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.
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.
張貼者：chariskong 於
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