How does planimetric composition enhance the comedy genre compared to “The Element Of Surprise” used in comedy, in order to help our narrative?
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Just last week, I realized how important color is. Our eye gets used to a color after a while. I was shocked to see the original color of our footage and then the color graded picture. 1. original color 2. color corrected It was so interesting to see how easily our eyes are fooled. My eyes got so used to the original color that when I fixed the color, I was in awe and I called my director and showed him how cool it is! He couldn't believe it either. We didn't want to add any major tint to our images. We were going for the natural feel, so we decided to just enhance the colors. Fo example, making the warm tones more warmer, and adding a hint of an orange/ pink tint to compliment the original tone. It is all trial and error. One has to go through so many filters and colors to see which one compliments the theme of their story more. I recommend using the Lumitri effect if using Premiere Pro or investing in Speed Grade is much better for the color grading fanatics out there! It is more efficient and one is presented with more options. Amar, short film on Vimeo : The color really impacts what you see and how you see it. The colors set the tone of the film. ![]() In these two pictures, one can see that the exposure is low and the colors are towards the green palette. This indicates how early in the morning he has to get up and work. it gives a sense of pity and loneliness. ![]() In some parts, the are warmer colors, in his house and when he goes out on the cycle before dawn. In the house, it's a warmer tone to show that their house is only literally by candles. They do not have a major source of light. Warm tones are more positive and we see this towards the dawn, to show us that his story isn't as bad as we think it may be. That there is a purpose in what he is doing. ![]() Towards the end, we see that he has more ambition than kids who have education given easily to them. The colors are more alive and vibrant. More saturated , to give a sense of hope and positivity. I have always been a quiet person to an extent. However, when something needs to get done and I can help, I really like to put myself out there and help with anything I can. My effective communication skills has been developing over the trimesters. It is safe to say that I have grown out of my shell, with all the presentations, public speaking, and working with new people and new departments. In our recent project, we all made sure we communicated everything we felt. Our director , in the beginning, had doubts of being the director of this project, but I, along with my group members, made him rest assure that we would back him up if he needed help and that if there was any project he needed to be a director in , would be this project. It certainly turned out for the best. We came across some misunderstandings along the way, but on my part, I made sure that i was honest and blunt and spoke my mind so that the project could go as smoothly as possible. I also communicated well with the audio department to get the best results.
For me, as an editor, it is important to be flexible and adaptable. This is the first time I worked on a documentary, so I wasn't sure what was going to be the outcome. I had to sit with our director and come up with the best timeline for our subject. There were a lot of times when I insisted that a certain part had to be put in for impact, but my director made sure that we kept to the timeline and that required me to be flexible. Time management was on point, especially when working with my director. We were ahead of the game from the very beginning. The moment we got footage from the interview, our director made sure that I stuck to the schedule and started organizing. Then we started to see each other almost everyday , to sit down and see what the best timeline would be. By the time we took the footages for the b rolls, we had our interviews and timeline set. So, when we had the b rolls, we only had to place them together and go onto the finishing touches. We both pushed through and stayed up working together to get the timeline perfect. We changed the timeline a few times until we were both happy. I managed to finish the rough edit for the audio students a week before so they had time to use it as reference. However, being perfectionists, we stayed until the last day to perfect everything. ![]() Title Sequences are so fun to make! I admit I don't like using After Effects extensively, but this software makes it possible to have a very strong quality of title sequences. Title Sequences set the mood for what is to come. One can see it in TV series and Films. My favorite title sequences are from Wes Anderson movies. Below is an example of a title sequence I made from scratch, for one of Wes Anderson's films. Once it is seen, one can probably make out that it is going to be a colorful film and it is revolved around three characters. One may also know that it is based in India, due to the music and subtle hints of fonts. I would always recommend making a title sequence for films. Usually, the most effort is put into title sequences for feature length films. However, I believe that it will be refreshing to see effort put into title sequences for short films as well. It adds to the character of the film. For our documentary, we chose not to use a title sequence. We wanted the beginning to start of subtle and for the audience to instantly jump into the story. Our aim was to focus towards the end of the film. The credits are what we focused on. I made sure the credits including videos of the family so the audience can depart with a sense of relief. I had to pepare myself for a different style of editing when it came to our documentary. Editing a documentary requires me to cut down from a ton of footage to the bare minimum with the most important and relevant information. Since during the interviews, we don’t know what the subject will exactly say so during the edit, one may have to put one sentence taken from one clip to another clip in order for it to make sense. In a short film or even frature film , where one has a script, it isn't required to do that. This is dealing with real life subjects, so an editor needs to, more than usual, connect with the story and bring out the best emotional bits to attract the audience emotionally.
