Sense of Space- Progression within pre-production

I thought I would use this picture and post to discuss the progression in ideas throughout the pre production phase of our project. The initial idea as explained previously was a dream sequence where at first we would have the character falling to sleep. However after discussing this in the tutorial and how the dream sequence would work Myself and Jennie looked at three potential idea: The dream sequence, being hyptnotised into memories, or having a near death experience. After looking at each one carefully and planning what we would do with them(shown above) we decided that the most effective idea would be hypnotism. This is because it is more audience friendly, for example the hypnotiser can introduce the situation at the beginning and bring the main character out at the end. We also decided on using a sound of a metronome to transist with the heartbeat as she enters the dream sequence as well as helping to immerse the audience into the sequence more effectively. This was a more audience friendly idea than the other two therefore we decided this was the correct one.

Sense of Space- First day of recording

The first day of recording was yesterday. We recorded the first out of three parts that we wrote down in the schedule. Myself and Jennie planned out the recordings carefully however there were a few problems that arose on the day. Firstly was the availability of locations. We needed to find a Location that had plenty of natural reverb in it however this was hard as all the halls in the university were unavailable and staircases were too busy for recording a clear track. Finally we used the performance studios at the bottom of Harmer. We also found that large rooms picked up the echo of distant sounds so during recordings we could hear little bits of background noise. Finally the setting up of the Marantz posed an issue as we were not sure on the proper technique of setting the preset manually. These problems were due to bad organisation in certain areas however we were still well equiped with our recording schedule and managed to get the recordings we wanted. This was our first day of recording therefore it was better to overcome these little mistakes now rather than come to them after recording and have unuseable audio recordings.

Sense of Space- Schedule List

This is the schedule list we have created to help us organise when and where we need to be. This is also helping us to visualise all the individual layers we need when editing and therefore shows us the amount of clips we need to aim to complete in a scheduled day. Hopefully if all goes well we shall have successfully recorded the piece In three scheduled days however this has yet to be proven as we need certain permissions for locations and sounds that are difficult to get hold of such as wedding bells and car crashes. Altogether I think that this task in the production aspect is our most challenging yet.

Sense of Space- Pre production documents

These documents have been created to help with the overall organisation of the production. After the problems I was faced with in The Edale Project previously myself and Jennie decided to dedicate a lot more time in the planning stages of production. We have now changed from a dream sequence to a hypnosis sequence however the same general layout still applies as we are using all the same dream scenes and just changing the location at the beginning and end of the sequence. We decided this would
Be a good idea to change to as hypnosis would allow the audience to understand exactly what is going on and when writing a narration for the sequence it will be easier to talk to the audience.

Sense of Space- Learning Production Skills

When I first started this product I knew only a slight amount on the recording and editing of sound. On Week 17 and Week 18 (this week) I have learned a lot of new production skills with Darryl. We focused on editing skills such as changing the EQ of our sound clips which made the sounds seem far away or really close. This will help a lot when it comes to editing as Myself and Jennie's idea is based largely on different perspectives of sound being near and far or low frequency and high frequency. This is excellent in teaching me to be ready for the dream sequence recording as it inspired indefinite sounds for editing. The practise and teaching of these skills have been very helpful in creating a picture in my head.

Sense of Space- Inspirations and influences

When coming up with the initial idea I had numerous inspirations and influences that helped to allow me to decide on the dream sequence and how I was going to do it:

Beneath the Forest Floor- Hildergard Westerkamp- This helped me to decide on the nightmare scene in the dream sequence. The use of the creaking of the trees was a really tense and uncomforting sound that I really want to capture when recording our scene. I think this dark twist at the end will provide a good final audience attention grabber as well as a good out point for the dream sequence back into the real world.

Virtual Barber Shop- QSound Labs- It sounds irrelevent put the use of stereo sound to create what feels like you are actually getting a hair cut by having sound go around your head is a similar sound we are trying to create when in the dream sequence. This is because we are trying to immerse the audience by putting them into the characters head, quite literally and having the sounds created around them.

Sense of Space- Tutorial and after thoughts

After the tutorial with Esther today there were some good points raised. We looked at the idea that me and Jennie had decided on and as we went through it Esther gave us some strong advice. Such as the use of a heart monitor at the beginning going to flatline to give the idea of death and the dream being a flash of life before the characters eyes. This would be a good idea as it would provide an emotional aspect toward the audience and therefore they would become more immersed into the dream sequence. This is an idea that we are seriously considering if we can find a beep that would match a heart monitoring machine. We were also told numerous problems that we would have to avoid when recording tracks specific to our idea, such as wind when trying to record waves at the sea in this time of the year, also the scream would pose difficult as it would be a convincing scared scream and we would have to avoid a cheesy scream. Overall this tutorial gave us a realistic perspective from another person that had previous experience and went well considering our idea is still standing tall!

Cheers Esther.

