We have produced 2 editions of Animal Speak - one is for submission and screening (our official ones) and the other one is specially produced for Caroline herself to watch.
For the ending of Caroline Pope's version of Animal Speak, I have removed the last bit where she said "My off button is very strong.... I heard that, no I'm not quite nut yet; Almost, but not there...", added her explanation on human telepathic and changed the ending song.
I am not too sure if this ethical (even worst if she finds out), but we have to do so because the original version of Animal Speak is too obvious that the focus is not entirely on the topic animal communication itself.
Good thing is, her internet is not working and, she can't read human's mind. So I guess it's still alright :P
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Editing Process
It's such a torture that I can't find anything else to chop off even though I find the documentary a little lengthy. After editing the same documentary for a while, I feel like there's nothing much I can cut because they all sound equally important to me!
Anyway, many thanks to Robin, our tutor who gave us an idea how to structure our documentary to make it more interesting and it's not so much on Caroline herself as the audiences will get bored with her very soon if that's the case.
Anyway, many thanks to Robin, our tutor who gave us an idea how to structure our documentary to make it more interesting and it's not so much on Caroline herself as the audiences will get bored with her very soon if that's the case.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Cafe Shot of Esther
It was a great shame that our final shoot's image quality did not turn out to be good due to the dirty lens. Such a huge huge disappointment to realize that when we were exporting it. We would not be able to do the Janice and Ron shot again, so I decided that we have to at least get a better quality of images of Esther. We then immediately get Paul to sign another form (it's good to ALWAYS keep another copy of the form with me) and get a Z7 camera to film Esther at the cafeteria, which is basically the only place we can do at that point of time as everybody was pretty tired already.
It was definitely worth the hassle as the scene's quality turned out to be awesome. Well, even though Esther doesn't like her face to be on camera. We then went into a production suite to record Esther's voiceover. She was reading off her script, which includes words like 'such as'. I reckon they sound quite entertaining, so I decided to keep them.
It was definitely worth the hassle as the scene's quality turned out to be awesome. Well, even though Esther doesn't like her face to be on camera. We then went into a production suite to record Esther's voiceover. She was reading off her script, which includes words like 'such as'. I reckon they sound quite entertaining, so I decided to keep them.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Documentary's Behind the Scene
Today we all learned something fresh about documentary - is that no documentary is 100% real. Well, it is not exactly something new for us, but we personally experienced it today. Even how hard we try to not 'alter' the truth / the reality, at some point of the production, we have to make choices and those choices can somehow affect the genuineness of the representation of truth.
For the sake of the visual aesthetic of this documentary, we had to set up the scene to make it looks better on camera. Similar to drama's shooting, today's cutaway shoot was very much staged and acted. We had to ask Ron and Janice (the clients) to wear the same clothing, sit on the couch with the same pose and nicely place JR (their dog) in between them. Another example would be us shooting Esther's part. After shooting an over the shoulder shot of Esther, I had to tilt her computer a little to the left so it would look better on the camera.
No wonder they call it 'True Lies'.
For the sake of the visual aesthetic of this documentary, we had to set up the scene to make it looks better on camera. Similar to drama's shooting, today's cutaway shoot was very much staged and acted. We had to ask Ron and Janice (the clients) to wear the same clothing, sit on the couch with the same pose and nicely place JR (their dog) in between them. Another example would be us shooting Esther's part. After shooting an over the shoulder shot of Esther, I had to tilt her computer a little to the left so it would look better on the camera.
No wonder they call it 'True Lies'.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Final shoot for the semester
Whenever I have time, I would sit down and visualize Animal Speak and list out the things / shots we need to get.
Tomorrow, we will go to the client's house tomorrow to do our final shoot for this semester, or to perfect our documentary.
Therefore, Shot list includes:
- Over the shoulder Esther scanning through Bailey's picture on her computer
- Esther's narration on Bailey
- Esther's close up
- Esther's hand clicking on mouse CU
- Zoom In Bailey's pictures
- MS clients sitting on couch holding JR (**Remember to ask them to wear the same clothing)
- CU clients listening
- CU of JR
- MS JR around the house (with vacuum cleaner etc.)
P.S Just in case I won't be in this industry after I graduate, I am definitely going to miss this process the most :(
Tomorrow, we will go to the client's house tomorrow to do our final shoot for this semester, or to perfect our documentary.
Therefore, Shot list includes:
- Over the shoulder Esther scanning through Bailey's picture on her computer
- Esther's narration on Bailey
- Esther's close up
- Esther's hand clicking on mouse CU
- Zoom In Bailey's pictures
- MS clients sitting on couch holding JR (**Remember to ask them to wear the same clothing)
- CU clients listening
- CU of JR
- MS JR around the house (with vacuum cleaner etc.)
P.S Just in case I won't be in this industry after I graduate, I am definitely going to miss this process the most :(
Rough Cut Screening
On Week 12, a.k.a. final tutorial for TV2, we had a rough cut screening with peer assessment attached. And that was the final class I have in RMIT University, and probably my entire study life.
Anyhow, I didn't expect rough cut screening could be THAT 'rough' so I spent hours in the editing suite trying to perfect the editing. Each group presented their rough cut and again, out of my expectations, the responses were awesome! Everybody in class laughed and it was definitely a good thing! Our main subject, Caroline has certainly entertained our audiences with her special and unusual personality and it made the audiences want more and more of her. And I am really glad they love the over the shoulder interview shot! :D
We then had a discussion and everyone contributed their personal opinion on Animal Speak. The peer assessment session was really helpful and beneficial because I edited the film with my point of view and perspective - which is why I used the typewriting style to introduce the questions in the documentary. However, some of the viewers thought that it is too draggy yet inefficient.
