05-08/11-12 Reflection: Montage Music & Listening to Lines

            Today, I spent some more time looking for music, this time collaborating with Ran the editor and Ethelia the director for what would work well with the footage we captured in our first shoot, namely the montage scene. I was leaning towards Secret Garden’s songs, as they were calm, almost tranquil, yet sad songs that would work well with a montage of a love-drunk girl. After Ran had completed an assembly edit of the montage, I looked through it and found that the footage did indeed match that solemn mood of Secret Garden’s melodies. I decided on Cantoluna as the song that would play during the montage, and Ran taught me the settings for converting the song into an AIFF format. Using an online converter, I simply pasted in the YouTube URL of the song, changed it to 48000hz, and converted it. I then took the converted file and placed it in the computer’s public DropBox so that Ran could retrieve it from a different computer, thereby maximizing efficiency between looking for music and sounds, and editing the actual film. From this process, I was able to practice working efficiently with Ran, and also learned how easy it was to convert a song into an AIFF file. Collaborating with classmates is an extremely important skill, both in school and in the “real world”, especially in projects that have many people working towards the same goal, for example the gaming industry.

            In this lesson, we were also able to record a few of Jonathan’s lines as a waiter. After practicing his lines in Cantonese for the past week, it was time to record it. We asked Mr. Chang for a Canon HF300 simply as a recording device, and then a boom-microphone to record the sound, as well as the microphone stand outside Mr. Chang’s office. We then asked Dr. Lau if he could open one of the music practice rooms for us to use. Once inside, I spent the next ten minutes trying to make sure the cable connecting the boom-microphone to the camera stayed connected, using my earphones to make sure sound was recording. Finally ready, we were going to start recording, only to realize that we needed a reference for Jonathan, to make sure his lines would match up with the video. I used my iPhone to record the coffee shop scene played on the Mac. It was poor quality, but it served its purpose. When we began recording, we found that Jonathan did not say enough “watermelons” on set, and that he didn’t have enough time to deliver all of his lines. Ethelia was able to cut some of his lines to have them fit, but this taught me the complications of relying on post-production reconstruction of audio, and the importance of recording sound on location. 

05-01-12 Reflection: First Shoot

            At this shooting session, we filmed footage for a montage, as well as scenes at a coffee shop at the start of the story. As sound director, I did not have much to do during the actual filming of the footage for the montage as music would be playing over the background and would cover any sound captured on set. In addition, the boom-pole attachment broke off, and so sound captured through a hand-held boom-microphone would have been mediocre at best. Instead, I bounced ideas off of Matthew, the director of cinematography, as I had been DP for the past two units. During the second section of the shoot at the coffee shop, I once again did not have that much to do. This was due to the fact that, as mentioned above, sound captured would have been mediocre at best, the actor for the waiter was not ready to deliver lines in Cantonese, and the restaurant was quite noisy. Instead of spending extra time maneuvering the microphone around the area and trying to get as close to the actor as possible to capture the best sound, we decided that we could record the lines at a later date in a controlled environment and edit them in during the post-production stage. To make this possible, actors had to say “watermelon” over and over again – a word that forces your lips to form common shapes that surprisingly fit most sentences.

            The primary problems during this session were that I could not use the boom pole, lines were not ready, and we were in a noisy environment. This session taught me to be prepared for the worst, and to be flexible – especially as technology and editing techniques are so advanced today. I could have been a more productive sound director had I studied the script and knew which lines were coming next. In this way, I would have perhaps been able to move the microphone between the two people without disrupting the flow of the actors or the camera operator. If the lines had been recorded on set, time would not have been spent on recording the lines in a studio and editing them in.

04-27-12 Reflection: Preparation

            I spent today’s class learning more about a sound director’s duties in preparation of the shoot over the holiday. Watching a few videos on recording ambient sound, and even details like the sound of footsteps on gravel, or the sound of a seatbelt buckled in made a great difference in the audience’s experience. Before this investigation, I had no idea that deliberate actions had to be taken into recording such fine details that construct the overall experience of being “in” the movie.