The one important point I had in mind was to create a pattern during the edit. So for example, try to have an equal space between the interview shots and the b rolls. Not too expected, but sill creating a rhythm that an audience will expect. To me, for a documetary, one should try to keep the edit as simple as possible, so the story and narrative can shine through. However, this also depends on the style one is going for. As you may have noticed, I have been incorporating 'feminism' in a lot of my blogs.
I'm for it but as I have mentioned before, not all types of Feminism attract my attention. There are downsides and misunderstandings to all types of Feminism. Feminism in different countries differ and you're labelled and judged by other feminists if you follow different ideologies. Why do that? Why judge other people who are essentially rooting for something you want as well? Why impose that your type of feminism is more effective than others? I believe before putting our feminist ideas out there, we should realize if what we are asking for is reasonable or not. Why do some feminists want to be more successful than men? Why can't we both progress forward? Frankly, these are all the questions that I have had in my head for a while and through research I have tried to find two sides to every argument. Being a film student, I am curious to see if feminism can successfully be spread through films we watch in a positive light. For example, there are many films that address feminism directly, and I have noticed that it is becoming a trend in films these days. Movies such as Suffragette, Mad Max, The Dark Knight Rises, The Hunger Games, Divergent, Inside out, and last but not least Pitch Perfect. All of these movies address Feminism in a different way. Some may take it seriously and some may mock it, thinking it a silly notion. However, Feminism in Hollywood is naturally going to be different from Feminism in movies in other countries. I have talked about this more in depth in a previous blog. Feminism in Hollywood, may cause some people to believe that it's all just for attention and for the wrong reasons. Personally, looking at a movie named Free the Nipple, it is beautify shot but the ideology is different and unexpected. It may be because I was born into a different culture, but I still do think that Hollywood Feminism is exaggerated and after all, it is all about entertainment. Having bare chested girls, will attract audiences and follows the ideology of ''sex sells''. I would love to dwell deep into this topic but creating feminist short films one day. I think it will be refreshing to see feminism rise in films in this part of region. For years, women in Hollywood have quietly endured sexist work environments, wage disparity, lack of job opportunity both in front of and behind the camera, and other wrongful behavior. But 2015 has marked a turning point. Hardly a week goes by in which a prominent actress or director doesn’t make headlines by blasting Hollywood for treating women as second-class citizens.
The push for equal work opportunities has gone hand in hand with an increasing outcry over sexual assault, both on college campuses and elsewhere, involving major figures.The conversation about how women are treated in Hollywood is reaching a fever pitch on feminist issues, fueled in part by presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton. There’s a new wave of feminism bubbling up whereby more women are speaking out publicly against long-endured injustices. I believe this can impact the world. Everyone watches Hollywood movies, and seeing this new line of feminism grow in movies will have some sort of positive response from the world around it.Especially, for the Middle East, the women can now slowly start seeing themselves as a reflection of feminist Hollywood figures or politicians. There is still a lot of stigma attached to the 'it girl'' when it comes to Hollywood and I think that will never go away, because it sells. However, this movement, however slow it may be, I believe Hollywood is going towards the right path. Addressing the heartrending issue of children living with HIV and AIDS is enormously complex, but Blood Brother accomplishes the challenge and gives hope to anyone concerned.Director Steve Hoover's documentary, Blood Brother, is about his friend Rocky Braat, a caretaker for HIV-positive orphans in rural India. Dealing daily with heart breaking catastrophe eventually sends Rocky into such a tailspin.The dynamic of their friendship is part of the film’s layers. Through out the point of view shifts between the two friends. Steve wants to share Rocky's story. It doesn't stop there though, he also shows us the work that he does and how Rocky interacts with the children and their parents. Steve is also helping the children by spreading the word and showing their story. Steve couldn't understand brat and his relentless compassion. He wanted to explore what he was doing but most importantly see his friend evolve into something greater. They have been through a lot together and have been friends for many years. He wanted to show us that Rocky empathizing with the kids helps him to cope in a lot of ways. The kids are also going through traumatic stresses. They lose family, are abandoned, alienated by their peers and experience instability with their health, all of which is not their fault. He wanted to show that Rock learns a lot of strength from them.. Rocky also draws a lot of hope and strength from his spiritual life and relationships. The editing captured the build up and makes it tension worthy. Many kids, significantly, are individualized beyond simple background figures; we are also shown their joy that bursts through the screen, their medical condition. The edit has a well balance of adding comforting shots after disastrous ones. For example, the one that stood out to me was towards the end when Rocky was help clean ___, the intensity of those shots