the-official-statement-blog

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Reflection

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The Official Statement  director / camera operator : Emily Ngo woman : Sandy Van Hands : Anna Chiem / Jennifer Hua / Quynh Ton / Lena Tran Footage used :  - glitch effect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCkvZJ6_qtE (the footage download link is in the description) 

- VHS static noise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUoA-dKQhtc

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Post Production note 4th

this is my fourth draft of the film

today I primarily focused on editing and adjusting the narration to the way I wanted it. - i initially just wanted to the narration’s pitch to get lower and lower by the end of it however I’d accidentally created a demon voice effect which i ended up liking alot!

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Post Production note 3

what shot 2, there is not much I could do in fixing the keying. At least it will remind me next time to direct actors/actresses to do slower movements when utilising green screen. 

I’d added a glitching effect on the last shot. This would represent how this fake ‘official apology’ has finally taking over her and now caused her to become unreal and glitching out of reality. 

I’ve added the credits in which I’d employed the typing effect to be consistent with the title card

Here is the 3rd draft of my film 

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Post production 2

My second editing session (26th of september) was very production. I’ve keyed and edited all of the shots for the film and played around with the audiotrack. 

I’ve also adjusted the colour balance to give the film a slight blue-ish tint. I did this to help compliment the dark atmosphere of the film. I’ve quite happy with this colouring.

I’ve also started working on an title card. I decided to use the typing effect from Adobe After Effect in which inspired me to try out a VHS styled opening aesthetic. This made me consider if I wanted to go down the found footage aesthetic which would mean I would have to change the overall look of the film.

I used VHS static noise footage from youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUoA-dKQhtc

This is my draft as of now 

What is left to do that. - fine edit of the film ( re-keying again flaws)

- create a crossfade for the jump cut in between shot 4

- audiotrack ( dark ominous but subtle sound and fixing up the narration)

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Post Production post 1

On the 20th of September, I started post production of ‘The Official Statement’. I am using the programs ‘Adobe After Effects’ and ‘Adobe Premiere Pro’ to key and edit my footage as well as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to edit the stills.

I’ve realised I should have probably done a shot where the hands come in to positions themselves on the womans eyes and lips. This would have made the film more cohesive and flow better. I’ve attempted to use shot 10.1 (which initially supposed to be at the end) to act as this type of shot. It will affect the continuity of the film as the makeup and hand placements are different, but I’m not too troubled by it. 

I’d animated the garden background to disintegrate and glitch out by using the displacement map effect in AE. I achieved this with a royalty free glitch footage I found from youtube

This is my first draft 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0b-8tbc1-gKRjl2U2x0aUJveVk

Link to youtube footages used.

glitch effect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCkvZJ6_qtE (the footage download link is in the description) 

VHS static noise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUoA-dKQhtc

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Inspiration: Coraline

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Still of scenic garden background i will use for the film

I took this photo of my local creek a few years ago. I find it interesting that although it looks very luscious and beautiful, most of the plants in the photo are weeds or invasive species and the waterway is heavily polluted  

I edited the image in Lightroom and Photoshop to boost up the contrast and saturation. I did this so the garden would look obviously fake to the viewers 

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Notes from Shoot Day (13th of September)

I came onto the set quite nervous as this was my first time working as a director, camera operator, gaffer and makeup artist all be myself. The day went very well. The talents listened and understood clearly what the film is about and their role for the day.

The major obstacle of the day was blocking. I had to figure out where each person was positioned to make sure that only their arms were in the frame. As seen in this sketch I drew in the brainstorming stages, I’d wanted two people to hide behind the actress, one keeping her eyes wide and the other moves her eyebrows or holding onto her hair. However, this proved difficult on the day as and I’ve overestimating the length and flexibility of a normal human arm. Eventually, with the help of my friends’ suggestions, we came up with an easier way to block the scene which ended up looking better than my sketch (see below)

[original sketch]

[final blocking, note that there is someone behind the actress controlling her arms]

One thing I’d noticed shooting some shots was that it was eerily similar to images of animal testing.  

If I could redo the shoot day, I would have probably booked Tungsten Floods to use in addition to the LED panels to enhance the lighting. I also wished I didn’t style the actress’ hair very messy and frizzy as it will be quite difficult to key in After Effects. 

[still from an outtake]

Overall, the day was successful and I am very pleased with the rushes. I am happy with how my friends helped out and did what I told them. I am also quite surprised with my ability to work with the FS100 without any assistance of other crew members.  

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STORYBOARD

This week, I wrapped up all the final pre-production tasks and developed a storyboard for the film 

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Technical aspect and final pre-production work.

I’ve set the shoot date on the Wednesday 13th of September 2017. 

Camera and Lighting I will be utilising a Green Screen studio, a FS100 video Camera, a tripod and 2 LED panels  Sound Design. I’m planning to refine and modify my current audio narrative using protools to make it less awkward.  Cast and Crew I’ve also managed to recruit an actress and four volunteers to help me out for the day. The four volunteer to be the hands that control the woman in the film. My concern for the day is that the 5 people I’ve recruited are not UTS student and thus will be a  problem to UTS security as we are shooting between 5pm to 9pm

Production Design  Here is a list of items needed on the day  - fake blood -a chair - a red button - a makeup sponge  - makeup to create the bruise Costume Design: WOMAN: a white dirty and wrinkled blouse with subtle blood stains on the chest area. 

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The Offical Statement Script

These are screenshots of my first draft script for The Official Statement.

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I had created a demo narration using the website www.fromtexttospeech.com. I’d initially wanted to use a voice actor to narrate the statement however I’m more satisfied with this artificial sounding voice as it adds to the style and concept of the film being about ingenuity and manipulation. 

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The Official Statement of intent for The Official Statement

A response to the ‘authenticity’ of public statements made by individuals such as political leaders, military commanders or public figures that we look up to. The degree of propaganda strategy intertwined into public statements and what the real motive behind these speeches 

E.g. Donald trump apology about the ‘grab the pussy’ incident suddenly turned into an attack on his opponent, Hilary Clinton. How a Politician makes a promise in his campaign, is he genuinely passionate about that promise or is his only proudly making that promise to gain supporter? 

I want to experiment with the concept of a human puppet, having a figure almost lifeless and being controlling artificially by a group of arms. 

 The film will  be of an incarcerated rebel leader being used as a human puppet by a group of arms to deliver a false and propaganda-like speech to her followers to surrender. A female figure seated in a dimly lit room. Multiple of arms will come in around the frame to control her facial expression and body movement. For example, furrowing her brows, moving her arms, shutting her eyes to blink. One of these hands will move the figure’s mouth in sync will the narration. Through the narration, it will be made clear that she is a rebel leader that has been captured by the totalitarian government her army has been fighting against. 

Furthermore. an aesthetic practise I want to experiment with is making the use of green screen obvious to the viewer. I aim for this idea to allow viewers to visually understand how I can see how artificial public statements are. This will be done by compositing a still of a luscious green forrest behind the character that will ironically contrast the rigid and ominous situation the character is in. I hope that the technique of artificially controlling this characters body language and facial expression, I can ask viewers to question the real motive behind any statement made by authoritative people.

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Inspo audio: [JFK] 

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inspo video #2