            In retrospect, I could have spent some time looking over the script again or at least the parts that were scheduled to be shot over the holiday, so that I could plan what some of the above mentioned details may need to be recorded. Some precautions or contingency plans could have been written for the slim possibility that part of the boom-pole gets lost in the harbor, or if the restaurant is too noisy or crowded for good sound quality. For the next shoot, I will do my best to pay more attention to details, and create some plan of what sounds need to be recorded on set. 

04-25-12 Reflection: Searching

            Today I continued on with what I was doing last class – searching for music that would fit the film. Continuing with my method from last class, I looked up the different artists that contributed to the 2046 Wong Kar Wai film on YouTube and listened to other works they produced. I did not want to use the exact songs that Wong Kar Wai used, because that would be plagiarism or at the very least uncreative of me. Some of the artists that particularly caught my attention were Peer Raben, Xavier Cugat, Dean Martin, and Secret Garden. Peer Raben’s Dark Chariot was a dark piano piece, and I could already picture many Wong Kar Wai-esque shots playing to this music. Xavier Cugat and Dean Martin’s songs were both upbeat and fun to listen to, and I could imagine Xavier Cugat’s rendition of Siboney playing in one of Wong Kar Wai’s solo-happy scenes. Secret Garden caught my attention due to the fact that I own one of their albums, and often listen to it before I sleep. I was unable to use the above listed songs, because of the aforementioned plagiarism and lack of creativity.

            Realizing that Wong Kar Wai used Secret Garden in his films before, I jumped right on it. Having listened to the album multiple times before, I already knew many of the melodies already, saving me quite a bit of time. Some of my personal favorites are Papillion, Songs from a Secret Garden, Serenade, Heartstrings, and Cantoluna. Through this process, I realized that because music is one of my passions, the role of sound director is made easier. By extension, I learned that one should do the things one enjoys, because not only will he/she enjoy it, he/she will be good at it.

04-19-12 Reflection: Wong Kar Wai Love

            In today’s lesson, we were assigned our film groups and split up to run through the respective director/writer’s scripts. I was in a group with Ethelia, Ran, Matthew, and Jonathan, and we were using the script Ethelia wrote. The run through of the script went a lot smoother than the one I tried to organize in the last unit, and having seen the work my team members had created in the past year, I was excited to work with them.

Immediately, we found that the script was too long, so after we completed a run through, Ethelia and Matthew began debating which scenes could be cut, and brainstorming ideas for alternate endings. I, as the sound director, began my search for music by looking on Wong Kar Wai’s Wikipedia page, scrolling down to his list of works, and looking at each of his films. The part I was interested in was the soundtrack list. The film I found with the most information in this regard was 2046 (2004). From this investigative experience, I learned that there were methodical and logical steps that could be taken even in the artistic department, and that I did not need to begin my search completely from scratch. This was particularly true seeing as the stories are inspired by Wong Kar Wai’s works.

I was active student in today’s class, participating in the run through of the script, and after dividing up into our individual roles, working hard to find suitable music for our film.

04-17-12 Reflection: Assessment!

            After Easter Break, we were welcomed back to school with an in-class assessment. Using the scripts we wrote for homework two weeks ago, we had to explain how our stories were inspired by Wong Kar Wai, taking into account theme, locations, characters, lighting, and even costumes. Apart from the fact that it was an assessment on our first lesson back from the break, I had positive feelings about the assessment. I found it was a good reflective experience of analyzing our own work, and breaking it down to its foundations and investigating how the story is related to Wong Kar Wai’s work. The section I had most difficulty with in this assessment was the question regarding costumes, simply because I had not thought of this aspect of Wong Kar Wai’s films. Part of this would be because costumes were not mentioned in the previous lesson, and I had not taken note of it while watching The Hand, or really any other of his films that I watched over the Easter break. This taught me to not rely solely on the teacher’s lectures, but to also make my own observations, particularly in the Arts division where there is no definite “right” or “wrong” answer.