Sense of Space Assignment

The sense of Space assessment is based on creating a 3 minute soundtrack. My first response when discovering that this was our task was a negative one. I thought straight away it would be difficult to capture someones full attention for 3 minutes. However after listening to professional tracksin our session, like the one I have commented on previously, I became more confident. The track by Hildergard Westerkamp inspired me and I was able to come up with quite a strong initial idea. After Jennie and I discussed this plan we made a few changes to look at it from a more realistic perspective. The idea we have decided on is quite complex however we should be able to create most of these sounds. This is what we came up with:

INITIAL IDEA- DREAM SEQUENCE

Begins in room-character walking dragging feet, yawning, takes off dressing gown, gets into bed, yawns again, and sighs.
A few seconds of just breathing and atmosphere sound.
Then sound becomes muffled (we enter her head), sound of heartbeat(muffled)
Narrator speaks explaining situation.
Sound then returns to the sound of waves in the sea(calming), sea gulls, laughter from character and other.
Transists to car racing scene by sound of car approaching starting really quiet and gradually getting louder.
Sound of car racing from inside the car, Narrator talking, skids round corner, car crashes?
Cuts to silence, here someone laughing quietly, Church bells ring softly and get louder, a crowd clapping happily and more laughter.
Girl screams, previous scene cuts suddenly to silence, light uncomforting whispers in the background, slow creaks.
Footsteps running through leaves, character panting.
Trips, falls, silence except girl breathing heavily and whispers, Whispers suddenly turn to a shout.
Character wakes up panting, atmosphere of morning, birds singing, cars driving.
Character Narrates.
END

HILDERGARD WESTERKAMP- Beneath the Forest Floor

This piece is an atmosphere track however is unique as it uses sounds from beneath the surface. This gave the feeling of a claustrophobic atmosphere by using enclosed spaces when recording. I enjoyed the track as it gave a sense of tension that is hidden within nature and that we don't here but is always there. There are few layers used and a lot of almost silence throughout which enhanced the pieces effectiveness by creating a certain amount of tension and discomfort for the audience when listening. There is no voice or narration in the piece, no rhythm or beat that is noticable, just the creaks of trees and the running water and the animals moving past this part of the forest, for me it really showed the realistic side to nature, the silence and the animals moving about, the water trickling underground sounding like it is right in front of you. It really gave a good explanation of the sound of nature.

I enjoyed this and found it very inspirational when coming to write my 'Sense of Space' initial idea. I have decided to use a similar use of creaks in a dream sequence that involves a nightmare. I decided to use this as for me this track felt very tense and uncomforting which is the same atmosphere I wanted to create when taking the audience through the nightmare sequence.

The Edale Project- Fine Cut

Our Fine Cut on the 8th November went on longer than we both expected. However we managed to sort out most of the problems mentioned in the tutorial by Esther and we are both relatively happy with the out come of our video (except fot the unavoidable things that we will mention in the presentation). We used numerous different transitions to spice up the cuts were appropriate, without over doing it, as well as using effects in Final Cut Pro to manipulate the look of certain clips to fit in (as much as possible) with the rest of the film. This will be further commented on in the presentations as it poses both strengths and weaknesses in the final product (mostly weaknesses). The final difficulty we found was the look of the exported video, I don't know whether it is the quality of the camera or the way we exported it but the video seems very pixalated something which we tried to change but could not. Therefore I hope this is similar in the final product of the rest of our group.

The Edale Project- Tutorial

In our tutorial Esther raised some good points. She told us that the editing was a bit predictable therefore we needed to use a different range of editing techniques to make the shots and narrative more exciting instead of just cut...cut...cut. She made a point that the low level lighting at the beginning where Mark looks at the map is a problem within the continuity of the edit and to change the shots for better professionalism of the look of the film. Finally the problem that myself and Mark spotted was the hair that was caught in the lens on the last shot of the film short. These things all needed to by corrected in the fine cut that myself and Mark have arranged to do on the 8th November.

The Edale Project- Shot List

I have created a shot list that should end up being about 3 minutes. I like this as it provides an image to the film before it has been created giving me both an idea for the filming and the edit when it comes to post production. Mark has also created a Parashoot risk assessment that deals with some of the things mentioned in this shot list therefore we can deal with these scenes in a more safer way.

The Edale Project- Schedule List

It's very low quality but you can make out what it says and what it means. There is not much information due to the little knowledge me and Mark had on the Edale area as mentioned before. This showed me that the use of a director of photography or at least scouting the location yourself is a valuable asset to the overall look of your films as getting a feel for the area can help with the setting up of good shots when planning and storyboarding a scene. If I had had time before the 27th October to go to Edale and explore the area I would have planned a storyboard and logged specific locations instead of just using a shot list.

Equipment List

This equipment was picked up by Mark at the Harmer building and was returned by myself.

