Documentary Production: Progress reflection

Documentary production A documentary is a form of film making that I have interest for a long time, so this project is a project that I am enjoyed the most in producing work. In the post-production of this project, it has been a difficult time for me, because of the brief is very limited my creativity, so I have to try to find a way to work with the brief that I have been given.

During the early time of post-production after I am getting used to the brief everything it seemed to go well, the main character Susana and story have been prepared, shot lists and camera work has been designed and the documentary is almost ready to be shoot now we only have to wait for Susana our main character to confirm the shooting date with the producer and every team members is care about this project and put a lot of effort into making this documentary.

Everything seems to go well at the beginning and I have a feeling that the project will come out great, but my expectation is been ruin because of the Susana our main character is lack of responsibly, every time when the producer of the documentary who is a friend of Susana our main character contact her about the shooting date Susana our main character all way said can we do it on next week any other day, then when it comes to the shooting, Susana our main character all way make an excuse to not shooting on the day that she has told us. This problem has been carried on for about 3 weeks until I feel like this will not if we keep continuing with this person.

In order to solve this problem, we as a team has decided to change our the main character for our documentary in order to move forward, because if we still use Susana as the main character for the documentary I have a feeling of this documentary will not be made.

Documentary Production: Camera format

To produce one documentary, it contains so many elements in order to produce it, as a film student who has been taking part in few production groups and also taking a role of director of photography (DOP). I personally prepare the short list or idea of how each short will be shot during the pre-production, but before I can design a short list first, I must know what kind of camera I will use for this filming and what format is suitable for the film and camera.  

When talking about camera format many of new film maker or anyone who done know about filming and edit most likely suggest me to film in 4K for the best quality images, but I personally follow introductory in thing that I have been taught because not every camera is capable of filming 4K, but if the camera is capable to film in 4K and what about the output. For this documentary I will use Sony fx100e this camera cannot film in 4K so the format for this camera is HD resolution 1920-1080 and frame rate is 25p and speed shutter at 50 double of frame rate it’s enough for me to have a good quality images. The reason of set frame rate at 25p it's becasue it is common frame rate setting that using in Europe. Other than images sound also important for this documentary due to this documentary is also contained an interview part so sound of the interview have to be crystal clear. 

For the sound I have chosen to use lavalier microphone in order to capture a perfect interview sound for the documentary, reason that I choose to use lavalier microphone is because this kind of mic is purpose build for interview so it will not capture any of location sound like the shotgun mic, because for this documentary sound of the location or the diegetic sound is unnecessary for my documentary.

Approach To Narrative: Embedding and Embedded Narrative

Lost in La Mancha

In today blog I will talk about a documentary called Lost in La Mancha, this documentary is talking about the making of Terry Gilliam’s unfinished film The Man Who Kill Don Quixote. In this documentary I can identify the use of embedded narrative, In the Lost in La Mancha, the embedding narrative which is the documentary Lost in La Mancha itself and the Embedded narrative or the narrative that bing contain within other narrative is The Man Who Kill Don Quixote film. In Lost in La Mancha I could not identify any of micro texts due to this documentary not really going deep into the making the film, this documentary is just observing the surface of the making of The Man Who Kill Don Quixote, but not really going into each particular problem that the production team has. From my spectator perspective, I could not indemnify any of micro text such as ideological or any psychological. In this documentary I can see that narrative of the documentary is shifting between the embedding narrative which is the container narrative to the embedded narrative which is the containing narrative quite often, for example in one sense audiences is watching the making of the film and then the narrative is switching to some part of the film this is what I personally feel like the narrative of the documentary is shifting to the narrative of a film. Throughout the documentary, I could not identify the sense of validity, due to the narrative of the documentary it that clear in term of the reason by is the film not being complete. At the end of the documentary, the audience is being informed that one of the main actors it could not come back to finish the film until the next six month, from a spectator perspective this not the main reason of not complete the film, so I think the sense of validity of being documentary still not complete from my spectator perspective.

