Reflection on the 18th Jan, 09.

18th Jan. Philip started editing. Jay and the others started to look for music, whilst I started making the poster. This helped me to remember how to use photoshop from a few years ago, and I managed to learn a few short-cuts from earnest. I have invited all my CIS facebook friends to the event.

19th Jan. I went to multimedia lab today afterschool to finish on the poster, but philip wasn't there (he promised that he'd edit.) I hope that he will be able to finish on time. Tomorrow is sports day and I hope the video would be able to be in the drop box by tomorrow evening.

20th Jan. I went to the multimedia lab afterschool, and Jay and Philip were there, editing. I was a bit confused though: I asked philip if it was a fine edit or not. He said yes, but at the end, there were still mix ups on which shot to use... etc, and they were not edited yet. I put together the montage by cutting and rearranging the orders of the dolly zoom. I added some ambient sounds to it, and taught Philip how to crossfade the soundtracks so that the transitions would be smoother. At home, I looked on freeplaymusic.com and found some 2 tracks: one for the dolly zoom shot, and one for the credits. I hope that they fit the style.

Tomorrow's premiere day, and i'm really excited!

Reflection on the 14th of January, 09.

Today, Philip and Ryan captured the footage.

Following the suggestions of my teacher, I opened up livetype and tried to figure out how to use this program.

At first I found the layout confusing. It looked a bit like Final Cut pro, but many of its functions have disappeared or have simplified. For example, I wanted to create a still frame, but realised that the short-cut does not exist. I wanted to make a black background, but couldn't create a matte background. I then took a screenshot of a patch of black screen, imported it into a new track, stretched it out, and it became my black background.

I managed to make a "sexual seductions" facebook event, which i hope would clear some of the confusion up. Tilly seems to have got the message out, saying that it's only her film that's premiering on that day, and i have had lots of questions about our film.

I will make the poster soon, as soon as philip gives me the pictures. I made sure that he edited last friday, and he promised me that a fine edit would be done by tomorrow

SEXUAL SEDUCTIONS

Since our principle photography was pushed back a week, on Thursday, I took Victoria up to my dad's office for location scouting. She found it extremely helpful, as she can now plan the whole storyboard location-specifically (no more guesswork about the layout of an office.)

We also found a long corridor where we can do our dolly zoom shot, but i'm not sure if it will work, since when the actress stands there, the background will be too close for an effective dolly zoom. But we have a very long corridor, so it might work if we dolly through the whole length of corridor and speed the whole thing up post-production.

On Friday, I was pretty frustrated because we were not able to check the boom pole out; Jody's group still hasn't returned it. On Saturday, I called their group up and arranged from Ryan to pick it up from KeiKei on Saturday night, since they will be going to the same dance rehearsal.

Sunday was principle photography day. My dad and I went to his office first, and put down our things. I brought a trolley, Nikon camera (for my blog), and various things that we might have needed. I then went to the MTR to pick up the rest of the group and the actor/actress. My dad then called to say that he took the wrong key and had to drive to his colleague's house to get the correct key.

Most of the group arrived on time, but Philip was still missing after 15 minutes. We tried calling him but he wouldn't answer. We decided to go back to the office. Whilst waiting for my dad, we set up and practised our dolly zoom shot on the trolley. Philip texted us a few hours into shooting, asking if he still needed to come...... :S


Ryan going over the shot log and preparing himself for what he will do next.





Victoria going through the script/storyboard with actor/actress.




Jay checking camera and tapes.



Our group waiting outside the office.



Trying the dolly zoom.

I must say that filming took a much shorter time this time, compared to my previous projects. This is because we were much more organised, and actually got things done on time.




I must commend the actor/actress. Their roles were not easy at all, but they did an absolutely terrific job for high school students.







We did not have problems with sound. The office environment was very quiet and we got perfect audio.

However, we did have trouble with the dolley. It was shaking a lot and it didn't go straight at all. We decided to ditch that idea and did a zoom in/out with dutch angle instead.

When we filmed outside at the podium, the security guard told us to get off their property to film, so we went down a flight of stairs onto the public road. The sound quality was alright, but the central lighting was absolutely amazing.

Reflection on 5th Jan, '09.

Our main focus in this lesson was to practise our dolly zoom shot.

As the school did not have any dollies, we had to make do with the rolling chairs. We then had to figure out how to put the tripod on the chair, and then realised that it will be the easiest if someone just sat in the chair.

We practised in the multimedia lab. But didn't notice any difference. We came to two conclusions: the background was too close to the subject, or we weren't dollying fast/long enough. The room was small and we were running out of space; I was going to hit something soon! we decided to go outside in the corridors.

When we are really filming, it would not be appropriate to set up a dolly in the corridor, as the floor is not smooth at all. But because we were just practising/testing, it didn't matter. As we went the whole length of corridor very quickly, ryan said that he did see the background change. I didn't see it though, as I was pulling the chair back.

Before I left on my holiday, I have organised the Facebook group. I put a list of what each person has to do and the due dates. It would really make my job easier if they responded to the list as required and didn't need me to chase them around.

However, I do think that we are prepared for our principle photography on the 4th of january. One thing I regret not doing though, is location scouting. It would make the screenwriter's job much easier if she saw the setting first.

I started doing an analysis of Robert Schwentke's Flightplan. What shots were used, why they were used, and how it contributed to the mood of the film. I also realised that by watching the documentaries of the "making of" the movie, I was able to learn much more about the choices that the screen writer, director... etc used, and how it was done in a professional environment. For example, I learned how they shot the scene of Jody Foster circling around her; an arc. I was able to see that they had laid tracks on the ground to make the movement smoother.

I also saw how different colored lighting can change the mood, as well as tell the audience that it is a different time/place. For example, at the beginning of the film, the parts where Foster is imagining things and the parts where Foster is not imagining things have different lighting; one is noticably darker and bluer than the other. The plane itself has different hues. The economy section is bluer and darker, whilst the galleys is white and brighter. This could lead to change of mood in the audience.

By analysing this film, I also realised how many thing we, as students, will not be able to do due to skill/manpower/money/time restraints. For example, shooting a scene in the middle of causeway bay with 50 background actors would be impossible.

Interestingly, whilst analysing the film and searching up different film/shot techniques, I came upon the dolly zoom. I remember our group discussing how to make the object stay the same size whilst the background zooms in, and we weren't able to see how it could easily be done without using a greenscreen. When I came upon this wikipedia page, I learned a new film technique, which we will be able to fairly easily use in our Wong Kar Wai styled film.