26th May, 09
We filmed Taylor's scene today at my home.
I already had Clair De Lune in my mind for quite a long time for her dancing scene so after letting Joyce the director listen to it, I played that song for her to dance to.
we only took two hours to film the scene which during the process, I helped give joyce some wkw-esque ideas. Idealy which means weird angles and stuff that shouldn't be in a film is in, AKA oddball images.
Most of the time, I just held the boom mike and made note of the things that needs sound fixing or when the sound turns wonky.
Sunday, 7 June 2009
WKW 3
27th May, 09
Since today would mostly be planning, I brought my laptop to school so that I could choose the songs that could be in my film.
I noticed that WKW uses canto pop a lot, but then I don't listen to canto pop at all, so I don't really know what to do until Ms Wong told me that I could use English pop. I also chose some soundtracks from other films.
Even though we've only filmed one scene yesterday, I got the mood that Joyce wants this film to achieve so,
At the time being, I chose these songs
There's A Girl by the Ditty Bops
I chose this song because it talks about a girl (obviously), but then the real reason was that I really like the instrumental parts. It's slightly canto pop like, and also, the girls in the band did an excellent job on harmonising.
Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy
This song is for the scene where Taylor (protagonist's dead girl friend) dances. It's a dreamy and slow song, and the chords are also beautifully played. It is also for the ease of Rebecca (Taylor)'s dancing because she knows this song, so dancing to it would come to her naturally.
Smellz Like A Party by B2K
To be very honest, I don't really have a reason to chose this song. I just really like it. Maybe I could use it in some of the scenes where Kelvin (the protagonist) is drunk
Blackbird by The Beatles
This could be the ending song for Kelvin's ending soliloquy because it is a very peaceful song. It is mainly just guitar strumming and a very light voice of Paul McCartney singing. It really suits our film because this song is very soft and somewhat melancholic, just like our film.
IB Learner Profile:
Thinker - By thinking and analysing each song in detail, i assigned a soundtrack to each scene of the movie. I think the decisions that i have made are quite reasonable.
Since today would mostly be planning, I brought my laptop to school so that I could choose the songs that could be in my film.
I noticed that WKW uses canto pop a lot, but then I don't listen to canto pop at all, so I don't really know what to do until Ms Wong told me that I could use English pop. I also chose some soundtracks from other films.
Even though we've only filmed one scene yesterday, I got the mood that Joyce wants this film to achieve so,
At the time being, I chose these songs
There's A Girl by the Ditty Bops
I chose this song because it talks about a girl (obviously), but then the real reason was that I really like the instrumental parts. It's slightly canto pop like, and also, the girls in the band did an excellent job on harmonising.
Clair De Lune by Claude Debussy
This song is for the scene where Taylor (protagonist's dead girl friend) dances. It's a dreamy and slow song, and the chords are also beautifully played. It is also for the ease of Rebecca (Taylor)'s dancing because she knows this song, so dancing to it would come to her naturally.
Smellz Like A Party by B2K
To be very honest, I don't really have a reason to chose this song. I just really like it. Maybe I could use it in some of the scenes where Kelvin (the protagonist) is drunk
Blackbird by The Beatles
This could be the ending song for Kelvin's ending soliloquy because it is a very peaceful song. It is mainly just guitar strumming and a very light voice of Paul McCartney singing. It really suits our film because this song is very soft and somewhat melancholic, just like our film.
IB Learner Profile:
Thinker - By thinking and analysing each song in detail, i assigned a soundtrack to each scene of the movie. I think the decisions that i have made are quite reasonable.
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Wong Kar Wai 2
25th May, 09
Today, we have our groups sorted for out Wong Kar Wai film. Joyces script was chosen to be filmed. She also chose the people in her group, Me, Jingting and Chris Checketts.
Ms Wong wanted us to do our film in madarin, so I have started translating the script into chinese. It was very challenging because I had to keep translating colloquial english into colloqial madarin which is very very different from colloquial cantonese, the language that i usually think in. Though it's hard, I agreed to take the job of translating because I had the advantage of having mandarin being my first language.
For the rest of the language, I was occupied with the job of translation, Joyce and Jingting planned the shots and planned the schedule and Chris continued with the story board that Joyce haven't got time to fininsh during the test.
Problems/ Difficulties:
- To be honest, Chris has not been very helpful to us. He only managed to plan 4 shots during the whole lesson when Jingting and Joyce mangaged to type out a complete schedule and I have managed to translate half the script. He has been spending most of the time chatting with people of other groups, and it was very frustrating.
IB learner profiles:
-Risk takers: we agreed to take on the challenge of filming in madarin, a feat that none has ever accomplished before in CIS. I felt very proud and happy to be able to be one of the first who ever did this in CIS.
-Communicators: We were using different languages in our film
Today, we have our groups sorted for out Wong Kar Wai film. Joyces script was chosen to be filmed. She also chose the people in her group, Me, Jingting and Chris Checketts.
Ms Wong wanted us to do our film in madarin, so I have started translating the script into chinese. It was very challenging because I had to keep translating colloquial english into colloqial madarin which is very very different from colloquial cantonese, the language that i usually think in. Though it's hard, I agreed to take the job of translating because I had the advantage of having mandarin being my first language.
For the rest of the language, I was occupied with the job of translation, Joyce and Jingting planned the shots and planned the schedule and Chris continued with the story board that Joyce haven't got time to fininsh during the test.
Problems/ Difficulties:
- To be honest, Chris has not been very helpful to us. He only managed to plan 4 shots during the whole lesson when Jingting and Joyce mangaged to type out a complete schedule and I have managed to translate half the script. He has been spending most of the time chatting with people of other groups, and it was very frustrating.
IB learner profiles:
-Risk takers: we agreed to take on the challenge of filming in madarin, a feat that none has ever accomplished before in CIS. I felt very proud and happy to be able to be one of the first who ever did this in CIS.
-Communicators: We were using different languages in our film
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Wong Kar Wai 2
Picture I chose as an inspiration to my script:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Girl_taking_picture.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Girl_taking_picture.jpg
Montage / Wong Kar Wai 1
7th May, 09
After spending the first half of the lesson finish watching "Blanche", Miss Wong started us on a new project, Montage editing.
We watched a short film on an editing skill called the Kuleshov effect, developed by the Russians. The film was narrated by Hitchcock (the film genius). First, he showed us of an old man, frowning, then slowly smiling, then continuously, a young woman playing with her son. What this short film told us was that this old man may be the gentle loving grandpa, full of love, kindness, and happiness in seeing his family so happy. Then the next clip, the self same man, then the self same frown, then later, the self same smile. The continuously, a woman wearing an bikini, sun bathing. What this clip told us of the character was that he was a pervy sick old man. I was really amazed at how the same expression could have such a different effect on us when different clips were edited together.
We also watched another similar one where a man holds an axe with a fixed glare at a certain point, then with different clips edited in, showing completely different stories.
Later, we watched several montages, one that was most vivid to me was the one about religion. At first, it has shown religion in a scary eerie light, then as the montage builds up, the person who made the montage suddenly added "HOORAY!" to it, making me slightly confused, but nevertheless, enjoying the montage, and later understanding that the maker was mocking religion. Another one that I remembered the most was the one about the fate of a baby pram during a war. As the war builds up, the pram edges slowly, millimetre by millimetre closer to the edge of a long flight of stairs, then there are massive crowds marching, guns firing, people screaming, shouting, and back to the baby pram. It's amazing how discontinuity can build up tension so quickly and in so many different ways.
Later, we proceeded to analysing why don't we "get" Wong Kar Wai films. What the class thought was exactly the same as what I thought. We thought:
-the film is weird
-story is disjointed
-what seems to be the main characters just randomly appears or dissapears from the movie
-we feel alienated
-we ask "WHY? what is that guy doing!!??" sometimes
We later learnt that WKW wants to make his films non-generic, and they are never cliche. He makes odd-ball images during his film to get the audience really thinking deeply about what he is trying to convey to the audience instead of just watching a film. Same reason why there are parts of the film where he uses fish eye lenses and makes the film disjointed and jumpy.
