𝐌𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐬 ❀ 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐚 𝐓𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐚

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Classwork (Clapboard)

Here are the additional classwork that our teacher explained during the lesson which would further help our project creation process. This blog post is written by me (Chelsea).

During a lesson class, our teacher explained briefly about clapboard and its importance for both production and post-production processes. Here, he explained how to use a basic clapboard and provided a visual explanation, making it easier for the whole class to understand. Using a clapboard taught me a few important things, one of which is that it can tremendously reduce time and allow for more efficient organisation. Since the scene number and takes are written as the thumbnail, it is easier to identify which scenes are which when compiling the files in, for instance, Google Drive because we can already tell from the cover which ones to select for editing. Furthermore, it is helpful to sync sound to the image because background noise may sometimes be a problem. Since students lack professional filming microphone equipment, our teacher suggests hiding a hidden microphone or using a phone voice recorder while filming. The sound of the clap also makes it easier to synchronise and helps identify the shot's starting point.

Here is a video from StudioBinder my teacher shared for us to watch:

https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-a-film-slate/

I've summarised what I learned from the video below:

What is a clapperboard?

A clapperboard (also known as a slate) is a piece of equipment used in film and video production which is used to sync picture and audio, as well as to present information about a scene.

Appearance of a clapboard:

- Initially, clapperboards were either wooden or chalkboards. They are typically whiteboard material these days, making them more durable and easier to light because they're translucent

- The strips usually have black and white stripes for maximum visibility in all settings. Occasionally, it includes other colours in order to provide a constant reference point during the colour correction process

- Some clapperboards have smart slates; electronics that include time codes and metadata. While slates without this information are called dummy slates

The 2 main roles of a clapperboard:

1.) It helps to keep all the footage organised and a way for editors to sync sound and picture during the post-production process. Written on the board is the information for each take or shot during production, the editors then can quickly identify which shot is which when they assemble the film

2.) It syncs the sound to the picture. At majority sound and image are recorded separately so matching the visual and the audio is the quickest way to synchronise. When editing, the editor can look at the sound waves captured by the in-camera audio and the sound waves of the sound equipment, and then line up the spike created by the clap

Here is what a typical clapboard look like:

How to mark a clapboard properly?

- Most of clapperboards contain the following information for the editorial team:

↪ names of the project

↪ director and DP

↪ camera roll or card number

↪ scene number

↪ take number

↪ fps & lens info

↪ whether there is sound being recorded or not

↪ if the scene is an interior or exterior, day or night

All these information is used by the editorial team to keep the footage organised and to cross reference the script supervisor's notes on additional information for each shot

- When the camera and sound are rolling, the 2nd Assistant Camera holds the clapboard in front of the camera, making sure the information is visible. They call out the scene and take number to be recorded on the audio, and then they say, “mark.” At this point, they clap the sticks together to provide that sync point. Then the director calls action and the scene is recorded.

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I've never realised how important a clapboard is for filming until my teacher's explanation during class. I've always known that clapboards are commonly used in the film industry but I never dived deeper into what the actual purpose is. After hearing my teacher's explanation, I realised that using a clapboard can save a lot of time and that not using one can result in significant production delays. Clapboards are helpful for identifying clips from multiple takes and for syncing sound and audio, which makes editing easier. Based on that, my group and I decided to buy a clapboard as soon as possible. The clapboard we ordered online won't arrive on time, as the teacher informed us several days before our shooting schedule, as I mentioned in the presentation I attached above. Because of this, we had to use a homemade paper clapboard, which didn't really help. First, it required an extra person to do the clap effect, and second, the writing on the clapboard isn't visible because it was written in pencil (easy to erase and rewrite). As a result, it is more difficult to identify which clips are which when they are gathered in Google Drive. In the end, it just seems to be a decorative element that are meant to be presented without any purpose. But once our clapboard finally arrived, it has been really helpful and efficient for me and my team during the shooting process. It also makes file gathering and editing much easier and faster. Overall, we had no regrets with buying a clapboard and would definitely use it for future projects.

┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━• ❃°•°❀°•°❃ •━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛

Filming Schedule

Here is the filming schedule for our shooting. I created this shooting schedule table and my teammates contributed to discuss and add any necessary information that is important for this production process.