            The activity I enjoyed most in this lesson was the storyboarding section of the assessment, where we storyboard a scene we choose from our scripts. I enjoyed this activity, because I do not normally put so much effort into storyboarding, and I am proud of the images I created and how I was able to put my vision onto paper. I also feel that this is an effective exercise, as it forces us to storyboard at least a section of our script and not leave it to last minute chores. Overall, apart from the fact that it was scheduled for the first lesson back from Easter Break, the assessment went smoothly, and I even enjoyed it at times!

03-29-12 Reflection: Wong Kar Wai

            Today, we began a new unit on Wong Kar Wai, a famous Hong Kong Film maker. To kick-start the unit, we watched one of his short films, The Hand from the Eros series. While watching, I noticed the following aspects:

·         Paintings, interesting source of color

·         Plays with lighting – bloom

·         Uses stills

·         The sick person is never seen

·         Many different symbols – flowers, diamonds, mirrors

·         Face avoided sometimes, focused sometimes

I wasn’t really sure what to be looking for in Wong Kar Wai’s films, which is why I found Ms. Wong’s presentation on it so informative. From it, I learned of a few reasons why Wong Kar Wai is so difficult to “get”, how Wong Kar Wai makes special use of cinematography in his films, some characteristics and styles specific to Wong Kar Wai, and the themes most used in his films.

Many don’t “get” Wong Kar Wai, because:

·         His movies are in the grey area between a feature film and a montage;

·         The story lines are vague – nothing is spoon-fed to the audience, they must come to their own conclusions;

·         Characters, both main and supportive, come and go indefinitely;

·         Cinematography is artistic, but may make viewing the events difficult;

·         Makes the audience aware that they are watching a film;

·         Makes audience active participants by making them come to their own conclusions

·         Uncommonly number of voice-overs

·         Oddball images

·         Subverts genre conventions

·         Deliberately urges viewers to consider the beauty of the everyday

Themes often apparent in Wong Kar Wai’s films:

·         Unrequited love

·         Being alone

·         Preoccupation with time and memory

·         Importance of character individuality

·         Romantic love as national identity

·         Hong Kong’s history

As mentioned before, this lesson was extremely informative, and by playing a spectator role, I was able to learn a lot from it. I’m sure this information will be important throughout this unit, even more so since our homework task is to write a script of a story inspired by Wong Kar Wai. I look forward to completing this task, as I have not fully written a script before and doing so will be a good film experience.

03-15-12 Reflection: Pre-Pro.4

            Only two days after last class, I haven’t been able to do all that much. What I have been able to do, however, is scout for sports grounds and locations where we can shoot the metaphorical scenes. Wan Chai Sports Ground is a convenient location for everybody; however I have concerns that the government will not allow us to use the place without reservations made by the higher-ups. The sports-ground in Wong Chuk Hang however, is open to the public, a fact I know because I pass by the place multiple times a week. It is located in the southern end of Hong Kong Island though, and may be troublesome for people to go to and from there. Our director has said that for the metaphorical scenes, he visions the objects being acted upon in front of a white backdrop. This is easy enough to find – the 6^th floor outside the film classroom has white walls, the walls of my room have white walls, I’m sure others will have white walls should the need to improvise arise.

            Ms. Wong came over today and suggested I fill out scene breakdown sheets to organize future shoots. It was a new experience for me, and was relieved when Ms. Wong produced sample sheets for me to review, spelling out the things I would need to organize, such as actors, props, equipment etc. I found this to be quite useful, as it allowed me to spell out clearly what would be needed, when, where and for what scene.

03-13-12 Reflection: Pre-Pro.3

            I was disappointed to find that not only did the group not go out to film over the weekend, but that they hadn’t even collected the equipment on the 8^th. I would have understood any complications that might have risen from poor pre-production on my part; however, the group’s lack of action was much worse, as it seemed to me that they didn’t care much for the production, and that last class’ work of organization went to waste.

