FILM TV 2 – Reflection & Analysis 3 Q2

Documentary Storytelling shows how to make stronger, more compelling documentaries through improved storytelling techniques. It offers a writerly perspective to filmmakers at every stage of production, from concept and treatment to shooting and postproduction. It is intended for the novice as well as the experienced filmmaker and is applicable to a wide variety of documentary styles and forms.

“Story is what turns a subject or an idea into a film; it’s what keeps an audience watching a topic they might never have thought would interest them” . This is what interested me the most since our group havent decided on a way to approach our topic, hence have no story to keep the audience watching. It is important to attract viewers to the subject and being able to do that requires a proper story planned, which I have always struggling with. I guess ideas must be throwing out and combining different views so that the final outcome fits the popular taste of audience.

#3 Analysis and Reflection – Q1

link to video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RQ8pCO1ius&list=UUc2R0k4wVFqvP5fJf71OLWg

Overall the video turned quite nice and unexpected. Even though the videos we recorded have different vibe and mood compare to our audio. But some of the them went well together. I really enjoy the vision of the moving clouds being reflected on the windows of building 9. Layering that vision with any kind of audio would still be nice and abstract.Even though some of our audio’s level was at peak and have bad quality since the ambience was too loud. I layered 5 differnt audio to my film, there are sound recorded at the basketball court, at student union event with music and people cheering and talking, sound of fingers touching smartphones and sound of steps.I used the ones with the loudest background music to be the main audio then layer the rest onto it . When we went filming we somehow imagine the vibe of the videos we want to record which is a totally different thinking and process to our audio. I learn that the thinking and brainstorming and creativity developed from the first exercise to the second exercise. The idea was clearer and better but on the other hand we were too focusing on the abstract aspects that the quality of the videos arent very good and need to be improved. Overall, its been a fun and exciting excersice to work on and my video turned out to be quite unexpectly well in my opinion.

#2 Analysis and Reflection : Q2

Q2: Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two points that you have taken from it. Points that excite you, something that was completely new to you. 

The reading emphasised the importance of form in documentary filmmaking. Pawlikowski suggests that documentary filmmakers need to concentrate on the film-making of their docos, and let that be their primary role rather than that of the role of a recorder. That nowadays film-making is so commonly and easily done by anyone so that documentaries needed to be done to be able to delivered information, knowledge, point of view and so on.  I remember watching a sport documentary on ESPN about the life outside the fields and that completely changed my view on sports and athletes. Therefore, being able to deliver such powerful message is more important than just making a beautiful quality, gorgeous scenes films. Furthermore, since almost media products now are made to share on social media platforms, that anybody can make and read from other’s works without knowing the qualification of the writer/producer, also as the facts might not be true, or the information were false. So documentaries , like Pawlikowski proves, must be true and powerful at first, then comes other aspects.

#2 Analysis and Reflection – Q1

Q1: In the lecture we screened a short film called ‘End of the Line’ – the film shot in Broken Hill. 

Please describe in 300 words or less if you think they achieved what they set out to do.

You may not remember much detail, if so, it could be helpful to talk about your first impressions, after all this is what most of us are left with after one viewing. The treatment which we showed in the lecture is avalaible here
Feel free to write to any categories you wish. eg. story, choice of participants, sound, camera, editing etc. 

I was impressed by the choice of participants and the editing of the short film. At first to me it was just an interview with the older generations expressing their thoughts about living in Broken Hill but furthermore it’s all the past and present, how different generations view the world differently and how such historic place like Broken Hill or same goes with other place that are faded away by time. So the point here is how in such short time the producer was able to deliver such deep message in a normal pattern of a documentary, simply showing interview and landscapes. I like how the editing works perfectly when overlaying the audio of the old lady when she talks about the riches of Broken Hill and we were showing visuals of dusty , cracked landscapes. As well as the choice of participants as most of the elderlies who speak highly of the place were born in Broken Hill. Even though their answers were shorts but powerful and touching which fits perfectly to the point of the whole documentary.

Analysis & Reflection – Week 1 Blog Questions & Responses:Q5

Question 5 : Listen to the audio you recorded in Tute #1. Here. Write a paragraph or two about your recording from a technical and/or “poetic” perspective.

Consider: What these sounds evoke for you. What associations they have. Do any of your recordings suggest images? What might they be? Do any of your recordings suggest the possibility of other recordings?

It was really surprising listening to our recorded sounds because the microphone picked up unexpected ambiance and I find it really interesting. We mainly recorded our piece outdoor, which was noisy because there was music and crowds outside. Distance was our relevance, since as we see the noisy atmosphere outside of building 9, we slowly move away from the noise and tried to find a quite place, which the audio quality was improved, clearly.  We recorded audio from the basketball court, from a long distance but it still pick up every details , the bouncing sound, the sound of the ball touching the rim, the wind, everything. We also tried to record the sound of fingers touching a smart phone . Normally with our ears we couldn’t hear anything from our touch but with the recorder we could hear probably the difference of the audio level in every touches, and also the ambiance sound inside the room.

