˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆ PRE-PRODUCTION ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆
🌿1. How well do you feel your planning hit the assigned brief? Why?
In this assignment, we were tasked with creating a scenario involving two spies trying to complete a secret trade. At first, the location was supposed to be inside the school, but we felt that the facilities there wouldn't fully meet our needs for filming and encoding all the characters' traits, so we decided to film outside. Moreover, we adjusted the plot to fit the new setting while maintaining the original narrative. As a result, I gained more experience in filming outdoors, like a real production crew working on a movie project.
Our target audience is teenagers and those who like action and thrillers. The plot is about Phoenix and Viper, two top spies of an organization. The sequence starts at the alley, where Phoenix just finished his previous mission and wants a cigarette. Then, his phone suddenly rings; he receives it and knows that the "drop" has arrived. He must meet Viper in an old apartment to take the "drop" as it is an important mission that may affect their organization. When they finally meet, the "drop" is delivered. However, Phoenix notices something is wrong with the suitcase and Viper, so he keeps Viper back and pushes him to the floor. A gun is taken out. After that, they look at each other, and the sequence stops.
I believe that we have successfully kept the original brief but still added some flavors to make it more "unique" and more attractive. Instead of using the original one, two spies sitting at the park (schoolyard) and trading the suitcase, we want it to be more "spicy". For example, we invested more props, such as a gun, vest, etc., to make it more "real" and encode Phoenix's characteristics.
💢PROPS💢
This is a cigarette. We buy it from a lady who sells drinks and food in front of the building (all items are used for artistic purposes and do not harm any individuals or communities). We try to borrow this cigarette to encode Phoenix's behavior; he could be a busy and arrogant man. He has various stresses as he has to complete lots of tasks from the boss, so smoking is the same as an activity for him to relieve stress.
Next, we provide suits for actors. The production crew brings all the clothes; the actors must wear black shirts.
The suit is suitable because we want to produce a movie about the mafia. It looks formal and mature, which applies to the setting and the plot.
The gun is also provided by the crew.
A brown suitcase as the "drop"
💣2. Character development
When planning this video, we did not use any materials to develop our characters. Everything comes from our minds and ideas, which are 100% based on the knowledge we gain from numerous TV shows and films.
We want to build our characters to look incredible, mysterious, powerful, and legendary.
Like the pictures below, it should look aggressive, dominant, and vigorous.
Picture Credits:
https://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/research/how-mafia-crackdowns-drive-competition-and-innovation-local-economies
https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/why-do-we-admire-mobsters
3. Skills developed
After this practical, I realized that I had enhanced many personal skills.
This is my first time creating an individual storyboard and turning it into a complete video. However, I saw it as an opportunity to improve and grow, which helped me familiarize myself with the process so I would not be frustrated on later assessments. Even though my storytelling skills are not as good as others, I am still proud to have produced one for myself. I determined what was missing in the storyboard to make it perfect. Additionally, my cinematography skills have upgraded. I know how to use camera angles and shots in different scenes to convey various messages or moods. Finally, I enhanced my directing, sound, and lighting skills because I had to guide my actors to act. I learned that communication is the key in this industry; actors need to understand what the directors want to show precisely the required emotions. Because of that, I always catch up with the actors to ensure they acknowledge what to do and how to act in that scene.
💤💤💤
These are my previous individual storyboards. In my opinion, this plot is still vague and unclear, and it needs to be more detailed.
👻4. Camera angles and shots
In order to finish the video, we extensively researched and debated many kinds of camerawork during the design phase. We made an effort to use a variety of angles and illustrate their significance for each scene since we understand how important camera movement is in delivering meaning. Furthermore, because the primary goal of this assignment is to mix together different sorts of angles in the camera, we also wanted to demonstrate in-depth expertise in camera usage by combining diverse angles together.
👀SOME SHOTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE:
In order to convey Phoenix's fatigue after completing the mission, we used low and somewhat titled angles in this shot. This encodes that Phoenix is constantly occupied with the responsibilities assigned by the boss, demonstrating his value as an employee of the company. Moreover, low-angle shots represent a character's dominance. As a result, despite his exhaustion, Phoenix's power endures and overwhelms others.
Both a low-angle and two-shot type of shot were taken of this scene. The strength of mafias must be encoded at low angles because they are sharp and powerful. Additionally, a two-shot demonstrates that the two had already met and were getting ready to talk.
We merged a tracking and an MCU in the following photo. The MCU indicates that Viper is searching for Phoenix in this clip. We also have the opportunity to present Viper as a new character to viewers. Phoenix hailed him out of the blue, so he turned his face, and the camera followed him to disclose Phoenix, a person who had been standing on the balcony for a while.
This picture is when we move the camera to follow Viper's head direction to Phoenix.
In conclusion, this practical experience has helped me understand the many functions of various camera angles. For instance, the low-angle view conveys authority and force while the extreme close-up (ECU) concentrates on specific details, like when Viper hands Phoenix the luggage. Since we want to highlight attention to that key moment, an extreme close-up is a good camera angle.
