Post-Production

On Monday 13th I went in around Half 10 to start editing, i experimented with the sequence of George walking in. Hannah then came in to discus her opinions on what she wanted from the edit. as I had spent all day trying to figure out how to edit this particular sequence i decided to call it a day. This is what i had done:

(Insert Film Here)

Following this I decided that to save time the next day editing, I produced an Edit Decision List.

On Tuesday 14th I went in to edit around 11am. this then meant i was able to start a new project on Final Cut Pro placing the clips I had planned into order. By the time Hannah had come in i had produced a basic edit of the piece. we then discuses what areas needed changing and ways in which we could make the piece stronger. we then changes these aspects and this is what we came out with:

(Insert Film Here)

On Wednesday 15th Hannah and I came in and sorted the sound out. We replaced all the dialogue on the piece with sound recorded from the Marantz and recorded addition sound needed, such as the noise of someone being dragged to floor. This then meant that our piece was near to completion. This is what we had. I uploaded a version with lower quality to youtube in order to show ed our progress. At this time we had a basic track that Ed had produced the week prior to editing as to create the feel wanted. By sending it to Ed meant that he could change and produce the finished piece of music that we wanted. This was as we wanted the track to enhance features in the piece. Click Here to listen to the track, its called Experimental Score. This is the outcome that i sent to Ed, it hasn't got the best quality or sounds so that it would upload quicker shows Ed what we have been up to:

On Thursday 16th, Hannah and I came into Uni to finish of the edit and put the finishing touches to the piece. Ed then came in with the rest of the soundtrack in the late afternoon. We then sat and went through the piece adding finishing effects and things that need changing.

(Insert Film Here)

Finding Contributor and Locations

When discussing what scenes needed to be shot, we decided that we needed to use some sort of studio space as the main scenes. This was as we are having the outline of a floor plan taped to the floor as the set in which the characters will act as if it is in fact a real room.  When booking this studio we booked out all the required equipment, lights and Macs for editing.

As we need Two characters for a piece we have decide that Ed can play the Old man as only features in a few scenes in which he is sleeping and a close up on his eye. This then means that we need to find someone to play our main character. To do this I emailed the guys that had put their contact details forward from the Stage and Screen Course that were willing to help. In the email I said:

Hi, I am a 1st year student studying Film and Media Production and was given you contact details as you said you are interested in being part of our short films. Currently we are looking for someone to play the main role in our experimental piece which is based on the poem 'The Tell TaleHeart' by Edgar Allen Poe.  We are hoping to be filming over the next week or two so if you are available and want to help then please let me know, either email me back or my number is 07757527796. Thanks Emma

In return to this George Webster got back in contact with me and I sorted out having him as our contributor. Another student called Nathaniel also got in contact but not for a few days after so were going to keep his details encase we need actors in the future. 

Inspiration

When Hannah was discussing her vision for the piece she found this experimental project from some students which the set was in fact a floor plan on the floor. As we liked this and thought it worked well we decided that we would use this in our piece. We would uses this style when filming the scene of the bedroom with the old man asleep, this way we can have the main character walking in over and over to show him walking in every night to watch the old man sleep. 

I found a reading of The Tell Tale Heart and really liked the way in which the reader pronunciated the words and think that we should have a similar style voiceover for out piece. 

Getting Ready for the Shoot

Leading up to Filming I was in contact with George a lot discussing what was expected of his and the character n which e is playing. He didn’t know the story of The Tell Tale Heart so I was informed him of the basic outline of the story and the characteristics of the character he would be playing.  I sent him his lines prior to the shot in order for him to familiarise him self with them before having to act them out on set. I also explained what sort of things were going to be in the scene.  George seemed very interested and asked many question about what specific emotion he would be feeling as the character. This meant that when it comes to shooting we should get a lot out of using someone who can act to portray the emotions that we want to show from the character.

Here is a copy of the inital shot list Hannah created and lines that we asked George to Learn. Prior to the shoot Hannah had created another version in more detail. 

Before meeting George we meet up and set up the studio, Hannah had planned what the floor plan was to look like so it didn’t take long to set the tape out. We then went and collected all the equipment so that we could set up the lights and camera ready so that George wasn’t waiting around. When it came to Shooting we captured the sequences containing all dialogue first as we had the lighting set up for this sequence. This also helped George get into his character and made it so that we could get the best out of him.

Here is the copy of Parashoot that I filled out for the shoot:

Fantasia

When in the Seminar with Dom he showed us a clip of an experimental music video in which paper cut outs were moving in time with the music representing the beats. Instantly this reminded me of Fantasia. When I first watched Fantasia I was only little and did not actually realise the experimental aspects to it. Looking back at sequences now I think the use of characters and inanimate objects, such as the flowers, to dance along to the classical music is very Avent-Garde as there is no immediate relation between the uses of the characters and the music, but it is very enjoyable to watch. Tthe film is made up of these dance sequences with little connections between them and comparing it to other pieces release at the time around this was released in 1940, shows the extent of it experimental features.

Practice Shoots

While Practicing the shots that Hannah thought up for our Piece we decided to try creating a heart through screwing up paper. We wanted to have it so that the pieces of paper would gradually move into the heart shape by using stop motion animation. This was our practice attempt:

I think this worked out well as we managed to create a heart of paper and have it come together and form a heart. When doing the final piece we would have to make the changes from frame to frame subtler in order for the movement to flow better. Also When doing our piece we have decided we are going to use Ed SLR camera instead of taking frames from footage captured from the PD 170.

We also had a practice of the editing for sequences showing our character going mad. I pictured creating a trail effect of the character person by overlaying the shots and changing the opacity and timing of them in order to see the trails of him moving. This is what we tried out:

I think that the practice works well and when we film the final piece we need to get our character to make smaller movements and faster as I think that this could create a better effect. Also by having it in Black and White I think that the effects of the trails are more vivid. 

Om

This Piece is by John Smith

I really like this piece as it portrays a scenario then changes it completely. By having a man sitting with saying "Ommmm" in a baggy brightly colour robe and the faint smoke trail immediately portrays the image of a Monk to the audience. Then you have the introduction of a Barber, this is to then shave his hair and you then relate the noise initially made by him, the "omm"to the noise being made by the shaver. Then once his hair has been shaven you then get shown that in fact he is not a monk, but someone who is wearing a cloths to protect his cloths from his hair, and the smoke is in fact a cigarette.

What i like is the fact that is uses 3 simple shots to paint this image of the guy then completely change it. this I think is really effective as we as an audience always try to make sense of everything and the few suggestion that John Smith have included can separately mean completely different things but with them all together, we think of a Monk. 

When doing our piece I think this could be really effective if were we to manipulate object and scenes to initially portray one thing but he reveal in fact it portrays something else. 

Ballet Mecanique

This experimental piece was directed by Fernand Leger.

Segment from Ballet Mecanique 

Through this film you can see the significant and representation of the female body and machines. such as the use of the girl swinging and the use of bottle and objects that all represent the figure.

I can see as to why this would be classed as an experimental piece but personally I don't really like it. The whole concept of repetition became tedious and confusing and I don't think it portrayed enough of a structure to keep me engaged in the piece. Despite this, as the time it was released in 1924, this style of film was a new break through and would have been amazing in contrast to others, where as in the modern time, i feel it does not stand strong enough.