Below is the document of my production diary, from the planning, and previsualization to the pre-production and production process. Post-production thoughts and feelings were not included in this document but you could view them in the blog posts under the post-production category, or please clickhereto view it.
Since it is a diary, not a lot of images or videos are attached to the document. However, you could click the link embedded in the text to refer to the blog pages or external links for a better viewing experience.
Rough Cut #5 was initially the last rough cut and my plan was to make any final decisions in the post-production process, adjust any little detail, and add in the final touches. However, Jennie (my actor for Nadine and Anne) requested me during the filming process to remember to erase her dimples and blemishes in some of the scenes, which at first I did not plan to do because it doesn't bother me but I have been editing and staring at her face for too long during the color grading process, that it also started to bother me, therefore I decided to do her a favor and try to erase her blemishes. However as you may have guessed, I have no clue how to do it so I looked up Mr.Youtube for guides and tutorials, and it helped me so much.
I actually also made a creative decision to only correct her dimples in scenes where Nadine's identity takes over the body. However, for scenes where Anne has control, she would still look similar to the raw footage, not only to create binary oppositions but also to make it easier for the audience to differentiate between the 2 identities. Besides the reason related to the meaning of the film's opening sequence, there is actually a technical reason which is because removing blemishes in all scenes will be too time-consuming and difficult. Due to the convention of the genre, most scenes are filmed using hand-held movement with fast motion and the character moves continuously, therefore it was hard to track the pimples to delete it. Furthermore, a few of the scenes are set in low-key lighting, making it harder for DaVinci Resolve to identify the pimples. In the end, I decided to just erase the blemish in 3 scenes where it is visible while she is Nadine, and with the identity of Anne, she would have a nicer appearance.
Below is just me documenting my process of correcting blemishes and as you can see, I have attempted to use nodes to track the pimples as well as to smooth out the skin. At first, I was skeptical when the tutorial stated that nodes would need to be used because I was afraid it might be too complicated. Fortunately, I don't feel like it is that complicated, and is quite easy to figure it out (or because I have not reached the complicated level just yet). In the end, I think I'm happy with the results, especially during the last scene where the camera slowly zooms into the character's face. However, there are scenes where I'm not fully satisfied because I have not been able to select the needed area to smooth out and therefore I accidentally smooth out other areas and the scene doesn't look as how I intended it to be. Another thing is that due to the quick motion, the pimple tracking doesn't work 100% and it kept appearing and then disappearing which triggers me a lot. Nevertheless, I think I have done my best and I'm satisfied with the overall results.
Result: Rough Cut #5
Please refer to Rough Cut #5to view the evaluation.
Or please refer to Post Production Log #6 for the continuation of the post-production process.
Rough Cut #4 is all about color grading and I managed to finish it in 1 full day from early morning to late in the evening. During this rough cut, I mainly focus on adjusting the colors of different scenes such as applying a blueish tone to the hallway scene at night, using a white tone for scenes in the bathroom, having a warmer, yellowish tone when the scene is filmed at home. I also tried to note down the different color and numbers changes that I used, to ensure that all the shot that happens at the same location will have the same tone and color to it.
This is my very first attempt at using the color wheel to color grade and I find the after result a bit hard to differentiate from the original color. For the first scene filmed in the hallway, the tone will be blue and the shadow will be enhanced, while the lighting gets a lot brighter. This helps to create a contrast and set the atmosphere for the scene. Since I have used Incandescent as the white balance, not much color grading is needed and I only need to adjust the shadow and light in these shots.
In the scene in the bathroom, I tried to color grade the scene to make it look like it is filmed in high-key lighting to create a dreamy, surreal effect. In the end, it is not as bright as I wanted it to be but it is the best I can do because if I try to adjust it more, the character's face will disappear.
For scenes set at my house, I intentionally used a warmer tone, to add warmth to the environment. Furthermore, it is binary opposite to the scene set in the hallway at night and shows the difference in the 2 personalities.
These are just timelapse videos of my color grading process. I decided to borrow my dad's separate screen to edit because the frame in DaVinci Resolve is too small for me to identify if any changes have been made or not so I need a bigger screen (which I think helps me just a little bit).
Result: Rough Cut #4
Please refer to Rough Cut #4 to view the evaluation.
Or please refer to Post Production Log #5 for the continuation of the post-production process.
