Story of Film Episode 1

by opaldylan

Notes

  • Saving Private Ryan (1988) dir. By Steven Spielberg, Amblin Entertainment
    • Spielberg makes us feel as though we are there, the purpose of filmmaking
  • Three Colours: Blue (1993) dir. By Krysztof Kieslowski, MK2 Productions
    • White light transitions used to bring them together
  • Casablanca (1942) dir. By Michael Curtiz, Warner Bros.
    • The essence of Hollywood, full of the yearning and romanticism
  • Record of a Tenement Gentleman (1947) dir. By Yasujiro Ozu
    • Very restrained and calm cinematography
  • Odd Man Out (1947) dir. By Carol Reed, Two Cities
    • Protagonist hallucinates problems inside bubbles
  • 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967) dir. Jean-Luc Godard
    • Same as above, inspiration
  • Taxi Driver (1976) dir. Martin Scorsese
    • Another inspired by two previous films
  • The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin
    • Frantic visuals

1895-1918: The World Discovers a New Art Form or Birth of the Cinema

1903-1918: The Thrill Becomes Story or The Hollywood Dream

Session 6 Production Project

by opaldylan

SUMMARY

Role

For this production, I will be editing a three-minute film that will be made over the course of two months.

Intention (SMART Goal) Based on the Role (Skill Set)

PRE-PRODUCTION — INQUIRY

Leaders in the Field / Exemplary Works

Primary source, the entire scene is edited with a frantic air through the use of camera shaking and strange changes to the frames per second of the shots. Much of the scene is shot in long, sustained shots. Because of all this, the camera is put straight into the chaos and drags the viewer with it.

The editing done in the movie was done from the reel, not digitally. All the cuts are done beautifully. The goal for the editor was to make the ending different from the beginning, which Spielberg requested of him.

Training Sources

  1. Use “Ripple Edit” to change the duration of shots without needing to readjust all the clips following.
  2. Double-click media to trim it to your exact liking in the viewer before you put it into the film.
  3. Use the razor tool to cut clips in half.
  4. In the media viewer, you can click the effects tab to tweak shot transitions, moving their center to favor one clip over another.
  5. The basics of color correction, including temperature, tint, exposure, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks.

  1. Always start with a “Lut” (Look?) to make color correction a much faster process.
  2. Don’t make the color grading extremely obvious, it should be subtle while improving the quality of the thing.
  3. HSL Secondary lets you manipulate specific colors without affecting the entire thing.
  4. How to correct colors using midtones, shadows and highlight colors.
  5. How to create contrasting colors in the color editor that look good

Project Timeline

  1. Read the script and make notes on what edits you will need to make.
  2. Talk to the cinematographer and director about effects needed in the film, and choices in pacing, tone, and color.
  3. Talk to the sound designer about noises and music that will be used.
  4. Get footage from the cinematographer.
  5. Get audio files from the sound designer.
  6. Add media into Premier.
  7. Create a rough cut of the film.
  8. Talk with the director, cinematographer and sound designer about what you need to do.
  9. Create a final cut of the film.
  10. Check with the director to make sure the cut is good.

Up In The Air Notes

by opaldylan

Jason=Director, JB=Producer, Eric=Cinematographer

 

The opening sequence, the same for all movies, montage of postcards which show the traveling of the main character, the ability to move them to music is cool.

 

Movie written in economic recession. Originally the firing was satirical and then became real. Took people who actually were just recently fired and interviewed. Asked about how they were fired, how the job was lost etc. Waited for them to be comfortable, then asked for a genuine response, or the way they wish they responded. Camera was hidden to make things seem more natural.

 

Sequence of going through security, intention to make travel seem natural and nice. The main character enjoys flying, and this shows. Had to communicate with TSA and officers. To make time easier, they needed a very specific storyboard. The backpack scene was based on the director’s house, it was gotten when they filled the car with stuff they needed, and they noticed they didn’t actually want anything in their house, and how meaningless it all was.

 

Taking with an assistant, perfect casting. Jason Bateman wanted a new look for the actor, and the only difference ended up being the beard. Jason ended up taking the beard.