Documentary Production: Market observation

Observe object and space The object for someone it just pieces of material, but for someone, it might be more than that, for someone objects can fulfill their life, dream, and passion. In today blog I will share with my experience of observing people and how their interactions with an object, so to observed people with the object the perfect place that I think that the object will bring out his or her personality to the public view is shaping center. In observing task I have chosen to visit a Bicester shopping village in Bicester Oxfordshire, at the shopping village I have seen many people with many difference stereotype interact with many different kinds of object. Find the type of people or stereotype that I see that most lady and the object that attract them the most is a handbag especially big name handbags like Prada, Gucci, Coach and many more. The stereotype of a lady who is interacted by those brand name handbags is mostly wealthy person and some also might be well-educated due to their behavior and manner and I also see that those handbags also pull out their true nature of being a mother, because when there handle the bags the lady is treating those bags like a baby that need to be handled with care. At the shopping village I had visited almost every shop, but still, not all of them due to the size of the shopping village is very big and some shop is not my type of interest. While I was there is one shop that has to be queueing if you want to get inside and that shop is Gucci, this Gucci shop is one of the biggest shops in the village. At the front of Gucci many people are queueing and waiting to get inside and buy whatever their and there can afford, the reason that Gucci shop is attractive so many people are due to the brand that is a global exception as one of the top fashion brands of the world so that is why many people can give their time in queue at the front of the shop so their can buys and own one of the big brand names produce. When talking about Bicester shopping village everyone who into shopping will know that this village is the biggest brand name shopping village in the UK, so the perspective of people that never visit this village will think that most people that go there have to dress nice or wearing an expensive product, but it not true from my experience not everyone wears brand name produce or dress expensively they just wear whatever they want to wear. I have voted this village in order to blogs about this but it is impossible for me if am not shopping or by anything, so I shop just a few items that not so expensive but most of them are a shoe. A shoe is an object that caught my attention and it an object that I spend most of my money into.

Approach To Narrative: Mulholand Drive: Double

Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive movies by David Lynch talking about women who survive from a car crash on Mulholland Drive in Hollywood Hills name assumes Rita, Rita has lost her memory and being helped by Betty, Betty is curious about history and background of Rita so it leads both characters to find the truth about Rita and the accident and who really Rita is. The use of double character is used in the narrative of Betty and Rita, Betty and Rita is had something in common to identify as double, first from the look and second is from their goal both Betty and Rita is having a dream to become a Hollywood star and other similar that make both characters get along with other very well. Another goal that Rita and Betty have together is both of them helping each other to find the truth and answer their question. The use of double is not very common in this trial of the movie but its more common use in a horror movie. The concept of double is not only used in western cinema but also in Asian cinema, for example, a horror film in 2007 called Alone. Alone is a Thai horror movie that talking about a woman that found herself haunted by the spirit of her dead conjoined twin sister. The use of double in this movie is quite a difference from Mulholland Drive due to the narrative of Mulholland Drive is both characters are chosen to be together and help each other, but the use of double in Alone is not very pleasant due to the narrative of Alone is one of the twins being haunted by her dead sister. Concept of double is a concept that can be use in many difference type of narrative and some time the use of concept didn’t mean that the character have to be the same on term of characteristic but it can be that both character can share something in common to each other such an interest. For example in The Last Samurai, the character of Captain Nathan Algren and Lord Katsumoto can be identified is double sue to both characters sharing the same interest and goal. Double is a concept that can be used forever in the film industry but it will be about in many narrative styles.

Approach To Narrative: Birdman

BIRDMAN

Birdman is a film that talks about Riggan Thomson former cinema superhero who is mounting an ambitious Broadway production that he hopes will bring him a new life into his stagnant career. Birdman is a film that has a quince way of the storyteller and camera work, the greater or director of Birdman have a unique way of using space and time in order to serve his own purpose. 

In Birdman we can see space been used a lot in the film special in the theater that Riggan perform, due to the camera work it makes the theater look like a maze when the camera is leading each character around this theater it gave a feeling of a maze or maybe to symbolize a maze in relation to the narrative of a film. Time is a key element that using a lot in the film for example in the first half hour of the film when one of the co-actor has injuries for purposes in order to cast a new actor and this scene we can see that by the time that Riggan ask to cast other actor and the time that he meet the actor is making it look like it happens within a few hours but in reality of the film it took a day or more. Time in that particular scene is being shorted on purpose to create that emotion to the audience.

In Birdman the narrative of the film is much more communicated from the perspective or the point of view of the main character like Riggan who is participated throughout the film and Riggan also being the key character that running the film or I can say that everything is happened arming Riggan. Birdman is a film that playing with space-time and time, so in order to play with space and time long take is using a lot in walk scene especially at the backstage of the theater were the character and audience being lead and introduce to space around the theater. Long take in Birdman is very complicated to make due to space is very limited and props are everywhere so in order to create that kind of short it took a lot of practicing both actor and camera operator. This particular long take is had a lot impact on how the audience experience of space and time in the narrative of the film.

