Pre-prod. Critical Evaluation

VIEW OF HOW IT HAS BEEN OVER THE PAST 3 MONTHS
Over the past 3-4 months i've been working a long side Aimee, creating a hypothetical pre-production packaged which is aimed at bringing to life podcasts by producing visuals to accompany it. At first it was a struggle to compose a structured & cohesive concept, as neither of us could spark that creative flair we both knew was lay dormant in us. Then it reached October where a great idea came from no where and we quickly went with it, full steam ahead. This post will cover the critical decisions from within this project, and review them, both positively an negatively, with concluding on what i've learnt & how to develop my skills for the future.


WHAT WORKED
Storyboard
This unit required me to produce a storyboard for the pilot episode, detailing in it what shot, sound & action would be displayed within each box. I feel the creation & layout of the storyboard was pretty professional, seeing as i made sure to research what is included in a film set storyboard. I thought the cohesiveness of the storyboard was strong, allowing the reader to clearly know what is going on within the narrative.

Location Design
I had to find suitable locations, but having all ready establishing the primary one with Aimee, it was just scouting the other potential ones we may need. Seeing as this was hypothetical, it was just making sure we knew exactly what i wanted my location to look like aesthetically, but also what it has to offer. I made sure that the on location area was naturally well lit & matched the aesthetic we were going for.

Costume Design
Finding the right costume for each specific character was quite a fun experience, though quite daunting at the amount of characters i had to produce for. I felt i created an good individual outfit for each character, hopefully interpreting the script & podcast well enough, so that if this was ever created, the characters costume design would match that of the sound of the way they're dressed.

Test Shoots
The carrying out of the test shoot was very satisfying in the sense that i was able to shoot both my digital & analogue camera together and capture the desired aesthetic between the pair. I was impressed with how the 35mm developed roll came out, as it depicted the look & tone of the episode, which is what I wanted. 


Concept of Title Sequence
Having story-boarded the title sequence to a decent level, i was able to convey to Aimee what i wanted the edit to look like, so for that reason i'm pleased with the overall lay out of the title sequence and how the piece depicted our project. I felt it was very effective in its portrayal of the series, and had the key elements that would feature throughout the series, keeping in trend with the dark ominous themes. 

Props & Set Design
Researching props & producing the content that i did for it went very well. I was surprised at how interesting the research was for it, which made for better observations & insight into some of the output. The production design was also quite a strong post, and i felt once i uploaded that piece to the website, it looked well put together. The research for that also surprised me, learning more fascinating things about the importance of it.  

WHAT DIDN'T WORK
Storyboard
I wasn't too impressed with the actual drawings if i'm going to be brutally honest. My quality in picture drawing has never been fantastic, but I just need to be patient, and not get irritated & rush. Also, maybe it slightly lacked enough description in the camera movements & angles.


Location Design
I did struggle to find the right location for this piece as it needed to be somewhere that matched up with the script. Obviously I did find a perfect location for all of the right reasons, it just took me a while, so maybe to try & figure out the key themes of the project quicker, and then look for the desired location. I need to spend more time on this section for the future


Costume Design
Potentially i could of went over each character with a bit more analysis and description in terms of why they're dressed the way they are dressed. For this i can only blame myself on not giving this particular section enough thought & maybe i did neglect this area, this was due to focusing too much on other sections, such as the storyboarding & test shoot. But i managed to assemble a full cast with a full costume still with valid reasons so maybe i'm being too harsh on myself. 

Test Shoots
I think even though i paid a lot of attention to this component, i didn't fully explore it within this project, which i do sadly regret. It's a shame that I didn't get to capture a test shoot that clearly demonstrated the proposed aesthetic me and Aimee were trying to achieve. I think I might of been mislead in thinking that it was sufficient enough to present my desired aesthetic with just 35mm developed pictures, rather than a piece of moving image. I feel if i would of had that mindset from the beginning, there would of been a much more coherent piece provided.    


Concept of Title Sequence
In the end, it comes to your own personal preference, as I still find this edit & concept pretty decent. If there are to be any critiques, it sure be aimed at the conceptual parts and not the editing.  

