Film-TV2- Documentary Reviews

Sneakerhead Collective

It was a clever choice to structure the piece to take a comparative approach between Jordan sneaker collectors and luxury sneaker collectors, through this the documentary acted to contrast these types of collectors and then merge them together through their passion. The documentary had some really interesting shots, such as the stop motion of the shoes placed all over the tech guy that conveyed interest through the innovation of depicting the subject. Towards the end of the piece the ideal of money and how much all these shoes cost comes into question, the numbers illustrated on screen with each digit coming up to equal the amount of money these collectors spent together, was a smart way of expressing the attachment and investment of these shoes. The choice of having an American narrator makes what’s being said more familiar because we’re accustomed to it through such things as film, and somehow makes the piece have an entertainment value. The use of locations such as, the graffiti laneway, shoe shops and the Sneaker Freaker swap-meat, display the sense of place these shoes are connected to and the events that take place around them. It was also really interesting how the interviewees spoke about the design behind some of the shoes, like the Buscemi shoes designed after the Hermès’ Birkin bag and the Nike Bacons after a butcher, in doing this the film conveys to the audience how as Christian Louboutin once said, “a shoe has so much more to offer than just to walk.”

Waves

Really well executed documentary that achieved its aesthetic through the variety of scenes to display the subject of water and flowing music to eliciting the ideal that surrounds surfing. Visually the piece is wonderful, the underwater shots paired with the echoing audio you hear when you’re beneath water, it wasn’t the typical sound of splashing water but a more ominous sound you hear personally. There’s one shot where there’s a full circle camera track around of the surfer as he stands on the beach, demonstrating the subject’s insignificance to the water paired with his need to have this place. The piece is driven on the relationship between this surfer and the waves, we always see him with them and somehow we understand he needs them more than they need him. The images make you feel a part of the ocean and surf, and you realise why the participant does this. With the slow motion of waves rolling by as he stands there time seems still, slowly capturing the euphoria of being in a world where nothing matters more than catching the next wave before it passes by.

Black Cat

A documentary is well executed when it allows the viewer to question themselves, and this is exactly what I did after watching Black Cat. I’m not overly superstitious but some things you just don’t do because of reoccurring sayings around them, and the documentary helped to illustrate the extent to which these superstitions can govern your life. The opening credits were really well done, the muttering of quotes accompanied by on screen text foreshadowing the superstitions covered in the documentary, and then the cat walking up which is frozen upon when the main title appears. It was really well polished and created the necessary supernatural hint to begin the piece. The use of archive footage was really well done, such as the scenes of the Grand Final and audio of commentators, furthering this supernatural effect that is based around superstition. The variety of participants helping to broaden the understanding of all the different people that experience superstition, acting to display all these for the audience so that they can begin to question their own beliefs.

Theanna

I loved that the whole documentary was in Greek and you used subtitles to translate it for the audience, it made us understand your grandma’s story through the language barrier. This also permitted more concentration from the viewer as you have to read as well as watch allowing more of a chance to get submerged in what’s going on. Therefore, we see and understand her hardship of losing her husband, but also the joy that he allowed to be passed onto the generations. I think how you displayed the journey of being told these stories, showing the moments where you open the dusty trunk housing all the letters and opening the unopened card, and then choosing to appropriate this structure to  cooking was smart. The fact that she found an unopened letter and read it to us was poignant as her emotion was so raw and there’s nothing more compelling than documenting that for the audience to experience on screen. I also found the crunching as she cuts up the pastry with scissors a great sound motif, with food being something that represents heritage and brings together family. The technique of allowing the last words on screen to stay until the black screen and then fade off made the last sentence resonate nicely; it was a perfect ending to a love story that wouldn’t happen the same way today.

Cactus

Cactus is a prime example of how sometimes just having an excellent subject can make the documentary. The man reminded me of one of the first Film-TV2 lectures when we were shown a clip from an Errol Morris’ documentary of a man with turtles, I didn’t really know why he was showing us the turtles but everything he had to say about them was so compelling when place on screen. Cactus shows the world of the subject, placing us in his planting yard and at his cactus events, allowing us to see his passion for cacti through each little pot he plants. That opening shot where he stands with the magnifying glasses picking at the cactus stem was brilliant, almost like he was performing an operation on the plant. He has such great dialogue, such as when he talks about illegal importing the cacti through customs, which makes it easy to listen to anything he says. The only criticism, is perhaps the garden background noises is a little loud when he’s sitting at the table as it’s hard to hear what he’s saying, but honestly I overlooked this when I saw the magnificent pompom hat.

