Yesterday we had a second shooting session. I`d say it went pretty well. We did the sleepwalking scene, with James and Will as actors, Umar helping with our improvised lighting and lil`ol`me clumsily handling the camera. We shot the scene at Maltings, took over the kitchen, made it into a darkroom, got hold of a lamp and a blue plastic lid and...voila!...we had our moonlight scene pret-a-shoot (don`t mind me, I`m just making up words here).
This is the `raw` video, with soft blue-lighting and sound effects provided by Sleepwalkers Records Ltd.
Now, let`s get all introspective and see what was the motivation.
1. Soft blue lighting: we tried different ideas out, like using a lid just to soften, not colour the light, or different positions for the light source. In the end, the blueish light seemed like the best idea because the scene is supposed to take place in the middle of the night, or in the early hours of morning, and we thought this would be the most realistic thing. Plus, having only one source of lighting, and even that dimmed, it was possible to recreat the way a person who has just awaken during the night sees things.
2. Camera position: we had to make some serious compromises here given the limitation of one camera movement per shot and because there was a pillar in the middle of the kitchen (yes, how very inconvenient indeed). The `coreography` had to be just right, in order to have everyone in the frame.
3. Story: the basic story, the starting point as it were, is sleepwalking. They used to call sleep `the little death`, and indeed, what is fascinating about dreams, sleepwalking or any other night time (in)activity is that your brain is there, yet it chooses to dictate its commands in a whole new key, while still dropping in some of the usual lines. Motivations become blurred, or disappear altogether, revealing the mechanical nature of many activities. Of course, we are talking here about things that we take for granted, like moving around or handling objects. But I guess it is something that makes you ponder about whether or not many of the decisions you take or desires that you consider as your own in a conscious state are there as a result of a consciencious process, and not a script that keeps you going.
Alright, enough of that! Let`s see what we have here. This is my first attempt of editing yesterday`s scene. I don`t have Adobe Premiere so I used Magix Music Maker 2005 Deluxe for editing. As you might have guessed from the title, it is primarily a sound editing programme, but it has some basic video effects options too. If there is anything that is good about the experience of making this edited version is that I got to play around with the sound tools. Now, I`ve always been the more visually oriented person in the family, and my cousin was the sound master, child prodigee. I also took piano and guitar lessons, but never really got over the fact that I`m a dilletant. This little soundtrack I made for this version has not helped my self-esteem, but just reminded me how nice it is to actually get all experimental and then end up with something slightly decent.
About the visual part of the video. I had two video layers, with different colouring and with a slight delay between the two of them, that`s how I got the shadow/ghost look. I changed the tempo, making the movements slower and then added an echo effect, so that each movement of the characters could leave a trace. Why? It makes it ambiguous because one can think of the scene as the meeting of the ghosts, but also as the sort of scene, or the way you perceive a scene in your dreams.
So, we had the Good and the Draft. Now, for the Bad. Couldn`t get hold of the previous footage, the one from Saturday. Apparently, there is some sort of problem with transferring the video unto the computer. But...but, we should meet on Thursday and get that (hopefully) sorted out.
This is the `raw` video, with soft blue-lighting and sound effects provided by Sleepwalkers Records Ltd.
Now, let`s get all introspective and see what was the motivation.
1. Soft blue lighting: we tried different ideas out, like using a lid just to soften, not colour the light, or different positions for the light source. In the end, the blueish light seemed like the best idea because the scene is supposed to take place in the middle of the night, or in the early hours of morning, and we thought this would be the most realistic thing. Plus, having only one source of lighting, and even that dimmed, it was possible to recreat the way a person who has just awaken during the night sees things.
2. Camera position: we had to make some serious compromises here given the limitation of one camera movement per shot and because there was a pillar in the middle of the kitchen (yes, how very inconvenient indeed). The `coreography` had to be just right, in order to have everyone in the frame.
3. Story: the basic story, the starting point as it were, is sleepwalking. They used to call sleep `the little death`, and indeed, what is fascinating about dreams, sleepwalking or any other night time (in)activity is that your brain is there, yet it chooses to dictate its commands in a whole new key, while still dropping in some of the usual lines. Motivations become blurred, or disappear altogether, revealing the mechanical nature of many activities. Of course, we are talking here about things that we take for granted, like moving around or handling objects. But I guess it is something that makes you ponder about whether or not many of the decisions you take or desires that you consider as your own in a conscious state are there as a result of a consciencious process, and not a script that keeps you going.
Alright, enough of that! Let`s see what we have here. This is my first attempt of editing yesterday`s scene. I don`t have Adobe Premiere so I used Magix Music Maker 2005 Deluxe for editing. As you might have guessed from the title, it is primarily a sound editing programme, but it has some basic video effects options too. If there is anything that is good about the experience of making this edited version is that I got to play around with the sound tools. Now, I`ve always been the more visually oriented person in the family, and my cousin was the sound master, child prodigee. I also took piano and guitar lessons, but never really got over the fact that I`m a dilletant. This little soundtrack I made for this version has not helped my self-esteem, but just reminded me how nice it is to actually get all experimental and then end up with something slightly decent.
About the visual part of the video. I had two video layers, with different colouring and with a slight delay between the two of them, that`s how I got the shadow/ghost look. I changed the tempo, making the movements slower and then added an echo effect, so that each movement of the characters could leave a trace. Why? It makes it ambiguous because one can think of the scene as the meeting of the ghosts, but also as the sort of scene, or the way you perceive a scene in your dreams.
So, we had the Good and the Draft. Now, for the Bad. Couldn`t get hold of the previous footage, the one from Saturday. Apparently, there is some sort of problem with transferring the video unto the computer. But...but, we should meet on Thursday and get that (hopefully) sorted out.
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