Bluestone

Overall, I thought that the quality of the films were of a high standard this semester and I found the screening to be really enjoyable due to the diverse nature of the films.

Black Cat

The unique visual style and experimentation with sound overlay really drew me into this film. This is a subject that I wasn’t necessarily interested in but became engaged with due to the interesting approach you took and the balance of bizarre with a bit of comedy.

Theanna

This documentary was the most emotional to watch for me. In the beginning I thought that the subject might not be that engaging, however, the clever editing to build up the suspense of her opening the letter for the first time really drew me in. It is truly a beautiful documentary and the subject was very interesting. I think a lot of people would be able to relate to this story and connect with it which is a credit to you.

Cactus

The subject was really interesting and I really enjoyed his enthusiasm for his passion, even though it may be obscure. I felt like I wanted more and I didn’t want the documentary to end, he is such an interesting character and seeing him in different settings or more vision of him interacting with his friends at the society could’ve been added.

Waves

The sound design really complimented the interesting cinematography of this documentary. The exploration of one surfer’s passion through only narration also made it stand out and I think was a great choice as any on-screen dialogue would’ve broken the spell of the documentary. It really drew me into the feeling of being in a different world and was quite hypnotic. My only suggestion would be that the ending of the film could’ve been shortened.

Sneakerhead Collective

This is an excellent documentary, I really enjoyed the way it was structured in a clear, concise narrative. All of the subjects were really interesting, and I think you really succeeded in exploring a unique topic that not many people would’ve known about beforehand. All of the visuals were fantastic and not jarring at all, the entire film flowed incredibly well. I feel as though you could create your own online documentary series with the same structure and receive a great following – really high standard work.

Forbidden Xanadu

I know a few people have commented that they prefer the opening half of the film focusing on the Melbourne street art compared to the train graffiti in the second half, however I disagree. Yes, the visuals and editing were fantastic in showing off Melbourne’s street art scene, however I became more drawn into this film when it became something different to what I was expecting – the train graffiti. The pacing of each part of the film suited the different styles of graffiti you were demonstrating, and the different culture. I would suggest interviewing people who graffiti trains to make this part of the film more interesting to others and to provide a nice comparison and contrast to the street artists apparent in the first half. I came away from this film wondering what the motivation of the people vandalizing trains is and even though I have my assumptions of what they are, I think this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to hear their point of view. So, overall, I think that the change in pace in this film was refreshing and exploring people who participate in the train graffiti would’ve added more depth to the film.

Fans and Followers

This was a documentary that I saw in the class screenings, and the work apparent in the follow-up editing really improved the film. I thought it was quite an interesting approach and topic, but perhaps a clearer and consistent style of filming and sound design would’ve made it a more cohesive film.

Althea

This was absolutely brilliant. I want to watch this documentary over and over again. The subjects you interviewed were all very interesting and the editing of the fighting made it theatrical and hilarious. Loved every bit of it. Especially when they then discussed what they were planning to eat afterwards. Excellent film.

Question 1: Colour Correction Examples

Using the method of duplicating the same clip three times and testing different colour correction techniques has been very helpful in correcting overexposure and washed out colours in our documentary Bluestone. By using a combination of the three-way colour corrector, and the brightness & contrast functions, we have been able to create more vivid looking clips. Below are a couple of examples:

This is a screenshot of the original clip showing the outside of Pentridge Village facing Murray Road where the bluestone wall has been significantly lowered to show the housing estate behind. The clip is overexposed and washed out, the colours aren’t vivid at all.

This screenshot shows the result of bringing the brightness down and bringing the contrast up, which made a slight difference in the washed out tone of the clip. However the contrast on the wall towards the right has given it a fake blue tone that doesn’t look natural.

This colour correction experiment shows the contrast has been brought up more significantly and yellow has been added to the highlights to make the sky look less of a fake blue tone (as our white balancing for this shot was not right) and to make it look more realistic. However, the significant contrast on the wall to the right of frame looks more fake than previous attempts and doesn’t blend with the rest of the image so we are more likely to go with the previous attempt.

This is a screenshot of the original clip that is a bit overexposed and washed out. Our goal would be to make the sky have more definition and have the colours pop more.