Forbidden Xanadu

It’s arguable to say that without an audience there isn’t art, as sometimes it’s the undiscovered art that can create the audience. Forbidden Xanadu acts to contrast the busy graffiti laneways of Melbourne to the deserted train yard of the outer city suburbs, that at the beginning of the piece you wouldn’t expect it to do. Through this the documentary contextualises the art of graffiti without an audience, something that’s so much more beautiful than the popular wall murals of the city streets. The audience is shown graffiti culture through the images with the aid of narration, viewing the polished world of graffiti we see every day in our streets and the one where people live through giving life to things left behind. The beginning of the documentary depicts Melbourne’s street acceptance of graffiti in designated laneways, for example there’s a man with spray paint cans out in broad daylight as people walk past, these shots being quite cool in colour. This coolness is then contrasted in the railway yard, with shots like the heat rising from the railway tracks and the rust of the carriages. The audio throughout the documentary makes the piece more self-reflexive as it documents the filmmakers experience with seeing the deserted train yard, we are there as he climbs up the ladder to the top of carriage and looks down on this world, making us appreciate this as a form of undiscovered art.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 5 – Question 2

“In 200 words or less please outline you goals, desires – what you want to get out of this semester. You will review this later in the course. You may rethink this dramatically – this is a good thing.”

You were asked this at the beginning of the semester. Now, could you review constructively what you got from this semester – has the course lived up to your expectations, delivered what you expected, maybe even surpassed it?

 The beginning of Semester Film/TV2 Anticipations

Though our documentary still isn’t finished and we spend these last few days fine tuning different aspects, I can definitely say I’m proud of what we have thus far and hope audiences will enjoy it. It’s so fulfilling to see after filming all those Friday nights we have something that not only demonstrates what Larping is about but that explores documentary practice in the depiction of the spectacle. Those nights we would go down and just start filming, action, people, interaction, asking questions and really engaging with the community that exists behind the subjects, allowed us to experience the exploration and interactions that documentary filmmaking is all about. Some of the best moments being on field with a person on camera, someone else on the mixer and a third person to tell the other two when people to move away from the battle that was heading straight towards them.

Furthermore, I believe our film is, “refined in technique and construction,” and am happy that we took a collective decision to create something that expressed the form of documentary in a creative way, by getting the participants to speak in character and transporting the viewer into the world these people inhabit every week. Though we had some issues with technique along the way, such as technical problems with the grain of shots and audio pitching, we worked collectively within the group to come to accept these mistakes and learn from them in the following weeks.

I’ve enjoyed the documentary process right from the beginning, this in part can be attributed to the great group we had as we all got along really well and shared an enthusiasm for the project from the first day. It made the processes required not only so much easier but exciting to achieve, and reassuring to know that we had the ability to voice our opinions and concerns freely. Each person brought another element to the production process and we all worked collaboratively taking turns in the construction. We didn’t assign specific roles to members but instead allowed people to have a go at doing different elements and worked individually to do things where we saw necessary. Personally, this included the, “opportunity to deal on the technical side of shooting,” with filming on field and recording audio allowing me the chance to build the technical knowledge needed in documentary production. Looking back at the choice of subject for the documentary, “I hope[d] to choose something interesting and that I may not have much knowledge about,” which I believed was achieved as I had little knowledge about Larping before the idea was brought up in class, I didn’t even know there were battles at Princess Park every Friday night, and the whole production has intrigued me as much as I hope it will intrigue the viewer.

From an analytical side I aspired to develop my ability to, “analyse documentary programs as a practice and how to apply that knowledge to my own work and others,” and believe such things as the lectures have served an inspiration for this practice, with the weeks where we’d filter through fifteen different documentaries and look at the style of interviews or watch a past student’s work really helping to build this understanding. Furthermore, this course has also allowed me to develop a greater appreciation for the documentary process and all that it involves, individually as well as a part of a team, to create something that is distinctly ours.

“And finally to have fun and enjoy the whole process because before you know it twelve weeks are gone,” and sure enough they did pass by fast, but I look back knowing I have enjoyed the whole semester. I’ve learnt key elements of production, forged relationships and an outlook on the making of documentary as a platform for me to learn invaluable skills for the future.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 5 – Question 1

As per lecture – in a sequence you’ve called ‘colour’ you will have clips that are indicative of a particular colour or lighting state. To the right of that clip you will have the same clip repeated 2 or more times with different colour grades on it.

Take screen grabs of each clip then upload to you blog the series of stills that show us ‘before and afters’ of your colour grading. Provide a few different examples of at least two different clips – each with a description of what you did to the clip and why. 

Having to deal with some of our shots coming out grainy due to a filer accidentally being left on during a shoot day, much of the colour grading in the editing stage was to match the aesthetic of footage over the whole documentary. In time we’ve come to accept the graininess of these earlier shots and believe they’ve become a key visual style of our piece, however colour grading will be used to bring the original shots to the best quality and add vibrancy to the colours of the world of Althea.

First Grade

Colour_Grading_Original_1The original shot depicts a soldier with his shield ready for battle

Colour_Grading_Darkened_1We darkened this second image by making the midtones more blue, emphasising the shadowing across the subject. We also reduced the output levels to reduce the brightness of the shot and made his face more skin like by making the highlights pinker.

Colour_Grading_Brightened_1

This third image is a brightened version where we made the midtones warmer bringing them to orange, this gives life to the subjects face and adds a mystical glow around him. We also made the shot a bit darker by lowering the output and making shadows more blue. As orange and blue are complimentary colours they come together to give the finished shot a harmony, making the shot visually pleasing for the viewer.

Second Grade

Colour_Grading_Original_2

In the original shot we see a war-band advancing onto the field to fight

Colour_Grading_Darkened_2This image was made darker by bringing down the output level and making the highlights greener so that it blends with the subjects better. The shadows are also a darker blue contrasting against the midtones at a light blue, developing the scene to look like a dark night and heightening visual impact for the viewer.

Colour_Grading_Brightened_2

We brightened this shot from the original by raising the input levels to create more shadowing on the field. By making the midtones and highlights more green the grass becomes more vibrant and the reds also appear brighter therefore making the costumes of the participants stand out.

Third Grade

Colour_Grading_Original_3

A battler sits and watches the battle waiting to re-spawn

Colour_Grading_Three_Way_Colour_Corrector_3

This image appears cooler than the original by making the master a deep red for warmth in the mid-ground and green in the midtones to emphase the grass in the foreground. The highlights are also brighter with a light yellow/pink, giving a soft edge to the outline of the subjects.

Colour_Grading_Brightened_3

By experimenting with brightness and contrast, bringing the brightness to -5.7 and contrast to -0.2 the shot appears sharper than the original. Also made the shadows warmer, midtones greener and highlights pinker to give that underlying warmth to the scene.

Analysis/Reflection 4 – Question 4

Select from one of the readings and briefly describe two point that you have taken from it. Points that interest you, something you could apply to you own documentary.

In the reading Sheila Bernard explores the different ways to present even a focused chronological story in an order that better satisfies the requirements of good dramatic storytelling. She notes that through the imaginative manipulation of time that the filmmaker can present events in an order that they can control. Conversely, in a documentary driven by a narrative sequence of events the filmmaker can’t change the important facts of the main underlying chronology, meaning you can tell the story in the order you like as long as you do it accurately.

“Filming real life is a constant struggle to distill reality into a meaningful subset of itself, into the telling moments, the telling gestures, the lines of dialogue that will suggest the rest of the scene without actually having to see the rest of the scene.”

Bernard notes that shooting through editing is a process of expanding and/or collapsing real time and is about filming a variety of footage so that when it comes to the editing stage there is sufficient material to make the creative edit possible. Steven Ascher’s quote from the reading above outlines the importance of the editing stage as a way to articulate the essence of the scene in a moment, without having to spell it out for the viewer with the whole scene. Furthermore, achieving importance in scenes can also be achieved through the amount of time you devote to a scene to signify their weight within the piece. This is something we’ll have to plan and experiment with in our documentary as we have so many characters and it will be pivotal to interpret their weight to the story by the amount of time the viewer gets to spend with them.

“There are two primary reasons to edit an interview: to focus information for placement in the best possible location in your film’s story and to shorten it.”

Bernard makes some interesting comments about condensing interviews, particularly about the ethical consideration in condensing the material that doesn’t alter the original meaning. Our interviews and filled with great moments and sound bites we can use in correlation with the battle events. However we have to be careful not to displace the comments too much from the base of the interview, as our topic holds a fine line and the last thing we want to do is to satirise the subjects through the edit.

“It’s generally easier to cut into a hard consonant, such as b, t, or v. Words that begin with soft consonants, such as s or h, can be more difficult.”

