Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 7 September 23 2011.

Today Ms Rosati further explained what the guidelines were for our Criterion A investigation and presentation. She offered us a selection of documentaries that we would have to analyze and present in front of the whole class. After that, the whole class got together and discussed what each groups documentary idea was. I was fascinated by how widespread everyone's choice was. There were choices varying from Social Networking, to Hong Kong's Food Waste and the Domestic Helper Permanent Stay issue. I am very excited to see everyone's final result.


We then moved onto how all visual media is produced in three stages; pre production, production and post production. Right now, we have just begun the pre-production stage. Pre-production is any aspect of planning that takes place, it consists planning of Script, Storyboards, Shot Lists, Casting, Location Scouting (permission, weather, lighting) and Budgeting. Pre-production planning is a main essential not only for documentaries, but also to any other film making genres. It is very important to plan behind a documentary because as we are capturing reality, we cannot control it. Therefore pre-production needs to take place in order to have the interviews and filming as smooth as possible.


Notes from today's class:


The first stage of Production: 
-> Pre-production: any aspect of planning takes place

• Script
• Storyboards
• Shot List
• Casting
• Location Scouting
• Budgeting

Scripts:

• Any written support for filming- Interview Questions
• In the case of documentary we add the important category of PRIMARY RESEARCH.

Storyboards:

• In sequence, visual representation, camera frames and angles.
• Documentary: no obligation to create storyboards.
• Pre-visuals: Does not include/involve interviews/archival footage 

Shot List:

• Better organization- shot plan, list of shots to capture in a given location at a given time, not to miss anything.

Casting:

• Confirm names and backgrounds for interview (documentary)

Location Scouting:

• Go to that location BEFORE HAND.
• OBSERVE the lighting.
• Secure permission to shoot
• Take still pictures 

Budgeting:

• Idea if what we're doing costs money.
• Manage expense

Permission:

• Permission; verbal permission to record person
• Copyright material; music and videos- email owner

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 6 September 20 2011.

Our Criterion B project: Documentary planning

HOW TRADITIONS IN HONG KONG HAVE CHANGED

Chung Yeung Festival (October 5)

By Kazia, Isabella and Robert

Plot Outline:

Film Story-line:

1. Introduction

* What is it exactly?

* Why is it celebrated? 

* How is it traditionally celebrated?

2. Film the process of ritual on the actual day -> How it's celebrated now

3. Interviews:

* Interview those who celebrate it

* Interview those who don't celebrate it

4. Conclusion:

* Archival footage of how it was celebrated back then

* How it is celebrated now

Things we still have to research about:

1. How do people still celebrate it?

2. Where do they go to celebrate it?

* Location: Mountains (to be decided) --wherever the celebrations take place-- on the festival day

                  Busy streets: Causeway Bay/ Central; interview using interview questions. 
                  Better filmed on actual day but doesn't have to be.

3. Interviewees:

* Old people (those who do celebrate it, those who don't)

* Young/Middle-aged people  (those who do celebrate it, those who don't)

* Chinese teachers at CIS

* Amahs at CIS

* Foreigners (?) [Follow the movement of the day]

Interview Questions:

For those who celebrate the festival:

1. What do you usually do on this festival day?

2. Do you do this every year? If not, how often do you do this?

3. How long have you been doing this for?

4. How did you use to celebrate this festival? Do you celebrate it any differently now?

For those who don't celebrate the festival:

1. Do you know what the festival is about?

2. Do you know how this is celebrated?

3. Did you use to celebrate this festival? If so, why don't you celebrate it anymore?

4. What do you usually do on this festival if you don't celebrate it?

Quiz them on the knowledge of festivals-how each festival is celebrated.

Equipment:

* Bella's Camera: Canon 550D

* Kazia's Camera: Canon 550D (Backup?)

* Robert: to be decided.

* Tripod.

* Mic, if needed. 

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 5 September 15 2011, Homework.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST NO DIRECTION HOME AND BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE.


Both documentaries consisted of interview clips and also clips that the film maker did not shoot themselves. In No Direction Home, Bob Dylan is being interviewed as the opening scene. For Bowling for Columbine the opening scene consisted of the actual film maker Michael Moore, sort of interviewing and consulting a bank department.