            I tried to rebound from this set back, asking friends whether they were free to act in our film, and when they were free. Our timetable was cut short further when I realized that there was a 2-day waiting period before equipment could be checked out, meaning the soonest possible date to film was Wednesday, halfway through the school week. Through the frustration, I got a taste of what the real-world might be like with everybody fighting over equipment, and the set-backs poor time management may pose. Next time, I’ll be sure to reserve things the week before if I plan to borrow equipment in the first half of the next week.

            Afterwards, I found that my efforts were in vain once more. Our director had decided to take a different planning route, insisting that we plan around our schedules, and not the actor. At the time, I was furious that my efforts were in vain once again, but in hindsight, as I write this reflection, I realize that William was right in doing so. This allowed me to realize the importance of taking a step back and looking with a pair of new eyes when necessary, to not be blinded by frustration and see the sense of others’ suggestions.

03-07-12 Reflection: Scanning The Pact v2

            In today’s class, William came in with the 2^nd version of the script which was a lot more condensed, with repetitive and unnecessary scenes meant to build the character and develop the story taken out. A few metaphorical scenes had been modified or removed entirely, so I edited the list of props needed that I started last class accordingly (e.g. cheetah running changed to motor of race car revving).

            Unfortunately I was unable to go location scouting between last class and today’s class, and tomorrow I have to leave for an MUN conference hosted in Beijing, so I won’t be able to work until after the weekend. I hope my group will be able to work something out and do some filming over the weekend. Following this hope, I decided to reserve some equipment for the group from the 8^th to the 12^th, organizing student IDs and consulting with the director, DP and sound director for equipment required. Before submitting the form however, I needed storyboards and a shot list from the DP to show Ms. Wong and Mr. Chang of our progress. These were only completed at the end of class however, and we weren’t able to reserve the fig-rig. This taught me to make clear anything I need from my teammates right from the start, so that they can get on it quickly, but also to badger them for it when necessary should they deviate from tasks. I also learnt about the equipment reservation process, and got a taste of the tedious paperwork adults always talk about in movies and books.

03-05-12 Reflection: Scanning The Pact

            Today William came to class with the first draft of his script, with a working title of The Pact. I was quite disappointed when my group members (William as Writer and Director, Justin as DP, Me as Producer, Jun as Editor, Joseph as Sound and Actor) did not support the idea of going through the script as a group like Ms. Rosati had taught before, but rather to scan it individually and comment as a group afterward. I understood the logic in this plan however, as the script was 9 pages long, and had 0 dialogue, so going over it as a group would have been time consuming, boring, and generally not that productive. From this simple decision, I understood the importance of listening to others, and that deviating from the original plan is not necessarily a bad thing.

            After going over through it, I found, as mentioned before, that the script was extremely long, and given the limited time we had, I was worried that we would not be done on time. William said however, that a lot of the footage was repetitive and could be filmed at very few locations quite quickly. Another worry I had was that there were quite a few “metaphorical” shots scattered around the script for the “montage effect”, and these required props I would have to organize, some of a more adult nature, and some which I had no idea how to get hold of. A few of the “adult” items included condoms and beer bottles, while some which I had no idea where to get included a cheetah running. After a quick question to William, I found that this was just a first draft, and that the items were flexible to change. One final note I made was that the script detailed camera angles and editing directions, and was worried that it would limit Justin and Jun when they did their jobs. I made this note because of my role as DP for the past two units, and the joy that came with the creative aspects of the role. When I asked William about this, he said that these were simply guidelines, and that the DP and Editor would have their say of the production.

            Overall, I felt that this lesson was relatively productive, and I could see that I had a lot to do in the future as producer of this film: casting, location scouting, props, scheduling and more. 

