Lenny: Filming and Editing
The team arrived on the dot at 3.30pm with Wilson and Gabriella as our unwilling actors. I was assigned to sound and made a complete Tom Foolery out of myself, but I have to admit that I learnt more about Sound than I had in my last 28 years of existence.
When we plopped the footage onto Final Cut Pro in the evening, some bits of the sound were raspy and peaked. Handling the boom mike for the first time, I was more concerned about getting the boom out of shot and not making any shaky boom sounds. I only paid attention to the readings when I remembered to; sound was decent in the first half, but when we changed our shots to close-ups, the proximity of the boom to the actors was too close and the sound peaked several times.
Failing to adjust the volume meant the team struggled with editing as it sounded pretty bad. But we were warming to Paul's reminder that he wanted as many mistakes as possible in 'Lenny'; it's all about learning and making mistakes now. Makes perfect sense.
Alice has just made an entry on our shooting today. Thought it reflected the day's shoot - some hiccups, but everyone went home happy and satisfied.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Lenny, and then some
We've ran into a lot of problems with our Lenny shooting. Paul did say he'd like as many problems and stuff-ups as possible in the shooting, so as to minimise real problems when the team starts filming our chosen script, 'Bloodhounded 2' by Jonathan Lim. (Hey dude, you've got to hook me up with those Danish girls man. Seeeeriously.)
But seriously, how can we contend with the Powers That Be that is Nature? Filming at 3.30pm in autumn doesn't give us much time for sunlight.
Now factor that with two batteries that are supposedly fully charged but fail within 10 seconds of plugging in.
Coupled with an inability to find actors for Lenny and Mr Sargeant. It's a simple script and a simple enough plot. Surely we don't need to offer them a free lunch? Won't take an hour!
Pre-production and the learning process was far more complex than i would have envisaged. Seriously, why can't we just cut to 'Action!'? So many stupid things to say, so many cues. By the time we get around to it, half the day is lost and the day is darker.
With Catalyst commitments now over, I can genuinely devote my time to the team's cause. I'm not someone who likes following and taking orders; in fact in two years of university education I've always taken charge. In the last few weeks I've left the team decision-making and directions mostly to Sam and Alice. Firstly 'coz I have no fucking clue what's going on - though I'm not missing any lectures or tutorials - and secondly I knew I needed time to read up the dossier as it contains so much information that's crucial for TV1.
Charlotte has been doing her homework in Thailand, and has sent us her love and thoughts on what we could do this week. That's great, at least ONE OF US is having fun!! :O
We've ran into a lot of problems with our Lenny shooting. Paul did say he'd like as many problems and stuff-ups as possible in the shooting, so as to minimise real problems when the team starts filming our chosen script, 'Bloodhounded 2' by Jonathan Lim. (Hey dude, you've got to hook me up with those Danish girls man. Seeeeriously.)
But seriously, how can we contend with the Powers That Be that is Nature? Filming at 3.30pm in autumn doesn't give us much time for sunlight.
Now factor that with two batteries that are supposedly fully charged but fail within 10 seconds of plugging in.
Coupled with an inability to find actors for Lenny and Mr Sargeant. It's a simple script and a simple enough plot. Surely we don't need to offer them a free lunch? Won't take an hour!
Pre-production and the learning process was far more complex than i would have envisaged. Seriously, why can't we just cut to 'Action!'? So many stupid things to say, so many cues. By the time we get around to it, half the day is lost and the day is darker.
With Catalyst commitments now over, I can genuinely devote my time to the team's cause. I'm not someone who likes following and taking orders; in fact in two years of university education I've always taken charge. In the last few weeks I've left the team decision-making and directions mostly to Sam and Alice. Firstly 'coz I have no fucking clue what's going on - though I'm not missing any lectures or tutorials - and secondly I knew I needed time to read up the dossier as it contains so much information that's crucial for TV1.
Charlotte has been doing her homework in Thailand, and has sent us her love and thoughts on what we could do this week. That's great, at least ONE OF US is having fun!! :O
Sunday, April 08, 2007
It's a learning process
Having perused all 266 pages of the script, I have come to face my demons and admit that my script is not up to par. Btw, I'm still struggling to upload my script onto Blogger as Blogger does not support PDF formats. If anyone has any suggestions, any programs or sites that I can upload my script onto, you know wata do.
Anyway, few things I've noticed about scripting:
1) Dialog. For a short film, either keep it minimal, or it has to be really entertaining. Due to the peculiar nature of my dialog for "Sweatshirts", I feel that it was imperative that the dialog is portrayed that way. In this sense, I feel that I have overcompensated that. The more I think about it, the more I feel I should have done away with the speech bubble formula.
2) Length (or duration) of short film. We haven't gotten any feedback yet, but I feel my script was far too long. Topping at just under 6 pages, there has been other successful scripts that were - gasp - under 2 pages. That's not to say the length does not matter (I feel strangely emasculated when I say this).
3) Inexperience. Before I wrote this script, I simply had no idea how a script was written. Diane's notes in the reading dossier came in really handy, but I found myself backtracking and referring to books and websites for another opinion. I could not find a script that could help - again due to the nature of my scripting - make my script better. It's really hard to convey a deaf man's thoughts, a foreign language and a comic-book style movie.
4) KISS. In future, I'll try to make it as simple as possible. Using "Sweatshirts" as a prototype, I'd have definitely done away with the comic-book conversations, and definitely changed the way Frankie was introduced.*
*Watching Play in the lecture and re-watching it on the Digidoss back home gave me a great idea, and also a lesson on how to introduce a character. The introduction to Play was quite simply, superb and I agree with David and Paul's take that had the dialog not been included in the short film, it would have been an amazing piece.
