Investigation Post 12/19

Work Log:

Monday: Self-Reflection of Film

Tuesday: Self-Reflection of Film

Wednesday: Self-Critique of Film

Thursday: Self-Critique of Film

Friday: Self-Critique of Film

Short Film Reflection

Recently, I made a short film that I titled "Divorce." It was a story that I had thought of a couple weeks before production and wanted to use as my college film supplemental portfolio submission. After a month and a half of production, I finished it. There was a lot I wanted to say about my experience and the final product, so here's my thoughts on it:

In terms of a Self-Reflection on what I've made, I'd say I'm not as satisfied as I had hoped to be when all was said and done. I think it's hard to say if the final product is good or not because a lot didn't go how I originally planned and as the creator of the film who spent over 20-30 hours total making it, I've spent a lot of time focusing on the imperfections of my film rather than what makes it good - there is bias in my opinions here then. I think what I really don't like about my film goes a lot about how I planned and executed it. That isn't to say that it was horribly planned and horribly executed, but just rather that I could have and should have done better. This was my first time picking back up a DSLR camera after about 9 months, my first time using audio equipment, and my first time writing a full on story that required planning around the schedules of multiple people. Because of that, there were some difficulties. I should have better formatted my storyboard because I ended up being inefficient with how long it took to set up scenes, I should have had scripts printed out for the actors to follow so that transitioning between shots would have been easier, and I should have planned an extra day to film for retakes. Along with that, the video quality in some shots were bad and it was too late by the time I noticed it. Not to mention, when I ended up filming a scene outside during a weekend when we had limited time to film, the batteries to both my zoom recorder and my camera both died and broke, so I had to end up holding my phone awkwardly for side angles (that the phone automatically color corrected poor during the recording multiple times) and use another phone for audio.

I did however learn a lot from my experience filming this. I know now to plan better ahead of time on all accounts, how to set up quicker, and general experience using film equipment again. I think the majority of what I learned in this film was editing experience. I learned several techniques that I did not previously know to get certain shots the way I wanted them with moving assets that cut off or that stay bound to certain areas, etc. etc. As I rewatch the film I can see the difference in quality of what I edited when I started the post-production process versus later on in my process.

For my Self-Critique, here is a list of things I would like to mention about what I think I did good and bad:

• I think starting with an opener that introduces that topic is good, the music is good with it, and the transition is alright into the actual story
• The lighting for the first couple shots is poor
• I like the cut to black and audio with Ward talking for the first time
• The first shot Ward is actually in feels kind of weird and poorly paced
• I think a lot of the first scene before the montage is poorly paced
• Ward's transition from drawing to person feels too fast and once again poorly paced
• Dolly can be heard in the dolly shot
• All of the drawings are pretty good (though I didn't make them)
• Some drawings are very well edited in and cropped and others aren't and sometimes don't even attach correctly to the sticky note paper behind it
• Unfocused in one of the shots in the classroom during the montage
• I think the transition into the house and cut to black after seeing Nick is probably the best sequence in the film
• Shaky camera during the car scene (which is because I had to hold the camera as a phone with my arm extended from behind the seat because the camera was broken and we didn't have time to do it a different time)
• I think that the monologue from Ward is well spoken, but kind of comes out of nowhere
• The car coming in as a non-descript object kind of looks silly, and the car crash happening itself can be seen as kind of stupid too
• I don't know if I went too far with the blue color tint during the sad montage
• The foot of the drawing in the first part of the sad montage is poorly cropped
• The music in the sad montage is a good part of the atmosphere
• The transition from black to Thomas with the piano is good
• Camera movement from Thomas talking to the student for the first time is good
• Audio quality is pretty good throughout I think (except for maybe Ward's in the first scene)
• The last shot with Thomas learning to be happy again is too quickly brought on along with credits that end too quickly I think (both had to be edited that way because the final shot was recorded with too quick a zoom out and the song ends too quickly as well for longer credits)

Divorce Final Film

 This is the final version of my short film, Divorce:

Investigation Post 12/12

Work Log

Monday: Watching Sony HXR tutorials

Tuesday: Researching interviews/documentaries

Wednesday: Researching interviews/documentaries

Thursday: Writing notes

Friday: Lighting research

Interviewing

Brice's Interview

What to learn from Brice's documentary:

• A slow start without the subject works when the setup is straight forward. Brice was able to catch the audience's attention with interesting visuals that coincide with only a couple sentences that describe the focus of the documentary.
• Because the focus of the documentary is Brice, it makes sense to have him be the last part of the introduction, as now we are transitioning from the interesting visuals to the topic at hand: Brice (out of focus to into focus also helps this).
• Font type is important with how formal you want your film to look. Personally I don't like the font type in the first opening two statements because I think their spacing and font type are a little casual.
• Adding the song in the background when it was mentioned was an abrupt audio transition but it honestly works for the better because it keeps the documentary moving and interesting by catching out attention with that kind of interruption. Since documentaries are difficult to keep entertaining and informative, this was good.
• In general, audio additions that go along with Jack's interview did well to help the documentary flow well and with elements that make it interesting.
•  
• In the picture above, there is a lack of visual stimulus on the right side of the composition; remember that it's good to have something to complete the cinematography of your shots so there isn't needless unused space.
• B-Roll was very good, there is a lot of variety in the kinds of shots that were taken which contribute to keeping the documentary interesting. 
• B-Roll included a lot of movement or focus changes to keep the B-Roll itself interesting as well.
• There were bokeh effect shots
• It even ends on one
• Multiple angles of the same B-Roll footage is still good to do

Interview Checklist for Two Camera Setup

I'm stealing and modifying Brice's checklist:

