screening, part 1

Today, we screened the videos we have been working on for the past 2 weeks. We didn’t have time to watch everybody’s videos, but we watched Lucas’, Marcus’, Michele’s, LokLok’s, Andrew’s, Joanna’s, Benny’s, Boris’, Chris’ and mine. These are the comments from the class/comments I came up with.
Lucas: I thought his filming was very good, and his clips and audio were arranged very neatly, and he got the message across effectively.
Marcus: He had a good theme; fake designer clothing. This theme is quite relevant to us because it shows that we can suffer from the violation of intellectual property rights, as well as the creator of the product, and we have all bought fake designer clothing at some time before. I also liked the humor in it. The last scene with Boris really made me laugh. However, I think that it was quite poorly filmed. The video was set in school, instead of a marketplace, where it was supposed to be set, so it looked quite unrealistic. He could have asked other people to stand in the background so that there is a real marketplace setting, as he is the only seller in the scene. He should also have thought about attire. It looks really unrealistic as he is wearing his school uniform. In terms of sound effect, there was too much background noise. I know that a little was desired to achieve the marketplace effect, but there was too much in his video, and it distracted from the dialogue.
Michele: I liked her idea because, while inapplicable to us, was quite fun with the ninja thing. One small improvement I would suggest is that the beginning scenes with me walking on the street could have been edited so that the color was more saturated. I think this would have made that scene more dramatic. One thing I did not notice, but the class did, was that the subtitles and graphics were too much – she should have focused on one point instead of having everything all over the place.
LokLok: I had liked LokLok’s idea from the beginning, because of how applicable it is to us as students. I had seen all her clips before (and have commented on them in previous blog posts) but this is the first time I have seen it fully edited with subtitles and full audio. I think she could have made the different pieces of background music fade into each other, as they end quite abruptly as it is. Other than that, I think the editing was good on her part.
Andrew: I thought the execution of his video was good, but I didn’t like his idea because it seemed so clichéd. It was obvious he put a lot of effort into it though, because he managed to get people in different industries (art and music) to speak in his video, which must not have been easy to find. I also liked the visuals.
Joanna: I liked her video a lot. Many people said that her video was too informational, but I don’t think so. I think she achieved a good balance between information and visuals. I liked how fast-paced it was, very suitable for a 30-second video because she was then able to fit a lot into a short time without making it seem weird. The music suited her fast-paced video, and the filming was very good. I especially liked the angle she used to film the shops.
Benny: I didn’t really understand what Benny was trying to portray through his video, since there was no link in between the videos and there was no real ending to it. I liked his use of shadows though, and the first shot was good, but a bit slow and unsuitable for a 30-second clip.
Boris: Boris did not make use of visuals in his video. His whole video was basically one long dialogue, and it was boring to watch. Making use of all the dialogue also made me lose interest in what was being said, which in this case was a really bad thing because what was said was pretty much the whole video.
Chris: Chris’ video had similar problems to Marcus’: costumes (especially in this one, where Chris was a police, it only became apparent in the last scene when the subtitles said ‘ARRESTED’.) and location. I liked his chase scene though. Firstly because it was something I hadn’t seen yet in any of the videos, and secondly because the shaky handheld camera made it a lot more realistic. Colors could have been edited darker to make it more sinister though.
We also watched my video, and I learned a lot from the comments of other people. The main problem with my video was that my audio was too cluttered. I had noticed that before and tried to do something about it, but the narrator’s voice could only be magnified by 150%, and I couldn’t decide what to cut because I liked all the audio I had put in. Thinking I could get away with leaving everything in, I magnified the narrator’s voice as much as I could and softened the background music and echoes slightly. Apparently, I was wrong, because the audio was a problem everyone else spotted. Some of my audio also went on for too long, i.e. the clock ticking. One point that no one noticed was that I had edited the lighting on Final Cut Pro. For example, I made the beginning scene darker, making it look later in the night outside and also making me look tired and hiding the smile I had while videoing, which would have been obvious if I hadn’t edited the lighting.
I can’t wait to finish watching the rest of the videos!

20. april 23-27

Thursday, April 23rd
Today, I spent my class time between helping LokLok with her film and editing mine. We both have the same problem, so it was easy for us to help each other – both our videos were way too long, and while cutting parts out had already shortened our videos considerably, it was still about a minute long, twice as much time as we were allowed. I definitely could not afford to cut anything more; my video has been cut so much that some parts of it doesn’t flow and make sense anymore. The other option was speeding it up, which we did. After speeding up almost every clip by 120, LokLok appears to be moving at super human speed and looks very odd, but I think that with the help of background music, that could be made to look intentional. Another problem with mine was the lighting. When filming the scene of LokLok crawling out from under the table and stealing the CD, I had decided to leave the lights off because it was supposed to be a night time scene, and it would also help enhance the dark mood of the video – too dark, I realized, when I watched it on Final Cut. I had noticed this for some time now, but today, because all our clips were sequenced, I actually had time to do something about it. I went to effects, and dragged in the ‘Brightness and Contrast’ effect, hoping to make LokLok’s actions easier to see. However, I realized that brightening it or adding contrast made the image quite grainy. I had to choose between brightness and image quality. In the end I decided on brightness. The graininess makes the scene look like it was captured on a security camera, and adds to the secretive effect (LokLok isn’t supposed to steal the CD). This was not really the effect I was going for, because now the image is not as clear as I had hoped for, but it is an improvement over the darkness.

