As you can see in previous blog posts for this piece I was involved as Sugini's AD in pre-production leading up to filming helping her discuss ideas and make decisions about the best actions to take and assisting her in the pre-production process as and when she needed help or wanted to talk through things. It was really nice to get to be involved in this, however I was involved during the production stage as she was shooting in Sri Lanka for 4 week and I was unable to fund myself to go here with her and also unable to take that much time away from my own project. I however am now back involved now she is back as she has completed her filming and now moved into the post-production editing stage. We have had a few brief chats in the past few weeks about thing like arranging footage and logging etc however on Friday afternoon I had an official in depth meeting with her to talk about where she had got to with the edit and see if I could help in anyway. She showed me some of her footage, showed me her planned narrative story and showed me her current timeline of interview footage which is nearly 3 hours long. She was really struggling to cut it down and extract the essentials and as it is in the Tamil language I wasn't able to help too effectively by watching it. Instead she ran through her plan in detail about the story and the story arc she had planned and her fathers timeline of events. I would then help her find better ways of thinking about then and discussed others ways of thinking when editing to help keep only the important and exciting bits but still have it flow. It helps that I am also an editor so I have knowledge on this subject and am able to a assist in this way too. The main things we spoke about specifically edit wise are:
She should aim to cut down the piece to 1 hour however it will probably help her if as she in narrowing it down she begins to already start adding visuals to the interview footage as the visuals will actually allow her to see what works well and what doesn't and then she will be able to refine a lot more based on this as well.
The introduction should introduce the place and culture most importantly and then introduce him as the voice afterwards. Balance between necessary info like introducing her father needs to be balanced with poetic beautiful information about Sri Lanka and his culture to allow some really beautiful visuals and this would be a great way to start to captivate the audience then once you have their attentions then show her Dad visually introducing himself. Sugini agreed that this would help her cut out information as well because then she can grab the audience with information but also visuals and therefore doesn't need to physically say as much about certain things which are shown visually. She also sees how excitement can be added by changing the order around slightly rather than only have the order that he spoke in because introducing him first isn't the most captivating thing about this documentary.
The teenage section of the piece seems like the most important really building towards the main climax so she really needs to work on focusing here in picking up the pace with the editing and making sure to use visuals which start to emphasise that disruption in her fathers story. Then the peak of the piece needs most time spent on it out of all of them as this is about the war and is really hard hitting stuff. Again she should choose her visuals wisely finding poetic visuals which mimic the fearful emotions felt by her father in this section.
After the main peak section we move into a slightly sadder emotion and she can really use this to gradually decrease the tension and fear by slowing the pace right down to again reflect the emotion of this section but also allowing the audience time to reflect themselves in this intense section and then move into feeling the sadness and using visuals which again poetically match this.
For the end resolution section it shouldn't go into too much cliche detail talking about how everything has been nicely resolved, instead it should still be reflecting back on what has happened but with positive outlooks on overcoming everything.
Another point I made is that majority of her audience won't speak Tamil so will be reading the subtitles so its really important to keep this in mind as it will be a different experience for someone who can understand as it would be to someone reading subtitles because the subtitles will seem like ready poetry with this picturesque images and that can really be used to her advantage to make some beautiful images which match really beautifully with lines of poetry almost.
Lastly we spoke about something I mentioned a lot which is editing with emotion! This is a technique Ive learnt from studying poetic visuals and then employed myself and found it to be really helpful. It is always best to know the emotional intention behind each section or scene and really think into that before and during editing so that you can consciously make sure the editing style as well as the visuals and everything else all feeds into that emotional internet that you had.
This meeting was really nice as I loved hearing about how Sugini's filming went and how much it has continued to develop since I was last able to be involved. I also really enjoyed being about to get involved again and help more from an editing point of view this time as this is another one of my passions and I really have enjoyed working on a piece like hers which is so interesting to me teaching a lot I didn't know about her culture and subject matter and also allowing me to work on something so different.
Saturday, 21 April 2018
Girl Happy - Editing 20.04.18
On Friday Myself and Maisie met with Tilly to show her the edit we had put together which was improved since she last saw it making changes based on feedback from herself and others including tutors and then making our own judgement calls on the piece. We showed her and firstly we began by fixing the titles and credits in the way she wanted as the documents we had been working forms with the names and roles weren't 100% complete or accurate. This took us some time to adjust and play around with to make sure this was correct now. We then let Tilly watch the entire piece through and see what she thought. She took notes as she did so and then instructed us on minor tweaks and changes to make to the edit to improve further still. A lot of it was simply cutting out/down shots which weren't looking up to standard for example shots with focus and shake problems as we made the decision that even if we lost some detail about the characters or story at least the piece will flow better and look more professional through out. It is just a shame that some shots could have been done a lot better with a proper focus pull or tripod used etc but we have spent a lot of time working around this and finding the best sections of shots were there aren't any mistakes or problems so thankfully this shouldn't be a noticeable problem to any viewer now. We then got people to view it to check that the story was defiantly understandable and that there were no mistakes we may have missed. Then we agreed upon this edit and picture locked it. We then exported a low resolution version of the vide with stamped in timecode and a AF sound file for the sound team to begin working on as soon as possible. This ended up taking longer than we realise to create/export these file types specially as we had some minor hard drive compatibly issues too. However we got these files sorted in the end so that the sound team can begin however we ran out of time to export the full res version and the file needed for the colour grader as this would take at least a few hours. We have spoke to the colourist and made the plan to come in early on Monday and export during the day while working on other things. Then Tilly will take the files on her hard drive to London on Tuesday morning to meet the colourist and transfer them to her hard drive so she can begin work. Other jobs we have also realised we must do on Monday before this final export is to add a few missing extra's names into the credits and add in the animations to the opening title sequence if Tilly is able to get an animator to complete them by then. We hopefully will also have time to double check everything in a few weeks time hen we get the sound and the colour graded film back so we can put it together, add bars and tones, check it over and export the finished version officially. Then in the slightly further future I will be re-editing potentially with Maisie again to short the piece more so that it can be entered into more film festivals as it is currently 20 minutes long and this isn't very film festival appropriate. Roll on Monday! Lets keep this moving forward!
Wednesday, 18 April 2018
Separation 'Engrammic' Projection Testing
My installation plan changed a while back (see previous posts) from being more interact multi projector/screen piece to instead now being a one screen projection/screen piece which works more as a short poetic film. However I have always planned to try and install/project it on a large scale and now having essentially finished my film I still believe that this is the best option. I want it large because all these objects are personal and small especially things like the dress which are children sizes and very small so I want to give them more power and make them captivate on a very large screen to emphasise the power these personal object and therefore these memories have had on me and the importance and scale of them to me. I therefore want to pitch to have my piece projected onto one of the largest screens thats available at the Graduation show and also looking into the future I would love to project it in various spaces and at various exhibitions and shows like the private viewing we are arranging as a class. I therefore knew that in order to see if this was possible I needed to test project my film on a large scale and see if its works. Therefore I arranged with a small group (Maisie and Tash 'from film') to go into the cinema room at the university and use the projector in this room to see how the film looks on this and Maisie wanted to do the same too.
I was really happy with the way my film looked projected. I was very worried that it may be too washed out and loses too much detail and tones however its contrasted and coloured appropriately so when projected in a dim/dark space you can seem the details still even if it is slightly washed out. I feel like these visuals work the way I wanted them too on this large scale having a lot of power and impact and I was so happy to see my piece the entire way through on a large projection and I got good feedback from Maisie and Tash about its look and power too. It is the way I need and want it to be. Now I will need to work on pitching to get a large space at the grad show and private viewing if possible and if not getting as larger space as I can to project onto and final resort would be one of the largest TV screens available but this will cost the piece as it will loose an element of scale and power I wanted it to have.
I now need to also look into the ways sound can be played but if I am on a larger projection I would love to have a directional speaker pointing down/towards the viewing area so that people when they stand and watch can hear the sound fully from in front of the screen without disturbing anyone but so they are immersed visually and also auditory.
Lastly I must make the decision on weather I would have my actual bridesmaid dress on display near my film to give it that juxtaposing element by showing this powerful large scale film where the dress seems massive, which in my memory it is to me, yet they will then see this tiny dress next to it possible lit by a spotlight. This may be really effective but could also maybe be too much of an explanation to viewers so I will need to get some opinions on this and also test this out potentially and make the decisions during the installation period as to weather it works or not.
I was really happy with the way my film looked projected. I was very worried that it may be too washed out and loses too much detail and tones however its contrasted and coloured appropriately so when projected in a dim/dark space you can seem the details still even if it is slightly washed out. I feel like these visuals work the way I wanted them too on this large scale having a lot of power and impact and I was so happy to see my piece the entire way through on a large projection and I got good feedback from Maisie and Tash about its look and power too. It is the way I need and want it to be. Now I will need to work on pitching to get a large space at the grad show and private viewing if possible and if not getting as larger space as I can to project onto and final resort would be one of the largest TV screens available but this will cost the piece as it will loose an element of scale and power I wanted it to have.
(Excuse this low quality phone image)
I now need to also look into the ways sound can be played but if I am on a larger projection I would love to have a directional speaker pointing down/towards the viewing area so that people when they stand and watch can hear the sound fully from in front of the screen without disturbing anyone but so they are immersed visually and also auditory.
Lastly I must make the decision on weather I would have my actual bridesmaid dress on display near my film to give it that juxtaposing element by showing this powerful large scale film where the dress seems massive, which in my memory it is to me, yet they will then see this tiny dress next to it possible lit by a spotlight. This may be really effective but could also maybe be too much of an explanation to viewers so I will need to get some opinions on this and also test this out potentially and make the decisions during the installation period as to weather it works or not.
Girl Happy Editing - Week 2
Here is how week 2 of editing on Girl happy has gone so far:
16/04/18
Today it was myself, Maisie and Tilly all in the editing suite and we were continuing to make changes based on Tilly's feedback we revised on Friday. I was making a lot of the shot and continuity changes to begin with following Tilly's feedback but also getting her opinions on changes I thought should be made to help the piece so that I could refine each scene as much as possible. I found a lot of it to be trial and error of changing the order or adding certain shots for her or me taking things out I didn't think worked and then just seeing if it worked to give the scene more of the feel that we were aiming for. As much as I was able to find majority of better shots to fix simple problems like camera shake in some shots and continuity error etc Maisie did have to step in at times to add effects like stabilisers to certain shots to reduce camera shake and movement as much as possible. My main issue with some of these changes, in particular the shot changes, was again the time it was taking for me to go into the source browser in Avid and go through clip by clip hunting for specific shots as they were not logged or listed properly and therefore we could not find things that Tilly wanted or better shots of something particular that quickly so this slowed us down. As an Editor if the time was given to me I would have reviewed the shots myself and logged them to avoid this however as Tilly was the Director and she already knew what shots she wanted prior to us even starting editing it was a case of working with/from her direction but she didn't have a logged system either. However we all pushed on and made best of the situation editing this together refining and finessing everything. We then had a much more refined version to show tutors and colleges to get feedback about what they thought. The feedback was very positive about the aesthetic and the style to it but there was some changes suggested. It was mainly about some scenes feeling a bit too obvious and over stating such as the car scene between Mum and Georgie. We are going to revisit this to find a way to simplify implying an atmosphere and tension without having to show too much. This is the same for a few other scenes as well. We also need to look into the ordering f some shots as cuts between certain scenes do come across too abruptly and we need to give the viewers enough time to absorb things and also establish where we are. Again this will just involve some simplify and twerking or orders of shots. These changes have bee discussed today and I will be making these tomorrow.
17/04/18
Today it was just myself and Maisie in the editing room. I was continuing on from yesterday making the changes suggested by tutors and colleges to try and simply certain areas and reorder some scenes and shots to make it flow better. After doing this me and Maisie then watched through and refined a few more things we felt needed to be refined eliminating messy shots or sections of shots and improving the flow and continuity further. Once we were both happy with it I went through and fixed some of the sound cutting out sound that wasn't needed and adding in the temporary sound tracks provided by Tilly yesterday. Maisie assisted with certain tricky sound elements like levelling where I was finding it tricky (2 sets of ears is better than 1)! We knew we didn't need to perfect this completely though as the sound designers would be doing this next week we just wanted to add everything so it was all there for as a template for when they begin. Lastly Maisie put the credits and titles together on the footage and at the end of the film so that this job was completed. Once this was inserted in we felt we had got the edit as far as we could refined it as best as we could.
We have saved this edit and will be coming back in on Friday (when Tilly is next free) to show the finished edit to Tilly and to some "test viewers" to get any last bits of feedback to make improvements but hopefully we will then be able to export this on Friday and send it over to the Colourist and the Sound Designers to get to work on their elements of this finished edit.
16/04/18
Today it was myself, Maisie and Tilly all in the editing suite and we were continuing to make changes based on Tilly's feedback we revised on Friday. I was making a lot of the shot and continuity changes to begin with following Tilly's feedback but also getting her opinions on changes I thought should be made to help the piece so that I could refine each scene as much as possible. I found a lot of it to be trial and error of changing the order or adding certain shots for her or me taking things out I didn't think worked and then just seeing if it worked to give the scene more of the feel that we were aiming for. As much as I was able to find majority of better shots to fix simple problems like camera shake in some shots and continuity error etc Maisie did have to step in at times to add effects like stabilisers to certain shots to reduce camera shake and movement as much as possible. My main issue with some of these changes, in particular the shot changes, was again the time it was taking for me to go into the source browser in Avid and go through clip by clip hunting for specific shots as they were not logged or listed properly and therefore we could not find things that Tilly wanted or better shots of something particular that quickly so this slowed us down. As an Editor if the time was given to me I would have reviewed the shots myself and logged them to avoid this however as Tilly was the Director and she already knew what shots she wanted prior to us even starting editing it was a case of working with/from her direction but she didn't have a logged system either. However we all pushed on and made best of the situation editing this together refining and finessing everything. We then had a much more refined version to show tutors and colleges to get feedback about what they thought. The feedback was very positive about the aesthetic and the style to it but there was some changes suggested. It was mainly about some scenes feeling a bit too obvious and over stating such as the car scene between Mum and Georgie. We are going to revisit this to find a way to simplify implying an atmosphere and tension without having to show too much. This is the same for a few other scenes as well. We also need to look into the ordering f some shots as cuts between certain scenes do come across too abruptly and we need to give the viewers enough time to absorb things and also establish where we are. Again this will just involve some simplify and twerking or orders of shots. These changes have bee discussed today and I will be making these tomorrow.
17/04/18
Today it was just myself and Maisie in the editing room. I was continuing on from yesterday making the changes suggested by tutors and colleges to try and simply certain areas and reorder some scenes and shots to make it flow better. After doing this me and Maisie then watched through and refined a few more things we felt needed to be refined eliminating messy shots or sections of shots and improving the flow and continuity further. Once we were both happy with it I went through and fixed some of the sound cutting out sound that wasn't needed and adding in the temporary sound tracks provided by Tilly yesterday. Maisie assisted with certain tricky sound elements like levelling where I was finding it tricky (2 sets of ears is better than 1)! We knew we didn't need to perfect this completely though as the sound designers would be doing this next week we just wanted to add everything so it was all there for as a template for when they begin. Lastly Maisie put the credits and titles together on the footage and at the end of the film so that this job was completed. Once this was inserted in we felt we had got the edit as far as we could refined it as best as we could.
We have saved this edit and will be coming back in on Friday (when Tilly is next free) to show the finished edit to Tilly and to some "test viewers" to get any last bits of feedback to make improvements but hopefully we will then be able to export this on Friday and send it over to the Colourist and the Sound Designers to get to work on their elements of this finished edit.
Separation Edit - Final Changes and Decisions
Over the weekend 14th & 15th April I resisted my edit for my film Separation to make final changes to the edit and final decisions. Here is what I did:
This week I received the sound track from the musician (my Brother) which he had made based on the phone meeting we had about it and the specifications I sent in an email to him (see previous post) and I also sent him the finished edit as it stood at the time. He sent me the finished sound track so I added this onto my edit and reviewed it. I was really happy with the sound track as it used a lot of sounds I asked for and flowed with the emotions of the piece the way I wanted it to. He also specifically gave the dress motif a sound motif to go with it which worked well along with having other sounds come in for certain objects to make it match the visuals well and flow with the visuals. I also liked the way that it defiantly comes across as a sound track that is working with the visuals as opposed to just adding a music track to it. I was very happy with this soundtrack so I then moved on to begin looking into the visuals.
