Final Blog Post and Reflection for PP2

Production:

Our shoot for Audition was a success and went ahead according to schedule; we even managed to wrap up early and only took one day to shoot the entire thing, making it much easier for logistical reasons as well.

I was a lot more involved with this project than the other (That was Then, This is Now) because of the roles I took on, so the processes and ultimately the final product will be much closer to my heart. I was glad that I got to direct a piece that I felt comfortable with, so it was a good thing I got to take a crack at writing the final draft when the first one didn’t work out.

Nick and Emily were wonderful to work with and were very helpful during the collaborative process, that’s the thing I love about being on the production aspect of this industry; the very act of coming together and working with other people toward a common goal makes for a healthy and conducive environment without any politics in the office, because everyone ultimately wants the best outcomes for the project. It was my first time working with professional actors in ‘The Biz’ and it was really refreshing to feed off their unending supply of energy and ideas. The nature of the script also allowed for some improvisation on the actors’ part, so I think that really helped to keep the mood and energy up on the set.

It was a good thing that Sam, Mahendran and I went to the location the day before the shoot to dress the set, test for lighting and set up the camera, because it allowed us to start almost immediately the day of the shoot, which was a good move as it allowed us the right amount of time to catch the morning light. We finished the shots for the apartment kitchen scene in good time and the natural light was pretty consistent throughout, which helped.

 
Post-production:

I mostly worked with Sam, our designated editor, during the post-production process. Shooting a multi-camera style with only one camera proved more difficult in the editing suite because we had a lot of continuity issues to sort out and had to give up certain shots because the action onscreen didn’t flow as well; either the lines were delivered at the wrong timing or the framing wasn’t good. We didn’t really have a choice, but I’m beginning to understand more now that productions with bigger budgets have the ability to use more cameras, and the presence of multiple cameras recording the action from different angles at the same time really does help a lot.

After weighing the pros and cons of each take and working out the best possible scenario, I am pretty satisfied with the final product. It’s nice to know that we have two decent short films that I’m proud of putting in my portfolio and on my showreel. Charlotte’s piece was nicely shot and I’ve always been fond of the idea of playing around with voiceovers because in film, the two most important senses at work are sight and sound, so when we screw around with those elements it really manipulates the art and affects the viewer’s experience to a great extent!

 
General Conclusion:

Though I’ve taken on the role of the director before, I’ve never worked with professional actors prior to these PP2 projects, and I must say the experience has re-affirmed and further ignited my passion to pursue being a writer-director as a future career path. I’ve learnt that I really enjoy the creative aspects of conceiving an idea and portraying it across a medium such as film. Being able to oversee the overall creative look and feel of the project suits me perfectly, since I’m not too big on the camera specifications or the process of physically pushing buttons to edit the piece together; working beside an editor and a D.O.P suit me just fine. It’s the process of writing a script, creating a story and translating it onto film, that excites me the most. So this PP2 project has helped me realise to a greater extent what I can achieve in a professional work environment.

Having to work with pre-determined group members proved to be challenging at times, because naturally some people have to pull extra weight to cover the work load of others who aren’t as interested in the project, but it also served as training ground for overcoming potential challenges like this in the real world for future productions. It also gives me a certain sense of comfort knowing that when I do eventually go out into the real working world, I’ll be able to choose who I want to work with, and I can take comfort in the fact that everyone who signs up for a project usually wants to give their best effort for it, so it can only get better from here on out!

Casting

We had our casting session for the PP2 parts today, the directors for the Kate/Dan pieces have decided on casting Emily for the role of Kate and Nick for the role of Dan. We liked their energy, enthusiasm and i feel that they will be great people to collaborate with on this project.

Though we didn’t manage to get them to do a read through together, i feel that they will have great chemistry, just based on what we were privy to during the session. I’m looking forward to rehearsing with them both soon and getting prepared for the actual shoot (on the 23rd and possibly 24th) that’s quickly creeping up to us.

Thankfully, we don’t have a complicated shoot with too many locations, which is one of the reasons why we’ve decided to start the ball rolling early.

Location Scouting for The Audition

Sam, Mahendran and I went to do some camera testing/blocking at my friend’s apartment on Franklin Street. Here are some stills of the place.

 

Most of the action will be taking place in the kitchen and around the ‘island’; the table counter-top with the sink. It is generally a pretty small area, which shouldn’t be a problem for our hand-held camerawork, but we’ve got to get quite a bit of rehearsal in before actually shooting the piece. I am also planning on rehearsing the onscreen action and rough ‘flight-path’ for the actors to work with, so that the camera will be able to capture them within frame nicely. I am planning on having the actors do a ‘dance’ around each other as Kate helps Dan rehearse his lines in the Kitchen scene. Their body language should serve as cues on where each of their mindsets are at in their current relationship.

