relationship with actors on the day of shooting will be vital to get the necessary movements.

similarly with the camera, there were a large variety of different camera set ups, positions and movements. these movements involved not just tilting or panning the camera but physical camera movement including dollying and tracking. these too would have required lots of rehersals to perfect the movements so they could deliver the correct aesthic. Anotioni would have been working very closely with his DOP and camera operators to get the right pacing of the scene through the movements of the camera and frame.

film/tv analysis reflection 5 – question 2

by

the week 6 reading was about developing a crew. while the primary idea of the article, picking and choosing your own crew, was not entirely relevant because for this project we have been placed into groups without being able to choose people, there were many other parts of the reading that had really interesting points.

while this point was about picking the crew, it is also important to consider when dealing with your crew on set; having the right people. mood is very important on set. the mood of the crew will influence the mood of the cast which will in turn influence how the film itself turns out. when ever i have made films in the past, i had really only considered the cast that i was picking, but never considered the importance of picking a good crew. without a good, well working crew, a film won’t happen. the reading said we need to make sure everyone knows what they want to get out of the film, that they all have the same idea and a positive outlook. we don’t want people who will be late or unenthusiastic or dismissive or rude or act as if they’re doing you a favour by being there. and especially don’t want people with negative energy. because that won’t just bring the other crew down. it will bring the cast down and the whole quality of the film.

the second point that i found really interesting and useful was the classification of the different roles, what they include and what kind of traits they need to be. most eye opening for me that i never knew before was the role of the assistant director as more of a producer/business role than  a creative one. the reading said that assistant directors almost never become directors but are more prone to becoming production managers or producers. i had never thought about it like that because i had always considered the role of the AD to assist the director (which they still do). but this job is more of an organisational role, managing time and budgets and locations and the crew in order to allow the director to have creative flexibility on set.

hopefully when we get on set everyone can work cohesively together and keep up a great work environment to get our film done well!

film/tv analysis reflection 5 – question 1

by

week 7 was all about lighting. many different things about lighting were covered including:

-different lighting techniques (three point lighting, hard vs. soft lighting, natural vs. artificial lighting),

-ways of utilising lighting to communicate themes,

-moods or character’s emotions or personalities,

-how important lighting is for cinematography,

-in terms of setting up and framing a scene,

-what equipment is needed to light a scene and what the different types of equipment can add

-exposure levels and the importance of maintaing them.

these points covered were all very important, useful and relevant to our own projects. lighting is a major part of any film as without light, you can’t see anything. as director, i hope to be working very closely with our DOP to create the right lighting not only in every scene of our film but in ever shot. one very crucial part that was mentioned in the lecture was about practice shoots. making sure that we have our story board and shot list ready so that we can get the gear and practice using it and learn how to set up the lighting which will give us an idea not only of what lights we want to be using for our shoot to get the right mood and feel but also of how we want our lighting set up on the day of the shoot. this is vital because on the day of the shoot, timing will be crucial so if we know exactly how we want our lighting set up for every shot we will not waste any unnecessary time moving lighting around the room. as the saying goes, practice makes perfect.

a picture paints a thousand words – week 9

by

hitting up the other blogs this week. kevin always has some good stuff on there. this week he’s posted a photo in response to something that was discussed at the lecture, that “language rules the universe” (i believe he is quoting adrian). kevin rebuts this statement with the old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words”, claiming that the photograph transcends language. this is because no prior knowledge or information is required to understand an image, it can just be appreciated and experienced. language does require knowledge and not everyone can understand it.

however, i think kevin may have been a little confused coz i remember adrian talking about language not being the be all and end all because it is restrictive but how images existed way before language did, back with cave paintings on the walls. thats why client film worked. or why kids watch tv and read books before they can actually speak or read. because images are universal. language is limited.

i’m super, thanks for asking – week 9

by

i really hope you know what movie that quote in the title is from. no? ok, i posted the link below just to help you out. but only this once. don’t let this happen again.

we’ve started work on our major k-film now and our theme is superpowers. well. we’ve got like 3 themes. kinda. so this is where i really wanna try and sort through them, sort them out and organise them.

1. superpowers

2. heroes vs. villains

3. real vs. fabrication (with a little bit of magic thrown in there too)

so, here’s our main idea/prompt: Is there a definitive line between authentic reality and fabricated reality?

but so much else comes under that that we want to explore. the main way that we are exploring this prompt/idea is through the use of superpowers and then within that, heroes and villains. so it’s kinda like a 3-fold idea, using two of those as methods to communicate our overarching theme. we want to use varying levels of “superpowers” but show them in ways that will make the audience question whether it is real or we have used effects. primarily we are asking what is real? how can you tell what is real from what is fabricated? some things will be obviously real and some obviously fake but the point  is that the line in the middle will become lost, especially once we bring magic into the mix which is a true blend of reality and fabrication that exists in our world today.

the whole point of our film is to take the viewers through a journey using the unique nature of the k-film where they can explore the different sides of the superpowers and try to decide for themselves what is real and what isn’t. having them put into the korsakow style means that the viewer will create their own story from the clips too, they can interpret it how they want, if they just want to see heroes fighting villains then they will but they can also explore what is behind each clip, how it has been made. because k-films force viewers to think about how the film has been constructed in such a certain manner so this plays on that by asking not only how is the film constructed to give meaning but also how are each of the individual clips constructed.

some ideas of clips that we have:

First person super hero actions (edited in post)

Elements and remnants of powers (a fire, arrow in tree, spiderweb)

Shakycam footage of stuff in crowds (add screams and stuff in post)

Night scenes of criminals or criminal looking areas

Street performers, magicians.