This screenshot shows that we have decreased the brightness which has made the sky less white and overexposed, as well as increased the contrast of the clip to make the dark tones in the wall and grass more visible. While this is an improvement, an experiment with the three-way colour corrector wheel could make the colours stand out more.

This screenshot shows our use of the brightness and contrast functions (as before) as well as the three-way colour corrector wheel. The increase of yellow in the highlights make it appear as though the sun is somewhere behind the clouds and breaks through the overall blue and grey tone of the rest of the clip. This is the version we would use in our final cut.

Question 2: Review your response from the beginning of the semester of your expectations. Has it delivered what you expected?

“This semester I would like to continue to learn and practice the technical side of production by engaging more with the equipment and not being afraid to try new camera and sound kits. I would also like to be creative and lateral in the way I approach my documentary project, so rather than implementing traditional interview techniques, I want to think outside the box. I want to use complex and interesting soundscapes and music which often add a depth to documentary films and to think more about how sound can contribute to the audience’s feelings and perceptions. Being creative with the camera will also be something I strive to do this semester by thinking about the many different ways a particular shot can be covered. I also want to gain more confidence in using the camera as I was a bit reluctant to get involved last semester as others were more confident to use it. I also want to not only improve my editing skills but have a more positive attitude towards it, rather than getting overwhelmed by the problems that may occur. Overall, I would like to be involved in a project that interests me whole-heartedly and to develop a documentary in which passion and creativity is demonstrated.”

Working on our documentary this semester has been an absolute joy, even through all of the trials and the tribulations we have developed a documentary that we are all proud of. I was extremely lucky to have been in such a hard-working, passionate, and funny group which made the whole process so much easier and enjoyable. My goal was to have more self-confidence in taking the reins of the technical side rather than letting others step forward and I can say I definitely did that this semester during our many shoots. While I still struggle with the sound recording (I need to practice this more), my confidence in using the EX3 and Z7 cameras grew the more I pushed myself to have a go. While we weren’t as creative as I expected to be in the beginning of semester, I feel that we utilised many different techniques to create a rounded documentary. The soundscape is something I regrettably didn’t follow through with. It is a really integral part to a fantastic documentary and we really struggled in this department in trying to find the right music and tones. The benefit of having a library collection of free music now really does seem important to me (a bit too late!). I believe that I developed more editing confidence and a better attitude towards the process the more I attempted it. However, while I enjoy putting a rough cut together and colour correcting, the minute editing details of dropping out audio and fading it in, etc, still does my head in, which is why I was lucky to have people like Mia, Miguel and Monika to help in that department. I really enjoyed this semester more than last semester, and I believe that not only does it have to do with my fantastic group, but also the freedom we had to go out and explore whatever topic suited us, go out and film, see what we had and assess it and continue the process. Compared to last semester where there was a lot of pre-production planning, I found that going out and filming a dozen times was actually so beneficial for us and made it more enjoyable as I felt that we were actually achieving something rather than waiting around for the shooting date. This semester completely changed my mind about working on documentaries as I was never interested in this area of filmmaking beforehand and now I just want to make another one as I found it so rewarding.

1. In this clip from Forbidden Lies, 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 audio in this clip of ‘Forbidden Lies’ is used to trigger certain emotions in the audience and demonstrate a shift in the tone of the documentary. In the beginning of the clip during the reenactment of scenes from the book, the music, sound effects and voice-over narration generate a romantic and fantasy-like sentiment in the audience. The sentiment suddenly changes when … voice is heard stating that the book’s account is a lie. The music, sound effects and voices of the participants then become quite fast-paced and shatter the fantasy of the romantic reenactment.

During the beginning of the clip, Norma’s calm voice-over reading from the book tells the story of the romantic fantasy-like reenactment seen on screen. The soft romantic singing of lyrics detailing the romance is layered awell as calming acoustic guitar music. Sound effects such as harps, chimes, chirping birds are also layered to add to the romantic and fantasy-like theme of the scene. The man’s shining smile is accompanied with a cheesy ‘cling’ sound effect, the sound of the car is also layered as well as the rushing wind sound effect as the woman dramatically releases her veil and symbolically her ties with her past Muslim identity. The ‘thump’ sound of the veil falling to the ground is also intentionally dramatic to represent this.

