Ittiphol Srirachanikorn (4089)
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NOW PLAYING: eye in the sky - The Alan Parsons Project
There are no rules in filmmaking, only sins;
And the cardinal sin is dullness
frank capra
THERE ARE LOADS OF COOKIES BELOW.
PLEASE
REFRESH AT LEAST TWICE
BEFORE SURFING TO ENSURE ALL CONTENT
THERE ARE LOADS OF COOKIES BELOW.
PLEASE
REFRESH AT LEAST TWICE
BEFORE SURFING TO ENSURE ALL CONTENT
PRODUCTION STAGE
ACT I - "Breakfast Scene"
Thursday 2nd November 2017
First day of filming started of with an early and cool morning meet at 7:10AM. I had reminded the team the night before for all gears and check-points that they are responsible for. Here are designated jobs:
Cinematographer - Ryu
Prop Master/Extra/Line Producer - Toy
Director/Actor/Producer - Richy
Even though we were delayed by 10 minutes on schedule, we still finished filming all the wanted shots. I faced this obstacle by simplifying aspects and merging frames of the storyboard, which would have taken more than an hour to film exactly as drawn. Some frames were possible to merge with a one-take pan or track, and some needed more development and cinematographic break down.
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Woking as a team, I am really proud of the outcome we had achieved in such short time. Everyone was ready by the time we met; Toy had all props and breakfast ready by the time Ryu brought his gear and I revised the storyboard. We had some disagreements in blocking of some frames, and whether it was necessary to prolong or shorten a sequence for continuity of the scene. However we came to an agreement to film as much as we can, and disregard them later in post-production. This way, we can try out everyone's idea to see what fits best in editing, but to also ensure everyone's ideas are heard and put into action.
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"You can never have enough footage"
Richy Srirachanikorn
Focusing heavily on the micro-elements in creating a preferred reading of the consumer- represented by the protagonist as a new student having breakfast, I had directed and advised the cinematographer to be considerate and detailed on the cinematography shots that follow and track, but not expose the protagonist. This will hint his control, with tracking shots, over the shoulder shot, and gradual unravelling of his face; foot, torso, mouth, face in medium to extreme close ups, accentuating the impact on the power bloc's first taste of "gratification" through delicious food for him, before of course, taking this away through the illusion of choice. Mise en scene used are of appealing food that the prop master had carefully picked out with the calculated budget for this. The food aims to provoke the hunger and need that the mainstream audience may feel when watching, as food is apparent to everyone, and thus becomes relatable and interesting to watch. I made this conscious decision during production of the food scene, so I had stressed to Ryu on the importance and focus that the food will get. This becomes beneficial, as Toy's props of magazines are blocked and composed by myself in a bird's eye view, to show the shocking revealing of hegemonic forms that the consumer can no longer take or pick from, due to the massive amount.
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Overall, I am satisfied with my direction and the cooperation that the dream team has given to me in their expertise. We had combined our fortes and created the closest physical form of the vision I had begun with. It is spot on. Well done, everyone.
OPENING and OVERTURE - "A Happy Protagonist"
Monday 6th November 2017
The second day of production: and next on the list is the intro sequence of the short film.
Toy, Ryu and I have finished half-way through our story board and are relatively satisfied with its progress, as well as the edited food sequence which provided all the dominant ideologies and preferred readings through the micro elements controlled.
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Using "Happy Together" by the Turtles (1967), the opening sequence is based around the song; its slow and grooving nature to suggest "serenity" and order in the protagonist's movements of clicking in time of the rhythm, and his neat blazer and white (innocent) shirt and bag.
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In terms of practicality, we faced a few issues with visualizing what I had imagined and articulated on the story board, especially the scene with my hand raising up to the door and the tracking shot to suggest power. I wanted Ryu to start in a complete horizontal angle and turn 180 degrees while tracking the hand to end up in a portrait of the touched door. This specific sequence took a challenging but prideful 13 takes!
