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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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Other Shoots, below-the-line
Alongside my main projects, I helped out on a couple of the other test shoots. I was a gaffer on St Catherine's and for the cinema scene of Tim, Sean, Mira and Mars; the script supervisor for Popper (working title) and sound recordist for the same scene of T, S, M & M.
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booming in the background
All these shoots taught me little lessons at the same time as letting me help out some friends. On St Catherine's, I got a good practice of using my big blackout material to control natural light before the KEEPER test shoot later that week. It also helped me realise how not to add light to an outdoor scene. I was holding a small rotolight just off screen for the mediums and close-ups and while it does a good job of adding contrast and boosting levels on a cloudy day, the light quality is too hard so I should've been further back or used more diffusion to stop it from looking like sunlight on a rainy day. Something to keep in mind for my practice going forward.
On Tim, Sean, Mira and Mars, I had a lot fun setting lights with some of my suggestions being taken on by Aimee which was nice. Then I had some more sound recording practice with dialogue and a lav mic which helps me to get the muscle memory down for when I'm recording for Where Currents Meet next term.
Script supervising is something I've never done before, so Popper let me try something totally different and get a wider understanding of a film set from a less directly creative role. It is also always interesting to watch a more experienced DoP like Leo work.
I'm also really glad that I got to be a small part of these films as they're all cracker. I'll be coming on the main shoot for St Catherine's as a Gaffer which I'm over the moon about as it is one of the projects I was kicking myself for not getting a HoD role on. And for the others, I'm sure I'll be on set to help in any way they need (hopefully more gaffing and sound recording).
During the Shortscape film festival in September, I met a number of the ECA film students and we set up a lil whatsapp group so we could find collaborators and it is starting to pick up so there's also a chance I'll be working on a couple of the ECA sets next term and meeting a whole 'nother bunch of lovely creative film people.
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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Where Currents Meet - Post-Production
No pictures in this post - we are entering the wonderful but non-visual world of sound design.
We begin with the AAF handover. I had set up my project (colour coded and intricately routed) and imported all the extra sound effects and atmospheres I wanted to use. I was pre-prepared for the income of the AAF.
As I wrote in my last post, the location recording was so nice and clean that I didn't need to do too much of a clean-up of the location recordings. Although, I did want to accentuate the contrast between Iris and her bedroom, so I ran the location sound through a de-noiser and used an expander to make the quiet parts quieter. Add in a little atmosphere for outside the window and some of those wild-tracks from set and you have a totally passable naturalistic sound design. This is where we had to start getting a little creative.
One issue I was having was that the scene is quite long and stays in one emotional beat for the vast majority of it so creating any character change or narrative momentum was a bit of a struggle. I added in some ocean sounds at the beginning and end to imply her longing for the ocean and her journey towards surfing. Then I had ocean sounds coming through her headphones as part of a meditation track to further develop this idea and highlight the contrast between the suffocation of her room and the expanse of the ocean. But it wasn't really working, it still felt long and dull.
It was in my first tutorial with Zoe that things started to change for the better. She agreed that it was sparse and one note and offered up several ideas that would help improve it. The first was extending the opening ocean sounds into the picture (helped a lot) and then there was changing the headphone section to have a clearer point of perspective (subjective or objective). But overall, she was wanting a clearer narrative arc to play out through the scene and for me to dig into the character's feelings.
One thing that could definitely help the audience to connect with the character's emotions was a score. I spent that evening creating my ambient, melancholic, yearning score through some instrument tracks in my ProTools session. I spent some time finding the correct synths eventually settling on a piano synth for the base chords and a violin synth for some loooong draaaawn out melodies. The final touch: a healthy dose of reverb with some long decay to get that spacy, ambient feel. I scored through the first little sequence to establish the mood then fading out on a jump cut to bring us back into the world and highlight the growing boredom of our main character. For the final moments, when the ocean come back in, the score comes with it, this time with a little twist. As I'd written about in my pitch deck, I wanted to create contrast in the score between Iris' melancholy stagnation and her drive towards changing her life. So, when she gets up and grabs her board, I added more rhythm to the piano chords to create momentum and drive us forward to the end of the scene. I'm really happy with how the score turned out and am excited to spend a some time early next term to create a handful of themes that explore the same leitmotifs to different effects.
I then further developed the headphone scene after more input from Bethany and got it to a place that works a bit more to highlight Iris' inability to escape her boredom. Then, in order to create a more uncomfortable frustration in the final sequence before she grabs the surfboard, I added in more wild-tracks and some sourced sounds to make the location recordings sound more scratchy and irritating. I made the footsteps louder, scratchier and thuddier; the chair scrapes have more rattle; the fidgeting with the items on her desk more intense and finally the bed as creaky as possible. I think all this builds well together towards the final decision to go to the board and get out of this stagnant space. Then, after more sessions with Zoe, I finetuned all these elements and mixed it all together.
Overall, I think I've managed to create a bit more movement within the character and the scene and highlighted the change within, from longing, to boredom to frustration to action. I think that all the work I did in preparation really helped as I could rely on the sound effects I'd created and not need to record any foley or source a bunch of sounds. The sea recordings sound lovely and the hydrophone stuff really works with the hand motions at the start. In case it's not coming across, I'm really happy with this sound design - I'm further along technically and creatively than I was last year and although I think the final proof of concept is too long, I'm happy that I managed to get as much out of the three and a half minutes as I could, sonically.
Without further ado, here's the final product:
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Starring - Claire C. Cassidy
1st AD - Esther Elbornova
1st AC - Eva Magdic Govedarica
Stills - Mary Hanna
(We forgot to put Mary in the credits, but this will be rectified when this is posted on our social media and crowdfunder)
And then the rest of our lovely team: Bethany, James, Sam, Peer and Tom :))
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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Where Currents Meet - Test Shoot
Sam's BTS content
This shoot was a piece of cake. (Red Velvet)
We started nice and early and I began with helping Peer get his lighting just the way he wanted. I blacked out the windows and set up the redheads before moving on to my sound set-up. As the scene had no dialogue and consisted only of character movements, I opted not to use a lav mic as I felt that it would take a lot of effort of taping and re-taping to get anything clean and even then it would be a worse quality version of the rustles I was getting with the boom. I wanted to be a lean, mean sound recording machine when on set.
The opening shot was a tough one, a wide that ran for 13 minutes - ma airms were oan fire! In subsequent takes we added breaks so that James could change the time on the clock in the background which helped massively for my stamina. But overall, the sound was delightfully clean, I had a couple takes with a loud car outside, but most all of it was clean as a foley session.
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"packing up" (watching Peer pack up)
I had plenty of time with cast (our lovely long-time collaborator Claire Cassidy) to do some wildtracks at the end of the day. I got breathing, bed movements, writing, touching the surfboard, touching skin and flicking through the pages of a book
I passed on all my files, correctly labelled to Tom our fabulous DIT and then we had a little post-shoot meeting where we chatted through our next steps.
With my location recordings, wild-tracks and sync sound all nice and clean, I was feeling good going into post-production...
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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KEEPER - Post-Production
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Final Proof of Concept for KEEPER (This is the submission version so does not have full credits, they are in the description, it only has the assessed members credited - this will be rectified before it is made public on the film's social media and crowdfunder)
After my deep dissatisfaction with the rushes, I was over the moon with the edit. Jake managed to work his magic with the few usable parts of the footage, making something that does exactly what we had wanted it to do.
On their own, the shots seemed muddled narratively and poorly executed, however, in the context of the edit, the shots totally work! The perspective is consistent and draws us in to our main character and the stakes of the scene. The OTS shots on Graham (mainly a clean single in the final edit) really let us feel the pressure that Will is under from the coach (I'm also really happy with the effect of the moving camera in these shots). The lens gets longer and the camera pushes in constantly throughout the scene, pushing us ever closer to the moment the ball is kicked into the back of the net. While there are still some framing issues (the tracking shot of Will is very awkward) and focus issues (the tracking shot again, as well as the final shot) Jake managed to keep these to a minimum, making my work seem a lot slicker than it actually was. Really, a hell of an editor, that boy.
We had a couple rounds of feedback from the whole team and then from only Ben before the picture was locked. I got straight into the colour grade - I can't sit on footage, it must be played with.
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The different lighting conditions on the filming day
My main challenge with the colour grade was matching the footage from the different weather/lighting types we had when filming. Both the contrast and the exposure changed drastically throughout the day. Strangely, the bright, direct sunlight happened twice, but both those times managed to fall on when we were shooting the dive, so in actuality, it was only a few shots that were wildly different, the rest were more or less the same. I spent half a day getting the levels to match and getting the contrast to a good place before going into the the "look". At first, Ben wanted a yellow-y tinge to the grass as we'd seen in some of the inspiration images, but after doing a full pass with this style, I wasn't satisfied. Ben gave me a specific image to grade to for the dirt:
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grading reference
I managed to get a look relatively close to this, however, I wasn't a fan of how luminant the greens were. I then tried a version that had deeper, colder greens, which is the final version. I'm really happy with the way Will and Graham's red tops stand out and draw our eyes in. One issue I was having was the paleness of our main actor, a complexion I've never seen before. It was a struggle to bring out any real saturation to his skin tones, but I think this added to the cold feeling of the environment. To add to the dirty feeling, I used a 35mm film grain overlay which I like, although it is a lot less noticeable on my laptop monitor than it was in the grade or on the Mac monitor. Other little effects included the aspect ratio (5:3) which Ben had suggested which I ended up really liking as it gives a nice middle ground between framing faces and framing the width of the pitch. And finally a little vignetting to accentuate the tunnel-vision feel. Overall, I'm happy with the way the film looks and although this look is nowhere close to what the final film will be like (in terms of colour and contrast) as we will be filming at night under spotlights, I think I still managed to further develop my colour grading skills which will help next year.
