Week 7 – Practice Piece

The lecture was about working with actors and basic camera knowledge. I found the first part of the lecture very useful in terms of acting professional with actors and what they will expect from us rather than the latter. When we went through the list of what to do with an actor/actress, I couldn’t help but think how lack of professionalism our group showed in the video production module in the second year; I remember having to look after our actress before her audition. Not once did I speak to her or even make eye contact. My nervousness added to hers and we used the student common room as a green room. We were fortunate to make coffee for her as we used the University kitchen. It is scary how much our group has moved on from these mistakes and I know we have developed further as a film group. We have now devised a daily plan to keep us up to date with anything about our film, from catering to production and looking after our cast. For the cast, we have secured a green room with food and drink (expenses covered) in the photogrpahy studio. Our group will pitch in £50 as a starter and add more for travelling, catering and extra money in general. I have become confident from last years final project – I let my voice be heard if I think there are any problems and I’m able to communicate well amongst the group.

For the second part of the lecture, I felt that we were being taught things that we should have known before entering the Media Production course. It was a nice refresher but it was uneccesary, and I was shocked that many didn’t think about these kinds of camera shots and movements (from previous years). We were shown clips of some wonderful developing and complex shots. Some of my favourite shots include ’The Protector’ starring Tony Jaa. This is a film shot in Bangkok, featuring a talented and upcoming star showing off his fighting skills in one developing shot. It took three attempts to get this done right and you have to admire the stunt work, the timing of the cast and the crew as well as the ‘idea man’. It’s a brave attempt that has paid off well as one of the most interesting shots in film history.

Jackie Chan produced a complex tracking shot in a film called ‘Miracles’; Chan had to prove his doubters wrong as they mocked him for only being good at doing action scenes. Chan directed, wrote, produced, choreographed the fights and the stunts and acted in the movie. He was able to operate on the camera as well, especially this scene. It was rare to see these kind of complex tracking shots in a Hong Kong martial arts film and keeping it in tone with the 1930s (which the film is set in).

Check 4:12

 

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We had to put our brains into action for our practice film piece. We were set up in groups to create a film about an office worker being ‘bullied’ by his boss. It was all about creating nice developing shots and working with a variety. Sam Calverly was the director, I was producer, Sarah Woodward was the camera operator, Stuart Baker was the camera assistant, Deejaye Nye was the actor, May was the sound operator and Ye Qin was the runner. Creating the tracking shots proved to be a difficulty; we filmed at an office, near a lecture theatre and the student common room. It was inevitable that students and lecturers would be walking by. I personally would have filmed in the upper floors where it is always quiet and we can make our own office. The office would have looked fake but it would have given us unlimited time to film our complicated shots. Another problem we had was trying to always use the equipment as it’s intended to be; that isn’t always the case and there are ways to cheat. For example, ou boom operator was struggling due to re-takes of the same shot. It resulted in lots of muffle sounds and bumps on the ceiling. Wires/cables were all over the floor and it was just a complete mess. I decided it’d be better to take the microphone off and put it on the shelves, closer to our actor. Another example was using the camera – it didn’t always need to be on the track and on the tripod. For a variety of shots, we put the camera on top of the desk, facing our actor rather than using the same shot from his side. I wasn’t happy about using the track and the zoom at the same time. My idea was to use the track to ease in rather than zooming in. The track offered more problems such as getting mirror images of the crew as well as the equipment itself being faulty. Timing was crucial for this type of shot and I felt we put unwarranted pressure on ourselves as a result. The only shot we got right happened to have the boom in shot, so the final piece shows title credits with a border that covers it. Other than that, everything went smoothly. Deejaye was very good at taking instructions and kept his nerve when acting on the camera. Sam used nice slow tracking movements, my favourite one being the second scene inside the office where it slowly eases in and he too worked well under the pressure. Overall it showed that we needed more work on our camera shots – but on another perspective, this was the first time we worked together and so weren’t used to other people’s methods. I found it stressful and exciting, as I found out that I was good at giving instructions and discussing with Sam about certain shots and health and safety among others.

Here is the final piece;