Digital Filmmaking - Week 13

05/10/2019

Eisenberg, L., Goldberg, E., Hunter, K., McAtee, A., Rogen, S., Shaffir, A., Weaver, J., & Stupnitsky, G. (2019). Good boys [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Pictures.

I went to see this film at Reading Cinemas last night.
I would describe this film as basically R-rated Diary of a Wimpy Kid, but with elements of Big Mouth. It carried good characterization and performances from the young actors, and brought a lot of quantity and quality to the dilemmas and dramas that the characters face in the story. I quite liked the lighting. The lighting was like as though it had been done by SIT film students. I'm not meaning in a bad way, but it's just something that amazed me.

However, I did feel as though the adult humour in the film had 'been there, done that' vibes. It's not a film I would likely watch again, but it's definitely better than Sausage Party.



Engelman, R., & Russell, C. (1994). The mask [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Cinema.

The Mask is a film that I loved watching on VHS and DVD as a kid, among many other Jim Carrey comedies. I remember being hooked on the film's behind the scenes that was part of the DVD special features.

It's a film that deserves much more credit than it has, especially since the review on Rotten Tomatoes make it sound flawed. Watching the film for the first time since I was ten, it's made me realise it's a neo-noir superhero comedy. I never saw this film as a superhero film during my childhood because of the titular character's anti-hero antics.

The lighting, writing, and characters definitely support the idea of the film being a neo-noir.

The art deco title graphics and production design help support the noir trademarks of the film. The visual effects (asides from the VFX textures) seemed to have aged fairer than most films with CGI from that time. 

This film also crosses genres well like a Tarantino film.

The musical score is top-notch, beautiful, and much better than I remember.

It expresses wonder, fear, whimsy, action, and something ominous

Like Tim Burton's Batman films, it focuses so much on it's dark tone, you seem to forget the campy humour in the film.

Even though the world has seen more than enough reboots and from the superhero genre, it would be interesting to see this film in a millennial, contemporary setting. I believe it could work as long as it doesn't applies much of the cliches and formulas from the saturated superhero genre.

Project update

On the way walking to get my shopping done for the week, it made think that I may need to re-evaluate the filming locations because of the new ending. I have also come across Zara again and she is still uncertain at this stage and may only be available for one of the shooting dates. I'm starting to think Jeromy is too busy to be involved with acting in my short film because he hasn't rung me back and seen or responded to my Facebook message.\

06/10/2019

Director's script

I put together a version of the script that includes the locations on InDesign as a way to make sure that I have narrowed down all the locations needed. 

While doing this, I realised that I two scene headings unnecessarily copied in the same scene.

I also need to take photos of the SIT Arcade and ask Patrick whether to ask SIT or the City Council for filming in the SIT Arcade. I will also need to sort out the dairy exterior. At this stage, I will just film it outside the dairy on Yarrow Street like I planned at the beginning because I don't think I will have time to do proper location scouting for the scene involving outside a dairy.

I organised a list concerning what location providers for what location and what scenes will the locations be filmed at.

I took a walk when a took a break from getting work done today and during that walk, I came up with two different filming locations for the scene where I have a cameo. The two locations being outside a historical building on Kelvin Street and Outside The Auction House. 

The Kelvin Street provides me with the space I need, but wouldn't be good to shot in rain since there's no shelter. I did a shot with tighter framing in order to have signage out of the way.

I believe outside the Auction House is more ideal because it provides both the space and shelter that may or may not be needed, as well as having a flashy shopping background, which keeps it in line with being on a city street.

07/10/2019

Preparing Premiere sequence for Resolve

Set time to 01:00:00:00 for Resolve

Click \ to view the whole timeline

If you lock the V1, you can delete audio without unlinking

You can select a empty space on the timeline and delete it

We saved the premiere project as a XML and a EDL for Resolve

Resolve

Fairlight synthesizer is what the Fairlight part of Resolve is named after. It was an industry standard in audio for several decades. Resolve now owns the company

Alt + S for adding serial node (serial because it's in a series of nodes)

Alt + L for layer node

Ctrl + D to deselect the selected node

'Windows act like a layer mask and end up on the nodes window

Shift + H highlights the result of layer mask (window)

Alt + D deselects all of the nodes

Orange teal grade

Lift towards blue

Gamma and Gain towards orange

Another way is create a layer node, create a circle 'window over the face, then go into the qualifier. Eventually you will get something like the mask is orange and the rest outside the mask is blue. I remember this type of colour in lighting was known in cinematography as 'fruit salad'.

The more tracking points or reference points place, the more precise your tracking will be.

Use a window mask to create tracking and play it forward on the tracking window

You can save your grading for other shots by going into Colour > Memories

I talked to Luqman again about being involved on my short film next weekend, as well as being my DOP. He was keen and available and assured me we would book the camera equipment next Monday e.g. the F3. He did ask me for a mood board on types of shots I have in mind.

I do already have mood boards sorted for my short film, but it's more focused on the setting, story and protagonist.

I talked with Patrick and he was fine with my new final draft with the only suggestion of having the protagonist walk away from the skip at the end. I told him about my scheduling problems and he was keen to give me advice if I just send him a copy, which I was fine with. I did further adjustments to the scheduling before emailing it to him to look over. 

I contacted Tyler later that night to organise where we can meet up and he could give a second opinion on my shoot. I gave him a copy of my script and He did agreed that it would be tricky to shoot everything in just three days. We will meet up on Wednesday evening.

I tried to contact Sophie Worner again to see if she knew anyone who could act in my short film, but I still couldn't get a response from her. I made contact with Angela Newell (Creative Projects Manager at Great South), but she didn't answer and so I had to leave her message and I also sent her email.

08/10/2019

I managed to get David Mosen (a first year film student) to act in my short film. This has something that has lifted my spirits towards this shoot.

Luqman is now uncertain about being involved on the first day of my shoot because he is wanted us and our group for BSA202 Audio Techniques to use that day to book an audio suite at SIT Sound.

I heard back from Patrick. He couldn't offer anything, but suggest second unit shoots outside the three days of principal photography. Organising second unit shoots will be a mess since finding the right time between now and the project deadline and the same goes for cast and crew. I will consult with Tyler on what scenes could be considered second unit.

Patrick has also insisted for me not to use David for more than one day for my shoot. This rules him out as an actor in my short film like planned and depressed me. He can however be the boom operator on the Friday if the audio production student, Jean cannot help out on that day like she has mentioned to me.

09/10/2019

I contacted Angela again and she was busy in a meeting, but she will be in contact with me about local actors later today. She was meaning to contact me today. If she has nothing for me, I will try to contact Arts Murihuku to see if they have anything for me, or try to contact Sophie again.

I heard back from Angela and she was very supportive and managed to spread the word out to the local theater and acting community on social media. I also informed her about Think & Create, which she was interested in.

I immediately got a text message from a local actor interested in acting in my short film, Taylor Barrett. I sent him an email later that day with the script attached.

I spoke with Tyler this evening about my scheduling and he was quite impressed with my efforts and assured me that I was doing everything right. 

I had talked to Royce Trouson (third year visual arts student) about acting in my short film as the dairy worker. He was keen at this stage, but he asked me to remind him closer to the time to see if next weekend will still suit him.

10/10/2019

I sent a copy of the script and a mood board to Luqman over Facebook.

We talked for a bit and he suggested to talk to SIT Productions about trying to get the Easy Grip to use for the F3. I went down there, but they weren't there and I didn't get around to emailing.

Luqman also forgot about our talk concerning him booking out the F3 and the necessary camera lenses on Monday.

I continued to spend time on the scheduling for filming

I had received message from Bex and Oisin over Discord concerning an actor that might be interested and he works across the road from the campus at The Auction House.

Kres is at hospital now and may potentially make it difficult for his involvement for my shoot next weekend if he is still recovering from that then. That means I will need a different stand in for the office man role.

11/10/2019

I still continued working on the schedule, but this time with the second unit type of shots that were of priority during the principal photography, as well as of course the important scenes. I did some scheduling for the second unit shoots outside the three day shoot that Patrick has allowed me to do.

I was feeling flustered after spending time on the scheduling and so I went over to the Auction House to see if Craig was there to talk. We talked and his involvement in my short film wasn't feasible because he is working at the auction house from 11am until the late afternoon during next weekend and it's too late for him to change his working hours for next weekend. 

I asked Craig if he knew anyone who would be interested and he suggested for me contact Kiarne and Bo to see if they know anyone who would be keen to act for me

I made finishing touches on a director's script that indicates which scenes would be done as second unit shoots outside principal photography, as well as what the filming location looks like. On the subject on locations, even though I haven't completed casting my short film, I have no choice but to proceed with sending emails to the City Council and SIT Facilities about filming at my filming locations.

I discovered a Facebook post that Angela Newell has done to help me cast my short film like she said she would and quite a few people have shared the post including Bex. 

This gives me hope.

I did a Google search into the actor who has expressed interested in my short film, Taylor Barrett. I discovered that he is a professional actor with an IMDb page. He is a graduate from the NZ Drama School and has acted in shows like Ash vs Evil Dead, Filthy Rich, and Shortland Street, as well as Short Film Otago short film, Eyrie.

IMDb (n.d.). Taylor barrett - imdb. Retrieved October 11, 2019, from Internet Movie Database website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7675257/

I talked to Ash and James at SIT Productions about getting the Easy Grip from them for next weekend. They weren't sure about me because I'm not certified to use it, but when I mentioned that Luqman would be my DOP, they were open to it. They said that they have filming of their own to do for SIT and so I thought using the Easy Grip for an entire weekend would be too much to ask for, but they assured me it wasn't. I will be picking iut up from them on Thursday. 

I mentioned about Taylor Barrett to Ash and James and Ash was familiar with him because he worked on Eyrie. Ash warned me that Taylor may asked to be paid because he's a professional actor, but let's hope that he doesn't.

I had got myself a start on storyboarding my short film earlier this week. The first scene in particular