Documentary Production: S21 Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

S21 Khmer Rouge Killing Machine

S21 Khmer Rouge Killing Machine is a documentary about former prison guard during the time of Khmer Rouge or The Communist Party of Kampuchea or The Red Khmer leading by Pol Pot. Khmer Rouge is a communist party that activates in Cambodia during the booming of Communism in South East Asia allies with Communism party of Laos, Communism party of Thailand and together with People Liberation Armed Forces of South Vietnam or Viet Cong. This documentary is talking about the time that Cambodia is ruling with Khmer Rouge or the communist and the experience of people who live at that time. This documentary is presenting out in a style subjected POV so the spectator experience is focusing on the subject is the Victim and the prison guard and their experience.

Plot structure of this documentary is a normal documentary plot structure that starting with SETUP that inform people with a brief information of the story, in the S21 case it starts with a footage of the success of Khmer Rouge ignorer for the audience to know what is the background history of this documentary to the history of subject. Then it comes to the BODY, the body of this documentary is a story and experience of both former prisoner and former prison guard. The body part is the most important part for this kind of documentary because this part is a part that contains a lot of information about the subject of the documentary and this part is a part that builds up the emotion and informing on the incident of the character.

After the audience being informed by a lot of information about the subject life experience and the documentary has shown the SETUP and BODY of the documentary already now it comes to the last part of the documentary which is CONCLUSION when everything comes to the ending and the question both from the character and the audience will be answer. In the CONCLUSION part, former prison guard and the former prisoner came together for the first time and the guard being questioned to answer, so this is the part that we can see every former prison guard emotion and feeling that there have about the pass. This part is the most important in comparison to fiction film this is the climax where everything going to be sorted.

 In term of narrative structure, this documentary has nothing difficult but in term of historical referencing it’s very complex and also the emotion, mood, and tone of this documentary is quite complex because this documentary is talking about life and war, so when it comes to a story like most documentary will appear tone the supporter of one either side but for the S21 the maker is communicated story from two perspectives but be able to do it evenly, I believe that the reason is that the maker wants us an audience to make the decision to choose the side by our self.

Film Theories: Representation

Representation Representation and stereotypical or stereotype are how people identify each other, this is depended on many things, for example, to identify someone as something first is from how he or she appears, second is from their belief in order to identify someone as something. The stereotype is a generalized belief about a particular group or class of people and common use in character development in pre-production of film making in order to divide each character into a group so it easy for an audience to understand each character from their stereotype and easy for the audience to relate it the real world. In today blog I will identify some stereotype that common use in film making, especially from the western film making perspective and the film that I will use as an example for today blog is Tuxedo from 2002 staring by Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Tuxedo is that talking about a Chinese taxi driver who has to become a spy in order to find the truth behind his boss assassination, there are many scenes from Tuxedo that identify Asian stereotype from the perspective the westerner for example when Jackie Chan get being assaulted by an anger cyclist he was hinting under a car and being asked by his friend why doesn’t he fight back and the answer of Jackie Chan is clearly identified on how the westerner seeing Asian people and the answer is “Not every Chinese know Kung fu” Asian or Chinese stereotypical is you have to know Kung fu. Next scene from Tuxedo that also answers of stereotype and presentation is when Jackie Chan disguise as a spy to meet with a new partner of his boss, in this scene the reaction of a character staring by Jennifer Love Hewitt is surprised because of she expects him to be a tall good-looking white American, not a shot Chinese man. From Jennifer reaction, it clearly says that from the western perspective a stereotype of Chinese men could not be a spy. Chinese or Asian stereotype is common to use in American cinema in order to uprear the stereotype of white American or any other white nation in western cinema.

Film Theories: Character emotion

Character and emotional response in the cinema

Character relation to the film is quite complicated due to the narrative of the film itself, in some movie character is not the most important subject of the film, for example, a film that bases on the true story of a particular event in history. However that kind of film is not so many in the market due to the difficulty for the audiences to understand the emotion that the film tries to communicate, so in many films, we all see that it be running by a certain character in order for the audiences to understand the emotional and feeling of the film.

