Matt Bickerdike's Blog

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SV38o5sbbas_AqtIeWw3umKU8oj8tdff

The second video I was going to be a part of ended up never getting off the ground. So I was stuck with only my own one video.

The solution I came up with was to obtain the footage from someone else’s final project, without knowing what their observation was or how they intended for it to be edited, and make my own edit of it. In this sense, the observation would become what I “observed” from their footage. My edit would be a culmination of what I found the essence to be of their shoot. I would then compare my video to their edited video.

Ramsay agreed to help me out, giving me his footage about pickles.

I found myself intrigued by the shots I was looking at, or more specifically, the way in which I was being looked at by the main actor. Many of the shots were from the “point of view” of a jar of pickles. I found these POV shots to be an interesting insight into the feelings of the main character as he contemplates eating the food. I decided that this was my observation, and the essence I would try to convey through my edit.

I decided to leave the identity of the food in question unspecified, so that the video could potentially be a statement into vegetarianism – the character may be contemplating the murder, and then proceeding with the murder, of a living thing. This worked well, because in the pickle POV shots, there was never any indication that the food was in fact pickles.

To make the scene more dramatic, I changed the aspect ratio to be extra wide and added a cold looking filter. I did this to take the scene out of the realm of the mundane, everyday life, and into a more fantastical but also terrifying realm. I also slowed down all of the shots and added a lowpass filter to the sound, to give the main actor the appearance of a looming giant, while making the viewer feel “small”. I was able to do because Ramsay shot at a high frame rate.

I think Ramsay’s edit makes a more sense than mine in a narraive sense, because we are given more context to what is going on. It’s very interesting to see how the addition of POV shots from the main character’s point of view paints him as a relatable, protagonist character, whereas in my edit this character he appears to be more of an antagonist who is narratively opposite to viewer.

Overall I’m satisfied with my end result.

Assignment 3 Reflection 1

Assignment 3 Reflection 2

Assignment 3 Reflection 3

Assignment 3 Reflection 4

Practical Filmmaking Task 1 & Associated Reflection

Practical Filmmaking Task 2 & Associated Reflection

Studio Website Content

I was absolutely blown away by the films made by my classmates shown in the exhibition. Here are my thoughts on a few of them:

Neville’s Pixie Swan:

I loved the reveal at the end of this piece that the scene was from the point of view of an observer, who was likely extrapolating the additional details of what had happened earlier. The music absolutely added value to this piece, unlike some others we have seen already, as it really brought an emotional element to the whole thing and tied it together. The crossing between different timeframes was excellently done through matching movements, but the distinction between the two and the vibe of each one was made clear through it’s colour temperature.

Darcy’s The Future is Radio:

This was another piece that tied together a handful of differnet situations through music. I really like how each shot was clearly very carefully considered. Each “scene” often only had one shot, which must have been the result of a realisation that this was all that was needed for the intimate moment that each one conveyed. The extreme close up on the guitar was a great way to “universalise” it, rather than having it be tied to one specific location.

Patrick’s Holy:

In this piece, Patrick did a fascinating job of utilising light and reflections. By restricting the information available to us through restricting what is lit, the space appears especially grand and could apply to a range of real or non-real situations. I found out through talking to him afterwards that this was the third time that he filmed the scene, and that by the third attempt he’d ironed out all the wrinkles in the piece such that it was very streamlined and true to his vision.

Darcey’s Easy to Find:

Fantastic use of aspect ratio to evoke a sense of nostalgia. It feels as though I am peeking through a window to a different time and place, which is really what the poem is all about.

At the start of the semester I expressed that I wanted to gain a better understanding of what I’d like to do in the film industry in the future from this studio. Here are some of my findings.

I think arranging shoots and people is something that I do not enjoy. I can do it if I have to, but it’s very emotionally draining and a very thankless job. The amount of preparation that has to go into a successful shoot is certainly much more than I ever put into any of the class exercises in this course.

I also don’t like how as a director, I am still very limited by the practical consideration of time. I prefer to tinker with things in however much time I like to spend on them.

I can now see the value of a camera person who is separate from the director. As the director, you need to spend all of your time and energy directing the actors and considering where the shots should be shot from. You don’t have time to be fixing the camera settings or adjusting the height. Having someone dedicaed to doing this can ensure that each shot looks as good as it should look.

I do like the idea of working out the essence of a thing and acting upon that, and I think that writing is a great way to achieve this. In all forms of media-making, it is important to know what you’re working towards, because there are always so many tiny decisions being made which can steer the product in one way or another.

I enjoyed making a documentary-style piece, without constructed drama elements. It was really all about knowing what my vision was, and realising that through the way I filmed each shot. I can imagine myself trying more of this. Ironically, this is similar to the news or documentary style of coverage that I considered investigating into last semester, but ended up not doing.

