Last Tute - I'll take the Credit

Have you ever had one of those days where you can't please anyone? I thought honesty was a much valued trait that humans honour; seems like people much rather lie through their teeth to please others or themselves. I just can't.

I cannot justify giving myself a Distinction. Then again, I don't know. I'm the only who gave myself a Credit in class, and I found some of the self-assessed marks from my peers rather suspicious. Some really do deserve their marks, no questions asked. But hey, such is life isn't it?

I've never felt so uncomfortable before. I'm always Mr Know-It-All in classes; TV1 just brought out the ugly monster in me. I could always go in a self-assessment tute and give myself a High Distinction with no objections. Just like how Matt did it. Confident, without blinking and cocky. But today, I felt objectified.

Strangely, I felt like one of those losers who don't turn up for all the lectures, all the tutes and relied solely on their project mates to carry their fucking ass to pass. One of my group mates in Broadcast Media last year comes to mind. Lecturer still passed him. Are you fucking kidding me?

Anyway, what's done is done. I have justified my score, but my actions and words are perhaps somewhat unwarranted. It just came out the wrong way.

Then again, how many International Students juggle a full-time load, maintain a Distinction average in the first two years and run a university magazine? Last I checked, it's just me. Seriously, try convincing a 19yo kid to do that, and he'll laugh at my face. Right. Coz wasting money on booze, casual sex and partying is more fun that going home, completely exhausted with uni work and magazine. If anything, I deserve a High Distinction for effort expended this semester alone across all four subjects.

LOL come to think of it that's pretty much what I do all day. I do need to devote more time next semester. Geez. I don't know how I'm going to pull that off. This semester corrupted my physical and mental health. But two semesters?

Might need a shrink.

Rough Thoughts on Rough Cut

'Sam' - Lionel, Jen, Brendon and Matt

- Remarkably clear and crisp visuals
- Liked the stabbing shot via reflection
- The relationship wasn't clear for about 3 seconds as the chick went on and on about this faceless picture
- Seriously, who sits on a chair when he's stabbed? <--- Okay, I'm not meant to do this, but lol
- THAT dolly shot (wow)
- Continuity with the blood on the mouth, I noticed it immediately
- Liked the way the focus was on the bloodied face, and everything behind was out of focus

'Pharmacy' - Susan, Gabrielle, Tim, Brett and Mr Harbour, eh, Marcus

- I c-o-u-l-d n-o-t s-t-o-p laughing. Hilarious
- It's just me and my chip on my shoulder, but I found the ninja reference rather racist, as it looked like it was directed at Ying Ma
- Gentleman who came (lol) is a crackup
- Who would go out with that chick anyway? She's quite hideous <--- again, not meant to do this
- While many struggled with the red heads and box reference, I got it immediately. I do think it has to be changed to something more tv/film generic so Random Joe can understand it
- I wasn't aware that the 'pharmacist' and Ying Ma were in fact looking at their script. I was wondering what they were looking at.
- Which justifies why the 'Gentleman who came' got so upset, as they were reading the folder but failed to find anything

'Hounded' - by my crew. Woohoo!

- I really like the music done by Lily's friend. Had a build up and mirrored the anticipated 'build up' of the date
- Something has to go between the build up track and the second track. Silence is too jarring
- Charlotte's music was great, but I felt it wouldnt go with the footage as people will be hard-pressed to focus on both lyrics and visuals
- It'll go really well in the credits
- I suggested this to Alice, that one of Charlotte's tracks go in right off the bat in the front. We might have to put in something cheesy like 'Miramax Pictures Presents' and some extra scenes, to justify the extra track as cutting it off too soon will spoil it

Last week of the semester

We received an email from Paul last week on reflections and self-assessments and I've decided to give it a go at answering it right now.

- SELF ASSESSMENT IN TUTE
In the tutes next week we will be doing your self and peer assessments. If you cannot attend could you contact your tutor beforehand and we will organise another time to do it.

I've decided to give myself a CREDIT. I missed a couple of lectures and only one tutorial and was always in class, learning and understanding the big bright world of television. I feel that I am far behind to many Media students who can see themselves as a Media professional in the years to come. I only take Media as a learning subject as I'm mildly interested, and my enthusiasm, while great, cannot compete or compare with the Media students' knowledge and expertise. Many of them have been dabbling with little tv projects since their Year 9 days. Geez.

