#finalyearresearchproject

Saint Catherines Test Shoot - The Film

In postproduction sound, we had some issues with the AAF and video exports, but eventually, after trial and error, we managed to make these work. Sadly, with a limited amount of time due to everything else that is going on right now, the sound design is not quite how I wanted it, to me it feels slightly unfinished, but it is good enough for a proof of concept. The LAV files were unusable, with many contacts and a faulty mic at the start. However, the boom mix was great. I managed to take out all the bumps and pole contacts. I am also very happy with the ambience I created which embraced the rain that I could not remove from the first half of the shoot so instead I layered it and made it an integral part of the ambience on top of any construction sounds that I could not remove. I had fun mixing and layering the sound effects that I sourced, and the onset wild tracks all came into great use for key sounds such as stick throwing, snapping, walking, small movements etc. From these I layered multiple sounds to add base and texture to the sounds, my favourite was the stick snapping. I also added in some eery tree cracking, which although it is a bit on the nose worked as I put it very low in the sound mix. This was meant to illustrate the forest creaking and breathing around them, furthering the uneasy feeling and space that they are in. On Zoe’s recommendation, I took out some of the clicks of the rain which made the dialogue much easier to understand. I mixed the dialogue much louder so that it was more audible over the soundscape that I had created around it. There was one sentence of Phoebe’s that I tried very hard to clean up, in the take Harry talks over her line and to me it sounded very off, but sadly we did not have a single take without this or that matched her lips on screen, so I tried my best to get rid of it, but it is the only thing that I did not quite manage to fix how I wanted it. However, when others listened to it, it did not bother them, and this is a learning curve for me I will know to ensure that I have dialogue that is not overlapping in future.

Where Currents Meet Test Shoot - The Film

For postproduction I did the colour grade which went relatively smoothly. We had an initial issue with the AAF, and reconnecting the files to their source files took a while but this was all part of the process. For the grade I wanted to go with what served the image, so although I had planned for more blueish tones as Betany wanted, I decided against this as they did not look as nice when I tried them in Da Vinci. I showed Bethany the difference and she agreed with this choice. So, I kept it more natural and colourful. It looks more vibrant than I had imagined, which I like. There was one shot that afterwards needed tweaking after I had exported it. It somehow looked different to what I had made previously, but this was a quick and easy fix thanks to Alex who while he put the credits in just boosted the contrast a bit to make it look like it had on the true tone screen.

Where Currents Meet Test Shoot

The shoot went well. We got through shots smoothly and having prepared the day before helped make everything happen quickly. We got to set and set up quickly and then with Alex and Eva I tested out lighting setups until we made it work. I really appreciated both of their help on this, as I previously said that this is something I do not feel very confident with. Eva was so helpful as my AC; she helped me out with focus pulling, clapping, and making camera notes at the same time, which is no small feat. I felt we worked great together and having such a small team worked well for this room set up as too many people would have made the space too crowded. However, for the real thing next year, I will have a crew assembled as this would not be fair to put so much work on one person to help me. For that day it was okay as there was not too much to do, and we worked hard together. I really appreciated her help! I had changed some of the lenses when I had done my tests the night before without changing the shot list which was an issue because I had not communicated this with the AD, so when she would say what we would be shooting on according to the shot list I would say that this had changed. She was okay with it, but for professional practice in future I will open that dialogue with her beforehand. I might do this by sending her an updated shot list next time if I change it. I knew what I was doing, but she needed to know too. For the first half of the shoot, we did the four shots that I had prepared the day before and for the second half after lunch we did all of the four handheld shots, one of these we put on sticks because it was a longer action and the camera is heavy so I thought it made more sense this was, it was a quick set up and turn around so it was not an issue. We ended up shooting all the shots that were on sticks on the short sticks, this felt less intrusive to Iris’ space and made it feel like we were with her, and it gave the piece a calmer and less intrusive tone than if we would have shot from a higher angle. We wrapped early having shot everything we needed already because we were efficient. Our final two shots were top-down overhead shots, which sadly did not make it to the final edit because the cut would have been too long and maybe they felt they did not fit when seeing it all together. I was sad about this because I felt these shots had turned out well and gave more variety to the mood piece, but obviously, the final choice is not mine and I am very happy with the result.

Here are some BTS shots by Mary Hanna:

Test Shoot Preparation for Where Currents Meet

Initially, we thought that Braid Burn would be a scenic and practical location to shoot our test shoot. However, as it is November and very cold outside Bethany and Sam decided against this and instead decided to shoot our inside bedroom scene, which would be much easier logistically as the equipment would all stay there overnight anyway. Creatively this was also a great chance for us to create a mood piece which reflects who Iris is and gives us and anyone who will be involved or interested in the project the chance to get to know the character and the story before we film next March/April.

In preparation for the test shoot for Where Currents Meet, I visualised the space and how I wanted to film it, based on having seen Bethany’s room beforehand and thus already knowing the general layout. From this, I made a shot list and a floor plan. I planned these out on my own first and then went over them and refined them with Bethany in her room, so we could see the space as we were planning it, this way we could properly visualise it. We cut down and improved the shot list and agreed on which shots would make it into the film and related these to a script mark-up that we made so that we could decide which shot had which coverage. Then after this I tested out the shots we had planned, so that we could see them prior to filming and so I could test out which lenses worked best. Once I was happy with a shot I marked out where the tripod was so that we had these ready for the shoot in advance. I also wrote down the lens sizes as some of these had changed from what I had planned in the shot list. Testing the lenses out prior to shooting informed decisions on which lens choices worked best. Once I had set up a shot and liked it, I would show Bethany to ensure she was happy with it too. I also asked her and James to stand in for me so that I could frame up and pick out headroom and final framing choices. I photographed these so that I had them ready for reference the next day. I then tried out the Kino Flo lights, to see how to set them up and what they looked like. However, I left the main part of lighting for the actual day because I wanted a second opinion from Eva and Alex just to be sure. Lighting is where I feel the least confident in the cinematography department so to have extra eyes felt reassuring. On reflection as this is something I am unsure about I will be putting more effort into improving my skill set and knowledge on lighting next semester to ensure that I am prepared for the final shoot as I want to ensure that know what I am doing.

Here are the shots that we prepared in advance:

Here are the floor plan, shot list and the marked-up script. We colour-coordinated all of them so that they match up.

Saint Catherines Test Shoot

We made it to test shoot week!

I have to say the test shoot itself was a mixed bag for me. The crew was wonderful, everyone was great energy, helpful, and supportive. However, for sound, it was a bit of a disaster. It was raining for the first half of the shoot but not for the second half and in the second half the construction site next to us started up. This was bad for two reasons first it meant the rain sound and construction sounds were inseparable from the dialogue. Second, it meant for half of the shots there were rain sounds and for the other half, there were construction sounds, which is a continuity issue. I knew this would be fixable in post, but I was worried it would affect the quality of the dialogue, which along with performance for me was the most important part of the test shoot from a sound perspective. One LAV was flimsy and started to play random frequencies which ruined the sound for multiple takes at the beginning. I thought this might just be jacket contacts, but then it intensified and once I took the LAV off the actress I found out that the cable was damaged, which had not been visible before because it was covered by tape and so I had not noticed it when I miked her up. Luckily, we were filming near to the kit store, so I went back to exchange it for a working LAV. I felt quite underprepared for this test shoot, even though I knew what I was doing, and I had done it multiple times before I felt like I was relearning everything again and I felt like I needed to improve my organisation. Because simple things like a faulty mic should be noticed before shooting. In future, I will test these things out beforehand. I also only got room tone at the end of the day when it was not raining but there was construction which felt like poor practice. I had thought it would be raining all day based on what I had read on my weather apps, and we could not have known that the construction site would start halfway through the day. Luckily, I was able to fix this in post and piece together rain sounds for Harry’s dialogue that had no rain overlapping with it and I managed to remove as much of the construction sounds as possible. I have to say I had a great boom operator; Tom really helped me out on this shoot and he did a great job! I could not have done it without him! Otherwise, I would have had to do both boom operating and sound recording at the same time, which is very difficult, especially in the rain.

Here is Eva (also my flatmate and bestie) who was ACing and she brought her homemade cough syrup so that she would not have to cough and affect the sound, which was very kind of her.

Here are some BTS shots by Ben McMorran:

Here is the sound team and Monica from 2nd year who was PAing this shoot and keeping us dry. Even though in some shots I look so serious, you can tell there was also laughter and smiles.

Here are some stills from the shoot:

This is Alex as our Harry.

And this is Claire as our Phoebe.

Overall, I feel like both pitches went well. Both of my teams were cohesive and we all knew what we were talking about.

For Where Currents Meet, as DOP I spoke about my visual approach to the project.

My primary concern after the safety of the actresses is to stay away from the male gaze in my shots. As a man, even though I am a gay man I think it can easily feel this way for the actresses. I want to ensure that they are comfortable at all times. I want to stay away from sexualised shots and focus on the gentler moments and the beauty of the story between the women rather than their bodies.