However, the difference was that there was some manipulated footage in only one of the documentaries and not in the other. In No Direction Home, the interview was very natural and the angles and framing were not manipulated in any way. For Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore may have entered the bank with only one camera. Although interview and meeting at the bank seemed very natural, there were a lot of shot-reverse-shots. This meant that the staff and Michael Moore would keep having to repeat what they would say. This wouldn't really be natural as the camera is sort of interacting with the characters in the scene. Michael Moore may have wanted it to be a little more realistic, this still calls as manipulated footage.

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 5 September 15 2011.

Today's lesson we further dug into what a documentary was and what it meant. We analysed two different documentaries and later on had to compare and contrast them for homework. The documentaries we watched were No Direction Home directed by Martin Scorsese and Bowling for Columbine directed my Michael Moore.


The documentary No Direction Home opening scene was very entertaining. Basically it was about the current day famous singer Bob Dylan remembering a house that he lived in during his childhood but couldn't seem to remember where it exactly was. Throughout the movie, there were three powerful sections that contributed to the emotion felt by Bob Dylan. Ms Rosati also had us reflect on three different questions (see below). I also noticed that...




- Three sections: Interviews, Performance shots, and old photographs of his childhood.
- Interview: Only hear Bob Dylan's response, no interviewer's questions. Attitude is confident but seems lost as he is trying to find that specific "home". Also stutters when he talks.
- Performance: Singing is rough and raw, very distinctive. Lighting is very colorful, full of vivid  and vibrant colors such as red, orange and white. When focused on audience, the light is reflected back on them, shows signs of uncomfortableness because there's no cheering or applaud.
- Sudden stop to music acts as transition. Gloomy white/gray tone. White mist of trees depict Dylan's saying of time. Playbacks to childhood photos and how Dylan describes the record player. Scene of record player is low lighting.


The questions that we had to answer were
* Did they shoot all the footage themselves?
- They may have not shot all the footage themselves. Some may have been shot by other film makers such as the performing footage. We know this from the fact that when he was performing he looked very young and it was most likely the start of his career. Whilst the current day Bob Dylan is much older.


* What did the film maker choose to show & hear?
He chose to show us Dylan's response but not the interviewer's questions. The film maker also chose to show us Dylan's singing which had a rough and raw monotone to it. However, he did not show the audience's applaud or feedback, which indicates that maybe no one enjoyed his music.


* What did the film maker juxtapose with the images and sound?
The images and sound during the small scene about Dylan's childhood conveyed a small hint of Dylan's fascination in country music. The images contrasted with the country song he first heard, which also gave us a clue as to how his career started.


After a small 10 minutes answering these questions, we watched the next opening scene of Bowling for Columbine. The film maker/director, Michael Moore was trying to convey how easy it was to acquire a gun in the US, which led to the Columbine High School Shooting in 1999.


The last few minutes of our lesson we spent on brainstorming for our Criterion B project. My group consisted of the same people as the challenge shoot; Kazia, Robert and I. We all just decided to write down what ever topic we could think of and it eventually led up to these selections.

• - smoking
• - inflation
• - how land is developing in hk
• - pollution
• - social themes
• - lazy/spoilt kids in hk (relative to other places)
• - environmental
• - cultural
• - religion
• - having kids
• - poverty
• - caring for the elderly
• - health
• - views on aging

We were not able to decide on our topic in class so we had an online discussion which resulted into choosing "How traditions have changed in Hong Kong". We first came up with three main holidays that were important to Chinese culture and came up with: Chung Yeung (seeing as it is in 2 weeks), Mid-Autumn Festival and Chinese New Year. 

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 4 September 9 2011.

This lesson we weren't able to focus and learn as much because of the mid-autumn assembly. However, we didn't let any time get to waste so Ms Rosati taught us as much as possible. She elaborated on our first unit: Documentary. We would first learn the basic facts of the topic, then proceed to watch and analyse two documentary films; Babies and Bowling for Columbine.


