Practical Digital Filmmaking Assignment 2: Short Film

Here is the video:

Concept

For this assignment, a theme was not provided in the beginning so I had decided on doing an action espionage film.

After which, the theme of “Home” was provided and thus I just shifted the setting of the espionage film to Singapore as a country in general.

Here is the pitch for the movie that i presented in class:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SdOGFpQ_lOgxOlAxXfhpcT17BNdg7aL_

Pre-production

Here is the Storyboard:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S27U3jRuWwqKTZwPAHDZszMFmSUg2aUQ

Production

The shooting process was done in 3 phases due to the number of locations used.

  1. The Carpark
  2. The Mall,  flat corridors and the interior of the house
  3. The agent’s personal room

For simplicity in explaining the production process, i shall use screenshots from the video.

Names that will be featured:

Joseph – Central Intelligence Agent (Main protagonist)

Ming Hai – Joseph’s colleague

Jennifer – Joseph’s colleague

Spy – Foreigner engaging in espionage activities (Main antagonist)

Resident – Owner of a flat that will be featured

 

The agent’s personal room

Agent’s Desk
  • For the set design, i basically just stuck random notes around a desk and have a computer set up with documents displayed to create a working space for Joseph.
Ming Hai’s Death Report
  • Online Documents of the death reports for Ming Hai and Jennifer are created to lead in to the information that they were murdered by someone.
Flashback for Ming Hai
  • Flashback sequences for Ming Hai and Jennifer then provide details on the relationship between them and Joesph: how close they were.
Joseph jotting down timings of past cases
  • Joseph is then shown jotting down some timings, a shot that will be revisited later
  • As notes that were written in a hurry, i purposely had many more scribbled across the paper to show that it is just part of the thinking process that Joseph is having while researching on the case.
Map of Singapore
  • A map of Singapore is then shown to indicate that Joseph is trying to pinpoint the next location that the spy might be.
  • I edited a map of singapore to a black-and-white picture to provide emphasis on the red markings drawn over afterwards
Joseph catching a clue
Second showing of timings of past cases
Current time
  • Here, Joseph is seen finding out that he has a clue to where the next location the spy might be in, and also finding out that the timing is soon from observing that of past cases.
  • I used this as a reason to why Joseph has to leave his apartment right there and then
Phone call from colleague
Spy reading something while leaning on a wall
  • For the mall scenes, we literally just took the camera, got ourselves to the different locations and shot the scenes while letting the crowds move freely.
  • I used this to my benefit to give more interaction with the outer world for the video and provide movement to the scenes.
spy making his getaway
  • Here i had the spy look at Joseph discreetly to give the audience the information that the spy knows he is being followed.
  • The place that the spy is going into is actually not a pathway but just the entrance of Watsons. However, due to the speed of the clip, this fact is hidden from the audience.
Top-down chase sequence
  • Once again, the crowd was used to its fullest to provide an environment and obstacle that is hindering Joseph from engaging the spy immediately.
Spy exiting the mall
  • Due to the fact that the fight happens in a carpark, i used a mall exit to link the two locations together.
Gun shot
  • Here, simple after effects was used to create a gunshot which hits a metal bar, causing Joseph to flee temporarily,
Joseph stumbling and fleeing
  • In the shot that directly follows, we actually shot this in the other end of the carpark as the actual location where Joseph would have stumbled is the front of a lift.
  • And the carpark scenes that follows are basically the manipulation of non-existent space in the video using separate segments of the carpark.
    Close-up of spy with gun
  • Here, an establishing shot of the spy (whom we see up-close for the first time) was used to state the fact that he is holding the gun that was shot.
Joseph appearing to remove gun from spy
  • A tracking shot of the spy was used to establish the fact that he was searching for Joseph
  • i had Joseph get rid of the gun as early as possible as the fight would ended pretty quickly with it around
gun flying into the underside of a car
  • I had the gun disappear into the underside of a car to tell the audience that: “it’s gone and is not appearing again”
Spy stating his stand and unleashing a knife
  • Here, a pause is given to allow the Spy to state that he was not willing to engage in the fight in the first place.
  • The “Knife” is actually just a envelope cutter, as a ballistic knife would have been hard to conceal in the spy’s disguise outfit.
Joseph using his jacket to block the spy’s knife slashes
  • Here, i had Joseph remove his jacket and use it to counter the spy’s attacks.
  • This is due to the fact that Joseph had came unprepared from home and does not have weapons on him, a trend that will follow through the rest of the video
Joseph using broom to get rid of spy’s knife
  • Next, Joseph uses a broom he finds as a long weapon to counter the knife from a distance, effectively pushing it out of the spy’s hand.
spy making a second runaway
  • Five minutes for a video is a pretty good time for multiple fighting sequences so i had the characters shift the fight to another location for a cleaner brawl.
spy and joseph exiting carpark
spy and joseph entering a flat
  • Knowing for a fact that connected carparks and flats do exist, i decided to implement it here. (Although the characters enter into the 10th floor of a separate building from the carpark)
  • The characters wouldn’t have had to enter a flat if they were to exit into the outside streets
Spy pushing a resident away and entering his apartment
  • I’ve added a resident watering his plants outside his apartment to give a reason for the opened door.
Spy shouting his dilemma
  • More information about the spy is given here to allow the audience to understand his point of view of the situation.
Joseph strangling the spy
  • i like clean endings, and the death of one of the character is a good way to end a video, so i had Joseph finish the spy off by strangling him with a towel he found.
Joseph pausing to reflect on his actions
Photograph of spy’s parents
Joseph phoning his colleague
  • I had Joseph regret his actions of killing the spy in the heat of the moment in order to produce a conclusion where characters are not just generalized into “good” and “bad” individuals and portray them as people who are just doing things because their own reasons.