Analysis & Reflection – Week 1 Blog Questions & Responses:Q4

Question 4: Listen to the first 10 minutes of Glenn Gould’s radio documentary, “The Idea of North”.  Files are here  (experimenting with different sizes and file types) If possible, use headphones.  Record your impressions in a paragraph or two.

Glenn Gould’s radio documentary ” The Idea of North” to me was really confusing and abstract but challenging to analyse. After listening to it 3 times I have recognized the use of overlapping different voices and the unusual flow of audio which created a really abstract mood to the piece. After 3 minutes of the documentary, things are being cleared as names and story was revealed . It was a tricky and challenging structure to me since the curiosity was formed right after the start of the piece, then finally an intro and background music came in to help people to visualize the North. There were also background noises, like wind, sound of a train, etc which makes it really unique and challenging.

Analysis & Reflection – Week 1 Blog Questions & Responses:Q3

Question 3: In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Rue’s ‘Four Images’, Brian Hill’s ‘Drinking for England’ and Chantal Akerman’s ‘D’Est’ were screened.  Choose one of these, and consider, in a single paragraph, what might have intrigued, interested, displeased or repelled you.

Brian Hill’s “Drinking for England” explores the importance of an attitudes towards consumption of alcohol in English society by following five subjects through interviews, recitals of poetry, and song.I was really interested in how Brian delivered such good pace and flow. The visuals to his song then montage this urban backdrop with its graffiti with scenes in the pub, a fish-eye lens thrusting the singer forward from his working-class fellow drinkers, just like a music video would. The performance does not hide a “real” self, but rather enables, enacts, the version of himself he seems most comfortable to own.. This is a documentary about drink, yet Tony is happy to be a drinker. both song and singer are so unexpected that I find really funny to watch, unlike my typical assumption for documentary I made before watching it.

Analysis & Reflection – Week 1 Blog Questions & Responses:Q2

Question 2In 200 words or less please outline your goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. Many will rethink this dramatically by the end of the course – this is a good thing.

I was a bit disappointed in my semester 1 mark so Im really looking forward to improve my skills and results in this Film/TV2. Since we get to make a documentary film I find it really challenging and interesting , it’s a another filed that I need to learn about, experience and process. Im excited about my ideas on the documentary film we are about to make, and hopefully can deliver a strong and quality video. I want to be able to try different role in a group , not as a cinematographer like last semester but maybe a director. I also want to practice my filming skills, my vision as a DOP and also what I lack the most at – post production.

Short Film Reviews for Film/TV 1 Q1 + 2

Q1:

My most favourite film was definitely Budgerigar. It was well executed, both at cinematography and scriptwriting perspective. First of all as a cinematographer, the camera movement and the shots angle were really professional, and in my opinion , above all others. The dolly movement was not easy but done amazingly good, which played a real important role in expressing the film and to be more specific, the 2 main characters as the dolly movement slowly going towards the character’s face, from a mid shot to a close up portrait shot .Next , I love the scene of the 2 character’s at low light space, which was setup perfectly for the purpose of the script. Overall,simple but effective storyline was perfectly executed with amazing camera work and wonderful acting.

Second best film was A Love Lost. I love how they decided to do a drama/romance which is of course more complicated to deliver than a typical choice such as comedy. And there are 2 things that strike me : Acting and Cinematography . The 2 casts were really good at expressing feelings, and the conversation scene was so natural and smooth. The guy’s narration fits the script and helped deliver the mood of the film. Secondly , the camera work was not fancy but effective, specifically the conversation scene at the dinning table. Lighting was perfect, brings out the exact light level at a dinner table and it was romantic , thanks to the candles. I noticed there were more than 3 angles were shot , the 2 POV and the mid shot, which was the best shot which was framed beautifully , including the window, the win glasses and of course the 2 characters. #respect

Milk was also good and I enjoy watching it the most. It was an action/comedy film which is the most effective one , in my opinion. The humour was clever and well delivered, the story was simple but effective and the acting was amazing. I find the camera work a bit shaky and grainy in some parts but the rest were perfect.

Q2 :

Through out the whole semester I find this course the most amazing and challenging . What surprised me the most was how myself and others year 1 students were able to pull off such good films when , going back at the first few weeks, no one knows how to make a film. Now we are all producers, directors, cinema photographer , sound director and script writer. Definitely the shooting day was the most excited part of the course. We were working with professional equipments, actors and saying different professional terms on a set. Being in a real professional set was my favourite part. On the other hand , I was i could have contributed more ideas and points into the group , other than just listen to orders and complete given tasks. What disappointed me was our script doesnt really delivered, not as funny and neat as we expected. The original idea was really good but then was changed and I didnt speak up which I should have. Then seeing it at the screenings and clearly didnt turn out as good as I wanted, and to compare with others, our film was not good. It was also really challenging to work in a group of people that I don’t know which led to some trouble in teamwork and chemistry. But overall, I really enjoy this course and I’d recommend anyone who have the same interest as me to take this course.