02-17-12 Reflection: Stitching & Pitching

            The homework task we received last lesson was to storyboard the documentary we watched last class, in my case March of the Penguins, and to tell the story in 9 frames by hand-drawing images with minimal text. I feel that it was a good task, in that it allowed us to practice our story-boarding skills – to draw and to effectively tell a story by breaking it down to its key events. I did not really enjoy this task however, as I’m not the greatest drawer and I found it quite difficult to convey the messages effectively.

            In class, we exchanged storyboards and restructured the images to tell entirely different stories, and then pitched the new story to the rest of the class. This activity was both fun and good practice. The activity was fun, because the stories were creative and funny. Good practice because it reinforced the idea that editing can change the story entirely, but also because it provided a good opportunity to pitch a story, fully and effectively. I found trying to create an entirely new story quite challenging, especially because I knew what the original described. Pitching my idea was easier, but I found that practice is extremely important, because I started off quite solidly, simply narrating the ideas I planned in my head, but had to improvise towards the end. If I were to do this activity again, I would spend more time preparing my pitch, making sure the story is clear to those who might have no idea of the background, and making sure everybody understands my recreation.

            I enjoyed and appreciated the format of this lesson, incorporating the previous homework task and linking the two lessons together, as well as using a creative exercise to enforce a practical idea of editing.

07-02-12 Reflection: Kuleshov Challenge Shoot

            After the intensive lecture last lesson, Ms. Wong surprised us today by telling us to create 3 sequences that would demonstrate the Kuleshov Effect we learnt about last class. This included everything from brainstorming to writing, to planning to shooting and finally editing and exporting; and she wanted it completed by the end of the class! This practical exercise would allow us to apply knowledge learnt last class, as well as to practice time management skills that many mentioned having trouble with the last semester.

My partner for this challenge shoot was Justin Yau, a classmate and friend, and so we naturally worked well together, immediately brainstorming ideas and planning sequences. Understanding that a sequence was made from 3 shots (the original subject; their point of view; their reaction) and that to demonstrate the Kuleshov Effect you needed consistent base shots (shots of the subject and their reaction), we decided on the base shot first, and then to explore the point of view shot. As time was and would continue to be our biggest problem, we used the first idea that came to mind and that we could brainstorm different ideas from – a reaction of shock or surprise. Having this base shot down, we could focus on brainstorming ideas for the point of view shot. We played with ideas of the subject being late for the bus, seeing an injured friend, seeing a teacher, seeing a murder or a corpse, and more jokingly, the idea of hearing somebody loose a large one in the bathroom. In the end, we found the first two most reasonable and feasible, but couldn’t think of a 3^rd. Instead of spending more time brainstorming, we went to borrow equipment and start shooting, and to brainstorm and plan as we went along, so that we would have more time to edit and complete the task on time.

The first obstacle we encountered was that we were the last group to collect film equipment, and as a result, there were no more Canon HD digital cameras we were used to operating. Ms. Wong gave us a Flip-cam to use, but more problems aroused as it refused to capture footage. In the end, we had to use valuable time going to the 9^th floor and borrowing a film camera from the film class in the year below. Having to sort out equipment problems and then having to learn the basics of the camera cost us valuable filming time; but taught me to never rely on school equipment, and that one may have to improvise with a flip-, a film- or even a phone-camera.

 With equipment in hand, we first shot a few minutes of ambient sound from the 9^th floor, a location high and open enough to capture ambient sound but not specific people’s conversations, nor the sound of wind blowing. This time allowed us to plan our next few shots, to get to explore the camera’s basic functions, as well as to capture ambient sound for the editing stage. This process allowed me to practice my multi-tasking and planning skills.

To film the base shots, we went to the 6^th floor stairwell, as it would be low enough to run to the injured classmate and hopefully catch the bus, but also high enough to see the aforementioned objects. Production roles were not specifically delegated, but as I had filmed the ambient sound and had the equipment in my hand, I became the camera operator while Justin acted. We did not discuss these roles as time was running out, and we were satisfied with the outcome of the first few takes.

