Design Practice 2: Film: 2nd Edit

Shift Edit 4 from Jordan Brooks on Vimeo.

The latest edit for our design practice two project: SHIFT

New additions:
- Sound correction to the opening scene. 
- Correction to the 'shift' title transition.
- Straight cuts added to the reception scene for better flow.
- Envelope scene shortened to keep audiences interest.
- Postbox scene shortened.
- Corrections to the night time alley way scene such as: a more fast-paced, continuous set of movements displayed by camera cuts and a correction to a continuity error with the bag.
- An overall contrast increase to the entire film, to create the dark film noir look and feeling.
- An alternative ending, makes more sense in terms of movement of the characters and also creates a better sense of equilibrium from the start scene. The still image with wind has been replaced by the much more effective fade to black with a gunshot noise and a slow motion drop of the hat.

Possible further improvements:

- The addition of voice overs to establish and explain the story better. avoid feeling like a silent film.
- Addition of running away sound in the beginning scene.
- Addition of sound to the final scene: 2nd time you see Chris, 3rd time you see Kyle.
- Sound fades in from writing letter to postbox scene.

P.S. ( It is to be noted that editing is now being done by seperate people so differences are to be expected, were aiming to create a general over-all team edit which were all happy with. This may well be the finished piece. )

Design Practice 2: Film: 1st Edit

Here Is the first edit I have produced for our film project shift, I did the best I could in the situation I was in. I am fairly satisfied with the results, although due to the time restriction of two days to produce (for the Friday premiere), It was a bit of a rush job. It was more difficult at times as I was having to take on the roles of both sound and editor, and partly at times shooting the footage and directing.

For the most part my group all contributed to the finished result, but If we were to do this project again we defiantly should have planned out the use of time more effectively and been more direct about what we wanted each other to do. On the plus side the props, lighting, location and costume were all a success and the feedback we received today was generally positive.
               
Improvement:
. The addition of voice overs to explain the story.
. Certain corrections to the sound mix, levels and positioning. (also finding more suitable sounds for situations)
. Adding colour treatment for individual shots to create a more 'Film Noir' look
. Shortening certain clips to keep the viewers interest
. Removing certain transitions to keep things flowing
. Lengthening of certain clips for suspense
. Different title positioning and animation

These are some improvements proposed to us by our film teacher, although I do agree with the majority of them and I'm not disputing she's more knowledgeable in the film department, I am however slowly coming to realise that opinions about what 'works well' in the film industry are highly relative and differs widely from person to person. Simply put one persons heaven is an others hells. For example one viewer could interpret the lack of voice overs in our project as creative and stylistic, enjoying having to watch closely and use their brain to figure out the story, where as another viewer may perceive it as lazy, boring or confusing. Again with sound, some people may enjoy the quick, sharp shocks where as other prefer the more subtle build up, or a mixture.

So in conclusion I believe it's impossible to produce a film that satisfies every one's tastes and expectations, you'll always have people with opposing opinions and ideas. You just have to try your hardest to find the healthy medium, but remember you certainly shouldn't change a film every time someone suggests an 'improvement', or else you'll be 'improving it' forever.
JUST A RANT ;)

Design Practice 2: Film: Development (Editor Role) (Week 5) - Trailer & Poster

Shift Trailer from Jordan Brooks on Vimeo.

Design Practice 2: Film: Development (Editor Role) (Week 5)

Hey, so we got some more footage for our project on Friday and plan to film the remaining scenes on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I am quite surprised that we have got so little filming done at this stage, makes you wonder what we were doing the first three weeks of the assignment. I have imported and begun editing the footage I have access to at the moment, I am restricted to what I can actually produce at this time as everything is very fragmented and we have a lot of missing scenes.

Although the majority of shots are alright there are some issues that need correcting, for starters we need a lot more variety in terms of camera than just 20 second long shots to piece together a coherent story, the audience will quickly become bored and not understand what is going on. I am struggling to piece together clips without using transitions constantly to show a lapse in time, my solution is to write a long list of different angles and shots to show to my camerawomen so I can start to piece together clips coherently and at the same time create the tense fast-paced atmosphere we had planned for.

REMEMBER TO THINK ABOUT HOW SHOTS ARE GOING TO FLOW INTO ONE ANOTHER, GET LOTS OF DIFFERENT ANGLES FOR ME TO WORK WITH.

