Progression

Well, this afternoon was officially 'Day Two' of filming for Project Diva - we just hung around outside the State Library, filmed ourselves an intro, before moving off into one of the rooms to do the few bits of voice recording that we needed.

Here is where we thank our lucky stars that we chose a subject with such extensive experience in the realm of performance. We got lucky. Asking him to re-do his audio was something we could not have avoided, but the fact that we were able to synch up parts of it, as one might within a drama, has made an enormous difference. Yes, the majority of it will need to be used as voice over.. but it kind of works in our favour. As it happens, all the majorly bad sound was woven into the clips where Amazon talks about the way in which the feminine side of his persona came to dominate the rest of his life... and to have that now as clear sound, layered with visuals of him doing other things gives it a much more nostalgic feel.

We stayed back late again so we could get all the new stuff slotted in. I'm looking forward to Wednesday and hearing what everyone else has to say.

Sound bites

So last night we went through our rushes, and Anthony ended up staying back late and getting all the clips from ALL FOUR TAPES onto Final Cut. Everything is looking superb, but lo and behold, THE SOUND SUCKS ASS! In parts, at least. As my long-term readers may recall, I HAD THIS SHIT SOUND PROBLEM LAST SEMESTER! After everything this has caused me, I wanted to have kittens when viewing the initial takes. How could something so imperative screw up for us? It's almost like everything that could go wrong, has (well that's not entirely true, but we the Market were utter bastards). But it may be possible to work around it in the final cut, it's just gonna take a lot of genius engineering, and time, and effort. At least I've got the last two.

And at least, now, we have something to make a rough cut out of. I have to say, Amazon was brilliant to work with, and kept all of us entertained while being as helpful as he possibly could - i.e., welcoming us into his house. Last Friday was one of the biggest demonstrations of friendship I've ever experienced, and makes being enthusiastic about this project one of the easiest things ever.

It's just so surreal... As well as calling the order of shots, I kept everyone in order and on top of their game while we filmed, but at the same time, I wanted to allow the boys (especially Deno) their own creative licence. It was my main aim to keep us on schedule as much as we possibly could have been (okay, so no-one foresaw we were going to need 4 tapes... it was a good thing Officeworks was only 4 blocks down the road!) One thing I regret was not having the little viewer connected while the boys had their eqiupment - a few shots stuffed up with having the boom in frame, and even though it's fixable, changing the composition still impedes the shot a bit.

Ah well, the worst is over. Or is it? There are going to be countless hours spent holed up in V1 from now on. Can't say it doesn't excite me, though, because it does.

sound, glorious sound

Could I have said it any better??
"One of the major stylistic characteristics of documentaries that use sounds recorded on location is the lack of clarity of the sound track. Ambient sounds compete with dialogue in ways commonly deemed unaccpetable to in conventional Hollywood practice. A low signal-to-noise ratio demands greater attention from viewers to decipher spoken words. Slight differences in room tone between shots make smooth sound transitions difficult."-Jeffrey Ruoff

Yes, I am quoting from the Dossier! But only because he is RIGHT ON THE MONEY. Documentary is so contradictory because so much of it depends upon location, location, location, and the nature of the recording environment (where you want to tackle somewhat INTERESTING, INNOVATIVE ground) works completely against the fact that you need shit hot sound in order for it to work! ARGH.

Unless, of course, you're planning to make a documentary about a recording studio. Now there's an idea.

the hills are alive... with the sound of evasionnnnn

Well, I returned the gear this morning and, suffice to say, we did not end up doing any filming this weekend. I imagine this is how it must feel for pregnant women who end up going to the hospital, expecting to go into full labour but find out it is just a false alarm. Bollocks. It's not like it was anything any of us could control, but at the same time I just wish I'd got them to confirm their consent in writing so that we weren't all just stranded like that. Makes me feel unprofessional and amateurish, and no matter how true either adjective may be, they still don't sit any better with me.

Anyway, enough of that. Today's lecture focussed on - ta da! - Sound. Always a winner with me. It was good to get an idea of how to set up the perfect recording environment as far as lighting is concerned. As most of you are no doubt painfully aware, I am Technologically Challenged to a fault - not necessarily with all electronics, but certainly with filming equipment. Part of my being Challenged can be attributed to a deep-seated fear of the apparatus, and what will come of me if I damage it, and the other half is merely plain ignorance. Obviously there is no excuse for that. So you can imagine how beneficial it was to sit in on today's class and just get real pointers on how to achieve nice, clean sound.

As we've had it drummed into our heads over the past 2 months, sound is THE MOST IMPORTANT element within documentary filmmaking. Even if your visuals are shit, your last saving grace will come in the form is crisp, levelled sound. The reason for this? Well, think about it. If you're viewing a documentary about something unfamiliar to you, you could pretty much have any visual thrown at you, but if you're distracted by poor quality or stilted sound, there is no way you (or more specifically, your audience) are going to remain engaged for that entire 3-7 minutes.

There are also many varieties of sound one needs to take into account when crafting one's documentary. Keeping in mind we're working with stereo (thus working wtih both left and right channels) we are going to have to sub-divide all our sounds in order to make sure their effects are being maximised. Meaning we would need to keep all narration, music, atmos, sound effects, dialogue, foley etc separate, or at least in separate tracks. This is pretty much how it was done last semester - if there is one thing that horrific experience with ADR in drama has taught me, it is how to set up the perfect synch sound pallet on Final Cut - even though I'm not a pro with connecting all the gear up.
Besides, that's Anthony's job :P

defining and applying aesthetic concepts

To springboard this week's lecture discussion centering on aesthetics, we watched part of a documentary on John Wojtowicz (whose life was the basis of the film ‘Dog Day Afternoon’). If nothing else, watching this excerpt really hammered home the prevalence and centripetal nature of sound in documentary filmmaking.

The music, to begin with, was the most emotive aspect of the production. Whether to elicit suspense or create ambience, sound was the inherent vehicle upon which every internal reaction in the audience could be solicited. The phone call audio used at the very beginning was also a powerful tool, as it gave a feeling of authenticity and curious uncertainty - the audience were cast almost as voyeurs, listening in remotely on someone's private calls. Implicating viewers in such a scenario is the ultimate tool of engagement here, one that the filmmaker had obviously thought about well in advance.

I guess the most defining aspect of describing any kind of aesthetics is to be 100% familiar with its treatment of style. In the case of our own documentaries, we are aiming to produce a very experimental, boundary-cutting work. Given the nature of our subject and his own colourful existence, we can only do him justice by having our production style mirror the contagious idiosyncrasies of his character.

There will, of course, be some strict adherence to convention as well. Although it will structurally retain a clear beginning, middle and end, Amazon will not only portray a fusion of character, but also a fusion of styles. On one hand, it aims to give an overwhelming degree of visual continuity – that is, to have shots smoothly dissolve into one another accompanied by seamless voiceovers (i.e. to make viewers feel as though they are literally ‘turning the pages’ of a biography). However, to compliment the more complex natue of his personality, we wish to utilise several effects in post-production to manipulate the relationship between time, space and what it seen, giving our documentary an aesthetic edge. This will be done strategically and where appropriate to compliment the content of the subject's accounts.

As with the docmuentary on John Wojtowicz, the overall intention is to produce a technically cogent program to elicit a wide array of feelings, ranging from excitement to suspense (where necessary). Given that the notion of appearances will be thoroughly explored, his costume will be given significant treatment - though most certainly not at the expense of the aural component of the production. We intend to use several sounds – both diegetic and non-diegetic, each being employed to fill their own unique purposes. Sound montages will accompany visual montages, with calmer parts of the background music accompanying the still images, and more rapid bits of film being entwined with the faster beats.

The transition from 'guy to goddess' will provide viewers with a hands-on account of what it is truly like is to go from one persona to another. At the documentary's end, he will transpire as being much more than merely a 'boy in a dress'.

getting there - getting square

I have to say, I am really a big fan of the way prac sessions are being conducted this semester. I love how we have sprung straight into learning the ropes with the technical side of the equipment - something that has never been my forte, for any part of my academic career.

The Z1Ps truly are sweet little devices. If I could, I would bring one home and marry it. The most taxing aspect to wrap my brain around has been (by far) that of sound... Ironic, really, considering it plays such a major role in the construction and coherence of any good doco. Even this afternoon, it took so long just to plug everything in and make sure we had equipment that was in working order... I swear, filmmakers and film crew must be some of the most patient people on the planet. Thankfully, however, I am slowly learning the ropes - with the help of cheat sheets and dossier guides, not to mention easy-to-remember phrases such as 'line in, mic out'... every little bit counts.

It's also been good having consistent exercises to complete in our groups each week. We interviewed one of Anthony's friends this week (informally, of course) about a life-changing moment... probably more camera time for me than what would have been desirable, but it was a useful means of experimenting with the equipment and finding out the advantages and disadvantages of using both boom and lapel microphones.. clearly each has its separate merits.. but this way we were able to discern for ourselves what worked and what didn't within the various recording settings. We'll definitely be using the radio/lapel mic on our subject for filming, and now we know how to hook it up to the camera and sound box which is an even bigger bonus.

All in all, a satisfying tute. I'll write more later on this week's lecture topic - got a few more parts of the draft final I want to work through before blogging about it.

all lennied out

Well, I spent a good hour and a half tonight editing lenny down to about a minute and making the best of the footage we shot last week. Luckily no-one had touched it since, so I got to navigate my way around FCP a little more and work some of that post- magic again... I've gotta say, every time I get into post I'm reminded of why I chose this major. That sense of achievement that washes over you once you've effectively created something somehow makes the rest of the bollocksing around worth sticking out (hey, you've gotta get your rocks off somewhere).

Impressively, the sound was probably the best aspect of the entire exercise - and given that it was my first time being technically responsible for that on shoot, I was pretty stoked. Unfortunately you can see the boom in one of the shot sequences, and on the whole the shots themselves are fairly bland (dir/DOP didn't heed my advice on getting in some angled close-ups, which would have made a huge difference, visually).

Thus I pretty much did what I could for visual continuity - there are some very complex movements of Lenny's that I worked hard to match up, i.e. when she crosses her legs after sitting down, and when she gets up to make a getaway from Ms Sargeant... little things, but important things nonetheless. It's amazing just how much of a difference trimming one frame here and there can make when you're attempting to convey a simple narrative. I wish we'd have organised some time out of class to film it so that it wouldn't have become such a rush job - but that's the nature of the beast at this stage and I can only hope this makes us more determined to be thorough when it comes to filming Potato Cakes. Cause we'll be inconveniencing a hell of a lot more people next time round if we don't get it right. meh.

Interesting (& elongated) lecture on lighting this morning - we learnt of key/fill/hard/soft lights, when to use them and how practical they are. Also, they tried to play us a bit of The Sweet Smell of Success, but the dialogue came up in German, much to everyone's amusement. But why do we light? 'To achieve temporal continuity' (visual, spatial). I'm going to watch Chopper now, so will update later or possibly tomorrow with reference to what we discussed.

peace.

what a scene

Today was a barrel of laughs. Two dead batteries (both for the sound box AND battery box), loss of script and loss of actors who had to leave at 1:30 for their respective classed. Dramas, dramas, is there something about the genre that to some extent effects the nature of the job? I wonder. Despite being sabotaged, though, it seems to have gone alright. I suppose I'll have a better idea once I see the footage uploaded in post.

We ended up with two female actors - one brunette whose name I can't remember, and a girl named Elanore who played Lenny (ironically, her nickname actually is Lenny.. haha.. serendipity perhaps?). I think it worked better with women to be honest, but I'm scared we might've overlooked something as we didn't have a copy of the original script to work off.. I swear losing my lecture notebook has thrown me completely off kilter with this subject. Freaking pain in the rear is what it is.

Kudos to Latch for bringing along the storyboard. Although, it would have been better to see a bigger variety of shots to work with as opposed to more of the same, unimaginative mid-shot type stuff. The camera movement was good though, and I was pleased we managed to incorporate a fresh setting that no other students would have chosen.

I felt pretty daft being responsible for sound, but I learnt a hell of a lot about the technical side of things, even just sending signals and stuff to the camera to try and get the correct levels. No doubt it will take a few more goes before I can confidently say 'I know what I'm doing', but it was nice nevertheless to step outside of the visual role and just focus upon the audibility of something... Like ordering lemonade instead of Coke or any equivalent switch in default choice.

We have heaps to organise for PC this weekend. I've burnt copies of the shots we took last week for the boys, so at least we'll have something to model our storyboard off. Good times.

'the art of ventriloquism'

So today's lecture moved onto the technical aspects of filmmaking. I can tell we are gonna be in for a long haul when it comes to learning the ropes with all of the gear we are expected to make use of this year. No more puncing around with mini-DV decks! Naturally I predict many a teary tantrum on my part, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it shall we.


In sum:
-Music can serve a variety of purposes in narrative, not the least common of which can be to act as a transition between shots.
-Sounds can be superficial (imaginary) or filmed on location (wild sounds)
-Silence can speak volumes (we watched a bit of footage from a movie where a rape scene was omitted and instead a clip of some wartime soldiers was inserted, whilst the characters continued to discuss the events - thus we were left to imagine what had happened, evoking a deeper sense of pathos than if we had just seen what these characters were speaking of)
-Dialogue is a key form of synch sound
-Music and sound-effects are known as non-diegetic
-You must choose wisely the location from which you record sounds
-Soundscapes provide good grounds for experimentation, particularly in reference to point of view (take Hitchcock's Rear Window, while Jeff is lying in bed)

Will write more once the readings are done, and will possibly comment on some more Hitchcockian use of sounds.