Over the course of this project I have learned many things. Foremost is effective time management. When I was trying to make an appointment with Simon Fraser, I wasn't expecting it to be so difficult to get in contact with him. I had no idea I should speak to Eli Feth first, and I lost a lot of valuable filming time by effectively standing around with my hands tied.
However, I enjoyed working with Francis and Shanshan and it all came together in the end. Interviewing Simon was quite an inspiring experience, and I strongly recommend asking him about design if you ever get the chance.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Friday, October 7, 2011
Working Shots
Francis and I were struggling with the mic boom and stand, not only because it was broken, but because we couldn't get it close enough. A lapel mic would have been so much easier.
We tested different camera angles to determine which would be best for incorporating both background elements and enough negative space.
This image shows some of the background elements I wanted to incorporate in the interview shot. Simon Fraser's office has an assortment of interesting objects which I wanted to incorporate in the interview to give it some more personality and individuality.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Rethinking the Concept
Today I spoke at length with Alyx about different avenues I could take for creating a coherent project, such as the university being a kind of filter or a vortex, which changes students' perceptions of the world. I was enthusiastic about this to begin with, but I feel that the integrity of the interview will be negatively affected. Also, I'm not sure I can get away with this without totally changing my original concept - too far along in the process anyway.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Group Selection
I have elected to work with ShanShan again for this project as I did for the first one. Although we have worked together before, I feel that this opportunity to work with her again will give me a chance to imnprove on some of the team dynamics during this project. This choice will be just as beneficial as working with someone completely new, in my opinion, since it provides a chance to improve, rather than start anew. I am interested to see if and how we will work better together this time 'round. Even though I'm going to be working with ShanShan once more, both of us will be working with Francis for the first time, and it will be a new experience from which I am sure we will grow.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Reflection
Having finished all the shooting, I feel that I have been able to capture what I set out to do. In reality, this piece was really about me, and because the feelings are so personal in nature, I felt that only I could play the main character in this piece. That made the shooting a bit more difficult, because I had to go over all the shots with whomever was assisting me at the time, and I had to do multiple test shots for every one to get them right. The soundscore works well with the shots, especially because it starts out discordant and melancholic. When it gets into the soft, warm, dreamy music, the viewer has just realised the emotion that the character is feeling, then it progresses into a daydream.
The above image is a still taken from the final product, showing the dreaming/daydreaming.
The above image is a still taken from the final product, showing the dreaming/daydreaming.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Inspirational Images
The following images are all ones I have taken in the past year, as I enjoy going out and enjoying nature, and would rather be there than inside (or in class). These images have inspired some of the scenes in the project, and served as a starting point for the mood I want to portray.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Changes
Since creating the storyboard and proposal, I have made a few small changes to my concept. Originally, I was going to have one main character interacting with a secondary character in the daydream, but I have decided that a second person adds an unnecessary level of complexity to a story intended to be simple. What this does is highlights the desire to be outdoors, enjoying the sun, warmth, and simply not being stuck inside, instead of confusing the idea with a character who hasn't been introduced or alluded to in any way. Also, I feel that the idea of time progressing in the daydream (sunset or definitive ending) doesn't add anything to the scene, so it's gone too.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
PJ2 Proposal
Project 2 Proposal – Devon D'Aoust
Working Title: The Daydream
Synopsis
This scene relates to the life of a student who would rather be somewhere else, and follows him on a daydream journey through his happy thoughts.
Soundscore
Having permission to use the music of Sigur Rós in this piece, the main soundscore will feature the band's song Straumnes, which is a serene, uplifting instrumental track, with elements of warmth and comfort. The soundscore incorporates other effects such as reverb and white noise to enhance certain emotional dialogue in the film.
Concept
You are a student at university, and you are daydreaming. Though you chose to be here and attend classes, you sometimes wish you could be somewhere else, free from stresses and discomfort, enjoying life's brief moments. Daydreaming is something everyone can experience, and is often reflective and introspective. It has the potential to offer great insight into our lives and what bothers us or comforts us the most. It is often a way of temporary escape. The idea of daydreaming is explored in this film through a dream sequence the student is experiencing. It includes visuals of him enjoying nature and being outdoors, swinging at a playground, and meeting an ambiguous female character, with whom he enjoys a stroll, a kiss, and a sunset. The dream sequence ends and reality comes rushing back, but he feels better for it.