If I have the chance, I'll rewrite Frankie's intro.
Having perused all 266 pages of the script, I have come to face my demons and admit that my script is not up to par. Btw, I'm still struggling to upload my script onto Blogger as Blogger does not support PDF formats. If anyone has any suggestions, any programs or sites that I can upload my script onto, you know wata do.
Anyway, few things I've noticed about scripting:
1) Dialog. For a short film, either keep it minimal, or it has to be really entertaining. Due to the peculiar nature of my dialog for "Sweatshirts", I feel that it was imperative that the dialog is portrayed that way. In this sense, I feel that I have overcompensated that. The more I think about it, the more I feel I should have done away with the speech bubble formula.
2) Length (or duration) of short film. We haven't gotten any feedback yet, but I feel my script was far too long. Topping at just under 6 pages, there has been other successful scripts that were - gasp - under 2 pages. That's not to say the length does not matter (I feel strangely emasculated when I say this).
3) Inexperience. Before I wrote this script, I simply had no idea how a script was written. Diane's notes in the reading dossier came in really handy, but I found myself backtracking and referring to books and websites for another opinion. I could not find a script that could help - again due to the nature of my scripting - make my script better. It's really hard to convey a deaf man's thoughts, a foreign language and a comic-book style movie.
4) KISS. In future, I'll try to make it as simple as possible. Using "Sweatshirts" as a prototype, I'd have definitely done away with the comic-book conversations, and definitely changed the way Frankie was introduced.*
*Watching Play in the lecture and re-watching it on the Digidoss back home gave me a great idea, and also a lesson on how to introduce a character. The introduction to Play was quite simply, superb and I agree with David and Paul's take that had the dialog not been included in the short film, it would have been an amazing piece.
If I have the chance, I'll rewrite Frankie's intro.
Hmmm...interesting...
Ok I lied. I am reading all 60 (?) scripts. Ok I lied again. Am not really reading them. Just skimming them.
You learn some interesting stuff about the TV1 students while reading their scripts"
1) Antonius, or Anthony as I like calling him, is a master of brevity. 2 pages of script. Fuck you're amazing.
2) Everyone now knows where Ariel lives. Remember guys, as long as my name isn't mentioned, I don't know anything.
3) Charlotte likes being ambiguous as her script has no title. Are you trying to tell us something there Charlotte? :O
4) Chrissa is a closet fan of Heroes and probably fantasizes about Masi Oka.
5) Who the fuck is 'Error! Contact not defined! s3132496'? Haha...
Ok I lied. I am reading all 60 (?) scripts. Ok I lied again. Am not really reading them. Just skimming them.
You learn some interesting stuff about the TV1 students while reading their scripts"
1) Antonius, or Anthony as I like calling him, is a master of brevity. 2 pages of script. Fuck you're amazing.
2) Everyone now knows where Ariel lives. Remember guys, as long as my name isn't mentioned, I don't know anything.
3) Charlotte likes being ambiguous as her script has no title. Are you trying to tell us something there Charlotte? :O
4) Chrissa is a closet fan of Heroes and probably fantasizes about Masi Oka.
5) Who the fuck is 'Error! Contact not defined! s3132496'? Haha...
So, I am not good enough?
Funny that. Susan has picked out some of her favorite scripts. 3 of them belong to my production crew.
What? Am I not good enough? Or is a Prof Comm student not Media enough for you?
*sob*
Funny that. Susan has picked out some of her favorite scripts. 3 of them belong to my production crew.
What? Am I not good enough? Or is a Prof Comm student not Media enough for you?
*sob*
Scripts are in
Ok, them scripts are in. Let's face in. No one will be stuffed to read all 60 (?) scripts during the Easter break. We all have better things to do. While all the rest - who fall between the ages of 19-21 - get drunk, have random unsafe sex and waste their hard earned money on booze and drugs, a fast-approaching 30yo me relaxes at home, browsing through the blogs of other TV1 students. I'm hoping to get a semblance of what scripts are great. I'm not reading 60 (?) scripts. I have far better things to do.
Like getting drunk, have random unsafe sex and wasting my hard earned money on booze and drugs.
Ok, them scripts are in. Let's face in. No one will be stuffed to read all 60 (?) scripts during the Easter break. We all have better things to do. While all the rest - who fall between the ages of 19-21 - get drunk, have random unsafe sex and waste their hard earned money on booze and drugs, a fast-approaching 30yo me relaxes at home, browsing through the blogs of other TV1 students. I'm hoping to get a semblance of what scripts are great. I'm not reading 60 (?) scripts. I have far better things to do.
Like getting drunk, have random unsafe sex and wasting my hard earned money on booze and drugs.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Scripting was the easy part!
Having successfully written my very first script, I am now presented with a problem.
As I am not privy to Fugu - like most Media kids have access to - and RMIT Wordpress blogs, I am not able to upload my PDF-format script onto Blogger.
I would like to show my script to everyone coz everyone deserves a chance to read my sexy script. But alas.
Having successfully written my very first script, I am now presented with a problem.
As I am not privy to Fugu - like most Media kids have access to - and RMIT Wordpress blogs, I am not able to upload my PDF-format script onto Blogger.
I would like to show my script to everyone coz everyone deserves a chance to read my sexy script. But alas.
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