At the end, Ms Wong set us a task to write a short (less than five pages) script in Wong Kar Wai style. It would be very challenging, because I still cannot properly grasp the idea and style of WKW. I'm also slightly dissapointed, because I would rather do a Montage task.
Problems and Difficulties:
-I can't seem to find the differences between metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual montage.
-I think it would still take me a long long time before I can learn to properly enjoy Wong Kar Wai films without saying "what on earth is he trying to say!?"
IB Learner Profile:
-Enquirers: we learnt about Montage editing skills and the style and reasoning behind WKW films.
After spending the first half of the lesson finish watching "Blanche", Miss Wong started us on a new project, Montage editing.
We watched a short film on an editing skill called the Kuleshov effect, developed by the Russians. The film was narrated by Hitchcock (the film genius). First, he showed us of an old man, frowning, then slowly smiling, then continuously, a young woman playing with her son. What this short film told us was that this old man may be the gentle loving grandpa, full of love, kindness, and happiness in seeing his family so happy. Then the next clip, the self same man, then the self same frown, then later, the self same smile. The continuously, a woman wearing an bikini, sun bathing. What this clip told us of the character was that he was a pervy sick old man. I was really amazed at how the same expression could have such a different effect on us when different clips were edited together.
We also watched another similar one where a man holds an axe with a fixed glare at a certain point, then with different clips edited in, showing completely different stories.
Later, we watched several montages, one that was most vivid to me was the one about religion. At first, it has shown religion in a scary eerie light, then as the montage builds up, the person who made the montage suddenly added "HOORAY!" to it, making me slightly confused, but nevertheless, enjoying the montage, and later understanding that the maker was mocking religion. Another one that I remembered the most was the one about the fate of a baby pram during a war. As the war builds up, the pram edges slowly, millimetre by millimetre closer to the edge of a long flight of stairs, then there are massive crowds marching, guns firing, people screaming, shouting, and back to the baby pram. It's amazing how discontinuity can build up tension so quickly and in so many different ways.
Later, we proceeded to analysing why don't we "get" Wong Kar Wai films. What the class thought was exactly the same as what I thought. We thought:
-the film is weird
-story is disjointed
-what seems to be the main characters just randomly appears or dissapears from the movie
-we feel alienated
-we ask "WHY? what is that guy doing!!??" sometimes
We later learnt that WKW wants to make his films non-generic, and they are never cliche. He makes odd-ball images during his film to get the audience really thinking deeply about what he is trying to convey to the audience instead of just watching a film. Same reason why there are parts of the film where he uses fish eye lenses and makes the film disjointed and jumpy.
At the end, Ms Wong set us a task to write a short (less than five pages) script in Wong Kar Wai style. It would be very challenging, because I still cannot properly grasp the idea and style of WKW. I'm also slightly dissapointed, because I would rather do a Montage task.
Problems and Difficulties:
-I can't seem to find the differences between metric, rhythmic, tonal, overtonal and intellectual montage.
-I think it would still take me a long long time before I can learn to properly enjoy Wong Kar Wai films without saying "what on earth is he trying to say!?"
IB Learner Profile:
-Enquirers: we learnt about Montage editing skills and the style and reasoning behind WKW films.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
SCREENING!
4th May, 09
We watched everyone else's films today.
I was disappointed to learn that Catherine has not completed the poster after she has declined my offer to complete it. We did not have a poster for our film.
First film we watched:
"Say Cheese" by (Sarah, Adrian, Bernice, Raphael, Ashley)
-the story was slightly weird, i didn't understand the first part where sarah was on the phone
-sound matched well with the cahse scene, though Miss Wong nad most of the class didn't think they matched.
-good use of the portal/cripple idea
-a bit too unreal, the victim should hae ran, instead of staying in one spot and posing for the camera
-shoud use more diagetinc sound instead of too much non-diegetic
-pacing was too slow
-well controlled,v understood how to control white noise better than any of the groups
"Babooshka" by our group: Catherine, Christopher, Xingyi, Camille (me)
-the directions from the portals don't match
-the scripting was obviously lacking in detail
-underdeeloped
-didn;t see portals, just cutting throught scenes
-good background sound capture
-story was little too unpredictable (in a bad way) and random
-POV are messy, mismathed
-need to balance the light and dark
-grainy (should have used HD)
"Wabbit Hunt" by Joyce, Elliot, Justin, Henry
-Very different, three chasing one instead of one on one, something nobody else have ever done before
-music matched the movie very very well
-great interpretation of the charlie chaplin style
-good portrayal of the comedy theme
-story line can get slightly messy
-some supposed diegetic sounds were too obviously fake and unnatrual
-subtitles were too small and hard to read
"High Octane" by Louise, Jeffrey, Ella, Andy, Louise
-music at the start didn't work out too well
-easy to get overrated
-artistically aware
-not enough portals, lots of just cutting through scenes
-music is too generic, like a teenage music video
-high production value
May 7th, 09
We continued watching the last film,
"Blanche" by Hannah, Julien, Jing-ting, Medora
-Background music quite inconsistant
-too abstract, audience hard to get what the story was trying to tell the audience. Because there was so little time to establish the the story, it has to be clear and direct
-taxi-office portal was really brilliant
-in some parts, the music was too intense for the vdeo
-story underdeveloped
-not enough portals
Problems/Difficulties:
-I think i had some difficulties to spot the problems or traits that make a movie bad from Miss Wong's opinions. Some movies I thought were really brilliant, like "Hight Octane", Miss Wong says that it is a bit too teenage music video. I think that is the problem that I may face when in future producing another movie. I need to learn how to see the movie in a different light than how I usually do to avoid making the movie generic, cliche and cheesy.
IB Learner Profile:
-Reflectors: watching other people's films made me realise how obvious it is that other groups have put in so much more work into their films than ours. I'm NOT saying that our group didn't put in effort, becuase I'm sure most of us did, but its just that our group didn't have really good chemistry. From interacting with them daily outside of film, I noticed our personalities and styles are very different from each the others, so while one of us likes an idea, the rest of the group doesn't like it, vice versa. It takes a long time for us to settle on one idea, and while we're trying to make one thing work, somebody from the group just had to do something to upset it.
We watched everyone else's films today.
I was disappointed to learn that Catherine has not completed the poster after she has declined my offer to complete it. We did not have a poster for our film.
First film we watched:
"Say Cheese" by (Sarah, Adrian, Bernice, Raphael, Ashley)
-the story was slightly weird, i didn't understand the first part where sarah was on the phone
-sound matched well with the cahse scene, though Miss Wong nad most of the class didn't think they matched.
-good use of the portal/cripple idea
-a bit too unreal, the victim should hae ran, instead of staying in one spot and posing for the camera
-shoud use more diagetinc sound instead of too much non-diegetic
-pacing was too slow
-well controlled,v understood how to control white noise better than any of the groups
"Babooshka" by our group: Catherine, Christopher, Xingyi, Camille (me)
-the directions from the portals don't match
-the scripting was obviously lacking in detail
-underdeeloped
-didn;t see portals, just cutting throught scenes
-good background sound capture
-story was little too unpredictable (in a bad way) and random
-POV are messy, mismathed
-need to balance the light and dark
-grainy (should have used HD)
"Wabbit Hunt" by Joyce, Elliot, Justin, Henry
-Very different, three chasing one instead of one on one, something nobody else have ever done before
-music matched the movie very very well
-great interpretation of the charlie chaplin style
-good portrayal of the comedy theme
-story line can get slightly messy
-some supposed diegetic sounds were too obviously fake and unnatrual
-subtitles were too small and hard to read
"High Octane" by Louise, Jeffrey, Ella, Andy, Louise
-music at the start didn't work out too well
-easy to get overrated
-artistically aware
-not enough portals, lots of just cutting through scenes
-music is too generic, like a teenage music video
-high production value
May 7th, 09
We continued watching the last film,
"Blanche" by Hannah, Julien, Jing-ting, Medora
-Background music quite inconsistant
-too abstract, audience hard to get what the story was trying to tell the audience. Because there was so little time to establish the the story, it has to be clear and direct
-taxi-office portal was really brilliant
-in some parts, the music was too intense for the vdeo
-story underdeveloped
-not enough portals
Problems/Difficulties:
-I think i had some difficulties to spot the problems or traits that make a movie bad from Miss Wong's opinions. Some movies I thought were really brilliant, like "Hight Octane", Miss Wong says that it is a bit too teenage music video. I think that is the problem that I may face when in future producing another movie. I need to learn how to see the movie in a different light than how I usually do to avoid making the movie generic, cliche and cheesy.
