Evaluation

The concept for our work was developed through mind maps and discussion, with some ideas failing, we started to think about places we visit everyday, so simply my kitchen automatically came to mind. With this, Chris and I went in and looked around, obviously the usual utensils and appliances were there, but we saw the fish bowl that my flat mate was bought for his birthday. From this we kept developing the idea, thinking about what does a fish see throughout the day, Does it care?

Is it actually aware of anything?
How does it see things?

What does it hear?

How does it hear?

From these simple questions we formed an idea, attending Debbie’s tutorial did help with the idea processes, Debbie suggested the film Rumble Fish. We had a look at it, In one scene everything is black and white apart from the fish. This sparked ideas about editing a film.

The project has small hints of humour, all though not intended, this isn’t necessary a bad thing, some would say it comes with the territory of fish. With the editing it is clear that it is a experimental film/sound piece, I feel an audience of 18 – 30 would enjoy it the most, due to the technical sounding nature of the piece, plus the use of students in the film and sound piece does narrow the audience range. When researching fish, and how they have been filmed in the past, I found that the animated Pixar film, Finding Nemo was useful. In this film one scene that I blogged about previously was useful (the dentist scene), to my surprise, this film inspired me a lot, in some ways it motivated me.

In terms of my sound work, I feel Chris and I should of planned it more in advance, instead of turning up and 'winging' it. This would of made for more time on our film piece although I am happy with the film. I feel one thing that worked especially well in terms of the sound piece and the sound in the film was the effect that was applied to the sound in Sound Track Pro, it really does give that atmospheric effect we wanted, I feel it amplifies the sense of space you get, making the audience more aware of the initial aim of the piece. A thing that if I/we could do the project again would to do with the colour correction. When editing the film we wanted everything to be monochrome apart from the fish, this would be fairly easy to do if there weren’t objects of the same colour as the fish around it. As you edit the colour for this you have to select a colour to 'highlight' for it to become visible through the monochrome background, but during filming, there were bright orange Sainsburg's bags in the background, as well as red chairs. This made it very hard for us to get the perfect colour effect we wanted. One thing that when especially well on our shoots are the shots that we didn't expect to get, at times we would let the camera roll, even by accident sometimes, from this we found that we would get the most out of the fish. Stereotypically, fish are quite boring, but with the zoom lens we hired from stores, we could really capture the details of the fish, it's gills, mouth and tail were main focus's for us. These aspects of the fish were something we never considered in the pre production stages of the project.

On our first sound recording session, we started to experiment in terms of how to create the distinct underwater sounds we were looking for, firstly talking to the editor, Chris, he thought he could create effect in after effects. After recording some sound, Chris tried manipulating the sounds but they turned out every echoey, and wasn’t the sound we wanted, it had a very extraterrestrial sound. We met and discussed whether we could make these sounds in the actually practical process of recording. Researching sound in films such as,Finding Nemo, The Abyss and Jaws we found that we could use a hydrophone, after experimenting with this, we came to the conclusion that that wasn’t the way forward, it just sounded very 'deep water' sounding, with the sounds that we were trying to produces not being picked up.

After more research, we found an article discussing how other sound technicians have created sounds similar to the ones we were looking for, so we tried this. There ideas were based around using a condom over a general use microphone, and putting this in the fish bowl and interacting with it. To our surprise this worked, we experimented with fish food, splashes and conversations underwater.

In terms of the film, this was a little harder to produce, obviously with us already having the sound track, it was a little pressure off us, but the aim was the realistically portraying a room through the fish. The problem was establishing the fish as a character that the audience could somehow connect to. We decided on using some Point Of View shots with some close ups of the fish. The issue with Point Of View shots was that when we put the camera in the fish bowl, you couldn’t actually see the glass so it was pointless, so we decided just to film hand held then apply an after effect to create the effect of the action being viewed from the point of the fish. I was officially the camera operator, but as a team Chris and I both contributed to the practical filming of the piece, two of us were needed on the shoot to assemble the jigs to allow us to shoot extreme angles, for example a particular angle were you see the water pouring in the bowl. This was shot from below, so we balanced the bowl on two chairs, although this was a risk, it worked and created a great shot.

