Experience during this year

Last year was ok as my learning curve goes but this year is being really good, when it comes to learning. I think so I had grown a lot and I think so it happened because I listen to my critics in my class by patrick and try to implement now. Now I dont shoot any stuff, I think for every thing the composition, the depth, the exposure the lighting to the mood and how the story should flow.

I want to become a Director and a Cinematography as both of them tell stories, one through the eyes of a actor and one through the lens. I had two goals in  the beginning of this year to improve the skills of my cinematography and direction and I believe I had improved in my cinematography and I will keep on striving to improve more and now my next year goal is to improve my skills as a director and polish my cinematography skills.

I am happy to achieve what I had during this year  journey.  I learned more and it will be helped full for next year. Being in all the shoots helped me and doing a green screen movie also helped me to prepare for any future green screen projects. I also learn the importance of collaboration as it is very important part of film making. A film can be ones Idea but if if collaborate and ask right people for the critics we can bring more layers and depth in that idea. This summer I will try improve my skills more. There will be enough time to do more research and and do some shooting. I will continuos to write my blogs through the summer as it will be a nice thing to reflect back and see where I was and what section I have to improve more.

Script to screen

As it happen with lots of film, that it changed ones I edited and screened same happen with my film but the story looked better after the edit as there was potential to change the story in the post as it was green screen and voice over was there . Thanks the Patrick and Callum which helped me to shape the story well.

                 After seeing the final product. I think so the pace was too fast. There was no breathing space in that. I need to give some space to feel in moments in some scene so people can feel the situation and the character. Specially  after the death of Allan I should have put a gap between that scene and the kid stabbing Michael scene as it happened very fast. Still have to find the right music to suit the pace of the movie but now I will have time to seat with a composer and get the music according to the pace.

Work flow for my film

When I started editing my film . I edited in premiere and then linked the files from premiere to after effect but When I comes to rendering, I start taking very long time and start shutting down.  I should have done is separated as it would be easy on the computer to handle it as the ram in the computer are not that high to handle to separate software at same time.  Ideally I should have used one of the editing suits but it was booked. I have loaded all in my hard drive so I can use two computer but the same problem happen with my hard drive to connecting two software. Next time ideally I should use one at a time and then exported it to work on the other. Even 30 sec. of cut is taking 20 mints just to render in the time line.

Experience as a DOP on others shoot...

My first shoot was Matt's shoot.  I had a chat with Matt earlier, regarding his video . Ones I reached the set, I changed the set dressing as the piano was in front of the shadow screen. The second thing I did was try to bring the set to more 3d as compare to 2 d just move few things around . The shoot was shot so used to camera BMC and BMPCC.  There was still some problem as I didn't use the monitor and BMPCC screen was pretty small to see it properly.

The second problem was one of the lead was not do at dancing, So I ask them to do contemporary dance and try to focus more on the girl and the shadows rather than the man guy. My shot selection was difficult due to that but I still try to get a story out of it by only choosing angles which was more from focus on others and on good movements. I enjoyed my shoot with Matt as I got some interesting shoots and will be good reference for future music videos.


The second shoot was with Dan, It was easy as I had got with him in the location and kind of knew what shot I wanted to do . I enjoyed my shoot and I was happy with my cinematography, expected the gip shot as the HDMI cable of the moniter was not working, So I gussed the shot and the space for using gib was very narrow but we move inside due to the bad weather and it was a on the spot decision.


The third was with Dough's second day, It was hard for me as I didnt knew the actions of the actor properly but I was in stick so it was alright.

The third shoot was of Lana's film. I am not sure of all the shoots as Matt did share with him but the shot I discussed with Lana  before turns to be really good.  She had a trippy sequence and I did some research and come up with a plan. I used the reference of Mean Street where the camera was riged to the actor and the same reference in a music video where the camera was rigged to the actor but I diced to change it a bit and told lana that I will use Gopro riged in a dolly. We couldnt find dolly so I decided to riged in a trolly and lucky Ash was in the set and he riged gopro for us. The gopro have a wide distort angle (fish eye ) and I just pushed the trolly around Plus I used lots ok Bokeh effect as a cut away for the scene as they were very trippy. I was just a little bit unhappy with me in the last shots as I was very tired and I was using long lens on a handheld without a IS but lana wanted a handheld movements in it. Hope the shots will turn out to be good. 

Style, lighting for my short film.

For my short film" Last Rescue" I am choosing the film noir/ frank miller style ( sin city) as it will help the story narratives.  I am using green screen and it is hard to make the green screen believable in realistic films thats why I am doing it in a stylized way.