IB Learner Profile:
-Reflectors: watching other people's films made me realise how obvious it is that other groups have put in so much more work into their films than ours. I'm NOT saying that our group didn't put in effort, becuase I'm sure most of us did, but its just that our group didn't have really good chemistry. From interacting with them daily outside of film, I noticed our personalities and styles are very different from each the others, so while one of us likes an idea, the rest of the group doesn't like it, vice versa. It takes a long time for us to settle on one idea, and while we're trying to make one thing work, somebody from the group just had to do something to upset it.
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Twilight 7
I'm not very happy with our progress regarding sound editing. There are some background noises in the clips that needs editing, and the sound editor wasn't doing it!
Xiangyi, who isn't the sound editor, and I worked together and added sound effects on FCP. While editing sound, Xiangyi stumbled upon a special effect where everytime the character goes through a portal, the whole screen warps and turns green in a flash. He added this to most of the portals, and added another effect, where the screen appears to be "blown off" and comes back in a flash.
We also fast forwarded the sound while the screen warps or flashes, and while doing that, the white noise became a more high pitched, "teleport" like sound. We thought using that would be great.
Chris the sound editor finally made his appearance in the film lab and gave us the songs, then he quickly left. We thought that the song didn't match and they weren't the ones that we picked, so we tried contacting him, but failed. So we had no choice but to use that song.
We encountered another problem while watching our film. There was a partduring filming when catherine was holding out the matryoshka above the camera to drop it, her hand appeared on the screen. Mr Chang helped us and taught us the steps to blacking out the the portion of the screen. This is a skill that i have not previously learnt.
After Xiangyi added the subtitles, we exported the film to the dropbox
Later that day, I contacted catherine and told her to bring the matryoshka doll so that we could make a poster of it. I had a few ideas in mind on making the poster, like:
-a black background with harsh lighting upon the doll. (I don't think this will work out very well, because i don't think it would suit the theme of our film very well, because its not so dark and serious)
-two overlapping opaque matryoshka dolls (This would suit the film better, because at first, the doll did show powers of portalling of its own.)
Xiangyi, who isn't the sound editor, and I worked together and added sound effects on FCP. While editing sound, Xiangyi stumbled upon a special effect where everytime the character goes through a portal, the whole screen warps and turns green in a flash. He added this to most of the portals, and added another effect, where the screen appears to be "blown off" and comes back in a flash.
We also fast forwarded the sound while the screen warps or flashes, and while doing that, the white noise became a more high pitched, "teleport" like sound. We thought using that would be great.
Chris the sound editor finally made his appearance in the film lab and gave us the songs, then he quickly left. We thought that the song didn't match and they weren't the ones that we picked, so we tried contacting him, but failed. So we had no choice but to use that song.
We encountered another problem while watching our film. There was a partduring filming when catherine was holding out the matryoshka above the camera to drop it, her hand appeared on the screen. Mr Chang helped us and taught us the steps to blacking out the the portion of the screen. This is a skill that i have not previously learnt.
After Xiangyi added the subtitles, we exported the film to the dropbox
Later that day, I contacted catherine and told her to bring the matryoshka doll so that we could make a poster of it. I had a few ideas in mind on making the poster, like:
-a black background with harsh lighting upon the doll. (I don't think this will work out very well, because i don't think it would suit the theme of our film very well, because its not so dark and serious)
-two overlapping opaque matryoshka dolls (This would suit the film better, because at first, the doll did show powers of portalling of its own.)
Thursday, 14 May 2009
SHOOTING!!
After school today, Xiangyi, Chris and I went to continue shooting what we missed.
We shot the cafe and causeway bay scene which only took a short time.
Chris wasn't in any of the scenes, so I gave him the job of video logging.
I took over the job as director since Catherine isn't here. At the cafe, we took the place of the tables where they are arranged as a la carte seats. We stationed our camera on top of a bench since we can't fit the tripod in between the seats. We took a few takes, each time alternating the exit, because Catherine still hasn't planned any of the shot directions yet. (even though i have story boarded them, shes not happy with them, and said that she's going to change it) At one point, a waiter walked in front of the camera right when xiangyi exits the scene, so that it looks like he portaled behind him. I have took special note about it on the log sheet, noting that it has the best effect out of all the takes. We left it there after that.
We made out way down to causeway bay to film the second last scene. I told xiangyi to appear behind a shop corner and disappear into a crowd of people. First time he did it, a person was staring at the camera, so we re-did it. After several takes, we got a really good shot where nobody (finaly!) stared at the camera and xiangyi exectued all the blocking sucessfully without fault. After that, we were done with today.
I thought we made create progress today. We have completed everything within three hours, taking lots of different shots as well. As inappropriate as it may sound, i think as a group, we work better without catherine disagreeing on everything we say, but just to try everything out. We always get the best results just trying and not having every single move controlled.
Problems/difficulties:
-apart from the staring passers-bys, everything else was perfect. A few more takes, and we can avoid that problem.
IB Learner Profile:
-Risk takers: We tried everything possible to ge a good take. Different angles, directions etc.
-Communicators: We all contributed ideas to each others and we all listen and we actually tried all the ideas out.
-Inquires: We asked each other our about how our ideas are, the tried them out, and learnt from our mistakes about whats bad about each take.
Regarding Ms Wong's question:
I think, all we have to do is to really voice our opinions and ask each other what they like and don't like about the idea and why so we have something to actually work on and improve on. I should also push myself and remind myself to do so, because or else, out conversation would just be. "um.." "yeah..." "no..." "i hate it" "no that's stupid" "you guys think of something, and i'll go online and look for ideas (and ends up on facebook)"
We shot the cafe and causeway bay scene which only took a short time.
Chris wasn't in any of the scenes, so I gave him the job of video logging.
I took over the job as director since Catherine isn't here. At the cafe, we took the place of the tables where they are arranged as a la carte seats. We stationed our camera on top of a bench since we can't fit the tripod in between the seats. We took a few takes, each time alternating the exit, because Catherine still hasn't planned any of the shot directions yet. (even though i have story boarded them, shes not happy with them, and said that she's going to change it) At one point, a waiter walked in front of the camera right when xiangyi exits the scene, so that it looks like he portaled behind him. I have took special note about it on the log sheet, noting that it has the best effect out of all the takes. We left it there after that.
We made out way down to causeway bay to film the second last scene. I told xiangyi to appear behind a shop corner and disappear into a crowd of people. First time he did it, a person was staring at the camera, so we re-did it. After several takes, we got a really good shot where nobody (finaly!) stared at the camera and xiangyi exectued all the blocking sucessfully without fault. After that, we were done with today.
I thought we made create progress today. We have completed everything within three hours, taking lots of different shots as well. As inappropriate as it may sound, i think as a group, we work better without catherine disagreeing on everything we say, but just to try everything out. We always get the best results just trying and not having every single move controlled.
Problems/difficulties:
-apart from the staring passers-bys, everything else was perfect. A few more takes, and we can avoid that problem.