The shot of the bus was taken from a higher vantage point than from the 6^th floor stairwell, because it offered a better view of the buses arriving and departing the stations. As we kept to the general “x” angle, and only moved up slightly, the footage looked to be a realistic cut-on-eye line and added to the continuity effect of the footage. This reminded me that footage captured through the camera and viewed on screen can be different from that of real life, and in the end, it is the former that matters most.

The “injured classmate” character was acted by myself, and filmed by Justin. This meant I had to run all the way down to the courtyard while Justin filmed from the stairwell to keep the cut-on-eye line effect. As I was in PE uniform and had trainers on, I felt safer running down the stairs than I would have had I been wearing leather shoes or flip-flops, reminding me that appropriate attire is always important when filming.

As we were brainstorming ideas for the 3^rd and final point-of-view shot, a police van suddenly drove up past the school and up the hill. Immediately, we set up the tripod on the stairwell with a clear view of the road where the van was bound to drive back down, planning to make it a shot of Justin’s shocked reaction at seeing the van and then running away. As we waited, Justin suggested we take the camera down to the road to film it clearly as it drove by, but I argued that it would not be worth the time or energy, the police may be suspicious of us filming them, and that it would ruin the cut-on-eye line effect. Eventually however, I gave in to his arguments, and we ran down, only to see it drive past while we were on the fourth floor. In hindsight, I realized that even if we had captured the footage, it would not have fit the sequence logically, as it would have shown Justin running towards the van and not away. This taught me to stick with my gut and decisions, but whatever decision is made, should be carried out quickly, because had we spent less time debating and started running faster, we could have caught the van in time. This also taught me to think ideas through, because the police idea would not have made sense anyway.

Getting back, we had more technical difficulties, as we had to spend time finding a fire-wire to transfer data, as well as figuring out the correct settings for the footage and how to capture the footage. In the end, we did not have enough time to finish editing, and had to come back one lunch time to complete the task. This taught me to prioritize tasks, as had we borrowed equipment before brainstorming, we would not have had these technical difficulties and may have completed the task on time. 

Documentary Analysis: March of the Penguins (as told by Morgan Freeman)

March of the Penguins (as told by Morgan Freeman)

What is the subject of the film?

Coldest, driest, windiest land… tale of survival, but more – story about love

Embark on a remarkable journey

Journey to the birth-place of penguins

Who are the characters?

Emperor penguins – birds that live in the sea, but in this journey will walk most of the way

Male emperor penguins & female emperor penguins’ different roles

Is the film told from a subjective or objective point of view? How do you know that?

The narrator quite obviously admires or has respect for the emperor penguins’ way of life, determination, will to live and methods they have constructed to better their odds of survival, and so his story telling is subjective, influenced by his own personal views. However this admiration for penguins does not cast any negative features of the story into darkness – he discusses the pain of a mother, who just lost her chick, and who might even try stealing another mothers’ chick; he does not blame the leopard seal for quelling its hunger by hunting the penguins, though he does say that by eating the mother, the leopard seal takes two lives – that of the mother and that of the chick who will starve. The story is told from a mildly subjective point of view, but this does not take away from any of the facts and information being delivered.

Why do you think the filmmaker chose to tell the story this way?

In using a subjective point of view, the narrator may be able to better connect with the audience on an emotional level, and may serve to attract the audience in to the story and wanting to watch it through all the way to the end.

The subject of penguins is already one full of emotions (adoration etc.) and it is easier to simply go with the flow of emotion, than to be cold and tell the story from a stale, distant point of view. If the narrator is not interested in the topic, why should the audience be?

How do you think the film would be different if it had been a fiction film?

Focus on 1 or a few specific, special characters that have a goal to reach by overcoming challenges that allow the character to evolve (e.g. Happy Feet)

More drama, suspense, romance, other techniques to grip the audience and get them to promote the film so that makers of the film make more money

What kinds of sound does the filmmaker use? Is silence an important part of the soundtrack? What dialogue, music, voice-overs, commentary and sound effects? What purpose do they serve?