 

Aerial footage shot from overhead used cameras meant to film other planes. The scene in the bar was meant to be in Houston and ended up in Dallas. The very important scene was shot twice because you need to do it again if you don’t have it. The bar they wanted to use was torn out after they shot in it so they needed to find a new bar. The strange thing wanted to flirt over milage cards. Felt as if there was a moment needed to get to the next scene, went with improv. Two takes only.

 

I wanted a curved hallway for the airport hotel so that you could never see the hallway’s end, to show that their life in the hotels never ends. Lighting issue with computer life on faces. Found it wasn’t hard to make the actors look good.

 

Scenes of the card doing through swiper are incredibly hard to shoot for focus and timing. The phone scene was filmed in an open airport. I needed to film while planes were coming and going.

 

More money to remove a poster than to film it. The scene at home base steals a shot from die-hard, most things are filmed on-location. Shot in saint Louis though, but used an accordion door. Giant air vent outside of the home. He was told that he needs to have something to do on the road that annoys him, so he used the cardboard cutout.

 

In the scene with the first Natalie scene, there’s an extra who is the author sitting by Clooney. Natalie was written to the actor. Wonderful moment because she nailed the audition. The scene is reportedly very difficult to shoot. Tight room with glass everywhere, people everywhere. Actors had to actually act live. Powerpoint made for the speech.

 

 An important detail was having store-bought sports memorabilia, no actual sentimental items, all purchased. Three people talking at once in a small space was very difficult to shoot. There’s so much movement. Every time the movement happens, the camera needs to follow the eye line and needs a counter-movement for every actor movement. The camera needs to be perfect every time. Camera operators were very good all the way through. Instead of being tons of shots, the camera moves and moves over the “dance floor” because the camera needs to move over it. As a writer, he felt super important and good when he did that sailboat thing with the post-it notes

 

Ralph Kent did composition that is subtle and comedic, which is very rare. It accentuates emotion without saying what you should feel. He uses drums from multiple cultures. He had a gaffer with an awful suitcase that got into the movie. Example of what can go wrong, after months of research, you realize there is music that is copyrighted playing that must be yanked out. The scene, though it looks like daytime, was shot at night with real TSA. 

 

The typing was very important to the director. He wanted her to be attacking her computer. Shooting in the plane was very very hard to do. The “Can, Sir?” line was very based in reality. The sound was excellent, even though there was a lot of shooting outside live airports. Extras in St. Louis were excellent. A significant amount of the extras had been recently let off, and the line about chuck e cheese was super real, which made the real people seem even more real. The scene was shot separately. JK Simmons has been in every movie of the director. The lines were an improv. The photo he brings out was his own were all real. JK Simmons is very good at swearing. There were so many photo tests for the wallpaper in this scene, to make portions seem faded, and to accentuate Simmon’s eyes. 

 

Used real airport Hilton in St. Louis. Two busses of Mary Kay cosmetics loaded out the day they were shooting. The actors never actually eat in the scene, it seems like they might, but they never do on screen because they are caught up in the argument. The fear of mortality was from a conversation between the director and his wife.

 

The hotel scene, made a bet over making the phone vibrate right as the camera pans up, ended up doing it. The texting was very hard to do since there wasn’t actually a live text going on.

 

The scene of taking the picture of the cutout was filmed in a very sound-nightmare area. The color of the building roof was very important to the director. Clooney’s acting skills made the shot work.

 

The next scene with firing more employees was very well cast, the woman who committed suicide is perfect for her role because of her icy delivery. The part outside afterward was hard to film because they needed to fight the season and make it seem like it was still winter, even though it was twelve degrees out.

 

Kansas city, music super important. Always looking for new music to add to the movie. The scene of the next affair thing in the hotel was the same scene from earlier, just a new angle.

 

Session 5 Production Project

by opaldylan

Session 5 Production Project

Summary

Role

For this production project, I was the sound designer.

Intention (SMART Goal) Based on the Role (Skill Set)

Specific – I will learn how to capture consistent and high-quality sound, this is a goal because it will make the audio of the film smooth.

Measurable- I will measure my progress by recording all the sounds I know I need from a checklist, and not using production sound. I will know I met the goal when all of the sounds in the film are recorded in post-production.

Achievable – I know I am capable of achieving my goal as I have recorded audio in past films, so it would be the refining of a known skill. The motivation is to have the best possible quality sound in the film I can manage. The effort required is somewhat similar to what will be achieved.