And then we added the credits (Just the assessed members for this submission) and uploaded to Vimeo. The workflow was all smooth on my end and I'm really happy with how we progressed through post-production.
And then I just had my final reflection to do and a few days to work on my other project...
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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Where Currents Meet - Pitch Preparation and Reflection
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I joined this project fairly late so had to be caught up to speed before the formal pitch. After a few conversations with Bethany, I had a clear idea of what was to be explored with the sound design - contrast. Contrast between the protagonist (Iris) 's desires and their current environment. My contribution to the pitch deck explains the approach more in depth:
The approach to the sound design for this film is born out of the tension within our central character. Specifically Iris’ stagnant but comfortable routine being challenged by her attraction to someone who lies outwith her usual life, someone she will need to pursue if she wants to be with her. To bring this idea to life and to make the audience appreciate Iris’ arc in the film, I will be using the environment sounds in contrast and in harmony with the score and the characters’ dialogue and movements. 
For example, as Iris goes about her life, working at the shop, lying around her bedroom, the ambience is quietly monotonous. There’s no rhythm to the background sound, just a steady emptiness. The shop is never busy, so the hum of the air conditioning and the sound of the wind and sea outside is all we hear. The bedroom is near totally still, no sounds from outside in Iris’ suburban street. These environments need to feel all encompassing so will mainly rely on stereo recordings of the filming locations. This is a technique I used a lot during my last short film which featured lots of different locations, so I now have experience and a tested approach to achieving a realistic and expansive environment ambience in stereo. 
The transitions between these environments will be accompanied by long crossfades that tie them all together as Iris’ singular existence. Everywhere in Iris’ life feels the same. 
In contrast to the environment is Iris herself. Her underlying boredom and dissatisfaction with her life comes through in the restless tapping of a pen or frustrated rustling of bed sheets. We hear her breaths, her clothes, her hands rubbing her eyes. The sounds she makes are a struggle against her monotonous environment. These will be close-mic recordings giving an uncomfortably close perspective in the sound design, even when in a wide shot, to subtly accentuate Iris’ underlying discomfort. 
This emphasis on haptic sounds also ties into the interactions with Kallie and the ocean. However, instead of bringing out a grating aspect to the sounds, I want them to sound pleasing. The sea will be calm, moving in and out like a sleeper’s breath. We want to hear their hands touching the water, the surfboard bumping up and down on the surface. We also want the voices to sound rich and warm so I will be using EQ curves to sweeten the dialogue and mixing the shotgun microphone recordings with the radio microphone recordings to find a balance that brings out the richest version of the voice. Again, this relies on strong location recordings - finding a day to record the seaside (in stereo) where the water is as still as possible and ensuring radio microphone placement is close and clear. It’s the times when Iris is in tune with her environment that she is progressing in her arc, finding things that she wants to pursue. 
Another large aspect of the film’s sound design is the score. We plan on carrying our exploration of stagnation vs momentum into the music with a synth-heavy score that plays with ambient, slowly oscillating, tones and, in contrast, more rhythmic chord progressions. The slow, wavy ambient score represents Iris’ comfort zone, lingering melancholically on minor chords, a soothing loneliness. But, when Kallie is introduced and Iris begins to want more out of her life, we inject a bit of rhythm and excitement with the chord progressions which start out on the first beat of a bar before slowly developing to be driving down on every beat. I plan to be using a keyboard synth for the score along with some electric guitar accents and some heavy effects, namely reverb and fuzz. Again, this is something I have experience with, previously scoring The Girl and the Game. However, I hope to improve on that film’s score, adding more layers and experimenting more with different sounds. 
Another aspect I want to explore in the sound design is the pauses between the dialogue. I want to be able to hear the characters’ breath and their tiniest movements to make these brief silences feel charged, causing the audience to lean in. Keeping the pauses in and letting the sound breathe makes the audience want the next line all the more, investing them in Iris’ growing relationship with Kallie. 
Overall, the approach to the film can be described as reserved, letting Iris stew in her existence and letting the audience invest themselves in the unfolding story. By accentuating rhythm and lack thereof in the score and feeling the contrast and then the harmony in the surroundings, we’re better able to understand Iris’ journey.
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I was happy with my pitch contribution and felt I spoke well and covered most of the approach in as much depth as was necessary. In all honesty, I was a bit confused by the lack-lustre grade I received for this pitch. I think the approach is clear and directly tied to the story and themes of the film as well as being achievable technically.
Anyways, when meeting up to discuss and practice the pitch, we also began planning our test shoot...
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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Where Currents Meet - Location Recording, Building a Sound Library and Sound Classes
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dipping microphones in water and that
In my research agenda, I had written that I wanted to develop my location recording from last year and build a sound library of different stereo atmosphere recordings and spot effects. In going about achieving this, I have learned a lot.
In one of the sound classes with Zoe this term, we went for a Sound Walk, testing out all the different microphones the uni and the lecturers have to offer. For Where Currents Meet, we knew we wanted to get rich recordings of the sea and this would be benefitted from some underwater recordings using a hydrophone. The sound walk was my first time using it so I tried it out in a pond. Not the most interesting recordings in a pond, to be honest. I did get some swans nibbling, but yeah, I was hoping for more.
I was still interested in using the hydrophone so took one with me when I went on my own location recording outing at a beach in West Granton. I had initially just wanted to get some stereo recordings of the coast, but the hydrophone added another dimension to the sound. With the hydrophone, I was able to record the trickling of sand as it was pushed by the waves as well as the low end rumbles of the water. By the end of the night I had a bunch of long stereo recordings of the sea at different distances as well as some synced up with a hydrophone recording. I also got a few recordings of footsteps on sand, pebbles and rocks.
Then, the following week, again in sound class, I spent a few hours sweetening the recordings to make specific sound effects and atmospheres. The waves I ran through a condenser to make the environment feel fuller and minimise the big change in levels between the crashing of a wave and the space in between. We then uploaded our effects to the Napier Freesounds account (sharing is caring).
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The "Oceans" sound effects pack I created
This gave me everything I needed for the test shoot that I couldn't get on location for the actual shoot.
I also went into my location recordings from last term and found which would work for this film and spent some time sweetening them as well so I was as prepared as possible for the sound design. I'm very happy with the little sound library I'm building on my hard drive and look forward to putting it to good use.
Otherwise, my time on this project before the shoot was used to deepen my knowledge and understanding of ProTools by sitting my 201 exam. Also, in sound classes we went over mixing in the dubbing suite and did a small up-mix of Rosie's stereo mix for Cisza from third year. I'm now feeling prepared for using the dubbing suite for the final mix of this film. In the new year, I want to do an up-mix for the test shoot mix so I can see what I can play around with for the final film, hopefully streamlining my workflow and making the most of the limited time in the mix.
There was also that pitch to be worrying about...
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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KEEPER - Test Shoot Preparation and Reflection
We had decided relatively early on that for the test shoot, we would need to be doing the free-kick sequence of the script as it is the part of the film we are all least experienced in making. For production, Lucy had to find a great location, organise a large kit pick-up and wrangle a large amount of SAs. For the edit, Jake had to handle multiple eye-lines and a large amount of action occurring over a short time-frame. For sound, Rosie had to be capturing the rising tension and emotion as well as all the movement of the characters. James had to dress a bunch of extras as well as the main cast as well as doing makeup and Ben had to direct extras and main cast during an intense scene. While we knew it would be a lot of work, we wanted to be sure that we could pull off this film before we went into the full shoot.
For me, I knew this would be the hardest scene of the film to shoot. I needed to be moving with the camera constantly to be mimicking Will's perspective as well as trying to cover a lot of action in a short shooting day. I was wanting to test the changing lenses, frame sizes and shutter-angles so had to design a shot list that allowed for all of these changes without bloating the schedule. Again, I had lots of conversations with Ben about what we had to see, where we had to be. Every shot we then wrote down was something I had already tested in my lens tests, which helped us to figure out how they would work together. We added in shot 6 for safety but we never shot it. It was only there to define the geography in case the POV approach left the audience confused. Here's the final shot list:
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In order to get the changing frame sizes without having express push-ins, I planned to change them within the movement. Will's blocking in this scene had him walk out several steps and then return to his goal line. We would track along with him but on each mark we would be slightly closer - on the way out moving slightly slower than him and on the way back, moving slightly faster.
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Then, to accommodate the shutter angle changes, I split each shot into a and b. They were the same set-up but just with a shutter-angle change. I wanted a push in on the ball and on the whistle to emphasise Will's focus. We had a location recce the Monday before the shoot which allowed me to take pre-vis shots which I could disperse amongst the crew to ensure everyone was on the same page going into the shoot.
