Video & Sound Production Project 2

Week 1-

Rhyanne Cyrene Lowe
0347077
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Video & Sound Production Project 2

LECTURES

Week 1: For the first week of class, Mr. Martin briefed us on the module. He introduced himself and made us familiar with the projects we will be having throughout this semester. After that, we were shown project samples from our seniors to get a better idea of what we'd be doing. 

Week 4: Story

Act 1: Beginning / Setup

• Introduce the world
• Introduce main characters
• Establish the dramatic situation
• Leads to an incident that complicates the story (Plot point 1)

Act 2: Problem Confrontation

• Rising action
• Develop obstacles and complications
• Stakes get higher
• Leads to story climax (Plot point 2)

Act 3: Problem Resolution 

• Crisis
• Falling action
• Ending of climax

Sound: 

1. Speech - Dialogue / Voiceover
2. Sound effects- Ambience / Hard or "cut" effects
3. Music- Enhance emotion and narrative

1. Dubbing- Dialogue replacement
2. Foley- Recreate synced audio

Week 5: Storyboarding

• Invented and originated in Disney during the 1930s
• Involves converting a script into a comic that depicts the action visually
• Provides a layout of events as seen through the eyes of the camera
• Contemporary storyboards are used not only in film but a wide variety of multimedia projects

Purpose of Storyboard

• Show important action
• Continuity/Editing Point
• Shot composition
• Indicates camera angle/movement
• Map out the scene

Animatic: a series of images played in sequence often with a soundtrack

• Timing of every shot
• The rhythm of the scene
• Audio and music added

INSTRUCTIONS

Zach King Study

We were asked to study videos from Zach King, a famous content creator/video editor who is known for his visual effect tricks online. For this project, we are asked to create a short film using techniques inspired by Zach King's videos so we had to search for 3 visual effects used in his videos to study for our project.

fig1.0 Object from a page

fig1.1 Object transition

fig 1.2 Object multiply

Zach King video YouTube’s links(shortlisted 3 visual effects):

1.Zach King Playing Futbol in Chile

2.Ping Pong Balls for Breakfast

3.Money Mirror

Visual Effects tutorial video:

1.5 Easy Zach King Tricks in 5 Minutes

2.VEGAS Pro 17: How To Create the Ping Pong Ball Effect Like Zach King - Tutorial #473

3.Money Mirror Trick (Zach King Style)│After Effects Tutorial

Story(Max 30 words):

A witch alone in her room attempts to create a potion from her spellbook

Plot Segmentation:

• The witch flips through her spellbook finding a potion recipe to try. 

• The witch stops at a page for a potion. 

• The witch tries to grab the ingredients from the illustrations in the book

• She successfully retrieves the ingredients and lays them on the table 

• She adds the ingredients into a cauldron. 

• She transfers the finished potion into a vial.

Shot List

Sc1 Sht1

ECU - Witch props (wand, crystals, cauldron, vile, candle, lamp, etc.) arranged on the table
<ROOM> W reads through spell book and finds a recipe
Sc2 Sht1
MCU- W is reading through her spellbook 

Sc2 Sht2
CU- Shows W’s hand flipping through the book
Sc2 Sht3
CU- W tilts head while flipping book
Sc2 Sht2
CU- W stops flipping book and stops at a page

<TABLE> W is confused when she fails to get potion ingredient
Sc3 Sht1
MCU (Table level view) - W walks to the table and sets the book down

Sc3 Sht2
TS 
W runs a finger through spell recipe to read 
W tries to grab ingredients from the book illustration but fails x2
Sc3 Sht3
ECU (eye view)- W looks confused 
< TABLE> W succeeds at getting ingredient
Sc3 Sht2
TS- W tries again and successfully pulls out the ingredient

Money Mirror

Sc3 Sht 1
MCU (Table level view) - W lays her ingredients on the table in front of her

Sc3 Sht2
TS- W tries again and successfully pulls out the ingredient

Money Mirror

Sc3 Sht4
CU (Table level view) - W lays her ingredient on the table

< TABLE> W makes her potion
Sc3 Sht2
TS- W brings in a cauldron from out of the frame into the shot

Sc3 Sht4
CU(Table level view) - W reaches for an ingredient to put into the cauldron

Sc3 Sht2
TS- W puts ingredients in cauldron one by one

Sc3 Sht5
MCU- W looks satisfied
Sc3 Sht2
TS-
W puts in the last ingredient and stirs the mixture with a spoon 
W taps spoon to let excess drip before placing spoon down
<TABLE> W transfers potion into a vile
Sc3 Sht1
MCU (Table level view)- 
W gets a vial and places it beside the cauldron 
W crouches down (sees her eyes only behind shot)
W snaps finger and the vial is filled with the potion 
Ping Pong Balls for Breakfast

Sc3 Sht5
MCU- W raises vial, smiling and happy that she successfully made a potion
<END CREDITS>

Digital Storyboard

For the look and feel of this short film, I was inspired by Wes Anderson's cinematography. In his films, he uses the best of center grids and subject framing to capture the audience's attention and direct them to see what he wants them to see at that exact scene.

 

Isle of Dogs - Sushi Scene

David Ma- What if Wes Anderson made S'mores?

To understand his cinematography better I studied his films and a sample storyboard from his movie, The Grand Budapest Hotel. 

fig 2.0 The Grand Budapest Hotel Storyboard Study Sample

Proposed Digital Storyboard

Short Film Slides

Final Short Film

FEEDBACK

Week 1: No feedback

Week 5: Mr. Martin advised that I combine the first few shots into one scene because it can be straightforward and understood in a few frames. He also mentioned cropping the MCU shots into a tighter shot to draw more focus on the book instead of the subject

Week 6: Mr. Martin liked my short film so far and the choices of shot angle progressions. He said that the style was an interesting take on this project.

REFLECTION

Week 1: The first week went by quick, after finding out that I had to create visual effects for a short film, I was scared because I've never tried creating VFX before and it looks complicated. Nonetheless, I am still very excited to see what I get to learn and create.

Week 4: This week we had to come up with our story for our short film. I wanted to create a character to go with a direct simple narrative so i decided to make the short about a witch who's making a potion in her room as she utilizes her magic. Seeing the seniors work, I worry that this idea which requires more time and prop would make it harder for me but I am determined to make it work. 

Week 5: To prepare for the shot list and storyboard, I wanted to study Wes Anderson as I decided on the story with Anderson's cinematography style in mind. I admire him and his work as a filmmaker a lot while growing up and would love to create this project as his tribute. 

Week 6: This week I got to shoot and edit my short film and it was much more exciting than i anticipated it to be. I thought it was going to be a dreadful process but this project made me realise how much i am interested in film production, more specifically post-production. I've always been intrigued by films and behind the scenes of production so it was fun to step behind the screen and camera this time to create something of my own. Taking inspiration from creators I look up to has been really helpful in the process and made the idea created a lot more fun and exciting. If I wasn't pursuing graphic design, I think I would have definitely considered film production.

FURTHER READINGS

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/wes-anderson-style/