Suddenly, the sound effect of a mouse click and a book ‘thump’ interrupts the fantasy. The voice-over detailing that these ‘facts’ are untrue signifies a shift in the tone of clip and the sound accordingly. The sound effect of the sand falling is used to signify the disintegration of the ‘truth’. When the book ‘Forbidden Love’ is shown the ‘cha-ching’ sound effect is heard to give the audience the impression that the book has been fabricated by Norma for monetary purposes. When the authentic Jordanian women talk about the lies in the book, there is a calming and soft arabic singing is heard which is the complete opposite to the Americanised music in the fantasy sequence, comparing authenticity with fakeness.

Keyboard typing sound effects is also heard as well as harps,chimes, camera snap, and diegetic bird chirping during one of the interviews.  When Norma describes Jordan’s location, an omnipresent other-worldly music can be heard. The spot indicating Jordan is accompanied with a pulsing sound effect. The sound effect of a rattle snake is used to describe Norma as a manipulative and vindictive person who can’t be trusted.

Middle-Eastern upbeat music is used during the salon sequences including the sound effect of clippers. The sound effect of a cigarette lighter can also be heard and then the ‘rewind’ sound effect demonstrating that the story of Norma and Dahlia is a lie due to the facts not stacking up. When Norma’s claim of one of the locations in her book is proved to be incorrect, a sound effect of the buildings disappearing (‘pop’) is heard then finally a ‘tick’ sound effect which is used to prove that the facts don’t add up in Norma’s favour.

The sound effects could have either been recorded in a sound studio or been sourced via programs that the production company would have had access to. The sound of the interviewees voices would’ve been recorded with a microphone attached to a boom microphone even though a lapel microphone could’ve been used, it was probably not chosen due to the ability for sound quality to be used if it gets caught on the interviewees clothing. The sound elements are layered so that there is always music in the background, the voices of the interviewees narrating can be heard and sound effects are added for comedic effect or emphasis.

2. Most applications 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 to your editing. (Different functions to what you wrote last semester).

Some keyboard shortcuts that I have been neglecting to use and will include in my editing are;

The duplicating shortcut: Shift+Cmd+/ which allows you to duplicate a clip or sequence with ease.

The media browser shortcut: Shift+8 which navigates you easily to all of your imported vision and sound.

The new custom bin shortcut: Cmd+/ which allows you to add a new bin to organise your media easily.

The ripple delete shortcut: Opt+Delete which allows you to easily remove ripples (gaps) inbetween clips so one clip flows into the next.

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…’ is a poetic documentary that I really enjoyed and took inspiration from. The subjects are all random people in the public, strangers just walking the streets, unaware that they’re movements and facial expressions are being filmed. The subjects’ expressions are what drives the documentary, with their emotions forming an integral part to the way in which it is constructed.

The opening part of the documentary got my attention immediately as the filmmakers cleverly use the traffic in the foreground of the frame to interrupt the camera’s focus on the feet of people crossing the road in the background. The music engages with these interruptions playfully, pausing during the interrupted segments.

The choice of music evokes different emotions in the audience, making them observe some of the people filmed as being sad, happy, angry, disappointed, etc. The music is quite manic in the sense that it shifts and changes so quickly, it escalates and de-escaltes in a matter of seconds. These rhythmic changes are also kept in sync with the editing pace of the documentary, with fast-paced music matched with quick editing techniques.

I found the constant use of movement a really interesting and exciting function that gave the sense that the audience is moving fluidly amongst the strangers in the street. This is achieved through the camera movement following the people on the street, the choice of camera shots to include obstructions such as the flowing traffic, the movement of the people, and the changing music which all give the sense of constant movement. It’s almost like a song or dance of everyday people in society with all of the different components working together to demonstrate this flowing movement.

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

The reading that I focused on was ‘The Art of the Documentary’. I found this reading to be really insightful as it is a collection of interviews with documentary filmmakers, detailing their experiences and advice.

I found Kirsten Johnson’s account of making the documentary ‘Deadline’ about death row really interesting as I have seen it before. One of the things she mentioned in particular that stood out for me was how she deliberately chose to film the participants in close up; their hands, their feet, small gestures and movements that tell you a lot about the person and when paired with voice-over narration can be quite powerful in telling a story rather than just showing a straight interview.