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One thing that would definitely be different for the main shoot is the shooting time. We knew there were a lot of moving parts and not a lot of time to organise them so decided that a day-shoot would let us get everything else we wanted (cast, location, crew, equipment, transport). This meant I had to try and wrangle the natural light. Foolishly, I thought it would be a piece of cake. In the days leading up to the shoot, it was clouded over, softening out the light for me. On the kit pick-up I even left the trace frame with diffusion, boldly saying "we won't need that" (in my defence it didn't fit in the car, but still).
I had planned to just use a lot of negative fill, with some blackout material stretched out to the left of the camera. I have a ridiculous amount of blackout from filming the dark space shots from The Girl and the Game in second year so this works well when trying to block out a large amount of light bounce across a long distance. But then, on the day, we had three distinct weather types appearing at random times throughout the day. Most of the day was still cloudy, creating the nice soft light I wanted, but then we had two twenty-minute stints of bright, hard, direct sunlight which totally ruined all my plans and then in the afternoon, it started to rain, making it even darker. As a result my exposure was all over the place and none of the shots matched. A lesson for another project, as I won't need to bother with this kind of thing with the main shoot as it will all be at night, no light but my light.
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an example of the incorrect weather and some negative fill that is definitely doing nothing here
If we were going to pull this off, we were going to need a crack team of PAs, ADs, SAs, ACs and just general help. For my department I got Naimh Gilhooly as Gaffer who I'd met during the summer on a shoot and immediately got on with. This was a big help having someone who is not only ex student who has been in my position before but is also a lot more experienced than me with lighting. For this test shoot there wasn't a massive amount of lighting work so Naimh came in rigged up the blackout and then worked as Grip, pushing and pulling the dolly all day and being a steady hand in the camera department.
Then for 1st AC I had to have my boy Kushal Dhingra from third year who has filled that role for me on every project I've shot. Again, a great job as focus puller, especially given that I didn't get him marks for a lot of the shots as Ben wanted the actors to have the freedom to move wherever they wanted to. Kushal then had to get vague marks and react to what he was seeing on his monitor. This is something we've realised does not work during sequences like this. We are sacrificing the whole image for only a small gain on the performance side of things. However, for the more emotional moments in the script, this approach could still work.
My 2nd AC was Sam Craigie, a second year, who had approached me at Shortscape Film Festival to ask if he could be involved in my next project. His enthusiasm carried on throughout the whole shoot and he sent his camera notes in within a couple hours of wrapping.
Everyone did a great job and I think I managed to be clear in my communication within my department. I do still have a bit of a worry that I rely a bit too much on my team, especially because they're all so good at what they do. I definitely should've given Kushal more support with the focus and maybe had a meeting with Naimh before the shoot so she could give her insight into the lighting instead of having her unable to improvise anything that would be better than the lighting plan I had. Everyone from the test shoot will be coming back for the main shoot with the addition of Nela Khalifieva, another person I met during the summer who is more experienced as a 1st AC and can help lend a steady hand to proceedings. Yeah, I think I worked well with my team and look forward to having everyone back to do an even better job for the main shoot.
an example of the incorrect weather and an excellent team (Jack is the PA we didn't deserve, but desperately needed)
Overall, the shoot ran pretty smoothly. I arrived half an hour early to build the camera and help with the first kit-run. Throughout the day, my camera team was fast and efficient, often being set-up quicker than was scheduled. We even managed to add a shot at the end of the day as we had the time. Aside from the lighting and focus issues, I was pretty happy. That was until I saw the rushes that evening...
The issues I saw:
far more focus issues than I previously thought
shaky camera movement
poor framing
incorrect eyelines
The solutions for next time:
GIVE YOUR 1st AC MARKS
USE MORE DRAG ON THE FLUID HEAD
MORE TAKES/REHEARSALS
JUST BLOODY KNOW THE 180 RULE, YOU'RE IN YOUR FOURTH YEAR FOR CHRIST'S SAKE
I am frustrated, because all of these things are things I know. I should know them, I do know them and then when it comes to crunch time, they fall out my head like candy from a baby's mouth. And babies like candy.
I thought I had to be nimble so had tilt and pan drag set to near 0, but most of the action is at the same height so I could've had a far higher tilt drag which would've eliminated the camera judders.
I should've asked Rosie (1st AD) for more takes and been a little more vocal about the issues with the shots. If I'd done a couple more takes I would have found the best framing for each moment and been able to hit it better. This is mainly with shot 3, which was designed to react to the movement of the supporting actors the blocking of whom was unable to be nailed down before the shoot.
During lunch, I had sat and watched some of the clips, but I think the lack of an on-board monitor (there were none available when we were booking) meant I was unable to see just how juddery the shots were. This is something I definitely will need for the main shoot as an on board monitor would also have meant I wasn't in the way of my own camera moves.
While I had planned the shots to stay on one side of the line between Graham and Will, when we came to filming the scene, we moved Graham in close for Will's singles so that Will was more intimidated and most importantly so he could see his coach as there was the blackout in the way. But then, I forgot to keep him on the right of the camera. So, both Will and Graham are looking off camera-left.
While there were a lot of good moments in these takes, not many of them were technically perfect. The main problem with all this is that Jake is handed footage where he has to hide the bits that don't work, instead of simply using the edit to tell the story.
One thing I should've thought about that I will definitely need to factor into the final shoot is the fact that aside from the movement, we don't need to be on the dolly. What I mean is that, we could have shot the start and end of the scene at the two focal lengths and had something clean we could cut into before shooting the movement. But with these shots, Jake only had a fleeting few seconds of an extreme close up to use even though it was on the shot list, because it took a second for us to hit our marks and get our focus before the ball came in and Will had to dive. Again, this was something I should've asked for on set, just a small delay on the ball coming in so that we had enough coverage in that frame size.
Anyways, there was a lot I learned through shooting this, most all of it stuff I will carry into the final film shoot. I will reflect on the colour grade and the final outcome of this test in another post.
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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KEEPER - Pitch Preparation and Reflection
To prepare for the pitch, we had a few meetings to ensure that everyone's visions for their own specialisms fit together to create a cohesive whole. Ben and Lucy led these meetings to get us all set and aware of what we each had to do for the submission.
Part of my preparation was to create some images that we could use as backgrounds for our presentation slides that were tailored to the tone and story of the film. I went along to Ben and Jake's five-a-side match to get some images which, after a little editing turned out quite nice (for background images).
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Some of the background images for the pitch
This also really helped me to envision the film's world and see how the lighting worked in locations like this. As I described in my last post, a lot of the film's tone and emotion is very realistic, so I didn't need to work too hard to push these images into the specific tone we wanted for the film, it really is just how these spaces feel.
We then designed our slides and prepared our little speeches. For my slide, I wanted to rely on buzzwords and good solid images to help express my vision for the film.
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However, I often find it difficult to find images that truly relate to a specific film. I feel they almost always miscommunicate. Therefore I thought it would be better to show inspiration images that are not from the same medium. If I show an image, there is the worry that the audience thinks I will use the same lens, or the same framing or the same lighting as the image, but when I show a painting, the audience can get the mood and the expression while I explain vocally how I am specifically going to achieve this mood. I had also recently been to the modern art gallery (my favourite place) and saw so much that perfectly encapsulated what I imagined for the film.
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The Dog is my favourite painting - it's just so lonely
While I usually hate formal public speaking (stutter) I think I managed to get out everything I wanted to say, clearly and (relatively) succinctly. [Actually, just watched it back, I talked for almost 4 minutes, but, in fairness, Ben's section left me some room]. But yeah, I was happy with the presentation and the feedback.
After this it was all engines go, gearing up for the test shoot.
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
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KEEPER - Pitch Deck Contribution
Cinematographer’s Statement - Alex Caldow
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Visual References
The designing principle for KEEPER’s visuals is that the audience should see and feel only what our protagonist sees and feels. This is the best way to understand the stakes and the psychological pressures that directly affect the narrative. 
We see everything from Will’s perspective, through over-the-shoulder shots, close-ups on his reactions and direct POV’s. One departure from this view is the wide shots of Will at the times when he is totally alone and feeling that way. He is small and his dreams are big.
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Inspiration still from Win Win (2011)
Because, on top of seeing, we also want to be feeling. Will is coming into the trials with a lot of passion but with that fear of failure, of not being good enough, lurking in the back of his mind. We want to be able to feel this energy and desperation so one aspect of the visual style is the use of tight shutter-angles. We want to begin at 90 degrees, minimising motion blur, to mimic Will’s heightened awareness. He doesn’t miss a detail, everything is crisp, hyper-real. (This technique is used in the opening of Saving Private Ryan to a similar effect, however, our film will not be utilising hand-held camera-work). But then, after the trial, after he’s had his hopes dashed, we come back to the more traditional 180 degree shutter-angle, to reflect his snap back to reality. 
Also playing into Will’s hyper-awareness is the use of wide lenses. I’ve tested the University’s set of Zeiss Ultra Primes and found the 24mm to offer the correct field of view for the character with minimal warping at close distance. This lets us see everything that Will is taking in in his wide-eyed anticipation: the many moving bodies in the changing room, the expanse of the pitch and the relationship between Graham and his players. The wide lenses also give us more room to play with blocking and composition in the tight space of the changing room. However, as the stakes rise and Will’s focus hones in on Graham’s expectations of him and the performance of Aaron, his competition, we move onto longer lenses. Again, from my tests, I have found the 50 and 85mm lenses to be my preference to communicate this feeling as they don’t compress the depth too much, allowing us to still place the details within the space. 
