Reflection: 6/7/11

Reflection
What film studies are being reviewed and practiced? What new skills have been introduced?
Today was entirely devoted to project, which is incredibly rushed and will likely be failed or pummeled in grades by everyone involved. Some new skills were forced to develop were that of making soundscape through the use of specialized objects to simulate various soundscapes such as rain and wind ambiance. Things like river flowing sounds had use the tap. Also, to make some specialized effects that were particularly difficult to extract such as an underwater sound, I learned to use sound filters in Final Cut Pro to derive the sound from existing effects, like the river flowing effect. Basically, what had to be done was to change the frequency and volume, so that a more echo and deep bass sound of water occurred which seemed as if underwater. Other ordinary skills reviewed was simply using microphones to record sounds, though it was slightly more complicated because we used video to capture the sound and had to extract the sound from the video. Other skills were basic editing in Final Cut.
Evaluation
How successful was I in achieving my goals and why? How could I/my group make use of our time more effectively?
We managed to record all necessary soundscapes however we have not verified the viability of each clip, which means we don't yet know if we have to re-record any of the sounds. We were also about to record the melodies, the music to reflect the mood of the comic, but because there was not enough time left in class, we could not even start which meant we had to come back over and over at lunch to finish the soundtrack and record the music next class. Therefore, we did not do well at achieving our goals today because we are no where close to actually finishing the soundtrack. We made use of our time extremely well anyway and even that wasn't enough to do it. We need more time but there isn't so we have to come back at lunch times and use all of next class to continue recording.

Reflection: 6/2/11

Reflection
What knowledge is being reviewed?
Today, we tried to continue with the soundtrack unit, primarily through the completion of the storyboard, which did not occur because instead, we were to watch the music videos of our former unit. This is where most of the knowledge was reviewed from. Each video was presented with a talk from the group of made it.
Beatrice's Group:
-fairly traditional Bollywood music video - cheesy love story and group choreographed dancing
-poor prop work - seen on camera
-poor choreography - on-the-spot and unprepared
-variety of camera effects - tracking, long shots etc. - used to convey story though lack of expression
Davis' Group:
-fairly traditional Canto-pop music video - cheesy rejection story
-Unclear story in favor of symbolism - albeit lacking the symbol or clarity required in a music video
-good editing - using colors and slow motion to convey mood and story
Generally, effects and the camera work were used to convey the expressions of the story and message.
What feedback did I receive today?
In the comments on the music video, we were told that our filming of action and story was very clear and concise, and because it matched the song well, we told our music video was generally very good. It was especially noted that we filmed the action was very good as it very much enhanced the base and intensity of the music whole action-ridden basketball music video of competition. The story was also noted because of its clarity and very linear progression. However, some improvements that were suggested was making the training session part shorter because it basically dominated the middle half but became tiresome because it consisted of shot after shot and although it shown improvement of the character's skill, it was too long and repetitious.
Evaluation
How did I interact in class/group today?
In terms of the class, I watched all the music videos all the music and took down some notes in the form of feedback for myself so that I could use it for my own future films. I also asked a few questions to get more intention and ideas for each of the music videos to ensure better understanding of intention. In terms of a group, I with my music video creation group presented our speech on the music video, explaining our intentions and techniques in order to convey action, story and expression.
What will I do in response to feedback given?
I will continue to uphold the camera work which was noted to be very good and matched the action and story very well, especially the dutch-shot that while did not hold any meaning, was well-placed in the action sequences. I will also ensure that there are more changes in scenery. While the story was good, the training was too long and repetitious which I will try to make less and instead add more changes so that it is not.

Reflection: 5/5/11

Reflection

What new knowledge has been introduced?

Today is the start of the new unit - to make a soundtrack for comics. The knowledge introduced as part of this unit was that instead of using a computer based program to make the soundtrack which would be too easy, we needed to make them ourselves as most film makers did. This was fairly difficult because it meant we had to do custom research to find out how to gather the necessary sounds required that would fit the stimulus we had to make a soundtrack for - the comic book. We also learned that this was how film makers did it, the used stimulus as a base to synthesize sounds for. Through this, the process would be more of a self-guided track where we had to do it ourselves.

What film studies skills are being reviewed and practiced? What new skills have been introduced?

To better guide this process, it was decided in our group that in order to plan out what sounds had to be gathered and researched in order to find how to collect them, the skill of storyboarding was reviewed practiced, albeit a modified version because it had nothing to do with planning out shots, lengths and positions. Rather, we used the storyboard to organized the comic book panels and list out sound effects required for each panel. Through this, we would know what we needed and what ordered we needed it in. Thus, it would help us in the collection of tracks and help us better coordinate the soundtrack with the comic. This is also a new skill because it introduced a secondary application of storyboarding.

Evaluation

How successful was I at achieving my goals today and why? How could I/my group make use of time more effectively?

Our goal was to ensure we planned out our entire soundtrack through the storyboarding. However, due to confusion at the start and initial thoughts that we were actually to use software to make the soundtrack, we weren't able to get far in the storyboard, only able to create about a page after some discussion to find a good method. Half of our group was missing today due the geography trip, but had they been here, we could have made better use of our time through having some people research how to make the selected sounds, have someone making the documentary as part of the criteria A assessment to ensure that 2 things can be completed in one set of time. In addition, the storyboard will be continued.