IB Learner Profile:
-Risk takers: We tried everything possible to ge a good take. Different angles, directions etc.
-Communicators: We all contributed ideas to each others and we all listen and we actually tried all the ideas out.
-Inquires: We asked each other our about how our ideas are, the tried them out, and learnt from our mistakes about whats bad about each take.
Regarding Ms Wong's question:
I think, all we have to do is to really voice our opinions and ask each other what they like and don't like about the idea and why so we have something to actually work on and improve on. I should also push myself and remind myself to do so, because or else, out conversation would just be. "um.." "yeah..." "no..." "i hate it" "no that's stupid" "you guys think of something, and i'll go online and look for ideas (and ends up on facebook)"
Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Twilight 6
Wednesday 22nd, 09
We started uploading the footage onto final cut pro today so while we wait, we helped Chris pick some songs that might suit our film.
Chris and Catherine went on freeplay music to pick out some songs that might be useful for out film. They picked about 20 that might suit. Then I went over to their computer to listen to them after setting up the camera for import. I thought "Ambush" was the best, because it had an eerie air to it, and the beat was also pretty fast, which i think resembles fast heartbeat or footsteps. XiangYi also chose a similar one. Catherine then picked the intro song which was slow and heavy. Chris also picked a song that may fit in several different bits. He will be responsible later then for editing.
Problems/ Difficulty:
-I think we are working too slow with this progress
-Our group doesn't have a sense of unity. We always have awkward silences which is greatly irritating because i know that some of them has good ideas that they want to voice but is just too scared to break the silence. I always make an effort to break it, but afterwards, they always either say yes or no and continue on the silence.
-One or two people are very close minded. When an idea is voiced, the person would always say something rude and mean to stamp on that idea. I think this is the reason of the awkward silences
IB Learner Profile:
Inquirers - we found songs and their themes and how they will suit out film. this was one of the few things that actually worked well as a group.
Xiangyi stayed behind to do some editing, but none of us could stay behind because I had lunch duty, catherine had to meet with mrs chadwick regarding her pp and chris had to see another teacher.
We started uploading the footage onto final cut pro today so while we wait, we helped Chris pick some songs that might suit our film.
Chris and Catherine went on freeplay music to pick out some songs that might be useful for out film. They picked about 20 that might suit. Then I went over to their computer to listen to them after setting up the camera for import. I thought "Ambush" was the best, because it had an eerie air to it, and the beat was also pretty fast, which i think resembles fast heartbeat or footsteps. XiangYi also chose a similar one. Catherine then picked the intro song which was slow and heavy. Chris also picked a song that may fit in several different bits. He will be responsible later then for editing.
Problems/ Difficulty:
-I think we are working too slow with this progress
-Our group doesn't have a sense of unity. We always have awkward silences which is greatly irritating because i know that some of them has good ideas that they want to voice but is just too scared to break the silence. I always make an effort to break it, but afterwards, they always either say yes or no and continue on the silence.
-One or two people are very close minded. When an idea is voiced, the person would always say something rude and mean to stamp on that idea. I think this is the reason of the awkward silences
IB Learner Profile:
Inquirers - we found songs and their themes and how they will suit out film. this was one of the few things that actually worked well as a group.
Xiangyi stayed behind to do some editing, but none of us could stay behind because I had lunch duty, catherine had to meet with mrs chadwick regarding her pp and chris had to see another teacher.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Twilight 5
April 8th, 09
Due to an unfortunate event, I had to arrive school late. By the time I got there, everyone had glum looks pasted upon their faces, while facing a constant problem in our group - our schedules.
Turns out, nobody is free all together on the same day. Nobody in our group is willing to sacrifice their sundays, so the only day that might be feasible is wednesday. Catherine's not free that day, which was extremely bothersome because she was the director, and if she's not here to keep everything under control, the boys are going to start wanting to do things their way. One immediate example was when chris wanted to delete all three scenes from the script so that he could "skip" the filming.
I was only at film class long enough to agree on a schedule, so I will fill in on some more planning
We will have to complete:
- intro: when the matryoshka and villian is indtroduced, and the first displays of portaling power, from the matryoshka. - location - at school, film lab, desk.
- when villian was looking for the matryoshka: when the villian first portals, he appears in a coffee shop. -location- the coffee shop in braemar hill
- when villian portals into a park: villian is franctic, running around and portaling in and out of the same location and stressing out. - location- victoria park.
Equipment list:
-tripod
-camera
-shot list
-script
-storyboard
Prop:
-matryoshka
Hopefully, we could avoid the same problem that we had before was becuase these locations are all filmed in public places, the people wont be giving us any "stare in the camera" looks. Our solutions is just to look for some nooks and crannies where fewer people will go to and hopefully film there.
Due to an unfortunate event, I had to arrive school late. By the time I got there, everyone had glum looks pasted upon their faces, while facing a constant problem in our group - our schedules.
Turns out, nobody is free all together on the same day. Nobody in our group is willing to sacrifice their sundays, so the only day that might be feasible is wednesday. Catherine's not free that day, which was extremely bothersome because she was the director, and if she's not here to keep everything under control, the boys are going to start wanting to do things their way. One immediate example was when chris wanted to delete all three scenes from the script so that he could "skip" the filming.
I was only at film class long enough to agree on a schedule, so I will fill in on some more planning
We will have to complete:
- intro: when the matryoshka and villian is indtroduced, and the first displays of portaling power, from the matryoshka. - location - at school, film lab, desk.
- when villian was looking for the matryoshka: when the villian first portals, he appears in a coffee shop. -location- the coffee shop in braemar hill
- when villian portals into a park: villian is franctic, running around and portaling in and out of the same location and stressing out. - location- victoria park.
Equipment list:
-tripod
-camera
-shot list
-script
-storyboard
Prop:
-matryoshka
Hopefully, we could avoid the same problem that we had before was becuase these locations are all filmed in public places, the people wont be giving us any "stare in the camera" looks. Our solutions is just to look for some nooks and crannies where fewer people will go to and hopefully film there.
SHOOTING!
Today was really tiring, but a fun process nevertheless
I think that today was really the first time that we actually "clicked" as a team. Catherine's directions were straight forward this time, telling the actors (chris and xiangyi) exactly what she wants, and choosing sensible places so that the actors safety are guaranteed (we were filming at the roof - with not bars around!) I got up and down, crawling and tip toeing to get good shot directions. Chris and xiangyi cooperated flawlessly as actors, though chris did want some extra scenes of himself that wasn't planned.
Then we filmed at a ledge that was more like a podium. It was difficult to shoot there, because it was a public place, lots of kids were playing football and old people were running around. I have to say, they were rude, because some of them - even the grown ups, walked directly into the camera while staring at the lens. We couldn't really get it done because of too much distractions at the set, and time ran out, so we all had to leave and plan to film it another time.
I think that today was really the first time that we actually "clicked" as a team. Catherine's directions were straight forward this time, telling the actors (chris and xiangyi) exactly what she wants, and choosing sensible places so that the actors safety are guaranteed (we were filming at the roof - with not bars around!) I got up and down, crawling and tip toeing to get good shot directions. Chris and xiangyi cooperated flawlessly as actors, though chris did want some extra scenes of himself that wasn't planned.
Then we filmed at a ledge that was more like a podium. It was difficult to shoot there, because it was a public place, lots of kids were playing football and old people were running around. I have to say, they were rude, because some of them - even the grown ups, walked directly into the camera while staring at the lens. We couldn't really get it done because of too much distractions at the set, and time ran out, so we all had to leave and plan to film it another time.
Twilight 4
March 30th, 09
We were introduced today to some steps that we will have to do, like in order to reserve equipment, we have to fill out an equipment reservation form, show Mr Chiang our storyboard and shot list. No matter how we think these steps are bothersome, I understand all it is for, is just to help us get organised and to make out filming process easier. Mr. Chiang also taught us about the time code on the tape, so that we can read the video log and record it onto a log sheet.
