Analysis 4 – Question 1

Career Portfolio

Online Portfolio – http://kyoungish.flavors.me/   

and Showreel – Version 1, 2014  https://vimeo.com/110243611

Analysis 4: Question 2

Review of Industrial Media learnings

After completing the subject Industrial Media, I feel I have improved skills in filming, sound recording, lighting and mostly significantly, editing using Premiere. The skills required for camera use, and operating the sound equipment, are quite technical and in reality, we only had limited time using cameras, sound units and lights. Perhaps the only way to really learn these skills is through repeated use and trial and error.

As this subject was advertised requiring the prerequisite completion of the subject Media Objects, I did think by the end of this subject, I would be at a more advanced level. I still don’t feel near the level I could apply for a job. I still feel a novice and a bit unclear on potential career options – or how to get there. This would have been a good discussion in class.

One goal I wanted to achieve was to be able to ‘find the story’ and be able to create a compelling and interesting doco film narrative. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have been able to improve this, but in hindsight, I don’t think this was the right subject for this expectation.

The aspects I most enjoyed, was the analysis and critique of existing film and radio productions. This was really useful, for example when discussing the editing of the film ‘Taxi Driver’. Similarly watching the colour grading showreels was also a really valuable exercise. Would have been good to also have class discussion of other student’s ambient projects and look at what worked, what didn’t etc.

On the whole I really enjoyed the subject and the assignments that were set, and I found the lecturers helpful and encouraging. Thanks!

Analysis / Reflection 4

Question 1:

I have made some color adjustments to clips, experimenting with the ‘Three way colour corrector’ in Premiere.  I was impressed with the Prezi flip lecture and the promo video for a company called ‘La Cavalerie’. Consequently, I went slightly surreal with my changes.

Below, I chose to try and ‘correct’ the bright background light in the first clip with women from the Solomon Islands. This was not particularly successful. The second set of clips, I decided to add a ‘cold’ look to the women in China. And in the third set of clips I wanted to enhance the existing artificial lights. And lastly, the pirate woman, i wanted to experiment with masks and isolating the character from the background.

Reflection 3: Question 4

Industrial Media

Reading 1: Mackendrick, A. On film making, (p. 40-43), New York, Faber & Faber, 2004

I selected this article as I am currently editing a series of long interviews down to only 2-3 minutes and struggling to decide what to keep / cut and finding it challenging to create an interesting narrative with only footage of people talking to camera.

I can appreciate the idea of driving the narrative and constructing drama through some of the tips in the article. These were a few I found useful:

• Start the piece with some tension and follow with some form of development and build anticipation of something more to come. Make the character change.

• A character in isolation is difficult to make dramatic and needs something to rebound off to built the conflict.

• I will follow the recommendation – “If it can be cut out, CUT IT OUT!” in order to not weaken what is left.

• I like the idea of ‘ambiguity’ to add ‘intrigue’. (Sounds rather arty)

• ‘SHOW and then TELL’ – but these should not be with identical content.

The article has given me some ideas, but I am still struggling with practical techniques for the editing job at hand.

Any suggestions dear reader/s, on how to connect a handful of edited snippets into a coherent story AND include some ‘dramatic narrative’ in a 4 minute piece?

Reading 2: Bresson, R. Notes on the cinematographer, (p. 50-52), London: Quartet, 1986

The article by Bresson contained a few points that were interesting to me. I liked the suggestion to not give equal importance to sound and image. And found useful the analogy of the balance between sound and image described as a ‘relay’. The idea of the sound and image working together, responding to each other, but one taking over from the other but working as a team.

I have heard the expression before, “What is for the eye must not duplicate what is for the ear”, similarly as – “don’t say rabbit and show rabbit”.

To me this suggests it is an advantage to withhold some information from the audience. Make them work in part to understand and become invested and involved in the story.

I also found interesting the suggestion of playing off contrasts such as speed, slowness, noise, silence. Some useful tips!

Reflection 3: Question 3

 

Abstract at RMIT

The shoot:

I didn’t feel I was able to capture the kind of footage I would have ideally liked as we a limited time. Next time I would shift the focus, and shoot just sections of objects to take them out of context.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to use our own footage in the edit! Was really interesting to see what other students had shot. We all had the same location – so was good to see the choices and framing other students made. Seeing the familiarity of RMIT at night, through someone else’s eyes was a good exercise in gaining an alternative perspective.

Images that were more appealing to me were those with bold use of colour or sequences with interesting unidentifiable movement. As the exercise was defined as an ‘abstract’, I found more appealing the images that were less recognisable and more graphic.

