Reflection on being a Camera Operator

Visualising the shots were not easy for us due to the film being an abstract piece. Diagrams helped. We discussed every single shot all over again after seeing the rehearsal clip. We had half a day left to redo the shot list and we were quite stressed. 

The next day, we arrived very early and made sure the equipment are fine, the batteries are charged. The sent up time went longer than expected because it was the dolly. It was kind of expected that dolly shots take the longest time to set up though. The actors took longer time than expected to warm up as well so everything was fine. The filming process flowed after the first few shots. The only problems that occurs were when we start to set up a different equipment. It was kind of expected for the first time as well, so not very much of a problem. The shoulder rig was a tricky one. We had to tape the camera very firmly with the should rig to make sure it's steady. The set up was very heavy that I need take constant breaks in between the takes. 

We were referring to the shot list on set

This is to remind us the movement of the camera as the schedule won't provide it.

Made notes on schedule

Sugini were helping to make notes onto the schedule. It is important for us to note the settings on camera for each shot or changes that's made. It became useful when we need to re shoot the shots.

Made notes on schedule

Some shots needed re take because the external monitor Ninja Blade corrupted the footage. We called Dave for help and later discovered that we should give the Blade some breaks between shots to prevent over heating it. The over heating might be a problem that caused the corrupted file. Also, the wire need to be taped down and not given a chance to be moved.

We improved a lot on the 2nd shoot day that we are either on schedule or ahead of schedule. It made a less intense mood on set than the 1st day because we know what we are doing now. It also helped when we had pizza for lunch! I imagine it must be funny for people to see 5 of us, each holding pizza boxes and walk in a line, all the way back to the university. The day was cold but pizza kept us warm.

I think we all did well in the shoot. As a camera person I don't have much to comment on other departments on set. I was very much concentrated on trying to shoot the shots right. I was in the zone the whole time. Thinking about the next shot > setting up equipment > thinking about the shot > making effort to do the right shots > rethinking the take > thinking about what to improve and what to keep for the next take > was the props at the place > making effort to do a better take ....... It goes on and on and on that the shoot days went so fast, in my perspective. I really appreciate the fact that Ethan, Sugini and I work well together. I sincerely felt the power of teamwork when we wrapped. I am also proud of myself being a camera woman.

Post Production of Map & Networks Project (3)

shorten the fade in/out animation

The last edit was pretty good but need some minor adjustments.

The first one is to make the text stay longer on screen. I just need to move the keyframes.

The second adjustment is to make the green screen part match the rest of the film in terms of colour and flow. The one thing I didn't try is the saturation and Sugini reminded me that. So this time I tweak the saturation before tuning the colours. It worked out so well and the skin tone is no longer too obviously red. As for the flow, I make individual images come in and out instead of of come in and out as group. The flow is much better now.

As for the music, I am very sorry for Jay that I lost the guitar recordings as my hard drive died. I now have a different feeling towards the topic and might need to approach the music differently.

Post Production of Map & Networks Project (2)

This is a second major update for the edit and a few things has changed to make the film in a better flow.

First, the green screen part. I have been trying to fix the skin tone but it was still to red. So I try to think of another way to make the skin tone not so noticeable by creating fast cuts of images. So instead of staying longer on screen the images come in and out of screen fast. 

getting fast cuts

Getting fast cuts

The result didn't turn out great. It looks way too tacky because the images are flashing. It ruins the whole film. I decide to stick to the original edit for the green screen part. 

The second major change is the positioning of the news headlines. Instead of having them all on the face mask one after another, I put them in between the shots through out the whole film. The original plan was to project the images of the news headlines on the face mask on the shot day but it flickers when shown on camera. So I might as well split them up to be shown in between shots to slowly feed the news facts to the viewers. It turns out well and sets the style the of film.

The third major change is the transitions. I added some "dip to colour white" to create a flash visual effect. I layered some images in the beginning part of the film to give hint to the audience the theme of the film. It also allowed me to cut some footage shorter by placing the visual effect. 

Overall, the pacing and style is much better now. I am hoping I can get some sound done before the next tutorial. 

Fingers crossed. 

New Progress on Studio Shoot! Walls :)

I am proud of myself today. 

Katherine brought us stuff again. Thank you!

Sugini and her dust sheet

We start with base coat grey

Accomplished this in 15 mins, with 6 people

Second stage of paint, took ages.....

So by the end of the day we covered two sides of the wall with the paint pattern you see above. It was taking ages and requires three teams of two people to do the full wall. In the team, one with brown brush one with grey. The brown goes first and then the grey, both using the dabbing technique. The aim is to blend the two colours together to give a rusty effect. I didn't take a picture of the final product but it looked great! It certainly gives a 3D texture that will look great on camera. Tomorrow we are gonna do the last stage of paint and I think it will add up on the wall and make it much better!

I am proud of myself and my team mates today. Hope everything goes well tomorrow. Please.

Also, we booked out the equipments for the pre-light day and the shooting days. Yay! I learn one thing from Julie that the Slider doesn't come with the Tripods. Thanks Julie haha I would have forgot to put more tripods on the list.

Camera Movements and Gripping Workshop

Moviola Crab Dolly

The Dolly is a fun equipment to use. Well I have just been sitting on it not pushing it... Thank you Chloe for taking up the Gripping role... In the hope that I am not too heavy, I concentrated on the camera movement. We tried out two shots that was in the shot list to see how well it will work.

