During week 6 we were shooting small script in class. The tale of Rachel and Barney. It was a brief look at how the set of a film should probably look like, although in a very informal way. I’ve actually had the opportunity to work in many different environments and set procedures. As one of the latecomers to class I had no chance of actually getting a role. The script only required two actors, so no extras were needed, and the main production roles were already given out before I got there. I wasn’t disappointed though. I got to sit back and observe how my peers would act within a ‘professional’ capacity. They got through multiple angles of the classic shot-reverse-shot coverage, and a few mid and wide shots. In the end it was an example of how we should conduct ourselves on a set, and what roles we need to keep in mind. So having a full crew on site would be in the best interest of all the different projects we will eventually create, and in the end we will be all grateful that someone was there to record which takes were bad and which were even worth our time considering in the final piece.
Month: August 2016
OBSERVATION 10 – THE ONE WHERE THEY SPEAK
The train interaction between two people on two sides in their own two worlds. A girl drops her lanyard, too distracted by her phone to notice. A woman interrupts her boyfriends whispered comments and points the fallen object out to the girl across from her. The girl picks it up, says thank you, and then continues to look at her phone.
Starts off as a small observational piece. Establishing shots of different people you can encounter on a late night train. A couple whispering sweet nothings to each other. A lone girl on her phone, texting a friend. A man in a yellow reflective jacket and construction boots struggling to stay awake. A young man trying to whisper apologies to his partner over the phone. 3 men trying to sneakily drink alcohol in the corner of the carriage.
After we establish these little vignette moments observing these people who take the 12:30 train, which is the last train of the night we come back to the first two worlds. The couple is established to be sitting directly across from the girl on her phone. Neither party has acknowledged each other throughout the entire train ride.
The girl then shifts in her seat, and a small item falls out, without he noticing. The woman in the couple notices it and breaks away from her partner. She sits up and points across very abruptly, disturbing the almost quiet in the carriage.
“Hey, you dropped your lanyard/keys.”
The girl on her phone breaks out of her mobile world. Unsure how to proceed from being talked to and looks down at the object the woman is pointing to. She quickly leans down and picks it up, and mumbles a quiet “Oh, thanks.”
The woman replies with, “No worries.” and continues to dote on her partner. The girl shoves her item into her pocket more tightly now, and then pulls out her phone again. Neither person acknowledges each other again.
I want this to be re-staged more purposely than what I observed. I want to make it start off feeling like we are an omniscient observer in this train carriage, and the people in it are too. There should be multiple angles of the different people, from the perspective of the other people in the carriage. So that when the audience thinks this is an establishing shot, it’s actually a point of view shot, which forces us to break the fourth way and connect the character to us.
OBSERVATION 9 – THE ONE WHERE SHE SMILES
The girl stood there diligently waiting for a customer to approach. Her dark hair was pulled back and tied into a loose bun at the base of her neck. A very ill fitting apron was wrapped around her as a poor excuse of a uniform, and her make up was done up perfectly to compliment her bright smile.
She smiled at the multitudes of women and men who would past the kiosk front. Being located underneath the escalators at Melbourne Central Station wasn’t a great place to host a sit-down cafe, but it was effective in catching all the straggling workers and students who needed a quick bite or drink on the go.
“Hi, how can I help you?” she asked a passing woman who was on her phone. The girl was probably in her early twenties, the woman almost twice her age. She ignored the girl, and continued talking on her phone. The girl was unfazed.
A man hurries towards the kiosk shortly afterwards and stands directly in front of the fridge displaying the food available. The girl smiles again, and greets him warmly.
“Hi, how can I help you?” she asks very politely, almost as if it was second nature to her to say those words.
I wonder if she’s said those words over a hundred times this week, maybe even a thousand. Working in hospitality is something I am very familiar with. A few years ago I started my first job doing the exact same thing this girl was doing. Stuck in the middle of a generic food court, located in the corner of a shopping centre, surrounded by other kiosks and stores all doing the same thing. Having people smile at customers, as we wait for someone to arrive and interact with. I remember waiting for hours by the register some days, never getting a customer, but always cheerfully giving the illusion that I was always happy to serve.
