A Game of Bluffs Reflective Report

For my 162MC edit, I chose to adapt ‘A Game of Bluffs’ to the film movement of Film Noir but also with the modern influence of director Steven Spielberg. Film Noir has long been an interesting subject for me and when I began to write the script I did so with the Film Noir movement in mind. Steven Spielberg is not one of my favourite directors however I appreciate his techniques and his invisible oner, or one take method of shooting as seen in films of his like Jaws (1975). I hoped to combine the two methods to create a slow paced and mysterious piece that drew from both sources.

The first decision we took upon ourselves as a group was to shoot our film straight into black and white. This was a group decision as most of us agreed we would be turning our footage into black and white anyway despite editing into different styles. During editing certain scenes appeared too bright since our location was lined with white walls and some large windows that couldn’t be blocked so in post I chose to decrease the brightness to keep a gritty feeling to the visuals. Film Noir makes use of strong lighting and the casting of distinct shadows. The film Double Indemnity (1944) was largely influential to me for the visual and style of shadow, in some scenes I left the brightness so you could barely make out facial features. I would have liked to have dimmed the backdrop more throughout if I had more time just to create the impression of the characters being in a dark bar somewhere.

Some of the cuts are particularly long in my edit of A Game of Bluffs so as to better keep to the style of Steven Spielberg, in particular the scene where Jimmy is telling the crude joke. Chapmann makes a remark whilst Jimmy is talking, if I was editing to a different style I would have cut to Chapmann to say this line but instead I feel that Chapmann is already an established character and the audience are aware that that is his voice and so hold the shot on Jimmy. These slow one takes allow the audience to connect with the characters emotionally and to soak in the atmosphere of a competitive poker game. Ideally I would have preferred to shoot the whole thing in one take by moving the camera around the table capturing the four men in shot throughout however we lacked a shoulder rig for the smooth movements and our actors joined last minute and were unable to memorise the lines.

Although I wanted to keep to long continuous shots, sometimes it was necessary to cut away to a different shot either because the camera was unable to move fast enough around the table or moving to the next shot felt unnatural as it broke the 180 degree rule. For these shots I still wanted to tell something about the characters so instead of cutting away to random shots of cards or chips on the table I chose to show a finger running on the edge of the glass to show edginess or a chip rolling through knuckles to suggest nerves. I feel these cut aways subtly inform the audience how much these characters mistrust one another.

The sound is always a crucial component in film and perhaps even more so in Film Noir. Sound effects need to sound real and grounded, no hyper-real effects. In addition to this music is a key component for pacing, atmosphere and setting. I deliberately chose to use Body and Soul by Ziggy Elman because it fit the time period to operate both as diagetic and non-diagetic pieces of music. For the majority of the film the music acts as diagetic, a record playing in the background of the bar however as the action kicks off it changes to non-diagetic music before changing back in the aftermath. I also wanted to use this song all the way through the film to reinforce the long takes that were being shown with the same continuous music.
During the course of the film there are several conversations taking place between the characters that don’t necessarily add to the narrative but help to develop the characters and their working relationships. I chose to keep these in rather than streamlining the film to keep the narrative moving because I felt it was important that in a film so character driven it was important to understand these characters. My inspiration for this style of edit comes mostly from Quentin Tarantino’s in films Pulp Fiction (1994) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). In the latter of these two films, Tarantino has a bar scene which really influenced me in its style of long takes and seemingly pointless conversation only to suddenly flick into action.

I debated with myself about the opening of the film for quite some time and ended up choosing a different opening to what I had originally planned. Originally I was going to use a shot of New York city with a title indicating the setting of ‘Chicago, 1948’ and then cut to our main character Chapmann entering through the bar door. However, I decided against this in favour of opening up on a shot of a chip rolling across someone hand in the hopes that this would immediately establish the setting, tone and subject of the film. I then cut to our first character introduced with the close up of him taking the glass.
In conclusion, I was relatively happy with the outcome of A Game of Bluffs and learnt a great deal in the process about filming to meet the editing style of your piece and also the central column to film, sound. When I re-shoot this over the summer I feel like I will be much more prepared for the challenge and aware of what worked and what didn’t and how I can improve the overall quality of the film.