Camera Additions:

1. ARBORETUM TUNNEL. NIGHT

- Extreme closeup of Chris looking scared (heavy breathing with footstep noise over)
- Shot of someone walking, looking down at feet
- Back to closeup of Chris panicked (footstep noise over)
- Closeup of feet on ground level
- Mid shot of Chris running off screen
- Continued shot of someone walking looking down at feet
- Chris running from off screen down an alley
- Shot of some running looking down
- Closeups of Chris's face while running
- P.O.V from behind Chris 
- Over the shoulder shot of Chris looking behind him
- A different shot of Chris running around a corner
(All scenes shot on Tuesday were in the day time???)

2 INT. OFFICE WITH BLINDS. DAY
- Close up of two fingers opening blind
- Close up of being blinded, hand in front of eyes then moving off
- Close up of Chris hesitating what to do
- Shot of hand moving in to get briefcase 
(We forgot to film him with the briefcase at the blinds) 
(Not filmed: Nods to receptionist, hesitates, slows down then nods to security.  The revolving door exit seems very far away)
- Shot of Chris walking off screen
- P.O.V from behind Chris walking through reception
- Long shot of walking through reception 
- Close up of receptionist
- Close up of Chris Nodding
- Mid shot of Chris walking past receptionist 
- Close up Of Security 
- Close up of Chris Nodding
- Mid shot of Chris walking past security
- Long shot of walking to exit 
- P.O.V of exit looking far away 

3 INT. OFFICE. NIGHT

DISCOVERY SCENE  
- Cutaway, change of angle closeup
- Another change of angle for close up shock face, this time he moves off camera
MOVING PHOTOS
- Closeup of pictures, hand moving in to take them off wall
- Re film the ripping photos of wall (To dark to work with)
SCARED
- Close up of putting photos in bag 
- Close up of door handle being opened
- (Possible exterior shot of security talking with hand on  

 handle)
- Shot of door from inside being slightly opened while security talk
- Different angle of door from inside
- (Possible exterior shot of security walking away of camera)
- Close up Shot of relieved Chris 

4  INT. FRONT ROOM. DAY
- Possible establishment shot of Chris sitting at desk

5 EXT. STREET. DAY

(Not filmed: Chris approaches a post box, package in hand)
- Long shot of Chris walking towards
- Cutaways to over the shoulder 
- Closeup for expression
- Closeup of hand placing letter in box
- Shot of Chris walking off screen

6  INT. BEDROOM. DAY

(Not filmed: Chris removes the negatives from a briefcase)

- An establishment shot of Chris in the bedroom first

- Mid shot of Chris going into the bag 

- Possible P.O.V from inside the bag

- Mid shot of Chris looking at photos in hand

- Closeup of photos

- Closeup of Chris's expression

7 INT. OFFICE. DAY

- Possible Shot of Chris poketing the key

8 EXT. NEWSAGENTS. DAY

(Refilm outside?: Chris scans the Daily Telegraph for his article. Nothing)

- Long Shot walking to get paper

- Mid Shot of him picking/buying paper

- Close up of reading from front
- Midshot exiting the newsagents

- Close up of reading from back 

- Close up of putting paper down to reveal face

- Long shot of throwing paper away 

9 EXT. ALLEYWAY. NIGHT

(Not Filmed: Chris rushes around a corner and jumps recklessly over the stair well.   As he runs he repeatedly looks over his shoulder for his pursuers. Running he drops the briefcase.  Rushing back to the retrieve it, he abandons that idea and continues his escape)

- Camera other side of corner to see him rush round

- Closeup move back of facial expression

- Camera behind till jump

- Camera other side of jump looking up from ground 

- Alteration between closeups of Chris looking over his shoulder

with over the shoulder shots from in front and P.O.V shots from behind

- Long shot of him dropping briefcase while running 

- Camera on floor near briefcase, see Chris come to pick up but then stumble away 

- Final long shot of him running away

10 INT. FLAT. DAY

- Different angle of keys on floor
- Closeup of a paper that says 'Goverment plans expose'
- Different angle and close up of the phone ringing
- Varied pans/long-shots of empty flat

- (Don't understand the keys?)

Design Practice 2: Film: Development (Editor Role) (Week 4)

Hi, just an update, me and my group started filming several scene for our project Shift on Tuesday, were hoping to have every scene filmed by Friday and then I can start editing, I want all the footage first before I start editing for continuity issues and so I can really get a picture of what I'm going to produce.

From my perspective there were no problems filming during my scene on the park except for having to watch out for members of the public walking in front of the camera, The concerns about me not being an actor were eliminated as my scenes were so simple and my face was half covered up that anyone could have pulled it off, I do however think I look the part of a goon and do pull some great facial expression :)

The Pervy Park Bench Guy:

Just a test of the effects I'm thinking of using, effects used = scale and position alteration to match rule of 3rds, dust and scratches, null blur, colour pass, contrast and gamma correction. Tell me what you guys think as a general visual look for the film. To dark? More grain?

