#prod200

My second film is about a man who is lonely, and seeks out physical intimacy with an artificial-intelligence human-like doll. However, his plans are cut short when he breaks the robot, and is left with only one minute to spend with it.

In pre-production, I had many half-developed ideas; I worked with four different pitches. I did not choose the one I did for any particular reason. If anything, I thought it would be the easiest to complete. Additionally, I had already agreed to do the cinematography for a film shooting long overnight hours that same weekend in San Diego. I knew that would take a lot of effort and energy, so I wanted my film to be more relaxed and have fun with it. I wrote the script, made a shot list, contacted the actors, and filled out the permits to be ready to shoot on Sunday.

On the day of the shoot, I slept on the ride back to LMU from San Diego. We got back to campus with an hour or so before my film. During that hour, I rushed around and double checked that I had everything that I needed. I arrived at the location a little early, and both actors showed up on time. I only had one other person on crew, who worked as a grip. I didn’t have any need for lights or sound, therefore all I needed to do was production design, direct and work the camera.

The production went very smoothly. At most I need three takes for a shot, but often the actors got it right the first or second time. I was able to easily communicate the action of the shot, and frame it with my vision. I was acquaintances with both of them, so I felt very comfortable giving them direction. In the end, the whole production only took about one hour and a half. I worked with one location and one set, so once we started rolling, we got through everything.

STILL PHOTO PROJECT (tell a story through photos):

For this film I wanted to try to spread the story out more and do deeper with it, rather than having a ton of different plot points that end up being difficult to follow.  I think I did that fairly well, as everyone who sees the film seems to get it right off the bat.  It helps a lot that I put the title “2nd Place” at the beginning but it is still very clear.  I’m still trying to figure out how to up the stakes more in my films.  This one is still fairly lukewarm in terms of conflict.

Honing in on the cuts is also difficult.  There are some cuts that I just know I got right, and some that draft on or aren’t long enough, but I can’t seem to quite dial them in.  As I become more experienced and take some editing classes, I’m sure I’ll get better at this.

I was told the scene in the dining room was superfluous.  After thinking about it, I realized this is absolutely the case.  Unfortunately, because the track scenes are meant to take place over several days and I had the actors change clothes to accommodate that, I need something in between the days to break it up.  I tried getting rid of the scene and just using a dissolve to go between the days but ultimately I found that I need that scene in there.  I tightened it up though so it was’t too long.

Comparing my second film to my first, I definitely favor this latest one, for lighting purposes, for acting purposes, and for story purposes.  This film was such a blast to make, and although it took time to stage with the ingredients, and I had scary “this can’t be happening” moments again (which honestly I feel like these things only happen to me), it turned out pretty close to how I had pictured it.  An example, you ask?  I had just bought a 32 GB CF card, the same exact type that I had borrowed from Yoyo last time when I hadn’t purchased one yet, and it didn’t work in the camera once I got to the condo.  Apparently I was sold a faulty one.  Thankfully I had packed my 8 GB one just in case, and for me, it’s always the case.

Learning from last time, lighting was finally on my side and the good lighting was a giant help.  Along with natural lighting, and the warm lighting already within the kitchen, I checked out lights from LMU for the first time and took them on a journey with me.  This then transferred over to the editing room where it left me with a less grainy resolution.

As far as location goes, I wasn’t quite satisfied with the look of the last pie competition scene (we had to morph the bedroom to get a blank wall space big enough for two chairs due to lack of a better option).  Granted, this was spring break so the options within the condo were limiting, but next time I’d really want to nail down just a couple great locations (or locations that can be easily manipulated to look great) to make my film come off as more believable.

Once in the editing room, I had my second “did this really happen to me” moment.  Although I had played back each of the videos after each shoot to make sure I’d gotten everything, I hadn’t noticed that there was no sound.  Apparently, the camera hadn’t captured anything so I assume I unknowingly pressed something to turn off the sound.  I noticed this once editing, and though it made the final film have a little less background noise and life, I tried my best to compensate with sound effects.  Note to self: check videos and sound.  

I mentioned in my first film critique that I’d like to use longer shots instead of a bunch of separate ones, and to some degree I believe I managed that a lot better in this second time around.  For example, I used panning a lot, like the shot of the pie to her crying face, and the shot of her mixing ingredients which quickly shifts to her face.  Originally I was planning to cut from the pie to her reaction, but I ended up keeping the motion in between as I liked the manic feel it carried across.  However, I keep observing in the classroom (or maybe this is just me thinking it) that my peers use less shots than I do.  Perhaps it’s due to the mood of the story or the type of narrative they’re telling (which the longer takes definitely help to set the pace) but I’d like to reach that simplicity down the road; less tells more sometimes.  I nevertheless believe that in this particular film, I used longer and shorter takes in a balance, each working for the different types of scenes I created.  For example, in the more serious moments like after the pie lady hits her hand and she’s staring in the mirror, I just used one shot (besides one close up of the pill bottle).  By letting the shot sit for a longer time, I drew more attention to her face because that was the only thing changing within the frame.  

Although I was really attached to the crazy stylized rough cut, once I removed the constant music and made most of the shots slow down to normal time per the request of classmates, I saw a big difference.  It made the moments when she wasn’t technically “crazy,” more normal in a way.  Plus, it grounded her character and gave the audience time to look at her in her element; her character was allowed to breathe so to speak.  However, not always, as I sped up the scenes when she was getting agitated in the kitchen so as to make the stress she was feeling more actualized.

1.) Intro; I’ll start with some opening shots that introduce the character without showing the actual character (ex. objects that belong to the main character).

2.) The main character interacting with his/her friends, happy and joking around.

3.) (Turning point) Main character walking to his/her room, when something happens that causes their mood to change (receive a text message, etc.).

4.) Main character interacting with his/her friends again, except their mood is visibly lower than the previous time; most people aren’t noticing but one friend notices their change in mood.

5.) Main character in his/her room, sitting around, not being productive, staring blankly at homework or just straight ahead of them; something to show they’re lost in thought.

6.) Friend of main character that noticed their change in mood, shown in their room writing a nice short note for the main character.

7.) Knock on the door, main character opens it and sees something on the floor, a CD.

the character in my final project is going through some personal things that keep affecting their personality and how they act around other people, when someone (a friend / admirer / etc.) begins to notice this change. as my main character is alone, feeling very low, someone anonymous leaves something at their door; a CD. the CD contains music that connects somehow with the main character, and we can see a sudden change in mood.