Besides that, I learned more about the "3 over 1" rule for filming. In this rule, each scene should have three different shots so that when we do the editing, we can picture the sequence and choose the most beautiful one. We adhere to this rule, and most of our scenes are more than three shots with numerous camerawork.
✌5. Connections
For this project, because the theme is about spies, I usually call them mafias. In my mind, the stereotype of mafias is the one who has the greatest power and is highly cold-blooded. They could kill a majority of people in the blink of an eye, so I really desire to build up a character like that. However, choosing shots became one of the biggest challenges for our team during that time. We spent almost 3 days planning and re-writing the storyboard. Below is the shot list that we had come up together.
I realized there was a difference between the plan and reality when we started filming. While several moments did not live up to the crew's expectations, it was not entirely dissimilar. As a result, we made many changes. Thankfully, looking at the results, I think it has successfully shown how charismatic our Phoenix and Viper are. We filmed 51 scenes in total, and 18 scenes were chosen to be edited.
Notes: The durations are just being estimated from the selected scenes. It could be changed when we finish editing the video.
PRODUCTION ˚୨୧⋆｡˚ ⋆
1. Roles
For this time, I mainly took on the lighting and sound technician role, setting the background and pay attention to the film's brightness. Along with helping actors with their dialogue, I also ensured that my crew's equipment, such as phones, tripods, props, etc., was safe. Besides that, I took care of the casts by providing them water, wiping sweat from their heads, etc.
Kelly (Tue Anh) has an impressive creative mind. She can easily visualize a scene quickly and find the best shot for it, so we decided to make her become a director. She will follow and lead the actors in acting, facial expressions, and posing.
Meanwhile, Jessica (Minh Hanh) has a special interest in cameras. She loves to take pictures, and her photos are always outstanding. Additionally, she has her own camera, so she will be the cameraman who is responsible for filming.
Nevertheless, this is my first time doing this role, so it will not be perfect. I would like to give myself a 3 on a scale of 5. Some scenes are still dark, and some have become out of focus, which blurs the actor's face. I need to learn more about setting lights.
2. Skills developed
In my opinion, lighting is a tricky part to control as it gets affected by many factors. For example, the sequence below is a low-angle shot mix with a tracking technique. However, because the stairs inside the old apartment were in a corner so, all the natural light was covered, and it was difficult to see at the beginning. I determined to use 2 iPhone flashes and shine light directly on the actor's body. Unfortunately, the color of the camera that we used was also dark, so the final outcome is still darker than I thought, but it can be fixed during the editing process, where I could use color grading. After all, I learned how to figure out the problems and solve them expeditiously.
3. Reflect on shots.
There are many shots that I am happy with.
This is the shot where the two characters finally meet. I love how the camera is set at a low angle to encode the power of Phoenix and Viper, two key members of a mafia organization. Also, we were lucky to discover a beautiful background: a wall divided into red and white. We utilized it and arranged for actors to stand in different colors. Overall, the lighting is good, and the camera angle is perfect.
The next two shots show Phoenix resting with a cigarette in the alley after his previous mission. This is a medium shot, as it is captured from above his waist, and a close-up shot to highlight the stepping-on cigarette activity. The intention is to reveal the character and their motion, which is dropping the cigarette. This encodes Phoenix's characteristics; he is a frequent smoker, and he loves to smoke whenever he is stressed. I immensely enjoyed this scene because the acting skill in this scene is natural, and it looks extremely cool! The brightness is also enough for watchers to see, but it still expresses a sense of enigmatic.
This is the sole action sequence in which Phoenix pushes Viper. The performers' engaging interactions with one another make it interesting to me. Furthermore, this marks the beginning of the conflict between two intelligent spies, the turning point of the whole series.
4. Challenges
We had overcome numerous obstacles to create a pretty outcome like this.
Firstly, during the planning process, we struggled with finding casts. There were few actors well-matched with our requirements. We listed all the potential actors, and we got around 6, but when we contacted them, they all denied the invitation and did not want to be a part of this video. Then, we finally met two excellent actors, Nguyen Quang Huy and Pham Viet Dung. They were willing to help us even though they had to wake up early and travel a long distance. I am genuinely moved. Shout out to our actors! 😍
Secondly, the initial plan was to film in a different old building, but when Jessica came, she got scolded by the citizens there. They did not want filming activity to occur there because they feared it would distract their lives. Then, we moved to a nearby apartment. After finishing half of the sequence, the president of a social club there arrived and warned us to leave. We made a commitment to not disturb the residents in the hopes of persuading her to let us remain. Thankfully, she accepted, although she demanded a fee of 200,000 VND for the filming. She sent us the acceptance letter, and we happily accepted it.
5. Final conclusion
To conclude, every journey has its own values. This was a precious experience for me. I got used to filming, planning, and setting up the setting. If I have a chance to do this again, I would like to try the cameraman position. To be honest, I am interested in film, but I am not a professor, so I am never proud of my shooting skills or volunteering for it. However, next time, I will try my best.