I showed my group the story board, and they were quite happy with it. They took quite a while to read it, and do some refining to it and we're good to go.
I did some planning on how we are to use our time efficiently on the 4 hours on Saturday that we have. I am very sure that we will take ALOT (alot indeed) of time on saturday getting outselves sorted out and getting used to the equipment and everything judging by the way that we work. We will be filming the rooftop and ledge scene. The rooftop scenes and ledge scene is hand held (because they are chase scenes), so we dont need the tripod yet. We dont need the boom mike either because we dont need to record any conversations.
Equipment list:
-Shot List
-Story board
-Script
-Camera
Props:
-Matryoshka doll (commonly known as Babooshka)
IB Learner profile:
Thinker: I did the planning, making decisions on what to bring, what not, shooting what scenes and what times, etc.
We were introduced today to some steps that we will have to do, like in order to reserve equipment, we have to fill out an equipment reservation form, show Mr Chiang our storyboard and shot list. No matter how we think these steps are bothersome, I understand all it is for, is just to help us get organised and to make out filming process easier. Mr. Chiang also taught us about the time code on the tape, so that we can read the video log and record it onto a log sheet.
I showed my group the story board, and they were quite happy with it. They took quite a while to read it, and do some refining to it and we're good to go.
I did some planning on how we are to use our time efficiently on the 4 hours on Saturday that we have. I am very sure that we will take ALOT (alot indeed) of time on saturday getting outselves sorted out and getting used to the equipment and everything judging by the way that we work. We will be filming the rooftop and ledge scene. The rooftop scenes and ledge scene is hand held (because they are chase scenes), so we dont need the tripod yet. We dont need the boom mike either because we dont need to record any conversations.
Equipment list:
-Shot List
-Story board
-Script
-Camera
Props:
-Matryoshka doll (commonly known as Babooshka)
IB Learner profile:
Thinker: I did the planning, making decisions on what to bring, what not, shooting what scenes and what times, etc.
Twilight 3
March 26th, 09
Todays lesson was spent pre planning. We are still thinking of locations for our portals, and eventually, we came up with Repulse Bay, Causeway Bay Pedestrian Cross, Braemar Hill Coffee Shop, and victoria park, Catherine's rooftop and road beneath Catherine's home
Again, we touch upon the problem of our conflicting schedules. Catherine's almost never free, but she is the director, so there we have a big problem. We later compromised our time and agreed on filming this Saturday's afternoon from 3 to 7.
I have worked hard on the story board, but it wasn't easy, becuase of the script that Catherine wrote is lacking information. She hasn't planned any shots, all she wrote was lines of description of whats happening. She hasn't even done it on final cut pro, so the scene descriptons, character space, were all jumbled up. There aren't any dialogue on our film either. XiangYi and I copied the script out on final cut pro half way while teaching Catherine how to use this software. She wasnt familiar with where the options are and everything, so I showed here where they are, and also some tips that she didn't notice at first, like pressing enter after a CHARACTER space autimatically gives you a DIALOGUE space. etc.
I left her my email so that she could send me the script after converting it to PDF (because converting it to microsoft would take out the formatting) and i started working on the story board tonight. She told me to plan all the shots for her and use my imagination to create a setting. So I started on internet searching the locations so get a sense of what it looks like. Then just briefly sketching it, I created the start of it. I have no idea what the road near Catherin'es home looks like, so i just drew an ordinary bend in the road. Hopefully, drawing without planning won't affect the filming process much, so I told myself to keep in mind a flexible mindset while filming.
Basically, I have changed the script alot when converting it from word to picture. Lots of the things she wrote didn't make sense and I had to redo the story board several times just so that it follows a logical order. The directions (e.g. left exit screen, left re-enter screen) were also very messy, and i have voiced my concern to catherine, but she just said to leave it and pretend that it was done intentionally. It was a hard script to work on.
Problems and difficulties:
-Overall, i dont think we all work that well as a team.
-As a director, catherine's doesn't pay enough attention to the details, making the team members work doubly hard just so that the directions she give can make logical sense before carrying them out.
IB Learner Profile:
Risk- takers: I have taken some risks in story boarding, because the directions and script was all done in a very unfamiliar manner, and i had to pick my brains and use different ways to over come that problem.
Todays lesson was spent pre planning. We are still thinking of locations for our portals, and eventually, we came up with Repulse Bay, Causeway Bay Pedestrian Cross, Braemar Hill Coffee Shop, and victoria park, Catherine's rooftop and road beneath Catherine's home
Again, we touch upon the problem of our conflicting schedules. Catherine's almost never free, but she is the director, so there we have a big problem. We later compromised our time and agreed on filming this Saturday's afternoon from 3 to 7.
I have worked hard on the story board, but it wasn't easy, becuase of the script that Catherine wrote is lacking information. She hasn't planned any shots, all she wrote was lines of description of whats happening. She hasn't even done it on final cut pro, so the scene descriptons, character space, were all jumbled up. There aren't any dialogue on our film either. XiangYi and I copied the script out on final cut pro half way while teaching Catherine how to use this software. She wasnt familiar with where the options are and everything, so I showed here where they are, and also some tips that she didn't notice at first, like pressing enter after a CHARACTER space autimatically gives you a DIALOGUE space. etc.
I left her my email so that she could send me the script after converting it to PDF (because converting it to microsoft would take out the formatting) and i started working on the story board tonight. She told me to plan all the shots for her and use my imagination to create a setting. So I started on internet searching the locations so get a sense of what it looks like. Then just briefly sketching it, I created the start of it. I have no idea what the road near Catherin'es home looks like, so i just drew an ordinary bend in the road. Hopefully, drawing without planning won't affect the filming process much, so I told myself to keep in mind a flexible mindset while filming.
Basically, I have changed the script alot when converting it from word to picture. Lots of the things she wrote didn't make sense and I had to redo the story board several times just so that it follows a logical order. The directions (e.g. left exit screen, left re-enter screen) were also very messy, and i have voiced my concern to catherine, but she just said to leave it and pretend that it was done intentionally. It was a hard script to work on.
Problems and difficulties:
-Overall, i dont think we all work that well as a team.
-As a director, catherine's doesn't pay enough attention to the details, making the team members work doubly hard just so that the directions she give can make logical sense before carrying them out.
IB Learner Profile:
Risk- takers: I have taken some risks in story boarding, because the directions and script was all done in a very unfamiliar manner, and i had to pick my brains and use different ways to over come that problem.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Twilight Lesson 2
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Catherine had the script done according to XiangYi and my portal line. She did not change anything in the end. She added a story the it so in the beginning, the villain and the protagonists are introduced.
I drew a table of times in the week so that everyone could tick or cross when they are free and when they are not free. Our schedules are very bad, beacuse nobody is free all at once. They all clash with each other.
We decided to put our schedule aside and think of loations first. I have suggested the IFC patio for the introduction of characters, becuase it is desolated and people rarely go there. I also think that it suits the mood because there are no tall buildings around, so gives a feeling of erieness at night.
Catherine again, did not like that idea because it was too far from her home. She wanted to do it under her home where there is a bend in the road and a lampost where the villian can dissapear through. Nobody in the group objected to avoid any arguements so we agreed in the end.
Problems / difficulties:
Again, it was the communication. This time, we did talk, but still there was a problem. It was very hard to talk to Catherine, talking to her was just like walking on eggshells. She is easily offended, not open to other people's ideas, and wants to do everything her own way. We would just have to cope and listen then.
I found the script very vague, therefore, making my job storyboarding extra tough. There are no directions, instructions, or shots whatsoever to tell me what she wants. I have consulted her on that matter, and she said that it was my job to figure all those out. I have to differ, but I did not voice it to avoid any further arguments.
IB Learner Profile:
Thinker - today was another planning lesson, and we were thinking all the time for ideas. Location planning today.