Friday, April 24th
Today, LokLok and I stayed after school to work on our clips. Staying after school, when fewer people are around, allowed us to work individually on separate computers, and we got a lot more done because of that. I still have lots of speeding up of clips to do. I found that 3 of the clips at the beginning of my video that could not speed up – a problem that confused even Mr. Chang. In the end, I learned what happened and what to do: the clip had somehow disappeared from the video timeline, and I could not speed up a clip that was not there. What I had to do was: double-click on the clip, press ‘F’, place the playhead over the clip, press Apple J, speed it up, and then overwrite the original. I also put in the background music, narration and sound effects that were missing last class today. It really is amazing how much difference it makes. The narration made the clips, which until today seemed like a bunch of random clips thrown together, a story that actually flowed and made sense. The background music created a dark atmosphere for the video that was not there before, no matter how much I edited the lighting, and made me seem tired from working in the beginning scene despite the fact that I was almost smiling. However, I encountered a few problems with the sound effects. During the scene of me looking at my watch, I had originally planned to use a manual watch, but had decided to use a digital watch in the end to indicate the modern setting, as well as enable myself to use a beeping sound, similar to a time bomb ticking, which would signal the ‘danger’ ahead. However, I realized I did not have anything that made such a beeping sound, so I had to use the sound of the manual watch after all, which doesn’t really make sense since I am clearly looking at a digital watch in the scene. However, I really like the footsteps sound effect, because the echoes make the scene seem dramatic. I am pretty much done with my video, and am ready to subtitle on Monday.

Monday, April 27
We spent today’s class subtitling our videos. Well, half, because I had to wait for LokLok first. I should have spent the waiting time translating my own script, but sadly it did not occur to me, and I had nothing to do but fill in the form for the first half of class, then spent the other half panicking about what to say in my subtitles. I also made the mistake of thinking that I could type first and sequence later. I did not realize that by dragging the ‘Text’ effect on top of another ‘Text’ clip, the do not both appear on screen together, as I had expected, but it instead cuts the ‘Text’ clip at the bottom. This meant that after I had done my subtitles, I found my video clips in a mess (good thing I had exported my video into one file at lunch, so that I did not have too many clips to handle) and most of my subtitles missing. I had to retype those subtitles and sequence them, which made me half an hour late in exporting my video and putting it in the drop box.

19. editting

We spent yesterday editting the clips we had. We still had one more scene: a scene where LokLok's mom scolds a student for turning someone else's work in as his own. We filmed that scene at lunch, because we were unable to set a sooner appointment date with our actor: Ms. Zhou. LokLok and I still have our files stored on one computer, and therefore we can only work on one of our projects at a time. However, it also has the advantage that we are both really working together and have each other ready for consultation. We captured our second batch of scenes, and sorted through our shots to see which ones we wanted. We had taken many 'just in case' shots, especially in LokLok's case, so it was a real advantage to have someone there to assist decision-making. I am happy with my second set of shots in the studio. I think I look a lot more authentic in the second set than I did the first time, not only because of my 'costume', but also because of the angle and because I tried to include a little more expression and movement this time. We put all our shots onto a basic timeline for our video, and then we went about editting LokLok's video. Watching her clips, we look a bit casual because we went on a history field trip that day and were wearing sneakers. I told her to film us from an angle where our shoes could not be seen, but she thought we would be fine. However, watching the clips have shown me that we definitely look too casual and not like students. We synchronized more sounds with the video clips, such as Mr. Watt's voice with his scene. This is actually quite time-consuming. We discovered how to soften the volume levels for a particular clip - right click --> open 'untitled 1 (or whatever you named the clip) and type in a number of decibels desired in the box at the top. LokLok's video also ends very abruptly, and we were wondering what to do to make it end more smoothly. Ms. Wong suggested that we add in a fade, which we couldn't do. Lucas showed us how to do that later.

At lunch, we filmed the scene of LokLok's mom scolding a student. Our actors are Ms. Zhou as LokLok's mom, and Jerald as the student. We chose Dr. Faunce's office as our setting: it is supposed to look like a home. This is, of course, not an ideal setting as his office still has an office feel. The scene is also supposed to be shot outside the door into the room. However, the door is at such a position that no angle could capture this shot. However, it will have to do because it would be impossible to bring our actors back to our house to film this. We also had a limited time frame due to Ms. Zhou's busy schedule and were unable to film the shot as many times as I would have liked (so I was not able to experiment around and get the perfect shot).

