Practical Screencraft 2: Audio Evaluation

Looking back at this whole module, I think I actually really developed my ability to work with sound. At the very start I had absolutely no clue how to even work with logic pro, and my attempts at audio recording before this had always been mixed.

Getting to grips with the program took a lot of trial and error. I’m a kinetic learner, and I always learn better by doing rather than being told what to do. So for the most part, a lot of my soundcloud files is I messing around with logic pro and experimenting with the options available.

I actually really enjoyed creating these audio tracks and seeing how they developed. The first we created was a track that used foley sounds we recorded earlier on in the day, but apart from the recording part I was slightly hands off the first track. I mostly observed it being made while Caitlin fiddled with the program.  Our next project though, I worked with Caitlin and Tom to create a short comedy piece about a mock idea for world war 3. I was the driving creative force behind it, writing up the script and helping to direct the audio direction.

After this, I had to get stuck into logic pro, and seeing Alex Sutcliffe create his own music in logic, I wanted to give it a shot. It was mostly fiddling about at the start, see what each setting does and I generally drifted over to the synthesis section with all of its options. I’m a sucker for good ambient tracks, and they were relatively easy to create in logic once you got the handle of it.

I went for very atmospheric, moody tracks that could be easily placed in a number of different scenarios. I just started to knock them out reasonably quickly, some I really like, some I would maybe go back and alter, but in terms of creating my own audio I’m pretty chuffed.

After that though, I was determined to create more audio drama like tracks. I wanted to work on something with more narrative to it, and considering both Cait and Tom needed more tracks too, I came up with an idea. We loved the Dragon Age series, and some of the most notable scenes from the series are the character recruitment scenes. Together, we each created an original character, put them in that world, and I wrote scenarios for each of them to be recruited to the Inquisition.

It required me to balance audio, sound effects and back tracks so the audience could visualize the scene play out. Despite some stumbles in the recordings, I thought it went extremely well. The post edit was very fun, putting all the pieces together like a puzzle and see the adventure play out. I ended up doing this very idea for my final video as well, adapting the opening scene from the Killing Joke and translating it to audio form. We pretty much had the same up, but this time I had actual images to follow along. I had to keep track of a specific sequence of events, and make sure the audio matched.

In conclusion, I think I really developed during this whole module. I managed to tangle with logic effectively, developed my ability to record and develop audio, and overall I think it will really effect my work positively to come.

Moving Narrative 2: Project Folder (Evaluation)

I must confess that the start of this project was a bit of a slow burn for me, but I’ve always had an idea tucked away just in case the worst occurred. I just couldn’t fill in all the blanks.

The idea I had involved a guitar and a mentor like figure. Those two factors always stuck with me no matter how the narrative changed. You see as I watched the films shown to me on the Tuesday sessions, I waited for that first one to really connect with me. Force Majure was good, but I never felt truly inspired by it. I hated Dogtooth, Metro Manila was good but samey and Ida was just straight up dull. Finally, we came across Rust and Bone.

Something about that film just clicked for me. I loved the colour and style, I thought it was extremely well paced, and I liked how the characters weren’t perfect people as they were believably flawed, but I think I just gravitated to the central theme of the movie: loss.

I started picking apart that topic specifically, analysing it and looking how I could incorporate it into my own film. What if the mentor character had lost a limb in my film? What if that prevented them from playing the guitar? As I explored that, I realised this also linked with Force Majure as that film dealt with loss of place and identity. What is a guitarist if they cannot play the guitar? What can they be when their aspiration is impossible?

So what I had at this point was two characters. An older person who had lost their hand and was unable to do what they loved, and a secondary character that they would interact with. The secondary character had to have some relation to the first character, so I kept playing with the idea of using the guitar. What if the second character couldn’t play the guitar? What if the main character had to teach them without the use of their hand?

A little before this came to me I had seen School of Rock again, starring Jack Black. The use of instruments and music to help build the relationship the main character has with the children really stuck out to me. I used this element in the narrative, but having the mentor teach the pupil basics of the guitar so they had something to connect too. But what also stood out to me was one of the key central points of the movie; finding a sense of place.

The Jack Black character is disillusioned with his failure to make it big as a rock star, so he attempts to live his dream through children, but soon finds that he himself enjoys teaching and passing on his talents to a younger generation. He finds a new place in life not from what he originally intended, but finds another one still involved in the things he loves the most.  There is a real message there that I love and I think is something that is really important for people to understand.

So with those two factors, my film had taken new life and I had my story. A former guitar player who lost her hand stumbles across a guitar player just starting out and tries to teach her some basics of playing the guitar, while maybe just finding a new role for herself in the process. Now came to actually writing the thing.

