Film edits

This is my first edit of the party scene. At the beginning, I tried to make the music sound as if Gus was nervous entering the party by making the music sound surreal. I added quite alot of bass to the beginning segment of the music and faded it out, then added a sound effect to make it seem like he comes to his senses as soon as he enters the room. The bass was still abit too much or abit too loud during the rest of the party scene so that is something I need to go back and fix. The voice overs of Gus and his friend also had abit too much treble and it was out of time. It sounded tinny and unprofessional so I need to fix that too. I also want to play with the RBG colours a little bit more to make it look more like a 'film' and to take out alot of the orange/reds in the shots. Another thing I need to fix is the background party sound effects. I also forgot to cut the end of the music so it rendered the whole entire song. I really liked the sequence I had edited the shots though. You can clearly see that he is interested in Evelynn, but he also takes notice of the future rapists and future victim. His facial expression tells us that something is not right with the scene of three guys and one girl taking shots.

Research #5

Steadycam Analysis

http://vimeo.com/56335284

"The Career of Paul Thomas Anderson in Five Shots"

This video is an in-depth analysis of Paul Thomas Anderson's work and how he has choreographed the one-shots in his previous films. Paul Anderson has a way of making the camera move through scenes and helping the eye focus on different characters or different activities happening. Every shot gives off a different type of vibe for the audience. I took notice of how they had shown us a birds eye view of the scene and as the scene plays in a split screen, they show an indication of how the camera moves through the scene and follows the characters to reveal the environment. Today, we have done a similar plan in terms of mapping out every scene from a birds eye view and drawing out where we are setting up the cameras. We have dropped the idea of using a steadycam technique as we have no access to one so we are going to use the dolly technique instead which is fine. In our plans, we have mapped out each scene and identified where we will be setting up our cameras as we want to shoot every angle at the same time - killing two birds with one stone.

Research #4

Movie Scenes

 

St Trinians - End Scene

This is the end scene from the movie St. Trinians. It is similar to what you would see at a rock concert or a club. I like how the first shot is a high wide shot panning across the audience as they sing and dance, establishing the type of environment the girls are in - fun, hyped, happy. The camera also catches mid shots of characters and their expressions as they dance and have fun which is something that we should think about when we shoot the party scene.

Step Up - Club Scene

I like how one of the first shots, is a panning shot starting from the drum kit and slowly panning upwards, revealing the singer of the band and the audience/crowd at the club. It reveals the environment the characters are in and establishes the scene for the audience. It is used again when the music picks up tempo and we can see the crowd as they pick up the tempo of their dancing. When the actual dancing comes in, especially when the main male character is dancing,  the shots become shorter and quickly change from upward panning medium shots of his body to mid shots of the girls reactions and back to mid shots of him freestyling. The shots are kept short to hold an interest and so the audience doesn't get bored with watching the dancing from one angle for too long.
I think we can use a panning shot in the party scene as Gus enters the room, maybe starting from his back slowly panning upwards as he enters the living room to reveal the crowd and party in order to set the scene for our audience. 

Moving Image: Research #3

Dance Videos

This is a dance video by Identity Dance Crew. Its set in an underground parking lot, and looks as if they are having a party or underground dance battle. I chose to look at this video keeping in mind the dance aspect of the advertisement. This is a more choreographed approach. I like how the main character jumps in and starts freestyling but I also like the idea of how the boys who previously formed the crowd, jumped into the choreographed set. Kind of like a flashmob. If this were to happen, I could ask the leader of IMDC or even a dance crew called Abide who dance at Soar (a youth dance programme) to participate. They could make a set to perform and I could speak to the producers about it. Otherwise, I can always ask dancers I know that can freestyle in a circle which is a more informal and looks more realistic. What I liked about this video is how we are introduced to the main character of the dance at the beginning. We can hear the cheering at the start with a black background and as the music slowly increases, the blackness fades into the picture of our main character. I like how the camera follows this character through the parking lot and as he gets closer to the crowd, the sound music and cheering increases, creating an intense and exciting atmosphere. Some of the shots that have been used to capture the dance scene that I liked were the low angled shots, mid shots the panning wide shot of the dancer in the middle of the circle as he freestyles. The wide shot may not be realistic in our party scene because dance floors at parties are more commonly crowded and not evenly spaced out like the one in this video. I also like how the cars in the background light up the dancers well. I think we can use the idea of having a low angled and mid shots of the dancing in our party scene. The focus of the advertisement is more on the storyline rather than the dancing aspect of the party anyway. 

Moving Image : Research #2

Party Scenes

Project X - Party Scene

This scene was taken from the movie Project X which follows three main characters who plan on gaining popularity by throwing an unforgettable party. The film is presented as a home video, taken from the perspective of an attendee of the party, documenting the events during the night. All the shots taken in the party scene only last 2-5 seconds, constantly cutting to a different shot where something else is happening. It feels like the editor grabbed all the clips from the night, even the ones from phones or handheld cameras, and threw them into one big hectic collage. Some of the shots are actually really bad but it does make the movie seem more realistic. I like how these clips have been kept short in order to keep the eye busy so we don't get too bored by focusing on one shot for too long. It also keeps us interested in whats going to happen next. I think that for our own project, we should be looking at more professional shots because this is for an ad. But for the party scene, the idea of having short clips to keep the audience interested is a good idea.

 Adidas House Party

This is an advertisement for Adidas. The directors threw a house party, where everyone is dressed in Adidas and invited famous people such as Missy Elliot, Katy Perry and David Beckham to promote their clothing line. Majority, if not all of the clips in this video have been captured in slow motion. The slow motion technique is often applied to video to capture a key moment in time. In this video, the slow motion effect is used to capture the party attendees wearing their Adidas gears, having fun etc. I think that this kind of filming is a better example of what our own project should end up like in terms of shooting and editing, compared to the previous video, only because this was shot in an advertising context which is what we are doing. I have also noticed that the lighting is quite dark in these videos and the main source of light to see what is going on is coming from the camera itself which I find interesting. Its as if the camera is acting as a spotlight. The only difference between our project and this project is that we are showing darker side of attending parties as the girl in our script is a victim of rape. The technique of using short clips, same as the previous video, has been used in this video which I have already mentioned we should use in order to keep the audience interested in whats happening. I like the idea of using the slow motion technique as well as using the short clips. Although these are editing techniques, its good to know what type of shots we should be getting for the project.

TERM FOUR | Moving Image: Research

Steadycam One-Shots

Boogie Nights Opening Scene

In this opening scene of 'Boogie Nights', we are introduced to eight characters in just a three minute time frame. In these three minutes, we get an establishing shot which sets the scene in the 70's, a glimpse of the characters starring throughout the movie and he ends the shot with the focus on the main character. This one-shot captures the feeling of everybody having a good time at a party or club as we meet each character, it makes us feel as if we were actually there with them. I like how the camera movement is really fast in the party area, and at the end of this shot, the camera movement slows down and we get to see and focus more on the main character as if he kind of blends into the background. I really like the way all the characters have been introuced in this one shot. I was talking to my lecturer about this scene and he says we have to be realistic about how we are going to be able to shoot this video advertisement. I think we can do a one-shot steadycam but maybe on a smaller scale where we just follow the main character through the party. These steadycam shots are usually used to set the scene so the audience understands what kind of environment the characters are in.

Goodfellas - Copacobana Shot

This tracking shot follows a young couple as they walk to their restaurant seats via the back door, through several corridors, a busy kitchen and handing out tips as they pass every staff member. The shot also introduces the characters, Karen Friedman and Henry Hill, and sets the scene. It shows Henry, who plays a New York mobster, and how powerful he is as well as his social status. You can tell that he plays a highly respected character as they take the back entrance because he quotes "its much better than waiting in line" and how everybody knows who he is as they enter the room. Watching this shot made me think of some problems that we may come across if we were to carry out having a tracking shot. Everything would have to be timed perfectly otherwise we would have to re-shoot. For example, following the main character through the house as they enter the party, someone walking past the camera holding some beers or running past in their undies, we would have to time when they walk past the characters. These small details are important because they make the audience feel as if they were actually there. We would also have to choreograph where the characters walk and where the cameraman walks, as well as the extras. We would maybe have to draw up a map of the setting first then tell everybody where they should be going and when so there are no clashes or accidents. It would definitely be alot of work for the person holding the camera but I think if we are able to achieve the one-shot look, it would look great.

Moving Image: RGB Channels

This is my video I used to experiment with the RBG channels. Its just a quick, short experiment to show the change of colour in the video. I was going for a lighter, washed out look because the image I originally started out with is very bright and contrasted. 

Editing the video

The image before and after

RGB Channels

As you can see from the above image, I mainly focused on changing up the white/master channel because I wanted the image to be more washed out and have less contrast. I think I achieved the look I was going for, but I did have the same camera settings (very high ISO) I had used for the lighting experiment. The shots turned out really grainy and it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked but like I posted before, I have learnt for next time to check the settings!