First, we learnt the Film Making Focus, which is the three different varieties of film making. There's Documentary, Narrative and Experimental.
- A Documentary film is basically a non-fiction film.
- A Narrative film has fictional story line that tells a story or an event through visuals.
- An Experimental film is expressionistic, and brings out the film maker's unique point of view.


Then we learnt the different types of films that fall into these categories. Such as...
- Documentaries are a wide range of Observational films, newsreel, biopic (biography), travelogue, sports, nature shows etc.
- Narratives; there are Linear narratives and Non-Linear narratives. Linear narratives are films that have the story told in order. Non- linear narratives are films that have story lines not in order (such as Inception). Basically they are all genre films.
- An Experimental film usually is a poetic film or a visual abstraction.  


The last part of the basics were the Characteristics of a Documentary which were...
- On Location; meaning it must be filmed on a space that already exists and has not been re-touched or created.
- No or few actors; meaning no acting at all, must be all natural.
- Socially relevant subjects or themes.
- High ratio of shooting to final footage; for example, you film 10 hours of footage but only use 1 hour.
- Born in the editing room; meaning there really is no plan of how you'll edit it because it's all natural footage, not staged.
- "You need to know the subject before you film"; meaning you can't just go and shoot, you need to take time to really understand your subject in order to capture the true essence of the film.


Watching both documentaries really helped me understand how to grasp the essence of documentary film making. I hope that I can acquire these skills and produce a film quite extraordinary as the ones we watched.  

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 4, September 5 2011

Today's class was stressful yet productive. We got straight to editing our challenge shoot scenes as we were only given 20 minutes.


When my group was editing our footage, we immediately spotted two problems. The first one was that Robert had smiled in all the trials of footage we had filmed while he was saying his dialogue. Fortunately, we were able to cut a little part of it out. The second problem was that our transitions were very abrupt and did not flow together. I tried doing an audio overlay but the clips would move and the audio sync would've completely messed up. Therefore, we just had to keep it the way it originally was.


After the 20 minutes or so, Ms Rosati held a screening time to watch all the other groups' film. 


Sophia, Jessica & Jade- They had used all the required angles properly which really expressed the tension in the scene. Although they did not have any time, adding music would've really brought out the emotion. They needed to be careful of the way their body parts were positioned in between clips.


Abraham, Chun Ngai and Andrew N- They had the most clever looking credits and starting text. However, their framing could've been better and Ms Rosati had told us they had "broken the 180 degree rule". After some explaining, I really understood what it meant (On one clip the camera is on a certain side, but on the next clip it's on the opposite side). I hope this will make me more aware of my camera angles when filming this unit.


Harry, Erik and Justin- Their story line was really thought out and creative. The music matched very well with the whole scene. They could've used better angles for the shot-reverse-shot scenes because the camera was positioned right on their face and from time to time they happened to look straight at the camera. There was another scene which had a very obvious jump cut which they could've worked on if they had more time.


Allegra, Ariana and Isabelle- Their storyline and dialogue were very original and understandable. They could have worked on their angling and positioning because when they had a Medium Long Shot, we could not see the actors' feet. The location sort of contrasted between the main character so she appeared a little out of focus.


Max, Andrew D and Alfred- The storyline was yet the most hilarious out of all the groups. They used the right camera angles and the transitions flowed smoothly. However, they had forgotten to remove the camera and tripod bag in the frame, making it very obvious yet absurd. Their use of audio suited the scene perfectly but they could've lowered the sound a bit because we could hardly hear what the actors were saying.


After the screening, Ms Rosati told us a little bit about time management  as this was one of the key factors of this challenge shoot. She asked us to write about how we would time manage in film. Personally, I would first discuss with my group what days we are all available because it's a big group effort. Then after deciding, we would choose the scenes that could be filmed in school (if needed), then split the scenes into the available days where the location isn't at school. We would also leave a few days for final editing and touching up.


Overall, I really enjoyed today's lesson because not only did I learn something new from our film, but also something new from everyone else's. I'm looking forward to starting this unit!

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 3 September 2011; Homework.

Original photo from: http://depositphotos.com/3608863/stock-illustration-Woman-holding-sign.html

Year 10 Unit 1: Lesson 3, September 1 2011.