Narration, sound effects, ambient sound and soundtracks

The most important sounds are the voice over/narrations, the sounds the characters are making, and the soundtrack

The narration explains what is happening and educates the audience; the sound effects make the documentary more realistic and also educate viewers on the sounds and calls emperor penguins make…; the sound track, as exampled below, evoke emotions from the audience and make the documentary more enjoyable.

How do music, sound and image work together to convey the story of the documentary?

When the penguins change from walking to sliding, the music gets more upbeat, louder, friendly, joyful, excited – adding to the remarkable sight of penguin’s unique trait of sliding across ice on their bellies

When the sun starts to set, or time is otherwise progressing, the music turns softer, slower, and “sleepier”

Freeman listing out things they will do + image of them doing that thing + sounds of the thing (e.g. squawking)

“Contact sport”, music adds to the humor

After everybody has found the one they’re looking for, flute plays romantic melody

Dancing the ballet of changing parental roles - harp

Does the film use a narrator? If so, what role does the narrator play? What attitude does he or she take to the subject? How does this attitude contribute to the film’s overall message?

Morgan Freeman narrates this documentary, telling the story, describing the penguin’s actions, and explaining the results.

He seems to hold great respect for the emperor penguins, amazed by their strength, endurance, will and natural ability to live in such harsh conditions.

This attitude makes the process of giving birth to the chicks all the more impressive.

Is the filmmaker a character within the film? If so, what role does he or she play?

No, the only characters in the film are the emperor penguins, creating a natural, realistic, un-disturbed view of what the penguins must go through in the harsh winters.

What does this documentary reveal about the world? How does the filmmaker help the audience experience the world with new eyes?

This documentary explains the process emperor penguins go through every winter to give birth to the next generation, and the different hardships the males and females must go through, each hurdle they must overcome, and how they might do it.

What story is told in the film? How is it scripted? How has the editing of the film affected its final message?

As answered above, the documentary tells the story of the emperor penguins’ hardships to make chicks. This key purpose has focused the scripting and editing of the film, so that all features are to explain/clarify the process and hardships they face.

What kinds of camera techniques are used? How do these choices help the filmmaker get across the message?

When the leopard seal hunts the female penguins, rapid alternating shots of the penguins and the jaws of the seal create suspense and tell the story of the kill, and the rhythm makes the action all the more intense.

For underwater shots, a penguin-cam (camera attached to the penguin) is used to capture the action of feeding