Film Bibliography
Double Indemnity (1944) by Billy Wilder
Inglourious Basterds (2009) by Quentin Tarantino
Jaws (1975) by Steven Spielberg
Pulp Fiction (1994) by Quentin Tarantino

Relevant Blog Posts
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/03/16/editing-a-narrative/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/the-smokey-veil-of-film-noir/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/03/26/a-game-of-bluffs/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/04/30/schools-styles-and-the-researching-of-film-editing/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/the-mystery-of-film-noir/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/05/07/the-sound-edit/
https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/a-game-of-bluffs-promo-work/

TV Studio Reflection

TV studio session – Tuesday 5th May

Our show was named The Geek Week and was designed as a topic a week show that would cover a specific area of Geek culture. This particular show concentrated on cosplay, its history and growing presence in modern western society. Our lengthy research into things Geek really paid off during the design and concept of our set which looked really good on camera with various items of Geekyness on display with a colourful couch and posters lining the walls. In hindsight I would have like to have the walls filled with a little more colour but the majority of our shots were tight and prevented the cameras from seeing the wider less populated set. Our VT’s were suitable to our project: one showing a trip our presenters took to MCM Birmingham Comic Con shortly after we had decided what topic to cover in our show and the international VT being of a trip to a large comic book store there and exploring the influences on the cosplay community. I feel these met the required criteria for our project however one of them seemed to be far too lengthy and I worried it would loose the interest of the audience. My role within the television team was Camera 2 operator, a role I hadn’t had the opportunity to prepare for as I had missed a few practice sessions due to international trips and the team deciding that my role should b changed, however, I found the process of camera operation simple and easy to pick up on the day. Essentially it relied heavily on floor manager and director working well together. Unfortunately, our director didn’t seem to take the project very seriously and acted rather unprofessional and as such communication between him and the floor manager were strained. I think the project would have benefited from a stronger director who could communicate clearly back and forth with the floor manager. Our director not only demonstrated a lack of professionalism in communication to the studio from the gallery but he also forgot to bring in the VT creating a large problem for us during the shoot even though we were allowed to add the VT after shoot. This meant our timing had to be really tight as we didn’t have the VT in front of us to make sure we could add it easily later. I was largely disappointed with our director in general and felt that we should have had someone else at the helm. Inside the gallery, early on in our shoot it seemed disorganised and argumentative which was a direct issue from lacking a strong central figure present. However, once we had began rolling and resolved our technical issues they co-ordinated themselves well. The auto-que scrolled a little too slowly the first run through but this was rectified for our following shoots. Our major problem on set was the audio, we hadn’t prepared sufficiently for recording audio in the two sections of our set which we discovered after our first take. This is something that we should have highlighted during practice but without our demonstration able to make practice we should have pretended that we had to move to a different section of the set. We remedied this by moving our mics so that one was positioned to pick up audio from the makeup tutorial even whilst not on screen and tilted the other slightly to accommodate for the interviewee. Our camera operators were organised and very aware of the schedule and timing of the show, especially camera operator one who also had the added job of operating the on set TV screen after positioning his camera into a suitable shot for the next segment of the show. We had four cameras in total, one unmanned aimed as a close up on the make up demonstration to give a constant view during the show. The Floor Manager also did a successful job of queuing the cameras and the Presenters were aware of which cameras they needed to look at during which part of the show. We had a duo of presenters who both dressed up in costume to fit with the theme of cosplay our show was following. They made for a good group but sometimes felt too scripted and seemed to be a little nervous. During one of our takes we found a gap of six seconds that needed filling and the presenters did a good job of filling this section with dialogue between presenter and make up artist. Myself and the floor manager also dressed in costume to add to the theme of the show and create a calming atmosphere which I think helped and showed commitment to the show. Other members of crew chose to wear Geek related items of clothing as well which showed a unison amongst the team. Reflecting upon my own performance, I feel I did so quite successfully considering I missed two rehearsals due to being away in Istanbul and had my job role changed from Presenter, to Floor Manager to Camera Operator in the last week. I would have liked to have been more aware of the blocking of the set beforehand and perhaps should have requested an image the set sent to me whilst I was aware to help prepare. With more time I also would have studied the operation of the cameras a little more in depth and was fortunate to have the assistance of the other camera operators in setting it up. I would have spoken out against the choice of director from the beginning to try and persuade the group to pick someone more capable of the role and also would have spent more time familiarising myself with all the roles in the studio and the equipment as then I would have been better prepared for a switch in set role. My feelings towards working in TV has not changed since this experience and it is still an area of Media that I would prefer to avoid. It feels far too regimented and structured and lacking in creativity and freedom to be a career I would enjoy pursuing.