Twilight Zone Chase Scene Lesson 1
Monday, March 16, 2009
Although I was slightly disappointed to learn that we will not be able to work with my old group, at the same time I was also quite excited as it is a new chance to work and collaborate with other students. Different combinations of people often produce very interesting results, so I will be anticipating what will happen with our final product.Our roles were chosen today:
1. Catherine Dennig - Director / script writer
2. XiangYi Cheow - Editor
3. Christorpher Checketts - Sound Editor
4. Me (Camille Yung) - Camera Person
Catherine wanted the film to be very original, one of a kind, and suddenly, I came up with this weird bizarre idea of an invisible chaser, POV for the audience (which could be a creature, spectre, thing, the victim's conscience etc) chasing a victim. Throughout the film, you don't know who you are and why you're chasing the victim, but you are. Because we all have seen last term's screening, we concluded that we did not want a cliche typical boy chase girl movie.
We consulted with Ms Wong about the feasibility of the invisible chaser idea, but she said that it would be extremely hard to convey this to the audience, so we decided that the idea void, although I still really liked it.
Catherine told XiangYi and I to come up with ideas so that she could write the script, which I thought was quite confusing because the whole group should be coming up with ideas, not just XiangYi and I, but since she was the director, we listened to her anyway.
We came up first with a list:
Door - lamppost - from a rubbish bin - jump up ledge - appear behind a sofa of a chinese family, (they can yell, 做meh呀！搞meh鬼！出去!) jumps behind wall - up up from a bush - crawl under table - fall out from a tree - run into a football goalie - fall into sea
But Catherine didn't like it because she said that there were some really typical portals like a door, and crawling under a table, so she said that we had to come up with a different one. XiangYi and I picked our brains but no more new ideas, so we went onto YouTube. From one clip, we saw a rewind of a person jumping back to the camera off a really tall pile of boxes, and we have decided that we will use this technique when trying to jump onto high places.
Unfortunately, the lesson's time is up, so we just handed our list of ideas to Catherine, but she was unhappy with it, and she said that we would change it. I would be anticipating what ideas that she can come from
Problems/ Diffuculties
Communication - Catherine was quite obvious (in my opinion) that we did not want to think of anything, and just leaving XiangYi and I to do the thinking. We did not communicate well with her, and I think that next time, we should talk to her more frequently and asking her for ideas as well instead of just us doing everything.
IB Learner Profile:
Thinkers - I thought that we have put alot of thought into our portal line, though Catherine didn't like it very much
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Film Lesson 9
2nd March, 2009
We captured our footage on film today. Since I was the editor, I stayed at the computer for about 40 minutes monitoring the capturing while the other two, the cameraman and the director helped Justin with the soundtrack.
After the footage have finished capturing, we recorded the voice over. I have learnt from Ms Wong that for voice recording, there's no need to press pause and record, because it just turns out the same when editing.
We captured our footage on film today. Since I was the editor, I stayed at the computer for about 40 minutes monitoring the capturing while the other two, the cameraman and the director helped Justin with the soundtrack.
After the footage have finished capturing, we recorded the voice over. I have learnt from Ms Wong that for voice recording, there's no need to press pause and record, because it just turns out the same when editing.
Film Lesson 8
25th Febuary, 2009
Jing has completed the script for our group and in this lesson, we planned our shots and storyboarded our film. This lesson was mostly planning, and we also arranged for the time and place that we would meet when filming.
IB Learner Profile: (n/a)
(this lesson was mostly just planning, but not particularly learning alot)
Jing has completed the script for our group and in this lesson, we planned our shots and storyboarded our film. This lesson was mostly planning, and we also arranged for the time and place that we would meet when filming.
IB Learner Profile: (n/a)
(this lesson was mostly just planning, but not particularly learning alot)
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Film Lesson 7
23rd February, 2009
Under lots of email reminders and constant prompting, Justin has finally written us a two page long script. It has revealed non of the plot, and he did not use any of the notes that I gave him on actor's credo. We were extremely dissapointed at him, and at this level of commitment, and we have decided that he not at all suitable to be director.
Jing, Justin and I have rotated roles, originally, Jing as editor, Justin as script writer and me as sound editor. Jing and Justin was going to swap when Justin suddenly realised that he doesn't know a thing about editing, so I became the editor. Justin became sound editor, and Jing is script writer and director. Without any extra unneccesary help, Jing has already re written half of the script in much greater detail and with defined personalities between the characters.
Joyce and I brainstormed ideas for filming locations. At first, we decided that we were going to film at the pagoda which is in the middle of our cross country route. We thought it was a brilliant idea because it was secluded and unusual and not alot of people would have thought of that, BUT, we had to consider the reality of it at the end and realised that it wasn't feasible. First, we had to think of safety. The path to the location was crooked and steep. If one of us trips and gets injured, who can help us? What about the equipments, what if they got damaged and broke? The Lighting was also really hard to control because it is outdoors, and we also did not think that our time management would be good enough because we were thinking of filming it during the magic hour. It is only one to two hours long. Once it passes, it passes. After considering all of the above factors, we have decided to film in my car park in my dad's car. The lighting is stark and harsh. There are lots of walls around and also a stairwell. We thought that it would be perfect for a crime scene where the murderer comes out from behind one of the walls and escapes into a stairwell.
IB Learner Profile: Communicators
We have expressed our ideas and information to each other confidently and creatively to each other. We collaborated our ideas and worked together effectively.
Under lots of email reminders and constant prompting, Justin has finally written us a two page long script. It has revealed non of the plot, and he did not use any of the notes that I gave him on actor's credo. We were extremely dissapointed at him, and at this level of commitment, and we have decided that he not at all suitable to be director.
Jing, Justin and I have rotated roles, originally, Jing as editor, Justin as script writer and me as sound editor. Jing and Justin was going to swap when Justin suddenly realised that he doesn't know a thing about editing, so I became the editor. Justin became sound editor, and Jing is script writer and director. Without any extra unneccesary help, Jing has already re written half of the script in much greater detail and with defined personalities between the characters.
Joyce and I brainstormed ideas for filming locations. At first, we decided that we were going to film at the pagoda which is in the middle of our cross country route. We thought it was a brilliant idea because it was secluded and unusual and not alot of people would have thought of that, BUT, we had to consider the reality of it at the end and realised that it wasn't feasible. First, we had to think of safety. The path to the location was crooked and steep. If one of us trips and gets injured, who can help us? What about the equipments, what if they got damaged and broke? The Lighting was also really hard to control because it is outdoors, and we also did not think that our time management would be good enough because we were thinking of filming it during the magic hour. It is only one to two hours long. Once it passes, it passes. After considering all of the above factors, we have decided to film in my car park in my dad's car. The lighting is stark and harsh. There are lots of walls around and also a stairwell. We thought that it would be perfect for a crime scene where the murderer comes out from behind one of the walls and escapes into a stairwell.
IB Learner Profile: Communicators
We have expressed our ideas and information to each other confidently and creatively to each other. We collaborated our ideas and worked together effectively.
Film Lesson 6
18th February, 2008
Our progress was extremely slow today.
Justin, our script writer did not do his job. He turned up to class without any script and without having even thought about the storyline at all. He lied to us about having written it at home, but he cannot repeat it back to us. It was extremely inconsiderate and none of us in our group agreed that with this kind of commitment should he be the director.
We don't have any more time to waste now, so we had to make a story plot, create characters for Justin to write at home.
Since I am in the drama extended class, I taught Justin the "actor's credo" when characterising the charaters.
1. What am I going to do/ doing/ did?
2. When am I from? (The time period)
3. Why am I here in this particular location?
4. Who am I associated with?
5. How did I get here?
6.How old am I?
7. What is my identity?
This is the set of rules actors use when we are ad-libbing to create a specific character. The way they talk, act, all influence on how the audience sees us as a character on stage, so if Justin takes note of how his characters should speak, his script should turn out quite alright.