The primary references I will be drawing from both in terms of their narrative and cinematic styles are Into the Blue, Portrait of Lady on Fire and Moonlight. Into the Blue is mostly inspiration for action shots in the water. I like the way these shots are composed, especially in terms of framing and how the cinematographer has considered the movement of water coming in and out of shots, I feel like it shows that this has been thought through prior to and during shooting. Lady of a Portrait on Fire for me is a strong inspiration emotionally for the narrative and how the actresses will be shown in the shots. There is a delicacy and a beauty there that I really hope to capture. In terms of content where the two women are at the beach, I feel this melancholy tone reflects an aspect of what we are going for. Moonlight is my primary reference in terms of lighting and colour palette, Bethany, our director, is very keen for a blue colour palette. I also think this reference is ideal because of how the shots are framed and how emotive the shots of Little at the water in the moonlight are. This is also a perfect example of how we could shoot our shots in line with water safety guidelines.

In terms of approach, I’m going for a simple set up, mainly handheld shots and tripod set ups. I hope to also use a Gimble or an Easy Rig if possible. I’m looking to focus on details, like hands, with many close ups and reaction shots. As it stands, I will be shooting on a Blackmagic Ursa and for the water shots a GoPro or similar waterproof camera. I want to use a GoPro, so that I can really enter the water and not worry about the camera getting wet. I want to play with point of view shots and film the actresses in the water. I also want to look at the ocean water as an expression of the character’s feelings. I want to look at the movement, shades and different textures of the ocean water and the colours of the sea sky. I also want to explore the water as a safe space visually.

We are aware that there might be some issues filming in the ocean logistically in terms of health and safety so we have planned back up filming options where we would have the shots framed in such a way that it looks like the actresses are deeper in the water (closer to the water) than they are, we would do this by using a long lens. I’m currently planning to use an 85mm lens. We also had another backup option to film in a pool and cheat the lighting there.

In terms of style, I’m going for a dreamy aesthetic with mostly blue tones. I’m hoping to play with exposure, lighting and focus to achieve relatively soft shots. I know Bethany is very interested in the character’s surroundings reflecting their feelings. So, I will take this into consideration when I am planning the framing of shots to see how the character’s feel in this moment, for example, when Iris feels alone at the beach it will be quite a wide shot to reflect her loneliness, but when she is with Kallie in the same space it will be a up close to show the intimacy and the comfort in the closeness. This is because a big part of the story is about connection, so the shots will reflect how connected Iris feels to her surroundings. Our current locations include a mixture of indoor and outdoor scenes, I want there to be a contrast in how the shots show Iris’ emotions. I want to show Iris as more comfortable outside in nature, in the woods or at the beach, whereas in the city at the bus stop, on the pavement or inside in the bedroom or shop, she is more confined by the space.

As we are shooting a lot at night, lighting will play a major role in the believability of the film. I want to make the lighting look natural when recreating moonlight and I know Bethany has a sunrise/sunset scene with a glass refection in mind, where we will use lights to keep control of this. There might be pressure to do shots that depend on external lighting; however, we will keep these to a minimum, using a three-point lighting set up.

Following on from the pitch we felt confident and happy with what we presented. Overall, it seemed to be well received with a few clarities needed and a few developments suggested. I feel as a group we presented cohesively and gave an in-depth idea of what the film will be and look like. The main outcome for me was that we were recommended to shoot in a pool for our water submersion shots, this would enable us to be in line with health and safety guidelines and offer a safer environment to shoot in as well as the opportunity to shoot creatively in water. This made me very happy as I am very keen for the water aspect of this project and think it really adds to the story, as water is a very emotive and special location to be in and to shoot in.

For Saint Catherines, as the Sound Recordist and Designer, I focused on bringing across how I will create the soundscape for this project.

My key references for the sound of the project are Unbelievable (2019), How to Have Sex (2023) and Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023). Unbelievable to me serves as a reference for droning sounds that show the dark unease of a sexual assault victim who is not heard. It is an example of this not only narratively, but also tonally and shows how this can be demonstrated audibly. How to Have Sex explores what consent actually means and uses a gripping soundscape that moves from a relatively airy soundscape in the first half to a more gripping dark soundscape that can even be heard in the base of the music of the clubs where the protagonist goes with her friends. Smoke Sauna Sisterhood serves as a reference for our final loch scene. The film is a breathtaking depiction of all the different issues that women face in society ending with a recollection of a terrible sexual assault, after this the women go into the lake and swim in silence, you can hear the sounds of the lake and the women singing together. This moment of going into the water and the atmosphere around this section reflects what I will try to achieve in my sound design to show the water as a safe space.

I want to use the sounds of the water and the forest as motifs for safety and unsafety. The water of the loch will lap gently, and the general soundscape will show the water as a place of refuge. The woods are where Phoebe gets sexually assaulted so this will be reflected in the sound as an unsafe place, with menacing and creepy drones as the wind howls and the trees crack. Just before Phoebe confronts Harry he throws sticks at a tree, I want to make the stick and tree contact sound hollow and uncanny. As Phoebe accuses Harry of sexually assaulting her, he snaps a twig in two, I will layer this sound to make it sound intimidating and I also want to use it as a tonal shift within this dialogue scene.