From this project, I have learnt many things, with it being our first real project with ideas created and developed our selfs there was many things that went wrong, from this I have learnt more things than if it went perfectly. Firstly I have learnt that planning is key, one thing I regret from this project is jumping straight into it without a thought of 'How are we actually going to film (or record) this?'. After experimentation I feel we could of planned the sounds clearly, this would of saved us a lot more time in the long run. The same applies to the film, even more so, if a detailed storyboard was produced, and stuck to, outlining every shot, it would of saved so much time on the day of the shoot, leaving is more time for editing or experimenting. So one major thing I shall apply to later projects is the importance of planning.

Secondly, although I was not the editor, I feel I have learnt skills to do with post production. With the nature of our vision and the practicality of it, it was important as a team that we understood were we both stood, as Chris was the editor, he had his ideas and methods of doing things, I on occasions I watched his work and contributed with ideas, I technically learnt out to apply colour correction and now have a rough idea of how to highlight a colour, it is definitely something to consider looking into and experimenting on my own with. Throughout the stages of experimenting, one thing I have learnt is to never dismiss an idea without trying it, this may not be a skill, but in terms of the sound piece, we got the best results by putting a condom over a microphone, and the results were great in my opinion. In this project, we really have gained the best results through trying out ideas, no matter how tedious or stupid they may seem at first glance. As I mentioned before sometimes by accident we would capture shots that we didn't think would normally work, but these led us to greater shots, I have learnt that accident can lead to great things, so I shouldn't dismiss them without a thought.

As a team, overall I feel Chris and I worked well as a team, in the early stages of production I feel we could of planned more, but that isn’t really a criticism of our teamwork. Generally we both contributed equally, at times Chris did some camera work, but this was key to project our ideas and vision into the camera. Our weaknesses when it comes to team work are that when we stuck with an idea, we would not take verging or altering from it lightly, this made for a strong team in some aspects, but whether that trait is a good one for a team, I do not know. I feel I, as an individual could improve my teamwork skills by considering others ideas more, before dismissing them for my own. I do feel as if I listen, I just think maybe its the thinking about an others idea and developing that before putting my own onto the table and forcing that into play maybe more than I should.

Overall I feel the project was successful, with no major problems in terms of team work. We created in my opinion, some great work, experimenting with methods I wouldn't normally approach. This project has definitely taught me things to apply to later projects, and reflect onto my peers when creating other films or pieces. With the planning being partly rushed but the experimenting being quite thorough, there are parts of the project I would of changed but saying this, the outcome has successful portrayed our vision.

Hollis Frampton's, Nostalgia (1971)

This experimental film particularly stood out to me, one reason for this is its simplicity. Nostalgia, created in 1971 by a avant-garde film maker, photographer and writer called Hollis Frampton. This is one of my favourite films, at first when I received the brief that we have to produce an experimental film, I was unsure about the subject as I have never really focused on experimental, but after viewing this film, I was focused that I could create a good piece. The film shows different image every 30/40 seconds on an old stove (because it was made in 1971), these images gradually burn and turn to ash, accompanying this is a voice over, talking about an image, but the voice over is talking about the image that is coming next, after the one you are viewing. I like the idea of this, it creates confusion in the audience and requires them to pay close attention both the voice over and the image. The piece is very structural, it plays with the ideas of how fragmented memory actually is, creating an almost realistic representation of the mind. This piece is obviously personal to Frampton, experimenting with themes such as personal identity. The piece has inspired me throughout this project, even though it doesnt directly relate to my ideas.

