Lauren's DFSA Research : April 2015

Normally I feel like I am pretty okay at evaluations - they're one of my few strengths (I think)! But I'm going to be honest, like I try to be with every evaluation, and say I don't even know where to begin with this one. I'm staring at this blogger page with a million and one things in my head in relation to Elysian, trying to fathom how I can do this evaluation the justice it deserves! I've decided that the entire journey needs to be split into several sections in order for me to do this the way it needs to be. So here it goes! I present to you my evaluation :

Part 1 - Pre - Production

My role in pre-production was co-producer alongside Katherine, which I found really exciting as this was a role I've never done before. Over the past few months, professional toolkit (in particular the disastrous 1st AD job) has made me question my place in dfsa, as I felt that I haven't fitted into any position that could lead me into a future job or one that I've been entirely comfortable and happy with. It wasn't so much a question of whether I wanted to be here (because I really do!) but whether I was worthy or good enough to be here, and I ended up feeling a bit down about this for quite a long time. So by the time pre-production for Elysian came around I was very determined that I needed to prove myself wrong and I was completely prepared to the throw myself whole-heartedly into the film. In my head this was my last chance, and I wanted to do everything in the world that I could to make this happen, with hopes that maybe I'd find myself along this journey. It really was a roller coaster ride, filled with extreme highs and some really bad lows. I remember the feeling of working so hard to make it happen, and then not being able to get a room and equipment. I remember the elaborate plans I came up with to sneakily book G27, as we were not allowed to use it because we 'were not doing photography in it' even though it was constantly free (we didn't use these plans in the end I promise, don't sue me, I was desperate!). I remember seeing how low the rest of my group felt at times, after all their hard work seemed to be wasted. I remember having the feeling that no one understood how much we'd actually done and worked towards, because of the room / equipment obstacles. My heart actually felt like it was breaking at times. I felt trapped in a loop of no matter what we do it seems to fail. And I was like no. No this is not going to happen. By this point I had become so passionate about making this film, that we were not gonna give up or lose the will to carry on with it. I remember spending longer than I probably should have, gathering all our information together and composing the project proposal / production book to best that I could. Because I really wanted to do the group justice and I didn't want to let them down any more than they had been. I think one of my proudest moments was when Rosie held up our production pack, along with Tom, Shahid and Lucy's, and said to the class how this was the standard to aim for. Silly, I know, but I remember after that getting little high fives from my group and being like, 'Oh my word, I did that!' It's the little things to be appreciative of! Every other task I carried out, before and after this, as a producer, I really tried to put my heart and soul into doing right from the synopsis and treatment, to the call sheets and production schedule. I tried really hard with communicating with our dancer, Emma, as she contacted from an Ad I posted. As stated in many an evaluation, I'm relatively shy when it comes to new people, but I really feel like I pushed myself, and after being the first person to greet Emma in person, to working on set, I feel my confidence has grown a lot compared to where I was when 1st AD-ing in studio shoot. This has been a major leap for me as being shy is a very hard cycle to break, and normally I end up very frustrated with myself. However this was not the case on this project, and I feel that's at least worth something. At times pre-production was very hard and we often joked that 'If there was a film god, he doesn't want us to make this film.' I'll admit there were days were I wanted to lock myself away in a dark room for a long, long time, but I didn't let that stop me and I'd always pick myself back up and say 'Lauren, it's not over yet' and I think that's a very good trait that I've learnt. No matter how bad things are, it's how you choose to deal with them that really matters and I think that's a valuable lesson, as without it, I don't think me and my group would have got to the stage we did in the end. And I admire them all for that.

The women whom I love and admire for their strength and grace did not get that way because shit worked out. They got that way because shit went wrong and they handled it. They handled it in a thousand different ways on a thousand different days, but they handled it. Those women are my superheroes. - Elizabeth Gilbert

Looking back on it I think I'm glad we have had all the obstacles we had, as I feel we are a lot stronger for it. It's remembering everything that makes me so appreciative of the good times, and even more appreciative for the bad times, because they open my eyes so much wider to better things, and ultimately allow me to accomplish more in a deeper way I think. I look back and think of how we all felt when we secured our dancers and they were both lovely, when we finally got a room and equipment. I felt and still feel so grateful, and a special thank you to anyone extra who helped us achieve these things. You'll never know how much it means to me.