Although Will is hyper and full to the brim with adrenaline, he is still very controlled, as is the environment. Following this idea, I have chosen to shoot the film without any handheld camerawork. However, the film also focuses a lot on the motion and action of the characters, so I will be relying on extensive dolly moves. This is not just to allow us to stay in Will’s perspective as he moves, but also to emphasise his encroaching tunnel vision during the trial, as we push in on details, such as the ball being placed for a penalty or Graham blowing his whistle. 
The film’s world is meant to feel realistic, if brutal and intense. The night-time, open field setting allows me to create stark, high-contrast images that isolate our character, almost creating a non-space, like in Under The Skin (2013), where the pitch is all that exists for Will, the rest falling into darkness. 
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The dark void in Under The Skin (2013)
To create a naturalistic feel with the lighting, I want every source to feel motivated by the space. This means that a lot of the scenes will be top-lit, motivated by the floodlights on the pitch or the overhead bulbs in the changing rooms. Will’s bedroom has a very different feel: warm lighting that contrasts with the cool lights of the sterile club environment. This makes Will seem even more out of place at the club. Then, when he returns and the space is lit by the cool moonlight spilling through the window, we see the way that the club has transformed his whole world to feel hopeless and cold. 
Another focus of the film is the relationship between Graham, the coach and Will. Graham wields his power over Will brusquely if not maliciously. To emphasise the power imbalance in their relationship and prioritise Will’s perspective on this, we always look up at Graham, shooting from below his eyeline. The effect that Graham’s presence has on Will’s psyche and playing ability is also shown by using deep framing throughout the training sequences, keeping the form of Graham always in the frame, always in Will’s mind. 
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The old woman as a looming presence in the background of The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
Having the visual approach tied down to Will’s character and the world of the film, it creates a cohesive, punchy experience for the audience as well as giving me a guiding principle that will help me problem-solve on set and improvise shots.
Main Equipment Needs
To achieve the planned look for the film, we will be shooting on the Arri Alexa (precise model still to be decided) with the Zeiss Ultra Prime lenses. We will also need to be using a dolly and long lengths of track. For the outdoor, night-time scenes, we will need battery powered LED lights - specifically the University’s Nanlite Forza 300s and Kinoflo Celeb 250 DMX. In order to keep focus during the fast-paced dolly moves, we will also need access to the Tilta Nucleus-M Wireless Follow Focus.  
While these are our main needs, we are making sure that we find locations quickly so that we can best find ways around any issues that arise and book equipment to solve those problems.
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alexcaldownapier · 4 months
Text
KEEPER - Lens Tests and Personal Development
Through the early part of this term, I have been trying to get to grips with the new equipment available in my fourth year, develop my overall understanding of cinematography and attempt to find more work in the camera/lighting departments.
During the summer, I spent some time with MTP on set in a work experience/shadowing capacity. This was very interesting, being able to watch a camera and lighting team work on a commercial for a day. I was picking the Gaffer and Cinematographer's brain and observing how the light was being used on this set. One thing I was missing in my lighting knowledge was a bit of clarity on using soft light. In my mind, I had associated the softness of a light with what materials it passed through, instead of the size of the source. I realised I had used the diffusion totally incorrectly on The Play, a short from last year. I was trying to put more layers in front of the light to soften it without widening the beam. For example, I had a light shining through a window which I had skinned with half-white diffusion, but, hadn't allowed the light to fill out the entire window. On Longboard Nights, the last short I shot, I was using primarily hard light which I think matched the mood of the piece, however, I wasn't controlling the bounce correctly. I was wanting high-contrast images and thought hard light would do most of the work for me. However, in a house with white walls, creating high contrast really relies on the minimising of bounce and spill. That set also showed me something I should've used all the way through the shoot of Longboard Nights which was: when trying to shoot night interiors during the day, skinning the windows with blue gels and ND can give a dusky ambience to the room, which can then be accentuated by any planned lighting. While this was a great day that taught me a lot and introduced me to great people, I am kicking myself that I had to turn down a job offer that I got off the back of this, because I was still working hospitality and it was late notice. This is something I'll need to work out the balance of upon graduating: paying the bills while also being available for any career moves.
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Wee Alex in the background, on set doing some really impactful interviews for "Don't Say Gay", find the teaser here: https://vimeo.com/885958871
In the first month of term, I spent a few days working as a Grip on two projects - one a documentary, the other a scripted drama short. Again, I was learning a lot about the importance of soft light in an interview setting, but also working with natural light on the drama short, something I have taken into the test shoot for Keeper this term. It was also interesting to see how the cinematographer worked with the director. I really enjoy the way Ben and I work together and I think it opened my eyes to the things we do well (our communication is very clear and the trust is there, I think) and where our methodology for how we tell the story is lacking. This is something we reassessed after the Test Shoot which I will expand on in another post.
Then, with our first few classes this term, I was having a couple refreshers on Lighting, where I could put this developed understanding into practice. We also spent the time learning how to use the Alexa Classic which I then used on the Test Shoot in November.
I have always believed that the cinematography must follow the story instead of having any motivation around beauty or interest. So, the script development phase is the perfect time for me to be developing my overall skills instead of trying to develop the look of the film.
However, once I had a clear idea of what the story involved, I was able to start conversations with Ben about the perspective of the piece. We agreed that the film should be entirely from Will, the protagonist's perspective. In my previous work, the camera's perspective was mainly designed to accentuate emotion - for example, The Play's wide frames and locked off camera accentuated the emotional distance between the characters. But, this approach was an observational one, the audience's emotions are being played as an observer, without a direct association with the psychology of any of the characters. For Keeper, we feel that the only way that the full drama and impact of the story can be felt is if we are with our protagonist throughout, so we can see how much he cares, how hard he works, how his insecurities are brought forward and how hard it hurts when he realises he will never get what he wants. So, as a guiding principle for this film, we will only be seeing Will or what he sees, how he sees it.
With this idea pretty much locked-in, I was able to test the lenses available to me with an eye for how they would impact this idea of perspective. Here are the results (I forgot to export the subtitles which specified the lens but I know, and when we made decisions we knew which we were choosing, just take my word for it). Probably best to watch at 2x speed, it's a bit long...
vimeo
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A close-up on a 24mm, 50mm and 85mm
I knew the frame sizes and views we would most likely be relying on: close-ups on Will, wides of the pitch, mids of Graham at a distance. I found during these tests that for the early parts of the film, I would want to be watching Will in a 24mm as it gives a view wide enough for us to see him and his environment without being so short as to be distracting in it's warping and unconventional rendering of a face. But, as the film progresses and Will becomes increasingly insecure and loses sight of anything but his own performance, we move onto the 85mm via the 50mm. This approach also worked for me with the changing room scenes that sit either side of the training session.
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Will sitting in a MCU on a 24mm
In the first changing room scene, we can see some of his team mates' shoulders, his clothes hanging up - we are situated in the space. But then, when he returns, he feels totally alone. This is where we could still go in two directions. One is to come in close, to analyse Will's emotions in this moment and the other is to go wide to feel his isolation and loneliness.
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An inspiration still from Win Win (2011)
Another building block of Will's perspective is his watching of Graham, the coach, whose opinion of Will determines his future. I wanted to see Graham in an over the shoulder to better emphasise the perspective and by blocking part of the frame with Will's shoulder, it pushes us in closer to Graham, adding intensity without needing to be tighter in. This I liked most on the 85mm, again, this was due to a balance of environment and subject.
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A comparison of Get Out (2017) 's clean single and the dirty single from my tests
Another view I wanted to have was the expanse of the pitch, to see Will looking out at too much for him to handle. I wasn't able to frame up properly during my tests as I had a limited time and I was both operator and stand-in, but I think the 24mm, was again the right choice for this view.
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An example of what I wanted to achieve and the result of my test
I edited all the tests together and talked them through with Ben and he agreed with my preferences. Now, we have narrowed our lens choices to the 24mm, the 50mm and the 85mm for the vast majority of the film.
Following on from my previous post where I talked about maybe using a wide shutter angle during the free-kick scene, I also did a test of this at the same time as my lens tests. But, after the test and talking with Ben and Rosie we actually decided to go in the opposite direction and gor for a 90-degree shutter angle for the majority of the film (I took some persuading). We watched the classic example of a 90-degree shutter angle - Saving Private Ryan (1998) - and I found it to not suit our story.
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Saving Private Ryan's 90-degree shutter angle sequence
My main issue was the way the shutter angle exacerbated camera shakes, making them stick out far more than at another shutter angle. I felt the film's environment was sterile and controlled, which any camera shake would undermine. However, when Ben and Rosie explained to me how it would better fit Wills emotional state, I came around. Will being hyper-aware and adrenaline fuelled throughout the training session lends itself well to a crisp image, with minimal motion blur, not to mention that audiences are also used to seeing sport shot at higher shutter speeds so it would feel more realistic. On top of this, the idea of sterility and control can be achieved in a multitude of other ways, namely the lighting, production design and lack of handheld camerawork.