Relevant –  I am setting this goal now because having ADR is the main goal of this production project.

Time-Bound – The deadline is the first day of post-production because we need time to edit the audio into the film.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

  1. The two characters are voiced by the same person, and so when their lines overlap their mouths move the same, making a single line from the voice actor believable.
  2. Because it is a story being told, the audio switches from in-scene to out of scene seamlessly while the narrator also voices the character. The mouths of the characters also line up perfectly with what they say.
  3. The audio matches what the walrus says, and strikes from the background music enunciate his speech, making it flow rhythmically with the script.

 

Training Source(s)

  1. Use ADR for outside scenes, bad background noise or choosing it to improve line delivery.
  2. In Premiere, you can record audio directly into the software.
  3. Include a pre-roll to give actors time before they need to start talking
  4. Hold a quick rehearsal for the line, and record that rehearsal, but do not tell them it is a rehearsal, as the way they naturally say it will often be a good take.
  5. On additional takes, mute the previous tracks so the actor uses only the main clip.
  6. Go in-depth to the lines to find where words start and align the audio through that.
  7. Use slight stretching of the audio to better align it with the mouth of the character
  8. Equalize the audio to simulate distance
  9. Use reverb to match audio to background 
  10. Practice on the basic mic of the computer you use

Project Timeline

  1. Establish tone with director and screenwriter
  2. Look over the script and make any Foley sounds before you start production
  3. Create music to fit the film’s tone
  4. Mark advanced storyboard with audio implements
  5. Record room tone in one of the back rooms of the film classroom
  6. Record on-sight in production with a camera mounted mic
  7. Look over the edited film and take note of all the things that need to be recorded.
  8. Record the ADR of the actors using the shotgun mic.
  9. Label all sound files to make things easier for your editor
  10. Help the editor sync all sound files correctly with the lines spoken.

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The Gronch

Skills Commentary

In the film I utilized only ADR recorded after production, with the goal of higher quality audio not muddled by background noises. This can be seen on the timeline of the film, where you can see all the audio files used are green, meaning none of them came from the camera while we were in production.

Seen in the wide green bar stretching the length of the timeline, I had a long take of ambiance from where I recorded the other sounds in post-production. This background sound is used to make the static of the audio clips consistent and smooth.

I had multiple sources of audio throughout production, the first while filming was used to better line up audio acquired with the shotgun mic in post-production. This is seen in my bank of audio files that I used for the film.

Also evidenced by my list of audio files is that all the sound effects and Foley for the film were recorded after production. This was done to keep background static consistent and give audio we would expect as viewers from things we might not have heard from the live audio.

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking

In order to get the highest quality sound I was capable of achieving, I checked out recording equipment and spent part of a night in a desolate woodland attic recording all the Foley sounds I knew I needed, as well as all of my lines for ADR. Because of this, only about a fifth of audio was recorded in the classroom, and much time was saved that could be used for other things.

Ways of Working

The members of Team 3, even in the absence of a Trello board, kept in contact daily about what needed to get done for us to finish. Without being told to do a stand-up meeting, we would generally start each day talking about what we were all going to do that day to work towards the end goal. We didn’t give our jobs to others, but we all filled roles when it was needed in the case of absence.

Tools for Working

For this project I used YouTube tutorials on ADR, recording decks and shotgun mics, Premier Pro and Google Drive.

Ways of Living in the World

In this session more than any other, I felt a harmonious relationship with my teammates. I could rely on them and they could rely on me. In a perfect world, I would work through everything in this way. Working as a team player will definitely be useful in future careers.

Reactions to the Final Version

Keith remarked that he was, “…impressed by the amount of sound you recorded, and how clean it was that it flowed together…”

Sam had written that “Sound was well done, voices were clear and sound effects were easy to hear and understand.”

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

The story we made was simple. The premise was easy to understand and delivered more through implication than dialogue.

The film we made had an unexpected ending, made to be endearing for the audience’s benefit.

The film we made was emotional, people can probably relate to the more pessimistic person.

Our story was concrete, it had a beginning, middle and end.

What I Learned

During this session, I have learned the importance of collaboration and time management. There is not a single component of what I did during the session that would be as it is if not for the aid and guidance of my peers.

Grammar and Spelling

The tool “Grammarly” was used to check spelling and grammar in this paper.

Editor