With regard to sound, again the more abstract, less obvious sounds turned out to be more interesting and versatile to use. I think the exercise became more about capturing a mood, rather than something literal. The sounds in my piece were mine but the footage from other students. When my colleague and I recorded these sounds, we thought they were awesome! Turns out they sounded quite average, as they were recognisable rather than abstract or inquiring. We even recorded a toilet flushing and thought it sounded good!

I think faster edits and pace of sound next time would be interesting to try. Need footage with more movement and some sound that drives the music more… something with a pattern or beat perhaps.

The edit

For me, the edit was a really an experiment in navigating my way around Premiere. I use layers in Photoshop a lot, so I enjoyed trying the layering effects in Premiere and seeing how they react when images are moving and with sound.

I created the sound edit first, as I wanted the images on the timeline to punctuate the sound. At one point, I had added drum beats I assembled in Garage band, but removed this, as it felt too structured for the chaos of the images. It seemed like drawing ruled lines on a messy watercolour paining. I found ‘illustrating’ with slabs of rolling text had a good effect.

In summary, I think the line up of images and sounds evoked a particular mood and was an good exercise in breaking rules.

Reflection 2: Clown Train

Clown Train Directed by Jaime Donnelly

The sound in this film is carefully choreographed, and is timed perfectly to synchronize with points of tension to build the fear. The type of sounds, both incidental and added, are menacing.

The film starts with 27 seconds of darkness, and only the recognizable sound of a train screeching. The sound is industrial, tense, chilling, grinding and juxtaposed with the subtle added sounds of a child’s toy flute. Before we see anything, we know this is not going to be comfortable.

The opening shot in the train, has some light industrial sound, and flickering of lights, buzzing, and building of tension with the added sounds. Tapping, drum beat, winding up to something as the clown moves closer.  The sounds of the clowns mouth with saliva disgusts. And his loud joke, scares us with fear.

When the clown tells his second joke – this coincides with the peak tension in the sound. This stops abruptly and is filled by the loud laugh of the clown. It suggests psychopathy. The clown is close to sitting on top of the young man and this is the point of extreme tension in the film. The ambient sounds stops abruptly as he gets up to leave. Then complete silence to signify the end.

Visual analysis

The opening 27 seconds of darkness only works due to the strong sound scape. The first visual of the train carriage has strong lines of perspective that pull the eye into the frame,  to where the young man is seated. The large window on the left breaks the frame at the top and bottom, another technique to draw us in.

The lighting is dark, muted, moody, in contrast with the brightness of the clown’s wig. The artificial lighting is contrived, controlled and also creates a look of ordinariness – this could be anywhere, anytime, and for any of us…

Sequences – the alternating sequences of shots showing their responses to each other, all seem natural. These are mixed with a couple of long shots so we are clear of the physical distance between the characters. Once the clown moves, there is strong use of over the shoulder shots, some with no speaking. Much is said by them not speaking and the sporadic silence and shrill of ambient sound.

There are a couple of shots from outside the train, with the young man framed. I am guessing that this is done to show he is ‘framed’ or targeted? Another shot of the two of them from outside. I am not sure why…

Near the ending  is another very wide shot and from up high, like the camera in the carriage. Perhaps this is to make us think something big is going to happen. Something  is going to fill this frame.  Harrowing and very clever.

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsey, Cannes 2011)

After watching the Clown train I struggle to move out of horror genre was reminded of another disturbing scene with strong use of sound.

In this scene, the daughter has been in an ’accident’ and has lost an eye. The son, Kevin is responsible – he is best described as a ‘challenging’ child. The tension at the dinner table is palpable as the parents try to deal with their son, in their different parenting styles.

The sound when Kevin peels the fruit and chews on it has been accentuated by the film maker. The sound when he pops open the fruit, and crushes it is truly disturbing. It looks like an eyeball and It sounds like it has a hard center which he is prepared to gnash through. He talks with this in his mouth biting down on it, masticating, drooling and the sound of juices and saliva is primal and evil.

We see this from several angles too. There are front shots, close-ups of him peeling the fruit, and side shots where we see and hear him bite down on it, and juices bursting out, as if he is celebrating this.

Reflection 2, Q1: Readings

Reading 1 : Documentary Reading, MacDonalds, K & Cousins, M. Imagining Reality, (p. 389-392). London: Faber & Faber, 1996.

Paweł Pawlikowski

In this article the author Paweł Pawlikowski (a prizewinning documentary filmmaker) discusses the changing field of documentary film making and the rise of reality TV. Written in 1996, he was distressed then by the, “meaningless glut of images” from ‘omnipresent cameras’… he must be very upset in 2104.

I was initially drawn to this article as it raised the question of ‘reality’ and whose reality are we really documenting. The author touches on the idea of constructed reality and raises questions about the line between fiction and non-fiction. I think this is a really important area to observe – it is a broad and grey area.