Shooting and Editing

We decided to change our idea so the film actually has a narrative, a simple story being that there is a fish in the kitchen, a new fish is introduced, there is a party, someone pours alcohol in the bowl, one fish dies and the other is left alone. The experimental element of the film is the way it will be shot, for example composition and colour. In after-effects we have applied a filter, so the background will be black and white and the fish will have a extreme orange/yellow glow, emphasising its importance to the narrative.

In total we had around 3 shoots, not worrying about sound as we have our sound piece finished we could easily experiment with angles. On the first shoot we shot a lot of close-ups, concentrating on the particles in the water and using depth of field to give the film a clean, focused visual. We had trouble shooting the party scene due to the lack of space we had, and with my housemates being actors we got a realistic performance, even with some shots being bad in terms of performance and composition, in editing we could really fix these issues with cropping and actually editing the shots together.

One problem in editing was to apply the colour correction and effects is that to create the fish glow we have to 'grab' a colour, the problem being there is too much orange in some shots, as we are half way through the edit, we will try overcome this issue.

Film Proposal

In the experimental film, we want to make it obvious that there is a daily routine that takes place partly in the main living area, in this situation, the kitchen. As in the sound piece we want to show this through the 'eyes' of fish. We want to carry on this idea of projecting the Sense of Place through the fish. The film will be shot from one angle just behind the fish bowl, opening with the light through the blinds.

The main thing we want to portray here is a sense of daily routine, with the atmosphere of water and fish swimming around watching all the action unfold, a complete plan of what the 'action' is yet has not been decided of yet but we have some ideas.

• Waking up
• Opening blinds
• Use of the kitchen appliances
• Housemates/couples argument?
• A party?

The point of us filming the action through the fish bowl is so that the audience cannot clearly see what is happening, or clearly understand. The sense of place will be apparent through the use of the one shot, watching everything happening and passing them by, with it beginning quiet, building up and then quiet at the end, leaving the fish swimming a lot. Refections will be key to show the action, if you actually look at a fish bowl from different angles, you can see that the curved glass shows the fish bigger or smaller from all angles, then with the blurriness of the background with the interesting underwater effect sound to accompany this could make for an interesting piece.

We are researching ways to shoot and after effects we can apply, for example using a fish eye lens as well. We may also play with colour like in the film Rumble Fish (1983) were in one scene everything is black and white apart from the fish.

Second Sound Recordings

Chris, as the editor went away, with occasional input from me started to edit the sounds we recorded together and found we needed a few more, so after research we weirdly read that if you put a microphone in a condom it could create a interesting sound underwater, which as you see to the right we did try. It worked better than the Hydrophone did, things became clearer, with this technique we mainly recorded bubbles, for atmos sound as a 'base' for our piece.

"Historically speaking, underwater sounds are very muffled, as if water mutes high end.  This is of course exactly backwards from what water actually does.  But the audience has grown accustomed to hearing muffled sounds underwater, so they will expect that to some degree."
(http://filmsound.org/QA/underwatersounds.htm)

Here the writer says that underwater sounds are traditionally muffled by we have got used to it through film and other sound which is interesting, 

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo may be just another children's Disney Pixar film, but with the subject of my experimental film being centred around fish, it is helpful to look at how they have approached the idea.

One particular scene of interest is the scene in the dentists, when the fish are looking out on their surroundings, even with the film being an animation it helps with developing my plan and idea for how I will soon shoot my own film.



The shot to the right is the part in the scene when a child arrives and 'plays' with the fish. Parts of this scene are from the fish's perspective, this provokes ideas for me, with the idea of looking at the day to day happenings of my flat. I could film the scene completely through the reflection of the fish bowl, were the viewer could not completely see what is happening, with the fish being in the foreground or the focus of the film. This would leave the scene to the viewers visualisation.

This scene points out interaction with the main subjects. No matter how we end up filming this, interaction could make the scene more interesting, engaging the audience. For example maybe someone tapping or banging on the side, or putting there hand in. Using sound from the sound only piece we are currently editing, it could create a nice effect.