Anyways, after these tests, I was in a more informed position to be making some decisions about the look of the film. I had lots of discussions with Ben about the tone which helped me decide on lighting approaches. The realist tone of the film meant that I had to be very motivated with my lighting, making sure it made sense for the world. A lot of the script dictated how I was to light the film which really helped as Ben has such a clear idea of how it needs to feel. One thing that the script specifies is the fact that the session takes place at night, under floodlights. This means that high contrast imagery is necessary for the realism of the space but also contributes well to the intense tone of the story. This also applies to the changing room sequences, where these spaces are almost universally lit top down in real life. Again, this also creates a moody and intense feeling to the lighting, adding shadows to the eyes and neck. This was even something we practiced in class when recreating this shot from Get Out (2017).
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A class exercise
Ben and I also had a big brainstorming session about how we could draw out the themes and ideas of the film.
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Big scribbles, wee ideas
To expand on these small scribbles, this is how I see us exploring these themes:
The Pressure we feel comes from the stark, high contrast lighting and slowly lengthening lenses throughout the course of the film. As Will feels more pressure, we zoom in, making each action more specific and weighty. Another aspect of this is that the scenes at the football club will be shot at a 90-degree shutter angle to minimise motion-blur, allowing the audience to feel the adrenaline-fueled hyper-awareness of our main character. He can’t miss a thing, so he doesn’t.
The Religion of our main character is football. We want to show how someone can become dependent on a culture and how when this culture is harmful how hard it is to extricate oneself from it. This is primarily communicated through the bedroom scenes that bookend the film, where Will sits in his bedroom that is adorned with football memorabilia. I want to shoot these two scenes in a way that changes the meaning of the room. We begin with a brightly-lit, colourful space with multiple practical lights, shot on wide lenses, letting us soak it all in. But, when we return, the room feels suffocating, shot on longer lenses, compressing the space and it is lit by a single light in the corner, giving it a sad, gloomy feel. 
Pragmatism is an idea implanted in Will by the coach. Instead of feeling that he can take on the world if he tries hard enough, he is left feeling that he is doomed to fail. So where before we would move the camera alongside Will, now we are locked off. His mobility has been cut off.
The Hierarchy between Will and Graham is a simple matter of eyelines. We look up at Graham and, when Will is feeling small, we look down on him.
Most of this went into the final pitch deck (minus of course the jib motion as we realised we didn't have the equipment to pull this off). It also allowed Ben to fully communicate what he wanted to explore with the film. I then wrote down everything I liked in my little scramble document, here's an excerpt:
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Scrapbookin
At this point, we needed to focus on our pitch deck and presentation which was a useful exercise not just to practice pitching but also to collate all the research and clearly define the approach to the cinematography. I will post the pitch deck next as a summary of the research I have been doing.
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alexcaldownapier · 5 months
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Research Agenda and Rationale
Cinematography and Sound Design
(13/09/23)
Following on from my work last term, where I worked as an HoD in sound and cinematography, I want to delve deeper into my technical knowledge while applying my aesthetic tastes to the stories I get involved in. 
My cinematography work was on a genre film, including elements of horror and action cinema, which allowed me to experiment with a range of techniques when it came to lighting, camerawork, lensing and post-processing. The heightened atmosphere meant that overtly stylistic elements fit into the film well. This term, I am once again planning to team up with Ben McMorran (my director from last term) as we developed a great working relationship during the making of that film. However, this time around, we are developing a very different kind of film: a story focusing on youth football and the toll of high demands on young, developing boys. This story is far more grounded and realist in its approach to the subject matter and is aiming to portray the reality of these children’s feelings. I am interested in seeing how I can bring my more subjective, stylistic aesthetics to a realist narrative. One inspiration for me is the film Tár (2022). Although the film contains some surreal elements, the majority of the film is lit and shot in a naturalistic style. However, it uses its gaze to create a subjective experience of the narrative, from the POV of our protagonist.
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A still from Tár (2022), showing an unconventional framing of our protagonist.
While the lighting stays consistently soft, motivated and naturalistic throughout, it’s in the stylish camerawork that the film allows the audience to better understand our central character. The shot above presents our protagonist in the way that she sees herself: towering, fierce and almost god-like. Another example, which I presented in class, was the film Widows (2018).
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A shot from Widows (2018) which adds layers of subtext to the scene.
This shot follows a corrupt politician as he drives from a campaign rally in a working class area to his palatial home. By showing the change in environment instead of the conversation, we immediately understand how the character’s psychology and actions uphold the class inequality between the people he represents/exploits and his family. The difference in the two locations, paired with the insecure prattling of the politician, allows us to read subtext into both his character and the world of the film, adding to the film’s critique of corruption.
Both these examples use framing to add layers of subtext to the narrative, something I would like to explore in my cinematography this year. I aim to delve into the characters and themes of the story once it is more fleshed out in order to find moments where the visuals could deepen the meaning or understanding of an action. Storyboarding the script will help me to develop these ideas and test out different possibilities.
For lighting and lensing, I want to have a far more consistent approach from my last film which involved lots of different lighting set-ups and lenses that ranged from a 14mm to a 135mm. I’d like to be more consistent in the viewpoint of the film, sticking to a bare minimum of lenses. For the lighting, I want to use more soft lighting, mimicking natural sources. When investigating this approach, I will be carrying out camera/lighting tests in weeks 4-10 that focus on lensing and lighting.
For the sound design, I am not tied to a project yet. However, it is a similar case in terms of my practice, where my sound design from last year is a good representation of my aesthetic tastes in sound, but I am wanting to see how those tastes can serve a new story. About That One Time, the film I sound designed last term, was an experimental documentary, which, again, allowed me to experiment stylistically. It helped me to find what I really enjoy in the process and what I can bring to a film. One thing I want to develop further is location recording. Last term, I took the time to harvest a wide range of recordings from the filming locations which I could then layer within the sound design. The majority of the film’s sound was made up of my own recordings, both on set and after filming. This allowed me to be specific to the film’s environment and tailor my sounds to the vision for the narrative. This term, I want to spend time gathering a sound library of my own recordings that I can use in my projects, with a range of stereo atmosphere recordings and mono spot-effects. 
In terms of approaches to sound design, I also want to explore a more minimalist style, inspired by the films of Wes Anderson and Martin McDonagh, where the atmosphere is kept to a minimum and the dialogue and spot effects are given centre stage. Previously in my work, I have had a tendency to have a very layered and busy sound design, but I think stripping back the complexity will allow me to get the most out of the sounds necessary for the story.
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alexcaldownapier · 5 months
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The Final Year...
The Final Projects:
Keeper (working title) - Cinematography
TBC - Sound Design
3 years in and it's graduation film time. No more silliness - it's time to strap in. Yeah, I'm sad about it too.
Anyways, here's a little about where I'm at going into these two specialisms in my final year:
I'm wanting to do cinematography on a graduation project as I feel like my skills have improved a lot in the last year having shot The Play and Longboard Nights, the latter of which was one of the first films I've had screened at a festival. I think my main weaknesses are creating a consistent visual style and designing coverage. On the last short I shot, there was some kind of random lensing, sparse coverage and lighting mistakes. This year I want to sort out these problems while consolidating the things that did work, namely the dynamic camera-work, dirtying of the image and the collaboration with my groupmates. I'm working again with Ben McMorran (director of Longboard Nights) as we developed a really great working relationship on that film which I think helps me to do my best work. I'm already thinking of ways I can play with the image to muddy it up that works for this story and working out how I want the camera to feel (more on this later).
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A photo from a better time (no dissertation to write)
I also want to be doing sound design as this has been something I've really enjoyed since second year. I enjoy the endless, limitless creativity that you have in a sound design - if you can think it, you can do it. Last year, I did the sound design for About That One Time, an experimental documentary. While the film didn't totally work narratively, I think it still packs an emotional punch and this was the piece of sound work I've been most proud of to date. I'm now at the point where my recording skill is starting to get up to scratch and I know my way around ProTools enough to be able to achieve exactly what I set out to with that project. Aside from location recording, there's not much with sound design that worries me at all and while I don't have a project locked in yet, I'm very excited for developing my sound craft further.
Project 1 - Keeper (working title)
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Inspiration still from Kes (1969)
The project I'm doing cinematography for is trucking along very nicely, I think - we have all our Head of Department roles filled and the script has been through a couple of drafts. The team:
Producer: Lucy Gilmour
Writer/Director: Ben McMorran
Sound Design: Rosie Playford
Production Design: James Stevenson
Editing: Jake Sommerville
We also have Eilis Fraser (an old favourite) joining as a production assistant. Lucy's already got us into a rhythm where we understand how we are moving forward as individuals and as a group. We had our first production meeting last week where we each went through our individual roles and responsibilities and outlined how we would best want to work together (don't talk to Rosie when she's sound designing!). I'm really happy with the first draft of the script I saw - it's quite different from how it was first pitched to me, but all the changes are for the better. I can already feel all the beats and visualise the scenes and the characters really well.