Rough cut #3 was the addition of effects and transitions. Before officially adding in the transitions, I played around with the keyframes and adjusted the zoom that I discovered in the Inspector section of DaVinci Resolve. The scenes where I have used this zooming edit were when the camera pans to the mirror and reveals the character's alternative identity when breaking news is heard, when the text message is seen, and when the murder scene is seen. This addition is because, throughout the post-production process, I think that it would be better to zoom in to further emphasize the details of the scene.
Since the zoom is not manual, there are scenes where the camera movement gets very shaky and I'm not very satisfied with the result. However, I think that Zoom has helped to add additional tension to a few of the scenes. Furthermore, I also add tension sound effects to emphasize what is seen on screen. The sound effects that were added were challenging to find, especially because I already had a very clear sound in mind that I wanted to use, so it took me a while to find the most suitable one for each scene. In the end, I think the sound complements the scene and the meaning behind it quite well, which I am happy about.
The photo on the right is just a screenshot of my notes after Rough Cut #2 and I noted down scenes where I believed that a zoom-in effect could help it look better. I also noted down the sound effects keywords to search for as well as the fonts that I could use for the title ident later on. There are a few more notes that I wanted to show but I'm afraid it is written in a hurry with weird wordings that only I could remember what was the idea so unfortunately I couldn't show them all here.
Day 2: Thursday, February 29
There are 2 transitions that I favor the most out of all which are the Dip-to-Color Dissolve and Cross Dissolve. Besides the dissolve set of transitions, I also have used the effect Digital Glitch of DaVinci for a few of the scenes where there is a change in the character's identity. However since some of my footage was too short, I'm unable to add the transition, therefore I'm not 100% satisfied with the transitions between shots of my film's opening sequence. After the basic transitions, I begin to work with 2 scenes where glitches are needed, which are the bathroom scene and the scene at the staircase.
I have 2 footage for the scene and I wanted to make it a glitch between the 2 footage, representing the glitch between the 2 identities. Firstly, I have the footage in 2 different layers and have one as the base (in the photo you can see that the detective outfit is the base). I then cut the other footage into smaller parts and matched them with the action of the base footage. After everything was in sync, I used the effect Digital Glitch available in DaVinci Resolve to create the glitching effect for the footage.
Not only did I add in the glitch effects but the transition Digital Glitch as well. Moreover, to make the scene more realistic, I also added some glitching sound effects. Overall, I think that I'm happy with how the transitions and the effects turn out. However, there is one specific scene which is the scene in the bathroom where I don't think the cut is smooth and looks seamlingless to what I wanted, but it is the best that I can get for the final result. For improvements, I think that I will be more careful with the size of the shots between the 2 shoots to ensure that during post-production, I could better match cut it into 1 seamless shot and make it look like the identity is different in and outside of the mirror.
Day 3: Friday, March 1
It was also during this rough cut (around 12 o'clock at midnight) that I decided to add the title ident and fortunately, DaVinci Resolve also has a title ident template with the glitching effect that fits perfectly with my film's opening sequence. However, the range of typography that could be used is overwhelming for me and therefore it took me a while to choose the perfect typography to use, I also went through different changes before settling on the most suitable one. Besides, I also have to decide what is the name of my Media company. The options are Anna Studio or Namondej Productions but in the end, I decided to go with Namondej Productions.
The main title ident of the film, WHO ARE YOU? was only introduced at the end of the film's opening sequence, and I actually drew it myself (the style and typography were not mine by the way). If you are interested in knowing how I came up with the title idents, the options that were considered, and the final result, you could visit my Title Ident blog to see the detailed process. In the film's opening sequence, I also used an effect for the title ident which is a Block Glitch. Furthermore, I also added sound effects to add tension to the ending scene and attract the audience to stay for the upcoming part of the movie.
Result: Rough Cut #3
Please refer to Rough Cut #3 to view the evaluation.
Or please refer to Post Production Log #4for thecontinuation of the post-production process.
After the continuity was done, I started with the sound design for my film opening. This process took a lot longer than I expected as whenever I think that the sound is done, there will always be a certain part where I wanted to add in a sound or change its volume and speed. The source of sound effects that I used during the process is Freesound.org and I find it extremely useful for my film opening sequence.
This is the very first look of the process and in the picture, you can see that I'm editing the breaking news sound. I knew right away after the continuity editing that the breaking news would cause me a lot of stress because of how not in sync it is with the footage.
My initial idea was to have the breaking news playing in the background when I was filming all the scenes in the living room to create the realistic effect that the breaking news was currently playing at the time that the event happened (You could refer to myProduction Day 3Production Day 3 blog to see my attempt at playing the breaking news while filming at the same time in the behind the scenes vlog).
Since I filmed almost all the footage that is set at my house was filmed with background music of the breaking news, therefore there is a limit to each footage and I didn't film it to be a bit longer than needed, which leads to another challenge that is to work with the footage that I'm able to film.
Regarding the atmospheric sound, I have looked for a long rain sound effect to apply to the whole beginning of the film's opening sequence. For the thunderstorms, I attempted to use a wide range of thunderstorms to make it more realistic. For sounds that are too 'fake' or don't match my film, I have adjusted the pitch of the sound to make it fit better with the overall film opening.
At the end of Day 1 of Sound Design, I was only able to try and fix the breaking news sound and make it as smooth as I could, as well as match the news at the exact time when my character turns her head and gets surprised by the news. Not a lot of work could be done on the first day but I decided to spend more time to work the news part another day. Nevertheless, I did try and attempt to use the initial background music of the breaking news and let it play for the whole section filmed at my house, and then added the layers of news on top, which doesn't work so well and changes will need to be made.
Day 2: Thursday, February 22
On the second day, I spend a lot more time working on the breaking news part. I also decided to cut the breaking news into different layers to adjust the volume accordingly. As a POV shot is shown, the breaking news will be smaller compared to a wide shot where the camera is set closer to the source of the sound, which is the TV. However, even though I have found a better idea to work with the breaking news, there are still cuts in between the shots and it doesn't match with my character's action.
After a lot of work and hours later, I could finally settle the breaking news and move on to other sound effects. I also decided to rename the different layers of sound to have it more organized as in the end, I have around 20 layers of sounds so renaming the layers really does help a lot when I want to come back to a specific sound and edit it.
Besides the breaking news, there are also a few sounds that I call 'additional sound' (which is either sound that I forgot to record during the filming process, is too small to be heard in the footage, or there is a background sound that can't be removed). There are additional sounds such as screams, which I could take from an online source and adjust the pitch to match my actor's voice, but there are very specific sounds such as opening the letter where it need to be recorded separately. Since I was alone editing my film, I just decided to record all the additional sound by myself.
Furthermore, I try to care about the very small details in each of the shots to add in the sound which may help it sound and look more realistic. Sound such as blood dripping, footsteps, or door opening are all added to help the film opening be more realistic and have more depth to it.
On the right is a video of me watching and monitoring the footage, as well as trying my best to imitate and replicate the action to record the sound of opening the letter and I think it turned out better than expected. The picture on the left is just how the timeline of my sound design looked when I was editing the opening of the letter footage.
Heavy breathing was also an additional sound that I needed to add because it is a bit hard to hear and I also repeated the same process that I did to the opening letter scene, the only difference is that I recorded the sound and did not film me doing it because I just want the sound to be a bit clearer and fewer background noises are heard.
Day 3: Sunday, February 25
Constant improvements and additions were made to the sound during the week that I have been doing sound design in the end, I have a list of sounds that I have used and collected from the website, Freesound.org which is exceptionally helpful for this project, especially during the stage of sound design.
I think that I have done better than what I imagined the sound design would be. Despite so, there is still a lot of room for improvement and as I mentioned above, I still come back to edit my sound here and there after rough cut #2, and the final outcome sound effect does have a significant difference from the initial sound design that I have done.
DaVinci Resolve is the software that I decided to use for my post-production. There are a few reasons why I decided to choose it:
1. DaVinci Resolve has a high-quality free version software
2. DaVinci is famous for its color grading software which is important for my project
3. My laptop is old so it can't stand the data storage capacity of Adobe Premiere Pro and could probably crash if I attempt to download the software
Therefore, I think that DaVinci Resolve is a suitable software to use and since it also has the choice to edit in an 'Adobe Premiere' format, it might also be a good chance for me to be familiar with the software and could benefit me when I use it in the future.
During this time, my filming was done so my initial plan was to start with the post-production and have it done before the Mock exams week so that I could focus on revision. However, my plan did not work out as the week from February 5 to 14, I was back at my hometown for the biggest holiday in Vietnam, Tet and therefore, I haven't got time to start the editing process. Part of it was also because I wanted to delay the post-production process since I got overwhelmed every time I opened DaVinci Resolve and looked at its blank space with lots of words and details.
Since it was my first time working with professional editing software, I couldn't really start the process by myself and decided to look up tutorials on Youtube for DaVinci beginners.
This is the look of the very first time I attempted to upload the footage thanks to the help of Youtube. I also tried to adjust and add a sound to the footage.
The main challenge that I realize is that it is very laggy and takes forever to load on, as well as I'm unable to play the footage since it will also take some time to run it. The sound and visual also don't run at the same time so I immediately know how much of a challenge it can get if there is more footage with more layers of sound and additional effects.
Nevertheless, I tried to be positive about the process and began to start my post-production.
Day 1: Monday, February 19
The first rough cut was mainly just continuity editing and rearranging all the footage in the correct order and having the opening sequence flow smoothly. My computer was really testing my calmness during the whole editing of the footage. It was especially difficult to create a smooth cut between 2 footage since the monitoring line has been moving for a few seconds but the screen remains the same. As a result, I had to download multiple footage of the first draft and note down all the time stamps that needed to be adjusted.
One problem that I don't know why it happened is how my laptop is exceptionally laggier when working in school so after the first day, I decided to do all the editing at home, despite it not having a lot of differences at least I have more time to wait for it to load.
Day 1 was mostly me trying to add in all the footage in the correct order and see how long is the film before any cut down of footage. The result at first was around 3 minutes long which I was quite afraid of since I don't know if I can cut it down to 2 minutes.
On the right is just a picture that I captured during the very first stage of the edit and only a few footage were added. Believe it or not, it took me 7 minutes for that footage to load and appear on the screen, which really frustrated me. I underestimated how time-consuming the process was going to be and felt lucky I used DaVinci Resolve and not Adobe Premiere because I couldn't imagine how much worse the situation was going to be.
Day 2: Tuesday, February 20
After having all my footage in the timeline of the main page, I started to cut and adjust the meeting point of the footage, so that the film could flow smoothly and the action matches. As I have mentioned before, it is so difficult to preview from one footage to another as it immediately becomes laggy once the monitor line reaches the transition into the next footage (and I haven't even added any effects or transition into it yet).
Afterward, I decided just to manually move the monitor to the middle point of 2 footage and keep repeating both of them until I felt like it flowed smoothly (yes, I literally use my feelings for this). Since my film has a lot of shots where the cut is very fast and that all the action needs to match 100%, it took forever for me to adjust, and even if its just 1 second before, it would not work out to my expectation.
Midway through continuity that I realized in one of the shots (specifically the shot where the protagonist walks up the stairs), I had made a mistake during filming and left an object in the background. Since the 2 shots overlap each other with only the main object changing, I was really frustrated by the inconsistency of the scene. I tried to map out the character and have it overlaid on top of the background without the object but it doesn't work. Another way that I also attempted was to use a part of the normal background and layer it on top of the object but that was also unsuccessful.
In the end, I ended up with draft #1 which I'm not 100% satisfied with but I think that I could gradually edit it to flow smoother later on in the process.
Result: Rough Cut #1
Please refer to Rough Cut #1 to view the evaluation.
Or please refer to Post Production Log #2 for the continuation of the post-production process.
Below is the document for my Question 5 and in case of viewing problems, please clickhere to access the document in Canva for a better viewing experience.
Stanley Kubrick is an American filmmaker and photographer who is known widely for his use of symmetry and geometric patterns. I was influenced by how Kubrick set up the mise-en-scene, framing patterns, and composition of his shots. Stanley Kubrick's work with The Shining (1980) fully represents his use of symmetry through different scenes and I find it very interesting. Therefore, I tried to recreate the symmetrical look through my 2-minute film opening sequence, especially during shots that are set in the hallway.
The Shining (1980)
I tried to make the shot have a symmetrical composition but since I decided to frame the protagonist to the left, to hide the other character standing on the same side, the symmetrical view is not fully achieved. However, I still have other attempts at creating a symmetry of composition and I think that I successfully did it in the scene where the protagonist ran away, out of the hallway.
First attempt (Left) and second attempt (Right) of a symmetrical composition
Edgar Wright - Fast-paced editing
Edgar Wright is an English director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. He is mostly known for his use of fast-paced editing techniques, which include match cuts, quick cuts, fast-paced action montages, creative transitions, zooms, whip pans, and wipes. One of Wight's works, Hot Fuzz (2007) presents all his specific techniques in its opening sequence and I was heavily influenced by it, therefore there was also a few fast-paced editing in my opening sequence. Moreover, I also attempted a few of the whip pans and match cuts.
In the first few scenes, I have a series of footage (0:00 to 0:02) that I have attempted to edit in a fast-paced, shortening every single footage to less than a second long and I think that it turned out successfully. After that, I also attempted to use match cut to match between 2 footage (0:20 - 0:26) and I'm not fully satisfied with how it turned out since it is not very smooth.
π Location: Vinhomes Central Park, Central 3, Home, Bedroom, Living room
π€ Personnel: Anna, Jennie (Actor)
π₯ Equipment:
Camera: Nikon D5600 (School's)
Tripod (School's)
π Costumes & Props:
Pijama (Jennie)
Letter (Anna)
Phone (Jennie)
My Responsibility
π€΅♀️ Director: As the director of my film, I am involved in every stage of production process and is responsible for all the creative decisions.
π½️ Camera Operator + Cinematographer: I am responsible for operating the camera for all the shots, setting up each shot according to the storyboards, and being mindful of the picture and sound recorded. Any technical issues on set will also need to be taken care of. It is also important that I maintain all the equipment borrowed from the school.
Match the diegetic sound of the breaking news with the action of the character to ensure that the scene comes out smoothly
Focus on the message that was on Nadine's phone
I was fully confident when it came to production day 3 and very excited as it was the last day of filming. There weren't any big challenges on day 3 since the time limit was no longer present as we were shooting at my house. I have also told my parents beforehand about filming so there were no background noises. On that day, it really felt like it was just us in the house and we could do whatever we planned to do while not being interrupted by external factors. However, the only technical issue that I encountered was quite a serious one. For all the scenes shot in the living room, there was a diegetic sound of breaking news was heard throughout the shot. Since it is a diegetic sound and I wanted to create a realistic effect, I decided to film the sound and the shot simultaneously. This decision leads to a challenge which is that I need to make sure all the shots are in the correct order, with the breaking news flowing smoothly through all the shots. This is extremely difficult to do as there will be some shots where I didn't move the breaking news to the correct timeline, resulting in the sound of the 2 back to back shots having a break in between. In the end, I filmed all the shots with the background sound of the breaking news but in post-production, I had to remove all the sound and replace it with the audio, which meant that all my effort during filming was just for fun. Next time, I will only record the action and the background noises, then add in the breaking news during editing since all my effort in trying to match the scene and the sound went to waste anyway and wasted a lot of time.
Another minor challenge that occurs during the filming is to get the focus on the text messages that Nadine receives about a murder case for her to solve. The problem is that the text is very small and the screen of the phone reflects some of the light, so it was hard to capture and get the focus to the text. Jennie also needs to make sure that when she takes her phone out to look at the text, it is at the exact same spot that she had when I was taking the focus. The shot was also in a POV shot with handheld movement, so I found it difficult to get the shot that I wanted. Fortunately, it only took a few shots before finally working out in the end, which I am very happy about. However, next time I might leave the camera filming for a few more seconds before stopping, to ensure that not only the text is seen, but the viewers have the time to read the text message.
Lessons learned
Do not record anything more than 2 sounds together, especially when a specific sound needs to be heard throughout the scene. Film the scene normally and add in the sound in post-production.
Always leave a few seconds before pressing stop to ensure that there will always be some spare time for adjustment during the post-production.
Storyboards
The storyboards for production day 3 were a lot more simple than the other 2 production days. However, during filming, Jennie got some really good ideas for additional shots that will help my film turn out better, therefore there are a few shots that are not included in the storyboards.
Sample shots
Scene 3 Shot *
Scene 3 Shot 1
Scene 3 Shot 2
Scene 4 Shot *
Scene 4 Shot 1
Additional scenes
These are 3 additional scenes that were Jennie's idea to add, to create a more realistic scenario when someone receives a letter. At first, there was no scene of opening the door to look for the sender but Jennie suggested that it doesn't make sense how you don't check who sent a letter to you, therefore these 3 additional scenes happen. The idea of filming 3 different angles of 1 action of opening the door is also her idea, and I liked it a lot.
Scene 4 Shot 4
Scene 4 Shot 3
Scene 4 Shot 2
Scene 4 Shot *
Scene 4 Shot 5
Behind the Scenes
This is the behind the scenes footage of production day 3. It captures everything that happens during the shooting at the living room, however I forgot to film it during the bedroom session. π₯²
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