Technically, I feel that I have learnt a lot in the last 13 weeks, even though most times I still feel like a tame little church mouse who asks too many questions. I cannot give myself a DISTINCTION as my group mates understand, did and performed better than I did, and it'll be unfair to myself or them.

- ROUGH CUT SCREENING IN TUTE
This is a really constructive preview screening. Each group will watch and critique each other’s rough cuts. Last year this proved to be an invaluable process. As you know it is easy to get yourselves in to a situation where you can lose objectivity. It is terrific to hear the great suggestions that your fellow students come up with.

Sam and Charlotte gave us a headstart and came up with a good rough cut of Greg and William, which laid the foundations for Alice and I. Which brings me to Alice.

She has been phenomenal in this aspect. The two of us met up on Friday for editing, and expected to stay in the suite for only two hours. But somehow the next class didn't turn up, we ended up staying past two hours and we spent a total of seven hours in the suite. Okay, I stayed for only an hour-and-a-half, but Alice was a champion. As we had the luxury of filming a week or two weeks before many other teams, we did not rush with our editing and were lucky to have booked in the editing studio with no one else in sight.

I really am glad that this team is dedicated and are keen to do work. So many horror stories have been heard and seen with dodgy group mates who do no work and expect you to carry their fucking asses (last year's Broadcast Media come to mind).

- BLOGGING ON THESE SESSIONS
These sessions should generate a reflective and analytical blog post on yours and your other tute members films.

I give myself a CREDIT for my blog (barely). I havn't been diligent enough to blog consistently, or talk about television aspects of lighting, scenes or things that interested me on film or television. Looking at fellow students' blogs - Lionel's come to mind - it's frightening how enthusiastic they are about television. Posts were regular and consistent and were always interesting (even though I had no fucking clue what Lionel is talking about some times).

I'm so blessed

I've spent the last 30 minutes looking through blogs of other students who haven't had the fortune of shooting their short movie last weekend.

Many of them are panicking, some have difficulties with casting. Others have not found the right location and more have all of the above problems.

If you walked into this mess on your very first day not knowing what to expect, you'd be very scared.

I feel so blessed to be part of a good team. Because the team took the initiative to do pre-shoots several weeks in advance and our actual shoot last weekend, we're using this week to catch up on other subjects.

Yes, we do have other subjects.

And in my case, I'm spending this weekend working on issue 4 of Catalyst. My only fear now is the actual footage isn't good enough. Namely, out of focus, bad lighting, sound's all awry. Eeesh.

Good luck everyone.

'Hounded' - Behind the scenes

I had to iron these two yellow tee shirts the night before. While everyone brought a heap of props, I was charged to bring these tee shirts and some other minor stuff.




On the day of the shoot, Big Sam picked us up at RMIT. As Charlotte made her own way to Brighton, she isn't in these shots.

Big Sam


Alice (eh, this shot lacks exposure :O )


Lily


We began to dress up the first bathroom and bathed it with every fucking red object that we could lay our hands on from the house and stuff that we brought.



Alice smudging the mirror with toothpaste. Coz real homes have smudges on their mirrors. Last I checked, my mirror doesn't have any smudges. Haha.



Red bottles. Red vials. Red, red, red!


Shooting's not yet commenced, and the Director's already monkeying around.


Sam taking a shut eye as Lily 'looks on', unimpressed.


The Chinese believe that the colour red bring luck and prosperity. If anything. this bathroom looks like it could scare any Chinese away.





We moved upstairs to a different bathroom and dressed it up in yellow this time.






Sam found a stack of National Geographic periodicals. We cracked up laughing. Charming, how yellow!


We didn't notice it at first, but Sam pointed out that the clown on the right's rather obscene.


Nothing was spared in our hunt for yellow products...


We even raided the musty-smelling storeroom for knick-knacks that may come in useful.


Our actors have arrived, and are busy re-reading the last minute changes that Alice had made. Alice was busy too, putting the actors through their motions.


"So, remember not to stand on this floor tile. It'll explode if you do."


"What was that again? I have to rinse my mouth with Toilet Duck!?!?"


In character


This is the only shot that John's in.


Sam brought this funky toothpaste and toothbrush holder.


"Do I put my hands these way?"


Paul and the tech staff told us never to leave the equipment lying around unattended. Yeah right.


Lily taking a rest, deep in thought.


'Greg' and 'William', taking a break.


Planning and planning and more planning...


"Cmon, we wana see your man muscles!"


Charlotte, looking like she's just about to strike Lily unawares. Scarrry...


A funny moment


Camera lying around unattended again...