I began by making minor changes simply refining some timings between shots and some transitions however I had to make sure to do this in a way which kept the overall timing of the piece the same so that it still fitted within the music track well. I then moved on to look at things which I had received feedback about from tutors and colleges and also people who knew nothing about my piece. I decided that the sunflower did seem like the least fitting visual within the overall piece due to its colour being a lot warmer and its shape being very different and the naturalness of it, therefore it juxtaposing too much. I decided to remove some sunflower shots and shorten others. I removed the second ink drop on sunflower visual as this was not necessaries it wasn't adding to the piece. I then stretched the visuals each side to cover this gap so that I didn't mess up the timing. I also then shortened some of my other sunflower shots slightly to make it flow within the piece more.
I then looked into some of my reversed visuals I have at the end of the piece as I felt there was too many and therefore they lost power. I decided that the reverse shot of the dress then being folded back up at the end would have more power and significance if it were the only reverse shot. Therefore I decided to take away my other reverse shot which was of the ring jumping back up off the table. It had been observed by some people that this shot didn't fit in visual well amongst the shots anyway. Instead in order to still have a ring shot that did fit in I added a basic shot of the ring spinning and instead made it really slowly and gently fade to away so that were just left with a white background. This work a lot better as it now visual fits within the piece and doesn't distract from the important dress shot.
I then looked into the bathroom facial shots as these didn't always flow due to the background being white however not as stark and bright white as the infinity table. I had the bright white infinity table and the black background in the body shots and then the face submerged shots which were a duller white bathtub background. I was unable to brighten the background effectively as I was still unable to get it to match the infinity table and this was coating my face to look too pale and therefore it didn't match the skin tones in the movement shots which was a previous issue I had solved by colour correcting these visuals to make the skin tones match. Instead it occurred to me that I could try and soften the edges and potentially use a vignette to darken and blur out the background. I tried this and it worked a lot better as I was able to make the background look a lot deliberately darker around the face which not only added more focus to my face but also made the background less notable as simply just a bathtub and this is what I wanted. The bathtub was too recognisable to work effectively within the rest of the abstract unidentifiable spaces so this effect is much better and now it doesn't stand out amongst the other spaces and coloured backgrounds. By removing the shots which weren't fitting in smoothly and adjusting others to make them flow better I feel the piece comes across much more powerfully allowing viewers to absorb the visuals and the emotions of these strong shots as they flow, making these visuals more memorable now hopefully resonating with an audience more.
I then spent a lot of time colour correcting and grading my piece so that it flowed much more seamlessly and so that all shots matched each other better. I pulled up the exposure a lot on the infinity table shots to eliminate any distracting shadows in the table and make them all match in brightness and therefore effect. I also used focused on the sunflowers again as there colours were very bright compared to a lot of other objects so I desaturated them slightly to make them fit in better. I was much happier with it now being coloured correctly as nothing jarred colour wise on screen and it does seem more professional now and the way I envisioned it being.
I was now really happy with the piece overall and felt like I had reached the point were I was happy with it as it was showing the emotions and memories I wanted to interpret with this poetic language that I have worked so hard to achieve. It has developed much further than I could have originally planned as it has shifted from originally an artistic installation to a refined poetic short film which can have multiple outcomes in the future too. Its themes have developed a lot more intellectually from simply showing the childhood trauma and situation of my parents divorce to instead thinking more deeply about these memories and how they have developed in my mind and developed me as I have grown up and this psychological process and effects. It uses interpretations of my memories through the atmosphere at the time and the way I felt about it and how I feel and think back on it now and makes a tangible poetic film from intangible things that have erected me for a very long time and still effect me now.
The next stage was to add in credits and titles which I wanted to keep as simple and basic as possible. I decided I did not want a title at the beginning of my piece as I want people to view it with no preconceptions or guidance so instead I decided to have my title at the end. The only reason I am having a title at all is because I want to use a title which will define the process of memory and they process this piece takes. Therefore after listing down titles and having many conversations with people and lots more research (see previous post) I settled with the title 'Engrammic'. This is the adjective of the word Engram. Its definition is 'the physical basis of an individual memory in the brain'. This title has the most meaning within the piece and resonates with me the most as it is a term that has inspired me, thinking about the way my memories have developed yet never giving much consideration to the physicalness of memories before which is also why its so interesting and defiantly adds to the piece. As well as having just this title I also added the definition of this word into the end title screen too as I knew that it wasn't going to be a word that a lot of people would commonly know and the definition is the key part of this. I then had this fade and the credits simply appear, not in any particular fancy way just fading from credit to credit so not to distract at all from the film but just give thanks to all involved. Now that I have titles and credits I then exported my final piece ready for testing which is my next step.
This week I received the sound track from the musician (my Brother) which he had made based on the phone meeting we had about it and the specifications I sent in an email to him (see previous post) and I also sent him the finished edit as it stood at the time. He sent me the finished sound track so I added this onto my edit and reviewed it. I was really happy with the sound track as it used a lot of sounds I asked for and flowed with the emotions of the piece the way I wanted it to. He also specifically gave the dress motif a sound motif to go with it which worked well along with having other sounds come in for certain objects to make it match the visuals well and flow with the visuals. I also liked the way that it defiantly comes across as a sound track that is working with the visuals as opposed to just adding a music track to it. I was very happy with this soundtrack so I then moved on to begin looking into the visuals.
I began by making minor changes simply refining some timings between shots and some transitions however I had to make sure to do this in a way which kept the overall timing of the piece the same so that it still fitted within the music track well. I then moved on to look at things which I had received feedback about from tutors and colleges and also people who knew nothing about my piece. I decided that the sunflower did seem like the least fitting visual within the overall piece due to its colour being a lot warmer and its shape being very different and the naturalness of it, therefore it juxtaposing too much. I decided to remove some sunflower shots and shorten others. I removed the second ink drop on sunflower visual as this was not necessaries it wasn't adding to the piece. I then stretched the visuals each side to cover this gap so that I didn't mess up the timing. I also then shortened some of my other sunflower shots slightly to make it flow within the piece more.
I then looked into some of my reversed visuals I have at the end of the piece as I felt there was too many and therefore they lost power. I decided that the reverse shot of the dress then being folded back up at the end would have more power and significance if it were the only reverse shot. Therefore I decided to take away my other reverse shot which was of the ring jumping back up off the table. It had been observed by some people that this shot didn't fit in visual well amongst the shots anyway. Instead in order to still have a ring shot that did fit in I added a basic shot of the ring spinning and instead made it really slowly and gently fade to away so that were just left with a white background. This work a lot better as it now visual fits within the piece and doesn't distract from the important dress shot.
I then looked into the bathroom facial shots as these didn't always flow due to the background being white however not as stark and bright white as the infinity table. I had the bright white infinity table and the black background in the body shots and then the face submerged shots which were a duller white bathtub background. I was unable to brighten the background effectively as I was still unable to get it to match the infinity table and this was coating my face to look too pale and therefore it didn't match the skin tones in the movement shots which was a previous issue I had solved by colour correcting these visuals to make the skin tones match. Instead it occurred to me that I could try and soften the edges and potentially use a vignette to darken and blur out the background. I tried this and it worked a lot better as I was able to make the background look a lot deliberately darker around the face which not only added more focus to my face but also made the background less notable as simply just a bathtub and this is what I wanted. The bathtub was too recognisable to work effectively within the rest of the abstract unidentifiable spaces so this effect is much better and now it doesn't stand out amongst the other spaces and coloured backgrounds. By removing the shots which weren't fitting in smoothly and adjusting others to make them flow better I feel the piece comes across much more powerfully allowing viewers to absorb the visuals and the emotions of these strong shots as they flow, making these visuals more memorable now hopefully resonating with an audience more.
I then spent a lot of time colour correcting and grading my piece so that it flowed much more seamlessly and so that all shots matched each other better. I pulled up the exposure a lot on the infinity table shots to eliminate any distracting shadows in the table and make them all match in brightness and therefore effect. I also used focused on the sunflowers again as there colours were very bright compared to a lot of other objects so I desaturated them slightly to make them fit in better. I was much happier with it now being coloured correctly as nothing jarred colour wise on screen and it does seem more professional now and the way I envisioned it being.
I was now really happy with the piece overall and felt like I had reached the point were I was happy with it as it was showing the emotions and memories I wanted to interpret with this poetic language that I have worked so hard to achieve. It has developed much further than I could have originally planned as it has shifted from originally an artistic installation to a refined poetic short film which can have multiple outcomes in the future too. Its themes have developed a lot more intellectually from simply showing the childhood trauma and situation of my parents divorce to instead thinking more deeply about these memories and how they have developed in my mind and developed me as I have grown up and this psychological process and effects. It uses interpretations of my memories through the atmosphere at the time and the way I felt about it and how I feel and think back on it now and makes a tangible poetic film from intangible things that have erected me for a very long time and still effect me now.
