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Editing LRL (The rough cut and beyond)

Eva provided me with a list from  Rabiger and Hurbis Cherrier as to how the process of editing should be ordered:

Processing and transforming film to video (only when using celluloid)Transferring, logging, organizing and syncing footageReviewing and evaluating footageInputting comments and marking up the editing scriptEditing and reviewing a first assemblyEditing picture and primary soundEvolving rough cut to final cutPicture lockGathering sound elements (narration, foley, adr, score, pre-recorded effects/ambience/music)Constructing multi-track dialogueSound mixAdding titledColour correctionMastering the final programDuplication and multi-format distribution  

I made alterations to this process where I needed to as I wanted my rough cut to give the most complete impression of the final piece I could achieve to people I would show it to.

I began by deciding on the clips I intended to use. I personally prioritized clips in which lines were the most clear and accurate and the performance was the most authentic. This way the story would be the most clear.  I synced these clips and preceded to select my intended sound and video inserts. Reisz suggests montage is most effectively used where it deliberately demands the audience view the story as artificially. Due to our issues on the first shoot day there would have to be a degree of artificiality inserted into the story so this became an optertunity to use montages that emphasized the themes. I decided to look at music videos from the 1980s as influence for the opening dance number. 

The two things I took from these was a use of deliberately jarring jumps cuts, repeated clips and most importantly (as seen in the Siouxie Sioux video) overlays. editing it like a music video would add to the artificiality of the montage and insert archive footage seamlessly to add verity to it.

The overlays ended up not working with the footage so instead they became inserts to the overall film.

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The Technique of Film Editing by Karel Reisz

I focused on chapter of section 2 discussing the montage sequence. Reisz says that whilst soviet montage was used for emotional effect most montage in modern film is emotionally neutral and instead is added for clarification.  

“The script-writer will often simply say something like: “Dissolve to scene 75; Montage showing country-wide effect of General Strike.” It is then the editor’s job to sketch in briefly what the writer has asked for. To do this, he must first decide on a small number of points he will wish to stress and then, using library shots or specially photographed material, assemble them into some sort of developing continuity. When editing his sequence, his main consideration must be to make it fast, while keeping each image on the screen just long enough to allow its content to come across. There must be a balance of subject-matter to ensure that the effect asked for—“the countrywide effects of the General Strike,” in this case—is convincingly rendered.” 

They go on to state that an impressionistic sequence like montage can interupt the narrative “autenticity” as it distances the viewer from the personal narrative and emphasizes the larger picture either the stories place in the world/time or the themes.

They conclude by stating that montage is useful where it is dramatically relevant to ask the audience to veiw the story in a more artificial way.

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Shooting Day 2 (or why I’m a good producer sometimes)

We came in on the second day of shooting with more to do than initially scheduled. I made adjustments to the call sheets to account for the added content. We did hair and makeup for Hazel and set up the lights in the studio. We shot the inserts according to  the updated call sheet plus some extra footage just for fun. 

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Shooting Day 1 for LRL (or why I’m not a very good producer)

we got to the location at 8 and waited for everyone to arrive at 8:30. Eva and Caroline left for a coffee run so we ended up starting half an hour after schedule. There were several issues with equipment: firstly the sizner was not working, the Atmos was working fine and we switched between two XLR cables but the mic didn’t want to work, I decided to use the Atmos to record sound rather than just recording camera sound due to the intense echo in the room. We also lost about twenty minutes trying to fix the tripod and the focus pull for the camera, the tripod had been stuck so there was a harsh up tilt and the focus ring was broken for the camera. Shooting the corridor scenes ended up taking until lunch in part due to technical issues and setting up the lights, leaving us with two hours to shoot the rest of the film.

 We managed to get masters for every scene and the most important inserts for the first and last scenes but that cut the shot list from 21 to around 6. we left of schedule disheartened. It was at this point that I realized that the time consuming corridor scenes, unlike the three long dialogue scenes, could have been shot anywhere, and I really should have scheduled them to be shot last, not first as we could have located them elsewhere. 

Despite all this I am happy with what we achieved, the shots we did get are good, the Atmos sound is much better than the camera audio and the actors were motivated and energetic throughout the day. 

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Casting LRL

Casting for LRL ended up being more of a challenge than anticipated as we were all committed to trying to prioritse the casting of queer actors due to the subject matter of the film. 

We were very lucky in being able to cast Hazel as Silver as she is a trans woman who fits the description of the character well and has a little dance experience even if she had never acted before.