Process
The main aesthetic quality of this piece is the dreamy translucence and soft glow which will need to be present in all dream shots. This can be attained using several methods: Camera vignetting will help to give the scenes a sense of surreality being viewed from the outside. A short focal depth on the close-up shots will blur the background, de-contextualising the daydream environment. Lastly, post-production effects can be applied to add a translucent glow to the images, making them appear heavenly or dreamy and slightly overexposed.
It is important to keep the progression between events in the daydream ambiguous. Dreams do not often fill in the gaps between main ideas and nor will this scene. However, to keep a sense of continuity, various things will be present and occur in sequential shots. For example, a flower that was in the foreground during a shot of the student will be in his pocket in the next scene, implying that he picked it, but not showing the action. This type of scene progression will ensure the film's believability as a daydream.
Working Title: The Daydream
Synopsis
This scene relates to the life of a student who would rather be somewhere else, and follows him on a daydream journey through his happy thoughts.
Soundscore
Having permission to use the music of Sigur Rós in this piece, the main soundscore will feature the band's song Straumnes, which is a serene, uplifting instrumental track, with elements of warmth and comfort. The soundscore incorporates other effects such as reverb and white noise to enhance certain emotional dialogue in the film.
Concept
You are a student at university, and you are daydreaming. Though you chose to be here and attend classes, you sometimes wish you could be somewhere else, free from stresses and discomfort, enjoying life's brief moments. Daydreaming is something everyone can experience, and is often reflective and introspective. It has the potential to offer great insight into our lives and what bothers us or comforts us the most. It is often a way of temporary escape. The idea of daydreaming is explored in this film through a dream sequence the student is experiencing. It includes visuals of him enjoying nature and being outdoors, swinging at a playground, and meeting an ambiguous female character, with whom he enjoys a stroll, a kiss, and a sunset. The dream sequence ends and reality comes rushing back, but he feels better for it.
Process
The main aesthetic quality of this piece is the dreamy translucence and soft glow which will need to be present in all dream shots. This can be attained using several methods: Camera vignetting will help to give the scenes a sense of surreality being viewed from the outside. A short focal depth on the close-up shots will blur the background, de-contextualising the daydream environment. Lastly, post-production effects can be applied to add a translucent glow to the images, making them appear heavenly or dreamy and slightly overexposed.
It is important to keep the progression between events in the daydream ambiguous. Dreams do not often fill in the gaps between main ideas and nor will this scene. However, to keep a sense of continuity, various things will be present and occur in sequential shots. For example, a flower that was in the foreground during a shot of the student will be in his pocket in the next scene, implying that he picked it, but not showing the action. This type of scene progression will ensure the film's believability as a daydream.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Film Day # 3 - Uncomfortable Silence
First, let me say thank you to the Hunter Lounge at Kelburn campus for letting us film in their venue. It was very short notice and I appreciate it.
The filming today went well. There were a few issues with the camera zooming that I wasn't totally happy with, but having never filmed anything before or operated a video camera of this nature, I am quite pleased with the outcome. We worked well as a team and were able to get everything done without many mistakes or miscommunication.
I'll post a couple of pictures of the film day later on.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Film Day # 2
We filmed our team mate Toby's scene this morning at his flat in Brooklyn. Having learned from previous mistakes, we got right down to the main action, as it were, instead of fussing over little details. Previous experience with the camera was also a bonus as we were more familiar with the settings and functions. This was the first time we experimented with playing music in the background while shooting, and it added increased pressure to the filming because we knew we had to get everything right in one go. Big thanks to Rachel for coming all the way out to help us do the shoot.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Film Day # 1
Tonight we filmed Shanshan's scene and ran into several issues. Mainly our problems arose from lack of planning, as the original idea was very vaguely translated into a script - mostly just emotions and feelings. We had timing issues as well, due to the smoking scene, since you cannot light an already-lit cigarette, so we went through a lot of those. But Shanshan's friend Martin and his flatmate John were kind enough to let us film at their place, so at least we got it done in one night.