Issues:
. The shots took in the darkroom seem  really grainy, I had this problem with this camera before filming in the dark for a band and had to use Neat Video to correct it. (This could just be my home computer screen, needs confirmation)
. I need some storyboards and the updated script so I don't just put clips in any old order.

. I Need to know what's going on with After Effects, Do I edit it first then give it to people for AE? Other way around? Is it best for doing the title effects? Do we need to use AE? I have absolutely 0% knowledge about after effects and it's role in editing film. 

Example of noise and neatvideo

Recap: 2nd Year Student's and Pathway Choices!

This week has been information overload for me, I've been contemplating my pathway choice for months now, desperately searching for something to tilt me one way or the other... moving image, virtual environments, moving image, virtual environment, moving image, virtual environments e.c.t.

The deal is that I am passionate about both, different stages of my life have been dominated by the two at different times, for example I studied A-level film at college and watched/made film throughout my childhood, but in more recent years a big chunk of my aspirations and spare time has been dreaming about being involved in animation in someway, partly influenced by my increased interaction with games and animated films/shows.

It's a really tough decision, my life could go either way and I really want to make the right choice, I need to make a educated selection, so I'm trying to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages, another thing for me to recognize is that since I started University i have almost been daring myself to choose animation for a challenge and have found it more difficult but more interesting than the others, It's like a personal wrestling match between the two. My cousin has also made a successful career in the animation industry, so there's that as well.

So on Monday we got the the opportunity to listen and Q&A with second year students about there pathway choice, Another interesting matter I noticed was that I only took notes down from the animation speaker (that could say something in its self)

Notes:

Animation:

• Photoshop Crucial
• Do your visual essay in the medium your choosing
• Need some drawing skills
• Do more projects than just uni, enter competitions, challenge friends
• Time management and Pipelining
• Buy a powerful Desktop Computer
• Do a lot of independent research and practice
• Follow current practitioners and techniques
• A lot of hard work, up late at night, but rewarding 
• Don't have to work in groups 
• A lot of time spent in front of computer 
• Decent Pay

All in all it confirmed by thoughts that animation is going to be a hell of a lot of work, with high levels of passion and commitments required, no room for being lazy. I did note that I felt that I would be more confident going into film as its less intimidating and I have past experience in the area, also a plus was that your not on computers constantly.

In conclusion If i can get past the intimidation of VE and embrace that I will have to learn and learn, I'm positive I would find virtual environments enjoyable, I just need to decide if I've got what It takes. Will be confirming shortly.


Calum Whitehead's (Second year student) visual essay:



This has sparked a fair few ideas

Design Practice 2: Film: Development (Editor Role)(Week 3)

Film Noir Lighting:

Hey yeah, we had quite the merry making enjoyable design practice session today. Our group was assigned the task of replicating a low key (almost film noir'ish) lighted interview, This was convenient as we are as you know doing a film noir style project at the moment. I feel like I played a main part in creating the atmosphere, mainly because I had past experience on film noir lighting and could direct people where to position the various lights, I love the result and I believe it screams film noir! It was fun activity and I hope my group and I can replicate this effect in the real thing.

Example of actual film noir footage

Once again as the editor in pre production I find myself with little concrete work to actually do, I have suggested various matters to my group such as: making sure they storyboard scenes with the colour pass effect in mind (only one individual colour in shot), allowing me at least a week before the end of the five weeks to edit, working with Jordon our producer in After Effects collaboratively, reminding them of the importance of shadows for when I colour correct and finally showing them the fonts I found. I think at the present time this font is favoured: 

So yeah to keep myself busy I have produced a mock up video using clips from the crime drama PS3 game Heavy Rain, I think It's quite fitting as the game shares similar concepts to our film project Shift. I have done this mainly to get better acquainted with the premiere pro software before I edit for real, I realised that a lot more time, work and effort has to go into editing to create anything remotely descent.

Example of how its more complicated than you think for a one minute video

Heavy Rain - Shift Trailer

I experimented with various effects and transitions such as; Blur, Motion Path, Dither Dissolve, Cross Dissolve, Addictive Dissolve, Zoom, Dip To Black, Gamma Correction, Contrast Correction, Red Colour Matte, Colour Pass & a Vinette for practice. 

             

Finally I found out that I will be acting as a hired goon in shift, Although i don't have any dialogue I am required to look mean, hard and shifty, which can be sometimes harder than you think, especially when your trying to make an impact and your acting is bad. So I am going to practice in the mirror over the weekend looking mean, I don't want to burst out into laughter or awkwardness on the day, I may make a video to, I don't know.

Practicing acting role In mirror