When talking about character and emotion of the film we have to talk about recognition, alignment, and allegiance and use it to analyze the use of a character in my chosen films. The film that I will use to identify these three model is The Last Samurai starring Tom Cruise, before talking about recognition, first we will talk about allegiance, most filmmaker will encourage an audience to respond and share emotion with a certain character, for example, Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai the audience all share the emotion of wondering with the character when he is captured by the enemy this is the example of alignment of character from The Last Samurai.

Allegiance in The Last Samurai is clearly identify seen the beginning of the film through the conversation of the character, for example when the character of Lord Katsumoto staring by Ken Watanabe first introduce in the film is clearly identify that this character is in the position of key character that driving the character of Nathan Algren staring by Tom Cruise to the climax. For example in the first scene that each character met Lord Katsumoto order his men to spar Nathan life and took him back to the village, the emotion and mood of that scene is filling with wonder through their acting.

Character and emotion are the key elements that running the films, with both key elements or without any of them that particular film finds a difficult time on screen to the mess audience because it will be difficult for them to understand and feel participating in the film.

Documentary Production: Documentary Synopsis

Documentary Synopsis and treatment of family member story of their life. A story of my grandfather 
An old man who in the age of 72 the second son of a Chinese decadent family in Thailand, a man who been pass so many things and many interesting events throughout his lifetime. A story is begun in his young age a young man in the early 20 not graduating from a university because of a strong belief that a successful life is not depended on high education and any university but it depends on us. At the age of 20 he has been elected to become a head of a family who having power to control every family member and business under our family name. Chinese family structure is the difference from a western family structure, in Chinese family structure we have a line of control due to most of the Chinese family is running a business so the line of control in a family is quite similar to business control from the top to bottom. At a young age, he has become the head of a family, from a perspective of other Chinese families and business partner he is a young leader who very passion and talented but from a perspective of a Thai police they see this young leader as a threat to them, due to the amount of power in his hand is way more than the police our family has become a family of Mafia in the perspective of police. Throughout his lifetime since the time that he has become the leader our family always in conflict with the local police. In the early age of 20 he is leading our family to become one of the most powerful families in the country, but this is not easy due to that time country is governing of a dictatorship of the military government, but because of his brightness he knows how to deal with this dictator to get the most out of it. He has become a business partner to the government in exchange for the right of controlling southern district of the country, which mean every business no matter large or small that want to open have to be allowed by him to so it can be open. This is how young men build power for himself and for our family.

Approach To Narrative: The Matrix

The Matrix, Wachowski Brothers

The Matrix is the film that plays with reality and human perception and exception of time and spaces, the reality in The Matrix is failed due to the human are not believe in the reality that been putting into their brain and force them to believe. The main element that made the Matrix become one of the most successful films is not only the fact that the Matrix playing with time and space and also human perception of reality, but another element that made The Matrix being success is due to the unique camera movies and the amount of visual effect that showing in the film.

As an audience and film students my opinion on the idea of reality that proposed by The Matrix? and How does the film express this visually? The opinion that I have on the reality that being proposed by The Matrix is very interesting, due to the time that The Matrix is out is in early 2000. The film that plays with reality and human perception of reality is not so many in the film market make The matrix stand out amount another film, and the idea of reality in The matrix is very interesting due to the fact that the film tries to express the idea that the reality that everyone faces in their every life might not be real. The Matrix has put this question into every audience mind and let them make a decision by them self, the way that film play with a human that not only the character by also the audience is very unique and interesting. In The Matrix visual is the key element that runs the film together with the narrative, both visual and narrative has shared the point of interest for the film. The visual that the film has used is very unique because in early 2000 The Matrix is the film that uses this kind of visual in filmmaking. For example in the scene that Neo ben down try not to tone hitting by a bullet is very unique and the action that plays with the element of time also unique.

The idea that machine project a simulation world for human to live in a utopia is very new at the begging of 2000, but if we look from a perspective of people who live in 2019 VR or visual projection is not a new thing for us any more, but the interesting point of the Matrix is the greater of the film they have the idea of visual projecting since that time, in the time that no one will believe in a simulation world that is very interesting.

The Matrix is a film contain many interesting elements within one film, The Matrix also plays with dream stage in order to show a relation between real and visual world. In The Matrix before Neo entering into The Matrix is similar to the time before wee filing to sleep and dreaming, Dream is a key symbol that the creator use to represent The Matrix and Neo world.

The Matrix is one of the best action Sic-Fi film of early 2000 not only because is played by a top star, but many elements that joining together and made it become one of the best films in the film industry.