Following this we decided I should play the doctor as we wanted to limit the cast size  due to covid restrictions and I have acting experience. We also were able to cast Majd as Christian (which was the directors first choice) in exchange for being extras on his final project. 

Casting Pete ended up being a bit of a struggle as we contacted first a large group chat and got nothing, then a couple of individual people, one of whom agreed but then couldn’t due to scheduling conflicts. In the end I asked james who thankfully agreed.

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Production Design for LRL

In all the films I have looked at so far for this module I feel that good production design is important to the success of the films. Despite its small budget the production design within attack the block allows for a compelling and complete world to be constructed. The theatrical quality of The Grand Beaudapest Hotel is achieved by both its cinematography and its production design. DETOXX (one of the student films we looked at) had story and location issues but also used props that were not convincing as a part of a sci-fi world. . We set the budget for props and costumes at £60. 

I thought about films with similar subject matter set in the same time period and tried to draw key features from those specifically Pride (2014)

I also looked at the hospital scenes in POSE. Both of these films were explored by the director when she was working on the story so I thought it was important for their production design to influence ours the way their stories did. The production design in both of these embrace a minimalist social realism, only adding props where it makes sense in the scene and not to be eye catching, similar with the costumes where they are understated and period accurate even for the more ostentatious characters.

For costumes we agreed that for the bulk of the film we would help the cast to source suitable items within their own wardrobes or provide items from ours as surplus. However since the opening scene was supposed to be glamour I new it’d be obvious if we used a modern dress. Therefore I tried to source something second hand and managed to find a lovely purple dress for £35 on depop from around 1984. 

Most props were sourced on amazon and were found to use as set dressing IE an ash tray, cups for pills etc.  

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Location Scouting LRL

The initial idea for locations in LRL was to use a room in the medical school and one of the Silverstone studios for the opening scene. 

The was no issue with securing the film studio. However the medical school informed us that they could not allow us to film there due to covid restrictions. The director suggested filming the full piece in the studio space over the course of a few days however this created a few issues 1) booking out the studio just after lockdown is finished and with everyone's final projects needing to be filmed in that window is doable for a few hours but not so much for 2 full shoot days (this was less of a concern) 2) it would completely change the tone of the piece, obviously this is up to the director who believed that should the tone be shifted to something more deliberately theatrical this would work. However one of the key issues with the short films we watched in class (specifically DETOXXX) was its use of university classrooms in place of more suitable locations. Whilst our film is set in the past and theirs in the future I think that the use of studio space or inappropriate university classrooms would affect it in the wrong way, being jarring as opposed to theatrical.

I decided village halls/community centers might be a viable option as they tend to look the same as they did around a decade ago and  they likely would be available for bookings. I contacted three but the only one that got back to us was Exeter Street hall. I also contacted some spaces on campus during the interim just incase. However we were able to book the hall for a 5 hour period on the 6th of December (the perfect date in our shooting window). The concern with Exeter Street Hall was the high ceilings in the community room and the main hall, which would likely effect the sound.

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these decided to upload out of order and there’s nothing I can do about it but this is the script breakdown for jonah and the orca, colour code based on the one provided in studio binder.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD4EVXkfe0w

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO-Ggewez5c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecvlUXcz_Tk

These were used as reference when developing story boards for The Strange Case of Jonah and The Orca

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lrl moodboard #2

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lrl moodboard #1

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General Preproduction Log For LRL

As me and Eva live together we decided it was best given covid restrictions to work on the same project. We decided to work from Eva’s script as it was the more developed script and a project that interested us more .  

I decided to loop in Caroline as she previously had been a great DP and we worked with her really well last time.

We established the rolls within the group as being me as producer and sound, Eva directing and Caroline as the DP. We also agreed that as I have the most experience editing that I would put the most hours towards the final edit.

After Eva sent me her highlighted script I then went through it to create a breakdown that included production notes and estimated budgeting. The estimated props and location budget % was minimal (around £15) so our largest production cost will be on costume for the opening scene and covering food and drink for the cast. We would each contribute £60 towards the final budget, Eva covering location costs, me costume props and design elements and Caroline food on the day and any extra costs.

I decided to delegate the preproduction roles of casting between the three of us to improve reach and contacting the campus locations to Caroline.

