Filed under: observe and report | Tags: Observe, report, short, film, aspiring, filmmaker
It’s been a little while since my last post. Again. ‘Observe and Report’ had been getting a little dusty on the editing shelf as it were. I have spent the last couple of months at a snail’s pace on my filmmaking life. My 9-5 job (which is actually like 1-10, sometimes 3-midnight, since I’m an out of hours worker) has taken a lot out of me recently, and I have been left with little creativity, or little drive to be creative when I am at home. Being an aspiring filmmaker is always a double edged sword. On the one hand, I would love to have more time in the day/week/month to simply create something that others wish to see. However, to do this, I need more money, which is where the full-time work comes in handy to not just pay bills like everyone else, but to also save and invest my money into my equipment and film funds. If there is more pressure over one edge of that sword, such as stress at work, then the other edge suffers, and sometimes buckles under the weight. Thankfully, I have recently been able to participate in a project at work which sees me being able to get back to normal, and work mainly the 9-5 routine, leaving far more time in the evenings for me to dabble in my art.
First on the cards, is to finalise Observe and Report for film festivals and the web. I originally entered it into the Take 60 portion of the Melbourne Film Festival, but was not successful. Since the version that went off was ultimately rushed, I wanted to spend some time in having the sound professionally mixed and have a proper colour grade done, to match the shots that never married up to me. The sound mix was provided by the friendly folks over at Caravan Records, a Central Coast based studio in NSW. The colour grade was actually completed by myself, and it is quite interesting how the colour of an image can affect tone, pacing, and the ‘feel’ of the scene in front of you. Below are a few screen grabs of a scene where Megan, our main character, has noticed a picture of a purse she has dropped and lost from days before:
The top three pics, left to right, show first the raw image from the video captured, the balanced image after the brightness and contrast are set, black point and white point set, and the balancing of shadows, mid-tones and highlights of the image and the third image shows the final ‘look’ of the scene (I’m not great at this, so I’m still learning). The raw image was captured using Canon’s Standard picture profile (that is, neutral contrast, saturation and colour tone settings and additional sharpness in the picture captured). The shot was then balanced and matched with others in the scene, so that the film flows and shots do not look out of place if they have been filmed on separate occasions (which occurred for this particular scene). A look was then created from that matched shot to help with the look, feel and atmosphere of the scene (I chose warmer here, in relation to Megan having a chance to find her handbag).
The other three shots show a raw shot, matched shot (look for similarities in the matched shot above it), and the original ‘look’ I picked for entry into the Melbourne International Film Festival. That look was difficult to carry across the other shots simply because that they were not previously matched. Lesson learned! Whilst the sound mix was being done, I took the time to match all the shots and apply the final colour grade. Now all is complete, and I am just waiting on the sound mix to be delivered. Once that’s done, it’s off to some small film festivals, and more importantly online where I hope to have many many people watch and enjoy.
More soon.
Nick
Filed under: observe and report
I am quietly cheering. Quietly cheering as last Thrusday I completed ‘Observe and Report’ and have little energy for anything other than a quiet cheer. A completed screener is currently with a courier on its way to the Melbourne International Film Festival, for competition into MIFF’s Take 60 Short Film Competition in celebration of MIFF’s 60th year. I wanted to use MIFF as my deadline, because whilst the opportunity to be screened at a world renowned film festival is a fantastic prize, I now have a completed short film to submit on to film festivals to hopefully begin to get my name out there.
I am very pleased with the end result, which runs to precisely 6 minutes long, especially considering that I have had to do the majority of the work myself. Is it perfect? No, as I’ve said before, there are far more creative people than me that I can usually rely on to help. It was a steep learning curve. However, as a storytelling device, it flows well, drawing the viewer closer and closer to the two main characters until we left guessing….what next!?!?
I’ll put together a post or two about equipment used, but for now, I must rest. My normal day job is calling, and I’m looking forward to working without burning the candle at both ends….at least for a week!
Nick
Filed under: observe and report | Tags: Canon, 7d, Observe, report, short, film, Samantha, Beames, Andy, Leonard, nick, Kelly
Another delayed yet relevant update on the status of ‘observe and report’. A week ago I wrapped on principal photography and have been neck deep in the next phase of the project, editing. A self-funded pet project, observe and report has had to make do with a multi-talented one man crew. Read, me.
The problem with my talent, is that it is not that strong. Not at least for the roles I have been performing. On top of writing, directing and producing, which I am getting the hang of, I have been cameraman, production designer, grip, gaffer, script supervisor, editor, vfx editor, sound designer and sound mixer. Oh, I should also throw in colour grader in there somewhere. Usually, I have many creative and talented people to help fulfill these roles, far more creative than me if I am honest, and so the end result, no matter how it turns out, will not be perfect. However, this can be a blessing in disguise if you want it to be.
Firstly, having complete creative control and artistic license over a project means that you can at least attempt to transfer the film that is continuously playing over and over in your head as accurately as you can to digital/celluloid. Filmmakers, you know what I’m talking about.
Secondly, having to dabble in so many different areas teaches you both the importance, and time needed, in those areas. When I now ask to have someone to place a video insert in to a shot with movement in, I know how long this may take and will now form an important piece of knowledge for future projects.
Overall, I am so far quite pleased with the results. Whilst not perfect, it is flowing well, and I am nearly at the sound mix stage. It is a good feeling, knowing that I’ll be done within a few days. It has to be actually, the next step is the
Melbourne international film festival.
Below is a picture of my own ‘edit suite’. Annoyingly, my 2nd monitor is dead, so I’m having to make do with one.
Nick
Filed under: observe and report | Tags: Observe, report, short, film, Samantha, Beames, Andy, Leonard, nick, Kelly
A little delayed this post, but last weekend I started principle photography on ‘observe and report’, a short film aimed at the film festival circuit. As I have mentioned the story hers previously, I will let you bring yourselves up to speed on what happens. This project has been a long time coming, and I think it really has the ability to be something special.
The Sunday we filmed in and around the Newcastle CBD, with Samantha Beames, an actress from Sydney who I have had the pleasure of working with before. Sam was very gracious to donate her time to the project, something which as a filmmaker shows me that I hopefully have a film that people want to see.
Crew wise, this is actually going to be the smallest shoot I have done. The reason for this is simply to keep everything low key. The weather on Sunday was a bit mixed, but we managed to get most shots required with Sam.
Next step in the process, is to complete filming next weekend on the 9th & 10th April, where we will be filming in newcastle to complete our exterior shots and then moving to film our interior scenes with our ‘lars’.
Below, I have placed some screen caps of the raw footage taken last weekend. I hope you’ll agree with me that the quality of the footage is great, especially since we have not yet graded anything. Another update soon.
Nick