 

I’m hoping to get a rehearsal in on Friday the 22nd of August, before shooting on Saturday the 23rd.

PP2…new semester, new script, new motivation…

Time to start blogging for PP2! This is long overdue, but better late than never…turns out i won’t just be directing the Kate/Dan piece for our group, but i’ve re-written the script as well…which bodes well for me, as i now have renewed confidence and motivation with the direction i’m intending to go with…it also means that most of my research last semester with voiceover manipulation might not get put into practice for the Kate/Dan storyline or ‘The Audition’ as it is now called, (the research was meant for the Brian and Alex storyline which Charlotte’s now directing). I am still going along with Sam(the D.O.P)’s suggestion to take notes from the hand-held camera work in ‘A Guide to Recognising Your Saints’ and have drawn some additional inspiration from the Peter Berg created ‘Friday Night Lights’ television series that has recently victoriously survived the onslaught from the TV Ratings monster (as previously reported in earlier posts). The hand-held camerawork serves to bring the audience closer to the characters as it provides more intimacy between the viewer and the world onscreen, it gives the audience more to connect with greatly collapses the physical distance that tripod-mounted cameras usually give off.

 

I’m intending to contrast the fluidity found in the motion during the Apartment Kitchen scenes and the still, static, immobile-camera feel of the Audition scene. The physicality of the camerawork will also be contrasting the characters’ state of mind. The audience will be brought closer to the action onscreen during the Apartment Kitchen scenes when the characters relationship itself is slowly beginning to fall apart and the cracks start to show. During the Audition scene, the audience will be further removed from the action onscreen, just as Dan is realising where his relationship is headed and finally starts to connect with his inner emotions rather than the forced ‘acting’ of emotions in the Kitchen scene.

R & D for PP2 Studio (Director Role)

 

I’ve taken on the role of director for our PP2 studio project next semester. We have as a group, have come up with two separate storylines revolving around the characters and we are intending to explore and showcase these two stories using different story telling techniques.

 

 

Though these two films are standalones, there will be a point in which they intersect and that point will mark the passing of the baton from the first film to the second. This will be done in a simply constructed but carefully executed scene where the two male leads of each story line walk pass each other on the street and the camera does a swift and smooth 180 degree whip from Brian to Dan as they cross paths along the street.

 

 

 

 

The first film following Brian and Alex’s storyline will focus on the influence of a film’s underlying soundtrack through the exploration of different uses and ways of manipulating different aspects of the aural components in film, such as voiceovers and the ambient music. The main action occurring on screen will be Alex stumbling into the apartment drunk and Brian confronting her about her bad habits. This will be the final straw for Brian and will spark a huge fight between the two. While this is embodied in the visuals, all the other sweet moments that they have previously shared as a couple will come across through the audio elements.

 

 

The main focus of this film is to explore the different phases of a relationship and contrast the good times with the bad. Our scene will exhibit the traumatic times and troubled waters of an explosive fight between the couple through powerful visuals of the two engaging in an intense argument, where neither holds back any emotion. We will then mute the audio from the visual scene and place an underlying soundtrack that completely contrasts what the audience sees on screen.

 

 

The audience will be privy to all the other pleasant moments they have previously shared as a couple. The audio playing over the visuals will include all the tender moments couples have during the span of their relationship; the cute, cheeky and intimate moments will be showcased through laughter, kissing sounds, sweet phone conversations and thoughtful voicemails, etc. (basically all the little things that make a relationship work.)

 

 

We have decided to experiment with the sheer power of what the aural element can do for a film, because the visual and audio components of a motion picture have the power to effectively prompt and influence almost all of what the audience is going to feel.

 

 

The style of this piece will be in line with the raw, intense and unpredictable feel of the visuals. The camera movement will be hand-held and shaky, capturing the human emotions through facial expressions and body language. Hence, close-ups will occasionally be shot. I might also explore portraying this scene in back and white, to allow the action onscreen and the audio to get achieve most of the audience’s attention, without distraction from the colours emitting off the other objects in the room.

 

 

I have chosen the following filmic references to draw inspiration and analysis on how voiceovers can be differently used in film. The first would be Fight Club, where Brad Pitt’s character is revealed to have been a figment of imagination conjured up by Edward Norton’s character subconsciously. This is showcased in a montage that goes through all the significant points of the character’s progress throughout the film and Edward Norton’s voiceover effectively introduces a new layer and degree of reality, or lack thereof, to the story world, thereby offering a unique channel through which the audience can read the film and is addressed by the characters in the film itself.

 

Another example of the effective use of voiceover techniques can be seen in the opening scene of the film A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, where the viewer gets to hear Robert Downey Jr’s voice narrating the setting and at certain points directly addressing the audience. This is a clever example of how the voiceover enters in and out of the story-world and its context, constantly treading the line between the diegetic and non-diegetic world of the film.