 

I decided not to utilize any tripod shots for the video to provide movement to all of the shots.

Lighting could have been better done for the slow-motion parts of the video as the output turned out darker than expected.

Here are the royalty-free music tracks used in the film:

https://www.sonicliberty.com/en/royalty-free-music-library/destructive-trailers/ready-the-gears-1.html

I edited the music tracks accordingly to fit the different timings required for the video.

All in all, it was quite a fun process making this short film.

 

Digital Flimmaking Assignment 1: SPLIT – A 7 Shot, 3 min Sequential Audio Video Narrative

Video

The term we were given for this assignment is “Split”, and i decided to go with the theme “Split-Personality” for my work.

Process

So firstly, i came up with a storyboard for the video:

Storyboard page 1
Storyboard page 2
Storyboard page 3
Storyboard page 4
Storyboard page 5
Storyboard page 6
Storyboard page 7

After which, filming began.

Sound

Since we are not allowed to use sound effects or music downloaded from the internet, I create sound effects by myself.

  • Ambiance sound for classroom (because classroom was occupied during filming, resulting in conversational sounds)
  • Sound effect during screen flash (During the character 1’s consciousness shift)

– recorded a metal spoon hitting against a glass table

  • Sound of character #2 writing and closing his book

– recorded myself writing and closing a book

  • Noise of character #2 hitting the leg of character #1

– recorded the sound of me hitting a leather bag

  • Sound effect of Character #1’s heart pounding

– recorded myself thumbing my chest with my hand

For the scenes where the “other personality” of character #1 is active, I increased the pitch of the background sounds to create a distinction between them and the other scenes where the “normal personality” of character #1 is active.

It also serves to create an uneasy feeling in the audience, setting the mood for a situation that isn’t going to turn out well.

Visuals

For the scenes where the “other personality” of character #1 is active, I had the video colors turn red through Adobe Premiere Pro:

Premiere pro 1

I want the audience to instinctively understand that this is not the “normal” character #1 so i used this obvious change in visuals.

For the last scene after character #1 has killed character #2, i purposely reduced the brightness of the video to create a dark atmosphere, to induce a mysterious feel to the overall strange event of the video:

Premiere pro 2

 

Video analysis

Scene 1

For the first scene, I had character #1 be established as a victim of bullying through the use of the letter he finds in his locker.

After which, character #2 hits his bag against character #1 to further bring this message across.