Part 2 - The Shoot

I was very pleased with the shoot, as after it appearing like it wasn't going to happen how we wanted, it felt like we had finally done it. We got there. Achievement unlocked! We had a black room, we had a male and female dancer, we had extra crew and appropriate equipment. I felt a mixture of calm and anxiousness - calm because of us actually getting to this stage, but anxious because I still wanted it to go extremely well! I think this might have been the most fun of the entire process. Harry and Emma are great performers and so much fun to be around, and this made set life a lot easier and we had so many laughs. I think I did an okay job of making sure the production was going smoothly and that we weren't running out of time, and it was so nice seeing it all come together, in the flesh. What we wanted was right in front of our faces! It was great. I think the one thing I would comment on is that it could have been more organised, as at the beginning we were set back over an hour for various reasons. I think in future we need to all work on a better shot list, as the one originally made had changed just before filming to suit the dance, so it was hard to come up with the most useful production schedule. However as I had scheduled the shoot to be over way before the time we had to leave, we got away with it this time! In future I'd like to be more prepared, however this was due to the problems with rooms etc. I think we got some nice camera shots however, my favourite being the pan shot in the final film. I regret not getting as many CUs of hands and feet etc as I feel these would have been very nice.

Part 3 - Post Production

Getting the edit ready as the editor was something that was very exciting to me, as I felt like being heavily involved in Pre, made me so much closer to the film. I felt like I had been close to it every step of the way and it personally meant a lot to me to see it right through to the end, to keep constantly working on it. That might be why it seems so hard for me now to let it go, seeing as it's coming to an end. I'm constantly thinking what more I can do to make it better. I'm worried I haven't done enough to do it justice. However I am actually quite proud of myself for several reasons. I feel a lot more competent with Avid, after only learning it at the beginning of the year, and I find myself using it a lot more often, even for small, quick projects. I managed to learn how to mask objects in After Effects to create an all black room in a matter of days - masking is something I'd never done until then. This may be a bit more personal but I sometimes worry that people may think because I'm close to Thomas, that he may do things like this for me as everyone knows he's very good with vfx. I feel like have learnt a new skill and am now pretty confident to continue masking on future projects, which I am very happy. It fills me with so much joy to be able to be like 'I did that!'

I think as for the final edit, there were quite a few problems that arose. Continuity wasn't the best in a lot of shots, which made my job a nightmare at times! It meant I faced a lot of difficult decisions as to whether the shots, the story or the continuity was more important. Once again I'm grateful for this - I think it's better having a harder task because you learn so much more about everything in general, whether about you or the process. It was a test for me to get things to work the best they could. However in future, no matter of what role I am, I am going to emphasise the importance of continuity to everyone! We also wish the floaty-ness of the piece would have been better, but that was entirely our fault for not using the fan due to being so busy with other areas of production. Bubbles were not added to the final piece as they were intended, due to them not really fitting in. However this is something we want to further look into after assessment, as to whether we could do anything to make that happen at some stage. At first I was quite disappointed with the film, and it made me quite sad and stressed a lot of the time, because I was so desperate to do the best for it. However I am now relatively happy with the final edit, considering all the problems we have had. I think I've learnt it's not just about the final film, but the journey to get there and that can show a lot about you and the people you work with. A lot of the time outsiders when watching don't see the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. I've concluded that it doesn't matter. I know how hard I've worked, and how hard each of the other individuals have worked, no matter what anyone else thinks and I am so proud for that. I think that no matter how well the film does, it's what we've learnt from it that will stay with us forever. It's a gift that we can take on with us to every other future project we go on to do and that's something amazing, something worthwhile.

Group

I feel we worked relatively well together as a group and it was interesting being part of an all girl group for once. However I feel like some of the work wasn't as balanced between us all as it should have been at times. But I had the best time going through all the fun and pain with everyone!