using special effects on videos, after editing

someone watching a superhero film

cape blowing in the wind

reverse shots, like somebody jumping off a high ledge. but reverse so it looks like they’re jumping up

 

return to norm – week 9 lecture

by

things are finally getting back into the swing of things. that break kinda threw everybody but it’s starting to seem back to normal. at least for now anyways. who knows what it’ll be like in a week.

this weeks lecture was all about the k-films as people start preparing themselves for the major project. to start with, adrian had a lot to say about cinema being visual, not language based. which makes sense. you think about the first films, they were silent. these could be viewed, understood and enjoyed worldwide because images can be received by everyone. yes, we have sound now, but language was never our first port of call for communication. long before there were ever words and language, their were drawings. even in our k-films, we use the still thumbnails as a port of communication to tell what is coming next. people look and see before they read and hear. another example adrian gave was the idea of grammar. in language, a sentence cannot be out of order. the wrong grammar means it won’t make sense. but you can take any series of film clips and put them in any order and they will still make sense. maybe not the same sense that the creator intended but they can still be understood. again this is where korsakow thrives, because it can exist beyond the realm of linear storytelling.

one topic that has been of a lot of discussion has been lists. and an interesting point in the lecture was whether lists can create infinite possibilities. there were some different answers to this question, about it depending on what kind of list or who is listing. but when you think about it, i guess any list can be infinite. it’s like being given a constraint, like what was discussed last week, the constraint allows you to think not just of what you would normally think of but of what else there is out there. and what else can be infinite. there was also the idea that when a list only presents a sample of what is available, then whatever is left can have infinite possibilities. but the part i thought was most important wasn’t about what is or isn’t on the list being infinite or finite but the relationships between things on or off the list being important. because anyone can write a list. but the relationships take thought and time and can have infinite possibilities depending on the individual who is making it. similar to films and especially with k-films, it’s the relationships between clips that’s important, not the clips themselves.

a collage about collages – week 9

by

this week’s reading was interesting and for once, understandable!!! (maybe i’m a little to sceptical about all these readings.  but they’re just so tiresome and continuous.) shields provides us with a series of i guess i’ll call them dot points. all about collage and fiction and stuff. like adrian said on the subject blog, this “Could have been written for this subject”. and if it wasn’t, then i reckon this entire subject might have been written around this reading.

the reading itself, as i mentioned above, is comprised of various dot point like sentences (and sometimes paragraphs), making it thankfully very easy to read. it’s generally about collage vs the normal conventional fiction narrative. and you can tell Shields is a major collage supporter. he loves the idea of the many fractured parts coming together to form one whole. as he says, “collage is the many becoming one”, it “connect bits that don’t seem to belong together” and creates something new with them. remind you of anything? here we go again, korsakow!!! yay!!! i guess if this article didn’t relate in some way to korsakow then it wouldn’t really be here, considering korsakow is this entire subject.

shields describes the collage as representing the mind which he describes as “chaotic and opaque rather than unified and transparent” but likens this also to the journey and experience of life itself, saying that “fiction teaches that life is coherent, can be neatly tied up. but life flies at us in bright splinters”, in other words, a mosaic. “story says everything happens for a reason.” but it does not, and collages and k-films mirror this. and with a lack of reason there can sometimes tend to be a lack of plot. but Shields doesn’t say that that is a bad thing, rather that the “absence of plot leaver the reader room to think about other things”. although, i thought he may have gone a bit overboard when he said “plots are for dead people”. like… what does that even mean? calm down Shields. lets not get too over the top here.

moving on we see where Adrian got his favourite ideals, that of “collage as an evolution beyond narrative”. how many lectures has adrian been telling us that we need to get over narrative? the k-films and nonlinear is the way of the future. Shields knows where its at.

a really good point that i liked from the reading was bringing up the kuleshov effect, which we talked about quite a bit last year too. shields says that” meaning and emotion were created not by the content of the individual images but by the relationship of the images to one another” which is again what adrian tells us. in our k-films, it doesn’t matter what the clips themselves are, meaning only comes from how they are linked into and out from the other clips in the film. “meaning is a matter of adjacent data. everything is collage”. the most relevant point Shields made IMO to korsakow is – “you’ve found some interesting material, how do you go about arranging it?”. because that’s what korsakow is, arranging footage to create different meanings, unique meanings, that could never be achieved using simple linear narrative storytelling.

the only issue with all of this, which is something a lot of us have been asking ourselves have only been newly introduced to this new form of communication and story telling, is “how long will the reader stay engaged?”. because collage and korsakow is not for everyone, and a lot of people may not understand it. but as shield says “art exists to make one feel things” so as long as we can let our audience experience something, give them some form of emotion, then isn’t that all we can really ask for?

 

no constraints, just one big ‘ole film – week 8

by

we’re well into the course now and the baby k-films are out of the way. however, this means no more constraints and that was one of my contract thing’s. so instead, i’m going to use this contract spot to discuss our plans and ideas for the major k-film project.

we’ve got a big task coming up. and we have to face it in little groups of three. k-films upon k-films and it’s all interconnecting. 60 clips is a big task. especially if we want them all to look good and mean something. i guess it’ a good thing we had all those previous constraints to prepare us. luckily with this task, we have one overarching idea that we will know from the start, rather than random constraints each week to follow so that should making working on it a whole lot easier and actually allow me (and our group) to properly map out what clips we want, what we want them to mean and most importantly, how we want them to connect. if we don’t plan out our film well, it’ll just be a big mess and all the stuff we’ve done leading up to it, including the mini k-films will have been pointless. i want to create something that will be enjoyable, interesting, but also just a great k-film. i want it to utilise the non-linear fashion of korsakow to provide a unique experience for every viewer.

lets hope this turns out well!