We still have to record sound effects for our video and add effects in.

18. Thursday, April 2nd

We did not really have a plan for today. As previously mentioned, I need the first scene of my video re-recorded, so we spent film class today doing that. We went once again to the recording room above Dr. Lau’s classroom. This time I remembered to bring a change of clothing for the filming, and since I knew exactly what we were supposed to do, filming went a lot faster this time. I had already seen what could be done with the lighting and positioning of the camera in the room and through the last filming session I remembered what had to be done to get the exact shot I wanted. I think the footage from this session is a lot better than the last session’s footage, not only because of the clothing. After watching the footage from the last filming session, I also noticed other areas that needed improvement. For example, I needed to move more and use more expressions to create the impression that I was working really hard. Although this is only a small aspect of my film, I need to perfect every second, and I think this will make a big difference to the overall message I am trying to convey. Without establishing how hard people work to produce creations, viewers will not realize that it is bad to take other peoples’ work.

To keep track of how much progress we have made and how much we have left to do, LokLok has all the footage she needs for her video, and I have one scene left to film, which I will film the morning of the Monday we come back from Easter break.

17. captured footage

Monday, April 6, 2009
Yesterday, I went to LokLok’s house to film the MSN scenes at her house, as well as a few sound effects she might need, such as the silence of her study room, the sound of typing, and the sound of clicking. The experiences of Friday taught us that a lot of time was needed to film a single shot, and we set aside 4 hours to film. The capturing was done at lunch, and while capturing, we discussed the footage we had. Despite the fact that we filmed everything a few times in case of error, (I wouldn’t want to have to take the one and a half hour journey back to her house) after capturing today we realized that the quality of the filming wasn’t that good – the camera was shaky, or the computer screen was obscured by my hair, etc. This was because three people were required to film this scene: me, receiving the file, LokLok sending the file, and someone else as a cameraman. LokLok’s dad was used as a cameraman. However, because the instructions left to him were vague, the scene was not recorded exactly as desired. We decided to choose the best out of all the attempts, and rerecord the scene over Easter if we have time later on. If we are to rerecord this, a reminder to ourselves would be to use someone else to send the file, leaving LokLok free to be the cameraman as she is the film student, thus improving the quality of the footage. In regard to my own video, I am satisfied with the footage I have, but I am still looking to rerecord the beginning scene, simply because I am wearing my school uniform. The angle at which the film was shot makes the logo in front of the polo shirt very obvious, causing the scene to look inauthentic and very unprofessional. Although ‘professional’ is not the feel I want to create for the character at the beginning scene, the school uniform makes the recording look altogether too amateurish to portray how hard she is working to produce her album. Learning from this mistake, if I have time, I will rerecord this scene, but bring other clothes to make the scene feel more realistic. One other problem I had not previously considered: I am actually singing in the beginning scene. I had not thought about that before, but now that I do, I will have to come up with some kind of narration to put into the beginning to give me the excuse to extract the audio of that scene. During class, unwanted footage was cut, and the sounds recorded in LokLok’s house were synchronized with the video. I realized one mistake we made – recording everything onto one tape. That meant that we had to work on the same computer. However, at the end of the class, we exported the whole Final Cut project, with both of our videos in it, as a QuickTime movie, so that I can put the file onto another project on another computer, and, after cutting out LokLok’s section, have my video separately. We have compiled a new list of things we have to get done before this Thursday, mostly filming. For me, I have to find a teacher to act in my film (one that speaks Chinese), find a student to act in my film, capture, and, if I have time, rerecord my studio scene. At the same time, because I also have a part in Michele’s project, I have to make time on my schedule to work with her. I have a very busy film day tomorrow, as I will be working on three different film projects: mine, LokLok’s, and Michele’s.