I completed our strip boards and call sheets. Originally I tried to use the program recommended to us but ended up just using excel and an already provided template. We would only have 5 hours to complete our shooting in location but Eva agreed that we could manage it with a push. I scheduled the corridor scenes first assuming we would need less time to film them and more time following lunch as the shot list provided by the director had the most content there. we had a similar amount of time in the studio on the second shoot day and there might be time pressure there as well as we had to return the equipment that day as well.

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Understanding Focal Length by Berkenfeild,  Black,  Corrado & Silverman

- Focal length  is not a measurement of the actual length of a lens, but a calculation of an optical distance from the point where light rays converge to form a sharp image of an object to the digital sensor or 35mm film at the focal plane in the camera. The focal length of a lens is determined when the lens is focused at infinity.

- this tells us the angle of view(how much of the scene will be captured) and the magnification (the size of the elements of the scene)

- zoom lenses are more versatile whereas prime lenses are more compact and generally have larger apertures so can shoot in more varied lighting conditions

From the Nikon official website

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Directing: Film Technique and Aesthetics by Rabiger and Hurbis-Cherrier 2013

Chapter 13:

- Aspect ratio is the relationship of the x axis with the y axis  the three main widescreen aspect ratios (1.66:1, 1.85:1, 1.78:1) are similar as a compositional canvas. the audience perceives a third dimension, depth, called the z-axis . The illusion of depth is a powerful compositional element that can be emphasized or de-emphasized by using depth cues  and lens selection

- A closed frame contains all necessary narrative information, an open frame has some narrative information out of frame.

- Deep frames are created with depth cues: Relative size, receding planes, objects overlapping/obstructing each other, composing a frame with receding diagonal lines and focus

- a frame can be balanced or unbalanced

- camera height: eyelevel , high angle and low angle. The steeper the angle the more the Z axis is emphasised. 

Chapter 14:

- Movement from a static position is called a pan or a tilt. Pan: direction given as pan left or right, they shift focus from one subject to another or follow the subject as they move. Tilt: direction given as tilt up or down, can follow a subject or move from one to another.

- Zoom: optical effect rather than camera move, magnifies all objects in frame whilst changing the x and y axis of the frame. 

- tracking: follows a subject 

-  dolly shots: move in closer or moves further from an object. similar to a zoom but the focal length of a shot remains the same. Long dolly in/out takes its time vs shot dolly in/out can rapidly increase tension

- crane shot: raises the camera up or down in relation to the subject. Major crane shot covers large amounts of space IE a whole building or minor and only cover a few feet. often used for establishing shots. 

- steadicam shot: a shot involving a mounted camera 

- camera movement is motivated. Motivations include: subject movement motivated (follows a subjects movement) , subject gaze motivated (follows the eyeline/gaze of a subject) , subjective camera (from the pov of a subject), a reveal/conceal, authorial motivated (the camera actively probes or investigates)

- camera movement is split into three phases: initial composition, movement, concluding composition.

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Jonah and the Orca: feedback

I was happy with the screenplay I completed. I read a number of scfi-horror scripts between writing the outline and completing the piece including Alien, Predator and a number of doctor who scripts. This better informed me on the aesthetics and tropes of the genre, specifically the way they use environment as a source of horror  which tied in well to my existing idea of using the ship as the monster. 

The feedback I received was to lean further into the unknown element of the horror as the midsection is too repetitive with people going in and seeing the body and I should instead focus on the build up to the reveal of the monster is the ship. 

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Payback production log #3

Postproduction went without any issue. We uploaded footage to google drive and Arthur did a great job in the edit. I made sure to link him to the videos I watched about compass point editing as it would suit the intended tone of the piece. 

We received feedback on the 6th which focused on  white balance having too much variation during some shots in the middle and also an issue with the length of some shots. 

I was very happy with the way our use of planimetric composition worked out. I also felt that this experience taught me that effective preproduction leads to a much smoother and successful final product. 

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Payback Production log #2

Overall our production day went very well. Our pre-production was good enough that we had all props and locations to hand and a detailed shot lists with alternates that was easy to run through. Both our Actress and Arthur did a great job taking direction and Eva took great intive with sound choosing to focus on collecting Foly rather than take sound due to the large amount of panning. Some shots from coverage were cut due to lighting changes and weather during the day. The main issues we faced were the Marantz eating through batteries like a rabbit with lettuce, we had to buy an 8 pack from the co-op which lasted us a full filming day. Also due to camera set up taking longer than planned and Arthur being an hour late we ended up going off schedule however this ended up working in our favour as the changes in lighting throughout the course of the film are starker (day to night/evening).