Bag opening exercise.

In this exercise, I operated the camera, which was a very demanding task. I was to provide a variety of different shots while Nathan presented the contents of his bag.

Part of my role was anticipate where Nathan would be in the next few secconds. I think I was successful at doing this. However, because I did not know what was coming next, I feel that I was not able to make any particuarly motivated decisions, other than just wanting to try something because I hadn’t done it yet. Perhaps one of the best parts of the piece was when I zoomed in to reframe the shot just as Nathan was taking his laptop out of his bag, the “centrepiece” of the collection. With the limited time I had to react to what was going on, I think I was able to make this motivated decision to increase the intimacy of the moment.

The final product featured an abundance of zooms in and out, as well as moves in and out. I think both served their purpose. When I moved in, the focus was put more centerally on Nathan and the background was pushed back. I may have tried to cover some of these transitions between shots, and we did attempt to film some shots of the pile of items which could be used as a cutaway. However, they did not match the original piece, so they were effectively unuseable.

We also attempted to record some of the audio separately after the shoot for increased quality. However, our recreated audio did not match what was filmed originally. This included different items falling on top of each other creating different sounds, or multiple items being placed in the pile at once. Because I couldn’t include the recreated audio for most of the piece, in the couple of places where it could have worked, it stood out too much.

Class exercise 10 was about a student trying to use a room that he had a booking for. Even though the end product from my group was clearly unsuccessful, I think the experiment as a whole was a valuble experience.

We filmed the entire first scene from 4 angles, giving us lots of options in the edit. However, I think having this many options may have been a detriment. Each one of those angles did not seem to have it’s own motivation, and some of them overlapped. As the editor, in hindsight, I think I should have only used one or two of these takes. At the time though, I put together the whole thing in half an hour before class because our designated editor forgot to put together an edit.

I found it interesting to realise that I could either use the camera swinging between the two characters in a single long take, or I could cut between the two actors, but the combination of the two options would have been jarring. I think we didn’t realise this at the shoot, and did not have a specific approach in mind.

Our audio equipment stopped walking halfway through the shoot, which was very dissapointing. I feel like I am still unsatisfied with the level to which I am able to use and troubleshoot audio equipment. It is very frustrating when a whole shoot is held up by one small technical difficulty, but obviously it is more annoying when the technical difficulty goes unnoticed and the footage filmed is useless. For this reason, it makes sense to allocate enough time to allow for things like these to go wrong, and to be patient with the people who are fixing it.

I suggested that our camera operator may have accidentally touched something which caused this audio fault, but I think this came across as very insulting to him. I don’t think this is the first time I have done something like this in this studio either. It’s situations like these when I think I’m more suited to working in an editing room.

The Negotiation (Link to vimeo page)

Pre-production:

I found that writing the observation for this piece was an effective way to extract the essence of what I wanted to convey in its film translation. After showing it to my actors and briefly discussing each of their motives, we did a brief runthrough which I filmed on my phone. I’d never done this before, and I think it was a very good way for me to guage the kind of shots I wanted. It also allowed for me to later go back and aalyse the perofrmance of each actor so I could tell them what I wanted to change.

The approach I took of giving the actors total freedom in their performance was also new to me and I think it was very successful. Over a couple of sessions, I clarified with them how they should react to each other and what their goals and fears are.

Production:

We filmed in a very limited space, wich made it difficult to move around with a boom mic, camera, tripod and reflector board. However, we were overall able to get appropriate shots. I think if I wasn’t restricted by the space I may have tried to film from further back with some longer focal lengths, to create tension by apparently reducing the distance between the characters. I particuarly achieved this by moving the entire set and all of the actors to opposite ends of the room when I filmed from each side. In general though, I think the focal lengths I used were fairly standard, which did help create a more coherant sense of space.

It was interesting to experiment with lighting in this scene. All of the lights in the room shone from directly above, and as they were on the edges of the roof, they often shone from behind the actors’ heads, leaving their heads as silouettes. To bring more light to the actors’ faces, so I could see their facial expressions more clearly, I used two techniques. Firstly, I moved them around in the space specifically taking note of how the light fell on them in each position. Secondly, I used a reflector board to bring significantly more light to one side of the character’s face. I think these attempts at lighting were overall successful.

I felt very rushed while shooting the piece – we only had about an hour to do it. Clearly, I should have planned further in advance and allowed more time. Because I was rushed, I felt like I did not get all of the shots that I wanted to get. In particular, I wanted a more smooth transition and ongoing consistency when I crossed the 180 line. In the end, most cuts to the third, more passive character involve crossing the line. I forgot to film a close up of Neville’s character which I could cut in with the rest of the discussion. I was also sometimes dissatisfied with the performances, but still moved on to shoot the next shot. While dissapointing, I’m proud that I was able to make this decision at the right time. Based on what I did shoot, I think I was able to realise the vision of what I wanted to convey.