I personally like this angle (left), it briefly is an animated image of what I picture the final piece being. I imagine a fixed shot with the main focus being the fish, with the background being a blur in the background. This is partly because of the size of fish's brains, surely they don't take in that much information and another with it being a daily routine, it gets repetitive and 'boring' so the blur is visually portraying that.

Tango - Zbigniew Rybczynski (1983)

Zbigniew Rybczynski's short experimental film Tango won an Oscar in 1983, it shows 36 figures continuously entering and exiting the claustrophobic set. The characters all repeat the same actions, starting with a boy climbing into the into the window to retrieve a ball he kicked/threw in and the last character being an elderly woman that enters to nap.

The characters slowly build up, showing a busy space, this is one of my favourite short films out of those I have researched. Tango focuses on a routine and repetition of the characters, audio is key to present this repetition. Each character has their individual sound, for example a child crying, a mans scream as he falls off a chair. This use of sounds is inspiring, with my sound project repetition is key, and with the idea being the daily processes this piece really does help me.

As for the experimental film part of my project, this idea of everything happening at the same time, contradicting this idea of time, making the idea of repetition in our life obvious, I feel this could be appiled to this 'fish' idea. The fish linger in the corner of the kitchen watching all the activities throughout the day, the idea of a time lapse comes to mind, although this could be too simple.

Sound Sheet

• Fish 'pop' (made by ourselves) 
• Tap
• Footsteps
• Microwave
• Toaster 
• Kettle
• Yawn
• Fridge
• Conversation
• Doors
• Feeding fish (using milkshake powder) 
• Various different splashes
• Water pouring 
• Outside (out the window) 
• Cars
• Tap on the side of the fish bowl
• Bottles clashing 
• Filling up a glass with liquid
• Running the kitchen tap
• Washing up
• General movement
• 30 minutes of general usage of the kitchen
• Falling over
• Chairs
• Breathing 
• Various water sounds
• Some general sound using the hydrophone in the fish bowl

These are only some of the recordings me and Chris created today, I also recorded 30 minutes of general activity in the kitchen. As the editor Chris will give these sounds the distinct underwater effect that fits into our desired sound piece. 

We may need to do some more recording if we feel that we need more sounds to 'fill' the time or create a sense of wholeness to our piece. I feel we sound repeat the sounds, with the fish pop and splashes being the most important, so the audience will know that we are recording from a fishes view point. 

Sound Recording

This morning myself and Chris started recording for our Sense Of Space project, with our idea being the day activity of my kitchen from the perspective of two fish we have. We recorded a range of sound from water drops to the sound of a microwave.

We struggled at first technically with setting up the  Marantz but we quickly sorted that, we first tried recording with the hydrophone in the fish bowl. Using the hydrophone did not work very well, there was too much distortion, the majority of sounds recorded with the hydrophone were distinguishable, but didn't have the distinct underwater sound we were looking for. Chris as editor suggested we could use effects in soundtrack pro to create the underwater sound.

We experimented making the sounds relating to fish ourselves, for example with the sound of the fish food, I used my milk shake powder shown in the image to the left, and with the fish 'pop' we simply made that sound ourselves. I shall post a sound sheet in the next blog post.

Once the Marantz was set us we found it easy to record sound, with us doing the daily activity. There was a lot of activity in the kitchen as my flat mates start to wake up and get their breakfast. We are recording Morning and Evening, so later on I will record conversation and general activity around 7pm, to get the realistic representation of my kitchen.

Sense of Place: Sound Idea

Chris and I have been meeting over this week, talking about ideas and concepts. We initially wanted to capture a process or a routine such as a journey or a day of work. We then realised after tutorials that did not fit into the brief. After more meetings, going through different ideas such as recording sound at a an old industrial museum.