DATE TAKEN OUT: 25/10/2011

DATE RETURNED: 28/10/2011

EQUIPMENT:

SONY PD170- 2 battery packs included as well as detacheble mic(not required)

TRIPOD- carry case included.

Carry case included for both items.

Edale on Location

http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/towns/townalbum.php?picno=5&albumname=Edale&PHPSESSID=om8vbvdti9qrvvq0dhc0pb5ti3

http://www.peakdistrictinformation.com/towns/townalbum.php?picno=20&albumname=Edale&PHPSESSID=om8vbvdti9qrvvq0dhc0pb5ti3

When looking at images for Edale these caught my eye as they gave an idea to the ending of Marks journey in the film. From these images both myself and Mark were able to decide on the ending of marks journey that would be him overlooking the views of the Peak District to capture the same emphasis on nature that these two pictures have successfully displayed. The top one was a more realistic view of the day due to the weather yet they are both very compelling. This also helped give us an idea of what the Peak District around Edale was like therefore we could predict certain locations when planning our shotlist for the day.

The Edale Project- Summary continued...

The final point about filming on the 27th October. The production skills workshop on camera helped in the setting up of each shot. I refered, at numerous points, to the shotlist that Dom taught us as this helped me to identify any problems that I had missed when setting up each shot. As well as that I managed change the manual setting to benefit what the image looked like on screen. I did this on such shots as the Close up on Mark looking up at the trees in the woods by adjusting the iris and making the depth of field smaller to emphasise Marks expression when we stares upwards in amazement. This meant that the production skills sessions were beneficial in creating the overall look of these clips.

The Edale Project- Editing Rough Cut

Tuesday 1st November we began editing the rough cut for our Tutorial.

This edit proved a difficult job when trying to both string together a narrative and use nice shots especially as the weather had been so bad on the day of filming. However by following the ideas that myself and Mark had already discussed and referencing to the shot list we had created before hand we were able to get a range of different rushes that we could make sense with.

After putting the rushes onto Final Cut Pro we analysed each one and gave it an appropriate title that we could reference to whenever we needed a specific clip. This was a skill learnt within our production skills workshop on editing and came to a big advantage when creating an assembly of ordered clips later on in the day. We decided not to mess around with lighting on this rough cut as we may have needed to take away or add things after our tutorial. Altogether the editing was successful however if I had a chance to redo this project I would have made a more detailed shotlist and created a storyboard before the shooting day to have a constant reference to when trying to find good shots to use.

The Edale Project- Planning on Location and Summary of the Shoot

As we were filming on the 27th October for the one day we had to carefully plan the amount of time we had to film our shots. Therefore Mark and I both decided it would be best to film the ending at the beginning as this was the furthest distance and then film the beginning after everything else. We also took into account the weather forecast which was proggressive showers and cloudy all day.

We made numerous changes to our shotlists on the day however took a range of different shots to compensate for any on location mess ups such as something getting in the shot or continuity problems in editing. Lighting raised a big deal on the Location due to Edales forecast for the day, there was not much we could do about this except use plastic bags to protect the camera and turn down the F-stop and after filming we decided that a reflector board would have been very handy to bring as toward the end of filming the lighting was low level and difficult to work with.

Despite the problems that arose on the day the camera and tape did their job and we filmed a range of different footage that could go well when putting together in editing.

The Edale Project- Primary Ideas 20/10/2011

Mark and I decided to meet up and look into ideas for the project.

Before this session I thought of an idea which involved following an object, such as a map blowing in the wind and capturing it like a journey sequence similar to the opening sequence of Forest Gump. I researched the Forest Gump opening sequence finding that they had used a crane as well as a stedicam and used a CGI created feather in making this sequences power, and considering the timeframe of a day for this filming I ruled this as unrealistic!

In the meeting we discussed the idea of using an actor to be at one with nature and have the audience follow them around the landscape showing its beauty. We kept this idea and decided that Mark would act and I would film.

We then used google maps to scout out the location and some of the beauty it had to offer. However due to google earth being birds eye view and only being 2D we were limited in what we could scout out in the location. This was a problem that we had to work around and did this by creating a shot list in which we predicted some of the basic natural beauty such as rivers, waterfalls, trees and hills (which we knew about as this was the Peak District) therefore we were able, to a certain extent, plan around the lack of location knowledge and still predict a storyline.

The Edale Project- Breifing

The Edale project consists of a days external filming at Edale in the peak district. The filming date is the 27th October. This blog will be on the research and planing that went into the Portrait of a Place Project.

Our first breifing session helped me to form a basic idea of what we are expected to do on the day. This followed by feedback of ideas from our group helped me to grasp the expectations that our tutors have in mind.

Myself and Mark Costello paired up and have logged ideas on the project. At first we were going to just make a documentary style short which looked specifically at the landscape and the nature of Edale without any story or narrative. However after listening to some of the ideas that our group displayed and that we were not at all familiar with the location we decided to create a narrative that revolved around the nature that Edale had to show.