IB Learner Profile: Thinkers
We were thinkers because we have applied all the things that we learnt about film noir into this storyplot. We were creative when creating the layered plotline of film noir, and we were also thinking critically about the feasibility of our ideas.
Our progress was extremely slow today.
Justin, our script writer did not do his job. He turned up to class without any script and without having even thought about the storyline at all. He lied to us about having written it at home, but he cannot repeat it back to us. It was extremely inconsiderate and none of us in our group agreed that with this kind of commitment should he be the director.
We don't have any more time to waste now, so we had to make a story plot, create characters for Justin to write at home.
Since I am in the drama extended class, I taught Justin the "actor's credo" when characterising the charaters.
1. What am I going to do/ doing/ did?
2. When am I from? (The time period)
3. Why am I here in this particular location?
4. Who am I associated with?
5. How did I get here?
6.How old am I?
7. What is my identity?
This is the set of rules actors use when we are ad-libbing to create a specific character. The way they talk, act, all influence on how the audience sees us as a character on stage, so if Justin takes note of how his characters should speak, his script should turn out quite alright.
IB Learner Profile: Thinkers
We were thinkers because we have applied all the things that we learnt about film noir into this storyplot. We were creative when creating the layered plotline of film noir, and we were also thinking critically about the feasibility of our ideas.
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Film Lesson 5
16th February, 2009
We were introduced to the film style of Film Noir.
We saw a slidshow about the different characters of Film Noir, how the good and bad was blurred, and the protagonist may be a bad person, and the antagonist may not entirely be the "bad guy" either. The deeds that they have done may be bad, or may be for the greater good, but not neccessarily with good ways and methods.
We watched a Film Noir moment of Infernal Affairs about the blurriness of the characters true siding. We are then given our tasks, to create a conversation based on the style of Infernal Affairs, with blurry and layered plotlines, blurred sense of right and wrong and with a tense atmosphere.
Our group has Joyce, Jing, Justin and me. Joyce has taken the role of the camera man, who monitors the shots, angles etc. Jing is the editor, who is responsible for the editing style, pace for the film. Justin wanted to be the script writer because he wanted to be the director as well. I have taken the role of sound editor, who is responsible for the clarity of the conversation and also maintaining and normal background sound.
IB Learner Profile: Open-minded
We learnt that apart from Film Noir in western films, Hong Kong has also started to develop Film Noir. I have noticed some difference in western films and local films. Local films are less "cliche" and I thought that the plot is much more twisted that just having the antagonist, protagonist, "femme fatale" and the good woman. Local films often have more that those characters as a more modern and contemporary approach to this style of film.
We were introduced to the film style of Film Noir.
We saw a slidshow about the different characters of Film Noir, how the good and bad was blurred, and the protagonist may be a bad person, and the antagonist may not entirely be the "bad guy" either. The deeds that they have done may be bad, or may be for the greater good, but not neccessarily with good ways and methods.
We watched a Film Noir moment of Infernal Affairs about the blurriness of the characters true siding. We are then given our tasks, to create a conversation based on the style of Infernal Affairs, with blurry and layered plotlines, blurred sense of right and wrong and with a tense atmosphere.
Our group has Joyce, Jing, Justin and me. Joyce has taken the role of the camera man, who monitors the shots, angles etc. Jing is the editor, who is responsible for the editing style, pace for the film. Justin wanted to be the script writer because he wanted to be the director as well. I have taken the role of sound editor, who is responsible for the clarity of the conversation and also maintaining and normal background sound.
IB Learner Profile: Open-minded
We learnt that apart from Film Noir in western films, Hong Kong has also started to develop Film Noir. I have noticed some difference in western films and local films. Local films are less "cliche" and I thought that the plot is much more twisted that just having the antagonist, protagonist, "femme fatale" and the good woman. Local films often have more that those characters as a more modern and contemporary approach to this style of film.
Film Lesson 4
11th February, 2009
Today, we filmed a short conversation observing the continuity editing rules.
First, we saw a slide show with some video clips in it to get an understanding what the different kinds of shots are. Then, we divided into groups to film the conversation following the rules.
The group includes Julien, Jeffrey and me. Julian and I serve as actors.
Our filming location was at the third floor courtyard lockers area. We chose that place as our filming location becasue, conviniently, there was an orange line already drawn on the floor, so when Jeffrey films it, he could film from any location and take as many angles as he can and at the same time, be confident that he has closely followed the 180 degree rule.
We did not have a lot of time to do the filming as there was only about 25 minutes left after all the camera borrowing and the hustling in the class room. After those 25 minutes, people will start to pour out of classrooms and it would make filming very unconvinient. Luckily, we finished filming in time and worked well together and managed to film everything with the 25 minutes.
Afterwards, we stayed for 20 minutes into lunch to do the editing, but I did not get a chance to do much editing, because I had to leave to see my PP supervisor.
IB Learner Profile: Communicators
In this lesson, we learned some skills for continuity editing, and I thought that I have contributed to some ideas to filming angles. Although we did not communicate necessarily in another language, but I think we have done so in different forms. We knew our angles, and we also know how to edit it. We worked effectively and collaboratively with each others, listening to each other's comments and planning it well before filming.
Today, we filmed a short conversation observing the continuity editing rules.
First, we saw a slide show with some video clips in it to get an understanding what the different kinds of shots are. Then, we divided into groups to film the conversation following the rules.
The group includes Julien, Jeffrey and me. Julian and I serve as actors.
Our filming location was at the third floor courtyard lockers area. We chose that place as our filming location becasue, conviniently, there was an orange line already drawn on the floor, so when Jeffrey films it, he could film from any location and take as many angles as he can and at the same time, be confident that he has closely followed the 180 degree rule.
We did not have a lot of time to do the filming as there was only about 25 minutes left after all the camera borrowing and the hustling in the class room. After those 25 minutes, people will start to pour out of classrooms and it would make filming very unconvinient. Luckily, we finished filming in time and worked well together and managed to film everything with the 25 minutes.
Afterwards, we stayed for 20 minutes into lunch to do the editing, but I did not get a chance to do much editing, because I had to leave to see my PP supervisor.
IB Learner Profile: Communicators
In this lesson, we learned some skills for continuity editing, and I thought that I have contributed to some ideas to filming angles. Although we did not communicate necessarily in another language, but I think we have done so in different forms. We knew our angles, and we also know how to edit it. We worked effectively and collaboratively with each others, listening to each other's comments and planning it well before filming.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Film Lesson 3
9th Febuary 2008
Today, we watched the videos and sound foleys created by the other groups.
Some points and notes that people were quick to pick up on was that, for colour tints, we must not over-do it. If we tint, make sure that the normal background colours are still there, but only a slight ting, e.g. keep the trees green and the sky blue.
The sound foley notes was that the soundscape should be more coplex. One good example of an office sound foley was that, there were telephone ringing, people shouting for overdue work, typing, writing, clacking high heels happening all at the same time. It gives us the impression that it was a busy workplace, and we could actually feel the atmosphere at that place. The not so good example was that, the sound happened one by one. High heels clacking, then pulling out a piece of paper, then writing, then folding the paper, then walking away again. It was too quite and singular. Ideal sound foleys are complex, with different things all happening at the same time.
If we were to do anything differently for our video production, we would
1) the footages were supposed to be the same. We used different footages. Next time, we would use the same footage, only different effects were applied.
2) make the grainy documentary/ sharp effect film more contrasted. The only difference between them was that the grainy one was shakier than the sharp one. We really should have added some grainy effects to the footage.
3) make the colour tint more contrasted. The blue and the red were only changed with the white balance and the light that hits onto the filming location. We should have changed the colour tint which we were editing.