The first one we tired was a pan from one room to the other. Billie volunteered to be the actor standing in the SuperEgo room and we used the Dolly to move across the room. Sugini and I were on the Dolly, with Chloe pushing it and Ethan overseeing the scene. The idea is to reveal both rooms with a wide smooth pan. We tried moving the Dolly in a crab way but it wouldn't stay straight because Chloe was pushing the Dolly at on end. Chris the Studio technician suggest that we just push the Dolly normally but with the camera pointing to the side. In that way, the Dolly stays straight. So we tried it a few times with different distance to the middle wall. We agreed on staying as close to the middle wall as possible to give a smooth transition from one room to another. That is actually what we want originally but instead of using the slider, Dolly is a better choice in terms of range and flexibility.

The second one is when the SuperEgo walks into the room. Billie asked Logan to be the actor, so that we can have her to operate the hydraulic pump to do the jib up. This one is harder to achieve because the timing has to be right between the Billie and Chloe. The idea is to jib up from the actor's shoes to the hand, which the actor is holding his phone, while tacking the actor walking into the room. With the aid of making how far the jib up will go on the Dolly, we tried a few time and succeed. However, Logan decided to have the actor holding the phone up instead of down by the side. This time we need Sugini to pan the camera up a little bit at the same time. I couldn't do it because the camera is pointing at a side that the handle wasn't accessible for me but for Sugini. We tried a few times and it looked okay. Again, this is a shot that was assign to use the slider but Dolly is a better choice in terms of range and flexibility.

Left : Glide Cam      Right : Slider

The slider actually surprised me. When I was on set for My Daughter's shoot, they didn't use the motor for the slider. So when David told us that there are actually a slow and fast motor for it I was surprised. I asked if it is better to use the motor or by hand he said it depends if you have steady hands or not. I guess I will think about that.

The last one he introduced is the Glide Cam. It took so long to set up because the balance has to right for it to be steady. The Glide Cam itself is too heavy for me to hold but it was better if I have the vast on. Billie took a picture of me holding the Glide Cam, wearing a vast. The gear looked cool but my face shows that I was dead inside haha. I asked for the picture thinking to put it on here but nah... Billie can have it on her blog xD. The vast was too big for me that there was gap between my shoulder and the vast. It made me easily crushed because it wasn't distributing weight to my whole body but somehow distributing it to my lower part of the upper body. I felt my back within a few minute and didn't manage to climb the stairs. I think only Artus managed to climb the stairs? Ethan can wear it fine but he doesn't think that we need this for our shoot.

As for shoulder rig that Anne showed us, it is good for the fight scene and after if I want some curve lined camera movement. We might try out the EX3 on that shoulder rig and Ethan's shoulder rig on rehearsal to see which one is better.

In conclusion, we loved the Dolly and think that there are more opportunity for us to use it to achieve better shots. The slider will be used for tighter spaces, for example the shot that's going in and out of the mirror. We prefer not to use the Glide Cam and motor for the Slider because it is time consuming to set them up. Also, they are not necessary. All we need right now is to have more time to practice on the equipment. So we asked for the equipment on rehearsal day and hope we can get it.

Fingers crossed!

The End of the Directing Workshop

This is the second Directing workshop and the last. Comparing to the last one, this one have more movement exercises. 

Curve line and straight line - character/ camera movement/ set

This topic interested me the most as I had never heard of it before. He explained it well and showed us how having curve/ straight characteristic change the feeling of the scene with the actors' demonstrating. In words, it is difficult for me to explain what curve/ straight characteristic are. I will try:

Curve line - unpredictable

Straight line - hmmm straight line... you think straight, towards one goal

It is more understandable for camera movement. That is if it is moving in curve/ straight line. In the movie that Nigel showed us, Performance (1970), the camera movement is in straight line for the curve line environment. It would be too much of a mess if the curve line environment is filmed with curve line.

The environment/ set in Performance is curve lined. It was mess, things are everywhere and the camera aids towards the aim to make audiences to have no idea what the room looks like in full.

In our Studio Shoot, I am thinking to add some curve lined camera movements in the fight scene and after to aid the idea of being abstract. It will be helpful since the set is quite straight lined.

In the afternoon he talked about posture/ body language. It is a given and everyone should know what body gesture projects. It is good to have some reminder about our Studio Shoot since we have two very different characters in the film.

Overall, I enjoyed the Workshop very much and learned a lot. I really appreciate him and the actors who acted out different scenarios. These two blog post is not very in depth but I will probably revisit some of the "theories" in the future. This serves as a note so that I can look back to in the future. Right now, all I can think of is camera movements camera movements camera movements ...

camera movements ;)

Busy but Productive #internationalstudentsday

Peeling the wallpapers with hands...

We are supposed to be in the G12 building our set today. When we first arrived there was no tools for us to peel the wallpapers.

Still with hands...

I had stop asking how many layers of wallpaper or material are there because I know the number is infinite lol.

loved this tool! Amazing

Jay brought us back some tools from his family house!

I have been picking up the bits on the floor into the bin bag by hand, then a dust pan magically appeared.

Even using the tools, I got easily tired getting the layers out. So I relaxed myself by picking up big pieces on the floor, then sweeping the smaller bits together in the centre of the room. I would ask Ethan to hold the bin bag against the floor so that I can push rubbish in with the boom stick. It is a godsend that a dust pan appeared. Thank you (Colin?) !

After putting up the middle panels I met up with my International foundation tutor to discuss some plans and the I attended a meeting with UCA Ambassadors. As soon as I walked in they introduced me to the International Student Support Co-ordinator. When I was thinking "what a day!" in the evening I received messages from my International foundation tutor saying that it is #internationalstudentsday. What a day!

We had a group meeting for Studio shoot in the afternoon as well. It was just to review the audition footages with everyone and decide on the characters. At the end of the day Ethan and I did a rough edit of the auditions to be put onto our Facebook page so everyone in the group and access to it.

 Busy but productive #internationalstudentsday !

(update 20/11/2016: saw this in the library!)

UCA Farnham Library

Hong Kong