....And Onto the Screen

….And Onto the Screen

            Editing a film is hard. It is strenuous, tedious, backbreaking labor that I dread every time I make a film. It doesn’t help that as my films get more sophisticated and as I use better software, editing becomes more and more complicated as well. Before I get too far into my process, let me establish the four basic reasons for editing a movie: to combine, to trim, to correct, and to build (Jones and Patmore 103). I primarily edit with the “to build” in mind. This way of editing is to “take many shots, which are taken out of sequence, picking the best takes, and placing them in the desired sequence. It is a long, involved process but ultimately the most rewarding” (Jones and Patmore 103).

            When editing a film, there are 10 steps that should be followed in order to make editing go as smoothly as possible. Those are: importing all of your videos, importing all of the audio, syncing the audio with the video, organizing the clips, making basic cut of the scene, working in the basic cut of the scene into the rough cut of the film, adding necessary music and sound effects, adjusting the audio levels, viewing the rough cut of the film, and finally, assembling the film together (Jones and Patmore 107-110). Being my rushed and unorganized self, I skipped, or at least reordered, many of these steps. For example, I didn’t sync up my audio with my video until after I had assembled the rough cut of the film.

            As I argued in my previous post, I believe that sound is the most vital part of a film. While editing, it’s important to ensure that the sound is the best it can be. Jones and Patmore state: “the original sound is examined for flaws, and then it is cleaned up or manipulate to create the final soundtrack” (122). For my film, all of the audio was flawless except for in the park. Wind interfered with the recording, making the levels go too high. I fixed it, however because of how far gone the audio was, the final result suffered. When recording, it’s imperative that the best sound possible is captured during production.

            Furthering my point of audio being important, I believe that the score of a movie is the highest priority of audio. “Music in film helps establish themes or to create mood. The style of the music will depend on the type of film and the idea you are trying to convey” (Jones and Patmore 126). The score of a movie essentially creates the entire tone of a movie. You could play two clips side-by-side, each with a different score playing, and each would convey drastically different tones and moods. During the making of this film, I create some music of my own and found some free to use for a project, as long as it’s accredited. Using this music, I was able to create the tone I wanted in each of the scenes.

Here's a link to the video if you would like to watch it: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whyg9CqH9Nc

            While making this film, I was able to understand how to cope with a significant amount of stress and responsibly manage multiple tasks that all need to be completed. I was able to accomplish all the things that needed to be done in a manner that I can be proud of. Directing a film is a tremendous task, but it’s one that I incredibly enjoy. As I finish this last post, I have two questions: what is your favorite film genre, and how much significance do you think a soundtrack holds in a film?

Works Cited

Jones, Ted, and Chris Patmore. Movie Making Course. 2nd ed., Barron's, 2012.

Through the Lens....

Through the Lens….

Over the weekend of the 14^th, I proceeded to film my project. I had two of my friends act in it, and another help with sound and taking pictures for my blog. With my previous experience, I knew that filming would be stressful; however, due to being a tad rushed and with my original plan-of-action being trashed, this shoot was a lot more stressful than any of my others.

When starting the shoot, I split up the script into different parts that I would easily be able to shoot. As suggested in Movie Making Course, “Divide the script or treatment into workable unit by location and scene…If, for example, you have three scenes in the same day-care center, you will shoot them consecutively to conserve time and energy, even though they are widely spaced in the film” (Jones and Patmore, 63). I started in the park, as I needed a midday lighting. After that, I headed back to my house with my cast and crew to shoot the rest of the film. Because the whole film, excluding the park scene, takes place indoors, making sure that my actors knew the context and tone of the scene was crucial. Jones and Patmore advise letting your actors know the discontinuity of each scene so that they don’t covey the same tone and emotion in three radically different scenes (63).

On the more technical side of things, there were some kinds of shots that I deliberately chose to create a specific feeling in the scene. For example, in the very first scene of the film, I have both a low-angle and high-angle shots. As we have learned in class, these shots give a certain tone to the audience. As stated in Movie Making Course, “A high-angle shot looks slightly down at a subject. If this is a person, this usually signifies that he or she is feeling vulnerable and overwhelmed….The low-angle shot looks at the subject from below and is used to…make them seem powerful or in control” (Jones and Patmore 88). I filmed the opening scene with these shots to convey those very meanings in mind.

A crucial part of filming for me was recording good sound. I have always thought that good sound is what makes or breaks a film. Someone could have the best story in the world, but no one would want to watch it if the film has horrible-quality sound. Because of this, I chose to finally buy a good microphone that I could use during filming. I chose to have my friend put the microphone on my monopod as use that as a “boom pole”. In doing this, I was able to achieve getting the microphone as close to the actors as possible and only capturing their dialogue (Jones and Patmore 92).