Lily doing a good job dressing up our 'cinema staff'


We had to dress up the Kaleide Theatre too

'Hounded' - Thoughts and reflection

"Cut! Good job guys." Alice croaked.

And then it hit me. Hey, the day's finally over.

When we wrapped up shooting of 'Hounded' at RMIT Kaleide Theatre at 6.30pm on Saturday, it was a culmination of a month of planning, travelling to location, pre-shoot planning, lots of drawing, production and sourcing for the appropriate actors.

Arriving on location in Brighton at 9.15am, our roles were well defined and all of us knew what to do. Truth is, by the end of the day, all of us ended up doing a little bit of everything. When time is pressing, the actors are annoyed, some ideas are needed, everyone chipped in and somehow everything worked out fine. Starting out, we were:

Alice - Director
Sam - Camera
Charlotte - First AD
Lily - Sound
John - Camera Assistant

This was a first for me, being on set on any location. It felt really professional, with all the wires and expensive equipment at hand. The team was really raw, but I could feel everyone was up for it and trying their best.

Apart from a tape debacle that threatened to ruin our schedule, the shooting was smooth and pleasant. We were extremely tired by the end of the day, but no one was complaining.

Alice
Our director had bent over backwards ensuring everything was done and in sequence. She had planned all the shots, the storyboarding and was always available at our beck and call. Our emails were spammed by her incessant barrage of updates and emails. Ultimately, it was worth it as her hard work ensured shooting on Saturday was smooth.

Alice was patient and was never once bossy with the actors. It was hard to get a couple of 15 year olds to cooperate, let alone listen to them. There were a couple of times when 'Greg' wasn't too pleased with what he had to do, and I thought Alice was trying too hard to get the shots done. I understood the schedule we were on, and although Alice could have been more patient, we got our shots and everyone was happy.

Sam
Big Sam was custom made for the role of camera man. He's easily half a head taller than I am - I'm 179cm - and has big strapping shoulders that accomodates the massive camera. Sam was also charged with driving us around as he was the only one with a car. Thank goodness he had one of those 6-seater SUVs; we might have to rethink our mode of transportation had he a smaller car.

Sam was patient and cool as a cat. Commenting on the extra trip he had to make to RMIT from Brighton AFTER just arriving from RMIT, he sounded amused at the number of trips he had to make to the city and Brighton and back. Between shuttling the crew, the actors home and making the extra trip to RMIT to sort out the tape debacle, Sam must have drove up and down six times.

The team also appreciated Sam's sense of humour. By late arvo we were clearly hungry, tired and needed more than a Red Bull or two. Sam somehow kept everyone going with some appropriate humour at inappropriate times.

Charlotte
Our First AD's hasn't been around much lately. Between a trip to Thailand and an illness that necassitates prolonged-rest, she somehow turned up. Though she was still sick, Charlotte was clearly up for it and tried not to let her illness affect the team. In fact, when I commented that she looked 'sick', she wasn't too pleased and put me back in my place. Yikes!

Charlotte had many ideas as to how a certain shot could be done. Although Alice was calling the shots, Charlotte ran her ideas aloud to all of us, suggesting if things could be improved. I liked her candidness and ideas; not all of them were used but surely we could have done with some input.

Charlotte and Lily took turns holding the boom pole; I thought it was quite funny. Both girls are rather slight, and the boom pole was easily twice their height.

Charlotte also had to keep the 15-year-old actors company and happy. Throw me a straightjacket and let me eat my way through; I'd rather do that than entertain some juvenile delinquents :O

Lily
Lily was really enthusiastic and was constantly communicating with Alice. She, like Charlotte, had lots of ideas. Lily's voice was also an ever-present facet during the shoot; she's either commenting, suggesting or laughing. Believe this, but when you have Alice thinking and deciding, Sam's humour, Charlotte and Lily both talking at the same time, it's clearly a positive environment to shoot our short film.

John
I started the day really enthused, keen and pumped up. Somewhere between holding the slate in for the 200th time and going hungry for seven hours, I kinda lost it and became more reclusive. Charlotte picked up on it, and said she's never seen me more quiet. Well something had to give isn't it? I get moody when I'm tired.

However, I definitely did not slack off and felt I contributed more than my fair share. My role wasn't too important in the shoot, but I worked closely with Alice as she planned her next shot. While reading the roles of any position is one thing, seeing it blossoming in front of your eyes as everyone of us performed our roles was another. I learnt so much just observing what each member of the crew is doing, and felt everyone had a part to play. Nobody was unimportant and everyone worked together to their best potential.

I do feel that there's so much more I could learn and do. I would like to get my hands dirty next semester and try the director role. I've mentioned many times that I do not like following people and every project I've been involved in I was the leader. With only two subjects to clear next semester, I'd definitely have more time on my hands to try storyboarding, casting and planning.

TV1 Test

Ten weeks of TV1 classes, tutorials and readings paled in comparison to a fascinating chat learn-as-you-go session with a fellow Media student. I learnt more in 40 minutes than I did in ten weeks. Oh the powers of listening.

I passed the test. 42/54. Was a lot easier than I thought. I was a little unsettled by the deadline; and from previous post, it's obvious I'm not knowledgeable on TV1 theory at all.

But all's well ends well.

Dear Paul...

You are the Oracle. Teach me stuff. Using Buffy references is gold. You is t3h Obi Wan.

:O

Studying Television - A Prof Comm student's pain

Paul/David, if you're reading this, understand Prof Comm students' plight. Remember, we're in Year 3, not Year 2 like most Media kids.

I had a chat with fellow Third Year Prof Comm student Matt this morning. Matt doesn't attend our tutorial, but as he's busy on his scheduled tutorial, he's opted to sit in with us today.

Sitting next to me and observing all the various cuts of Lenny that groups of students had to make, Matt and I talked about how hard it is for Prof Comm students to 'cut it' with the Media students.

Matt lamented to me that as the only Prof Comm student in his group of four - the other three being Media students - he feels like his weight and opinion isn't felt as it's always a three against one vote. Now because of this non-democratic way of voting, Matt has to travel to bloody Shepparton to shoot. Other members of his group include Steve and Sandra. Now I know Steve and Sandra, not well, but enough to know they are capable of doing good work.

Matt, on the other hand, I do not know well personally, but I know he's a honest and smart fellow who likes being heard. After three years studying together under the same roof, you do get to know which students are the good ones you turn to if you need help, who you turn to for advice, and who NOT to turn to for group assignments. Matt is one of those I'd definitely partner with, if I had the chance to.

I felt Matt's pain, but not in the same way.

Both Matt and I like to take charge of group assignments. In my two years of group assignments, I have always assumed the role of the leader and delegated work to the group mates and took it upon myself to get things done. It has put me in good stead and I always scored good grades.

In TV1, it's different.

I'm grouped with Sam, Alice, Lily and Charlotte. This is a group with a very good team dynamic - we communicate well and get along fine with one another. One thing sticks out like a sore thumb. Me.

Choosing TV1 as a subject wasn't something I was overzealous about. I picked TV 1 coz I was keen on learning Final Cut Pro and having an opportunity to get behind the camera, instead of getting in front of the computer. I was very conscious of my Catalyst commitments when I enrolled earlier this year, so I knew I needed a subject that would force me out of staring at books or chunks of text on computers. So it was a toss-up between Radio 1 or TV 1.

But I have to admit, apart from those catalysts (ha!), I had no knowledge of television, shot making or anything of that matter. Media studies was foreign to me.

When we gather to shoot, I feel like I know NOTHING. Because Charlotte is sick and went away to Thailand, I won't analyse her. Sam and Alice are both in Media, and obviously have a vested interest in the subject itself. They're talented and creative and like making movies through various forms. Lily obviously has a television background and though she's busy half the time, she makes it up with her knowledge.

I, on the other hand, am always present at meetings or shoots, but simply am not able to contribute coz I know absolutely fuck all about anything.

This was really obvious in our tutorials yesterday. While running through the various Lennies, people in the class were all nodding their heads, pointing out stuff to each other and commenting on it. I was completely lost and needed Lily to tell me why that shot was done intentionally, why this scene had crossed the fucking line and why that version of overexposed Lenny wasn't intentional.

I felt like Paul, while with all good intention, was talking to me coz he looks at shots from tv or film differently from how I look at it. I look at them just as what they are - the story it is trying to tell, the beauty of the soundtrack and the gorgeous landscape.

Paul on the other hand, mentioned that watching film and studying it is like 'math and counting' and it seemed so easy and convenient for him. I know this is his passion, and he obviously loves his craft.

It's not like I don't read the dossier. But something as hands-on as TV 1 needs to be watched, listened and practiced on. It's definitely a visual and aural thing. There's only so much one can learn from the reading.

To conclude, and to reiterate Matt's opinion.

Matt and I are both in Prof Comm coz we are both interested in all aspects of Communication. In choosing TV1, we all had reasons to pick it. In my case, it was taking a break from Catalyst and learning FCP. In Matt's, I don't know coz he didn't tell me. But we came to one truth.

Our true love is Journalism (either broadcast or print), which is why we're both pursuing Journalism in our Third Year. Paired with all these talented young film-makers who are brimming with ideas, we both feel fucking useless.

Outclassed and outperformed, rather.

Pre-Production for Hounded

As Alice has mentioned, the name of the script has been changed to Hounded, as the team wants the title to relate to the female character as well as the movie within the film.

I've managed to pre-book the Kaleide theatre premises as our cinema locale shot. Being in the Student Union does have its perks after all! Turns out if you wish to book Kaleide for free, all you have to mention and proof that:

1) You're a RMIT student
2) This is for a student assignment

and voila we have the cinema foyer.

The team was a little concerned about the sound coming from the theatre itself on the day of filming. Marc from the Student Union Arts had indicated that some auditions or sound testing on that particular Saturday, and we just had a terrible experience with our sound from Lenny.

Then we realised, hey! it's okay for sound to filter out to the foyer. It 'is' a cinema foyer after all and when has a cinema foyer even been quiet?

I like the lady Lily picked out. She looks absolutely believable as a cinema ticket lady. She's not too pretty, not too threatening and genuinely looks the part as an everyday Janet. It's important for us to pick the right lady as she needs to show 'genuine' boredom and 'faked' interest without even trying too hard.

Lighting

This week's lecture on lighting was very, eh, enlightening. I got in slightly late, but I didn't miss the good bits.

I found the number of different lights rather daunting. Firstly, I've always known the two more commonly known lights - hard and soft. Now, there are two more. Key and Fill. But what I had thought was hard and soft light was also, wrong. Before, I thought hard light was bright light and soft light was low level of lights. Boy was I wrong. Also, what I thought was soft and hard light looked was wrong too.

"Lighting can emphasize important details or hide them. It can flatter a subject by bringing out positive attributes, and it can de-emphasize or hide less attractive attributes. Lighting can even impart a sinister and hostile look. It all depends on how you choose to use the concepts we'll be covering in the next few modules."

Take this as an example:

Before, I would have picked this image out as a hard light image due to the brightness and intensity of the light thrown on the object. The light looks like it's directly over the object, creating the intensity.

This is really, soft light.

This would have been my choice for soft lights as it has shadows cast on it and the light was at an angle, probably several feet away.

This is really, hard light.

Yikes, I really don't know anything about lights!

Hard Light
"Hard light casts a sharp, clearly defined shadow. When hard light is used to illuminate a face, imperfections in the skin stand out. The result is less than flattering. But in other applications, such as bringing out the texture in leather, or the engraving on a piece of jewelry, this can be an advantage."

Soft light
"Soft light sources are used in production to create a broad, even area of light. In the field, videographers often rely on umbrella reflectors (on the right, below) to create a soft lighting effect. As you can see, this is simply a light bounced off the inside of a silver or white, umbrella-like reflector. The illustration below on the left shows a much heavier soft light that is commonly hung from the grid in studios."

Key Light
So to confuse things further, there are key and fill lights. Key lights are the main lights that highlights the form, dimension and surface detail of subject matter.

In the picture on the left, key light is placed at an angle of between 30 and 45 degrees from either the left or the right of the camera. Forty-five degrees off to one side is best because, among other things, it brings out more texture and form (dimension) in the subject. For the sake of consistency, the 45-degree angle will be used throughout this discussion.

Fill Light
I have never heard of fill lighting until the lecture this week. Hell sitting at the lecture, I didn't even think I understood what he said! How can a light soften the harshness of another light? It doesn't make any sense. Isn't fill light the same as soft light then?

This illustration makes it clearer.

Ideally, the fill light should be about 90 degrees away from the key light. This means that if you draw lines from the key to the subject and then to the fill light, you'll create a right angle. Although the fill can be positioned at any point from right beside the camera to 45 degrees away, it's safest to place the fill 45 degrees from the camera.

By lighting a full 90 degree area, an important margin of safety is created in case subjects unexpectedly move and camera angles have to be changed during the production. Having to stop a production to change the position of lights can represent a time-consuming and costly delay — not to mention, making you a bit unpopular with the cast and crew.

This is a good website for TV production notes. I sourced all the information from here.