The Script – Second Draft

Here is the second edit of my script so far, still not really satisfied with the dialogue as it doesn’t flow well and still hits the stereotypical characters of Film Noir a little too much. Feedback as always is welcome.

A Game of Bluffs Screenplay V2

Shooting Process – Person to Person

When it came to shooting our group was very well prepared. We were fortunate in that Karen had possession of a lot of equipment that we could use to capture our piece, however, it was made apparent to us during lecture that our plan for capturing audio via a lav mic was good but not perfect. We took this criticism onboard and began practicing with a boom mic to capture the audio from two sources. This provided us with a back up source of audio which proved useful since it during one interview the lav mic picked up a bit of rustling. We also role-played the shooting scenario a few times beforehand so we were each familiar with our roles and the positioning of the equipment within each environment, this helped is set up fast and efficiently and carry an air of professionalism in front of our subjects.

We were fortunate enough to have put research and planning into a back up option, Craig Thompson. This came into play as unfortunately Maurice was taken into hospital a few days before our planned shoot, and so unsure what might happen we filmed Craig. I think it showed and felt that our hearts weren’t fully in the Craig shoot since we had invested more interest and time into Maurice’s story however I was impressed how we handled the situation and it taught me that with media its always important to have a back up for everything and allow for flexibility in your planning in case of such events. We were fortunate that Maurice recovered well and we were able to continue as planned.

Overall, I felt confident and rehearsed when it came to shooting both interviews and not only that but our final product benefitted from this with some great shots and beautiful lighting/audio captured. The team were professional and disciplined and willing to put in the effort and time into making this successful.

Critical Analysis Essay

Please find attached a copy of my Critical Analysis Essay for 161MC.

1000 Word 161MC Essay

Stills from 160MC T2

Here are a number of stills captured during our experience working on 160MC T2 People 2 People. During my time working on this I have learnt invaluable skills of communication, understanding and compassion across all of society and walks of life. I found that everyone has a story to tell no matter how mundane they may think themselves to be and as Media practitioners it is important to capture these stories and share them through the globally understand cinematic language. I also learnt that the world of Media can open so many doors to so many different walks of life that it is essentially a passport to everything, I never could have imagined the sheer quantity of opportunities that a Media Production course at Coventry University could open up for me and only within my first year. A big thanks to everyone in these pictures: Jarno Kilstrom, Chuck Weber, Dominic Flynn, Simil Gurung, Craig Thompson and Maurice Shakespeare as well as my amazing team Karen Jensen-Clark, Michael Moser and Chris Caswell.

Research Process Reflection – Person 2 Person

We began our research by all meeting with Maurice armed only with a Zoom mic and away from any camera to create a more relaxed environment. We found that Maurice was at ease anyway on and off camera and so in hindsight it would have been better to have brought a camera with us to capture footage. During our conversation we established his story from beginning to end and recorded it all. We then listened back to the audio and pinpointed key moments in his speech that indicated an emotional change in his voice, these would be our points of interest for our documentary, our moment of actuality.

Having delved into Maurice’s personal story we then set about researching more into the historical facts.

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/operation-pied-piper/

This information helped to develop the basis for our interview questions as we each had a deeper understanding of exactly what it was that Maurice had experienced as a youth. This informed questioning better abled us to manipulate our interviewee’s answers to what we needed to achieve. In hindsight, I wouldn’t have focused too much on the factual information of the time period. I think this somewhat robotised our questioning as we expected Maurice to have been impacted in a set way from what we had learnt, however, what we didn’t factor in is the individuality of each child’s experience during this time period.