Something I really like about this project is that we will not show the sexual assault. Not visually nor audibly. However, in the sound design, I hope to create the space that the sexual assault takes up. I have found trauma like this takes up a physical space in a victim’s mind and seeps into the reality of the world around them. As the title of the film is the name of the place where the sexual assault takes place, I think it fits to explore this space audibly. I want to show how in moments of ‘silence’ Phoebe hears the sounds around her and what she feels in relation to them. This will be especially important when she feels alone and we can see her but hear her friends outside and the nature around her, this separates her and shows her isolation.

A big topic we will be exploring is aftermath, and for me a key part of this is touch. Touch can be so triggering and difficult for someone who has been through a sexual assault. You can feel it in your skin even if it is years ago, it’s something that stays with you forever and can affect you for a long time. In my sound design, I want to show this sensation of touch and make it grate underneath the skin of our audience; I want to create that sensation audibly. I also want to use sound as memory, rather than the classic echoing of what people say I want to do this in breaths or whispers instead.

Most sexual assault cases involve someone you know, so I want the sound around the perpetrator to be familiar and relatively pleasant, to show him as he is seen by others, why he is liked and why people would think that he isn’t ‘bad’. But I want to make it clear that he is wrong, and I do not want to sympathise with him in any way. So, when Phoebe and Harry have their confrontation this space and tone around Harry will shift. The focus will be to sympathise with the main character Phoebe and the betrayal of her friends who do not believe her.

I plan to split the sound design into two main sections. In the first section, the sounds will be ambient, gentle and grounded in reality. In the second section after the sexual assault, I want to focus on isolating Phoebe from the sounds around her. However, in the final scene, I want to bring the soundscape back to a gentler soundscape, but still with dark undertones.

Where Currents Meet Location Recce

For our location recce Bethany, Sam, James and I met up and had a walk along Braid Burn in the Braids just down from Blackford Hill. I found this very helpful to start playing around and getting ideas on what the shots might look like. Bethany and Sam picked this location because they were thinking we could do the bridge scene where Iris gets to see a spot from Kallie's world that is totally unknown to her. So I thought this section would feel kind of magical and bit lighter in the story, maybe even with an element of excitement and adventure.

Here are some photos that I took:

I used the others as my subjects to help practice framing. This was the part of the project where I had the most fun so far!

Introduction to My 4th Year Projects

(This is a random photo of a sunrise from when I went swimming with my mum because I don't like to make posts without images.)

Starting 4th year has been quite the build-up we knew that it was coming since we started and then suddenly it has just kind of happened and we are here and it's the same as every other year. I feel like this year is all about decisions, choosing your dissertation topic, who you want as your dissertation supervisor, what you want to specialise in, what projects you want to work on and what you want to do next. It's all very overwhelming but also super exciting! When I was looking through all of my photos today, I noticed how many fun things I've had the chance to do at uni. And I really appreciate these memories, the people that I have met and the opportunities that I have had especially the ones that have helped me grow creatively. One day I will do a post about these because I have never been good at posting on my blog over the last couple of years. But this year I'm going to try and actually do it right!

This year I am working on two projects. For my grad films, I will be doing sound recording and design on Saint Catherines and cinematography on Where Currents Meet. I’m super excited that I will get to do my two favourite disciplines and that I will be working on projects that I am passionate about.

Saint Catherines is about sexual assault and its aftermath, which is very fitting to me as this is a topic that I am passionate about (sexual assault prevention and awareness that is) and it is a logical progression from my dissertation which is on sex education in film and television. Sound is the perfect fit for me for this project, as I find there is a lot of emotion in sound. And sexual assault is a very emotional topic, to say the least. So, I will try to demonstrate the emotional side of sexual assault through my soundscape. I think sound can convey emotions, thoughts, and feelings in a very different way to images or visuals. I plan to use certain sounds to evoke emotions, in a subtle and unnoticeable way, whilst still increasing and heightening the drama.

Where Currents Meet is a love story about two women who meet at the beach. This film is the perfect fit for me in terms of cinematography because I love water and it plays such a key role in the narrative. After university I want to become a water cinematographer, so this feels like the right step for me. I have experience filming in water from a previous project I directed called ‘Bodies of Water.’ Water cinematography marries my love for creativity, sports, and the outdoors perfectly. The fact that this film tells a love story about queer people, further drew me, as a queer person in. I want to make projects about queer people that tell queer stories. I also think this is an important, gentle, and relatable story to tell. I hope to make this visually beautiful and stay true to the story.