could only be handles for too long, but there are also shots that give us a sense of comfort that he will recover. We also have happy moments with the kids learning and when Rocky marries. The most tension built with the editing, was the scene where we were shown a dying girl being taken to the hospital into the harrowing late night, stymied by a passing train. The editing flows together like the brush strokes of a beautiful painting. The shots were raw, in scenes were we shown the close to death experiences of some kids, made makes the audience question the morality of filming death up close. we have a lot of closeups, which help the audience emotionally connect, there were a lot of B-rolls, that helped the audience take a little breathe away from the misfortunes, there were long takes of rocky taking care of the children which helps the audience see the care he has for the kids, and we wouldn't be able to identify well with India if there weren't shots of bright colors and textures, which there were. The lighting, for the most part, was natural. Maybe, just color graded in the edit, a little to enhance some colors and greater a mood. The lighting is from the sun, or in a room from the bulb which is usually warm toned, and for some b-rolls a little blue color grading was added but no change in light. I think the shots were incredible. It is so raw and it really shows the dangers of HIV. I don't think a lot of people would be able to watch it completely because of some shots of wounds and scars etc. It may be that in India there is more of a comfort level with seeing death and suffering publicly than there is in America. I do think the motives were good, and it was shown in the film. It was very smoothly put together, and even though the quality of some shots were compromised, the shots really brought the story to life. Also, some observation shots really added to the documentary. http://independentfilmquarterly.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1088&Itemid=119 http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/movies/blood-brother-about-a-heart-bound-to-children-with-hiv.html?_r=0 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/blood-brother-sundance-review-414715 Shankar Lal, a short observational documentary, is about a man who is content working in his shop and advices the younger generation to look to God in life. The main location was in his shop which was lit up but dimly. It suited the aura of the shop in person but was not the right amount of light and the right tone needed for our shoot. His face was too dark and the room had too much of a warm tone. It made sense to take the shots in his store as it is what he talks about but if we could have had at least two lights, one key light and one fill light on his face, he would stand out. He is an inspiring character and the dim lights may overshadow his bright mind and intelligence.Also, since inside the shop there are religious ornaments being sold, if the place had more light, it would give the audience a sense of open-ness and freedom which may relate to the subject of God.The outdoor shots were overexposed and too bright, so the cuts from the shop to outdoor scenes are obvious and slightly overwhelming. With the change in the lighting, we could have enhanced the desired mood that we were looking for. If I could go back I would take lights that add a colder tone to the store along with the light coming from outside so that the warm tone of the store could slightly diminish and everything would seem more balanced. For the outdoor shots, I could not have changed the lighting but could have checked the exposure on the camera. The story is intriguing because it is an inspiring reality of a Pastor named Ed. It shows us, the audience, how we can find hope in the midst of difficult circumstances. By showing us how he lives his life daily, we can see that he is still thriving and suggests to us that we do not know the future and that things may turn out different than we expect so we have to keep fighting. Ed is a pastor, and for the audience I think it is different to see a man of God facing death. From the beginning of the documentary, we are shown inside his house and we immediately connect shots of angels and christmas ornaments to his job and personality. In the first shots, there are lights everywhere in his house for Christmas. In the still shots of his furniture, we hear his voice over and the narrative starts to build up from the very beginning and we get a sense that something is not right. The climax is when he reveals that ‘’I found out this Christmas that I was dying’’, and immediately there is shot of all the lights gone off. It then dawns on the audience that he is slowly dying, a painful death. The first shot of him is of him lying in bed, looking ill.We can see his wife helping him and we come to the conclusion that his situation is worse than we thought. The mood is very cold and there are no lights. He says that he does not want to light up anything for Christmas and that he wants to be alone, we get a sense that he is giving up but then throughout the documentary we witness how he tries to find hope everyday.We observe him in the shower and his every move. We can see his hands shaking and that he is very skinny. He has ALS. It gets worse and it affects everything in his body. There is no cure. Event hough, we see his wife helping him out, we can still see that he makes an attempt of doing things by himself, for example; taking a shower, brushing his teeth, and driving. This shows the audience , through his actions he is still fighting his disease and will fight until it is all over.Seeing his everyday routine, helps us not take the small things we do in life for granted. Towards the end, we see his interview on the sofa and conclude that even though, he wants to be alone and he is sick, he really wants his story out there in order to keep doing his job and giving people hope.