Creating a filming schedule has tremendously helped me and my group to ensure that the production stays on track and uses time that is allocated for each scene shoot efficiently. A filming schedule gather the resources that we need to use during the shooting such as the cast, props or equipments. The use of the application Jotform has enabled us to organise everything in one place in detail as well as the calendar feature to serve as a reminder on when to shoot.

Due to several factors such as sickness, weather or colliding/busy schedules outside media studies subject or school, it is quite difficult for us to arrange the day of shooting where all of us can come and participate. For instance, there are loads of times where we did the shooting with one missing member, however afterwards we gave them a brief review of what we did and they also contributed to help reviewing the clips and giving inputs. A major problem is that our shooting schedule got postponed for 1-2 weeks due to these factors, as a result we had to finish everything quickly at the end. We know that this kind of situation is unavoidable, but we always made sure to include everyone's participation even though they weren't present during the shooting day. In order to prevent any postponement of the shooting day, which would affect the entire production process afterwards, we want to spend our time more wisely and arrange our schedules in advance for our action plan.

Before change of schedule

After change of schedule

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Location Scout & Risk Assesment

Here is my location scout for our potential locations for our crime documentary project made by Kalista and Rara.

My teammates (Kalista & Rara) made this location scout and risk assessment of all the possible locations that are appropriate for each scene of our crime documentary as a pre-production process. They have listed out all the points that needed to be considered including the advantages and disadvantages of each location and any possible hazards and risks that might happen. This research aids us in making decisions of which location is the most suitable to shoot at without causing any damage or harm to the actors as well as the surroundings. Furthermore, the risk assessment table made me become more aware of the potential hazards and the need for increased caution. Our main important setting is at the beach, so the locations we choose may become difficult because unforeseen events like weather changes might occur. This could cause our shooting schedule to be disrupted and postponed. As a result, we need to find a good day with good weather that is sunny and not gloomy so that we can all attend. If there were no other possibilities outdoor, we proposed using the indoor swimming pool as an alternative location which is a safer place to shoot. Other than that, although setting up the shoot at the kitchen table and the classroom would not be too difficult, issues like poor lighting and unstable sound levels could arise, so we'll do our best to have lighting and microphone equipment ready for those situations. I'm hoping that everything goes well and according to the original location plan during the filming with less or no risks.

Document link (in case the document isn't viewable): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W0gHdGqG3ahgNeBQmwAjlM52k9m5ehHjMKeZYf_iZRg/edit?usp=sharing

Storyboard

Here is the storyboard for our crime documentary project made by me (scenes 7-12) and Audrey (scenes 1-6).

Since I already had experience in creating a storyboard during the past (last year's term 1 storyboard project), I am already familiar with how to construct a storyboard and what to include, although I still refer to my old storyboard to retain my memory. Fortunately a mistake that for most of the scenes, I made the storyboard after the script and shooting is finished, but for some scenes, I completed the storyboard beforehand. This would give me a clear vision on what the scenes would look like and easier for me to visualise and draw. Overall, it was a really fun and quick process for me to conduct in which resulting me in completing faster than I had anticipated. I made sure to include details starting from the camerawork that is used, how long the scene should be and technical elements that could be used in the scene. I also used annotations with a different colour for a more clear explanation on what should happen on screen. Since the final script contains 12 scenes in total, me and my teammate, Audrey, think that it would be easier to split the jobs into two, where she did the first half and I did the last half. This is an effective way for us to create the storyboard easily with shared and balanced amount of responsibility.

Script

Here is the script for our crime documentary project. Audrey found the scriptwriting software and made the owner file. Me and the group worked on this script together.