Right now, these notes noted here and above would be useful for future references, so in the future when we are making more films, we would take care not to over-do or over-minimize any effects or colour tints. When we are making sound foleys we would also think more realisticly about how the environment would really be like and imitate it as closely as possible, like taking into account what kind of people or animals and how busy or quiet one place should be and noting them down before creating the sound foley.
IB Learner Profile: Reflective
This lesson was mainly a reflection lesson on how we did and how we could improve. I have given it some thought and took down notes on what I didn't do well and how I could improve next time. I also knew what our group's limitations were, i.e. the other sequences were well doen, and our limitations, i.e. the colour tint and the contrast between the grainy/sharp video.
Today, we watched the videos and sound foleys created by the other groups.
Some points and notes that people were quick to pick up on was that, for colour tints, we must not over-do it. If we tint, make sure that the normal background colours are still there, but only a slight ting, e.g. keep the trees green and the sky blue.
The sound foley notes was that the soundscape should be more coplex. One good example of an office sound foley was that, there were telephone ringing, people shouting for overdue work, typing, writing, clacking high heels happening all at the same time. It gives us the impression that it was a busy workplace, and we could actually feel the atmosphere at that place. The not so good example was that, the sound happened one by one. High heels clacking, then pulling out a piece of paper, then writing, then folding the paper, then walking away again. It was too quite and singular. Ideal sound foleys are complex, with different things all happening at the same time.
If we were to do anything differently for our video production, we would
1) the footages were supposed to be the same. We used different footages. Next time, we would use the same footage, only different effects were applied.
2) make the grainy documentary/ sharp effect film more contrasted. The only difference between them was that the grainy one was shakier than the sharp one. We really should have added some grainy effects to the footage.
3) make the colour tint more contrasted. The blue and the red were only changed with the white balance and the light that hits onto the filming location. We should have changed the colour tint which we were editing.
Right now, these notes noted here and above would be useful for future references, so in the future when we are making more films, we would take care not to over-do or over-minimize any effects or colour tints. When we are making sound foleys we would also think more realisticly about how the environment would really be like and imitate it as closely as possible, like taking into account what kind of people or animals and how busy or quiet one place should be and noting them down before creating the sound foley.
IB Learner Profile: Reflective
This lesson was mainly a reflection lesson on how we did and how we could improve. I have given it some thought and took down notes on what I didn't do well and how I could improve next time. I also knew what our group's limitations were, i.e. the other sequences were well doen, and our limitations, i.e. the colour tint and the contrast between the grainy/sharp video.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Film Lesson 2
4th Febuary
Today, we edited our footage on the "Scavenger hunt" we did last lesson. Because of time constraint, our group divided into half, so Julien and Jeffrey are going to record the sound foley while Hannah and I start editing our footage.
First, we cut the bits of footage into sections and deleted the ones that we didn't need. Jeffrey and Julien came back from their reording (it took us a long time to get started because the final cut pro needed a bit of fixing from Mr. Chang and that took a while). Jeffrey has more experience in using Final Cut Pro, so he took over most of the editing and he taught us a few tricks that we can use on final cut pro.
In this lesson, I learnt how to add the subtitles without fiddling with all the buttons before I knew which one was which. From watching him editing, I also learnt some editing tips, like how to make a video very intense and hectic. The effect can be achieved by inserting some 1 or 2 econd footages and flashes of footage to make the audience feel the intended effect.
The editing of the other footage wasn't that special, because I learnt that last year already. At the end, we captured the sound foley as well and exported the entire video.
Today, we edited our footage on the "Scavenger hunt" we did last lesson. Because of time constraint, our group divided into half, so Julien and Jeffrey are going to record the sound foley while Hannah and I start editing our footage.
First, we cut the bits of footage into sections and deleted the ones that we didn't need. Jeffrey and Julien came back from their reording (it took us a long time to get started because the final cut pro needed a bit of fixing from Mr. Chang and that took a while). Jeffrey has more experience in using Final Cut Pro, so he took over most of the editing and he taught us a few tricks that we can use on final cut pro.
In this lesson, I learnt how to add the subtitles without fiddling with all the buttons before I knew which one was which. From watching him editing, I also learnt some editing tips, like how to make a video very intense and hectic. The effect can be achieved by inserting some 1 or 2 econd footages and flashes of footage to make the audience feel the intended effect.
The editing of the other footage wasn't that special, because I learnt that last year already. At the end, we captured the sound foley as well and exported the entire video.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Film Lesson 1
2nd, Febuary
Today, I had the first film lesson of the term. We basically had a recap lesson on what we learnt last year. We divided into groups of four, with Julien, Hannah and Jeffrey.
We recapped on the mood of colour, harshness of lighting, and something that the first termers didn't get to learn, creating a sound foley.
First, we were to film an old documentary style of a person scrunching up a piece of paper. To make it documentary like, we hand held the camera, with some shakiness to create the "oldness" of it. Then, it had to be sharp, so the tripod was used, and we changed the colour setting to a sharper one.
Secondly, we had to film two different mood colours of a person walking up the stairs and being surprised. One is angry surprise, another one is melancholy surprise. For the angry one, the colour setting was changed to more of an orange tint, and the camera was put in the sunlight. Melancholy, the colour setting was more of a blue tint, and the camera was shaded.
Third, we filmed an encounter between two people, one is a happy encouter, another is an angry conflicting encounter. For the happy one, we put the people in front of a background with warm colours. For the conflict, we put the characters under a harsher, less colourful lighting, and the people were fighting.
Fourth, we filmed the keyboard tying with a dream like sequence. Our concept was more like not real life, drifting, and shaky, instead of a dreamy, floating one. We filmed it from several angles, one of the hands and the keyboard bird's eye shot, one at the side, wide shot and the screen, point of view shot and the eyes (with a very scary expression) eye level shot. They were all hand held, shaky, to create the dream like feel.
Fifth, we filmed a conversation using the 180 degree rule. We had an imaginary line on the floor, so we filmed different shots of the people at our side of the line.
Last, there wasn't much time left, so we breifly filmed the sound foley of people laughing. Camera lens were covered, and after we tried several jokes, we all started to laugh into the camera's microphone.
This recap lesson was helpful in remembering all the different terms and to get me familiar with the camera again.
Today, I had the first film lesson of the term. We basically had a recap lesson on what we learnt last year. We divided into groups of four, with Julien, Hannah and Jeffrey.
We recapped on the mood of colour, harshness of lighting, and something that the first termers didn't get to learn, creating a sound foley.
First, we were to film an old documentary style of a person scrunching up a piece of paper. To make it documentary like, we hand held the camera, with some shakiness to create the "oldness" of it. Then, it had to be sharp, so the tripod was used, and we changed the colour setting to a sharper one.
Secondly, we had to film two different mood colours of a person walking up the stairs and being surprised. One is angry surprise, another one is melancholy surprise. For the angry one, the colour setting was changed to more of an orange tint, and the camera was put in the sunlight. Melancholy, the colour setting was more of a blue tint, and the camera was shaded.
Third, we filmed an encounter between two people, one is a happy encouter, another is an angry conflicting encounter. For the happy one, we put the people in front of a background with warm colours. For the conflict, we put the characters under a harsher, less colourful lighting, and the people were fighting.
Fourth, we filmed the keyboard tying with a dream like sequence. Our concept was more like not real life, drifting, and shaky, instead of a dreamy, floating one. We filmed it from several angles, one of the hands and the keyboard bird's eye shot, one at the side, wide shot and the screen, point of view shot and the eyes (with a very scary expression) eye level shot. They were all hand held, shaky, to create the dream like feel.
Fifth, we filmed a conversation using the 180 degree rule. We had an imaginary line on the floor, so we filmed different shots of the people at our side of the line.
Last, there wasn't much time left, so we breifly filmed the sound foley of people laughing. Camera lens were covered, and after we tried several jokes, we all started to laugh into the camera's microphone.
This recap lesson was helpful in remembering all the different terms and to get me familiar with the camera again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)