Screening and thoughts

Hi,

This post is just to say how disappointed I am in the fact that we didn't get to see our finished product at the screening. We no information that it was on, so unfortunately our group will not have a chance to watch what everyone else created. Hopefully they all upload them to YouTube!!

Also, I got the hard drive off one of the other group members who did the editing. There was no opening sequence, the title of the film didn't make sense and the story overall didn't look good. I just don't know how to feel about it. We all worked really hard, so how is it that the finished product is such a let down? All semester Josh was saying the most important thing was story and the story got lost in the editing and effects of the film.

I hope I get good marks on the blog and the pre-production because those were the two things I worked hardest on and I'm really proud of them. The film itself, I left the editing up to other people and the control freak inside of me wishes I hadn't. Everything I did edit was removed from the final film. It was a totally different film then when I left it in their capable hands. The one good thing I can say is, generally, the editing is really good and he did a really good job with the special effects. I hope that will make up for some of the lost marks.

The end.

The end

Hi,

So this is my last post. Our video has been edited and handed in! 3 minutes before it was due PHEW!!! After Kylie and I edited, we gave the hard drive to Mike and Conrad who smashed it, with Mike doing most of the editing in the end. We all did different things to make the movie come together, so I'm putting together a summary of what everyone did.

Kylie:
Wrote script
Found location
Acted

Mike:
Directed
Wrote script
Edited

Conrad:
Acted
Boom mic operator
Edited

Me:
Pre-production
Time codes

We all did things that play to our strengths, and I'm so happy that I got the group I did. I've made new friends and learnt A LOT!!!

Thanks Josh and Rotten Apple for an awesome semester!!!

LOVE EMILY

Week 13 - Workshop 5

Hi,

This week we started editing our movie, YAY! On the tuesday I booked an editing suite but unfortunately we didn't get much done. On wednesday (today) we came into class for the workshop and remained until 3pm. Conrad stayed until six which was so dedicated of him, I'm so grateful!

We started by picking the shots we know we definitely want to use, and deleting the ones we definitely don't want to use. The ones left over we put in a folder of spare shots to use later if we need to. We've started cutting it together but I'm a bit worried it's going to go for too long! The story is fairly complicated and I don't want the viewers to get confused.

We've cut together about a minute and a half of stuff, and Conrad told me he's started to colour correct. It's really time consuming, and I really hope we get it all done in time!

In case we don't get it all done in time here is exactly what happens in our film (which I think I outlined in a previous blog).

Boy gets ready for a date and heads to the restaurant. The waitress is a bit odd. Grant (the boy) waits for his date (Kirsty). She arrives late and the date is quite awkward. The waitress takes their orders and appears to hate Kirsty. Kirsty goes to the bathroom and Grant realises he doesn't have any money and starts to stress out. As soon as Kirsty returns, he runs to the bathroom and starts throwing up coins. Then another Grant appears (he has bipolar) and collects the coins. He is calm and collected, goes back outside and succeeds with the date. Kirsty and Grant leave together happily, with the stressed Grant still in the bathroom.

We have a lot of work to do, and I hope we haven't deleted any material we need. The film may even change a bit as editing goes on, but I guess that isn't surprising.

Editing is quite a difficult progress considering some of us have never used the program before but it's been really fun learning about it! I'm loving seeing the shots turn into scenes, I just hope we can get the story across.

I'll have one more blog post after this in Week 15 probably, with everything that happens between now and then.

The end.

Week 12 - Workshop 4

Hi,

Unfortunately today the person who had the hard drive didn't come to class so we couldn't do any editing. It makes me wish I had a Mac computer so I could have kept the hard drive with me! Conrad, Kylie and I sat in class and did a bit of work on our blogs and that's it.

Mike said that he did some editing at home, and tomorrow we're all getting together to edit in one of the editing suites. I think we'll get a lot done even though it's only four hours, and once we know when we're free for the rest of the week I'll try and book in some more time.