Because this was a short film, many of the things that would occur while shooting a normal studio film I skipped over. However, the basic structure and procedures are still all the same. The next step in this process is editing the film and getting it ready for release. During filming, I was forced to be more expressive and straightforward of my thoughts and ideas. I am forced to be more friendly while still being authoritative. Directing films gives me skills that are crucial for me to grow as a mature and successful adult. As I wrap up this post, do you agree that sound quality makes or breaks a film? Or do you believe that it’s still the story that truly matters?

Works Cited

Jones, Ted, and Chris Patmore. Movie Making Course. 2nd ed., Barron's, 2012.

Setting up Shots -- Storyboarding

Setting up Shots – Storyboarding

            “One of the primary reasons for using storyboards is to convey your ideas to other members of the production team, especially the director of photography (or cinematographer or camera man)” (Jones and Patmore 24).

Over the last weekend, I spent my Saturday night storyboarding some of the shots for my short-film that I thought might have needed some guidance. Although storyboards are supposed to apply to the entire film, because this is a short-film, I only storyboarded sequences where I didn’t know how I would approach them during production. As I’m not the best artist, I only drew the minimal amount of lines and figures that would help me (the one who will be filming this project) figure out how I want to set up each scene. As Movie Making Course suggests, each director or filmmaker will have his or her own way to storyboard. Some may choose to draw intricate pieces for each of their shots, while some opt for some scribbles in a box. (Jones and Patmore 24). I chose to practice a happy medium in this aspect.

In my storyboards, I wanted to keep them as concise as possible. In Movie Making Course, storyboard artist Rachel Garlick states that: “The simplest approach to storyboarding for a first-time-filmmaker is to draw basic thumbnails…for your boards and annotate them to convey technical needs, such as shot size, camera movement, etc” (Jones and Patmore 28). I did this, although my annotations stayed at a minimum. Above each box, I wrote how each shot would cut to the next and if any movement was necessary. I would also occasionally draw arrows if something within the scene needed to move.

            Something that I didn’t adhere to that is commonly done with storyboards is to paraphrase the dialogue and the other technical terms below the box. This is used so that whomever is reading through the storyboards knows the context for that frame. Because I am going to be the one filming this, I decided that it was unnecessary for me to do this, as I have the context already engrained in my head.

            After this, the next step would be to gather cast and crew, and set up detailed plans so everything runs smoothly. However, again because this is a short film and I’m a little short on time, I decided to just use some of my friends that act and that would fit the part. The cast is also just some of my friends. Scouting for a location wasn’t hard as I wrote the script with the locations in mind.

After doing all of this work, I have come to realize that storyboarding is a crucial part of making a film. It has helped me organize my thoughts and finally decide on shots that I was maybe more indecisive about. Storyboarding has made me a more decisive person both when it comes to film and in life in general.

            Now as I’m wrapping up this post, I would like to pose a question for all of you reading this: from reading this post, do you think that storyboarding is an essential part of filmmaking, or do you think that it could get in the way of other creative ideas you may have during production?

Works Cited

Jones, Ted, and Chris Patmore. Movie Making Course. 2nd ed., Barron's, 2012.

Creating the Story

            Before a movie can go into principle photography, the screenplay, or script as it is commonly referred to, must be written up. The screenplay will hold all of the actor’s lines, the general locations to film, and practically the whole body of the movie. According to Movie Making Course by Ted Jones and Chris Patmore, there are two different kinds of scripts. One is the A/V Script format, and the other is the Master-scene format. The A/V is usually used for commercials, as its main purpose is for shot references. Because I’m creating a short film, I used the master-scene format which forces whoever is reading the screenplay to read both the dialogue and other technical ideas (20, 22).

           

            The first struggle I had with writing my script was coming up with a title. It’s not extremely important to the story, however I felt as if I should establish what this short film would be called before I started writing it. In my opinion, I feel as if a title has a stronger meaning if it has symbolic meaning, rather than a literal and direct meaning. I eventually came up with the name “Citrus”, relating to how the protagonist explains the behavior of the antagonist.

            In my short-film, I tried to write it up so that it followed the Screenplay Paradigm, or a three-act-structure. This includes the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution (Jones and Patmore 16-17). The setup in my short film consists of a couple fighting, and eventually the man hitting the girl. This establishes an abusive relationship, but also that the boyfriend is extremely hot-headed. It should effectively introduce the characters and their main character traits. The confrontation in my project is when the main character, Violet, stands up to the antagonist in an aggressive manner. The resolution, taking up approximately 30-40 seconds, is Violet escaping the house she was being trapped in.

