The moving image has evolved in formats from films, videos and digital formats. Films can be more organic whereas others such as video could be more practical. Technology plays a key role in the development of new formats, this micro-video essay travels back in time to explore the evolution.
Studio Re-cap
With the continual evolution of audio-visual technology, short films are a prominent media with a wide range of applications in various industries, including cultural exhibitions projects developed by ACMI. The hands-on filming and editing were the highlight of this studio, which I wanted to approach in a different way for each project to learn new skills and show versatility in my work. In All My Layers, I scripted a fictional character to discuss the topic of genders which pushed me to discuss a social issue in a more creative, directors cut style, rather than using a more immediate style such as documentary or interviews. Focusing on composition, graphics and postproduction effects in Fashion EXCE$$ highlighted for me the importance of telling a story through the use of visuals and audio foleys, instead of relying on dialogue and narration to engage the audience’s imagination. I really enjoyed the freedom to be more abstract in this project and aimed to create a filmic magazine. In the collaborative project with ACMI, I obtained valuable experience working with a real client brief and following their brand guidelines. I had to refine my technical skills such as titles, logos, editing and quality sound to ensure I delivered a professional product.
Production Assets
Research
The importance of film and video in art and its ties to more traditional and mainstream forms is a key consideration for the ACMI exhibition project. Therefore, I chose the topic A short story of film, video and digital formats, that I could feature the cultural, historical and theoretical importance while being able to present this in a visually engaging way. Research played a large part in the project as the topic covers several technical formats over more than a century of history, I needed to undertake a lot of research. I took a timeline approach to my research beginning with the initial technological developments combined with the cultural and historical elements of the topic. I had to ensure I was understanding the technical aspects of the formats as well as the audio-visual content itself. At this point, the research was still broad and I needed to filter it further before creating the script, therefore I questioned the approach to the narrative of the project with three options; timeline-based, technical aspects or general knowledge. This was the key takeaway from the pitch, and it was imperative I obtained feedback from ACMI, along with their stylistic requirements, such as referring to the 1960s cinema to explore the history of film.
Pitch Presentation Screen Lab Luis Barra
Pre-production
With a solid foundation of research, the next phase of pre-production began, using the needs of ACMI to develop a short film that is educational, engaging and entertaining – these were my guidelines throughout the project. I began with creating a concept that follows the chronological evolution of technology along with human generations. I had three technical formats; Film representing grandparents, Video representing their children and finally digital formats representing the current generation. This gave me the idea to interview children about their knowledge of the different formats and the experiences of the previous generation as an engaging way to approach the topic. From here I scripted the film, usually taking a top-down approach, where I visualise the finished product and plan backward from there. I scripted the narrator’s dialogue to form a timeline for the film and to ensure I covered the key technical elements from the different formats for educational content.
Next was writing interview questions for the children which was a combination of questions and flashcards. I used open-ended questions in the hope of generating conversations and imaginative responses while keeping the style natural and immediate. With the script and interview questions written, I cast the narrator and the children with the appropriate personal release forms and undertaking the castings and screentests via zoom. As I was working with children, it was essential I followed ethical guidelines and had the permission and support from their parents. Finally, I needed to gather historical audiovisual content to provide an entertaining layer to the film, therefore gaining access to the ACMI database was extremely valuable.
Filming
With the current Covid 19 restrictions in Melbourne, I was unable to film the children’s interview footage in person. My initial idea was the film the interviews in a chroma studio at the university or create a green chroma screen at another location, so I could superimpose them into historical film footage. As I could not film in person, I had to adjust my plans and film remotely using Zoom software. The challenge here was being unable to control the setup and filming on location and ask interview questions while recording their responses simultaneously. I wanted to capture their immediate reactions and responses to questions and flashcards, however recording through zoom I had to pin a particular screen that was being recorded at that specific moment. I also had to film a high volume of footage to ensure I had plenty of variety to choose from when editing, as this content was more natural and unscripted.
Another challenge filming remotely was controlling the quality of sound, for both the children’s interview and the narrator. In a studio, I would be guaranteed soundproofing and appropriate microphones for recording high quality. As the recordings were made in open spaces with computer incorporated microphones there was echo and reverberations. I had to improvise with some makeshift soundproofing for the narrators recording and invest in a professional microphone (rode). For the children’s interview, I would have to rely on postproduction software adobe premiere pro to adjust the sound during the editing phase.
POST production
The postproduction phase was very important as I was combining interview footage, historical film and video, text and dialogue of the narration. I also had the challenge of having too much content for the rough cut and needing to edit the film to 150 seconds. Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects were used for motion graphics solutions to layer the interview footage into templates of film reels and mobile phone screens, as a workaround for remote filming. I wanted to integrate the children into the film and connect their comments to the topic visually, rather than static portrait footage. I was able to access motion graphic templates through Envato Elements subscription and then customise them for my film. Titles and text were also added in this phase as a way to include a variety of information for the audience without narrating every detail and remain within the timeframe. Working with ACMI, I was required to follow their brand guidelines and use their approved fonts Px Groteske and Fakt pro for any titles and captions.
Sound editing was also important during postproduction due to the variety of content and basic quality resources due to remote recording. Luckily, I was able to use the audio effect de-noise for the children’s interview, which reduced the echo. I sourced royalty-free music, selecting three different songs for each sequence of the film to guide the audience and ensure the music suits the content, for example using contemporary music for the digital format sequence.
Collaboration
Unfortunately, this semester was disturbed by a pandemic, and face-to-face group work was limited, therefore we collaborated through online classes which were helpful for seeing my colleagues’ work and giving each other feedback. The project did give me a great opportunity to collaborate with external stakeholders. Working with a cast and a narrator, I had to be prepared with scripts and questions and plan filming sessions and rely on their recording skills and technology. Collaborating with ACMI provided me experience working with a real client, therefore I had to develop a project following their requirements and brand guidelines. I also had to ensure the final product was of a high-quality standard to be screen as part of their exhibitions. The biggest lesson here was to pay close attention to the client’s needs and their feedback along the way to make the necessary adjustments.
Peer Feedback
ACMI’s guidelines of engaging, educational and entertaining content can be clearly seen in The Art of the Title Sequence by Andrea Garcia. The introduction made up of recognisable cinema titles and logos blurred out was a clever hook to engage the audience from the very first moment and provided clues to the films content. A timeline-based history of title sequences gave a clear and educational context to the topic rather than launching directly into famous or popular examples. I used a similar approach to my topic by using a timeline narrative sequence interjected with historical examples. I particularly liked the explanation of title sequences as mini-movies setting the tone and introducing characters within a film, I felt this gave a quick understanding of the impact of a good title sequence. Even with all this history and background information, the film’s pace, design, colours and animation kept it entertaining. Showing examples from films was essential but combining that footage with animated text and graphics added another layer and explained the topic in a visually relevant way. Finishing with a question for the viewer was an effective way to summarise the importance of the topic.
Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed my project’s journey.
