Production 02 : Contextual Approach

Rizal and David argues 

Filming location : Nabila's house, SS14

This scene is where David and Rizal argues about Nabila. As usual, Kim was incharge of filming. For our first few takes, we decided to film a neutral shot *Eye-level shot*. This shot is when the camera is level or looking straight on with the subject... *Refer to image below *

However, after taking much into consideration. We decided that this is not a suitable angle to film. In my opinion, I think that angle is a bit too cliche.I feel that neutral shots has little to no psychological effect on the viewer. I also think that the background is too busy and viewers may tend to lose their focus on the main subject of the scene. Kim suggested that we take close up shots as It focuses more onto Rizal and David's expression during the arguing scene. We tried to incorporate a scene from the a Noir film called "Kiss of Death" (1947).

DESIGN REFERENCE

http://hillblocksview.blogspot.com/2011/10/i-have-kiss-of-death-and-i-will-use-it.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Kiss_of_Death_trailer_scrennshot_%2810%29.jpg

In the end, we decided to try a technique called " over the shoulder shot " or " third-person shot ". It is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle  from the shoulder of another person. The reason why we decided to choose this technique is mainly because filming over an actor's shoulder focuses the audience's attention on one actor at a time in a conversation, rather than on both. 

We took quite long filming this as there were many talking parts in this scene. It was really difficult as the script wasn't easy to memorize. We were under so much of pressure trying to finish up this scene.There were times where we ended up laughing and making jokes to entertain and keep ourselves awake.hahaha XP.

BEHIND THE SCENES :D

 Kim in action! :)

sitting on the road like a boss XP

Flashback scene

Filming location : a park at SS14

This scene is where David has flashback memories of when Kim was explaining to him about the job that his father left for him. We went to the park just right behind Nabila's house which we think was suitable for the scene.Well, nothing beats the scenery of mother nature..with all the greens surround us :). Many people think that Noir films are mostly filmed during the night..but I personally think It's not necessary.Having natural light from the Sun also gives out a nice lighting effect.We couldn't really decide on which angle was the most suitable..therefore..we just experimented with all sorts of angles for this scene.During the filming at the park, there were loads of distractions that we had to overcome!.. kids...dogs barking..birds chirping..goshhh. ..our patience level was really tested at that moment. Despite all the distractions, we still managed to finish filming the flashback scene..yayy! :) 

BEHIND THE SCENES

SHOOTING AT DIFFERENT ANGLES

 

Production 01 - Report

For our first day of filming,we decided to do some of the night scenes..Choosing a location was really a tricky task for us, but we finally settled in with Nabila's housing area at SS14. Our filming started at 9pm and ended at approximately 2am.Well, It actually ended around 3 something..but I had to leave early as my dad was already waiting to send me home.Many appologies to my team mates for filming 2 extra scenes without my assistance :(.. I really wanted to stay longer but I didn't want to make my dad wait for me..hmmm..that's what you get for not owning a car of your own..pffft..

While filming takes place, Kim and David would take turns to be the videographer.On the other hand, I would mainly incharge of taking photographic evidence for our report. As for lighting, me and Kim would take turns to be incharge while Nabila would direct us throughout the film making process.

To be honest, our filming is not progressing smoothly at all. Our teamwork is great but the thing is that we easily get distracted by other stuffs and lose focus on our filming. A LOT of filming time was wasted due to our lack of discipline..*sighhh*. There were at times where we got really determined to film, but ocassionally, we tend to slack off a little. I don't blame anyone for this as I myself did the same. However, we managed to work together as a team and motivated each other into finishing our film. Punctuality/timing was another issue. I don't want to be elaborating much on this..

My main contribution to this film is basically lighting and also being their photographer. I didn't mind taking up this part because I really enjoy photography :). As for the lighting part, I got really lost at first and didn't know what to do. Thank god for my lovely team mates who assisted/guided me throughout this process. I also played a very minor acting part in the film. I'm personally not really good at acting so I think It was a really really really really good choice to not have me in a lot of acting scenes..I prefer to be "behind the scenes" all the time XD.haha..Anyways, as for the narrative..I still have doubts about our cult...I don't think It's as strong as the other groups cult..but It's kinda too late to regret at this moment. I should have voiced out about it but..haih...Besides, I thought our film will be more on the action stuffs like for example ; killing,murder scenes and also investigations..You know..like those typical Noir Films..However,we're going for a totally different approach to this.We are focusing more on the friendship of our cult leader. I'm not sure if what we're doing is right..but I'll just have to trust my team members with this...I just hope that everything turns out alright in the end and will receive positive comments during our film screening *prays*.

Production 01 - Contextual Approach

David is walking to the park and sees Nabila and Rizal

 

As David is walking to the park where he Nab and Rizal always go to, he sees Nab and Rizal there, 
cuddling on the park bench. David turns back and walks off in anger and jealousy, throwing the paper bag to the ground. For this scene, we had to play with all sorts of angles to find the correct position to film. Kim tried filming from the normal eye level view while I tried low angle filming

Low angle shots help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Lighting wasn't really a big issue for this scene. We had sufficient amount of lighting from the streetlights nearby the housing area :). The streetlights gave us a cast of David's shadow which adds on more to the "Noir feeling". Not only that, the lights were perfectly shined onto David's face which gives a more detailed outline of his face and expression.

-Rizal and Nabila chilling at the park bench -

This scene was done really fast as there was nothing much to film about. A little bit of extra lighting had to be used in this scene as It wasn't really bright at that area. I was incharge of holding my phone light and directing it towards both of them. It was an easy part to film as they were both naturally " lovely dovely" with each other..tehehehe xP.

DESIGN REFERENCE

Reference source : http://www.flickr.com/photos/27672048@N00/6988703312/

  Reference source : http://isatv.com/lifestyle/romantic-date-locations/attachment/tumblr_m94ptrm0lw1rv2iiao1_500/

Murder attempt to kill Rizal

This is a scene where Rizal drops his lighter and missed a gun shot .Honestly, we took A LOT of time taking this "murder scene" over and over again.This is because timing when he picks up the lighter and when the killer make a shot has to be in sync. Due to the lack of lighting, we had to use several sources of light. Kim was holding the light source where Rizal drops his lighter.Not only that, Rizal's car headlights were also use as one of our main sources of light..Many thanks to Rizal for saving our lives by contributing his car lights =)
Rizal's car lights casted a shadow onto the trees which really makes a good lighting effect to our Noir film. I personally love how the shadow creates a mysterious feeling. We tried our best to not reveal the killer, therefore..a dark background is needed and highlights on Rizal's action :)

 DESIGN REFERENCE

We tried our best to incorporate this type of lighting for the murder scene. Instead of streetlights..we replaced them with car lights instead..This was because the streetlights around the park area weren't bright enough and It wasn't at the location where we need it to be.

Reference soucre : http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/nex3/Interesting