 We came up with an idea that roughly fits into our original one. Thinking about processes and routines, we thought about what happens in one place throughout the day. We thought of an idea of 'through the fish's eyes', our idea is to record sounds of a fish or create the stereotypical sounds of a fish through different methods, using underwater microphones and editing techniques. My flat mate conveniently has a fish bowl so we are able to do this. I feel this idea allows for some interesting techniques to be applied. With this sound piece idea solidified it is exciting how we can adapt it into a video piece later on. The recording starts tomorrow.

Jarman's Garden

Jarman's Garden is a garden filmmaker Derek Jarman built during his battle with an illness, Sherre Dely visited this garden after Jarman's death. Dely created an impressionistic rendering of the Gardens. Listening to the piece creates an image for me, using sounds normally associated with peace, for example, the sea, seagulls and chimes. I am listening to the piece for research, finding a starting point or inspiration for my audio project.

After my first listen, I didn't find the dialogue in the piece as interesting as the sounds that follow, but now listening to it I feel as if there is almost a purpose or a theme. Remembrance is the theme that comes to mind listening to the sounds, obviously the dialogue helps with understanding that the director Derek Jarman is the man this piece is remembering but I feel as if it is made as a place for listeners to 'come' for thought, almost like a garden.

The layers of sound are quite distinct with the sounds of the sea being key feature, sounds of seagulls, chimes, and some sort of beat comes in. All these thing have connotations of peace and possibly reflection. The beat that comes in nearer the end creates a sort of journey feel to it. I prefer the later sounds (ten minutes onwards) just because I don't feel as if I can personally connect with the dialogue, whereas with the sounds of the environment I feel relaxed and thoughtful. I want to create the same feeling of being able to imagine the place or sound physically.

http://www.thirdcoastfestival.org/library/4-jarman-s-garden

Love Me Or Leave Me Alone

Duane Hopkins's, Love Me Or Leave Me Alone focused on a teenage relationship, you are not sure exactly where it is leading from the beginning with it opening with a argument with makes them storm off in separate ways. This gritty social realism concentrates on two central characters, Hopkins has very cleverly portrayed these characters, using a realistic narrative and a typical rural setting allowing the audience to easily relate to them, with 'teenage love' being an everyday theme for young people. 

I personally enjoyed the film, I found that the characters were easy to connect to, especially the female, as you can feel her anger and upset in some ways. The rural setting I feel certainly adds to the realism, one thing I didn't quite understand or temporarily got disconnected with was the use of the car as the female waved down an passing vehicle. It almost forced me as the audience to feel concern for the female, thinking that the vehicle would have a bigger role to play in the narrative, partly because of the use of the loud engine sound but it appears that she had a safe journey making me feel misled. This could of been the directors intention, but I personally didn't like it.

In many ways, the film was a success, one reason for this is I feel is the films honesty and simplicity, focusing on a simple 'first love', for me it's unpolished presentation makes for a more relatable experience, making it simple to watch and enjoy. The actors in piece were realistic, they easily delivered messages and true emotion to the audience without the use of dialogue at times, which adds to the sense of realism in the piece. The editing wasn't great at times, but it didn't ruin my overall experience of the film.

One scene that didn't work for me was the sex scene, the directors use of low key lighting to possibly show passion did not transfer well for me, also the editing in the scene confused me. The film is meant to be gritty but throughout the film you are made to almost feel some love, and with the sex scene being a set moment of reconciliation and make up, it felt almost too dirty and misleading due to the lighting and editing. I feel the director aims were to realistically portray a very real scenario in the majority of peoples lives, the director, in my opinion has successfully fulfilled his aim, using realistic setting and narrative. 

The structure of the film was reasonably simple, making it easy to understand, with the characters constantly driving the narrative to another setting. The director uses a lot of wide angle shots to establish the setting. Overall I enjoyed the short film, it was a great snapshot of first love and a teenage relationship.