Hard back light, so it will give nice rim light and in black and white, it gives nice look in the film and I am using black and white, as it is a film noir look and in black and white it enhance the feeling of the dark and dirty look and the hard light helps to create the suspense by not showing the character face all the time, as it keeps the secrets from the audience of what the character is thinking at  that time .

I will be also using rain in my film as it is associated with sadness as a metaphor.

This style and look will help the storyline and the character as this story is very dark and there is a suspense in the film which can be carried well with the film noir lighting.

I will be pulling only some colour in each character, so it can stand different as compare to other characters and it can define there personality through the accessories  and the colour will I will pull as in the short film it is hard to establish the character and tell the backstory, this little things help to connivence the story.  

Pre prepration for green screen

Handing green screen is not easy and needed lots of practice. I started with reacher and then did some quick test and find outs: -

Try to equally light the green screen and not to let and random hotspot in it because it is hard to key it.

I used the magenta colour for black light as it cancel the green colour and help[s with the green spill.

used closed aperture  so every thing will be in focus and then it will be easy to key and depth of focus can be achieved in the post.

I used the lower shutter angle so every moment will be smooth and crepes so it will not blur the moment and it makes the post work easy.

Should keep the enough distance between the actor and the green screen is a good idea but I struggle with it, due to the lack of space. Another problem is when you don't have enough space and then when you light the actor the light spread every where and its hard to control it in a small room . the solution for it was to use lots of flags around the lights and camera.

How to approach for a interview

Today we had a skype session with Slavko Martinov the director of Propaganda(2012). He shared some good information about his approach to documentary. One of the important thing he mention is how to approach a person for interview. We had shared more information with Patrick Gillies our tutor in earlier classes plus I had a latest experience in interviewing one of the talent in the resent student profile I did. I come up with this steps after combining all the information.

First step - Research and select people you are interested. For my latest documentary. I started with yellow pages and then printed the information in a paper and gone to all the gym in Invercargill and talk to the trainers.

Step two- is to send him/her a e-mail. Its formal but a good point to start and give time and space to talent to think.

Step three - If they agree. depending how much time they are willing to spend. Its good to just go and have a formal talk with them. So they can be more comfortable with you and by doing this we will have some notes to prepare for the main interview.

Step three- Location - Its very important specially if the talent have not given a interview before.
Ex. In the house of the talent as they will be more comfortable for them.

Step four - Take smaller team as you want your talent to be comfortable in the location.

Step five- Do all the camera and light setup before the talent come for the interview because in my experience I have notice that if we do all the setup in front of the talent then it become donating for them all the things wich will be going around them and it brings them to the reality of that they are in front of camera.

Step six- Use long lens so the camera will not be in the face of the talent.

Step seven - Start the interview with informal talk and dont roll the camera untill the talent is comfortable. 

Research for Documentary

After giving more thought after the class session and doing more search I am thinking of changing the centre question from are being large means attractive ? to am I happy with my body ? As I am planning to take two personal journey in my documentary about there struggle with there body Issue and overcome. I think this question will go more deep and find more about the issues and solutions in this topic.

Beside the psychologist I am thinking of approaching some counsellor also. So they can ask questions to the person as they are more experience  and will be able to make the people more comfortable and they can express them self more.

For the title I am thinking " Embrace the Mirror". As people should love them self no matter how they look. As people should take there body image gladly and should love it.  

Post production of student profile 231

I started cutting between the interview and the b roll to make it more alive. I added SIT logo in post as it was easier then bringing the SIT banner and placing in set plus lighting it.

Then I color graded it to make it more professional and the looks pop up and made it more professional. The three point lighting as well as using proper photo back drop really helped me while colour grading the footage. I used both the premiere as well as the Davinci for colour grading.

I find that the question and answer in the interview is looking a bit blend that why decided to add the question as the pop up during the interview.

Now working in the after effect for the font. After that will be working in the sound and music in protol as this is very important part for any broadcast standard.

Production of student profile Assignment 231

Two location: Photo Studio and SIT main campus student lounge

First location Photo Studio:

                   I selected this location for interview. In this location I was able to control the light. I started with two point light but due to Harold skin tone have to put another fill on it. All my light were have dif in it so I can get soft light on harold. I have few choose with the backdrop. I choose the black drop so it will highlight the person plus it will be easy to colour grade it with darker backdrop.

I choose two shots. First was  a MS.  the second one MCU. So I can intercut between each other easily.  Before I started shooting I did some practice run as harold was not comfortable of the camera. The second thing I did is to ask him question so he can have a flow as he was a little bit nervous. For sound thanks to patrick advise. I used lapel mic and shot gun mic both for clean audio.