The film could be focused on this girl’s regular day to day life. Maybe it starts off with her getting this job, being very excited for the new job. Fast forwarding (could also do that to footage as well in the film) to like when she encounters her first angry customer, her dealing with that, but still holing that smile and front. Then fast forwards more into a moment with her gaining more responsibility, like keys to manage the store alone, and her smile being more genuine. But then she becomes more weary of the job. Fast forward more until you see her start to break that smile, or the actor just smiles less happily. Now it’s just a front of a smile, no real passion behind it. That fake smile gets more and more empahsized, and eventually she gets to a customer that annoys her, a customer that is constantly complaining. She finally drops that smile.
A possible aesthetic choice was to only frame her mouth in these sequences. We never really get to her eyes. It could just be a medium close up on her lower face and shoulders. The background would have to be very purposely done, with props and setting playing a huge influence on what we observe, although the phrase “Hi, how can I help you?” already alludes to a customer service/hospitality role. We can just gather that she is new. Even her name badges could change from trainee, to a supervisor, to a manager and so on. Doing this, and disassociating the person from the smile, we only judge the smile now, and so we focus in on that. And hopefully create a film that shows when a smile no longer is a true smile.
REFLECTION 5 – BEING INDEPENDENT-ISH
So I have completed my first graded assessment practical exercise and to be honest I feel very conflicted with the result. It was a very quick shoot, with Alaine’s help I interviewed one of my new friends of the year Eloise Large. Elly has become one of my favourite people this year and I think her story of coming to live in Melbourne at pretty much the same age I was during my first year is very striking.
I think the reason why I chose to interview her was that her life was just different to mine, and that she took the chance that I never took. I wanted to know what it would have been like if I had followed what she did, and moved out of home, to another island, away from family and friends.
Armed with an EX3, a boom mic and a micro LED panel I opted to have the traditional one-take of answers. I didn’t want to force her to answer or repeat certain phrases, and instead wanted an authentic experience of Elly’s personality. However, that did lead to a lot of unscripted responses and repetition. Elly is also a media student and knew the kinds of answers I wanted, but she also did that too well, and as I reviewed the footage from the interview she would repeat certain phrases multiple times, and try to word things purposely in ways that seemed more professional. At the time of interviewing I didn’t realize it was happening, so I couldn’t comment on it. I think I was too invested in just the interview process and not the editing that would come later on.
Another note on editing was that I realised with an unrehearsed question comes an unrehearsed answer, and a lot of stuttering. Elly was already a quick talker and with the added pressure of being in front of a camera, her words would leave her brain too fast and she would stumble for words, using “Um” very frequently. I was able to capture the clear sentences and edit around her bad habit, but I think it still comes across in the final product. I think if I had the confidence to ask her to re-structure some of her sentences and if we had more time to shoot, than it could have come across smoother. But I liked her genuine comments on being independent-ish, and her experience was what I wanted to capture. Her transition from young naive teen into ‘adult’ is happening right in front of me as her first year of uni goes by, and I really just wanted to document this moment of her life.
REFLECTION 4 – BEING A PROFESSIONAL
Someone asked if we had to use the Sony EX3 camera exclusively for this class, and Robin replied both yes and no. No because it’s not completely set that this will be the only camera available to us in the future, and Yes because it would help us build a professional discipline when working a job. Carrying around heavy equipment, bumping in sets, picking up catering, location scouting; these are all necessary jobs that are integral to making a film, and yet they get very little recognition. People rarely see the value in these small roles and tasks that build the foundations of any film, and yet they forget that this is where most people start in the industry. As a university student I’m not going to have a big production house or studio backing up my projects yet. At this moment in time all I have is the equipment office in building 9, my friends and family, and a small network of actors who I’ve made friends with over the course of my education. There’s no flashy camera grip to come assist me, or a hired lighting director. I am starting from the bottom of the chain, and that means putting up with the large equipment hauls onto the trains, or enlisting my friends to come hold a boom pole for 3 hours. This is something that we need to get used to early, so that when we do eventually get to a point where there are more defined roles, and a more professional scenario, I can appreciate every little cog that works in this big machine.