Overview

I've learnt so much from this project, not only about film making, but about myself as well. A lot of times I will write quite a bit of negative stuff about me and my weaknesses, because I know there's always room for improvement, but I finally feel like I've done something right (at least to a point). I think (and hope others can see) that my confidence has grown a lot since the beginning of this project - before I was very quiet in tutorials and in general, but this time I found myself speaking up quite a bit. I've learnt how motivated and dedicated a person I am, something I never thought I'd say out loud, I would have tried everything to get Elysian how we wanted it too. As mentioned previously I've learnt a lot of great, new skills - how to put a good production book together, using after effects to mask, make titles and credits. I've put myself in new, daunting positions and handled them relatively well.

Yes it didn't go exactly as we planned. Yes there are things to improve on. Yes it may not be the best film ever. But I'm so happy for us and so proud. Even though I'm gong to find it relatively hard to let go of, because I've been so attached to it for so long now, I think it's been one of the best accomplishments for me and I'm so grateful to have been apart of it.

Summary of Strengths / Things I learnt

Willing to learn
Motivated
Passionate
More confidence in general
Gaining experience
Learning how to deal with a variety of situations
Learning new skills - AE, Avid

Overall Improvements to be Made

Stress control at times
Room for more confidence growth
Try experimenting with bubbles etc in future
Better organisation at times

I wasn't exactly happy with the titles and credits, however being left on my own and very rushed to do them I came up with something very quick - bare in mind I'm not an After Effects whizz! I wanted to keep them simple, but reflective of the video, by the use of a dark background. I placed a lens flare at the top left section of the title/ credits and added a wiggle to it. A blue tint was then added to this in order to make it match in with the blue of the film. The title "Elysian" comes in a similar fashion to the pan shot seen later in the film, tilting a bit with movement.

I made the credits begin with fade text, adding a bit of blur as they faded in and out. Once the immediate crew had been acknowledged in this section, I created scrolling credits for the majority of cast and crew.

These were then brought into Avid and placed in the appropriate parts on the timeline.

There were a lot of lights, floor and other objects we didn't want featured in the film. To get rid of unwanted sections in the clips, masking was involved, using After Effects. This was really daunting for me, as I'm not the most experienced AE user and hadn't masked too much before now. However I was determined to do it myself, rather than get someone more technically advanced to. Despite how frustrating it was at times, I'm so glad I did it myself as I feel I've learnt a new skill that I wouldn't have learned otherwise that I can now bring forward into future projects. I feel a lot happier and proud that I was able to accomplish and learn something new and ultimately the process has been more rewarding for me.

I think the trickiest shot to mask was the 360 one, due to the movement and length. This was good practise though, and made the less complicated shots seem very easy in comparison which I was thankful for!

Masking the 360

Before Masking

Masks

After Masking

The masking will be blended when exported to Avid due to colour correction.

Here is a video I made with example of before and after masking, in live action :

I spent this week in the Avid suite, which I had previously booked out before easter, accompanied by Laura and Mollie to check up on what was going on and offer advice for the edit. I took the rough edit in to begin developing it into the final version.

The girls in the editing room!

The Edit

Me and Laura discussed how we could cut the rough edit, which was over 7 minutes, down to a more appropriate feeling duration, while maintaining the best continuity that we could. I found this hard at times because there were some really nice shots that had to be sacrificed because they didn't fit very well or because we didn't feel they were necessary. However by the end of shortening we were all a lot happier with the result.

It was at this point I began properly developing Phase 1's section, as before in the rough edit it had been more of an experiment to see what worked and what didn't. We all finally decided simple, quick cuts were the best way forward, rather than a mixture of overlaying and flipping of the clips, alongside the fast cuts, as this was a bit too confusing. So with the section of quick fades in the rough edit as inspiration I set out to cut up the clips of phase 1 with the aim to make the pace get faster as it progressed. This became very difficult, as the smaller the clip became, the harder it was to manipulate and move around / fit into place. Making changes was also very hard to re-arrange, but with a lot of time, (frustration!) and careful precision it was achievable. At the very end of the 13 seconds of phase 1, I was working with clips only 1 frame long which was interesting! The idea behind this was to make the pace of the clips reflect the chaotic and frantic beginning of the poem / film where they fall into the water and are lost from each other. The fast pace will not only be shown in the editing however, but also with a sound piece made by Katherine to accompany this section - a high pitched sound that gets higher as the cuts get faster until everything abruptly stops. Phase 1 was edited in another sequence to keep things less complicated and then transported into the final edit. Here is Phase 1's sequence before the transportation to see how small things were!