The script had been difficult to say the least. The main issue was that I wasn’t completely sure how to finish the story. I knew I wanted an ending as I despised films like White Ribbon for chickening out of completing their narratives due to a lack of forethought, or simple pretentiousness.

So early on I hired a cinematographer (Luke David Sims) as I don’t enjoy shooting my own work and we discussed the film. Originally there was a third character in the film that was the best friend of the former guitarist. They acted as exposition and they talked about where the character was at this time. Luke argued that the entire section was unnecessary, and he felt it should be cut since the rest of the story didn’t need it. The more I read it, the more I agreed, but I saved the interaction to be used in future work since I quite liked it. The reason it didn't work though was time restraints as the film would have gone well over 5 minutes, and the fact that you can say what needs to be said in this scene through visuals alone.

As you can also see, the original script called for the guitarist to be male. I actually wanted a female at first but I thought an actress would be harder to get. I mentioned this to Luke who hooked me up with an actress that he knew and so I made the decision to change the gender back. I’m honestly happy with these changes since the film is more focused, and looking back at the edit, there was no way that scene was gonna fit in the 5 minute gap of the edit. Better it was cut there and then.

Link to full Script

I also threw together a rough storyboard to help visualise specific moments in the film. It’s rough as it always is, as it’s a tiny visual aid rather than a shot for shot remake of what I want to have happen. It gives me more creative freedom too in the space I’ve got.

Link to Storyboard

So now we move onto the filming. I had assembled my crew, but Luke backed out several days before and then the actress he got me backed out literally the day before. I had to find another on short notice and thankfully I was able to do so. It did leave me quite stressed before the shoot though. Thankfully, there were no more cancellations.

Alex Burgess and Tom Hayes worked sound, and Alex Sutcliffe and Laura Voelker worked on cinematography for me. We all met up at the Hoe and filmed at one of the nearby park benches. I liked the location as it gave us free space but also a specific focus point where we could avoid outside people. It took a moment for the shoot to actually kick into gear as we had some miscommunications and technical issues at the start; namely stuff on the sensor that left marks on the screen. I would have to remove those in post. I could never remove them entirely but I definitely minimalized the markings.

Thankfully, as filming continued we all started to find our groove. The actresses got on well with each other and both were easy to work with. Everybody was on the ball for the most part, apart from a rather sleepy Tom who could have put more effort in keeping the boom mic focused on the actresses. Filming went over 5 hours and we finished right on time for everyone to leave. I would film some later portions with Kate (former guitarist character) at the burned down house and the green screen cove later, but that only took roughly two hours in total.

In terms of the film, I aimed to keep the colour mostly there like Rust and Bone did. Force Majure did this too as too films with lots of drama, but didn't feel the need to drain the colour from their scenes. I also liked this in Do the Right Thing as the streets were overly colourful. The cinematography is very basic though, I didn't want to distract from the performance of the actors but having tilted shots and fast cuts. The films is told through these two people and the dialogue they share, something I thought Rust and Bone and School of Rock did very well. Although, like Rust and Bone I knew that having one or two shots focus on the missing limb in question told more than a thousand words.

Then we got to the dreaded edit. This part took longer than I expected. First off, we tried a trick to key out Kate’s hand by having her wear a bright pink glove and getting rid of it in post. However, I underestimated lighting as the glove was in many shades of pink now, making keying nearly impossible. Thankfully we filmed a different shot where she hides her hand in her sleeve so I just used that instead.

Another problem was the length of the film after I finished the edit was six minutes long. I was told I had a thirty-second leniency, which worked for me so I had to cut thirty seconds off my film. I ended up cutting one exchange between the two actresses and a shortening a few shots to make up the time. Then I realised I hadn’t put a very early intro scene into the movie yet.

By this point the film was just too long to include it so it remained on the cutting room floor. Plus, the green screen didn’t look perfect for this shot either. Just a little too dodgy. Apart from that though the rest of the edit was mostly smooth sailing until I ran into After Effects trying to get rid of the smudges and the marks. It wouldn’t let me sync my footage so I had to finish, export the film then place it in after effects again. Then exporting the film was a nightmare too, but eventually it paid off. I will be looking to do it again though by syncing the footage as the after effects export has slightly lowered the footage quality.

So how did this project go overall? This is actually one of my proudest pieces of work. I got to really focus on dialogue in this movie, which is something I just haven’t had the opportunity to do before. I worked with my biggest crew ever and actresses not contacted through Marjons, which was a big step for me. Finally, I really think what I tried to tell with this story came through and I really hope others who watch the film can see what I was trying to say.