Today we had our challenge shoot. As explained on last lesson's reflection, this was to challenge our familiarity with camera angles, blocking and behind the camera filming. Basically we had to shoot a scenario of one person confronting another person about cheating on a test in 5 different camera angles. We were all given the 4 different angles and dialogue required for the challenge, but the 5th angle and line was all up to us. Our time limit was 30 minutes and hopefully finish editing it by the end of the lesson.


The 4 angles were: Medium Long Shot, Medium Closeup Shot, Shot Reverse Shot (Count's as two because it films over the shoulder views of  both actors) and our chosen angle was the Medium Long Shot. Our dialogue given was:


Person 1: "Hey you cheated!"
Person 2: " No I didn't!"
Person 1: "If you do it again I'll report you!"
Person 2: "But I didn't"


We didn't chose an ending dialogue, we just had Person 1 walk away.


My group consisted of Robert, Kazia and I and the first thing we did was check if the camera had full battery charge. Then we discussed who would act and who would be behind the camera. It was decided that Kazia (Person 1) and Robert (Person 2) would act and I would be the cameraman. However, they would give their suggestions on how I positioned the camera and if they thought it was suitable or not (I could flip the screen). We then discussed our filming location. We all decided to go to the 9th floor lockers near the Cafe. This was because not a lot of people passed through this area so we thought it would be practical to film there as we wouldn't be disturbed.


When we go to the location, we immediately set up the tripod and camera. I instantly noticed how noisy it was and how being on the top floor picked up all the noise from the floors below. It was also coming from the Year 11s on the 8th floor. However the noise died down within a few minutes.


For our first shot, we had to show the full head-to-toe bodies of the actors. Robert would be trying to open his locker and Kazia would walk in and tap him on the shoulder, but not saying any dialogue.


The second shot was a medium closeup shot, which was an angle from waist up. This would start from when Kazia had just tapped Robert and then saying "Hey you cheated!".


The third shot and fourth shot were shot reverse shot, which meant the over the shoulder view of the actors talking to each other. The third shot would be a view of Robert and an over the shoulder angle of Kazia's shoulder. Robert would then say the line "No I didn't!". Then the positions would be reversed and then the camera would be focused on Kazia saying "If you do it again I'll report you!". Lastly, it would reverse back to Robert saying "But I didn't!". The problems that we had with this was the transitions and keeping the shot in the same position. We forgot that we had to film Robert in the same angle twice, and since we couldn't re-watch the footage on the camera, we had to re-arrange the position by remembrance.


For our last shot, we chose to use a Medium Long Shot (which was the same as the first shot). Luckily I had remembered where I had originally positioned the camera, so I was able to capture it on a similar angle (because we forgot to film it along with the first shot). We filmed this shot perfectly fine however, Kazia accidentally made a tiny mistake. She was supposed to walk off into the corridor but she just walked onto the side, so we didn't actually see her leave on camera. Hopefully, no one will notice this minor mistake but the whole group definitely learnt their lesson.


When we captured our footage into Final Cut Pro, I was pretty surprised I remembered the format setting which was "DV-PAL". Ms Rosati gave the whole class a small review on the basics of Final Cut Pro. Even though I had used this editing software last year, I was pretty happy we reviewed the tools because I had forgotten some of them during the summer holidays. While capturing, we compared the shot reverse shots and we could really notice the difference between the first and second trial. We were only allowed to cut out the shots we wanted ON the preview of the sequence and put it out on the timeline. We weren't allowed to edit it any further. However, I took the instructions differently and highlighted the whole clip whereas we were only supposed to select all the shots we wanted. This was supposed to make it easier for us and have the clips already on the timeline in order. One main thing I was worried about was the transitions between our shots. After watching our footage, I realized how our transitions would be pretty abrupt because of all the noticeable background noise. However, we had no time to figure the situation out before the lesson ended, so we just had to export what we had and give it to Ms Rosati.


For our homework, Ms Rosati had us create a movie poster for out challenge shoot.


Overall, I learnt a lot of information today that I know will help me with this unit. I felt it was a great start and I hope to do more challenge shoots again.