Below is the suggestions and opinions from the class and our teachers:
- Present question at a go (Do not use typewriter style)
- Comic Sans is not appealing
- Interview with client's opinion on communication session can be excluded
- Voice over will work well with Bailey's part
- Cutaways could be better - e.g. JR with vacuum cleaner.
- Structure of the film gives audience a feeling that it is a small section of a long documentary
- Giving a 'break' in between of Caroline will make audiences want more of her
- Communication session's reverse shot (of client) have to be re-shot.
- Re-shoot Bailey's part - the owner aka Esther checking Bailey's old photos (as Azwin suggested); archival video
Anyhow, I didn't expect rough cut screening could be THAT 'rough' so I spent hours in the editing suite trying to perfect the editing. Each group presented their rough cut and again, out of my expectations, the responses were awesome! Everybody in class laughed and it was definitely a good thing! Our main subject, Caroline has certainly entertained our audiences with her special and unusual personality and it made the audiences want more and more of her. And I am really glad they love the over the shoulder interview shot! :D
We then had a discussion and everyone contributed their personal opinion on Animal Speak. The peer assessment session was really helpful and beneficial because I edited the film with my point of view and perspective - which is why I used the typewriting style to introduce the questions in the documentary. However, some of the viewers thought that it is too draggy yet inefficient.
Below is the suggestions and opinions from the class and our teachers:
- Present question at a go (Do not use typewriter style)
- Comic Sans is not appealing
- Interview with client's opinion on communication session can be excluded
- Voice over will work well with Bailey's part
- Cutaways could be better - e.g. JR with vacuum cleaner.
- Structure of the film gives audience a feeling that it is a small section of a long documentary
- Giving a 'break' in between of Caroline will make audiences want more of her
- Communication session's reverse shot (of client) have to be re-shot.
- Re-shoot Bailey's part - the owner aka Esther checking Bailey's old photos (as Azwin suggested); archival video
Shooting with JR, Bailey...and Caroline
As we have not enough footage (from different location), we had to conduct another shoot demonstrating Caroline Pope's general communication session. Therefore we had Esther's friends and their dog, JR to participate in the documentary as Caroline's 'client'.
We met up at the campus, took all the equipments and double checked them before we left for the shoot. Testing out and checking the equipments is so important because we have undoubtedly learned our lesson from the first shoot.
After making sure all equipments work well, we departed to Ron (client)'s house by tram. Traveling with equipments on public transport was really attention-grabbing. I felt thousands of glances around us especially when we were on tram. On our way to the shooting location, we observed to see if there is any parking around the apartment, just to make sure Caroline would be satisfied with the parking issue.
Then when we arrived at the client's apartment, as Esther was buzzing, I saw a familiar face standing by the entrance staring at us. It immediately hit me that it was Caroline! If it wasn't because of the log and capture process, which made me watched her for so many times, I wouldn't recognize her at that point of time. We were pretty shocked that she arrived earlier than us and that she managed to find a cheap parking (and not making a big fuss about parking issue).
The shoot went pretty well and we even did a communication session with Esther's dead dog, Bailey. It was amazing how she seems to be able to communicate telepathically and tell us some facts about Bailey and JR. However, not all of our group members believe in whatever she said. For example, Leo thought that all the things Caroline said was just assumptions and general knowledge (seeing that Caroline was a vet nurse before she went into the communication industry) while Esther believes that some part of it is true. The client, on the other hand, seemed to be amazed by her telepathic communication skills, even though he still has some doubt.
I personally thought that regardless the legitimacy of her words, her character is interesting enough to grab the audiences' attention and to make a great documentary!
We met up at the campus, took all the equipments and double checked them before we left for the shoot. Testing out and checking the equipments is so important because we have undoubtedly learned our lesson from the first shoot.
After making sure all equipments work well, we departed to Ron (client)'s house by tram. Traveling with equipments on public transport was really attention-grabbing. I felt thousands of glances around us especially when we were on tram. On our way to the shooting location, we observed to see if there is any parking around the apartment, just to make sure Caroline would be satisfied with the parking issue.
Then when we arrived at the client's apartment, as Esther was buzzing, I saw a familiar face standing by the entrance staring at us. It immediately hit me that it was Caroline! If it wasn't because of the log and capture process, which made me watched her for so many times, I wouldn't recognize her at that point of time. We were pretty shocked that she arrived earlier than us and that she managed to find a cheap parking (and not making a big fuss about parking issue).
The shoot went pretty well and we even did a communication session with Esther's dead dog, Bailey. It was amazing how she seems to be able to communicate telepathically and tell us some facts about Bailey and JR. However, not all of our group members believe in whatever she said. For example, Leo thought that all the things Caroline said was just assumptions and general knowledge (seeing that Caroline was a vet nurse before she went into the communication industry) while Esther believes that some part of it is true. The client, on the other hand, seemed to be amazed by her telepathic communication skills, even though he still has some doubt.
I personally thought that regardless the legitimacy of her words, her character is interesting enough to grab the audiences' attention and to make a great documentary!
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