So here’s our short film,
Special thanks to David Tamir, Robin Plunkett, Paul Ritchard, Vanessa Goh, Charmaine Foo, Sebastian Tan, Jeffrey Tay, Scott Huang, Kai Ebato, Jerold Tan, Aidah Jahari, Sheilah Farhanah, Adam Ismail!
Archive for the ‘Film + TV1’ Category
The End of FilmTV1
Wednesday, June 6th, 2012Day of Shoot!
Saturday, May 5th, 2012First off I would like to say that today was the third most tiring day of my life; 2nd was cooking for my sister’s wedding and the 1st was my evaluation test in the Army.
Apart from that, I really did enjoy the whole process of film making. There was so many things going on rapidly that there wasn’t enough time to actually feel tired during the shoot since we were so much in the zone that everything else is secondary. The feeling of tiredness only came after we wrapped everything up.
I was actually nervous before the start of the shoot because, I’m primarily responsible in how the entire film will look like in the end, and a film without an image isn’t technically a film at all!! But Alas all the pre-filming jitters dissolved once the shoot started.
Film TV1 Week 9 Notes (Z7P)
Tuesday, April 24th, 2012If the situation permits, set camera gain set to low, put most if not all to manual settings. High gain will create more noise in the footage. Normally it would be detrimental to the image unless we’re planning to actually include noise as aesthetics of mood or tone for the film.
Set camera shutter speed to 50. This is to get an approximate filmic look for the video as 50/2 = 25 fps which is near to the speed of a traditional film camera (24fps).
Set recording mode to HDV to get the best quality video from the Z7P.
Set Time and date stamp recording to OFF!
When uploading more than one card to a computer, it is highly recommended to copy the videos into a different bin every time. Because the numbering of the files will get repeated every time a card is cleared and recording begins.
Film TV1 Week 7 Tute Notes (Lighting)
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012Today we learn the basics of lighting.
There will always be lighting, may it be natural or artificial. In order to achieve a certain look for a film, we would have to play around with lighting.
There’s generally two types of light quality : -
Harsh Light: deep shadows, we can normally tell which direction the light is coming from.
Soft light : softer shadows, it’s harder to tell the direction of the light. Normally more flattering to the face of subject.
In lighting a subject, it is recommended that we have more than one source of light, lighting the scene. This is to not make the subject of the shot seem flat with no “3D-ness”
There’s the key light which in essence is the most prominent light source that lights the scene or the subject of the scene. The key light can be bounce off bounce cards or surfaces to be the fill light. We must take note of color cast that comes from bouncing the light on a surface. (Maybe we could play around with the color casts?)
Backlight or hairlight is to light the back of the head/hair.
What effect does the lighting have to the scene? Lighting is about observing and reproducing the lighting of the film scene that we are intending to get our inspiration from.
Types of Lights:
Fresnel lamps: the light source can be focus because there’s a lens :Harsh light.
Open Face: normally stronger light source than the Fresnel lamp. Redhead 800W, Blondie 2k
Dedo kit – Normally used for backlighting a subject.
All of these lights are incandescent light sources: they have a filament which heats up to produce light.
Kino Flow – Fluorescent light, instant soft light. When you dim it, the color temperature stays the same.
However, when you reduce the wattage of an incandescent light, the color changes.
Film TV 1 Week 6 Tute Notes
Tuesday, April 10th, 2012Shooting Tips
If we want to break 180 rule of a conventional two person dialogue scene we should show that we do this as a filmic technique of sorts by breaking the rule.
If the contrast of a location is too much for the camera to handle, change the placement of the camera or the location of the shoot.
It is highly recommended for us to rehearse the important scenes beforehand in order to nail it.
Assistant Director : is one of the most important roles for the day of filming. He/she basically is person in charge of making things run smoothly on the day of filming. It is not a creative role; more of a matter of fact role (cares about shooting schedule, and motion of film. Robin mentions its best to find an AD who’s not from our group.