I find this last quote incredibly interesting, as it’s not really something you initially think about when editing footage. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up with the progression of images that you forget about whether the cut actually works on a harmonic level for the viewer. I’ve experienced this with sound and music, where cutting on a certain note simply doesn’t work, but it will be fascinating to experiment this with speech.

Reference

Curran Bernard, S. “Manipulating Time.” Documentary storytelling for film and videomakers, Burlington: Focal Press, 2003. Page 63-73

Analysis/Reflection 4 – Question 3

From a distant gaze …” (1964) directed by Jean Ravel, picture Pierre Lhomme & Chris Marker, words by Louis Aragon, narrated by Jean Negroni, music by Michel Legrand.

Describe a few things that intrigue you – it might be shot construction, camera work, editing, overall structure, thematic concerns etc. Describe the camera work and why you think it has been shot that way.

From a distant gaze…” (1964, Jean Ravel) has been shot in a way to get the viewer right amongst the action of the shot, so they can feel the movement as much as see it.

Man_with_Ladders

Man_with_Ladders_and_MonkeyThe framing of shots is captivating as it only allows you to see a certain part of things at a certain time before it shows you something else, for example when the shot is following the man with the ladders, as he walks further along away from the camera the shot moves down to show a monkey on a leash. Therefore the figure who was just the man with the ladders then becomes the man with ladders and a monkey. Through this technique, the shots act as a constant discovery of space.

The space within the frame also contested, with shots being tight within the scenes, zoomed in on certain parts of the movement sometimes making the viewer feeling claustrophobic with their relationship with what’s on screen. For example, in the beginning of the clip we see the people walking with the occasional car driving past taking over the shot in front of them. This choice to shoot from a far and allow the cars to disrupt the shot at different moments, juxtaposes the organic movement of people as if it’s overpowered by mechanical movement, perhaps suggesting the mechanical takeover of movement on people.

In terms of camera work, there are moments when you can truly appreciate the fearlessness in following a shot for a long time, sitting and tracking the movement instead of moving on. Boy_with_BallThis can be seen when the little boy bounces the basketball along the street, people walk past him but in us following him, he is isolated to his own world where bouncing and being a child is the only priority. Furthermore, editing follows the flow of movement throughout the piece, only getting people’s legs at the start to disassociate them from the body, but correlating it with other people’s legs.

This short clip is also very inspiring for our documentary about Larping, with many of the shots being on field in the action and framing things close up, to be able to re-interpret this kind of edit where movement is sustained and explored would be an achievement to strive towards in our piece.

Analysis/Reflection 4 – Question 2

Most application reserve keyboard shortcuts for the functions that you use most often. It is really good to learn all of these as it will speed up your editing and additionally alert you to functions that the software developers and other users find important. (You can learn much about the software by looking at keyboard shortcuts).

Find the keyboard shortcuts for Premiere (hint, film-tv blog) and note four or more functions that you’ve never used before and why they may be invaluable for you editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester)

Last semester I listed the main keyboard shortcuts for Adobe Premiere, noting the L cut for dragging sound under a different shot and using ‘,’ for adding the selected clip to the sequence. To enhance this shortcut glossary, below lists four functions that I’ve never used before that will be invaluable to editing:

Duplicate – Shift + CMD + /

As editing is a task of trial and error the duplication of material will ensure that the original edit is not comprised if we wish to experiment with different elements of the program, such as colour grading in clips. Using this shortcut will also make the editing process a lot more efficient, as individuals will be able to duplicate and edit content in their own time, making adaptions to their own copies rather than directly editing the main sequence.

Clear In and Out – Opt + X

Clearing the ‘in’ and ‘out’ of the selected clip means no longer having to drag the points to the beginning and then end of the clip if you want to add the whole clip  to the sequence, it also means getting rid of previous ‘in’ and ‘out’ points which may have been set. This shortcut is more than invaluable to me, having already experienced the frustration of dragging the previous ‘in’ and ‘out’ points of a clip into the sequence without realising.

Change Speed/Duration – CMD + R

As I’m horrible at right clicking this shortcut will alleviate about five minutes of me trying to right click on the clip, before actually having to select ‘speed/duration’ from the drop-down menu. Furthermore, as our project has numerous action shots we may wish to slow down, this function will be a predominant part of the editing process, making its easy selection precious.

Mark Clip – Shift + / and Mark Selection – /

Marking important parts of clips while watching the content bookmarks ideas and moments of inspiration, therefore allowing you to jump to the significant content when you come back to search for clips. By marking favourite or interesting parts of clips by simply clicking two buttons while it plays, we can pre-select the vital content for our edit. With our project having an abundance of footage to go through, marking certain parts of clips will help us find what’s necessary with a click rather than having to scrub through the video content again to find it.