1-2-12 Reflection: Montage Editing

Today was our second lesson of the semester, and it was time to start our new unit: Montages. The first stage of the design cycle is to Investigate - to learn more about the subject, and this lesson was just that: learning about montage editing. Montage editing is practically the opposite of continuity editing, or at least completely disregards the theory of the latter. A montage is a compilation of shots or rapid succession of images in a motion picture that illustrate an association of ideas by juxtaposing or superimposing pictures or designs on one another.
To demonstrate this, we watched and analyzed the training scene from the movie Rocky 4, trying to read all the subliminal messages the director implied by putting the shots side by side through montage editing. I was quite an active participant in this discussion, contributing ideas such as the black and white imagery and how different camera shots/angles that were used to capture the two different subjects/rivals/enemies might suggest how one is "good" and one is "evil". The open natural environment Rocky was in would suggest that he's a man fighting for freedom, for the "light" side when compared to the dark, enclosed, probably underground location his opponent was training in. Such a difference was literally as clear as black and white. The medium-close ups used to capture rocky made him more human when contrasted by the long shots that distanced us from the rival, allowing us to unconsciously determine that Rocky is the protagonist of the story while his opposite is the antagonist. My classmate also suggested that the parallel cutting between a past fighting match and Rocky felling a large tree may be illustrating Rocky's and the opponent's relationship: The opponent has beat him once before, but now Rocky can fell him - and the feat is all the more impressive, as in the match the opponent is clearly larger than Rocky, but Rocky is felling a tree at least 10 times his size! By actively participating in the discussion, I was able to receive feedback and comments from Ms. Wong and my peers as they built upon those ideas, and this allowed me to better understand Montage Editing and what it can do - even without watching the movie before, I was able to see that Rocky was the protagonist while the other was not.
The next topic was the Soviet Montage Theory, developed by Lev Kuleshov among others. The theory was that putting things next to each other would influence the audience's conclusion. By watching a video of the Kuleshov Effect, I was able to see first-hand how it might do this, and how it is not just about acting or the content that will influence our understanding, but how it is presented to us as well. I also realized that there are a lot of other contributing factors to a story than just a solid plot, and that if I wished to be a writer in the next unit, or even as a director or director of photographer, I would have to keep this information at the front of my mind.
Sergei Einstein proposed that the nature of montage was the answer to a specific problem of cinema - Time, and said that such a technique was the nerve of cinema. He took the Kuleshov effect a step further, suggesting that the shots did not have to be a linear original subject, point of view, back to subject and reaction; but instead that the shots could be smashed up. Einstein's Montage Thoery involved discontinuity editing - a violation of continuity editing rules where transitions between shots are deliberately obvious, less fluid, non-seamless. Creating a real-time film would be impossible, so we should stop trying; instead, we should draw attention to is and change. Following this logic, the Soviet Montage Theory was developed. This information may not necessarily be useful in our future productions, but as film students, it would be wrong not to know the history of these theories and key figures that developed them.
The last part of this lecture taught me the methods of montage, along with clips to demonstrate the related technique:

1. Metric - Follows specific number of frames per clip, regardless of content (October-10 days...)
2. Rhythmic - Focuses not on time between shot changes, but key movement: good for portraying opposing forces through a sequence of images (Rhythmic Montage)
3. Tonal - Emotional meaning illustrated through tone, rhythm, images etc.
4. Over-tonal - Putting all the above techniques together (Strike)
5. Intellectual - Bringing outside clips and juxtaposing them to create parallels that evoke new emotions and ideas.

This, unlike the history and theory, will almost definitely be useful to keep in mind while creating our products, as being able to specifically say which technique was used will demonstrate our knowledge and understanding, as well as make clear to the audience what we are trying to do and say.

30-1-12 Reflection: Day 1 of Semester 2

Film class of semester 2 is to be taught by Ms. Wong, and as she was away for our first semester, did not know what we've learnt and how we've progressed over the year. Our first task of the second half of there was, therefor, to reflect on our previous creations and select the piece we were most proud of and present it to the class and Ms. Wong in particular. This activity allowed me to reflect on what I've learnt this year and put the past events into perspective, as well as to refresh the theory and skills I've used and may have forgotten over the Chinese New Year break. Being in a class and listening to other people's comments also brought into light important aspects of film, skills, theory and terminology that may be useful in the future, and also mistakes to learn from.
Skills that were reviewed generally regarded the editing and shooting aspects of the film. Cutting on action to create smoother transitions, 360 shots, close-ups, racking focus... All these techniques and many more are sure to be useful in creating a professional looking film in our next unit, and any that come after. But Ms. Wong also reminded us that sound is a crucial part of the film and a huge job to undertake, and that we should never forget to check equipment, use earphones, record ambient sound, and all the basics that we might overlook while focusing on editing and cinematography.
Ms. Wong picked up on how a few students commented on the lack of time, having to think on people's feet, having back up plans and other organizational skills, and explained what employers would think when they saw a degree in film. Film has so many factors and aspects that need to be examined by different divisions in the film, and the communication that connects them to each other must be bullet proof. The fact that there are so many things that need to be looked at, so many things that could go wrong, all mean that one needs to be able to think on their feet, manage people, and ultimately manage time. This, Ms. Wong said, is what employers will understand when they see you have a film degree, which is why a film degree doesn't necessarily mean you'll become a film-maker, but possibly others too. This really opened my eyes to different paths you can take down the road if studying film in IB, and even in college.