Essential Readings Part 6 – Interactive Documentary

As part of our sixth week of 161MC we were given a number of useful resources to read and look into as part of our self development in creating impact in media.

Our first reading this week was ‘Interactive Documentaries and the Meaning of Images in the Digital Age’ by Paolo Favero which provided an interesting look at what Interactive Documentary actually is and how it plays a role in the modern day. During this Paolo highlights one particular Interactive Documentary that we viewed called ‘Highrise’ by filmmaker Katerina Cizek. Katerina is one of the pioneers of Interactive Documentary, describing it as “an experiment in documentary cinema and the web … to explore how documentaries could unfold inside a web browser”.

http://highrise.nfb.ca

I think what truly makes Interactive Documentary interesting to me is how like the internet it is a media form that can continue to evolve. As the stories continue to change so too can the documentary to reflect the most recent reality, thus always remaining relevant so long as it is maintained. The other interesting feature of this is that the audience is allowed to make a choice of what information they receive by navigating their way through, hence the interactivity. This is very evident in another Interactive Documentary presented to use called ‘Hollow‘ where the viewer can navigate across a bar at the bottom to hear the stories of a community West Virginia or ‘In Limbo’ which I did a additional blog post on.

Relevant Blog Posts:

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/working-beneath-the-system/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/mozilla-popcorn-maker/

Essential Readings Part 5 – Web 2.0

As part of our fifth week of 161MC we were given a number of useful resources to read and look into as part of our self development in creating impact in media.

What is Web 2.0? It is a second stage or evolution of the internet to a more dynamic and active stage whereby we are no longer presented with static webpages of information but reacting pages that generate additional content relevant to the audience. But how can this be applied to Media production? Well this week instead of being presented with readings we were given a number of short films and interactive documentaries, one in particularly really caught my eye, The Wilderness Downtown.

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/the-wilderness-downtown/

We were introduced to the concept of using the internet to convey a chosen narrative and then tasked with doing the same of a classical story. What I found really intriguing to this approach to Media production was that it was a very modern concept but could apply ancient ideas all within the confines of the internet. The freedom this presented to us was so vast we couldn’t even hope to search it. I chose to produce a Machinima, a film shot entirely with the 3D graphics engine of a game, utilising screen capture softwares such as FRAPS and Quick Time. The one down side to this project was getting used to the technical skills required. I dedicated a lot of time and energy to learning the applications of the software I was using during this weeks project and documented every step of the way.

Relevant Blog Posts:

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/web-2-0-narrative/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/advice-from-the-pros-part-4/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/the-magnificent-seven/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/web-2-0-storyboards-part-1-the-lonely-town-of-darkshire/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/web-2-0-storyboards-part-2-the-lord-of-the-mountain/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/06/machinima-cinematic-effect/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/web-2-0-finished/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/the-five-obstructions/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/tell-me-a-story/

Essential Readings Part 3 – Copyright and Copyleft

As part of our third week of 161MC we were given a number of useful resources to read and look into as part of our self development in creating impact in media.

This week we were focused on the issues surrounding Copyright and what that meant to us as Media Producers. This is an area of Media that I am self admittedly hazy on, and one that I struggle to get my head around. We began by discussing our boundaries and levels of caution that should be adhered to during our filming, a knowledge of the rules and when it is acceptable to work around them. When I sat down to begin the reading I first came across ‘Right to Culture: Future Scenarios’ a project to explore the possible outcomes of laws impact on creativity, one article within it ‘Morphology of a Copyright Tale’ by Aymeric Mansoux I found particularly useful. Aymeric breaks down the scenario of a creative practitioner straying from the standard procedures but within a folk tale style in somewhat of a homage to Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp. I think this appealed to me more because I am used to reading narrative in the manner this is portrayed as opposed to legal documentation.

In addition to this we were shown the film ‘The Internets Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz’, a moving piece about the young man in question who was a pioneer for freedom of use on the internet. For further information on this, please see the below link.

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/the-internets-own-boy-the-aaron-schwarz-story/

Related Task Blogs:

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/01/25/marvel-avengers-remix/

https://grantsnaithyr1.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/classmates-remixes/