Props & Set Design
Maybe more time should of been spent in this particular area as looking back, there wasn't a clear compilation of specific objects for the episode. It's coherent enough to understand, but maybe a bit more straightforward. 

WHAT HAVE I LEARNT
I've learnt that each of the above components take a lot of time & concentration, to be able to convey the key themes from each of these components is what makes a successful production. Time keeping for me is a number one priority, but it seems every unit i somehow let it slide so i need to set boundaries & constrained myself from losing focus.  Research is also another pivotal part that is fundamental to figuring out what works for the production as it gives you the base to your understanding of each element within it. I've also taken on board working in a pair, it's been hard trying to communicate creatively this time round, me and Aimee maybe haven't seen eye to eye on certain aspects within different sections of the production, but that will be common within this industry as people have various tastes and differing styles to one another.  


WHAT CAN I DEVELOP
I know that there is a variety of things that're in my skillset that need a serious tuning & developing to the next stage, but for me personally i'd like to nail down my aesthetic with a camera, and to have my own unique look. I want to have an aesthetic i'm proud of, so i need to develop my lighting understanding to a much higher level than it currently is. This can only be done with diligence, research & patience, so with time hopefully i'll grasp it. Also what i've found out is that i'm not too great at communicating where i'm at with something or what stage i'm at with it. I need to focus on working openly & cohesively with a team, and being open about everything that is involved with the production, and being as engaged and involved as i can be throughout the entirety of it.  


CONCLUSION
To summarise all of the above points, I think i've learnt a lot in production aspects, but also learn that i need to push myself and focus on what really matters to me, which is camera work. I need to pay more attention to lighting, composition and the colour and tones of projects, as they're the elements that evoke the greater responses and engagements from the audience. I'm happy with the overall outcome of this unit, obviously there are things that could have been pushed to a higher level, but i feel i've accomplished what i set out to achieve.  

Pre-prod. Research of D.O.P - Adam Arkapaw

As my chosen technique to focus on is being the Director of Photography, i'm now researching DOPs for inspiration & guidance of the skill. The technique is really composed of 4 main attributes, these include lighting, framing, camera movement & colour/tone, and with these attributes a films world is creating & conveyed across the screen. One D.O.P I will be focusing & researching within this blog is Adam Arkapaw. Adam Arkapaw is an Australian cinematographer, he's best known for his work on the TV Series Top of The Lake and True Detective, which he won two Creative Arts Emmy awards for. He's also known for photographing films such as Animal Kingdom, Snowtown, McFarland, USA and Assassin's Creed.

I'll primarily be focusing on his work on True Detective, as that work is relevant in regards to the aesthetic he captured in it and the aesthetic we would want to try and emulate within our project. 

Here is a specific scene within a episode that emphasises the amount of work that goes into all of the camera elements. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HuFuKiq8U

SPECIFIC SCENE TO DEPICT
Here's a great quote I found from A.Arkapaw, speaking in relation to this 7 minute 'oner' shot. 
“We used half a day to light and rehearse it, and then shot it for the rest of that day and half of the next day,” he said. “We built replicas of the houses on our stage so the stunt team could rehearse it. Then we did a couple of scouts of the neighborhood to make plans, rehearse and see what equipment we’d need. The challenge of a long take is always to figure out how to light it without making too many compromises on the aesthetic you are going for. For that reason, we were pretty specific about what the camera would and wouldn’t see. There were small lighting units hidden almost everywhere offscreen.” Adam Arkapaw. I think you get a sense and scale of how much each element had been thought about. 


LIGHTING
The lighting he uses throughout the series is dark & naturally lit, resulting in not very saturated shots. The natural lighting with the dark gels, beautifully portray the point the director is trying to get across, which are the ominous & sinister overriding themes that are being covered within the narrative. Adam Arkapaw works side by side with the director to truly capture the narratives visual menacing tones, as they have to be singing from the same hymn sheet to bring the script to life & create the world that these characters live in.