The second location was the student lounge. It was hard to control the light as it was outside shot.  But used the ND filters to achieve the desired shots. I used some lens flare also to make some shot beautiful as the new generation is accepted lens flare well and it has a common part of lots of videos in todays generation. 

interview findings for student profile assignment 231

I interview Harold on 25 July 2014. He is a student on SIT. He is doing Bachelor of Hotel and Tourism Management. He is a second year student. He choose to do this course because it always wanted to meet new international people and to travel in future. He choose this course as it will help him to get jobs in international hotels and tourist places in Queentown etc. This is a level 7 course so it will bw easy for him to find job outside New Zealand. He choose SIT because of the Zero Fees structure from finical point of view and even the cost of living is also very low in Invercargill which help students. He find the facilities helpful. The library have the good collections of books. He already got a part time job while studying in a pub which will add up to his experience ones he will graduate from this course. 

davinci resolve 9 lite tutorial

The first session of davinci was based on how to import the clip in to the suit and how to colour correct it.

As davinci resolve 9 lite is divided in to media, confirm, colour, gallery and deliver. We import the clip in the media. Then we see check the clip in the confirm. Then we do are colour correction and grading in the colour and then in deliver we export it.

For colour the camera record in RGB and some times Luma differently depending the camera.

For colour correction. The get the scopes up then we have three wheels. Lift, Gama and Gain.
We play we this three wheels to colour correct.  

We make nodes in colour pannel they kind of act like layer do in the photoshop.

we start with five basic 4 nodes.

Node 1 = Size, Node 2=  correction, Node3 = Hul and Node 4 = clip and soft.

pre production

I started doing my research and try to collect with few image which is related to the visual I am imagining for my short then I did the story board. I design my light plan according to the location, Before designing the light plan one have to decide the location. Ones I decided my location then I concentrated on the set design then I planed my lighting according to it. 

experience in set as a crew.

Being in crew not only helping me to gain experience but also helping me to learn what to do and what not to do.

its always good to have a pre production so it makes the job easy and stress free on the day of shooting for every one. The first AD can follow the schedule if it is done well and it makes the shot more smooth.

reshersaling with actors before the shot. Give more freedom to,  set the shot and its easy for the actor also to gel in to there character.

Always to remember the basic of cinematography ..;specially the little things. Like white balance , shutter angle , frame rate and balancing the tripod.

lighting ....How everybody approach with there lighting plan and what makes certain shot looks good.

What kind of lens people are using and how effect they r trying to achieve.

Action shoot

last week our group did a action sequence.

step 1 = pre planing
we did the planing of the story and some rough storyboard.

step 2 = casting
 casting is always a important part and we search the actors who were capable of performing some action sequence as it also involve some hand to hand combat. It was a gang scence so definitely they have to look like gangster.

step 3- look of the film
 I decided to do a 90's style fight sequence. So the wardrobe was according to that. with some brown leather jackets and long courts.

step 4- location

for location, I decided to have a quite parking place. As it was surrounded with bricks and it was giving good look for the film. The walls have graffiti so it suited the mood also.

step 5- the techniques used.

Shot in 60 p. with a shutter speed of 1000 plus with 100 ISO for smooth slo-mo 

step 5- editing

I did some dark grading with high contrast to get that grinning feeling and look and did some after effect for mussel flash and blood splatter.

                 








Step 6- Sound and music
 Sound and music give  meaning and truth to the effect. That why I laid some music and sound effect on the sequence. 

presentation on film the good the bad and the ugly for cinematography.

presentation on film the good the bad and the ugly for cinematography.

Director:

Sergio Leone

Cinematography: Tonino Delli Colli

Sergio is very famous for his close up and by doing this the audience can see and feel whats the character is feeling. its like entering the soul.

Deep focus . He like every thing to be lighted in his set.

"Sergio was a real go-getter, a very meticulous artist who paid attention to everything he did, right down to the smallest details," says Delli Colli. "For the images, he asked for things that were truly effective: full light for long shots because he wanted the details to be visible on screens of all sizes, and close-ups with the individual hairs of the characters' beards visible"

Frame with in a frame.

Selection of location.  death battle in the circle of death in graveyard.  Circle within a circle.

Cutaways

Buffalo 66

Buffalo 66  

Director: Vincent Gallo, Screenplay: Alison Bagnall, Vincent Gallo

This film broke all the possible rule of film making. The continuity. Lots of the time the actors are out of frame but still the film manage to have emotional impact.

The film is a bout a guy who is never been loved in his life right from his childhood days and then gone to prison for the crime he had not committed but ones he find that missing love in his life he changed for good.