The next stage was to add in credits and titles which I wanted to keep as simple and basic as possible. I decided I did not want a title at the beginning of my piece as I want people to view it with no preconceptions or guidance so instead I decided to have my title at the end. The only reason I am having a title at all is because I want to use a title which will define the process of memory and they process this piece takes. Therefore after listing down titles and having many conversations with people and lots more research (see previous post) I settled with the title 'Engrammic'. This is the adjective of the word Engram. Its definition is 'the physical basis of an individual memory in the brain'. This title has the most meaning within the piece and resonates with me the most as it is a term that has inspired me, thinking about the way my memories have developed yet never giving much consideration to the physicalness of memories before which is also why its so interesting and defiantly adds to the piece. As well as having just this title I also added the definition of this word into the end title screen too as I knew that it wasn't going to be a word that a lot of people would commonly know and the definition is the key part of this. I then had this fade and the credits simply appear, not in any particular fancy way just fading from credit to credit so not to distract at all from the film but just give thanks to all involved. Now that I have titles and credits I then exported my final piece ready for testing which is my next step.
Saturday, 14 April 2018
Girl Happy Editing Week 1!
Having now completed my first out of two week of editing for Girl Happy here is what went on each day this week. IT was myself and Maisie Editing under the Direction of Tilly:
Monday 9th
As this was our first day editing we all attended and we wanted to make sure we had all the files arranged and traded exactly how we needed them before begging the edit. We had spent several days last month uploading and transcoding all the footage however we never got to arrange and upload the sound files as the sound team hadn't yet provided us with the files they recorded externally. We got them to transfer these files to us and so today we saved these onto a hard rive and then uploaded them into our Girl Happy space on the Avid Nexus. We then used the Script Supervisor notes which Tilly (Director) provided us with to go through and find the correct sound files for the best chosen shots Tilly instructed us to transcode previously. We then imported these needed sound files into Avid however this took a long time as the sound team hadn't logged their sound files correctly. Instead they were all simply in one large folder so we had to go through number by number finding the correct sound files as the script supervisor notes weren't always correct. When we finally then had all the sound we needed in Avid we then arranged it, labelled it and put it into the correct scene bins so that everything was organised properly.
We then began syncing the external sound files with the visuals using the in/out method and matching it to the beep. However this was made difficult because the camera wasn't always set to record sound for some reason so we count hear a beep and instead had to do it via the clapper board visual with the clapper sound. This works but takes a bit longer and a bit more refining. Today we didn't get to start piecing anything together as we were still busy getting everything organised and hadn't finished syncing the sound yet, however we were slowed down by simple mistakes made on set by other members like not sound from the camera and no logging done of any of the shots or any of the sound files. This is why myself and Maisie wanted to spend a bit longer making sure we had ourselves properly organised before begging the edit process.
Tuesday 10th
Today due to Tilly and Maisie having other commitments I was in the Avid editing suite by myself. I began by continuing to sync the external sound with the visuals using the in/out point method. This took a while because some sound files were not correct because the script supervisor had made mistakes so I had to search through the sound files to listen for the correct ones every now and again. I also didn't always have sound from camera to work with so had to keep doing it via the clapper. I then also had some clips which simply for some reason didn't have matching sound files so I had to improvise and use another sound file from a different take etc and then just sync it by eyes and ears myself. I got this to work but it just meant it took a long time to do successfully. Now that I had managed to get all the sound files synced I then moved on to piecing together an assembly cut to use. This is where you put all shots in order from very start to finish so that you can easily scrub through and see everything you have and then simply duplicate this to begin cutting together an edit. I began doing this which was very helpful as it now meant I got to see every clip from start to finish to see what I had to work with. I got about a third through the assembly cut today before I then ran out of time.
Wednesday 11th
Again I was on my own in the Avid editing suite today so I simply continued with putting the assembly cut together which took a while as there was a fair few shots to go through and I wanted to make sure as I was assembling them that I watched them from start to end so that before starting the official edit I could work out exactly what I was working with. I finally got a full assembly cut put together today which meant I now knew exactly what we currently had to work with. This was good as I knew what shots I defiantly wanted in the edit because they were the best but also which shots needed more work as I found that there were a lot of shots that had shaky moments in it or a lot of camera movements which seemed too distracting. I also had to be aware of shots with sound issues and visual issues like crew in the background. I made a note so that I could make sure to avoid these problem areas from Tilly's selection of best shots but to then emphasise the piece using the best bits of these shots in the edit.
Thursday 12th
Today it was myself and Maisie in the Avid editing suite. To give her a much clearer idea of what we had to work with I let her watch the assembly cut I had put together and then discussed this with her. As I had been cutting it together by myself Maisie let me begin cutting together an official edit 1 while she was there and then whenever I needed an extra opinion or wasn't sure about something or about how to do a certain thing in Avid she would help, show me, give her opinion or fix the problem. This was helpful as it meant I didn't have to be slowed down by hard decisions, problems or software issues and also meant I was getting to learn more technical things about Avid by having Maisie show me things and help me. It also meant that I could focus on continuity cutting while Maisie focusing on more technical details like sound and visual issues that may need to be fixed later on. Maisie had to leave earlier today but I decided to stay late to get as much of the edit put together as possible and was really happy that today I managed to get just over half the main edit completed.
Friday 13th
Today it was myself in this morning to continue putting my basic continuity cut together. I carried on working through. Something I did was keep a note of any problems I had with my edit due to the footage or sound so that when Maisie came in I could speak to her about it and see if she knew any way to fix it. When she joined me I only had a few scenes left to cut together so she assisted me with these and then we went through this edit fixing the problems we could and trying to improve it more before Tilly came to view it later on this afternoon.
As I said we were only working from majority footage and shots which Tilly had told us to work from as these were the best ones. However we had a few issues with some of these shots like camera shake, focus issues, visual issues (crew etc in shot), sound issues (crew talking in shots) which we simply couldn't fix and we weren't aware of where we would be able to find replacement shots as the visuals hadn't been logged officially. We decided to leave the problems that couldn't be fixed and we currently had no replacement shot for and see what Tilly thought. When she arrived we let her watch the now completed(ish) edit we had and scene by scene she paused and gave us some feedback to work on. Here is the feedback I noted from her...
I then got straight to work with Maisie on making these changes happen. As it was late in the day we only got half way through making the changes and the rest required a lot more work so we decided we will continue making these harder changes on Monday. A lot of the major problem areas that can't be fixed in post require us to go back and search through all the visual files to find different replacement shots which weren't necessarily the ones Tilly wanted but maybe have more useable sections than the current clips we have. We will be doing this Monday along with the rest of the changes such as reordering. Before we left I had a few things to discuss with Tilly. I wanted to know what she wanted to do between scenes as one of them go straight from one conversation into another and we have no B roll to use the break it up or establish it. She has said that she wants it to just simply cut from one scene into another so this is what we will do. I also asked her about the timeline of the piece because having read the script and edited together in her order (I even called in a friend 'Tash from Film' who deals with scripts to look through the order etc) I couldn't work out the reasoning behind the middle order of the piece. Tilly explained that they aren't necessarily flash backs or forwards but instead we jump around this period of time (a month for example) going from moment to moment but not in linear or narrative order. This now makes sense however we may need to look into finding a way to maybe edit that makes this more obvious. I then asked her about the titles and credits and as she wasn't able to get an animator on board to animate these for her she would like myself and Maisie to add these sequences in for her. She will choose a font and write us a list and order of names etc to follow and we will do this at the end. We then spoke about music which she is going to get the files for and we will add it in at the end so she can work out which sound tracks work and where and then we will let the sound team now but not export it with music on as they can add the music themselves we will just provide the timecode of where to put it. Now that we have a plan of action for next week we saved what we had and went home to rest up ready to start editing again next week.
I really enjoyed this week of editing however it was very intense especially for me being the only one that was in for full days everyday this week. I felt proud however that so much progress had been made with this edit despite some of the problems I had come across during the editing process, and I am happy that I have been able to use Avid again and gain more skills in this editing software.