Here is the link of the script in case it is not viewable: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wNBLMB_xKKaKWUeJ0FStuC-9Apq3Wecf/view?usp=sharing

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There has been tons of changes in the script. One of which is the fight call between Sasha and Clara. Below is the first draft of the scene:

From here, we have decided to remove the part where Clara said, "All you talk about is KYLER (killer), KYLER (killer), KYLER (killer)" as this would mislead the audience into thinking that Kyler is the killer. We realised that if we were to publish this crime documentary in real life, it would produce some serious issues (such as sue) as if the deception was intentional. This scene also shows how aggressive Clara, thus we wanted to reduce that behaviour as we want her to be more worried and concerned rather than rage. Below is our revised scene:

Initially, we intended to write our script manually by using google docs, but we realised how much effort and work that we need to put into and we were concerned that we wouldn't produce a well-written script. My teammate, Audrey, asked our seniors about the application they utilised to create the script for their previous media projects. They recommend using an application called Writerduet, which is highly effective as it offers collaboration, enabling us to co-write in real time and the ability to give comments or replies that can be shared or published for feedback. We were all excited to start working on the script, however we encountered a major problem; collaborative editing is required to pay - and it is not cheap either. Later on, Audrey, my teammate found Arc Studio Pro, a free website to create a script. Compared with the previous website, the free package offers so much more, and collaborative editing is free, which is why I fell in love with it right away. What I loved most about this application is that they have already provided a pre-made template of each elements of the script like scene heading, action, character, etc so it won't be hard for me to just start typing without needing the adjust the paragraph spaces. I also liked that it includes the feature to give comments which made us easier to give input in that document instead of messaging in another app. They have also generated a zoom link where all members can join anytime to discuss verbally. Moreover, it is easy for me to adapt and adjust with the settings as it has a friendly user interface.

While creating the script, it took us so much time since there is tons to consider which made time management our major problem. This made us most of the time to shoot the scenes that were already written in the script. This can be a disadvantage because this would mean that we won't able to shoot as effectively since we will need additional days to complete the other scenes that just have been made. Despite this, we finally completed the script together after endless discussions in person and online. Creating this script is definitely beneficial to ease our shooting process, especially for the actors in order that they know what to say and how to act by the use of parentheses and action words. A script can also help to save time as everything is already outlined which can reduce the amount of costly mistakes being made.

After finishing the script I wanted to embed the file onto this blog, yet it is not possible as there is no option. There is an option to export the file to pdf though, so searched for a tutorial to embed pdf to blogger. Here is a video I watched to do so: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGuQNVCQ_8c. Sadly, when I tried following the steps the HTML code didn't work. I looked up for more tutorials online and came across this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtlTH-GePw8, even though it was quite longer compared to the other one but it finally worked. It was easy than I thought to eventually be able to achieve so; all I had to do was copy and paste the HTML link, and then inserting my PDF google drive link in between the quotation marks.

Research: Script Writing

Here is my additional research for the script.

What is scriptwriting?

Scriptwriting is a detailed narrative that outlines the story, characters, dialogue, and other elements essential to the production of a movie. It provides a blueprint for filmmakers, including directors, actors, and producers, to follow during the filmmaking process. A screenplay format is essentially used to express the story visually.

In general, here is what a script/screenplay should look like:

All screenplays are built out of the same core formatting elements. However, different genres may have look different. The two main pieces of a script that fill up pages are usually action lines and dialogue. But genres like comedy for instance, tend to place a greater emphasis on dialogue while other genres, like action, often focus more on action lines. Different films make use all kinds of different story structures, but the core look and functionality of screenplay formatting remains the same across all story structures and genres.

Now I will get into depth to dissect each part of a screenplay or script. There are 6 elements in a script which includes: scene heading, action, character, parenthetical, dialogue and transition. Here is what they look like in a standard script format:

1.) Screen heading (also known as Slugline)

↪ Marks any change in location or time

↪ To create a scene heading in slugline, begin with a new line with one of the prefixes: INT. (Interior), EXT. (Exterior), INT./EXT. (scenes in vehicles)

2.) Action

↪ Tells the reader what happens on the screen

↪ Includes descriptive words

3.) Character

↪ They are in uppercase and are followed immediately by dialogue

↪ Example:

DARTH VADER
Luke.  Search your feelings.

4.) Dialogue

↪ Comes right after character

↪ Dialogue cannot exist without a character element immediately before it

5.) Parenthetical

↪ Elements wrapped in parentheses, and follows a character or dialogue element

↪ If you type an open paren ( after a character element, slugline adds the closing paren ) and places the cursor between them so you can type your parenthetical

↪ Example:

HUDSON
(cupping his mike)
He's coming in.  I feel safer already.

6.) Transition

↪ Indicate special information about how one scene transitions to another

↪ They are in uppercase and end in TO:

or begin the line with a > symbol for example, > FADE TO BLACK.

7.) Emphasis

↪ To italicize. wrap the text in *asterisks.*

↪ To create bold text, wrap in **double asterisks.**

↪ To underline something, wrap it in _underscores_.

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Since I'm writing a crime documentary script, unlike films. The format may be different, hence I also searched up tips for writing a documentary script from one of the famous documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns. Below is my summary:

1.) Make the use of the narrative elements: It is important to tell the dynamic of the story when possibly can when writing a script. Don't be afraid to use narrative elements to add dimension of the documentary script instead of all narration conversation and talking heads.

2.) Use earlier drafts to determine your narrative arc: The first drafts are immensely important in determining the story's arc as what comes out of the first draft is telling louder than anything else what the potential film has the possibility of looking like that can emerge throughout the filmmaking process.

3.) Find impactful ways to tell your story: Instead of focusing on statistics and facts, try to reword and deliver it in a kind of poetic vehicle that makes sense to people. It is important to find a way to personalise the material with the use of words (you can still think about real issues while using creative language).

4.) Build structure around facts: It is better to gain facts around multiple resources (such as interviews with people). If you don't have a strong structure based on fact, then it will lead to conjecture, theories and conspiracies.

5.) Use different narrative points of view: The third person narrator describes what occurs while performing almost objectively, while the first person narrative has a certain intimacy suggesting that such events happened to them. Combining the two narrative perspectives will result in something more fuller, richer and more dimensional.

6.) Words are not set in stone (or not permanent): The writer should not worry about whether there are images to illustrate as that is not the writer's job. The writer's job is to just write the scene. The script may continue to change during the post-production process, up until finish editing the final film.

7.) Use caveats when the facts are missing: Instead of saying, "They did this or they did that." You can say, "He may (or would) have been looking for." It is a must to figure out ways to use language to communicate something that isn't absolutely true or proving something.

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Resources used:
↪ https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/screenplay-example-download/

↪ https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-script-writing/
↪ https://slugline.co/basics#:~:text=%E2%80%9CEXT%E2%80%9D%20stands%20for%20%E2%80%9CExterior,INT.%2FEXT.

↪ https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ken-burns-shares-tips-for-writing-a-documentary-script

I've had no prior knowledge in creating a script. As far as I can remember, I'm used to writing basic and unstructured scripts at my former school, rather than the ones that the organised and professional ones. Due to the reason that we need to create a screenplay or script for our documentary in order to provide narration and story structure, I had to conduct my own research on how to write a professional and well-written script. Thankfully, I was able to find websites that are easy to comprehend that was clear but concise, allowing me to apply all of these scriptwriting elements to the real script later on. Furthermore, I also discovered that different genres require different styles of script writing, therefore I also looked up tips on how to write a script, particularly for crime documentaries. Since the website I found was based by a well-known documentary filmmaker, I found it credible.

Tuesday, August 6, 2024

Statement of Intent

Here is our proposal for the crime documentary project, which outline some of the main details of our crime documentary intro plan (target audience, representation, etc). We all worked together in this.

Document link (in case the document isn't viewable): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V2-9qIpFwDHpigxkc7YP8VnlxzrRH7ILQMK8KDicz0Y/edit?usp=sharing

Having ideas written out in detail in this statement of intent from the beginning has really helped me and my group to remain on track and maintain our crime documentary within the genre and intended target audience. Me and my group worked together in completing this statement of intent, due to our collaborative effort we didn't have any problems in finishing it on time. Prior to this, we have already made plans and brainstormed ideas regarding how we want our crime documentary to look like. This further ease us when creating this statement of intent as we already have thoughts in mind and we only needed to come up with an agreed conclusion. Even with little or no violence content, we have discussed quite mature issues in such like online dating and extremely toxic relationships, hence we all agreed that 17 years old and above is the most suitable targeted audience. We also hoped to incorporate South-East Asians representation to spread awareness as they are not represented enough in the media.

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