COLOUR/TONE
This particular component i believe Adam Arkapaw really excels at, as he creates such an amotsphere through the utilisation of his colour palette, it's undeniable that in it's own way you get a sense of how the characters feel throughout this tense scene just by analysing the colours and tone. But this is not just applicable for this scene, this colour & tone analysis is applied to all of the episodes within the series, the colours signify & put emphasise on the struggles of the characters and their unforgiving lives. 


FRAMING/CAMERA MOVEMENT
You can tell that Adam likes to use his tracking shots, and likes to highlight key characters with very specific framing. Specifically with this scene stated above, the use of the tracking shot for the entirety of the sequence, keeps the audience gripped by the characters side, so we experience literally everything that the characters do. I think this is an amazing achievement to pull off such a shot, obviously I know he would of had to work side by side with the director, but he's captured something that puts the viewer amongst all of the anarchy & mayhem, producing a visceral experience. 



WHY RESEARCH HIM & WHAT AFFECT IT HAS HAD ON OUR PROJECT?
I decided to research Adam due to how much I loved the series True Detective, specifically the first season. Each element of the camera design was beautifully executed, and the world that was created within it was so captivating & organic looking. The aesthetic presented through the screen was something that I'd like to achieve if we were to actually create this hypothetical unit for real. The affect it's had on my input into this project is that i've wanted to dull down the colours, and to stylise the world that our characters would live in, to set a tone that would match the themes & topics within the script. Hopefully with further developed research of Adam, I begin to shoot with a similar ilk, which then might guide me to my own shooting style & aesthetic. 

Pre-Prod. Props & Set Design

SET DESIGN 

For this piece, as our locations are all hypothetical, we can say that they're confirmed. There are only two locations, that being the studio, which is where all the interior house scenes would be shot, along with a few of the close ups of props. Then we have on location shoots, which will be outside the Sodder family house, on selected streets in the U.S, & a few other potential locations, if necessary. So the set design for this particular episode will be pivotal in working together and communicating the same tones & themes that all the other components will be doing simultaneously. This would be to ensure that the correct emotions & aesthetic are conveyed to the audience successfully, resulting in a valid & viable project.

SIGNIFICANCE OF SET DESIGN 

Seldom do audience's like to be fed data through descriptive scenes because they tend to be tedious, over-complicated, and also the least stimulating way of conveying ideas and data. When you're telling the audience what they need to know, it's like being lectured. When you're showing the audience what they need to know, it's allowing them to make their own interpretation about what they see on-screen, put two & two together, and engage actively in the narrative.

This is why set design can be such a great tool for storytelling because the visual components it employs—a pristine bathroom, an empty fridge, an apartment full of IKEA furniture—can tell your audience so much more about the narrative than words often can.

- Mood: How do you want the audience to feel when watching a certain scene? Fearful? depressed? Calm? Whatever it may be, that is the "mood" of the scene and set design can help convey that. A good example of that is if the mood is supposed to be scary, dark, decayed, old, and broken elements will definitely help communicate that to the audience.

 - Character: Can the audience tell what kind of person the character is or how they're feeling based on the set design? If not, they totally can. For example, an unclean home could indicate that a character is a slob, while a room full of sports memorabilia indicates a character is a sport's fan.

 - Theme: The themes of the film can be communicated through the set design as well. Once it's established what they are—human vs. nature, human vs. technology, coming of age, capitalism— design elements can be chosen that contain subtext, reminding the audience of what the narrative is about.

Production/Set design, is crucial to the success of a show. It's the first thing that the audience is usually a witness too, and if it's not believable then how will the rest of the film/production work if it can't keep the audience hooked. A great example of some fantastic set/production design work would be that of the film Room (2015) which is set in one key location, and is just a small outhouse, if you could even call it that. The design of it, a long with all of the other technical components, really brings to life the struggle & isolation that the character is experiencing. So for our set within the studio, there would be obviously a constructed set, which would have several rooms, as we actually only shoot in two bedrooms, the living room, the dining room & the hallway with the staircase. Each of those rooms would be created, and styled/themed to that of the interior of a 1940s house. Everything was bleak, dull, uninspiring, there was no dazzle or shine, it was all pragmatic & purposeful items & even the furniture & objects aesthetic matched that. There were no appealing items of furniture during that time, as it was amidst WW2, so everything had to be for practical use, or else what use was it for. So the colour of the set & what it will be decorated with will have to match with what has been mentioned within the script & on the storyboard, to make sure each component of this project is communicating the same concept. This is so that the general tone is conveyed throughout the project, and that everything is consistent with each element.  