 

I also did research on the 1996 movie Trainspotting. Ewan McGregor’s character is constantly providing a narration throughout the film, albeit from his character’s point of view, it still gives the viewer an insider’s look at the events appearing on screen. Much like the audience is given the key to unlock the barrier between film and audience, they are granted access to the perspectives of the ones living within the filmic world.

 

 

 

The second film revolving around Kate and Dan’s storyline will also be a drama exploring the different viewpoints and varying positions in a relationship, which lead to miscommunication and conflict. The two characters in this short film will be shown as having two completely different opinions on where their relationship is headed. This will be depicted to the audience in a fashion that allows certain elements from both sides of the story to unravel, cueing the audience to pick up the pieces and subconsciously figure out how these pieces of the bigger picture fit together.

 

 

The film initially runs as one that is seemingly about a couple of normal people who just happen to be at different stages of their lives, and want different things out of their relationship. Kate, being older and more accomplished with her career life now wants to focus on settling down and planning for her long-term future ahead. Dan, on the other hand, is starting to feel like Kate is growing too clingy and wants to break away from the constraints and suffocation of the relationship. One is ready to commit for the long haul and the other wants to bail.

 

 

However as the film progresses the audience is given hints to suspect the mental situation that Kate is in. Although Kate is allowed to get away with some form of aggressiveness, from being a lawyer, there is also some semblance of instability and her behaviour insinuates some level of psychotic disturbance.

 

 

Hence, this story will be explored through the omniscient eyes of an impartial but all-knowing bystander. The audience will know the back-story of both characters and be exposed to the setting up of the inevitable conflict headed their way. The buildup of scenes depicting these characters plays the main and crucial role of setting the stage. The bulk of this film will focus on the precursor to Kate and Dan’s meeting in her office, before they head out together; signifying the end of the film.

 

 

The ambiguous ending of the film serves as an outlet for the viewer to imagine and deduce how they think or want the conflict to play out. There is no conclusion to the story made on the film’s part.

 

 

In keeping with the style of exploring the two contrasting realms of thought that the characters are living in, I have drawn inspiration from the French movie À la folie… pas du tout (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not), starring Audrey Tautou as the psychopathic stalker. The two highly contrasting points of view were depicted brilliantly in the film; the clever process of putting focus on and revealing only certain crucial turning points along the same temporal line of the film’s narrative, allowed the film to effectively keep the audience in suspense and cut the rope that held everything together at the appropriate time.

 

Other filmic examples that use this technique of having multiple points of view from different characters revolving around the same situation include Crash and Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead. This theme was threaded through the entire script of Crash, often dropping hints to the viewer that there are several other different perspectives of how the characters are related to each other.

 

This motif is performed slightly differently with regard to Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead in a sense that the film mostly centers around one main event; the robbery of a small-town jewelers store, allowing this event to unravel throughout the film by going back along the temporal frame and resetting the action on screen according to each individual’s viewpoint and follow the ramifications of their actions.

 

Therefore, I am aiming to achieve that sense of ambiguity and room for further imagination on the viewer’s part with Kate and Dan’s storyline. By introducing a layer of mystery, I am counting on the audience to be intrigued by the premise, and conjure up their version of how the outcome of this storyline would turn out.

 

 

Final Post for PP1

Finally PP1’s come to close, and we’re halfway done with the academic year…

My overall experience with PP1 has been enlightening and it was refreshing to have been able to stay away from writing tons of essays as well… I thoroughly enjoyed the production process for both ‘Control’ and ‘Time’ though i’ve gotta say I enjoyed ‘Time’ more because I was able to do more directing and play around with the linearity of something as profound as Time.

I’m pretty satisfied with my progress with the blog entries over the semester, considering the fact that this is my first ever blog, and it was academic based, I feel pretty good about what i’ve been doing so far.. this avenue of communication allowed me to express my thoughts on the work we’ve had to do, and it serves as a good journal and reference point that is organised and well documented.

There’s a good balance between the learning progress and reflection of work experiences throughout this blog and research for the projects flow well with the ideas and concepts that i’ve suggested and learnt. The convergence culture theories from the Jenkins text, along with research on M.C Escher’s art has opened allowed me to explore the pros and cons of new media cultures and multipurpose platforms in the ever-advancing media industry of today.

I’ve created 5 pages to document the posts in a more organised manner in the categories suggested…

Here are the links to the respective pages (or you can just hit the tabs at the top of the site, that will link you to the pages directly):

Collaboration

Lab Themes & Projects

Jenkins

Skills Modules

PP2 Studio Project

 

With the justification of work above, I’ll give myself a self-assessment of 89/100.

