Last post

Don't worry no one died. Just felt like posting that up, after all its the last post. :D


One whole semester just flew past yet again. There's so much I wan't to say yet there's just so much I can say. Don't even know if that makes sense. Firstly, screenings.

I'm glad that I came in late for the screening under reasons that I shall not say. Two of my most favourite docos however was Kaleidoscopic Views and Niqabis.

Kaleidoscopic Views:

Visual : Visually enticing as they inserted graphics that help the viewers understand better about synaesthesia.
Sound : Great music original music.
Content : An interesting subject matter as many people would treat it as a disease instead of a gift/ a way of living.

Niqabis:

Visual : Loved the stamps and freeze frames when people looked. I love shots that require random interactions with people especially when in the streets.
Sound : Could have done better with the self reflection parts, otherwise entertaining sound effects!
Content : Definitely something to be discussing about as the misconception of the burqa and niqab is quite a huge issue. Loved the way the story was planned as it was rather participative especially with the audience. Makes us want to know what are people's reaction to their experiments.

It was then the FLOWERMAN's turn. Gosh..I don't.know.what.to.say. I really really really really really was confused when the sound went out of sync. These are mistakes that could have been corrected 100 years before we had even submitted our files. Goi and I just stared at the screen wanting to kill someone.

Tip : CHECK YOUR SEQUENCES/CLIPS/FILMS NO MATTER WHAT. CHECK BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER. BEFORE YOU HAND IT IN, MAKE SURE YOU CHECK!!

gahhhhhhhh! *facepalms*


On the brightside, the message that we tried to convey somewhat made sense through the audio. At one point I was rather relieved that the audience reacted to some of our subject's comments. I think we should come up with a check list before we actually hand in our assignments the next time.

Nevertheless, it was a great experience working with my group (especially having 2 group mates coming from 2 different backgrounds, understanding each other can a problem - those are the times when your patience and an open mind is needed the most).

Lessons from this subject?

There are things that we just don't notice, at times we need to slow down, look up, down, wherever; and you'll find things that you take for granted. That's when you get a good subject matter. Narrowing the subject matter is the next step/headache. But I'm pretty sure you'll be able to handle that. I know we did.

TV2 was not a matter of technicality, but more of self discovery - with the subject, and especially yourself.


Kudos to the crew and the staff of TV2.

Draft 1, Draft 2, Draft 3, Draft no more please

We're at a point of the editing when the footages just don't make sense any more. Up to 13minutes, I felt that we were getting to attached to some parts of the documentary. Music too was another issue as it was almost impossible to find a replacement of our current song that represents our subject. I was telling Ezra that he shouldn't have put that song in the rough cut in the first place, because we'll get too attached to the song; and as I predicted, there were no other songs that were suitable.

Having to finish compile all the scenes that we decided to put in, it was time to make the brutal cuts. We had the weekend off to recuperate and look back and what we had compiled, and there were just no possible way that we could cut the story down. Hours were wasted thinking what should we do next; and I decided to take a plunge by removing some of the scenes and deleting most parts that I thought were unnecessary.

Advice : don't spend too much time on your edits as you will get too attached to it. Take some time off and you'll have a clearer picture the next time you see it. At times, you'll realise that the whole sequence is a flop (better not be! ).

Edición

Summary of these two weeks :

Editing is always a pain in the butt. The problem I had with my group mates and the clips were that majority ideas and raw footages weren't in my mind. That's because I haven't been attending our shoots (which again, I really regret), and we had so much problems coordinating with each other.
Our designated editors were Ezra and me; as I wanted a taste of the editing myself, I thought I could make up for the lost time I had at the shoots; and boy that was a bad move. Having to have no prior knowledge of those clips shot, it was difficult for me to come up with a rough storyline.

That's when Goi came to the rescue. Weeks back, Christine made a suggestion to have a full transcript of our footages (which I thought was unnecessary at that time, but obviously proved useful), and she made everyone come up with a rough hard copy storyline. Despite that, it was quite difficult getting our point of views and ideas at the same channel, as we all had our own interpretation of the documentary. It was really difficult getting everyone's agreement as our group weren't at full force (as its submission week right now), hence missing members all the time.

We then decided to pick important parts off the transcript and began compiling those scenes/stories. I realised that we had wasted a lot of our time by just discussing and not actually doing something. We got on the computer and started compiling whatever we think was important. Now lets just see how long the sequence will end up to...

Eva evaluation

I've been neglecting this blog for quite awhile now. Many has happened and theres just so much I can say. This week's lecture was on audio correction - just what I needed. Compared to last semester, I ought to be more prepared when dealing with post production sound. Speaking of which, I reviewed some of the footages that were recorded at one of our shoots (which I regretfully did not attend due to work), and I wanted to slap myself real hard for not following them to the site.
It was the day that we had to follow our subject to his wholesale dealers and boy the clips were not a 'sound-full' sight. There were so many technical errors that could be avoided but because it was all in a rush, there's just so much they could do.

I was surprised about this sem's peer assessments. We didn't get to proclaim our own marks in front of our classmates for some reason - which I think should be an important step because then we'll know who's the one that has been hard working(aka big fat obnoxious liar). =D

I think the key factor that we all need to have is patience, as the editing weeks come ahead, be prepared for some swashbuckling amongst each other!

Tape-o

So the interview with the florist was today. Left my house thinking "hmmm there's something missing but I don't know what.."

As soon as I reached the site and helped my other mates unpack the gears, OMG I FORGOT TO BRING TAPES. Lucky/unlucky enough Ezra brought an empty tape. Not only that, Sheau wasn't informed about the shoot, double trouble!

The interview went rather draggy but it came to a point when things started to get interesting. In the middle of a good conversation we had, the taped ended. I really want to kick myself for not bringing any extra tape; so much for thinking "Oh hey, I'm not taking the equipments this time! yay! ".

*Facepalms*

Lesson for the day :

1. Be prepared for any circumstances, BRING YOUR TAPES! EVERYONE SHOULD MAKE AN EFFORT TO BRING ONE!

2. COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION!

Observational Exercise

Heres out take on the observational video!

Ethics

The one word that always gets me going ‘ahh not again..”
We had a guest lecturer who came in today to talk about ethics in documentary. What got me thinking about the lecture was how truth is always contested. I liked how reality isn’t really reality because of various factors.

Presence
- The presence of the camera automatically alters reality when placed at a location that is noticeable.

Exclusion
- The view of a camera is always partial and not impartial. Once a camera is pointed somewhere, the frame has segregated the world that is outside the frame making everything outside insignificant.

Manipulation
- I love the world manipulation because editing is all about manipulation. Somewhat we play God when we edit on screen.

These were the three points that were playing around my head the whole time of lecture especially exclusion. The whole idea of documentary is documenting a story of something, but by doing so, you are choosing to document ‘some-thing’ not every-thing.