Monday 9th
As this was our first day editing we all attended and we wanted to make sure we had all the files arranged and traded exactly how we needed them before begging the edit. We had spent several days last month uploading and transcoding all the footage however we never got to arrange and upload the sound files as the sound team hadn't yet provided us with the files they recorded externally. We got them to transfer these files to us and so today we saved these onto a hard rive and then uploaded them into our Girl Happy space on the Avid Nexus. We then used the Script Supervisor notes which Tilly (Director) provided us with to go through and find the correct sound files for the best chosen shots Tilly instructed us to transcode previously. We then imported these needed sound files into Avid however this took a long time as the sound team hadn't logged their sound files correctly. Instead they were all simply in one large folder so we had to go through number by number finding the correct sound files as the script supervisor notes weren't always correct. When we finally then had all the sound we needed in Avid we then arranged it, labelled it and put it into the correct scene bins so that everything was organised properly.
We then began syncing the external sound files with the visuals using the in/out method and matching it to the beep. However this was made difficult because the camera wasn't always set to record sound for some reason so we count hear a beep and instead had to do it via the clapper board visual with the clapper sound. This works but takes a bit longer and a bit more refining. Today we didn't get to start piecing anything together as we were still busy getting everything organised and hadn't finished syncing the sound yet, however we were slowed down by simple mistakes made on set by other members like not sound from the camera and no logging done of any of the shots or any of the sound files. This is why myself and Maisie wanted to spend a bit longer making sure we had ourselves properly organised before begging the edit process.
Tuesday 10th
Today due to Tilly and Maisie having other commitments I was in the Avid editing suite by myself. I began by continuing to sync the external sound with the visuals using the in/out point method. This took a while because some sound files were not correct because the script supervisor had made mistakes so I had to search through the sound files to listen for the correct ones every now and again. I also didn't always have sound from camera to work with so had to keep doing it via the clapper. I then also had some clips which simply for some reason didn't have matching sound files so I had to improvise and use another sound file from a different take etc and then just sync it by eyes and ears myself. I got this to work but it just meant it took a long time to do successfully. Now that I had managed to get all the sound files synced I then moved on to piecing together an assembly cut to use. This is where you put all shots in order from very start to finish so that you can easily scrub through and see everything you have and then simply duplicate this to begin cutting together an edit. I began doing this which was very helpful as it now meant I got to see every clip from start to finish to see what I had to work with. I got about a third through the assembly cut today before I then ran out of time.
Wednesday 11th
Again I was on my own in the Avid editing suite today so I simply continued with putting the assembly cut together which took a while as there was a fair few shots to go through and I wanted to make sure as I was assembling them that I watched them from start to end so that before starting the official edit I could work out exactly what I was working with. I finally got a full assembly cut put together today which meant I now knew exactly what we currently had to work with. This was good as I knew what shots I defiantly wanted in the edit because they were the best but also which shots needed more work as I found that there were a lot of shots that had shaky moments in it or a lot of camera movements which seemed too distracting. I also had to be aware of shots with sound issues and visual issues like crew in the background. I made a note so that I could make sure to avoid these problem areas from Tilly's selection of best shots but to then emphasise the piece using the best bits of these shots in the edit.
Thursday 12th
Today it was myself and Maisie in the Avid editing suite. To give her a much clearer idea of what we had to work with I let her watch the assembly cut I had put together and then discussed this with her. As I had been cutting it together by myself Maisie let me begin cutting together an official edit 1 while she was there and then whenever I needed an extra opinion or wasn't sure about something or about how to do a certain thing in Avid she would help, show me, give her opinion or fix the problem. This was helpful as it meant I didn't have to be slowed down by hard decisions, problems or software issues and also meant I was getting to learn more technical things about Avid by having Maisie show me things and help me. It also meant that I could focus on continuity cutting while Maisie focusing on more technical details like sound and visual issues that may need to be fixed later on. Maisie had to leave earlier today but I decided to stay late to get as much of the edit put together as possible and was really happy that today I managed to get just over half the main edit completed.
Friday 13th
Today it was myself in this morning to continue putting my basic continuity cut together. I carried on working through. Something I did was keep a note of any problems I had with my edit due to the footage or sound so that when Maisie came in I could speak to her about it and see if she knew any way to fix it. When she joined me I only had a few scenes left to cut together so she assisted me with these and then we went through this edit fixing the problems we could and trying to improve it more before Tilly came to view it later on this afternoon.
As I said we were only working from majority footage and shots which Tilly had told us to work from as these were the best ones. However we had a few issues with some of these shots like camera shake, focus issues, visual issues (crew etc in shot), sound issues (crew talking in shots) which we simply couldn't fix and we weren't aware of where we would be able to find replacement shots as the visuals hadn't been logged officially. We decided to leave the problems that couldn't be fixed and we currently had no replacement shot for and see what Tilly thought. When she arrived we let her watch the now completed(ish) edit we had and scene by scene she paused and gave us some feedback to work on. Here is the feedback I noted from her...
I then got straight to work with Maisie on making these changes happen. As it was late in the day we only got half way through making the changes and the rest required a lot more work so we decided we will continue making these harder changes on Monday. A lot of the major problem areas that can't be fixed in post require us to go back and search through all the visual files to find different replacement shots which weren't necessarily the ones Tilly wanted but maybe have more useable sections than the current clips we have. We will be doing this Monday along with the rest of the changes such as reordering. Before we left I had a few things to discuss with Tilly. I wanted to know what she wanted to do between scenes as one of them go straight from one conversation into another and we have no B roll to use the break it up or establish it. She has said that she wants it to just simply cut from one scene into another so this is what we will do. I also asked her about the timeline of the piece because having read the script and edited together in her order (I even called in a friend 'Tash from Film' who deals with scripts to look through the order etc) I couldn't work out the reasoning behind the middle order of the piece. Tilly explained that they aren't necessarily flash backs or forwards but instead we jump around this period of time (a month for example) going from moment to moment but not in linear or narrative order. This now makes sense however we may need to look into finding a way to maybe edit that makes this more obvious. I then asked her about the titles and credits and as she wasn't able to get an animator on board to animate these for her she would like myself and Maisie to add these sequences in for her. She will choose a font and write us a list and order of names etc to follow and we will do this at the end. We then spoke about music which she is going to get the files for and we will add it in at the end so she can work out which sound tracks work and where and then we will let the sound team now but not export it with music on as they can add the music themselves we will just provide the timecode of where to put it. Now that we have a plan of action for next week we saved what we had and went home to rest up ready to start editing again next week.
I really enjoyed this week of editing however it was very intense especially for me being the only one that was in for full days everyday this week. I felt proud however that so much progress had been made with this edit despite some of the problems I had come across during the editing process, and I am happy that I have been able to use Avid again and gain more skills in this editing software.
Friday, 6 April 2018
Separation - Rethinking and Re-planning Installation
Back in the pre-production stages I wanted this piece to make a big statement by having a powerful installation to go with it. As the piece developed I came up with plans for this before filming began. Here is the original plans I came up with:
Having now been through production stage and presently be nearing the end of my post-prodctuion stage I have re-visted these plans. I learnt how to projection map via tutorial so that I could make the aspect correct if I projected on a corner like in Plan 2 or onto objects (although this idea has changed fairly early on). I however, having spent so long trying to get a one screen edit together which has power and all the emotions and feelings I want to it, have been thinking of my piece much more as a Poetic Short Film rather than an Installation. I was going to create a separate edit for one screen and then one for installation where I split the elements away however I am very opposed to doing this now. This is because firstly it seems too literal now among the other 'Separation' elements to split and separate the visuals. Secondly I have added some really specific and intricate effects to my one screen edit which add so much power and I feel like the best way to keep these working the way I intend them too now (with the changes to my planned concept and visuals) would be to have them projected onto a very large screen so that these memories are larger than real life and are made even more powerful on the viewer. Lastly I feel like splitting the visuals into cubes will now cheapen a film which I have worked so hard on to try and get the correct emotions, feelings, narrative, concept, visuals and sound to as it will make it too busy and too bombarding on an audience. The piece will still work the same way I want it to on the audience and I can still in the future project it on to different locations and projection map it to make it reach my intended audiences but I want to keep the visuals all together as one image to keep the power and intensity to it.
As well as wanting to now just display a one screen piece I have also removed one of my objects from the visuals which is the headband so this object would not be present in an installation setting. Instead it would only be the dress which will be more effective next to the largely displayed film in the film we see the dress as such an important motif and object in my memories holding the piece together with power. However when audience then see it alone on the wall next to the film (hopefully lit by one single spotlight) they will see how small but real this dress really is therefore effecting them emotionally and anchoring these dream like memory images into a real life situation and object.