And lastly as a more general shortcut function:

Redo – Shift + CMD + Z

Surprisingly I’ve never used or been prompted to look up the Redo shortcut, and usually go to the edit menu and click ‘Redo’ from the drop down. Undo is probably a favourite among the keyboard shortcuts, something that’s got me out of numerous situations of peril, but sometimes it’s easy to undo more times than necessary. That’s where Redo comes in, allowing us to repeat operations previously undone and get back to the edit you want.

Analysis/Reflection 4 – Question 1

In this clip from Forbidden Lie$, Anna Broinowski’s 2007 film: describe in detail all of the audio, how it may have been recorded / sourced and how you think it has been edited / layered in post. (You do not need to describe how the music was recorded)

The clip begins with the Foley sounds of singing, birds, sparkle of a tooth, more birds, wind chimes and the harp, car motor, rustle of clothing being thrown, footsteps in sand and wind, to create a soundscape that enhances the story world and the fabrication of the things happening in this clip.

We are then jolted out of this melodic, mystical sing along with the harsh audio of the first interviewee the Jordan Times journalist as she states, “This is not the Truth!”, here the mixing between diagetic sound as sources being visible in the story world, and non-diagetic sound where the source is not visible, becomes more predominant. Her voice is the first authoritative voice, being passionate and driven therefore as an audience we listen to what she’s saying. The sound of the book getting slammed down on a hard surface then echoes this frustration, then the cash register ‘ding’, something that the audience interprets as a code for a sale, alludes to the true purpose of this book. Her dialogue appears to be sync sound as she speaks to camera, with the overlay of certain sound effects such as singing, car horns and typing on the keyboard. Similarly we can appropriate the voice of the Jordan National Committee for Women interviewee as she speaks to camera, her voice is sophisticated and she speaks wisely on the matter of factual errors.

The ongoing scenes are then connected through the narration reading of the book by different participants in the film, Norma the writer – who’s voice has quite an annoying tone therefore distancing the listener from much of what she says, the journalist and the Committee member; their audio picks up where the previous finished to display that the story they are reading is the same, but the interpretations and readings of that one story are different. The beating heart of Jordan and re-arranging of the map graphic aided through sound effects of dessert wind and ripping paper.

The words, “Indicted there is something wrong with this book” is followed by the sound of a rattle snake. Following this music then begins for the salon scene, the guitar overlayed with the interview audio of the Committee woman. The guitar then continues over the next shot where the reporter searches for the salon where the books set. The music continues, adding almost comedy to the scenes as we see all these elements of Norma’s story contested. We hear Norma speak the words “50 dinar bill from his wallet and handed it to her” to narrate what’s being re-enacted on screen, to then be objected by the reporter’s comments on the introduction of the notes not until after the books setting. We then hear the sound of rummaging in the draw and the click of the lighter as the cigarette is lit. At this point, the guitar playing is rewound (along with the images) to depict a replay of events where the cigarettes don’t exist. The turning of pages and the reading of the page numbers, acts as checklist ticking off each item. The sound becoming more playful with the stacking as the Hyatt is fast paced deconstructed and the sound of the wall falling. The guitar then begins again at the gym, echoing the pace of the visual treadmill runners and ending the scene with the journalist shutting the flip phone and laughing.

In terms of recording, the interviews would have been sync sound with the footage, along with the background sounds to create a canvas for the piece. Sourcing would have occurred for sound effects from archive sounds, or they would have been pre-recorded specifically. And music would have been recorded in a studio or sourced from the artist. All this different audio would have then been edited in post-production, accumulated into tracks so they could be layered over each other in the different forms of music, dialogue, sound effects and narration.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 3 – Questions 3 to 8

Please see below for multiple choice and short-answer Questions 1 to 8.

Question 3

Does your white balance directly affect your exposure? 

False

Question 4

What procedure should you use to focus on someone’s face?

Crash zoom in on the person’s eyes, focus till sharp, zoom out to frame.

Question 5

When recording sound on location you should always set the levels of the analogue mixer’s VU meter to peaking a little above: (put your answer as a digit)

0

Question 6

To get a ‘correct’ exposure on Caucasian skin what procedure should you use?

Adjust the aperture ring till the highlights on the face have a small amount of zebra patterning.

Question 7

What condition should the camera gear be returned in?

Better than you received it.

Question 8

What typically determines an interviewees/participant’s eyeline?

The placement of the interviewer in relation to the camera.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 3 – Question 2

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.

In the reading Paul Ward explores the complex relationship between fiction, nonfiction and documentary as categories, and how they overlap. This relationship between fiction and nonfiction is increasingly what Bill Nichols would describe as a ‘blurred boundary’ with some of the more interesting work in the documentary area having always been that which explores the boundary between these apparent ‘separate’ modes. Consequently, the reading outlines how drama and documentary are seemingly separate, yet complexly intersecting modes through the discussion of such things as acting and re-enactment.

Ward notes, “…the ways in which actors perform the role of real people in reconstructed or re-enacted scenes, and, more contentiously, how real people/non-actors ‘play themselves’ in some way.”

This idea is really interesting, as we live in a world increasingly governed by surveillance and monitoring which in turn has affected the way individuals act. It’s arguable that whenever there is a camera around that participants are or can truly be themselves. So with a vital ideal to documentary being the depiction of the real, whether or not what the viewer is seeing is real or simply a performance blurs the boundary between fiction and nonfiction, acting and simply being. Ward furthers this idea by bringing in the argument that documentary (like all social interaction) involves people ‘acting’ in some sense of the term and that the distinction is arguably a matter of degree. Brining into question our understanding of what’s real and our perception of performance within documentary.

“Intervention and fabrication of material that commonly existed in actuality was therefore often the only way (the filmmakers thought) of bringing certain things to the screen.”

Using the example of Night Mail (Harry Watt and Basil Wright, 1936), which famously re-constructed the sorting coach of the train, Ward outlines the influence of re-enactment as a way to hold documentaries questionable rather than giving them the truthful version of reality. Ward talks about the different ethical and rhetorical registers we see in films that are ‘documentary’ and those that are ‘fictional’, many of which are blurred somewhat by films that are ‘fictionalised’ or ‘docudrama’ rendition of allegedly true events. I believe this idea of intervention and fabrication calls substantially into question the intent of the filmmaker and whether their purpose is to further the truth of the documentary or to push some sort of agenda, which in turn can have different effects on the viewer.

“Certainly, we might as viewers be aware that reconstruction, ‘cutting and pasting’ and so on, do occur, but this is being held up as a clear case of something different: deliberately misleading manipulation.”

This is where the ethical considerations of documentary filmmaking come into critical discussion, and whether what the film maker is depicting to the audience is a version of the truth or manipulated to become something else. Consequently, we will have to consider this delicate area of acting and re-enactment and its ability to fictionalise the content in the development of our documentaries.

Reference

Ward, Paul. Documentary; the margins of reality, (p. 31-48), London: Wallflower, 2005.

Film-TV2- Analysis/Reflection 3 – Question 1

Paste the link here from your version of the abstract editing exercise.

Then reflect on the whole process – Consider: the quality and usability of your recordings; the effect of layering and juxtaposition of both the audio and the video and; the things you learnt from working with this kind of audio and video.

Abstract Editing Exercise

The whole process of the abstract editing exercise was really in the hands of the usability of the recordings, which when completing with no real objective in mind can sometimes turn out a little unusable. Venturing out with no real idea on what you want to achieve it’s hard to try and visualise the recordings you’re going to get – however I believe this process was to make as document the real, the things we see and hear every day but have blocked out of our consciousness and re-appropriate that into something where we do notice it, therefore the recordings would influence the final product. I found the audio recordings Mardy and I took really interesting, as we went into an elevator and just recorded, the sound of people shuffling in the space, the automatic voice identifying each floor, the awkward silence and the sudden music. However the video recordings I took the week after weren’t as engaging, I only ended up using one of the shots we filmed and sourced the remainder from other groups on the server. In the development of the piece I didn’t want to fiddle with the actual audio too much, but more so appropriate the images to the organic sound we recorded. Therefore I found myself harvesting from a bank of footage, and trying to match it all together. I used the exercise mainly to re-familiarise myself with Adobe Premiere, layering audio and splitting it up to repeat certain sounds, such as the elevator floor select button, and to play with different visual effects, like making the image black and white when the card access sound in the elevator noise was heard. Through this editing I tried to relate the images to an elevator, where the mundane sound of the floor button makes the world loose the vibrancy that colour ensues. For me, this was the most interesting part of this whole exercise, trying to place the pieces of the puzzle together and create relationships between unrelated sound and images, which re-instated the importance of the quality of the recordings and how it can impact how you’ll put the whole piece together.