Starting out with PP2…She/He

Well it’s about time to start preparing for PP2, seeing as how PP1’s coming to an end…

I’ve been grouped up with Charlotte, Mahendran, Brett and Sam for PP2 and we’ve had several meetings already, discussing ideas for the 2 mini-films (4-6mins each) we’re gonna embark on next semester… we’ve allocated the roles and it’s good that everyone’s happy with the positions they have. Though we’ll all be helping each other out with the various duties, the main portion of roles are tentatively divided up as follows:

Charlotte: Writer/Producer

Sam: DOP/Editor

Brett: Sound/Writing

Mahendran: Production Design/Writing

Michelle: Director/Writing

It was initially difficult to came up with concrete ideas plot-wise during the first group meeting, so we decided to go back and give the characters and storylines more thought before the next meeting…I have to say, it’s been pretty hectic these few weeks with the deadlines for all the other subjects piling up and presentations to prepare for, so it hasn’t been all that organised, but we’re going to have a final meeting tomorrow before everyone starts leaving for the holidays… It would’ve been more helpful if we’d been given more notice about the PP2 R&D research task…i felt like it was sprung on us a little late, after everyone had made plans to leave in early June…but at least this means that we’ll probably be more motivated to get it out of the way sooner…

Whilst brainstorming for ideas regarding PP2, I thought about how we could play around with the manipulation of voiceovers as we discussed in our first meeting, and came up with an idea to toy around with the differing viewpoints between the male and female sex. We could play a scene out one way; according to the female character’s point of view, freeze the scene at a certain point, rewind it and play the scene out again after doing a total switch up, now revealing a 180-degree difference in viewpoints of the male character in the scene..this reminded me of an episode of Coupling (UK) i saw that had Susan, Sally, Patrick and Jeff at a party and hilarity ensues when they start drinking and see things completely different from how it actually happens in reality…it effectively took the audience on a wild ride because it was written and planned out brilliantly!! Obviously that was done in a comedy context, which i’m sure we’re still aiming to go for, but hopefully with more discussions, we’ll be able to come to a consensus and hammer the scripts out…time will tell…

“Time Manipulated” upload

Here’s the link to our contribution called “Time Manipulated” for the Time Machine lab.

http://media.rmit.edu.au/pp108/archives/153

Framing Statement for ‘Time’ project

The scene begins with a man being trapped in a room he can’t escape and this provides a metaphor for us as humans being trapped in a world where media is all around and we can’t escape it. We’ve accepted media as a huge part of our lives, mediated images are all we know and they construct our world, as we know it.

Another parallel apart from the time lapses and time jumps could relate to Latch’s possible death prediction in the newspaper. Could this man be getting tomorrow’s newspaper today? This is linked to the position of news in today’s world, where information travels so fast and it may get put out of context, ironically turning ‘news’ into its paradox of being mere rumours.

The manipulation of the Space/Time continuum is unfathomable by the human mind, (especially if one tries to think through and comprehend every aspect of time travel and manipulation; mainly because it seemingly isn’t physically possible, much like M. C. Escher’s creations.

M. C. Escher’s paintings were typically done on old media (Art canvases with paint), but have now been cracked and explained with the integration of new media (Digital re-creations; animation of the ‘impossible cube’ being constructed.) This concept links to the ideas brought about by Jenkins in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide.

Hence, our project is itself a piece of media which greatly demands the audience’ attention and interaction, as it persuades the audience to come up with their own interpretation and conclusion about what message is being conveyed across.

The above-mentioned points resonate the same ideals that Jenkins proposes in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. These ideals being that:

• Media is interactive.
• Media is everything; culturally involved with society.
• Media and culture is shaped by participation.

The convergence of ‘Time’ manipulated

Just putting down some thoughts on how our ‘Time’ project relates to Jenkins’ theories of convergence cultures…

• Man is trapped in a room he can’t escape (Metaphorically): We are trapped in a world where media is all around and we can’t escape it.
• Latch’s death prediction in the newspaper??: Links to traits of news in today’s world, where information travels extremely fast and may sometimes get put out of context… ironically turning ‘news’ into its paradox of being mere rumours.
• Manipulation of Space/Time continuum is unfathomable by the human mind (especially if one tries to think through and comprehend every aspect of time travel/manipulation; mainly because it seemingly isn’t physically possible, much like M. C. Escher’s creations.
• M. C. Escher’s paintings were typically done on old media (Art canvases), but have now been cracked/explained with the presence of new media (Digital re-creations; animation of the ‘impossible cube’.) Link to Jenkins: Convergence of old and new media.
• Hence, our project is itself a piece of media which greatly demands the audience’ attention and interaction, as it persuades the audience to come up with their own interpretation and conclusion about what message is being conveyed across.

The above-mentioned points resonate the same ideals that Jenkins proposes in his book Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. These ideals being that:  

• Media is interactive.
• Media is everything; culturally involved with society.
• Media and culture is shaped by participation.