The more low budget you are, the more you can find yourself carrying everything, but it also means you get to control everything the way you want it. Being limited with both resources and money will also help with me being able to overcome those obstacles and find resolutions that I wouldn’t have thought of in the first place. So I think I’m getting used to it, I think I’m building thicker skin and more muscle dragging those pelican cases around the Melbourne CBD. One day I’ll have someone else do it for me, but right now collaborating with classmates is enough for me, and this experience will be something that will shape how I conduct myself in the future.
OBSERVATION 8 – THE ONE WITH NO CHILL
I am usually a patient person. At bus-stops and train stations I always stand to the right and allow other people off first. If I miss a train I am happy to wait for the next one, even if it costs me a few missed minutes of class. And today was no exception, but it struck me odd that the other people around me, specifically this man standing in front of me, weren’t as kind to others. He jumped right through the doorway, giving no regard for the people who had been lining up outside on the platform for the last half an hour. He went straight in for a seat and sat down, dumping his belongings on the empty space next to him. The train wasn’t particularly crowded that day, but on any other occasion what he did would have been considerably rude. I took a seat directly in front of this man, which I don’t think he took too kindly to, but it was called public transport for a reason, and if he had any problems with the situations he was free to move as he pleased. He stayed there in his seat, and after the initial awkward eye contact one usually makes with the person less than a metre in front of them, he proceeded to look down at his feet and rigorously bite his nails. I was shocked by his ability to comfortably do something that most people only do in their own privacy in such a public place, but that wore off quick into disgust. The disgust wasn’t towards what he was doing, but how he was doing it. Violently gnawing at the cuticles of his thumb, then his index finger, then his middle, and so on and so on. He would repeat the same action over and over again, and over the course of a half an hour train ride this man did not once stop his methodical mutilation of his nail beds. This man just didn’t seem to be ale to relax, probably anticipating the next location he had to be in, and as I watched this man bite his nails for half an hour I began to sympathize with him and wonder what could be at the end of the train line that could make a grown man so uncomfortable that he would no longer care to be patient.
A character analysis, similar to seeing a moment in time, but not seeing the end result. We watch as this man is anxious, rude and careless. But as the train ride continues along we notice that his hair may be falling out, or that he is more nervous as the train gets closer and closer to his destination. We have shots of people commenting on his behavior, believing this man to be just a common jerk. But his expressions, and biting of finger-nails shows that he’s just on edge, regretting what is to come. The film could end with us arriving at the hospital in his local area, or walking towards a house, and leaving the audience wonder why he was so rude in the first place.
OBSERVATION 7 – THE ONE WITH CHILDREN
The children rushed in front of me towards the filling school bus. Many not caring about the innocent bystanders, specially me, that they were trampling over in the process. The small girls and boys were dressed in private school uniforms, complete with formfitting blazers and grey/navy stripped ties. The girls all stayed together, sitting close to the windows and avoiding the boys on the other side of the bus, probably because they had cooties. I managed to make my way through the slowly dwindling crowd of 12 year olds and reached the other side surprisingly unscathed. Turning my back to the children I noticed a lone girl lingering behind her classmates. She had her hair tied up and eyes focused on a mirror in her left hand. Her right hand held a brand of chap-stick that most parents would buy for their young children to subdue their requests for real makeup. With the lip-balm in hand she walked slowly, carefully trying to make her way across the busy footpath, while almost maintaining her focus on the important task of applying generous coats of the moisturizing product to her lips.