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Inspiration still from Win Win (2011)
The story follows a teenager (Will) as he tries out for a county football team. Specific moments in the script really stand out for their tension and humanity. One pivotal scene shows Will becoming stressed during a free-kick, unable to defend his goal properly - a cinematic and literal set-piece. Early ideas in my mind rely on lots of coverage to allow for quick intercutting, lots of camera movement and, to borrow an idea from my last film, a wide shutter angle. Longboard Nights was shot at a 270 degree shutter angle for accentuated motion blur to add to the panicked emotions of the characters. I think the approach worked well for that film and could also work really well for this story as well, however, I would only use it this time for this specific moment in the script.
I'm also thinking of being quite patient and restrained in shot sizes and framings, not pushing anything too much, allowing the audience to observe the story through Will's eyes, especially the quieter moments after the trial. I wrote in my research agenda and rational, about using some more oblique or unconventional framings to add subtext to the narrative, using examples from Tar (2022) and Widows (2018). One idea I talked to Ben about briefly was using the frame to represent convention or conformity. Because the film is dealing with someone struggling to live up to expectations, the camera could be used to frame where he's supposed to be, rather than where he is. Maybe he's small, so there's an awkward amount of head room. Maybe he's not on his mark in goal, so he's half out the frame. Maybe the coach calls him over and the camera doesn't follow him in, just waits for him.
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Inspiration still from Tar (2022)
But yeah, all of this is just ideas, nothing is locked in. We had our first pitch today, which went well? Ben and Lucy presented for the group and we got some good feedback and Ben has had some script feedback from his script tutor as well and so far it's all positive.
In terms of my progression in my role, I'm testing lenses and filters this week so I have something to reference when making decisions later on. I might also do another shutter angle test...
Project 2 - TBC
We're having a little trouble with this one. I approached two people to ask about being their sound designer - both of them informed me that I was not, in fact, Rowen Henderson and therefore, not worth the time. It's fine, even if it takes me all year, I will vanquish that boy through the violent art of sound design. Despite a few of the projects that initially caught my eye already having sound-designers attached, the roster is stacked with great ideas this year. Right now, I'm juggling a couple options: Bethany and Sam's surfer romance, Jack's rat-inspired mother-munching psychological thriller and Samuel Duner's magical journey through grief. While I've worked with Sam before and really like the quiet, confident style he brings to his films, he does have an external sound designer attached currently. There's a chance I could get onto this project as sound designer, but we'll need to see. I think Bethany's romance sounds lovely with lots of opportunity for some subtle sub textual sound design and the crew is also one I can see myself working well with BUT Jack's story sounds like it would be lots of fun to sound design, going back to my sound roots in horror (Subject #36). I hope I don't miss my chance by hanging around for too long without committing, but either way, I think I'll have a lot of fun sound designing this year.
In the mean time, I'm studying for my ProTools exam next week, which I think is going well. But yeah, it's all going well so far.
I'm going to uplaod my research agenda and rational here as well, but aside from that, my next post will be after my first tests.
Here's to a great final year...
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alexcaldownapier · 11 months
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Film Project - Crit Reflection
Longboard Nights Feedback
Positive:
engaging
good world building
consistent visual aesthetic
impressive fight scenes
focal length and camera work coherent in fight scene
“technical firepower”
achieves the goals
worked well as a crew
brilliant sound design
excellent production design (sets tone)
great practical FX
good script redrafting
horror aspects most effective
attention to detail
Negative:
flashbacks are entirely lost
a little bit missing focus on what the central theme is
not a lot of character development
disappointed in how easy the final kill was
intercutting doesn’t entirely work
abrupt ending
want to see Alex convince Casca to enter the flat
Going into the project, we were all very aware that what we were doing was “over-ambitious” and that if it was going to work at all we had to plan everything out to a T. So, it was a huge relief to hear that, despite their worries about the film, the lecturers were happy with the final product and saw it as a “pleasant surprise”. (“They said it couldn’t be done!”) It was really great to receive a positive response, not just from the lecturers, but also from our peers. I agree with most all of the feedback and think a lot of it can be linked to the flashbacks not quite working as a narrative element due to quick intercutting and lack of visual clarity. I think giving the opening more time to breathe would mean we better understand Alex’s background and her subsequent character arc. This would also help focus in on a central theme. 
The abrupt ending note is the only one I disagree with as I think the cut to black leaves us in that moment and feeling instead of having that moment come to an end or change. If the shot carried on for longer, it would read as Alex being unable to get Casca help. Whereas in this cut, it reads as Alex is desperately trying to get Casca help, but we don’t know whether she’ll succeed. It leaves us more invested in the final moment when we have a ‘happening’ instead of a ‘happened’. 
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In terms of responses to my work on the cinematography, I was very happy. As Andrew often said, the cinematography really relies on the production design - what’s in the frame is more important than how it is framed. So, having Bonnie’s work to shoot was a real blessing and I think the way we worked between our departments shows in the note of a “consistent visual aesthetic”. This lets me breathe a little as that was the main critique of my work last term - inconsistency - so I’m glad my fear of a repeat note has pushed me to be more consistent in my visual approach. The note on lens choices and camera movement was also nice to hear as I have never shot a fight scene before, so knowing that it was coherent and the visual choices made helped it to succeed, was very encouraging.
Kate’s note on the moment where Alex convinces Casca to come into the flat is one I agree with as well and it’s a wee shame as it was a shot we had in our shot list, the only one we cut during shooting. This was due to taking a bit too long in setting up the lighting and tracks for that scene and deciding that with combining the insert with the 2-shot and having the wide, we would have enough coverage. But yeah, I think a two-shot of their conversation would have really helped to sell the emotion of that moment.
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(RIP shot 4.3, forever in my heart) (or is it 4.2? I mislabelled my storyboard)
But yeah, overall, extremely happy. It’s always great to see everyone in the group praised for their work. I loved everyone’s work and I loved working with everyone. Everyone really pulled their weight and went above and beyond to make the film work and yeah, I really appreciate them all.
About That One Time Feedback
(I didn’t take notes; I am idiot) but, from what I remember, the film was deemed: visually interesting and well-edited but overall unclear, with the sound working against the image and a build-up of tension that didn’t pay off.
Again, I agree with most of the feedback and think that one change would solve most of the issues. If we were able to cast a young actress, the meaning of the film, the emotion of the film and the narrative would be a lot clearer. I think we should have probably considered this issue more in pre-production and come up with a way around it as I think it is definitely the main drawback of the film. Natalia and I talked after the crit and also thought that maybe some more on-the-nose dialogue that set up the exact events we are about to see, early in the film, would have been a way around the casting issue. 
However, again, I disagree with a note - that the film feels anticlimactic and misleading. This one confuses me a little as I think it is clearly a creative choice and the meaning within that creative choice is also quite clear, I think. By putting the audience in the headspace that something bad is going to happen, we are showing how leaving a young child by themselves for hours is an accident waiting to happen and the fact that nothing happens doesn’t stop it from being worrying. This was something we spoke about throughout the process of making the film and I think it is one of the ideas that (although undercut by the age of our main actress) comes through the best. I think with student films that are experimental in some way, there is a tendency to mistake provocative contradictions as being unintentional or a mistake. There was a similar note about the documentary Natalia directed last term, where the dissonance between a loud sound design and the line “a moment of silence” was seen as a mistake, instead of a deliberate choice to provoke an intellectual response in the audience, where they look for the meaning in the contradiction. 
This is a film that, I agree, is confusing and unclear, but is also, for me, quite interesting and has a lot of good ideas within it. Natalia’s simple and emotive story is complimented well by the stark and isolating visuals and is well-shaped and given good momentum by Eva’s edit. It was a really rewarding process and every step forward, we were uncovering new things about the film. Eva’s reshoot suggestion really saved the film and Natalia and Sam’s support through the post-production helped me feel like we were on the right track.
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Overall, I had a great time working on both of these projects and I learned a lot. I’m very happy with how this term has gone and I feel like I’ve gotten a lot out of it. It’s sad that that was our last proper crit, but, again, I’ve had a blast and I really do love working with everyone and getting to see everyone’s films in such a supportive and enthusiastic setting. I really loved seeing what everyone has been up to and looking for what I can learn from my peers. 
In terms of cinematography, I always gush about Eva and Sam Duner’s work and this term was no exception. Eva’s framing choices felt so perfect for the story being told, I was always where I needed to be to not only see the story, but to feel it too. Sam’s lighting work is always a joy to look at and the way he handles his shots in post really elevates them as well. Cal’s visuals were so full of energy and charm; Aimee’s brooding images were perfect for the film’s tone and Peer’s approach to lighting the night-time shots was really interesting and evocative. Samuel Tabotta shot something that captured the humour and tone of the story and was also clearly very well planned in terms of the edit. (And that’s a guy who’s spent the whole term saying he’s no cinematographer!)
The sound designers also had some great work, both technically and creatively. Tom’s dialogue edit was incredibly crisp, especially for a film with a lot of character movement and exterior sound recording. Contrary to Leo’s notes, I thought Orla’s FX work with the morgue dialogue really tied the character’s words to the space. James’ location recording is something to take inspiration from as the opening montage he says is mainly made up of sync sound. Rowen’s work in the mix is real impressive, being able to juggle so many different elements and create something that feels cohesive and clean cut. Eilis’ sound design was fun and energetic; Peer’s work in a short time frame was very commendable and Alex managing to do a sound design on top of directing and editing his film is also mad! 
Anyways, enough compliments. I’ll see you all next year. It’s been a pleasure!
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alexcaldownapier · 11 months
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Film Project - Critical Reflection
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Longboard Nights is a film that, for me, delivers on its premise and although it occasionally loses what Kate would refer to as “Narrative Clarity”, I think the broad strokes (which is the bread and butter of an action film) are affecting and impactful. The moments that work best for me are the entrance to the flat, the bathroom scene and the final moment which I will analyse to show how my work has helped to deliver the film’s story.
As cinematographer, the developing framings of the opening shot of the living room sequence, does what I intended, showing the character's intentions and action in a way that emphasises their importance and psychology. We go from a close up on the door-handle, to a close-up on Alex’s knife, onto a single of Alex and then finally into a two-shot as they creep into the flat. The close-ups communicate the careful entrance and the murderous intent, while the framing of the actors shows their performance clearly: Alex’s grim look, her making sure Casca is silent when closing the door and her then taking the lead into the room. The tracking backwards emphasises the rising action and the creeping of the characters, pairing well with Rowen’s sound design to create a rising anticipation of the coming confrontation. The developing lighting, with Alex stepping into the low-angle toppled light source, also creates a change within the shot, moving us forward from what was a softly lit opening into a high contrast close up ending shot, again emphasising the movement into a more high-intensity scene. The clear communication along with the rising tension sets the scene up well.
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Shot 5.1: Multiple framings as we track backwards as the characters enter the flat.
Where I think the film stumbles slightly is in the moments that are quickly cut in order to not just meet the time restrictions, but also to communicate multiple things quickly. As in the next moment, where Alex is distracted by the photograph of the husk and his daughter and in the opening scene where we set up not just the world and the characters, but also a whole backstory relating to our protagonist. In order to show the differences in time, I designed the flashbacks to be softly lit, in contrast to the rest of the film, shot at a 360 degree shutter angle and played back only showing every third frame. However, in post-production, we decided we needed a clearer visual difference between past and present so added another layer to the shots, where we brought in vertical streaks in the image and an overall glow. While these changes are necessary to contextualise the flashback narrative, when it is combined with the quick cutting and the world-building soundtrack, it becomes a little hard to follow. This aspect of the narrative, Alex’s past with her father’s turning and how it impacts her present actions, seems to be the first thing that can stop people totally engaging with the film. Having shown it to people who did not know anything about the narrative, this was the thing they found confusing. They didn’t understand Alex’s actions, which is really quite a big aspect of the story. The fact these scenes are a little underlit also doesn’t help the confusion. (Another well-thought-out part of Rowen’s work is the shrewd timing of the line “11 years ago” from the politician’s speech which he placed underneath the first flashback, helping to smooth over the gap in communication).
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Shot 2.1: The flashback sequence, with post-production alterations.
The bathroom scene and final moment both display another strength I think the film has, which is an excellent central performance from Claire Cassidy, emotively directed by Ben. Despite working with an untrained actor, Ben, through his research into directing and acting techniques, was able to get Claire to the point where she was able to fully cry on screen and totally communicate the intense panic the character is feeling.
Again, I think I made the correct choices in the cinematography in these moments to best add to the emotions captured. The handheld camerawork combined with the wide lens creates a visceral panic and a very ‘present’ feeling, if that means anything.
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Shot 6.1: Wide angle, handheld shot of the bathroom scene.
Again, I used multiple framings within one shot to emphasise specific narrative beats: Alex’s panic, Casca’s precarious situation, the blood on Alex’s hands, Alex feeling overwhelmed and alone. The long take was both a practical consideration, to ensure we had enough time in the schedule, and also added to the intensity of the content of the scene. The use of the 14mm lens throughout the film was mainly inspired by the films of Terry Gilliam where they are used to emphasise the unsettling nature of his dystopias and the characters within them. In order to ensure I could achieve a similar effect in this film, I also tried to emulate the chromatic aberration of the 14mm lenses used in his film Brazil (1985). I added a “prism blur” effect to the edges of the frame to disrupt the image and make it feel more disgusting and unsettling. I used this effect on all of the 14mm shots throughout the film as I had already saved the lens for the moments when the world was particularly unsettling and the characters were sliding closer to their fate, so the addition of lens aberrations would not be out of place.
While the final shot is a little shaky and quite poorly framed, I think it is also an example of where the cinematography was able to elevate the action on screen. The camera pulls out very slowly as Alex desperately tries to get Casca up on her feet, as if saying: they’re not going fast enough, she’s not going to make it. I asked Bethany if we could repeat the last frame of the film a few times as we cut to black to ensure that the final cut leaves an impact and we keep thinking of the characters through the final moments. This final frame, like the rest of the film, was shot with a 270 degree shutter angle, to create heightened motion blur and I think it really works to emphasise the desperation of the characters’ movements.
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Shot 8.1: The final frame of the film.
Overall, I think the film delivers the emotional impact of the narrative: is tense when needed, is thrilling when needed and is depressing when needed. The art design and SFX is well displayed and elevates the film. Due to its quality, we didn’t need to hide anything in the design of our shots, so the believability of the gore and the action is at a level that ensures the audience are invested and their disbelief is suspended. The sound design is another thing that really helps sell the emotion of the film, with the final announcement over the black screen leaving a really bleak tone to the ending.
As for issues with the film and my work, there are inconsistencies within the film's visuals that, while not breaking the illusion of the film, could definitely be improved. In order for the action to work, the bathroom had to be directly connected to the living room, however, in reality, this was not the case. So, to cheat this, I had a light shine through the door when it was opened, trying to match it to the lighting of the following scene. However, I used a different wattage of bulb to cheat the bathroom from what I used to actually light that scene. Samuel Duner later pointed out that the colour temperature of a tungsten light varies based on the wattage of the bulb, which meant that it was harder to match the colour of the light between scenes. Something I should’ve researched before the shoot.
Another issue comes with the motivation of the majority of the film’s lighting. As the film is set at night and the camera needs to be able to follow the action in quite a wide arc, I chose to light the majority of the interiors by placing lights outside with a combination of gels and blackout material behind them to imply street lighting. However, often there is a bit too much spill from the natural light, no matter how hard we tried to black out the sun. On top of this, the colour temperature I chose can be read as golden hour sunlight, which kind of breaks the world of the film. I tried to push the colours to a more yellowy hue in the colour grade, to little effect. The room was also quite large so there are points in the scene where the action is between my two main light sources and therefore looks flat and underlit. In hindsight, more use of practicals in the living room scenes would have helped to properly light the scene and create the desired time of night.
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Shot 5.7: My least favourite shot, complete with both lighting issues and poor framing.
There are other moments where the framing is leaving a bit to be desired, especially the shot showing Alex dragging Casca into the bathroom. Due to the movement, where I was tracking and panning with the action, I was consistently missing parts of the performance. My camera operating needs some improvement and while I did eventually get a technically good shot, the take used was the best one for the story.
Interestingly, one of the main critiques of the cinematography was of the coverage of the hallway scene - the only scene where we cut a shot. We tried to combine two shots (4.2 + 4.3), due to running out of time in the day, but I still missed a section of the action, leaving Bethany not a lot of room in the edit of that scene. I think the original shot list covers what it needs to, in a way that is both practical and emotive, however, I think more inserts of specific actions in the fight scene could have helped to clearly communicate the specific actions.
The use of hard light sources, heavy grain, 2.35:1 aspect ratio, foreground elements and darkly lit interiors all contribute to a grimy and intense overall look that suits the tone of the film and the psychology of the protagonist. I think the inspirations for the look of the film definitely come through as well, most notably, The Batman (2022) and Mandy (2018).
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As I’ve touched on, the narrative clarity of Alex’s backstory and its impact on the film’s story is certainly lacking and there are some technical issues throughout the film, but I am still incredibly proud of the film and my work on it. I think the visuals (mostly) communicate the story and create the appropriate tone and emotions. I’m very happy after this term and I think my pre-production and conceptualisation work paid off.
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alexcaldownapier · 11 months
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Film Project - Post Production Sound
Sound design - my first love and the one I’ll always go home to.
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I didn’t realise how much I’d missed her - it was only one trimester without her, but one too many. This is a definite step up from the last narrative sound design I did on the course, back in second year for Girl and the Game. Zoe’s sound classes have helped so much in understanding the whole process from start to finish and in streamlining work and organising my session. I had colour coded routing folders with attached submixes, a master fader (seems simple, just something I never used to do), lots of automation; I listened to bounces on lots of different speakers to see what was coming through; I did ADR and foley passes (not in the booth, but still). I’m really happy with this work on a technical level and look forward to getting into my project with Zoe at some point soon to see where it can be improved. 
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Sound design is an area where I feel I can be intuitive and creative in a very different way from doing cinematography. Not that I necessarily enjoy one more than the other, they’re just very different. I love being able to experiment on the job and not have it be entirely make or break, like shooting on set. The clock ticking effect and the score both went through a few versions - being built on then being stripped back then being built on some more. The final score (at the pitch sequence) is made up of some location recordings I did when filming, just me smacking a big pole cos it had a great reverberation to it. I had a bunch of recordings, some rhythmic, some just single hits and some with as much reverb as possible. I layered up a rhythmic drumming section of the recording with one of the reverb that I put in reverse and a bass tone I found in a sound library. I think it really helps to accentuate the panicked emotion of the scene and the lingering dread afterwards. I also used the location recordings to add to the music that Eva had put in in her edit, Lobo Loco’s Funeral Procession, emphasising every odd beat and adding some reversed reverb to drive us into the next scene. 
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A lot of the sound design was inspired by Eva’s work in the edit, with the score at the hill being from the picture lock and also the gas leak/phone call sound at the start coming from Eva and Adam. Bringing it back at the end really helped to tie the narrative together. While the film is intimate and patient, Eva’s created a strong momentum underneath it which really helped the film to always be doing something. This meant I had a lot to work with and wasn’t fighting the image too much with my narrative choices. 
Another aspect I really enjoy is the sound sweetening. There were a few recordings that just weren’t quite right and taking the time to play around with the Equalizer was really rewarding. For example, the footsteps of young Natalia walking up the spiral hill, although recorded in the space, didn’t feel like they matched the image. It was a very cold night, so the grass was frosty, resulting in a very crunchy footstep, which didn’t come across in the visuals. So taking out the high end of these recordings made them sound more appropriate. Natalia also wanted the sound of the phone ringing on the bridge to be quite grating so I played about with distortion to make it sound cracklier, more agitating.
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The stereo recordings from set worked well as a bed of sound, a good basis for the sound design. Being able to pick out small sections with a variety of different textures really helped to subtly move the audience into the right headspace. One of the moments I’m happiest with (even though I worry that it is subtle to the point of impactless) is the phone call scene on the bridge. I wanted to create the idea that the phone call is a possible escape from the environment and when it doesn’t reach anyone, we feel Natalia’s isolation and loneliness. So, to try and achieve this, I automated the panning of my stereo tracks, bringing them centre and took out a bit from the top and bottom ends of the sound slowly as the phone call goes on, so the environment feels more “manageable”, before bringing it all back once she’s all alone again. I think it creates the desired subconscious psychological effect and works well with the image as we go from the close-ups to the wides, but hey, no one I showed it to noticed it and I still have no clue if it works at all. 
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This is one of the first times that I’ve done more recording past the point of starting a sound design and it helped a lot. I asked Connor (the voice of the gasman) if he could rerecord his lines outside, as, in the picture lock where we had recording from inside, the voice didn’t feel right in the space, no matter how much I fucked with it. It felt too much like a voice-over, rather than something the character has experienced. This rerecording helped a lot in order to communicate what was necessary. I also did some breathing passes with Natalia (from a note from Jenny, great advice) which helps to elevate the pitch sequence and make us feel more present with young Natalia throughout. One key sound element was missing when we went into the final sound design and that was the boys walking past when she’s playing with the dog. I am a little annoyed with this section as I had left it too late. I rounded up all the people at Screen Academy who were from Glasgow and recorded them walking round the corner, had them kick a can and laugh a lot. It kind of works, this sequence, I just wish the individual elements were stronger. We’ve got the location recording of young Natalia picking up the dog and hiding, we’ve got the dog whines I added in, the score, the breathing and the boys walking past, getting in a car and driving off. Together, there’s almost enough there to work with, but I think a clearer recording, in the correct space would help a lot, as I was trying to match different elements together to create one action. I added in all the car sounds which were from a sound library and an extra shout and then had to match the quality of the sound to the ones that I had recorded. But yeah, I think the final effect is missing proper cohesion between all the elements. 
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The wild tracks I recorded on set were very useful for creating presence. I had to add in clearer recordings of footsteps, coat sounds, dog sounds and rain because the sync sound was getting too much from the environment and therefore lacked a bit of clarity. But the wild tracks (once synced to the image) really helped to bring us closer to our subject. The rain recording was of rain on the umbrellas we used on set, but reads well as the rain hitting Natalia’s coat. The footsteps were accurate for each location as I had done a number of recordings and the dog sounds (although an absolute pain to match up with the image) also really helped to add a bit more presence to the sound design.
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Finally, the mix. I was wanting to (for the most part) create quite a naturalistic soundscape, so I kept the atmosphere sounds quite low in the mix and relied on the sparse spot effects and foley to push the narrative forward. The three main points where the sound design is more overtly expressionistic is in the opening, the pitch scene and the scored section. For these moments, we wanted to slide a little more into a subjective experience of what happened, and go more into the head of the character. So, the pitch scene had to be more overwhelming, the spiral hill scene more surreal and the opening more dread-inducing. I think the mix works well to build tension and keep us invested in the world. We’re able to hear what we need to hear and feel what we need to feel.
So yeah, I’m really quite happy with my work on this project and while, as said at the crit, it’s quite confusing, I think, as a film, it is interesting enough to get away with the elements that don’t work (namely the casting, which was a logistical necessity to be fair). But more on this in my crit reflection. In terms of my work, I think I am becoming more technically competent and experienced, I’m more aware of what I need in terms of location recording in order to make a good piece of work and I’m more able to experiment with different expressionistic techniques.
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alexcaldownapier · 11 months
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Film Project - Longboard Nights Final Film vs Intentions
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Comparisons (Top down): The Batman (2022), Mandy (2018), Upgrade (2018) and Ghost in the Shell (1995).
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Comparison between Storyboards and Final shots.
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alexcaldownapier · 11 months
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Film Project - Post-Production Colour
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Colour grading seems to me to be a process of slowly uncovering everything wrong with how you shot a film. I’m still very positive about how the film looks, but I do think going through each shot made me painfully aware of how there were things I could have taken more time to perfect during the shoot. My main issue is with the colour of the lighting throughout the flat. It looked far too much like golden hour sunlight to be read as street lighting. I think one way to get around that (aside from my technique of making the light be more yellowy than orangey) is to be able to see the light source and the darkness around it through the window, something I would’ve only been able to do had we shot at night. But yeah, I tried to counteract this by bringing up the green in the shadows and slightly rotating the hue of the lights. I think it helps, but there is something about the lighting that doesn’t totally scan as street lights coming through the window. I think using more practicals in the scene would have definitely helped, but more on this in my critical reflection, right now, I’m talking process, colour-grading process.
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The opening scene was a pleasure to grade - the simplicity of the lighting made it easy to match each shot and there was quite a bit of contrast in the lighting already so I didn’t have to work too hard to get what I wanted from the shot. I was trying to emphasise the contrast and the black and red colour palette - one technique I used for this was to desaturate the shadows, so they read as black instead of dark red. This, paired with the added grit and grain, makes for quite a nice, almost comic-booky look. The only issue I have with this scene is the amount of bounce I was getting off the opposite wall which kinda takes a bit out of the high-contrast intentions. 
Working with film-grain overlays was a lot of fun. As Ben and I had discussed from the start, we wanted a gritty image and being able to dial in the amount of texture we wanted was really helpful. After watching the final version, however, I kinda want to push it further, make it more noisy. Maybe something to revisit before we do anything else with it. Another post-production process for adding texture to the film was adding chromatic aberration to the shots on the 14mm lens. I was wanting to emulate the vintage lenses that had inspired the use of the lens in the first place so I added “prism blur” to the edges of the image. I really like the final effect and feel it adds to the dirty aesthetic and the idea of warping/distorting/deteriorating the world that the 14mm lens was used for. 
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I think I took the time with the grade to make it work as best as it could. I was trying to pay attention to all the little details, like matching the streetlights in the exterior shots to the light coming into the interiors, and making the grain continue through the black at the start and end of the film. Ben was always present for notes and ideas throughout the grade which really helped to shape the style. One aspect of our planned visual style that we ended up mostly throwing out was the motion tracking. The only shot we kept the tracking on was in the opening where Alex is punching the bag.
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This is the only shot that we had planned the motion-tracking for where the effect worked as intended. We wanted to emphasise the movement and violence of the character and this shot does that, we’re better able to feel her anger and force with the tracking. The other shots we had planned to use this effect on were the skating shot (which was shot to mirror this one) and the head-smash shot. The idea was to draw a thread through Alex’s neglect of her friend and tie that in to violence. In her rage she is neglecting the friendship, by racing off and leaving her she is ignoring Casca’s concerns and then we see the result of her actions when Casca is attacked due to them being underprepared for the fight. But with these shots, the tracking felt distracting and ugly so we took it out and I also think that that theme is still present in the film without it. 
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We also pared back the flashback effect. While, the opening is still heavily affected, as the film progresses, we took layers of effects off so that the narrative beats were a little clearer. The final flashback has no effects on it at all as we felt that it was a scarier moment when you could totally see what was happening. It is also less than a second long, so yeah, narrative clarity had to come first. This was the main intention behind the look for the flashbacks as well - narrative clarity. We had to make clear that these shots are from the past as there is a lot of exposition happening in the opening minute of the film and this effect (while a little cliche) communicates that well, I think. I think it does need a little less in hindsight, so we can better see what is happening in the shots as, currently, it is pretty unclear.
Overall, I am pretty pleased with the grade and the final film. Hearing Rowen’s sound design with Bethany’s edit gave me chills and made me very happy. In another post, I’ll reflect on the crit, which I was also very happy with.
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