I would love to have the sound played out loud to give the full atmosphere to my piece but if this is going to cause problems for other piece in the gallery I would love to see if a directional speaker is available to have so that when the audience stand in front of the large screen they can hear the sound coming down on them and it captivates and immerses them.
I feel like now instead of my installation seeming very busy with too many distractions, this new approach is refined and therefore more powerful with the visuals speaking on their own. It is the essence of my memories surrounding these difficult childhood situations and this is now reflected by the way it will be installed and shown to an audience too.
Having now been through production stage and presently be nearing the end of my post-prodctuion stage I have re-visted these plans. I learnt how to projection map via tutorial so that I could make the aspect correct if I projected on a corner like in Plan 2 or onto objects (although this idea has changed fairly early on). I however, having spent so long trying to get a one screen edit together which has power and all the emotions and feelings I want to it, have been thinking of my piece much more as a Poetic Short Film rather than an Installation. I was going to create a separate edit for one screen and then one for installation where I split the elements away however I am very opposed to doing this now. This is because firstly it seems too literal now among the other 'Separation' elements to split and separate the visuals. Secondly I have added some really specific and intricate effects to my one screen edit which add so much power and I feel like the best way to keep these working the way I intend them too now (with the changes to my planned concept and visuals) would be to have them projected onto a very large screen so that these memories are larger than real life and are made even more powerful on the viewer. Lastly I feel like splitting the visuals into cubes will now cheapen a film which I have worked so hard on to try and get the correct emotions, feelings, narrative, concept, visuals and sound to as it will make it too busy and too bombarding on an audience. The piece will still work the same way I want it to on the audience and I can still in the future project it on to different locations and projection map it to make it reach my intended audiences but I want to keep the visuals all together as one image to keep the power and intensity to it.
As well as wanting to now just display a one screen piece I have also removed one of my objects from the visuals which is the headband so this object would not be present in an installation setting. Instead it would only be the dress which will be more effective next to the largely displayed film in the film we see the dress as such an important motif and object in my memories holding the piece together with power. However when audience then see it alone on the wall next to the film (hopefully lit by one single spotlight) they will see how small but real this dress really is therefore effecting them emotionally and anchoring these dream like memory images into a real life situation and object.
I would love to have the sound played out loud to give the full atmosphere to my piece but if this is going to cause problems for other piece in the gallery I would love to see if a directional speaker is available to have so that when the audience stand in front of the large screen they can hear the sound coming down on them and it captivates and immerses them.
I feel like now instead of my installation seeming very busy with too many distractions, this new approach is refined and therefore more powerful with the visuals speaking on their own. It is the essence of my memories surrounding these difficult childhood situations and this is now reflected by the way it will be installed and shown to an audience too.
Separation - Title Change!
Now that my piece has developed so much further from when I first began in production stage I have revisited the name as the working title of Separation was never intended as the official title and also I feel like the piece has developed so much further on from just being based on the original idea of Separation meaning Divorce. The title Separation also instantly gives too much away and I want my piece to be more interpretive and ominous than that as it is based on my personal memories. The piece has moved on in this way to become a poetic short film based on the childhood memories I have particularly surrounding my parent divorce (however this is now only one element) and instead I have explored a lot more of how those memories have developed and changed meaning to me over the years as I have developed as a person. Majority of the memories surrounding this situation feel more dream like now then memories as they occurred such a long time ago and have changed meaning to me as my life has moved onwards. I look at it not only as a childhood trauma to me but also a very important event to me as it has made me and my family who we are today. Therefore rather than being simply a focus on my parents divorce as an event, it instead is a detailed focus on how this developed as emotions in my mind and how I have interpreted and created my memories of what happened and the power behind these memories.
To start looking into a title that is much more appropriate I decided that I wanted to look into psychological terminology surrounding memories and potentially the way memories and the brain work surrounding this particular feeling I have that has led me to create this piece. I began by searching into terminology surround this. Here are some potential terms I came up with that I found on the internet:
This refers to the piece being ambiguous itself but also the way the object are ambiguous too till I gave them meaning in my memories.
My memories are based on emotions and displaying these emotions to the audience is important so this word links well.
This works as it links it back to childhood which is where all these memories come from that I am attached to.
Again this links back to the emotions in my piece by refer to emotional parts of the brain.
I feel like this could add an extra element to the piece referring to me making this piece in an order to help me find closure.
This adds the psychological aspect I want within my piece about how I have thought through the situation myself.
Audio is also a very important part of the piece where my brother gets involved too to add to the memories and Echo could refer to the repeated motif in the piece as well.
This is a way of referring to memories with more interest. Also it talks about memories physical traces which is what this piece is.
The word episodes in this works to refer to the repeated motif and how it begins a new episode each time in the emotions that change and develop.
I feel like this speaks about how I do feel an attachment to the objects within this piece and to the memories themselves because they are so precious and important to me.
The situations this piece refers to caused me to mature a lot and therefore this terminology works well.
This piece is so closely related to my family and parents so this phrase makes that connection clearer.
The piece is representing the memories and emotions Ive been left with due to how I have perceived the situations as a child.
I have spent a lot of time in the making of this piece retrieving memories and feelings from my childhood to be able to interpret into the piece so this has particular meaning.
This is much the same as Recall however is more basic in referring to simple informational retrieval instead.
As well as words I found online I also found definitions for some words I came up with myself that I thought would potentially work as a title. Here is my favourite that I thought of:
I like this because every single person has a disposition however each persons is slightly different because everyone has different personalities and qualities which make them who they are and make you individual. I feel like I developed a lot of my personality due to not only the good situations I went through as a child but also the tough situations like this one I am representing that I had to go through. Therefore this piece is part of the making of my own disposition and thats why I like the idea of it as a title.
Another route that was actually suggested by my tutor was the potential of looking at poetry to try and come up with a poetic name for the piece to match the pieces poetic nature in the way I formed it. Here are some that I have thought about:
Mutability -
Mutability is a poem by Percy Shelley. I grew up in the village where Percy Shelley lived so firstly him as a poet already has great meaning to me as I have always known about him and his work. I live mutability because it makes comment on the busy hustle and bustle of life and how we as people simply float through it. I feel a connection personally to this message but also there is part of the poem where it refers to dreams still being tainted and therefore Mutability is the thing which can not be achieved. However because of the dream like memory aspects of my piece it is like my attempt at achieving mutability.
In Memoriam -
In Memoriam is a poem by Tennyson which is based on his grief for the death his close friend. This poem is some of his most lyric and emotional work based on his grief. I like the idea of this as I have aimed to have my piece being poetic and lyrical following and portraying my emotional journey the same way Tennyson is portraying his emotional journey. The theme of grief links into the idea of me grieving my childhood as I look back on these situations in a very different light now having grown up so much since then and therefore I am grieving my own childhood that I was quickly moved out of.
Child Whispers -
Child Whispers isn't just one poem by instead is a collection of poems all based on similar themes of childhood etc by Author Enid Blyton. I like the idea that its a collection because my piece is formed out of a collection of memories from my childhood pieced together in this dream like way to reflect the way I see them now. I feel like the whisper aspect fits in with the repeated motif I have through out my piece with the dress being one of the most effective strong images which repeats serval times getting slower and more dream like each time. This fits well with the name and makes both seem a bit more effective.
Having now looked into potential names and researched them I have limited it down to:
Amygdala - a roughly almond-shaped mass of grey matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions.
Attachment - a strong emotional connection, such as the bond between a child and caregiver. In psychology, the concept of attachment helps explain development and personality.
Echoic - of or like an echo.
Engram - a hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory; a memory trace.
Recall - bring the memory or thought of someone or something to (a person or their mind).
Disposition - a person's inherent qualities of mind and character.
Mutability - P. Shelley's poem of trying to achieve mutability in a busy chaotic world.
Child Whispers - Collection of poems based on childhood and children real feelings and words.
I am going to keep these names in my head during these final stages of putting together my piece so that I can limit them down and choose one that is most fitting as my final title. I am also going to speak to my crew and colleagues in my course and see which is most appealing to them to make sure the title works for an audience.
To start looking into a title that is much more appropriate I decided that I wanted to look into psychological terminology surrounding memories and potentially the way memories and the brain work surrounding this particular feeling I have that has led me to create this piece. I began by searching into terminology surround this. Here are some potential terms I came up with that I found on the internet:
This refers to the piece being ambiguous itself but also the way the object are ambiguous too till I gave them meaning in my memories.My memories are based on emotions and displaying these emotions to the audience is important so this word links well.