Update: Sadly, due to an error where her hand was visible for a shot, a lot of people seemed to lose focus on the message on the film. This is a failure on my part, however, I wont let it discourage me. Instead, I'll learn from this mistake and do better next time.

Moving Narrative 2: Phantom Strings (Full Film)

Phantom Strings

Moving Narrative 2: Scripts (Initial Drafts and Final Version)

The full script is far too big to put here and would also destroy the formatting, so here is a link to it: Phantom Strings

Moving Narratives 2: Storyboard

 [Rose walks up to a stage and strums her guitar.]

 [The scene immediately cuts to Rose stealing in front of a gate.]

 [She looks into a burned down ruined house that was once hers.]

 [The scene cuts to the park and Rose takes a seat on the bench to calm herself.]

 [We see Rose is missing a hand, but we also hear guitar strums.]

 [As she plays a tune in her mind, she is interrupted by a botched chord from another guitar player. She gets up and walks away, but stops when she hears another botched chord.]

 [Rose turns back and walks up to the girl.]

 [Rose grabs hold of one of the turning pegs and the young girl notices her.]

[She looks down at her and asks for her name.] 

 [Chrissie looks back at her in confusion.]

 [They continue to talk.]

[She sits next to her and helps her play.]

Moving Narrative 2: Behind the Scenes Stills

Moving Narrative: 2 Film ideas and Elements

This is a general list of ideas and elements I liked from all the films we have seen thus far. It may come across as disjointed and rambly as these are simply notes and bullet points to myself.

Force Majure

• Good atmosphere and still shots.
• Loss of Place in family

Dogtooth

• Bizarre narrative and concept
• Tough to watch
• Unpleasant
• Deals with the concept of being moulded by our environment.

Metro Manila

• Felt fresh despite it being an age-old story
• "It's not about the story itself, but how you tell it."

Ida

• Slow and atmospheric
• Somewhat dull. A reminder that a film can not just rely on atmosphere alone.

Wrong

• Bizarre humor
• Off the wall.
• Film lacks a point or reason.
• Little frustrating.

Rust and Bone

• Another film that deals with loss. 
• Very emotional, solid pace.
• Characters are very believable. Not perfect people.

Comparative Film Practices: Evaluation

I guess to start this evaluation off I should discuss what really led me to making the film I made. I had never made a film using proper film stock before, I was solely a digital guy. While the short time I had spent with that film stock was interesting and a unique experience, I quickly decided that it just wasn’t for me as I just couldn’t get the feel of it. I also struggled to see exactly what I was filming. However, while the actual filming side didn’t really appeal to me, watching old film reels did.

The film Decasia was one of my first proper experiences with watching old film stock. I likely watched old film reels before but none of them really stuck with me like that film did. It was sad, tragic even to watch these memories burned onto a frame deteriate in front of me. Looking past all of that though, and watching the lives of people, many of which are likely dead, filled me with a surprising sensation of nostalgia.

I have never been to the places shown in the film, nor have I actually seen any of the clips in the film before, but I felt a connection to what I saw. Perhaps it was the film grain? The old feel of it? The connection I had with my Grandfather who has long since passed away? I’m honestly still not sure, but whatever caused that feeling kick-started my idea much earlier than expected.

I usually struggle to come up with ideas for films, but I started to explore the idea of incorporating nostalgia early, and this was only helped when we were shown Googie Architecture. The space age structures instantly made me think of the video game series: Fallout. In turn, that made me ponder over the genre of the game itself: Post Apocalyptic.

(For more on all of this, check out my blog post on Inspiration. Film and Madness, Inspirations.)

These elements began to be placed together and I soon found myself with a rough narrative. A figure alone in a nuked planet stumbles upon a trunk filled with old film reels. He takes the film back to his bunker where he sets up a projector and begins to play it. Most of the films feature children and families from all over world enjoying themselves and each other’s company. He begins to recreate what he sees on screen using stuffed toys and bits and bobs he’s collected over time. Then, a different film starts playing of old war footage. This snaps him back to reality and reminds him of the world he’s stuck in. An after credits scene shows him exploring again, but this time he stumbles upon another person, giving the audience a sense of hope that his loneliness is at an end.

I was very happy with the base story as it used the elements I talked about before. Most notably it used nostalgia of seeing a world unbroken by war, and the post-apocalyptic setting to make that more apparent. One of the only problems I had was the actual tone and mood. Fallout is often tongue-in-cheek with it’s setting, and that wasn’t what I was trying to make, but then I was shown the film La Jetee.

Everything about that film worked for me. The lighting, the shading, the cinematography and the narration were spot on. Everything just sort of came together, and I started to cherry pick the ideas from that film to incorporate into my own. I didn’t feel the narration fit for my film, but the lighting absolutely did. The tone the film invoked was also key for why I chose to embrace its influence. It was dark, but also gave a false sense of hope when it was appropriate.