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Pulp Fiction Scene Concept
Uncomfortable Silence (working title)
My group's chosen scene from the popular film, Pulp Fiction, is referred to as the "uncomfortable silence," and is a dialogue between two main characters, Mia and Vincent (Uma Thurman and John Travolta). The original scene is, for the most part, a seductive power-play, where Mia holds Vincent's undivided attention with the help of a maraschino cherry. The main components of this scene are long dramatic pauses, seduction, imbalance of power between the two characters, an uncomfortable silence, and a conversation starter. In my concept for recreating this scene, there will be two characters: one male, and one female – the female will hold the power in the scene. The concept scene is a date at a café or similar, during which there is an uncomfortable silence, for which it is not clear whom holds the responsibility, and it is broken by the arrival of the female character's dessert beverage, after which she seduces the male character into a hypnotic state and leaves him behind, finished with him. I feel that the balance of power in favour of the female character is a necessary component from the original scene which makes it unique and interesting. Though the original scene is dependent on dialogue, I want to explore and attempt to redo the scene using as little dialogue as possible, essentially creating a much more uncomfortable, dramatic silence. Along with less dialogue, I feel that the aspect of seduction should be emphasised and become an hypnotic element. The scene will incorporate in-camera edits to cut between characters, and especially so it can focus on and enhance the small aspects of seduction: the female character's lips, taking a drag on her cigarette and exhaling slowly, her eyes and the emotion she conveys through them, etc., and to switch to the male character showing his hypnosis and pathetic responses to the female character's words and motions. The filming will highlight the actions more than the dialogue in an attempt to convey the raw emotions to the viewer, and will be entirely closeup, but angled up to the female character, and angled downward to the male character, in order to portray the uneven balance of power. The lighting will be natural whenever possible, and only contrast will be enhanced to give a surreal feeling to the scene, and any sound will only be diegetic, to give the scene believability. I think that by concentrating the emotions and actions from the original scene, it is possible to make the scene successful and believable, in the eyes of the viewer, even without the context and story from the original film.
My group's chosen scene from the popular film, Pulp Fiction, is referred to as the "uncomfortable silence," and is a dialogue between two main characters, Mia and Vincent (Uma Thurman and John Travolta). The original scene is, for the most part, a seductive power-play, where Mia holds Vincent's undivided attention with the help of a maraschino cherry. The main components of this scene are long dramatic pauses, seduction, imbalance of power between the two characters, an uncomfortable silence, and a conversation starter. In my concept for recreating this scene, there will be two characters: one male, and one female – the female will hold the power in the scene. The concept scene is a date at a café or similar, during which there is an uncomfortable silence, for which it is not clear whom holds the responsibility, and it is broken by the arrival of the female character's dessert beverage, after which she seduces the male character into a hypnotic state and leaves him behind, finished with him. I feel that the balance of power in favour of the female character is a necessary component from the original scene which makes it unique and interesting. Though the original scene is dependent on dialogue, I want to explore and attempt to redo the scene using as little dialogue as possible, essentially creating a much more uncomfortable, dramatic silence. Along with less dialogue, I feel that the aspect of seduction should be emphasised and become an hypnotic element. The scene will incorporate in-camera edits to cut between characters, and especially so it can focus on and enhance the small aspects of seduction: the female character's lips, taking a drag on her cigarette and exhaling slowly, her eyes and the emotion she conveys through them, etc., and to switch to the male character showing his hypnosis and pathetic responses to the female character's words and motions. The filming will highlight the actions more than the dialogue in an attempt to convey the raw emotions to the viewer, and will be entirely closeup, but angled up to the female character, and angled downward to the male character, in order to portray the uneven balance of power. The lighting will be natural whenever possible, and only contrast will be enhanced to give a surreal feeling to the scene, and any sound will only be diegetic, to give the scene believability. I think that by concentrating the emotions and actions from the original scene, it is possible to make the scene successful and believable, in the eyes of the viewer, even without the context and story from the original film.
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