counting down the days

With just two days left until we officially begin filming, things are rapidly beginning to fall into place.

We picked up the gear this afternoon, after our meeting with Christine for the final verdict on our written submissions. She gave us a few more handy suggestions - ones that we could have done well to receive before actually HANDING IN the final copy, but them's the breaks. The only notable change is that we'll be bringing along copies of the photos we are using in the montage to have Amazon give us some anecdotal stories.. The idea of having him comment upon the current Miss Melbourne Drag heats came up in conversation, but there is the very real possibility that we won't get time to incorporate everything in the time frame we've been given.

Other housekeeping stuff like requesting copyright was brought to our attention - and as far as aethetics go, we've been told to be mindful of not letting style overtake or get in the way of the subject's story. Although this was never our intention, I guess it's something we need to take on board seriously if we want this to be as successful as we're hoping.

Speaking of which... I really hope this week's exercises don't get shown to the other classes (as with Lenny last semester). I went to edit the footage the boys captured on Monday night and couldn't find any of the original stuff; I was sure we had more angles than what they used in the 'sequence' - I swear that program is elusive! Still, I edited what was there down from 1:13 to 1:01, and like I suspected, the audio really did turn out an embarrassing shambles. Thank god we get the opportunity to do this stuff before hitting the road - I can't fathom the thought of going through the whole gut-wrenching process of production only to have it turn out like that. That said, it probably wouldn't bother me so much if I wasn't a part of the on-screen footage, at least that way other people wouldn't automatically associate me with complete and utter mishaps :P

Well. The next 48 hours are going to be... intense to say the least! Bring it on I say.

stage fright

Wish I could have made last night's rehearsals.. am dying to meet the actors, but alas, my stupid job continues to get in the way of more important pursuits. Meh.

At least I know the test shoot went well and by the sounds of things, the cast all get along - which is fantastic, because I'd hate to think that the animosity-ridden atmosphere in the script could spill out into real life. One big bonus is that the actor playing Mike is happy to bring all of his own clothes, which seem suitable (overalls, shirts, typical dadsy stuff), so that will be one less strain on our budget.

So for the next 18 or so hours I'm left to tie up the loose ends, and prepare my house for an entire entourage of crew. Never did I imagine that my involvement with a subject would penetrate my bedroom door, but I believe I have been proven otherwise :P How's that for dedication folks? Can't fault the ultimate sacrifice of privacy, ESPECIALLY when it's willing! Although, my nervousness is growing about it, as I want the room to look like an absolutely perfect set... Like I want to prove my worth as a production designer, so the pressure's on, in that respect.

Dig these posters though: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
(was I an emo kid in a past life or what? ahah, acutally don't answer that question, I might go cry and kill myself :P tsk tsk)

Also, in a serendipitous twist of fate (Hi Paul), I FOUND MY GODDAMN TV1 LECTURE BOOK! It disappeared into the ethers around week 5 and decided to rear it's head again all of a sudden... Couldn't possibly have had anything to do with the fact that I was forced to clean my room from wall to wall in preparation for tomorrow's guests.. oh no. haha. Solved that mystery at long last. Such a relief, too, mind you.

Before picking up the gear tomorrow I shall make a last minute venture into savers to buy a netball skirt. After that, we're all set. I think it's safe to say that I'm more jittery than those actors.

Fingers crossed...

the early bird gets the worm... or the grab

The filming of the PR breakfast with Josh and Ed of 3rd yr Media went well yesterday... Woke up at the bitchin' hour of 5:30am in order to haul arse to Spring St by 6:15. I wasn't in the best of moods. The other stress-addled folk only seemed to exacerbate this, but by 7am we were all systems go and had been given the green light to tuck into our Continental (ha ha) breakfasts, so things weren't all gloom. In fact the day itself turned out to be lovely - sunny even - and it was a delight to work with two guys who had the levels of experience that those two did.

I actually didn't feel out of place not knowing as much as them.. I just paid attention and asked as many questions as I could. It was nice feeling welcomed into unfamiliar territory, as I was initially quite worried about how the events would transpire (and consequently, how much shit we'd end up in if we buggered anything up). It was my first time getting to work with radio mics, so I found that particularly useful from a technical perspective.

For most of the morning I was responsible for taking the still shots, which I've already burnt onto disc to give to Carey when I go in for tomorrow's prac. Josh did the bulk of the filming, and I take my hat off to him for putting in such a fine effort. Though I wonder how that Tim Flanney story ended up in the news? There were more journos present than you could sink a ship with, but from what I could tell there were no other film crews. It'd be bloody exciting if the work of us lowly students was unwittingly broadcast on national TV, dontcha think?

In short, I'm really glad I volunteered to do this. I'm slowly building up enough confidence to be able to tackle the technical side of things and thus contribute something meaningful to the overall production process. You know what they say - one step at a time.

nature of the beast: learning the ropes in cinematography

Today's hour of power was spent brushing up on what, by now, ought to be a given/second nature for many of us, but it certainly can't hurt to reiterate the basics at this point in time.

The nature of the camera has a large impact on the way films are shot, as it has a direct correlation to the nature of the frame. These composition choices need to be clearly thought out from the very beginning, so that mise en scene can be taken care of accordingly.

We are lucky in that the cameras we are using have viewfinders. Apparently a feature was shot on someone's mobile phone last year - I can only imagine how much of a headache it's going to be to edit something of that quality, but hey, it's a world-first and the technology makes it possible in this day and age.

The aspect ratio of a frame should always be used to its full potential. We can opt to shoot in 16x9 as opposed to the native 4x3, if stylistically this will add specific meaning to the narrative. The key to always ask oneself is how much are your shots going to reveal? How flat do you want the frames to be? Remember, the frame is NOT reality, i.e. cheating is permissible.

Godard commented on the nature of watching (audiences), whilst watching a film. The idea is to make viewers forget that they are, in fact, being engaged - that is, to sublimate their senses without becoming overbearing. The sky may be the limit with character, but from a technical perspective, everything must serve a purpose. Once people remember that they are watching a film, it loses any lasting impact it could have had on them, making it moot.

There's one hell of a fine line between theory and practice - will any of dare to cross it this semester?