(For more on all of this, check out my blog post on La Jetee. Film and Madness, La Jetee.)

So with the film coming together, I was left with another task: location scouting. I instantly knew where I would film the opening scene. I needed a grassy area with a lot of space for the character to stumble across the trunk, and what better place than the moor? I could get there relatively easily with a bus and I soon found a nice spot to film. That was one place locked down.

I had a location for the bunker that the protagonist would live in, but I was reluctant to use it considering it was a cramp space. Alex Burgess knew some bunker locations so him and me chased up on them, but many of them were sealed up or impossible to enter unfortunately. We found an extension of an old fort with a tunnel system that was fantastic for the middle scene, but lacked the requirements for the bunker scene.

In the end I returned to the garage at my parents home and decided that it would be the best location to shoot the film. I was also looking to shoot the film as early as possible since I wanted to leave myself plenty of time to recover in case anything went wrong. My mom and myself placed a giant sheet over the garage door that would also act as a projection screen, and covered up the window too. The garage was already filled with all kinds of crap making it a convincing hermits den as well. We only needed to add cans of food and essentials.

As filming day approached, my idea was altered. I realised the film was becoming a little too long so I cut out the scenes where the protagonist re-enacted what he saw on screen. I also did this as I was worried they would come across as too comical and clash too heavily with the rest of the film.

I booked out a big LED light and two smaller ones to combat any dark scenes, a Canon 5D as I knew it did better in dark lighting and I switched out the trunk for a large bag as it was more practical to carry with the rest of the equipment. I had to delay filming as the Friday we were set to film was far too hectic. We instead shot on Monday where I got another helping hand on the shoot.

Tom Hayes, Alex Burgess and Caitlin Pyne all helped in the shooting of the film and were massively helpful. Tom starred in the film as acting has always been one of his greatest passions. Cait and Alex helped with filming and lighting while I mostly directed. This was fine with me as it gave me more space to think about the film and direct everyone to my vision.

Shooting on the moor went fine for the most part. All the shots were completed, although we were delayed as the session in the morning ran overtime. Meaning we were playing catch-up all day. We took the bus down and filmed the moor shoot in about an hour and a half; Only a little overtime, but I couldn’t afford to wait around as we needed to head to Tavistock. This led to me cutting out the after credits scene as it wasn’t essential and I had to cut some corners. Plus, we had already started to pack up as I remembered it and the others were reluctant to shoot the scene.

The shoot at the garage took much longer as it was the main bulk in the film, but I found it the most artistically awarding as I really felt it captured some of La Jetee with how we played with lighting in the dark space. At this point we mostly abandoned the tripod due to the small walkways and adopted the fig rig. I’m mixed on the results, as some shots are a little shakier than I would have liked, but it made the shoot more efficient and it adds a nice effect to the film most of the time. It was also difficult to keep switching the camera from the fig rig to the tripod and vice versa, as it was tricky to remove. Next time, I’ll try to use to use the tripod when I can and try not to cut corners there.

We wrapped up after a gruelling day but I was satisfied with what we achieved. We had to shoot the tunnel scenes a few days later as there was simply too much to do in one day. They went fine as well, but the spiders kept me on edge and I really wish I had gone back to re-film some scenes as they could’ve been better.

The edit was difficult. The film in total ended up being over eight minutes, double the recommended time for the film, but I honestly felt it was unavoidable. The stock footage in the film greatly increased the running time, and it had to be put in for the film to actually make sense. The other factor was cutting the film down too much risked ruining the pacing of the film by making it too quick and not giving the audience time to digest the scene.

There were also issues with sound, as I was unable to use lots of recorded noises so I had to resort to foley, which turned out better than expected, but still isn’t perfect. Lighting in some shots were off as well. It’s consistent for most of the film but there are one or two scenes where it it’s noticeable brighter or darker in places than it should be. I attempted to fix this but it made the issues more noticeable so I left them as they were. With more time in colour correction, I might have fixed it, but I didn’t have long as I finished the edit the day before the hand-in.

However, I’m mostly happy with how the film turned out. This was probably the most ambitious film I have ever taken on and it turned out better than I expected. The tone and pacing fit, the sense of longing for the past is present in the film, and I honestly enjoyed the finished product. I would possibly reshoot some scene and tweak some more parts of the edit, but I’m proud of what I’ve made for this module.

Comparative Film Practices: Old World Blues

Here is my finished film for the module. The film was too big at maximum quality to fit vimeo so I've uploaded it to my google drive and provided a link to it below. I hope you enjoy it.

Link to Old World Blues video