1. Start preparing 20-30 minutes before interviewee arrives
2. 2 cameras
3. 3 batteries
4. 3 SD cards (make sure they have space ahead of time)
5. 2 tripods
6. Lavalier mic
7. Zoom recorder
8. XLR cord
9. Gaffer tape (in case lavalier needs support)
10. Set up cameras 1 and 2.
11. Set up lighting- Soft Box- Back light
12. White balance all cameras to the same piece of white paper.
13. Adjust exposure so its the same on all cameras
14. Set Movie Recording Size on all cameras to 1920x1080, 30fps
15. Plug in Lavalier Mic to zoom recorder
16. Ask subject to speak normally
17. Adjust audio levels for Lavalier Mic
18. Plug in shotgun mic to camera 1
19. Attach mic to subject
20. Ask subject to speak normally
21. Adjust Sound recording on camera 1- balance audio levels so they reach 12.
22. Focus cameras
23. Start recording zoom recorder
24. Start recording on both cameras
25. Get a clap
26. Ask questions
27. Record interview

Lighting

I did a little bit of research on lighting as well. Learning from this article and some images online, I have learned about Three Point Lighting. With Three Point Lighting, you will have a soft (large light source) "fill light" to one side (angled straight forward more or less) and a soft or hard (focused in smaller light source) "key light" slightly above the subject (angled slightly down). The third light is a light that is a lot higher up than the subject and behind the subject. This "back light" is angled down to cover the last bit of unlit areas of the subject.

https://nofilmschool.com/types-of-film-lights

Interview Shot Angles Research

The concluding part of my research on interviewing/documentaries was the cinematography that goes behind camera placement within your interviews. Because my instructions are to use two cameras, I have to keep in mind that I have limited choices for where I'm putting my cameras. I'll also need to have the two be fairly different in terms of how they look to maximize the interesting variation between cuts in my documentary.

From this, I mainly took away how the cameras were set up to have a straight on shot in front of the subject (for most of the straight on shots) and then a 90 degree turn to the right of the first camera to have a sideways view of the subject.

Notice how there is something on the left and right of the subject to add to the visual stimulus of the shot. While they don't take away from the focus of the shot, they complete the shot.

Same thing here, there's the plant to fill in the open space to the left of the subject.

After looking into it, I was thinking that I want to do a straight on and a side view similar to how the video has a straight on and side view, and so I went on to look at more side angles that I liked. In this article, I found the "underside" angle which is from the side and gives a sense of authority that I think would fit well for interviews with school administrators. 

Underside shot

Investigation Post 12/5

 

Monday: Finalizing film

Tuesday: Brainstorming upcoming project

Wednesday: Learning about music videos

Thursday: Taking notes on music video tutorials

Friday: Taking notes on music video tutorials

My Next Project

The next film I will be embarking on is the production of a music video with my friends who have a ban called The Visitors. While I do not know which song they will perform for it -whether it will be a cover or an original- I know how I want it to go. I want to have essentially a back and forth of them playing in their garage (as they have done a garage concert previously) and juxtapose it with them going out for fun and making memories. The music video will go along with the experience that everyone in their teens have, focusing in on the worriless fun that teenagers get to have with each other. The bonds that are made and the memories we save become invaluable to who we become, and I want to capture the spirit of that thought. With that, I looked into what are good approaches to making music videos.

Video One: How to Make A Music Video on a Budget

This 15 minute video follows a film YouTuber who is working on the spot with another music video director. In this video, they give tips and apply them to show what the process is like and some simple tricks that anyone can do themselves. Here are the most important ones in my opinion:

• Scout your location. Location is one of if not the most important parts of your music video. Ideally, you work in somewhere between 3-7 locations in your video. Within your locations, see where there's symmetry or leading lines. Get as many angles you can in these good looking locations.
• Natural lighting. While looking at your locations, take note of where you can find natural lighting. In most cases, natural lighting trumps artificial lighting.
• Breaking the rules of lighting. Using hard light behind yourself can look better, even if things go against traditional 3 point lighting. Furthermore, not using a fill light on the front side of your focus can look cinematic as well.

Video Two: Music Video Tutorial for the Beginners - Complete Filmmaking Guide

This 50 minute video had a lot of useful information, giving us tips and tricks from an actual music video director who has shot countless music videos.

• 24 fps for most things 1/50 shutter and 60 fps 1/125 shutter for slower motion with 50% speed.
• Use fun color grading
• Good shots to get are swaying back and forth from a medium waist-up shot or a close up of person singing from shoulder to top of head.
• Bringing a Bluetooth speaker is useful for getting things to synchronize with the actual song in editing.
• Camera cages and/or gimbals are great for movements and especially run-and-gun type music videos (videos that are mainly just the musicians playing or singing with some b-roll; minimal story). Do not step flat footed when walking. 180 circling movements are good from eye-level. Do a closer up one but lower and tilted up in a 180 movement as well. A 360 degree movement works but make sure to move at a steady and consistent pace.. Push in and outs are good.
• Using a tripod is fine don't ignore it. You can always key frame in movements in editing afterwards as well. You can also add in the Handheld effect in Premiere for extra movement.
• With handheld movements (without a gimbal or any stabilization), you can get more natural and dynamic movements. If you are doing handheld, try to suck your elbows into your chest, hug the camera to your chest, and have your forearms touching your chest too. Keep your movements slight and try to sway your camera using your legs more than your upper body to get these movements.

This is what it looks like to hold the camera without equipment correctly.

A cool rotating movement you can get is accomplished by gripping the camera from both sides and twisting in and out like these screenshots.

And that is all the information that I was able to take away from watching these two videos on music video directing, prepping, and shooting.

CVTV Documentary Script Act 3

 

Whole Script: