Project 1: Final Project Report:
Part
1: Pre-Production: Organisation of equipment and looking at picture of the film
location:
Our Lecturer introduced details of Project 1: “Portrait of a
Location.” The previous week all members of the class were to prepare a concept
for this project for today and post it to our blogs. We were divided into
groups. Our team is called ‘Team 2’ and started out as three members and
another person joined during the project. All four team members have individual
skills to contribute to the project and we can pool these skills and learn from
each-other. There are four Crew
Positions: Director/co-producer, Production manager (PM)/co-producer/Art
Dept., Director of photography (DP), Sound. My position was as PM. Our
scheduled deadline for the project is the 09th October 2016.
I commenced my
role by obtaining and sharing each team members contact details i.e. phone
number, email, blogger account. I then proceed to check our schedule for the
teams’ availability times. We all had availability to go out on site Tuesday afternoon
and Wednesday morning and we decided to take the shoots over a period of two
days and then the next stage would be editing of material gathered.
At the start, we
organised the video equipment for the current project ‘Portrait of a Location.’
I and the Director went to the computer desk and I asked questions based on the
check list I made out last week as part of my role as being ‘Production
Manager. I made out a check sheet to this effect. Questions included were such
as: opening times of computer desk; time required in advance of taking out equipment
and procedures for same; to check that the video recorder has an SD card of approximately
32GB, which it had. Then we checked the equipment to make sure it was all there
and in good working order. The Director noticed that the platform for linking
the camera to the tripod was not present, so this was replaced with a complete
tripod. The computer desk administrator then took details of my student number
and mobile phone number and informed us that we have the equipment for the two
weeks of the project. We brought the equipment to the ‘Director of Photography’
who took the equipment home to practice on in advance of going on site the
following afternoon and to make sure that the battery was charged properly.
Next, the ‘Director of
Photography,’ and I looked at the photos taken by the ‘Director’ which he took
while scouting the location of the film where we will be shooting. The ‘Director’
discussed his ideas about the pictures which was very interesting and got me
thinking about the story to be told and how this will be carried out. I have
been pondering on the ideas this evening and watched some T.V. to examine
various filming and shot types. In particular, the programme ‘Nationwide,’
hosted the ‘Tidy Towns,’ awards ceremony. Here, they went through various
locations and from this I gained inspiration on types and sequences of shots of
‘locations.’
I scribbled a few
sketches and supporting text based on the thoughts from the ‘Director’s’
photographs and the ideas that we were all discussing as a group and this
combined with my studying of the shot types, angles, orientations, combinations
that was portrayed on the television (after all the T.V. Crew are kind of
ultimate experts) and came up with suggestions to contribute to the film. All
of these in keeping with the principles of ‘Mese-en-scene.’
In terms of schedule, we
each contribute to each-others functions in our roles. However, we always have
in mind throughout the creative process, the end-point at the post-production
stage which was the finished video. As part of my role as PM it was to keep
track of the schedule. Fortunately, our planned schedule of works and the
required work flow for the entire project operated very well with each member
of the group doing their work to a full extent.
Part
2: Pre-Production transition to Production: based on the Director’s photographs
ideas for development of the plot in terms of story in order to determine
potential shots and their sequence and the final objective of the dramatic sequence:
In the plot, the emphasis in the film is the
interaction between and the journeys within humankind, nature and with human
objects within this context. The human objects are part of the Director’s keys
to the story. The film shot featured wild nature, at the castle and with the
props of human indicators. e.g. clothes female and male, trinkets etc.
As per my role, I
provided pre-visualisations suggestions of different takes on the narrative. I
suggested some ideas in the development of the Directors’ plot in terms of the
blending of humans and nature and the kind of shots that could be taken to best
convey that narrative.
The progression is
through nature scenes and its features and characteristic transitions i.e. various
insect types and where they belong in the nature. Here there was a lot of
experimentation with shot and angle sizes to portray the subtle, relaxed, yet
mysterious qualities which is characteristic to this location.
The last transition is to
the water’s edge. Here, the viewer is surprised to see the same human objects similar
to those in the castle scene. At the water’s edge there may be male and female
clothing cast off in a random way that lovers might as they run towards the
water, here merging the human and the nature worlds. This was emphasised by the
addition of human voices of a light, airy mood, with chattering, laughter and
splashing of water. This was in contrast to the moody, mysterious character of
all the previous scenes of the film. It is as if the humans have left the
castle and become one with nature.
Part
3: Pre-Production transition to Production: an overview of the reasons for
camera shots in terms of how they tell the story:
Camera shots have huge
significance, as it is a kind of interface between humankind, their constructs
and how nature can determine their legacy i.e. vegetation growing through the
castle. The idea to stimulate the viewer into thinking who has the final say:
humans? Or nature? or some kind of a blend. obviously human and related to
human activity. Lots of nature shots
as a slow progression along a pathway and the camera noticing the things along
the way. The camera then focuses in on different aspects of nature, for example,
the pictures we have seen of ‘insects,’ ‘flowers,’ ‘trees,’ ‘nature
transitions.’ The denotation images
was combined to form a dramatic sequence through the connotation which was how
we used these images to portray a narrative intention. The viewer is challenged to think about this and figure out, the
context and meaning of these objects. Since they are placed in and surrounded
by nature with no humans in sight, is their context is in nature? I think the
‘Portrait of a Location,’ is mainly about portraying that which contributes to
a ‘sense of place.’ Here I have laid out suggestions towards a potential blueprint for shots and
shot sequence and the endpoint of the dramatic sequence. We did not require any
location permits or contracts, talent releases and there were no safety issues
to report.
Part
4: Production: On-site video shoot:
The actual shooting was
planned over a period of two days. I checked the weather in advance and
fortunately it turned out excellent for the two days. Nevertheless, we came
prepared with wellies and waterproof jackets, just in case. The shooting was
planned and time-wise took six hours over a period of two days. I recorded
details of where the shots were taken, shot sequence and type of shots e.g.
long shot, extreme close up. On day 1 we had walked from UL to the City Centre and back. After day 1, I had blisters on my feet so could not go out to shoot on day 2. However, instead I practised on Premiere Pro during this time. We each got to know each-other spending so much
time working together. It was a very good experience. We got to see
each-other’s strengths and where we could help each-other. There was one
occasion that involved climbing a ladder and then over a fence to get onto a
bridge which was too high for me. Here, the other two members of the team
climbed the fence and I handed them up the equipment and also the equipment on
the way down. It was kind of humorous event as we all were exchanging
conversations and instructions, not within view of each-other. However, it
worked very well and we got the shoots we were looking for, an example of
teamwork.
Part
5: Post-Production: Post-video shoot;
back in the classroom:
Here the Director of
photography loaded up the images taken over the two days on to the computer’s
hard-drive. He returned the equipment to me, which I brought to the Computer
Desk to return. The computer officer recorded the returns information and all
equipment was returned intact. The
Director worked on Premiere Pro with the images also in terms of how he would
sequence them in order to tell the story to be conveyed. We all then met as a
team and worked on the editing. Our lecturer also made comments of her ideas on
the film which we took on board. It was good to get an outside perspective on
the film, as working on a film it is easy so closely involved with it.
Also, we
worked on the audio tracks, where the Director of Sound decided on music to
accompany the film. It was decided that this would be for the first
three-quarters of the film which was mysterious and moody and this was then
combined with more uplifting music to be juxtaposed in the ending shot
sequence. We then all agreed on the film composition. Now we must post it on
u-tube. We are to write up our report on the blog and put a link in here to the
u-tube video we put together. We discussed throughout the process as a team, the ‘workflow sequence’ and based on this workflow, the schedule was always considered in reflection an evolving creative and technical processes. This project was an excellent learning
experience, both cerebral and in terms of technical skills. This marks the end
of this process, but it is never really ending because firstly our class will
be critiquing each-others films and secondly, the film can be viewed over again
and by new viewers who each have their opinions and go away with an experience.
Link to film:
https://youtu.be/t57zJRHVQ18
