Sunday 29 November 2015
dfp formal submission - List of contents
Please find in this section (Assignments DFP), in inverse chronological order, the assignments submitted for Digital Film Production and my tutor's reports.
Also links to assignments can be found here:
Assignment 1 - a five shots sequence
Assignment 2 - creating atmosphere
Assignment 3 - creating meaning
Assignment 4 - constructing a narrative
Many thanks,
Maria
Sunday 22 November 2015
Sunday 15 November 2015
Saturday 14 November 2015
assignment 4 - feedback and reflection
I have received feedback from my tutor about El Rastro documentary:
Overall Comments
This ‘day in the life’ of El Rastro market is a fairly convincing documentary. You’ve covered the day with it’s significant events and people fairly well. You’ve also managed to capture the changing atmosphere of the place. The editing is quite fast and jumpy, but suits the filming well and although I find the camera too distant most of the time, you do pick some lovely shots of people and location.
There are a few issues here that you could look at again to sharpen the movie up.
The issues commented by Robert are mainly about feeding the narrative. I do agree that the sequence of morning, noon, evening does not work just by itself to narrate the day in El Rastro. It would be more complete with further, deeper stories, this is why I tried to shoot the lady, the man going back home, etc.
My tutor would have expected some interviews, and I think that would have been quite interesting, but believe me when I say that would have been very, very difficult. Most of the people were telling me not to film them at all, giving me suspicious looks. I should have tried, but due to some TV programmes in Spain that make a show of people in the street, many people is reluctant to be filmed/interviewed.
I am not trying to justify myself, I agree the documentary would be much more interesting with some protagonists, and I should have tried to get them, even if not interviewing them, getting closer as Robert suggests. I was too wary.
Robert mentions that the use of J and L cuts can help to smooth the mix between ambient sound and music. I agree that not using them in this video makes the images quite jumpy, the change in sound is quite obvious between shots.
"In a J-cut, the sound of the next scene precedes the picture, and in an L-cut, the picture changes but the audio continues" from https://vimeo.com/blog/post/j-cuts-l-cuts
While editing (and even when I was filming) I realised I was taking more "moving photographs" than anything else. I had some very nice shots, but where was the narrative in there? This has been obviously picked up by my tutor:
This ‘day in the life’ of El Rastro market is a fairly convincing documentary. You’ve covered the day with it’s significant events and people fairly well. You’ve also managed to capture the changing atmosphere of the place. The editing is quite fast and jumpy, but suits the filming well and although I find the camera too distant most of the time, you do pick some lovely shots of people and location.
There are a few issues here that you could look at again to sharpen the movie up.
The issues commented by Robert are mainly about feeding the narrative. I do agree that the sequence of morning, noon, evening does not work just by itself to narrate the day in El Rastro. It would be more complete with further, deeper stories, this is why I tried to shoot the lady, the man going back home, etc.
My tutor would have expected some interviews, and I think that would have been quite interesting, but believe me when I say that would have been very, very difficult. Most of the people were telling me not to film them at all, giving me suspicious looks. I should have tried, but due to some TV programmes in Spain that make a show of people in the street, many people is reluctant to be filmed/interviewed.
I am not trying to justify myself, I agree the documentary would be much more interesting with some protagonists, and I should have tried to get them, even if not interviewing them, getting closer as Robert suggests. I was too wary.
Robert mentions that the use of J and L cuts can help to smooth the mix between ambient sound and music. I agree that not using them in this video makes the images quite jumpy, the change in sound is quite obvious between shots.
"In a J-cut, the sound of the next scene precedes the picture, and in an L-cut, the picture changes but the audio continues" from https://vimeo.com/blog/post/j-cuts-l-cuts
While editing (and even when I was filming) I realised I was taking more "moving photographs" than anything else. I had some very nice shots, but where was the narrative in there? This has been obviously picked up by my tutor:
There are some nice visual moments in the movie but they are random candid market scenes
which won’t provide narrative continuity. The kid with Edward Scissorhands, the pigeons, and
the bouncing toys. By the time we get to 3 minutes it begins to feel like it isn’t getting any-
where and isn’t about anything. It feels shapeless.
Finally, I also agree with Robert that my research was quite poor. I merely went through the last chapter of the course as the time I had to finish the course was coming to its end! I'll endeavour to be more organised and constant in my next course, Expressing your Vision, which I begin right away.
As suggested reading and viewing, my tutor suggests David Campany’s Whitechapel books “Cinematic” and “Photography & Cinema” may be pertinent to you if your focus is mostly on photography but you have a fascination with moving image. The first of these is probably the most difficult.
Edit 29/11/15 to attach copy of my tutor's report:
That’s not to say there are not some rough sequences here: the armour and the old lady selling
paintings for example. But I don’t think these have a strong enough narrative quality to stand
out.
Finally, I also agree with Robert that my research was quite poor. I merely went through the last chapter of the course as the time I had to finish the course was coming to its end! I'll endeavour to be more organised and constant in my next course, Expressing your Vision, which I begin right away.
As suggested reading and viewing, my tutor suggests David Campany’s Whitechapel books “Cinematic” and “Photography & Cinema” may be pertinent to you if your focus is mostly on photography but you have a fascination with moving image. The first of these is probably the most difficult.
Edit 29/11/15 to attach copy of my tutor's report:
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