Another thing she mentioned that stood out for me was her description of the ‘floating camera’ – the moment when you realise what the camera should be focusing on when filming. I found this idea really interesting as while I have filmed some of our documentary so far, and I have tried to experiment with different camera shots and angles, I haven’t felt like I’ve had the confidence to be bold with my camera shots. I also want to push myself to think laterally and more visually in terms of our documentary and the ‘floating camera’ concept of finding something unique to focus and film in the midst of a more formal approach is something I want to try and implement.

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.

http://vimeo.com/103494010

The abstract editing exercise was a great process in experimentation and the editing of the vision and sound allowed for an opportunity to reflect on what we had recorded and how it can be combined.

I found the process of finding and recording abstract vision a lot easier than the sound. With the vision, it was easier to isolate particular abstract qualities, whereas whilst recording the audio we thought we were getting singular and individual sounds but on playback realised that they weren’t of a high quality. The sound recorded a large soundscape rather than isolated sounds, and most of the files sounded quite messy and not clear. I found it difficult to find sounds that were of a good quality to match to the vision I chose to cut together.

When cutting the vision, I knew which files were my favourite and chose to work with them, due to their interesting aesthetic qualities. I noticed that the clock vision slowly blurred the focus so that it was out of focus, then sharpened back. I chose to cut this vision to bookend the film to demonstrate a single moment in time with the other vision in between showing what has occurred in this minute.

I also noticed that the vision of the stairs showed people walking up them, and then walking down. Once again, I chose to cut this footage so that it showed an inversion of the events presented, similarly to the clock footage.

As the quality of the sound we recorded wasn’t too good, I found it difficult to chose which ones I should use. The sound I particularly liked was that of the metal cups clanging together by the street performer, however on playback the sound wasn’t as distinctive as the sound of people talking and traffic overrun the quality of it. While the sound of the keyboards wasn’t my favourite, it was the clearest in quality and provided a difference in aesthetics.

The sound of the rustling of the leaves was interesting as it increased in rhythm. I chose to pair this with the changing focus of the clock as it matched the gradual changing qualities of both sound and vision. It also provided an interesting contrast between the mechanical interior vision and the natural sound of the outdoors.

I chose to juxtapose the vision of the stairs with the sound of typing on a keyboard to match the rhythm of the people’s footsteps and to represent that they are students, who mostly use computers to study. The sound of the metal clanging combined with the vision of the green lit wall is probably not that abstract as they are quite similar in the industrial aesthetic but I liked how I recorded them separately yet it wouldn’t seem that way.

In editing, I chose to use the three-way colour corrector to enhance the green in the clock shots and the purple in the stair shots, creating a distinctive colour palette that reflects an industrial, but also alien type of world.

I learned that recording audio isn’t as easy as it initially seems, and that there needs to be a lot of care taken to record clear, distinctive and high quality sounds. As we recorded the majority of our sounds outdoors and found that a lot of our sounds were quite muddled and not clear, I would record more interior sounds or record in quieter outdoor areas to get clearer sounds. I found that you must be quite careful with the zoom on the camera, as some of our shots we’re quite jolty. Experimenting with the focus provided an interesting aesthetic and is something that I may continue to use in my documentary project.

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. 

I chose to focus on the Rabiger reading, ‘Directing the Documentary’ pg; 207-218. This particular excerpt focuses on the initial research and drafting of the documentary proposal before filming begins. I found it quite helpful in helping to understand the large amount of pre-production needed before filming even begins.

The main point I took from the reading was to continually research and change the hypothesis of the documentary as you gather new information. Using this research to focus the hypothesis of the film, what perspective the film is taking, and it’s style will form a pitch that you can then receive feedback for. Pitching the documentary to many people will allow you to refine it based on the feedback you receive, while also seeing what questions it raises in them, which you can then use to emphasize points of the subject on.

The importance of lateral thinking was another point I found helpful as it emphasizes the importance of not letting setbacks prevent you from progressing the documentary forward. Thinking outside of the box and making lists of what arises from your subject, then finding ways to make the subject unique and interesting.

Another important point I took from the reading was to approach potential participants as early as possible and develop a continuing dialogue with them to gather as much information as possible. This will also help to form trust between the participants and filmmakers, and hopefully prevent participants from dropping out of the project at the last minute. Being truthful about the documentary is also highly important in ensuring that trust is maintained between participants and filmmakers.

1. 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 available here. Feel free to write to any categories you wish. eg. story, choice of participants, sound, camera, editing etc. 

In this week’s lecture, scenes from Scott Ruo’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.

In this week’s lecture, the screening I enjoyed the most and was intrigued by was Chantel Akerman’s ‘D’Est’. The film takes a look at life in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The particular scene that we watched shows people on the street going at dusk, going about their daily activities while the camera moves ever so slowly around in a circle. As the camera reaches the same group of people again, their reactions change, they become more intrigued with what the filmmakers are doing and become more accepting of them. From the scene screened the documentary seemed quite poetic in nature. The slow movement of the camera, the ambient sounds of the traffic and people in the market, combined with the exterior dusk lighting makes the scene interesting and intriguing. The slow pace and changing reactions of the surrounding crowd commands the audiences attention as they wonder what will be revealed next.

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

In the beginning of “The Idea of North”, the voice of a woman recounting an anecdote of her travelling north is first heard. This gave me the initial impression that the rest of the radio documentary would be quite straightforward. However, after a minute or two, the sound of a man talking is heard and his voice slowly overrides the woman’s in volume, making his voice more prominent. This continues when another man’s voice is added and the fantastic sound mixing is used to change the prominence of the different voices which are all competing for the audience’s attention. It is a bit confusing as you can’t keep up with the different anecdotes, however it then stops and Glenn Gould introduces himself. After this the documentary changes between different voices and anecdotes but with the background sound of train stations, bells and passengers providing a sense of atmosphere to the stories heard.

While I’m not sure why the beginning of the documentary features people speaking over one another, it is definitely a way to capture the audience’s attention and doesn’t drag out for too long so that the following portion of the documentary can be understood. The muddled voices almost provide a sense of importance to Gould as his voice doesn’t compete with anybody else’s unlike what we are used to hearing on the radio – a sole radio presenter. It means that the audience pay attention to what Gould is saying as he introduces his purpose for making the documentary. The atmospheric sounds in the background while the other men talk about their experiences makes you feel like you are there and includes the listener. I think the experimentation used benefits the documentary in making it unique and could definitely be a source of inspiration for our group documentary.

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?

For our sound exercise in our tutorial, Mark and I had a bit of technical trouble as it took us a while to understand how to use the zoom microphone – rather than pressing record again to stop recording, we needed to actually press the stop button. Another technical point I noticed after listening to our files back is that there is a lot of competing sounds when at the time it seemed like we were only getting a focal sound. This is a bit disappointing as we were trying not to pick up a lot of competing sounds but did anyway, so it would be good to keep experimenting and see how we could do that more effectively.

Some of the sounds we picked up gave a relaxing, summer’s day type of vibe with the sporadic clanging of the metal adding a new layer to the atmosphere. The metal clanging gives me the impression of a construction site or railway construction even though it was a street busker. The rustling branches sound quite aggressive and I had to try and remember what the source of that sound was. I think that some of the sounds we discovered were poetic and gave a sense of an interesting landscape, however we could’ve tried getting more interior sounds in comparison and sounds that are more distinct rather than blending into a soundscape.

In 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.

This semester I would like to continue to learn and practice the technical side of production by engaging more with the equipment and not being afraid to try new camera and sound kits. I would also like to be creative and lateral in the way I approach my documentary project, so rather than implementing traditional interview techniques, I want to think outside the box. I want to use complex and interesting soundscapes and music which often add a depth to documentary films and to think more about how sound can contribute to the audience’s feelings and perceptions. Being creative with the camera will also be something I strive to do this semester by thinking about the many different ways a particular shot can be covered. I also want to gain more confidence in using the camera as I was a bit reluctant to get involved last semester as others were more confident to use it. I also want to not only improve my editing skills but have a more positive attitude towards it, rather than getting overwhelmed by the problems that may occur. Overall, I would like to be involved in a project that interests me whole-heartedly and to develop a documentary in which passion and creativity is demonstrated.