Phase 1's timeline

Colour Correction

Once everything was in place we began colour correction. The aim was to get rid of the reds and pinks in the skin, and make the background dark and also so that the colour correction would blend in with the future masking. This was a lot harder than originally planned and I had to spend a few more days on this at home as it was hard to get a good mixture of being dark, maintaining quality and getting what we wanted from it. After a lot of edits and re-edits of colour here are some examples from the final look :

Sound

Once Katherine had finished her sound piece, she gave it over to me and I placed it in the appropriate area of the timeline, matching it up to what was happening on screen. I then took the soundtrack by our composer, and spliced this in, making it fade between various parts to fit the movement better.

Here is what the timeline looked like by the end :

I have spent Easter creating a rough edit of the film in Avid, so we can get straight to work on refining it when we are all back to uni. To begin with I wanted the footage to be very organised, especially since some of the blade shots had glitches - any that I found with this, I wanted to be able to find the same clip but in the EX3 footage. I created bins based off of the four sections of our dance - Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 - and placed the footage accordingly.

Project Window with bins

I began with the EX3 footage, naming each file based off of the shot in the Source Window. I then coloured these blue, so that I would instantly know any of these clips would be from the camera and not the blade. I named the blade clips exactly the same as their camera equivalent, for easier access when editing if I ever wanted to swap between blade and camera. These were then coloured red to instantly know these were from the blade. When placed in the same bin, I organised according to name so that the camera and blade equivalent clip would be beside each other, once again for easy access for swapping.

Example of Phase 2 Bin Organisation

To begin the edit I created a new sequence, in an 'Elysian Sequences' bin and named it 'Elysian Rough Edit' so that I can duplicate this later for a final cut, while still having the option to go back to the rough. The notes that we had discussed as a group in preparation for me to do the edit were :

Beginning

Lots of CUs
Fast, quick cuts to reflect frantic, chaotic atmosphere
Fades between cuts (see Mockingjay clip for reference)

Play around with the order of phase 1
Fade to black

Middle

Fade in from black
Becomes slower paced, longer cuts, more flowy

End

Long pan out
Prepare for this to be manipulated in AE to make it appear longer

General

Consider adding lens flares
Lights need and floor need masked out in AE
Colour correction - Dark and washed out look
Bubbles and dust added in AE

For the actual edit, I was most concerned about fitting all the story together in the best possible way, as I felt it would be better to take stuff out, rather than add more in during the later stages. I included every part of the dance, from the angles I felt worked best together for those specific parts. I found continuity to be an issue that arose a lot of the way through, which was quite frustrating - this is an area I'm definitely going to re-inforce to everyone on future projects as it made parts of the edit an absolute nightmare!

Phase 1 was an experiment for me to try and establish what effects could be done to get that chaotic sense we were looking for. I tried several things:

Overlaying images

Flipping the images

Adding quick fade to blacks

I also played around with colour correction to get an idea of what the final look shall be and how the edit was working with this.

Once the edit was done I exported it and posted it on the group's facebook page for feedback from the rest of the group and to keep them up to date with the editing process. I'm going to note at this point how useful the facebook group is, as due to us all living a good distance away from each other (e.g. me across the water), this was a convenient way to share any progress we made during the Easter break, or other times when we were away.

Our aims are too shorten this rough version into the final version. We're going to have to be very selective as to what will make it into the final cut to get it down to our desired time of around 4-5 minutes. However I am really looking forward to it all coming together, and doing this rough edit has got me excited for what is to come! You don't know how hard my fingers are crossed that it comes out okay!

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