As well as words I found online I also found definitions for some words I came up with myself that I thought would potentially work as a title. Here is my favourite that I thought of:
I like this because every single person has a disposition however each persons is slightly different because everyone has different personalities and qualities which make them who they are and make you individual. I feel like I developed a lot of my personality due to not only the good situations I went through as a child but also the tough situations like this one I am representing that I had to go through. Therefore this piece is part of the making of my own disposition and thats why I like the idea of it as a title.
Another route that was actually suggested by my tutor was the potential of looking at poetry to try and come up with a poetic name for the piece to match the pieces poetic nature in the way I formed it. Here are some that I have thought about:
Mutability -
In Memoriam -
Child Whispers -
Having now looked into potential names and researched them I have limited it down to:
Amygdala - a roughly almond-shaped mass of grey matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions.
Attachment - a strong emotional connection, such as the bond between a child and caregiver. In psychology, the concept of attachment helps explain development and personality.
Echoic - of or like an echo.
Engram - a hypothetical permanent change in the brain accounting for the existence of memory; a memory trace.
Recall - bring the memory or thought of someone or something to (a person or their mind).
Disposition - a person's inherent qualities of mind and character.
Mutability - P. Shelley's poem of trying to achieve mutability in a busy chaotic world.
Child Whispers - Collection of poems based on childhood and children real feelings and words.
I am going to keep these names in my head during these final stages of putting together my piece so that I can limit them down and choose one that is most fitting as my final title. I am also going to speak to my crew and colleagues in my course and see which is most appealing to them to make sure the title works for an audience.
Wednesday, 4 April 2018
Girl Happy Editing Research
In preparation for beginning to edit Girl Happy next week I have conducted research on the areas that Tilly (Director) referenced when talking about editing style. I think its really important to make sure that I understand her references so that when myself and Maisie are editing we can keep to her vision for the piece as well as adding our own flare to it. Here is all the research I have conducted:
Firstly there is one film in particular that Tilly has kept referencing and referring to through out for visuals, style etc an this is 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl'. She also spoke about this in particular when talking to me and Masie about editing style. I decided to go watch this film and analyse it in terms of the editing but also slightly the way the film aims to effect an audience so that I can think about how we can effect our audience too. Here are the main points of what I analysed from the film:
- The Speed and pace is used importantly through out but noticeably in the introduction sequence. It helps to show us what she is seeing from her perspective and how she feels about it. She is happy so things have this euphoric feel to them with slow shots lingering on the things around her she is looking at as she walks in this euphoric state. The pace is slow which also juxtaposes with the pace of the rock music playing. This again adds to the euphoric feel and also adds excitement to this sequence rather than it flowing in the traditional manor. These techniques are used powerfully in this opening sequence to make it a powerful opening but these techniques are also used a lot through out the film too.
- The ratio on this film is interesting as letter boxing has been used (black bars above and below) which makes the screen look thinner and smaller. I like this use in this film as it really adds to the vintage feel of this film. Girl Happy has some vintage aspects to it so I will have to discuss this with the Director.
- The colouring of this piece is really important with the vintage feel too. It has an orange warm hue to the piece which adds to the retro feeling. Also it adds to the piece emotionally making everything seem a bit nicer than it maybe is. This is almost like putting us in the teenage girls mindset - Naïvety! I really like the way this colouring can do this and we will need to think abut the colours that need to be used for Girl Happy to make it as effective a possible.
- There are a lot of lingering shots which hold on awkward situations. This makes the audience feel that same awkwardness that the main character is feeling and therefore we are in this same vulnerable state she is. Rather than just fast paced we also need to focus on the lingering slow shots too to add to the situation. Also having the main characters voice overs on some of these lingering shots in this film again makes us enter her headspace even more. This makes it seem more immersive for us and again this is worth considering in Girl Happy.
- There are a lot of intimate moments and situation we see in this film and this is always enhanced by the use of closer up shots in these situations. As the characters get more intimate we as an audience move closer. The camera also shakes in some of these situations to make use feel like the camera is really there and involved. Again its an immersive tool used. If we have the shots to be able to do this for some of the intimate scenes I would like to approach them in this way.
- For the phone conversations in this film we have back and froward shots between the characters who are on the phone. We begin with longer shots held on screen for longer a lot of the time then as the conversation progresses often getting more intense or exciting the shots get shorter and closer in to build a mundane situation up.
- There are some really nice continuity cuts used when we change location and place in the film. They match up the shapes and objects on screen so that when we cut to a new situation instead of seeming jarring like it could do, it instead progresses fluidly and therefore we stay very much interested as an audience and focused. I love this technique anyway but in this film it really helps and if this is possible I would love to see if we can achieve some continuity cuts in Girl Happy.
- It is also important to notice that we usually follow the main characters eye gaze so we see her go to look at something then as an audience we are then looking at that too. I like that as it really its us in her shoes and is effective at this.
- Some of the wide shots are held for a long time almost just observatory shots which again makes us enter the main characters head space as she is simply trying to observe life and figure things out. This leads us to try and think as she does. We also cut away into her memories with her again adding another level of interest to the piece but also keeping it realistic and from inside her head space.
- We get to see a lot of shots were the main charter is also listening in shots as well as talking when she's in a conversation and I think its really important to remember to do this sometimes when filming and editing. You want to show the main character not only talking but taking in and absorbing whats going on and being said for the first time the same way that we as an audience are. It makes us really connect to her as a human being.
- We spend a lot of time in this film alone with the main character just watching her in everyday life, shots and pace are really important in these sections because they dictate to the audience without the character even talking the feelings she is feeling in the moment.
- As well as using speed to build I really like the intensity being built with slowness holding shots which show bad things happening for a lot longer than usual. These show us things that are upsetting her and it really makes those shots have gravitas and even the power to upset us by holding on them for such a long time.
- I like how emotions are really reflected in this film through techniques used. For example when she gets upset the cuts become jumpier and the camera is shakier to physically show her turmoil. This helps to influence the audiences emotions and I want to keep in mind when editing how I can best display and enhance the characters emotions like this.
- Fast cuts are also used to bombard us helping show how exciting and intense new places are for the character. In the scene outside the bar we are introduced to all new people she is also seeing for the first time and it makes it overwhelming, the same way it must be for her.
- The technique and paced used through out this film are really effective but also the lack of this pace and technique is used to enhance the film too. This pace and technique disappears slightly in the first drug taking scene where we see the main character taking drugs and drinking. The editing becomes more random, jumpy and visually different. This makes the new experience for her then stand out as a new experience for the viewers too.
- Continuity cuts of her crying add power to her sadness in one of the most emotion sequences. We see her cry in different locations and this makes us see the sadness taking over her.
- Sound is also really important in this film. Natural sounds are used a lot but then silence is used as a tool to then intensify situations. Music is then use to bring the mood back up, which is different to how most films use music to add sadness. The visuals work with these sounds in this way all seamlessly fitting together to make it flow effectively always immersing us in the main characters emotions.
- The ending has strong visual of her alone in her room conveying the final message of this film and giving us an ending that isn't dramatic in an obvious way. I really like this as it makes you think a lot more.
Overall I found this film to be really interesting and exciting to watch because of the way it manages to effective you as a viewer using so many subtle techniques in the film making and the editing that immerse you in the main charters head space and emotions, yet it still flows naturally enough that you fully focus on this and it feels realistic to the audience. I will be keeping what I ahem learnt from this in mind while I am editing Girl Happy as I feel like it is important to get the emotional intensity right as this film has done.
A genre that got mentioned a lot in discussion with the Director was 'Mumblecore'. The director explained that she was partly influenced by this genre along with others. This genre stood out to me because I haven't ever heard much about it before and wanted to find out about it so that I could fully understand the references and influences behind Girl Happy and the Directs vision. I began by finding a definitions online for Mumblecore. I found out that mumble core is a niche genre of low budget film which focuses on the naturalistic and often uses non-professional actors sometimes improvising dialogue to achieve full naturalness in this. Mumble core seems to have branched off from the low budget indie film genre. It has progressed forward further into naturalism often creating comedy which arises from very normal characters and very mundane situations and struggles like paying the bills for example. I have read that there is often a focus on dialogue over the plot to achieve this realistic life feel. The whole purpose is to avoid dramatising situations (typical of high budget and hollywood films) and instead keep it real and therefore connectable to real life for audiences. Instead of forcing a plot you let real life situations and dialogue lead the way instead of a false performance.