This class has been such a learning experience for me and it's really made me want to become a producer in the future...it's hard work but I love seeing everything come together!

The end.

Week 11 - Workshop 3 and filming

Hi,

This week in the workshop we learnt about colour grading and a few other editing techniques. I was an hour late (8am starts don't agree with me) so I'm not sure what happened when I wasn't there.
Josh showed us how to adjust the colour grading so each shot turns to the next smoothly without differences in colour and light. He also showed us how to use basic effects (making a photo look like it moves, adding a cartoon image to the shot etc.)

On tuesday we had our last day of filming. We started off in my room where we filmed the opening sequence, where the character 'Grant' is trying on different outfits in preparation for his date. Then we headed to uni to film in the bathrooms for one of the most important scenes. My evil teacher didn't let me out of class so I had to miss out on helping out for that scene. I hope I've done enough in pre-production and during the first day and a half of shooting to make up for it. If not I'll help out heaps with the editing!

I'm so happy with my group and I think we've all worked hard and brought different things to the table, but only time will tell if it will all come together in the end.

The end.

Week 10 - Workshop 2

Hi,

This week we learnt the theory of editing and some techniques to help. 

One of the first things Josh told us to do was try to use 99% straight cuts between shots (without transition effects). The whole idea is for the audience not to notice the cutting between shots. It's much less noticeable if the character is moving. Another good time to cut is when there is motivation (for example if a characters eyeline moves or there is an unexpected sound). This is called expected continuity.

We also learnt about continuity editing. 95% of the movies we see in cinemas are edited in the classical Hollywood way. Most films screen time are between 90 minutes to 180 minutes long, while the actual story goes for much longer (not so in films like Devil). The tricky bit for filmmakers is to cut out the unnecessary stuff (like people sleeping etc.) while still making the story understandable. Josh used the second Transformers movie as an example of telling too much, and not showing enough. In our film, we don't have Grant driving to the restaurant for his date as that would just be an unnecessary waste of time.

Another form of editing which was popularised by the Soviet Union is montage editing. This is a way to show time passing with a variety of different things happening without taking up a lot of screen time. In our short film we won't be doing this. 

Josh also encouraged us to use establishing shots, insert shots and cutaways to provide the audience with extra information.

Josh warned us that often when people start editing they try and finish the piece straight away. He recommended that we should do a rough cut first of the whole thing and then edit each scene on its own. We should make sure all the easy things are done right first, and make sure shots don't hang around too long after the main point has passed. This concept is 3 point editing: the inpoint setting, inpoint and outpoint of shots. Then we have to watch the whole thing and see what the timing and the pacing is like. Colour correction comes after this, and then we can let other people watch it and tell us what they think. Finally we make sure the sound and audio is perfect.

It's a lot of work and I hope we get it done in time!! I'm confident in my group though so I'm expecting the best!

The end.

Week 9 - Workshop 1

Hi,

In week 9 we didn't film anything (much to my chagrin), but we did have a three hour workshop where Josh outlined how to organise our post-production.

He talked about four main points, and broke them down:
1. Technical considerations (like file management, ingesting etc.)
2. Workflow (like naming conventions, music formats to use etc.)
3. Organisation (which is largely group orientated, but also incorporates the workflow)
4. Finalcut Pro (which we are using to edit our films)

I don't have a Mac computer at home, so this workshop was really helpful for me. I remember trying to use Finalcut Pro (or something like that) in highschool....our film somehow ended up with no sound, and even our teacher couldn't teach us how to use it. It was good learning different techniques to use even though at least half of my group have Macs. I don't think we're using any still images in our film, but I wish we were! I love playing around on Photoshop.

When we were filming, we shot a couple scenes with really long takes, from multiple angles, which we plan to cut up later. I think this is going to be a massive challenge, but hopefully it works out for us. On the filming day I thought it would be fine but the more I learnt about Finalcut Pro the more I realise this could be a challenge for us. Hopefully it will work out well for us because I think we have a really different story, I just hope our film making skills can exhibit it!

The end.