And one of the reason was audience feel bad for the main protagonist played by Vincent himself.

I feel for the character as he is very talented by never been appreciated by his parents. 

There is some scenes which I dont buy. Specially when christina ricci dont not resist when vincent abduct her.  It didnt not give enough time to establish that she feel bad for him and she wants to help.

overall there are some parts in the film which engage the audience and some not.

Research for fight scene

Before I start planning and choreography my fight scene I did a research to achieve my objectives.
and I find that fight scene totally depend on the genre and the period of the film. Then I looked at some of the different genre.

The common things that I find in all this fight scenes are.

1. lots of punch scene. While maintaing the 180 degree rule.
2. over the shoulder shot.
3. two shot, POV to the camera
4. mid shot and cu of the impact.
5. over cranking and under cranking.
6. slow mo, specially to show the impact of the punch.
7. Shutter angle near about 40 for the smooth flow
8. effect of the sound and the music to match the rhythm of the scene.
9. In some fight scene they take some frames out for the effect.
10. jump cuts.
 11. location also played a important role for the setting up of the scene.
12. look very well choreography.
13. hand held is used more frequently until and unless there are special effect. If there are special effect. The the camera movements are more steady.
14. big movement and big gestures. Big swigs of punches instead of small swings.

Review of Captain America : The Winter Solider

Capitan America 

Its a story of the downfall of shield and the confrontation with the past for steve rogers and how he deals with the situations of his complex life and still he is able to save everything.

The character I feel most about is Bucky as in the first part he sacrifices his life to save his friend Captain America and in this one he was brain washed ,his mission becoming to kill capital america for whom he had sacrificed his life. His struggle along with his skill made him more compelling. 

The strength of the movie was the structure of the story and how it unfolds the chapters of the story and connects it nicely with the past movie with the reference to the coming one. Another strength I liked was the fact that one main character is full of emotion while the other main character has none causing more on screen drama.

The weakness is the fact that they tried to create chemistry between some of the characters that didn’t go well with the main story line. Like the B story of captain america and black widow. 

BTS

BTS

when I arrived on the set I didn’t just  start shooting BTS I setup my camera but I was waiting for some nice footage, then finally everybody started setting the workshop and I thought It would be nice to take the footage of that. I chose the widest possible shot to showcase the workshop and the activities which where going on within it.  

I took few bits of group discussion on the table then decided to take an interview of Callum so he can talk about the setup so I can inter late the B rolls to the interview. In the beginning of the interview I did not light the scene there was plenty of day light but later on decided to light it after all because I wanted to have more control over it. I used a key light and the filler. The natural light is used as the back light. For camera angle I decided to use long lens to get the depth of field and to make my subject more appealing. I asked my subject to be in between the wall and the camera. I did not want to dress the set too much as it is a workshop set up but I just moved one tiny thing from the background and placed one so it can give a little bit nice wide.

Review of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Review of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

 The story focus on Jack Lemmon as he is the most skilled sales man but not on his winning strike and how he struggle and at last his fall and his success in the eyes of other sales man, who appreciate his skills and method but he fall personally as well as his carrier wise. The story show his struggle in beginning then the surprising rise and then the fall again. 

Alec baldwin character was also very powerful and appealing. It just had a small role but it set the tone for the rest of the film as well as the curved ball which leads to the plot and the sub plots of the film.

The whole film is dialogue oriented and not action. its the speeches and the conversation s of the charters which create the drama and tension on the screen. The dialogue keens the story interestin

The review of The Great Gatsby Movie

The Great Gatsby movie reflect the truth behind the society and how this rich , glittering , colorful world is made out of the sweat and blood of poor people , where rich people dance and poor people cry for that dream ...The green light stand for that dream what ever poor people wants ....not money and glamor but rather love and respect for them. If anything happen blame it to the poor guy ...its a rich men game where the poor people pays the price ...the crime is done by the poor people and they die for it and take the blame but its done for the rich people....If a rich men die , the world stop and a poor people die nobody bother ....Thats the story of The Great Gatsby ...a poor kid with a big dream ..who nearly got it but he was not born for it ....as Tom Buchanan said in the movie" you are not like us ........." and the modern music bring the relevance of the sub text to the modern context.

making a beautiful and a not good looking photo by the effect of light and lens.

In this photo I had used a 100 mm lens to get the smooth skin tone. I tried to lit the subject, especially the eye...So we can see the sine of the light in subjects eye which pop up the eye and makes the subject more pleasant. 

In this photo I had used 50 mm lens thats why we can see more detail in the face and it dont smooth the face. I under exposed the subject so I can get more dark tone around the face and I didnt not lit the eye so the eyes dont popup and the subject dont look pleasant to the eye.

Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet for the movie Delivery Man (2013)

Delivery man (2013)

Director = Ken Scott

ScreenPlay = Ken Scott and Martin Petit 

Set-up = David is a financially hard up meat delivery guy who is about to become a father for the first time his finances are so bad he thousands of dollars in debt but is still excited at the prospect of a child.

Theme stated = The theme that stands out the most through out this film is the importance of family and impact they have in your life. We also learn how selflessness for the sake of your family can bring true happiness to them no matter what the cost.

Catalyst = Every thing changes for David when he realises the sperm he donated for the benefit of his family and finances in a younger life has now fathered 533 children.

Debate = David is faced with the challenge of not knowing what to do when 143 of his biological children make the decision to meet there biological father. David is comprehensive that if he reveals himself as their father the children will be disappointed to know his life revolves around a meat delivery business. 

Break into two = David makes the decision to meet his children after all but does not announce his identity to them as he meets them one by one in a variety of life situations.

B Story = David faces the challenge of proving that he is a responsible man to his girlfriend, and convince her he will be a great dad to their expected child.

The promise of the premise = As David meets his children in a variety of life situations he tries to help them the best way he can and leave a good impression with them. As David meets his children he learns what paths they took in life to lead them to the situations they are in now, leading the audience on an emotional roller coaster with the stories funny and high parts right down to the more serious low points of each childs life.

Midpoint = David is faced with the dellima of wether to take the money offered by counter sueing the sperm clinic and pay his debt or disclose his children his identity.

Bad guys close in =  After still not getting paid there money the men who lent David money decide to pay him a little visit resulting in David getting hurt. 

All is lost =  In the sense of this films content “all is lost”  becomes David loosing his old money owing non responsible self to make way for the more responsible father figure David. So “all is lost” becomes for the better.

Dark night of the soul=  This moment occurs in the film when David must tell his Girlfriend that he is the sperm donor that fathered all those children , not knowing how she will take this news as she has just given birth to their new born child.

Break into three=  David’s Girlfriend accepts this news and is supportive allowing David to make a fresh and honest start with his new found family.

Final Image= The final image is that of David standing in the hospital surrounded by all of his children hugging and having a huge smile on his face, showing that he is now finally content with life. 

Effect of useing different lenses on subject face

18mm(MCU) = 

18mm(CU)=

35mm(MCU)=

35mm(CU)=

50mm(CU)=

50mm(MCU)=

105mm(MCU)=

105mm(CU)=

Horror Feel with still photograph without any edit and expression

To create the aspect of horror my area of focus was that of claustrophobia in my first picture and that of darkness and loneliness in my second picture.My second picture I was using the three colours Green, Dark Blue and Black on the location I managed to get Dark Blue and Black and am planning to introduce Green in my post.

One of the things I was trying to achieve with these photographs is the atmosphere that somebody needs help and that the audience can pick up on this atmosphere just by looking at the dark surroundings and the coldness through the colour blue.

Hostel (2005)

Hostel (2005)

Directed by Eli Roth 

Screenplay by Eli Roth

Two American backpacker friends go on a wild european trip full of drugs and sex ,but the adventure takes a turn for the worst when they were taken to a small town hostel in search of girls and sex. The film follows a typical horror plot line but disappointingly  the first half of the movie didn’t have much action or flow to it which clashes with the horror genre. The second half of the movie is full of cliches such as the main character always getting rescued while the others die then getting his overall revenge in the end. The story also has a few unrealistic scenes such as a group of small children killing murderers for chewing gum. The first half of the movie develops the character of Josh but in second  half of the story Josh dies and suddenly the story focuses on the character of Paxton, because of this it is hard to develop a relationship with any of the characters. Overall the film gives a vibe of a B list movie.

Breathless (1960)

Breathless (1960)

Director- Jean-luc Godard 

Screenplay- Jean-Luc Godard 

its a romantic thriller. Michel Poiccard is a car thief who doesn’t  want to live in France and wants to leave France with his lover Patricia Franchini but  the police are after him because he killed one of the police officers during a robbery. Its a journey of two lovers to find there love. In the beginning Michel is physically attracted towards Patricia and Patricia doesn’t know whether she loves Michel or not and this keep audience quessing throughout the movie, which keeps the interest in the movie. The dialogue scene in between the movie tells more about the characters personality and interest and attract the audience more  to them and at the very end the last scene is brilliantly executed by Godard which leaves audience breathless. I like the screenplay as it is well character oriented and not plot based. I was not that big of a fan to the lots of walking in the film but it goes well with the story line as it was a chase and run kind of a movie.