Documentary making is a piece of cake!
Nope. That is definitely not true. What was I thinking when I was younger? Thinking that documentary making just consists of hand held shots and on the whim interviews. Oh boy, Oh boy, documentary making is more tricky than making a film to some extent. No, documentary making is not at all only hand held shots. In fact, we are discouraged to use hand held shots unless there is a logical reason behind it. As it is such a dynamic medium to work in, where boundaries are constantly shifting and the genre ever evolving.It might seem obvious but the initial idea is key. Work on your idea and then work on it again and then do another bit of work on it. Think of why it is relevant and why it should be made now, or ever. Why should it be you who tells this story? Why should somebody want to watch it? And what do you want them to leave the cinema with? These are all questions that you should be asking yourself at the idea development stage. You have to be a little bit ruthless with yourself at this part of the process and really, it is worth the cruelty.Work hard. Learn as much as you can about technical stuff, so you can become as self-reliant as your circumstances require you to be. But don’t get bogged down in it because what you are doing is trying to tell a story with some kind of truth and humanity and that is what is most important, not being an expert in resolutions or software applications. You have to be passionate about it to make it work. It has to be simple and it has to take you somewhere you haven't been before. What week are we in?
I seem to keep forgetting because of the pile of work I have on my plate. Thankfully, I'm not alone in this and I have multiple projects and various people to work with. I consider it an opportunity. Always keep a notebook in your bag. Trust me on this, once you have a lot on your mind and tons of ideas running through your head, you will start feeling flustered. What I do to stop myself from panicking, is to write everything in my handy notebook. It organizes everything and this way you won't forget any of the ideas you have. I have to send tons of emails for different projects, so I always do that as soon as I can so I just get it out of the way. It helps to send emails back and forth because it helps with constant communication and it is evidence that you have been working and communicating. So notebooks and emails! That's what i've been doing these past few weeks. I have interesting projects lined up! 1. Choose the best camera angles for each moment: Think about where the audience would want to be looking at different shots. 2. Use more close ups or medium shots than wide shots: Close-ups and medium shots hold the most importance for an audience. From my experience, it’s engaging to watch facial expressions and body language of a character. 3. Cut on action: One way to have invisible cuts is to cut on action. The viewer watches the beginning of a motion that begins in one shot and follows it while it finishes in the next shot. 4. Cut on words. The sound of a word can make an edit feel less obvious. If the word is one that is relevant to a main point, the edit can also highlight that word. 5. Keep things moving ( unless you wish to have a one/long take): Being an audience myself, I feel like we as viewers can have a short attention span. Having dynamic shots is more interesting than one camera angle for a long period of time. 6. Step away from the computer! : One tip I learned from my teacher, Resh, is that after spending some time with the same edit, it’s easy to become desensitized to the material. So it’s important to step away and take a break! Good luck to everyone who is editing! I am sure once you edit away,
you will have your own points to add to this list. |
AuthorHadiyeh Chuhdhri, Film Maker, Lord of the Rings enthusiast, constantly craving adventures. Archives
March 2016
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