  

  

PROP DESIGN

Research into prop design for this pre-production package has given me further clarification into the absolute importance of getting the prop design right and just how significant a part they play. These days, with all that’s involved in filmmaking:  actors, sets, costumes, special effects–it’s easy to overlook the little guy of cinema: our trusty unsung hero: the film prop. A good prop can help a film’s believability, like star wars and the films light sabers, while a bad one can pull you out of the experience. Props come in many shapes and sizes.  They can be large.  Or small.  Or really small They can be weapons, knives, food, drinks, personal possessions, weapons, drugs, sporting equipment, musical instruments, literally anything. But props can be so much more than just objects in a scene. Great props can transcend the boundaries of the films they are in, and become legendary icons of cinema and pop culture. 

They can show the progress of mankind, (2001: Space Odyssey, Bone scene)

or reveal the hidden beauty of the world (American Beauty, floating bag scene)

A prop can be used as an opener for your film, or set you up for a sequel. A prop can draw you into a scene, or help you cut to another. A prop can be so important that it's in the title of your film, or can it be the title of your film. A good prop can represent a character, to the point where you can't think about that object without thinking about that character, 

(Raiders of the lost ark, Harrison Fords whip)

A prop can sum up the character's internal struggles, or sum up their way of life, or give you a glimpse into their personality. A prop can show a characters unique gift, or a characters unique madness. And sometimes a prop can actually be a character in the film, like in Cast Away, with Tom Hanks and his vollyball Wilson. 

(Cast Away, Tom Hanks with Wilson)

On rare occasions a single prop has the power to represent a man's entire life. This is the power of props: they can provide subtle subtext as well as function. You can use a prop to tell without telling. When used like this props become more than just objects. They become symbols, symbols that can represent a friendship, or a marriage, science or god. 

A prop can be a symbol of reality, or illusion. It can be a symbol of the future or the past. The same prop can symbolise childhood in one film, but death in another. In the Godfather, Coppola associates death with something bizarre: oranges. This isn't the kind of thing that's in the foreground of filmmaking. But it's there if you're looking for it. But props aren't always relegated to subtext, Christopher Nolan uses certain objects to actually move his plot forward. But even then, they're still symbols that support the theme, because a watch makes perfect sense for a film about time travel, and a polaroid picture makes perfect sense for a film about memory.

(Memento: Christopher Nolan - Polaroid photos) 

(Interstellar: Christopher Nolan - Watch)

Of course, aside from the symbolic aspects of props, they're also highly useful for other purposes. A prop can create tension by showing us that we are running out of time. It's often done by using exploding time bombs like in Fight Club or The Dark Knight.

In the end props are just objects.  But objects are things everyone can relate to.  They are things we can hold ourselves and when we see characters doing the same its a mutual experience that draws us into their experience. 

So bearing all of this in mind, I have to choose the right props in which support & guide the narrative that has been built. For our project there won't be a vast amount of props, but the props that we will have will indeed have some significance. 
Here is a prop list of what we will need - 
- 1940s Rotary phone. 
- 1940s Model car 
- 1940s Styled wedding rings 
- 1940s Worker vans
- 1940s Furniture 

These props would reinforce the aesthetic we are setting out to achieve, and further add to the validity of the show which would hopefully convince the audience that's its a believable set. As stated above, props can be used for many purposes and convey an array of things, so to get strong props, in the sense of strengthening our narrative with these kind of props that're listed above, would be beneficial to the outcome of this project. Each item is significant, as planned out in the storyboard are moments in it where these specific items will be shot with a close up, so they would need to be as authentic looking as possible and for that to be achievable they would have to be from the stated era to have any chance of that. The props have to match the script, to make it as authentic and as true as it can be visually, so that the audience buys into it & don't begin to question what they're watching. That's the key to props, not allowing the audience to know they're props.