REFLECTION 3 – DON’T TELL A STORY
Along with Robin doing his magnificent impression of a basic story-teller from what I could only describe was from the stone-age, I actually took away a few things in class this. The few main key words that stuck out for me was the phrase “Don’t tell a story”
Robin described how the whole process of us writing down these observations were about grabbing what you are observing, and completely not focusing on anything. It’s supposed to be a moment we capture, that has either interested you somehow, or just something you remember on a quiet day. I found this helpful advice, especially as we are coming closer to the mid-semester break and have been doing these observations for over a month. I was loosing focus on what an observation was, since it was drawing to the point where we will eventually have to look at these observations are inspiration for a film eventually, I kinda worried that I was skipping ahead to the narrative part, but like Robin said
“Narrative is not a priority”
This has definitely alleviated a little stress when I was overthinking my recent observations and blog posts. I’m not used to writing unstructured things, because it was always easier to follow a formula, or framework wit guidelines. But this is teaching me to trust in my own way of writing and documenting of events and things, and with no pressure to make it entertaining or funny helps a lot.
This has also let me create my own style of writing. I know Robin says that we shouldn’t have a great style in mind, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t form our own through this process. I think I like writing things that break the fourth wall a bit. Especially reflecting on Observation 4 I genuinely love the way I wrote it, even though I can’t even remember how I wrote it. It just flowed naturally and it has now become something that I would love to translate into a film style, not even the content itself.
OBSERVATION 6 – THE ONE WITH ELMO
The car in front of me was driving way too fast, especially on a road where the limit was already high at 80. The white vehicle swerved in and out of traffic, and eventually came to rest in front of mine. It’s number plate was covered in dust, but the rest of the car was immaculate. Not a scratch, dent or indication of fading paint. This car looked almost brand new, and yet the number plate was so abused that something must have been amiss. But what was more peculiar was the 6 Elmo dolls sitting in the backseat window area. The entire back window was almost covered completely by the unblinking monsters, and I wonder if the person driving could see through all the red fur.
A small quiet road during mid-day, with very little cars driving along it. A white car appears on the street suddenly, looking completely immaculate and average. Nothing is amiss about the car except for the few red detail in the paint, and the abundance of Elmo’s living inside it. It is completely filled, and the car eventually has to be pulled over to the side of this quiet road. The driver struggles to get out, there are Elmo dolls everywhere.
I imagine an absurd situation where nothing truly makes sense about the situation. Especially the comedic situation of being completely immersed with Elmo dolls, or other plush toys. Something very light-hearted and completely absurd possibly. The driver would probably take this all in stride, and a passing driver may just slow down and observe this driver repack all their toys in the overloaded car.
OBSERVATION 5 – THE ONE WHERE I’M WOKE
On my way to a friends house my phone was running low on battery. I knew that the train commute was going to take at least an hour, so to conserve battery life I opted to turn my phone off and travel in silence. My destination was on the other side of town, and with no familiar scenery or people to occupy my time I watched the people around me. I was disconnected from the world on this train, or at least that’s how I felt at the time. With no indication of time, no access to Facebook, and no music to listen to, I was finally cut off from my phone like I had never been since receiving this iPhone 3 years ago. Looking back I know I was being paranoid about my dependency on the device. I was worried I would miss an important call, or text, or meme. But after the initial shock of having my ears clear of headphones I began listening to the things around me. I listened to small quiet conversations between people I don’t know, I could hear the train engine stop and start, and bizarrely enough I could hear the music of other people around me, despite the earphones they were using. There was a man in particular next to me who played his Led Zeplin particularly louder than is safe for his ears, but the familiar sound of music blasted anywhere was comforting. And as I watched the people around me for something interesting to write about, I realised it was a perfect time for me to observe. I also realised that I could have been doing this way more often than just on train rides, but that my connection to my phone always distracted me in a way that made me less aware of the world around me. Disconnecting myself got me to wake up and actually fully dedicate my attention to this exercise, to this experience of noticing things around me which for the last two years I have been distancing myself from slowly. My phone, which is suppose to be a tool to connect me with the bigger world ended up constricting my freedom of consuming the real world, and actually disconnected me more with the world I was currently standing in.