After now finding out the basics of this genre I am really intrigued as it sounds interesting and I can see where Girl Happy has taken some influence from this. I looked at some clips from suggested mumblecore films such as 'Before Sunset' which made me really see how the dialogue is made so natural and how it feels like such realistic integration between people. 'Frances Ha' which used lots of real situations and showed the drama and comedy in them. 'Terri' which shows real people and believable relationships between them. I have looked into these amongst others and I feel like I feel confident in what mumble core is now and as a genre it is interesting. I feel like Girl Happy isn't a mumblecore film however I can see where techniques can be used to make it feel realistic like the long lingering shots and the long pauses. Also the conversational back and forward editing does need to be rushed.
Overall this research and analysis has really helped me get inspired and feel more confident and focused now when beginning the edit of Girl Happy next week. I feel like it will be much stronger now haveing made sure I now know the full inspirations and references of this film and the end goals.
Firstly there is one film in particular that Tilly has kept referencing and referring to through out for visuals, style etc an this is 'The Diary of a Teenage Girl'. She also spoke about this in particular when talking to me and Masie about editing style. I decided to go watch this film and analyse it in terms of the editing but also slightly the way the film aims to effect an audience so that I can think about how we can effect our audience too. Here are the main points of what I analysed from the film:
- The Speed and pace is used importantly through out but noticeably in the introduction sequence. It helps to show us what she is seeing from her perspective and how she feels about it. She is happy so things have this euphoric feel to them with slow shots lingering on the things around her she is looking at as she walks in this euphoric state. The pace is slow which also juxtaposes with the pace of the rock music playing. This again adds to the euphoric feel and also adds excitement to this sequence rather than it flowing in the traditional manor. These techniques are used powerfully in this opening sequence to make it a powerful opening but these techniques are also used a lot through out the film too.
- The ratio on this film is interesting as letter boxing has been used (black bars above and below) which makes the screen look thinner and smaller. I like this use in this film as it really adds to the vintage feel of this film. Girl Happy has some vintage aspects to it so I will have to discuss this with the Director.
- The colouring of this piece is really important with the vintage feel too. It has an orange warm hue to the piece which adds to the retro feeling. Also it adds to the piece emotionally making everything seem a bit nicer than it maybe is. This is almost like putting us in the teenage girls mindset - Naïvety! I really like the way this colouring can do this and we will need to think abut the colours that need to be used for Girl Happy to make it as effective a possible.
- There are a lot of lingering shots which hold on awkward situations. This makes the audience feel that same awkwardness that the main character is feeling and therefore we are in this same vulnerable state she is. Rather than just fast paced we also need to focus on the lingering slow shots too to add to the situation. Also having the main characters voice overs on some of these lingering shots in this film again makes us enter her headspace even more. This makes it seem more immersive for us and again this is worth considering in Girl Happy.
- There are a lot of intimate moments and situation we see in this film and this is always enhanced by the use of closer up shots in these situations. As the characters get more intimate we as an audience move closer. The camera also shakes in some of these situations to make use feel like the camera is really there and involved. Again its an immersive tool used. If we have the shots to be able to do this for some of the intimate scenes I would like to approach them in this way.
- For the phone conversations in this film we have back and froward shots between the characters who are on the phone. We begin with longer shots held on screen for longer a lot of the time then as the conversation progresses often getting more intense or exciting the shots get shorter and closer in to build a mundane situation up.
- There are some really nice continuity cuts used when we change location and place in the film. They match up the shapes and objects on screen so that when we cut to a new situation instead of seeming jarring like it could do, it instead progresses fluidly and therefore we stay very much interested as an audience and focused. I love this technique anyway but in this film it really helps and if this is possible I would love to see if we can achieve some continuity cuts in Girl Happy.
- It is also important to notice that we usually follow the main characters eye gaze so we see her go to look at something then as an audience we are then looking at that too. I like that as it really its us in her shoes and is effective at this.
- Some of the wide shots are held for a long time almost just observatory shots which again makes us enter the main characters head space as she is simply trying to observe life and figure things out. This leads us to try and think as she does. We also cut away into her memories with her again adding another level of interest to the piece but also keeping it realistic and from inside her head space.
- We get to see a lot of shots were the main charter is also listening in shots as well as talking when she's in a conversation and I think its really important to remember to do this sometimes when filming and editing. You want to show the main character not only talking but taking in and absorbing whats going on and being said for the first time the same way that we as an audience are. It makes us really connect to her as a human being.
- We spend a lot of time in this film alone with the main character just watching her in everyday life, shots and pace are really important in these sections because they dictate to the audience without the character even talking the feelings she is feeling in the moment.
- As well as using speed to build I really like the intensity being built with slowness holding shots which show bad things happening for a lot longer than usual. These show us things that are upsetting her and it really makes those shots have gravitas and even the power to upset us by holding on them for such a long time.
- I like how emotions are really reflected in this film through techniques used. For example when she gets upset the cuts become jumpier and the camera is shakier to physically show her turmoil. This helps to influence the audiences emotions and I want to keep in mind when editing how I can best display and enhance the characters emotions like this.
- Fast cuts are also used to bombard us helping show how exciting and intense new places are for the character. In the scene outside the bar we are introduced to all new people she is also seeing for the first time and it makes it overwhelming, the same way it must be for her.
- The technique and paced used through out this film are really effective but also the lack of this pace and technique is used to enhance the film too. This pace and technique disappears slightly in the first drug taking scene where we see the main character taking drugs and drinking. The editing becomes more random, jumpy and visually different. This makes the new experience for her then stand out as a new experience for the viewers too.
- Continuity cuts of her crying add power to her sadness in one of the most emotion sequences. We see her cry in different locations and this makes us see the sadness taking over her.
- Sound is also really important in this film. Natural sounds are used a lot but then silence is used as a tool to then intensify situations. Music is then use to bring the mood back up, which is different to how most films use music to add sadness. The visuals work with these sounds in this way all seamlessly fitting together to make it flow effectively always immersing us in the main characters emotions.
- The ending has strong visual of her alone in her room conveying the final message of this film and giving us an ending that isn't dramatic in an obvious way. I really like this as it makes you think a lot more.
Overall I found this film to be really interesting and exciting to watch because of the way it manages to effective you as a viewer using so many subtle techniques in the film making and the editing that immerse you in the main charters head space and emotions, yet it still flows naturally enough that you fully focus on this and it feels realistic to the audience. I will be keeping what I ahem learnt from this in mind while I am editing Girl Happy as I feel like it is important to get the emotional intensity right as this film has done.
A genre that got mentioned a lot in discussion with the Director was 'Mumblecore'. The director explained that she was partly influenced by this genre along with others. This genre stood out to me because I haven't ever heard much about it before and wanted to find out about it so that I could fully understand the references and influences behind Girl Happy and the Directs vision. I began by finding a definitions online for Mumblecore. I found out that mumble core is a niche genre of low budget film which focuses on the naturalistic and often uses non-professional actors sometimes improvising dialogue to achieve full naturalness in this. Mumble core seems to have branched off from the low budget indie film genre. It has progressed forward further into naturalism often creating comedy which arises from very normal characters and very mundane situations and struggles like paying the bills for example. I have read that there is often a focus on dialogue over the plot to achieve this realistic life feel. The whole purpose is to avoid dramatising situations (typical of high budget and hollywood films) and instead keep it real and therefore connectable to real life for audiences. Instead of forcing a plot you let real life situations and dialogue lead the way instead of a false performance.
After now finding out the basics of this genre I am really intrigued as it sounds interesting and I can see where Girl Happy has taken some influence from this. I looked at some clips from suggested mumblecore films such as 'Before Sunset' which made me really see how the dialogue is made so natural and how it feels like such realistic integration between people. 'Frances Ha' which used lots of real situations and showed the drama and comedy in them. 'Terri' which shows real people and believable relationships between them. I have looked into these amongst others and I feel like I feel confident in what mumble core is now and as a genre it is interesting. I feel like Girl Happy isn't a mumblecore film however I can see where techniques can be used to make it feel realistic like the long lingering shots and the long pauses. Also the conversational back and forward editing does need to be rushed.
Overall this research and analysis has really helped me get inspired and feel more confident and focused now when beginning the edit of Girl Happy next week. I feel like it will be much stronger now haveing made sure I now know the full inspirations and references of this film and the end goals.
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