            When writing my screenplay, I took advice from several passages within the book I’m using during this assignment. The main point I tried to consider as writing this project up was to leave things open. As stated in the book, “An open script challenges the cast to create their own input…. To challenge actors means getting each to work from his own, different, and distinct personal identity rather than taking it from the script’s common pool. The good screenplay leaves the director and players to work out how things will be said and done” (Jones and Patmore 19). Another point that they make that I tried to keep in mind was to create a film that perpetually kept the audience engaged in what the characters were feeling. “In a moving personal experience, one is actively involved and feels the stress subjectively. Screen drama must, however, be structured so that characters’ inner thoughts and emotions communicate to outsiders through the characters’ outwardly visible behavior” (Jones and Patmore 19). My example of doing this is during a scene where Violet is writing out a diary entry. It’s not the best way to show character’s emotions, as I’m going against the “show not tell” rule. However, this scene is able to communicate Violet’s thoughts and how she’s shifting from a passive and naïve character to one who’s actively thinking about the situation that she’s in.

            Through the process of writing this screenplay, I did my best to make it as entertaining and as interesting as possible. I tried to make it open for my future actors to interpret their dialogue and actions in their own unique way so that my style didn’t dominate their parts. From the section of the book that I read from, I learned new techniques that allowed my writing to become more professional, which would in turn benefit my story as a whole. As I grow older and hopefully get a career in directing, perhaps these same techniques will stay with me so that I can create unique and exciting stories that will entertain audiences world-wide.

Now I have a question for those of you reading: Do you think that the meaning of a movie title (literal or symbolic) has an important impact on the story? Or does the title even hold much significance in the minds of the audience?

Jones, Ted, and Chris Patmore. "Good Screenplay Essentials" Movie Making Course, 2nd ed., Barron's Educational Series, 2012, pp. 10-13.

A World Born from a Mind

            In our world, there are set rules that we must follow. Don’t drive over the speed limit; don’t make a scene in public; be polite to others. Our lives are intricate, each person having their own story, their own motives and unique ideas. The same ideas apply to film. When creating an entirely new world, you have to create rules that the characters must follow, create consequences for their actions, and make sure that each of the character’s lives are unique and interesting. Filmmakers are able to do this in a visual medium, making their works some of the most emotional and impacting things people see. Throughout the course of the next two months, I’ll be reading Movie Making Course: 2^nd Edition by Ted Jones and Chris Patmore, and making a short film of my own.

            There are three main stages in filmmaking: pre-production, production, and post-production. However, before anyone can start in pre-production, they must first think of a story. A great way to think of a story is to just write. As stated in the book, giving myself regular periods every day to write can foster ideas, whether good or bad. Then, once I have a good basis of a topic, I can then branch off and delve into deeper and more complicated ideas (Jones and Patmore 10). The question I constantly asked myself was “What message do I want to convey?” All of my teachers have told me that a good story isn’t told unless it means to teach you something. I hoped to achieve that same goal.

            After doing some brainstorming, I decided to create a story around abusive relationships and the idea that looks can be deceiving. To help encourage the details of the story, I wrote down sentences briefly describing scenes that stuck out in my mind. These scenes existed in the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd act of the story.

After thinking about the premise of the story some more, I then created a step outline, as suggest by the book. “By writing a step outline you can see how your script is developing, where rewrites or revisions may be needed to control your script, and check how successful you are communicating your story” (Jones and Patmore 11). By creating this outline, I was able to examine how I could create a cohesive story and how that story would help convey the theme I wanted.

            I then moved onto fleshing out my characters and making sure they were interesting and round, a character type discussed in English class. I wanted to ensure that the two characters, named Noah and Violet, seemed real, with scenes in the film that would show you this. One tip that the book suggests is to think about traits that the characters have, and then to create moments that would showcase these traits to the audience (Jones and Patmore 13).

Another thing I did to help create more realistic characters is to do the previous tip stated, but with the character types we’ve learned in English class. I did this because in my personal experience, a character that is flat and static throughout an entire story is like watching statues exchange pleasantries.

  

            Character development is crucial to a story. Making sure that I know my characters inside and out allowed me to ensure that the story itself would be interesting and captivating, perhaps making me a little bit of a better storyteller. Hopefully I’ll be able to capture the same depth of the characters in-camera. As I finish up this post, I would like to pose a question for those of you reading: do you think that it’s important for a story to tell a message, or do you think that perhaps a story can be good for just entertainment, even without a message?

Works Cited

Jones, Ted, and Chris Patmore. "Where's the Story?" Movie Making Course, 2nd ed., Barron's Educational Series, 2012, pp. 10-13.