Pawel states that in his documentary work, he sets up events and scenes, as he wants to ‘show the world’ as he sees it. This to me means he documents – his version of ‘reality’.

I think in any form of film making, it is impossible to not include some element of your self in the film as even the decision of where to put the camera, where to edit the scene, the decision on the light etc. all contribute to the ‘drama’ of the work.

There is a continuing line from trailing from purist observational cinema and blurring over to fictional drama; with news, journalism, contemporary documentary, and reality TV and the like, sitting at various points along this line. There are new blends of this ‘blur’ being created even now. One example is the 2014 film ‘20,000 Days on Earth’ by Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard.

Pawel, I think, judges some forms of documentary as inferior to his own version of film making.  Pawel, is quite judgmental of the changing landscape of film making in 1996 and somewhat righteous in his opinions on reality TV. ( I suspect this chap has a rather healthy ego).

Interesting to note that after this article was written and since 1998, Pawel has transitioned into fiction!

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Reading: Fiction

Source: Chapter 2 Narratives: from Branston, G. and Stafford, R. The media student’s book, (p. 32-48). London: Routledge, 2003.

The reading compares a few different theories, techniques and conventions in both fiction and non-fiction story telling.

I selected this reading as I find challenging choosing the ‘best’ narrative structure for the short documentaries I make at my workplace. What I find most overwhelming, is the vast array of possibilities in arranging and structuring events to ‘create a realty’. The difficulty lies in choosing the most appropriate sequence of events, which will best engage the audience.

Therefore, this reading had several points that were of interest and new to me.

I work in international development, and so the idea of common myths and archetypes across cultures was significant. I am aiming to capture and communicate universal values across cultures, so this was a helpful insight to keep in mind.

Another point, which I was aware of – but this reading articulates well, is the creation and construction of characters by the news. The fictionalization of news stories has become a common device for TV journalism. Making it less objective and more dramatic.

In point, over the last week, the trial of Oscar Pistorius, and his whole life preceding the ‘event’ has been dramatized, even on ABC TV. It has been classically presented as a story with all the mythological archetypes. The handsome man who overcame physical challenges and adversity to succeed – the beautiful girlfriend – and then the fall of the hero. Compelling and selling!

Furthermore, this article also contains several useful techniques which are commonly used:

Todorov (p. 36) – the idea of stories starting with an equilibrium, which is then disrupted.
Barthes (p. 37) – the idea of an ‘enigma code’ also is interesting and does create a strong visual. Small puzzles within the story which need to be solved, I like this as a tool to ‘build the possible involvement’ of the audience.
Levi-Strausss (p. 37) – dependency on binary opposites. E.g. good vs evil.

Prior to reading this chapter, I hadn’t noticed soap opera’s technique of making it appear that the viewer has ‘secret knowledge’ that the characters don’t. A good technique to create an idea of privy.  I also was not aware that the term ‘Soap opera’ came about from soap company sponsorships!

And lastly, on ADVERTISING interrupting my favourite shows… I am now going to actually watch the adverts! I will look forward to analyzing how they manage to persuade and tell a story in under 30 seconds. Good one!

Industrial Media: Analysis 1, Question 5

Lenny – Sequence 1

Lenny – Sequence 2.

Pre-production

Our first exercise for this subject presented a lot of group energy and excitement. Initially our group brainstormed many ideas and it took a while to agree on a coherent and workable shot list. It was interesting to see the variety of interpretations in the group. As this task was new to me, I tried to work through drawing up a storyboard on my own, and then compare with the group. After seeing the ideas of others, I found that I had created way too many shots, too elaborate and unnecessary detail of shots. The group shot list was a lot more concise and simple which was more practical given the limited time.

Our final shot list was numbered in a strange way, but as time was limited, it was not worth holding up the process to fix this. One student in our group had some prior experience in filming, and tended to take the lead – which was helpful in making decisions and moving the process along.

The Shoot

We chose a stair well as the location, which presented challenges with space, sound echoes and the ‘fun’ of mounting a tripod up a set of steps! Despite this, visually the location was impressive – graphic with striking lines, slabs of cool grey concrete and the odd burst of primary colour. We delegated roles and a follow the leader system, but this system fell over fast and I ended up with the clapper 3 times and missed out on taking the role of sound and director. The limited time meant we were unable shoot all the planned scenes which was disappointing. The lesson learned is that it really can take a lot of time just to shoot just 6 or 7 shots and we need to be less pedantic.

We lost a few members at the start of the shoot which slowed us down and added some pressure. The heat in the stairwell didn’t help the stress levels either. We also got bogged down on trying to be perfect for the first few shots. All the calls takes much time and so once we were nearing 4.30pm we were just rolling the camera and putting fingers in front of the camera to create more takes. A battery in the sound mixer went flat but one other student was quick to change this over.

