Skills Development
- plysong01
- Dec 21, 2017
- 4 min read
Film Technique (Opening Scene of Midnight in Paris)
Midnight in Paris is one of my favourites film,although, the story doesn't have many major big events and the story is carried out quite smoothly.However,it's the glamorous stylish theme and feelings that was experienced by watching this film that made it unique and become one of my favourites.
The video above is an opening scene i really like from Midnight in Paris.Through out the whole 4 minutes the simplicity that was put into the scene forms and outlines a beautiful theme in the movie without having to put in many camera techniques or insert a single conversation.It is able to effortlessly represent the the breath taking feels and show different aspects of Paris.
Film Technique
Over the last few classes Mr.Simple have put us into groups of 3-2 to replicate a sample video on Film technique of a media student from Youtube. I was put into groups with Jess and Irada and have played in the role of the main editor.Jess is mainly in charge of taking shots from the camera and Irada helping in some bits of everything.I was able to take some of the shots myself and featured in the video to illustrates examples of shots and angle although my main role is editing.
Here is the video after it is finished.
In my opinion, doing this particular activity is highly useful and beneficial to me and the others because we're able to try out different roles and at the same time learn about new film techniques e.g. shots,angles and composition. I'm also able to improve my skills on editing and get a better vision and advice of how to make my video and content flow much more smoothly.
Notes:-I didn't adjust any colors to the scene yet.
-Around the middle part the file was ejected during the editing session so,there's a slight error.
-Program used -Premiere Pro
Creating intense/strong theme
In the film opening we're making we wanted to play with the elements of using music to carry out and cover the whole theme of the film.The music should create and give the audience a certain mood that we wanted them to experience in this case being relaxed and at the same time feeling insecure.Over the past time i have found two prime examples of the idea of building suspense/intensity by using music which are Whiplash and Samurai Champloo-ep14(animation). These two perfectly use the theme efficiently and swiftly grabs the audience's attention even within just a short period of time.The two similarities are the fact that both of them uses drums rolls soundtrack in their scenes to build up suspense and severe mood.
A sample scene from Whiplash:
Addition-From around 1.34 to 1.44 the scenes also uses an interesting technique by muting all the surroundings sounds suggesting that the main character is being fully focused and slowly putting back in the sound of the environment+ the drums.
Sample from Samurai Champloo-ep14:
The scene perfectly make use of the drum rolls sound to build up suspense in such short period of time and at the same time made each actions from the characters be much more meaningful.
The technique we wanted to use from these two examples is to build up suspense quickly in just a short amount of time by using music.We are planning to use jazz music in particular /drum rolls to build that luxurious mood at the same time contrasting with the heavy actions being done by the characters to form that deluxe+insecure ish mood to the audience.
Editing Technique
I have learn basic editing techniques by using different platform such as Youtube to help me with the particular area i wanted.There're many tutorial videos on Youtube which i find highly useful especially the ones made for beginners like me.
For my first media editing work i have to make a video on compilation/montage lists of camera shots type.It was a group and my role was to edit the video.Despite, having the editing program Premiere pro already installed on my laptop but haven't ever used it to me it was a perfect time to get started. I went on Youtube and looked for a few tutorials video which are not too long but is highly effective.
Having to learn this i was able to use the Premiere pro quite fast and freely according to my own likings. Everything about the program is very interesting to me as you have so much freedom to create your content genuinely from your ideas.I was able to explore different features and colour gradient on each little video footage and try to make them all in the same tone.Moreover, i have decided to add background music to the video and work on the editing rhythm make the whole video flows smoothly into an entertaining and enjoyable mood.
This is the final video of the filming technique:
I have changed the program i use to edit my work since Premiere pro is too large for my laptop to handle which often makes it lags and stopped working causing longer editing time and my work sometimes being gone.
The new program i have changed to is the Sony Vegas Pro 13.0.Therefore,i have to learn tutorials from Youtube on how editing works on Sony Vegas.
Personally, i like to watch tutorials from "JustAlexHalford" due to the fact that his explanations are clear and simple and there're specific tutorials on each area of editing fro instance the sound ,adding text and effects.This allows me to save more time rather watching a long video i can go straight to the area i wanted to know.
link to the channel - https://www.youtube.com/user/JustAlexHalford
I have tried to make some edits on my short film planning footage with Soton by using the Sony Vegas Pro and it works brilliantly without any buffers or delays.
After using Sony Vegas Pro i realised the program is very similar to Premiere Pro as they have similar capability of allowing the editor to explore and create content on different dimensions.Sony Vegas to me is a slightly simplified version of the Premiere pro and works more effectively on all PCs due to their lower size of program.
As a result i have worked on my final media product (Short Film Opening) using Sony Vegas Pro which so far have been highly complacent to me.