Post-production:

As I’d expect from a shoot without a script, it was difficult to stitch together shots. I found out in the editing room that some of the performances had changed over time, such that the later ones were incompatible with the earlier ones. This highlights the importance of shooting a scene in chronological order with novice actors. Despite this, I was still able to cut in such a way that conveyed the message I wanted to convey – a slow pace at the start, and a fast pace at the end, with some close ups.

Four men are sitting around a round table.

This meeting had been long anticipated. Weeks had been spend of talking behind each other’s back, and venting frustration. Two people, Stephen and Stan, wanted something. The other two, Gavin and Daniel, held a position of power and the ability to give it to them. Gavin was a fairly uninvolved people-pleaser, while Daniel was gruff and stern and not interested in the smallest bit of people-pleasing.

The atmosphere at the table was tense. After weeks of rejection and neglect, Stan and Stephen looked defeated from the get-go. Their morale had been slowly worn down by the lack of this item making their jobs much slower and more tedious. They had also recently both had kids. Daniel, wearing a red shirt, sat upright, appearing large and dominating over the conversation. While Gavin said he supported the new item, his word didn’t mean much, and the latest word was that the Daniel wasn’t giving them anything. His body language certainly conveyed this.

The conversation didn’t flow. It was jagged. The Stephen and Stan knew they had to choose their words carefully, and Daniel was known to cut people off frequently. The Gavin didn’t have much to contribute, and spent the time trying to take in information that he was already supposed to know. Sometimes, he might ask a question to clarify something.

The meeting ended with no progress made. Stephen and Stan were frustrated. Their next discussion would be a long way away, because Gavin had to be involved, even though he was rarely present.

https://vimeo.com/showcase/6011896/video/341067023

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oxtCxtp9AuvCf_LsjSVKWXfJDjotwc3U

I found this task quite difficult. I was given every possibility in the world for my voiceover, but it was hard to pin down any idea I was happy with. Paradoxically, I felt unequipped to do this exercise, even though most of what we’ve done so far is write things based on what we see.

One issue I encountered was that the cutting of my video was faster than how I’d usually observe something. This fast cutting made sense in the context of the original video, as the trees were meant to symbolise something else (a river), and I didn’t want the viewer getting too fixated on the trees themselves. For this task I could have talked about each of the shots and what I thought about them, but the the cuts were just far too fast for this to make sense. In addition, I gnerally don’t know or care enough about trees to write a voiceover about them. Given these considerations, I decided my voicover would not be “simply” describing what can be seen.

I ended up writing a piece based on the way the shots made me feel. I thought a lot about personification, and how I can describe the trees in a more vivid and relatable way. The trees as a whole to me looked strong, but their outer layers looked worn. Many shots convey death. Almost all of the shots were originally indended to convey a depressing story about a destroyed river, so despair was the feeling that resonated with me.

I found that the scripts that I wrote were all significantly simpler and more sparse than the original observation, and all of my other observations. I think this is because I wanted to match the voiceover closely to the vision. It’s much more difficult to write one sentence which emcompasses four preselected “ideas” in a row, than a sentence that relates to only one or two “ideas”.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cFP1CfZapcQqCCY7JhVJBRRPLeU-MyO7

Going into this shoot, I knew I wanted the focus to be on how the lights change the landscape, and how it creates an environment which people react to in certain ways. So we started at the place where I stood when I did the reflection, and filmed people in the same way that I looked at them back then. We got some nice stuff. We moved around and got things from other perspectives, and on different length lenses, but the overall plan was to film the effect of the lights on the environment. For this reason, I was not interetsed in filming anything to do with the ferris wheel, instead keeping the source of the colours as an “irrelevant” detail. I think this decision paid off.

If I was to go back and film again, based on what I liked from our first night of shooting, I’d try to get more close shots of people as they walk past, where their faces and expressions are visible. Getting up close to people may feel uncomfortable, but the fact that we could simply set up and let them walk to us would make this much easier.

In editing, I found that the moments when the lights are changing rapidly, which at the time we thought were the best moments, were too incongruent with the rest of the tone of the piece. However, the fast changing colours did find a place in the colourful waves at the end, where the energy and movement is different to the shots of people. I liked the idea Robin suggested to us of the slow reveal of what is going on, where the audience only slowly becomes aware of what the real subject is (the colours). The vibrant waves at the end serve as a payoff for the viewers who figured out that the colours of the scene are changing in a strange way.