Post production

I have experience in Final Cut Pro X and therefore found Premiere easy to navigate as well as interesting to learn as there seems to be a lot of nifty functions and effects. I downloaded the trial version of Premiere at home, which unfortunately meant that it was a newer version of the software, and I could not open my edit to show the tutors in class time.

Our strange naming of the shots continued onto the naming of the files, and in future I would ensure we have a better process for the shot naming and recording of details.

When editing together the footage, combining different people into a consistent flow looks hilarious! Paul assured us that this would be ‘believable’ but I think he was kidding – or I have done a lousy job of editing. It is hardly ‘seamless’.

I made two edits – My first edit has speaking to camera and I would say this is more successful that my second attempt, without speaking to camera. We probably should have shot more close ups of faces reacting to the other speaker. This would have given us the opportunity to add more diverse shots and interest. I also played around with adding titles and some effects, just to see what is possible in Premiere. I also added some sounds I recorded last year – just for some industrial tension.

 

 

 

 

Industrial Media: Reflection 1, Question 4

‘Nostalgia For the Light’ by Patriccia Guzmann – the first six minutes

A striking introduction, which presents more questions than answers. I suggest this is a good device to entice the viewer to keep watching. Generally the introduction sets some context for the film, but the ideas are disparate and begging for further engagement with the film.

The pace of camera work is slow, measured, even in tempo – like living in a place without gravity. The voice over is also calm, measured and even, despite the content of what he is saying.

I am not sure if I have over analysed this 6 minute introduction, but I would say that all these shots are laden with subtext. Without knowing the complete story, I think the telescope symbolises a cannon or a tank, which is being moved into position for battle. Also noteworthy is the stills of the planets, which appear dead, colourless and scarred.

This contrasts with the following scenes of domesticity, peace and the sounds of nature. The flicker of light dances and presents beauty in the ordinary, a reflection of the narrator’s childhood. Two armchairs are positioned as if they are holding hands or reaching towards each other. Interestingly, no one is visible in this part of the introduction… we only see evidence of life as it was. People have left.

The music supporting the images of scarred planets, is epic, impending and apprehensive. As the visuals change from planets to the flickering light and domesticity, a violin evokes sounds of sympathy. The music and supplementary sounds seem skillfully placed, and in this short piece really add to drive the emotional response to the story. There are also times of silence which adds tension.

There is one shot where a tree divides two houses. It is one tree struggling to grow in the cement. At this point, the film changes from domesticity to the falling star dust. I am not sure what is the significance of the tree but I look forward to reading other student’s blogs to see their interpretations.

Must get this film out on DVD!

Industrial Media: Reflection 1, Question 3

The article by Ruoff (1993), presents several points of interest. Firstly in his comparison of fidelity (faithful reproduction of reality) with intelligibility (clarity of meaning and understanding). His discussion on the use of fictional story telling techniques in the documentary genre gave me a new set of possibilities for my work. I also now appreciate the need to find  a ‘balance between fidelity and intelligibly’.

I found interesting the discussion on the transition in documentary style, from the strict observational cinema of the 1950s, to the style of documentary in 1970s, in the production of ‘An American Family’. This ‘loosening’ of conventions around documentary productions, with the addition of voice over, non diegetic sound, music, post filming additions, could be seen by some as a distortion of the ‘truth’, or by others as a means to add clarity to the meaning.

Some of the editing techniques mentioned that are used by fiction films were new to me. I have never considered TV commercials a good way to make transitions between scenes but I can now see this as plausible and convenient. Also interesting was the mention of voice overs as a tool to include essential information that would be otherwise missing, and the use of music with lyrics to comment on the action.

Until reading Ruoff’s article, I had not noticed the lack of phatic speech in fiction or been aware of characters speaking scripted versions of spoken language. This was a useful observation, as I can see that speaking in fictional shows, is most often evenly modulated, actors don’t cross lines, and all lines have some point or meaning. While this may seem contrived, I think we have learnt to accept this in fictional stories to the point where it seems normal.

In assessing the balance between fidelity and intelligibly, I would suggest that all films are in some way a filmmaker’s construction of the world. I don’t think we can fully represent the ‘other’ authentically, when we are always adding something of ourselves to the film, even in the strictest of observational cinema, choice of shots, choice of what we edit in and edit out, camera angles, etc are still adding meaning.

I will definitely use some ‘fictional tools’ in my next work documentary to try and create something more interesting and understandable.

Source: Ruoff, Jeffery, Conventions of Sound in Documentary, Cinema Journal, Vol. 32, No. 3, pp 22-40, University of Texas Press, 1993.