Scene 2

For the second scene, I had the setting be a classroom where both character #1 and character #2 were having a lesson in.

The camera is fixated mostly on character #2’s table as the book that is on it will be the point of focus for the next scene.

Scene 3

For the third scene, the audience would be taken aback by the change in visuals and sound.

After which, this confusion would be resolved when character #1 starts ripping up character #2’s book, as it would imply that this is the work of a “character #1” that is different from the one we saw earlier.

Scene 4 part 1

In the fourth scene, character #1 is woken up by character #2, and he goes into a state of confusion before running off.

This would suggest that character #1 has no memory of ripping up character #2’s book as he does not seem to have any emotion towards character #2.

This would lead the audience to understand that the previous “character #1” and this “character #1” are separates entities that are sharing the same body and thus bring the term “Split-personality” forward.

Scene 4 part 2

In the next part of the scene, character #2 finds the torn-up book, which sets the logic that whatever happens during the red scene, does indeed happen.

This will be important for the later parts of the video.

Scene 5 part 1

For scene 5 when character #1 is about to enter the room for the meeting, I had the actor retrieve the letter from his pocket to suggest to the audience that he is now entering to the room for the meeting.

Scene 5 part 2

For the part where the sender of the letter meets character #1, i had him ask for money to answer the question of “why did character #1 have his thumbdrive stolen”

I decided to go with an exchange of the thumbdrive for money instead of the whole thing just being an act of bullying as it felt like a more compelling reason for going through all the trouble.

Scene 5 part 3

When character #1 picks up his thumbdrive, I had the sender throw his wallet back at him as an act of humiliation fit for a victim of bullying.

Scene 5 part 4

After that, I had the camera zoom onto character #1’s face to show a buildup of anger and hatred.

Flashes and the beating of a heart is also added here to link it to the next scene.

Scene 6

In this scene, the choice of red for the “split-personality” scenes is further explained as this “personality” of character #1 is violent.

The camera stays on the bag and slowly zooms in to create a feeling of tension between the audience and the action that cannot be seen.

This tension is used to further alienate the audience from this “personality” of character #1 for him to appear more foreign and mysterious.

Scene 7 part 1

For this scene, I had character #1 wake up on the floor, similar to that of scene 4.

Scene 7 part 2

After which, he checks the room to find that nobody is there, suggesting to the audience that whatever happened in scene 6 could have not happened at all.

But due to the logic set by scene 4, the audience knows that whatever happens in the red scene does happen. This hence creates a temporary conflict between what is expected and what is happening – a twist to perk the audience’s attention.

Scene 7 part 3

After which, the conflict is subsequently solved with the appearance of a blood-stained knife – that confirms the occurrence of the events of scene 6.

However, even after this conflict is solved, the audience would still have a thought lingering on in their minds – what about the split-personality of character #1? What is going to happen after all this with a serial killer on the loose?

That is where i would end the video with questions for the audience to think about after it finished playing.

Practical Digital Filmmaking Exercise: Miss-En-Scene Analysis

For the Miss-En-Scene exercise, I have decided to use a short excerpt from the “The Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan.

 

Here is the analysis for the Miss-En-Scene element of the scene:

  • Scene starts with very low light in a quiet room, light is shone only on the characters’ faces for a heavy mood.
  • When the lights are turned on, bright light is shone from the top of the characters for an intense, heated atmosphere
  • The interrogation table is placed in the middle of a large room with a lack of other furniture to provide focus on the conversation.
  • When Batman starts to get aggressive on the Joker, the assault progresses into a corner of a wall, showing that the Joker is cornered (literally and psychologically) and has no means of escape.
  • During the onslaught, Batman has light shone from the back of his head, which causes his face to be covered in a shadow, showing conflict within himself.
  • Choice of interrogation room  by the Joker to question the Batman’s role in society gives the feeling of an enclosed, trapped, cold and dark environment for internal reflection.
  • The position of the interrogation table is set such that the Batman and Joker are seated with the police observing them from the side, implying that both of them are being judged, not just the joker.

Here is the scene: