Archive for March, 2009
IM task 4 – Realistic and abstract
Saturday, March 28th, 2009
Writer and Director
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Usually, the first line of defense I hear when I give this little speech at the Action/Cut Filmmaking Seminar, where I have the pleasure of meeting filmmakers and screenwriters throughout the USA, is the immediate rebuttal that ‘we have all been told not to direct on paper!’ This is such a browbeaten no-no in the world of screenwriting; it has fearfully tilted most writers to make absolutely sure to write non-visually. As a professional director for 20 years, does it annoy me when I read a screenplay with direction built in, such as camera shots, lenses, angles, tracking, etc.? Absolutely, as it would most directors worth their salt.
If you’re dying to give direction (which is actually expressing your visualization), be smart and resourcefully subtle. Try it this way: instead of ‘we open WIDE on the beach as she walks alone feeling abandoned,’ how about ‘sunlight shimmers across the ocean waves, silhouetting her moment of loneliness?’
Visual writing is simply this: A FOCUSED USE OF VOCABULARY TO EVOKE A VISUAL IMAGERY OF THE ACTION.
…instead of writing ‘Bob ran to the store,’ which is boring exposition (the most common trap for new writers), how about, ‘Bob arrives breathlessly at the store?’ — A more visual choice of vocabulary. Instead of writing ‘The hustler is skinny, paranoid, with unkempt hair,’ which is expositional description, how about ‘The hustler couldn’t pass a urine test on a bet?’ — more visual.
The article really inspired me how should a script look like, describe it rather than write out the instructions directly. This reminds me something I learned in Networked Media while I’m working on the HTML webpage: when you insert a link, do not make it “Click here to another page.” but a picture of an arrow or something looks directional. Otherwise, there should be heaps space of imagination between the script and the readers. Firstly I thought writing a script is easy and it’s totally based on the story itself with just another format. As a matter of fact, visualising a story using different expressions is far more difficult than creating a story. Also I realised how a writer’s job be distinguished with the director’s.
I need to be more skilled in order to visualise the monotonous explanations and descriptions. So for example, my very first sentence of my script is “Walking into the kitchen, Mum is talking on the phone.” This is absolutely commended and constrained, and other way to say that maybe “Things are laying good and neat on the cupboard, mum is on the phone while preparing snack for her daughter.” Will this be more visualised than the original one? I’m sure but I’ll keep trying to escape the bored expression and demanded expressions.
Sound element in horror movie
Monday, March 23rd, 2009After I read the Sight and hearing, I started to think about the proportion of sound within films. I think sound is doing the most important job within the horror genre. If you just watch the horror film without sound, the horrify feeling will cut into half. For example a teacher says, tried watching the Psycho without sound, it wont be terrify anymore. Since I’m watching Supernatural for these couple of weeks, then I tried to quite the sound and it really seem not that scary to me. If you just see things moving, no matter how ill that thing would be, you might just think that gross. Then we added sound on that, and the feeling you had when you watch will be maximized by the sound and increase the reality of the feeling.
Let’s take this to other genre. If in a comedy, they can make you laugh by physically doing actions or making reactions to something, for example, those silent movies of Charles Chaplin, they are just full of humors even without any sounds or dialogues. Then apply it to the action films, as how they called action film, action matters. Kungfu fights, car racings and 007 series, it will be felt something missing if there are no sound, but the action still goes on and audience get what should be expected in the film. Sound is important in most of the films but I don’t think it plays as much important as in the horror ones, since if there is no sound, the horror film won’t be that stimulating our sensation.
IM task 3 – Sampling and Recording
Monday, March 23rd, 2009
I think this is the dumpiest thing i ever did. To embed all the videos definitely not an easy job, or if there’s a easy way that i don’t know. Because the original vpip that I use is one video per time, i was thinking then it will become a series of 30 videos lining up in my post and they were gonna cover all of my blog. Then my friend told me there’s another function of vpip which generates code then u can embed the codes as many as u like using HTML. Well, this is really solve one of my problems. Think of HTML, which relates me to last semester when I fought with TABLE codes. Therefore, I define a table to make my samples stay neat and sound into a rectangle. But still, generating codes is a boring job cuz you have to make changes for 30 times.
Then another problem came up to me, after I saved it and I edit the post again, the videos didn’t work at all as well as the poster frames. Within the HTML page, the codes shows return false and I thought soething had happened to the files. Then I turned to the Visual page and checked whether there is anything eles I can change. I tried to just insert the poster frame and the video using add media and delete the original one. It works somehow but acting very strange, the video pop up to the screne rather than stay where it should be. Therefore I turned to the HTML page and check the codes, I found they were too complicated because the old codes and the new codes blends together. The final thing I did was tidy up the codes for the first video, then copy and paste it to the other 29 boxes. They finally work as what I want! What a technical journey…!
Another version for this:
Lenny Re-edit
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
This is my version of Lenny.
Editing by following the script is much easier since it tells you how long is the shoot and the sequences of the shoots. During the editing, I found some bits quite hard to edit. For example, many of the shoots are very wide then next one is very close. The range of the angles is too extreme and it looks weird that it just cut to each other directly. I tried to insert some medium ones between but it still looks bad. The other way I solved this is to use transition, which is always a good way to cover up the wired gaps between scenes.
