Seen and Unseen – 7 Shot Film (Process and Screening)

Pre-Production of Kueh

The assigned roles for my film were:
DOP: Fendi
Sound: Simin
AP: Alena
CA: Hannah
Director/Producer: Chloe

In preparation for the shoot, I did up a call sheet, and with Fendi, created a shot-list.:

Kueh Call Sheet
Call sheet of Kueh

And my script:

LOOK OF FILM (LOCATION SCOUTING)
I want the film to be set in an HDB flat kind of setting to give that rustic Singaporean/local kinda feel.

Some inspiration or visuals to understand what I mean:

4:30 by Royston Tan

4:30, image from http://lenterasgado.blogspot.sg/2013/04/430-Royston-Tan-2005.html
4:30, image from http://lenterasgado.blogspot.sg/2013/04/430-Royston-Tan-2005.html

Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen

Image result for ilo ilo
Ilo Ilo, by Anthony Chen. Image from http://variety.com/2013/film/markets-festivals/cannes-film-review-ilo-ilo-1200488889/
ilo ilo by Anthony Chen

The decided location was a room in hall 11 of NTU that had the black windows grill I wanted.

Production

Overall, on the day of production, my shoot went smoothly and we were running on schedule. My actor was also easy to work with! However, there were instances on set where after production was over, I looked back and realized I made some mistakes and then I regretted not being more mindful and aware on set. Before getting into that, I want to break down my 7 shots for Kueh.

Shot 1

Audio: Mother scolding child, child sobbing.
For this shot, I showed the main subject of the argument, the exam paper, instead of the mother and son. I wanted to both show more yet reveal less – let the audience experience the scene through sound instead of sight. I also wanted to capture this tranquil like scene of the paper bathing under the light seeping through the window grills in contrast to the argument going on off-screen. I think an additional touch that would make this shot look a little nicer would be if the dust in the room could be seen floating through the sunlight. Ultimately, this shot lets the viewer focus more on the argument rather than the characters themselves, and hopefully draws them in to want to find out more about this boy and his mother.

Shot 2

Audio: Child sobbing
For this shot, we again focus on the exam paper, but this time we see the boy alone (we know that the mother has left in the previous shot). This time, I went for a much more intimate shot (aka ECU/CU) – a subjective shot that would bring the viewer into the perspective of the boy.

Shot 3

Shot 3 is a continuation of Shot 2 and reveals the boy to the audience. I went for a close-up, low angle shot to again bring the viewer closer to the boy and allow them to empathise with him.

Shot 4

Still in the same scene, we this time bring the viewer into the perspective of the mother with an over the shoulder shot, showing the viewer what she sees/what she is looking at. I chose to switch perspectives because I wanted to show the beats the mother goes through in this shot. She peers at her son crying in his room, is saddened, feels guilty for giving him such a harsh scolding, then decides to leave to do something to make up for it.

shot 5

In shot 5, we have another close up shot of the boy waking up from his sleep, again to create an intimate relationship between the audience and boy, as well as allow them to empathize with him.

Shot 6

Shot 6 cuts on action as the boy gets up from bed and walks out of his room.  I used this shot more to help with the continuation from here to the last shot where the boy moves to the dining table, but I also wanted to use this wide angle shot to show the boy alone in his room. and just to capture the moment of him waking up, sitting on the bed, still drowsy.

Shot 7 (Part 1)
Shot 7 (Part 2)

For the last shot, we have the exact same setting and framing as the first one, this time there is a packet of kueh on the table that the boy opens and eats. The mother then comes into frame and asks him if he likes the kueh to which he says yes. I wanted to convey the mom buying him the kueh as a sort of apology for the harsh scolding she gave to her son earlier. The kueh is also supposed to be the boy’s favourite food but I’m not sure if it can be easily inferred (thoughts?).
With the use of the same setting and framing, the film comes full circle. It contrasts the beginning with the end and shows the change in the relationship between the mother and son or simply the way their relationship has always worked (meaning how the son understands his mother’s way of apologising to him and how they forgive each other and move on as they would always do).

After the shoot, I sat down with the actor to record his voice, getting variations of his sniffles and lines.

Behind the Scenes

Some thoughts on the production of Kueh: I generally did not like how my shots were taken. The shots were only taken this way because I neglected to check the shotlist for details on what lenses I wanted to use to create what kind of depth of field, etc. For instance, for shot 5, I wanted it to be a much tighter shot with a very shallow depth of field to create the blurry, dreamy like atmosphere surrounding the boy. I think that would have better complemented the emotions of the boy in that scene or his immediate feelings (the sleepiness/drowsiness)

Post Production

I shot a lot of my film without audio. Everything heard besides the boy’s and mother’s voice is foley! I also used some sounds from this website freesound.org to get sounds that I didn’t manage to get.

Kueh sequence/ timeline

As seen above, I used a simple atmosphere sound clip for the base of the entire film (bottom track), then used other sounds like footsteps, door slams, etc, to create the entire atmosphere of the scene. A lot of my time was spent on the audio of the film which I am pretty happy with. I learnt how to make sounds sound far away or in another room as well which was pretty fun and really helped to build my scenes’ soundscapes.
For my visuals, I did not do much besides stabilising some clips and also colour grading the entire film. I have yet to master colour grading and hope that I will be able to colour grade better as the semester progresses!

As you can see, the colour grading I did was very suttle. I washed out the colours a little to create a more rustic/vintage and dreamy effect, much like the films I had referenced earlier – ilo ilo and 4:30. Hopefully, I can do some significant and good colour grading in the near future.

Final – Screening: Thoughts

The class came together to watch everyone’s works. Here is my take on the screening:

I was really blown away and inspired by all my classmates. All their stories were really creative and made me think “damn I should have done that”. Those who said they were not good in film had, I found, the most creative stories that were also, technically speaking, well executed. I couldn’t tell that they hadn’t had much experience with film. The screening made me feel inspired to really push my creativity beyond my limits for the following project and to do something out of my comfort zone (which will probably be humour/comedy).

 

Project 1

For this project, I decided to go for an existing character from a film I like:

Leonard from Memento.

I decided to use his habit of tattooing his facts that as a way to portray him and his character in this assignment.

Here is my work in black and white:

and in colour:

I wanted people to be able to tell who I’m trying to represent right off the bat, hence using the tattooing, notes, and a burnt polaroid to represent Leonard.

Personal Portrait

Exploration with camera settings and camera angles to represent my relationship with my subject.

Here are my selected 5 shots:

And my favourite:

I chose this image because I felt the angle best represented my relationship with the plant. For instance how I’m always looking down to make sure that it is okay, and how this angle makes the plant look fragile.  I also used the surroundings to frame the plant. The overall mood and framing also make the plant look lonely which is one of my aims because I do feel that it is a lonely plant, sitting by itself on my window sill.

Feedback: Image could be cropped further as the black is dominating the image but if it is to show the environment surrounding the plant then it’s okay.