16. filming

Thursday, April 2, 2009
Our storyboards and scripts were due today. The plans that we made last class turned out to be completely useless because we have a new plan for this project. As we discussed our scripts and storyboards, Ms. Wong came and gave us suggestions. I learned a lot from her comments on LokLok’s storyboard – she talked about how different lighting and angles could change the mood for LokLok’s video. She suggested that since LokLok’s video was a very ‘typical’ intellectual property video, she should use lighting to create a very dark film, portraying the message more effectively. I had almost forgotten about this, maybe because our last project focused on sound design and not cinematography. Ms. Wong’s comments helped me make a few changes to my storyboard and script too. LokLok and I compiled a list of things to do before filming. First on my list was ‘borrow a studio’. Ms. Wong suggested a few places we could use – the control room at the back of the auditorium, one in the drama studio, and one above Dr. Lau’s room. The control room in the auditorium was not realistic looking. It was also very narrow and cramped – there was no way we could have fit both of us AND the camera in there. The room above Dr. Lau’s room was perfect. Mr. Svin was a big help – he took us to the room and showed us the computers, and gave us a few suggestions on how to make the scene better. For example, having the program Logic Pro on would make the scene a lot more realistic, as if I were really recording music. Even though the scene where I am recording music is only 4 seconds long, every second in this very short film counts, and I really appreciated his suggestions. Ms. Wong gave us a table to fill in; basically the same as the storyboard, except with notes on lighting. I am making use of lighting a lot to enhance the mood in my film, so this table is quite useful. Later, LokLok and I also made a list of dates to film. We will be staying after school tomorrow to start filming my scene in the ‘studio’, then borrowing the camera over the weekend. I will be going to LokLok’s house on Sunday to film a few scenes she has at home. This is quite an inconvenient arrangement because it will take me approximately two hours to travel to her house, but because no one was willing to lend their house to us this is the only possible way we can film with this home setting. After today’s class, I think the last class we spent planning our due dates was a waste of time since our whole plan has been changed anyway. However, I think our new plan is better as it gives us a lot more leeway. We should be finished with the project before Easter, which gives us 10 days of leeway for editing. As can be seen from our last project, time management was a big challenge for us, so a lot of leeway is needed if we want to complete our project on time.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Today, LokLok and I stayed after school to film the ‘studio’ scenes for my video, as well as the school scenes for LokLok’s video. Turns out we barely finished filming for me! One thing I learned today: filming a single scene can take a REALLY long time. There were a total of 5 shots I needed to shoot inside the studio, yet it took us until 5:30. Reason 1: we could not find the light switch. That alone took us about half an hour as we walked around the room pressing every button in sight. That and getting organized – we kept having to run back and forth from the ‘studio’ back to the 6th floor to collect props for the film. We should have brought up the list we made to easily keep track of what we needed, and got them all in one go. Reason 2: it was harder this time because our actions needed to be done well as well as our voices – in our previous project, only our voices had to portray our emotions, and I did not have to worry about my facial expression or body language. Here, however, it took me a long time to get a scene right. Both the visuals and audio had to be well done for example, in the first shot, I am singing, recording music. When at first I lip synced, LokLok said it wasn’t convincing enough, and I had to actually sing something. This lead to a bit of embarrassment and I was quite hesitant and laughed every time we took a shot. Starting over, I finally got it right, but THEN I had to add hand movements to make myself look even more absorbed in the music. We filmed this over and over again, and it took a long time. The angle at which the scene was taken was also important. In the same first scene, we adjusted the camera and my standing position many times before we actually started filming. Lesson: Perfecting both visuals and audio is very time consuming, and takes a lot of skill.
The location of our filming today couldn’t have been better though. Not only did it house the exact setting I needed for my scenes, but the equipment and multiple lighting switches and sound proof walls made it perfect for us. Lighting is a very important factor in my film, and I made use of the dimmer switch in my video. A small factor that could have made my video better was my clothing. I had recorded my scene in my school uniform as I had not thought about bringing other clothes until we started, but by then it was too late to get some. This made the video slightly less realistic than it could have been, but that is only a small part of our film, and hopefully it makes little difference. So, although we worked after school for almost 2 and a half hours, we only got 15 seconds of useful footage completed. There is no way we can finish filming before our class on Monday, but we can work on what we have and film some other time. This project is coming along pretty well, and hopefully on Sunday we will get more done.
As well as my project, I also have a role in Michele’s project as of today. Joe was supposed to play this role, but he wasn’t free, and in a moment of desperation, I was asked to play his part. I had to stay even later after school because of that, filming from 7-8:30. I liked the ideas she had, and she had obviously put a lot of thought into the location and lighting, while Jerald came up with different types of shots to create different effects. My scene simply included me walking down a road and having my ‘briefcase’ snatched away from me, yet it took the whole one and a half hours because of the many experiments that were tried regarding background and filming technique. I learned the new term ‘track and dolly’ from Jerald, a filming technique where the camera follows the movement. This was tried on me, but discarded because it was too bumpy. I also learned that high angle can be used to create a feeling of vulnerability as it makes the person being filmed look smaller. They had also thought of the dressing aspect of the film, and I had clothes that were ordered to ‘look like a director’ delivered before 7 for Michele’s video. Jerald was also dressed in all black because of the ninja character he was playing. I think this really made a difference to her video, making it look more realistic and professionally done. However, they had not brought a briefcase as a prop. I suggested replacing it with the camera bag as it was the only thing available that had a slight resemblance. Although it does not look exactly right, it was the best I could think of on the spot. I think her video will be very good, and I have learned quite a lot from her about the different things to think about in a video, and filming techniques and angles from Jerald.