There is one close up showing Lenny shaking his legs from downward to upward. I wanted to use it as a emphasis of how nervous and excited Lenny is. Then I insert it after the wide shot of Lenny sit down, it just don’t match the picture. Lenny’s hand changed to a different place in two shots and they can’t match. Therefore I gave up this shot even the script has mention about this.
In the half of the video where Lenny had conversation with Sharon, there are a few different shoots available to edit: a wide one, a medium one and a close up one with only Lenny in the shoot and voice of Sharon. I can’t make use of all these because the conversation is short, and if I keep changing angles in such a short time, it definitely won’t look good. So I chose the wide one, then cut to the one with only Lenny then to the wide shot again, showing Sharon left. Then I cut back to the close up of Lenny talking to no one, and end it with the wide shot of Lenny sitting on the chair along. But this time, I didn’t use any transition because it makes the cuts look very artificial and slow down the temple of the scenes.
Compressing and exporting is easy if followed the instructions given by the tutor. There is one problem confused me while using Quick time to compress. After choosing Movie to MPEG4, we need to change the option. In the option, I changed the first one as MP4 rather than the default MP4ISM, then changed all the rates, I also changed the format as H.264, I don’t know whether I supposed to do this but I think it makes more sense if I chose this one, though I don’t even know what they mean.
Anyways, I embedded the video using vpip and it should work fluently.
IM task 2- Circles are Round
Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
The final Synopsis
Saturday, March 14th, 2009This is my final synopsis:
Although Emma is a five years old autistic, she knows mummy (Wendy) treats her well. She loves the story book mum gave her as a gift and her favourite story is the little red riding hood. Sometimes mum will read the story beside her in bed time, but ever since her stomach grew into a big ball, Emma always read the story herself again and again.
It’s almost 6 o’clock in the afternoon and Wendy is preparing dinner for her husband who will be back from a long business trip. When the woman wanted to squat down for the pan, she felt a sudden sharp spasm of pain from her stomach and fainted on the floor with the sound of the pan crashing to the ground. The little girl was frightened at the noise while she’s reading her book in her room. A long time of silence but the continue flipping sound from the Emma’s room. Emma stop reading, she seem to felt something and went out to the kitchen. What she saw is her mum laying down the ground and the amniotic fluid wet her skirt and the legs. The girl knows something had happened, standing there and keeps her eyes on the body. Few minutes later, Emma went back her room and kept reading the little red riding hood, again and again. Then she starring on the picture, a thought just came up and opens her mind. She wants to wake her mother up. Emma then went to the kitchen and found a pair of scissors. She approached the body straight forward and poked the scissors into the big ball. It’s a bit hard to cut but she gave it a try.
The doorbell rings then some knocks and shoutings from a man’s voice. Dad is back to the house. The first thing he saw is not a smiling wife but his girl holding a pair of bloody scissors sitting beside a body.
The loud and strident noise of the ambulance echoes in the night, Emma went back to her room, start reading her little red riding hood.
I added up more characteristic to the girl, the most important one is autism. This makes everything that’s out of the moral standard reasonable, giving a force to the girl to do things that other children won’t be doing or thinking. I also modified and put extra details in the ending to make it more complete for a synopsis. The appearing of Dad is a resolution to all the crazy things and his helpless regarding to his family.
Developing a Synopsis
Friday, March 13th, 2009After finished the one liner, it’s time to move on to Synopsis.
I got a few different versions of how the story developed after the discussion in tutorial. Firstly I thought it will be too sick that the girl poked the scissors into the real pregnant woman. Then I am surprised people like this kind of sick topic, well, not actually like it but really interested in the controversial themes. Regarding to the background of my parents and the moral standards in China, it’s easy to tell that why they won’t support such violent themes as I told them. In producer and sponsor point of view, these kinds of themes are good materials, since most people like to experience and see something which is extraordinary and out of expectations. The sicker the topic is the greater attentions from the public.
After a series of judging, I decided to stay the sick topic and changed the style of the film from irony, black humour to sad and horror one.
Primarily the story goes like this:
The little girl and the woman are in a completely wonderful family. The girl likes to hear bedtime stories from her mum, who is expecting another child soon. The most favourite story of the girl is Little Red Riding Hood. She always asks her mum to tell her again and again before she went to bed.
It is another sunny day while mum is making afternoon tea for the girl. When the woman wanted to squat down for the pan, she felt a sudden sharp spasm of pain. She knows what will happen next, shouting her daughter’s name for help. The little girl went out and is frightened by the situation. The woman told her to call the emergency and how she should describe what happened. During the waiting time, the girl kept crying loud and looked so scared. Though the woman in pain, she comfort the girl by telling her the Little Red Riding Hood story. Little girl stop crying loud but sobbed, bending over her mother. Her mind is in mass but she came up with something to help. The girl stood up and forward to the kitchen. She found a pair of scissors and came to her mum, lights flashing in her eyes. “What’s wrong darling?” mum is confused. “I want to help, mummy” She approaches. “How can you help? Just sit there quietly OK? Someone’s coming for us soon.” The woman never thought of what her daughter will do next. The girl poked the scissors into her stomach, saying, “I can help mum take out the stones, then we’ll be living happily ever after.”
While composing the plot, I found the climax is a bit non-sense. The woman should have power to stop the girl doing so since the girl is normal, as well as obeying to mum’s orders. The motivation for the girl is too constrain, and as if it exist only for making the climax but not reasonable enough. It’s also does not fit the set characteristics of the girl. Therefore, I changed it into another version so that the story goes in some reasons.