Continuity person – take note of the shots we’ve done. The continuity person also tallies the shots and sequence. He/she will take a still at the start and at the end of each shot.
Script supervisor – check whether it follows the script and make changes when there are changes to be done (eg. Line change)
And of course we will need additional manpower to move around the equipment on the day itself. we will probably ask help from Scott’s group.
Family
Monday, April 2nd, 2012Family
Cinematography
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012For people born with the privilege of sight, We see things
I think that an outstanding Cinematographer or DOP will basically make a set of lights and camera sing for the benefit of the film. They should be able to capture striking and beautiful imagery. Cinematography in itself is an art.
There should be a reason on why the camera is used in a certain manner.
Paul Thomas Anderson and Robert Elswit Academy Award winning work in 2oo7’s There Will Be Blood is duly presented as he managed to do so many great memorable shots in the film. The use of anamorphic lenses kind of sets the tone of the film. By using anamorphic lenses for the film, theres a much wider view as compared to using a normal lens.
Film TV1 Week 5 Tute notes
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012Camera:
- ND Filter:
- controls amount of light going in
- Way of controlling exposure
- The more light in, the shallower the depth of field
- Gain:
- It’s the electronic amplification of the image
- The greater the gain, the noisier the image
- The image degrades the more you amplify the signal
- Good solution for when there is not enough light
- Best to leave it in the low position, or rather OFF
- Under view finder:
- There’s a function to focus and refocus image viewed through the viewfinder
- For personal convenience of our own eyes
- Has no effect on the actual quality of recorded material
- Never use the LED display during filming
Script Critique:
- Feels that it suits a period setting in the 70s
- Maybe make it a period piece (60s – 70s?)
- Genre suits it more
- Give it an edge
- Simple idea we could afford tweaking
- Montage could begin from when Alexa first begins looking through the file
- Since it’s periodic, should it be two males instead of Alexa and Paton?
- Add a bit of suspense in the end
- Make it seem more high stakes
- Exchange should be ambiguous and perplexing, lets audience wanting to know what it’s all about
- References:
- The Last Goodbye
- ITV shows from the 60s-70s like The Avengers
- Department S
- Maybe make it a period piece (60s – 70s?)
Film Tv1 Week 4 Tute notes
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012Audio Mixer
VU meter is not really an accurate thing for inconsistencies and loud noises,
PK program meter – PK meter by itself is not good for in between sounds
Z7P camera
Set camera rec channel to channel 1
Learn basic functions of the camera.
Double check that cam is level by playing around with the spirit level
Cinematography
Frame/focus
Panning and tilting – diagonal movement = pan+tilt
Longer the focal length the bigger the number, the narrower the field of view.
The shorter the focal length, the smaller the number, the wider the field of view.
Focal length determines field of view.
- Depth of field changes (part of the picture that is in focus in front and behind of the subject)
- The shorter the focal length, the greater the depth of field
- The longer the focal length, the shallower the Depth of field
- Distortion, shorter focal length
- Exaggerates distance between two or more subjects
- Perception of spatial relationships
Focus zoom lens at the furthest focal length, and then zoom out.
On a prime, measure the distance by measuring tape.
Focus puller need to measure on the camera, and pull focus.
White Balance
With film two types of color, daylight and tungsten most of the time.
Color temperature – needs to be present in the spectrum of light.
Color temperature measured by Kelvin – 5600K = Daylight, 3200K = Tungsten.
WB is used to get a color or look that you want.
Knowing principles are important in making creative decisions in shooting.
Framing and shooting, white balance, Exposure.
Correct exposure depends on what we want to do with it.
Set Zebra to 70%
Choosing an idea
Friday, March 23rd, 2012So we’ve decided on the story idea written by Vanessa which can be found here. It’s a simple idea but I think our group can translate it well into a short film. The film only has two main characters so casting shouldn’t be too much of a headache. The only thing we must keep in mind when we’re having auditions is to look for actors that can convey a lot of emotion through their facial expressions.