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In addition, to ensure that the movements of the character clicking is synced in time with the song, I had proposed I hold Ryu's phone on my other hand while turning the song, in order to hide the presence of a phone and reinforce clicking in time. This was a crucial measure to take, as the intended effect is to create that sense of gratification for the audiences to see things visually and audibly right, before taking this away in the obstacles to come. "Illusion of choice" for both the character and the audience.
Yet another practical obstacle we faced was the walking of the protagonist, as inspired by Saturday Night (1977), where the aim was to provide a still and moving sequence (with added warp stabilizer in post production) that technically imitates a tracking shot. Toy, the prop master, asked for a multi-purpose trolley from the dining hall staff and it worked incredibly well. We were able to manoeuver the camera as much as we wanted around the character, all while maintaining the qualities of a tracking shot sequence.
ENDING - "Bed Scene"
Friday 10th November 2017
Thinking on the spot was always my forté (as I'd like to think), therefore with the coincidence of today being Pyjamas day in the Sixth Form, I quickly grabbed Ryu and assembled some basic filming gear from the media room, and ran straight to the nurse's bay on campus to film the closing scene of the film.
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We had asked permission from the nurses as we walked in, and they kindly agreed to let us film. This gave us exactly 1 hour to sort everything out, being to location scout the three bedrooms upstairs, arrange mise en scene for appropriate blocking and composition, as well as deciding on camera angles and narrative continuation that would aid the holistic story and make editing easier to follow.
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Following the climatic uproar of society's pressure on the protagonist with the micro element of sound layering (diegetic), I had to act distressed and frustrated from the excessive noises 'possessing' me. With this, I had to stress on cinematography and angles of sorts that will accentuate this stress and potential climax.
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Directing, acting and choreographing under a time pressure of only 32 minutes left was challenging, but possible. I constantly asked Ryu for advice and we ended by sharing ideas like it was a 'ping-pong' live analysis of practicality and continuation of the film's events. Shots used were of canted angle to suggest the instability of THE BOY, and a bird's eye view to suggest the vulnerability and power that the audience and society's power blocs have over him. The degrading sequence was done beautifully by Ryu, who stood on the bed and leaning over me to provide the centre shot of the protagonist being looked down on.
Being in the zone, I had hunger to create more meaning in character development of THE BOY, but mainly some more content that will compile to express the significant impact that the society entity has on him. Also, the dream team wanted to touch on the aspect of "Audience and Demographics", as this film was a result of "apply[ing] media [topics], with media [references], for media [coursework]".
(see development of idea, first video @1:13-onwards)
The main idea was to create and suggest conflict. This seemed to be the most realistic result of the psychological and physical distress THE BOY has faced, and only bringing these back to his house- his personal space- provides full closure of the invasion of power, and stressing on the true authority of the power bloc's society rules and norms that THE BOY did not follow.
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The first conflict was decided to be physical. Already acting as a necessary transition shot, the long shot of THE BOY walking to the bed was made meaningful with his reflection towards the mirror, and positioning the camera there breaks the fourth wall visually. I stood myself and composed half the frame with a wooden block which engulfed my body, leaving the other half on the left side of the shot. This would suggest conflict, and hopefully, the still image of society's nearing-completing progress on engulfing THE BOY as a subordinate/anomaly in society. Ryu was keen on this, and so he leaned backwards on various sorts of paddings in the closet with an iPhone torchlight to film the desired shot beautifully.
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The second and final conflict was decided to be represented figuratively and touched on the "Audience and Demographics" topic of media, being based on the 'L'CAGES' model of age, gender and sexuality.
Again as a transition shot, the action of going to bed was accompanied by a quick but AMAZING thought that spurred out of my head to suggest the character's emotional and personal impact on the theme on conflict. Being one of the main reasons Ryu and I chose this room in location scouting was the eye-catching pink blanket, which breaks the gender stereotypes and sexuality convention of a male character on media platforms being associated with powerful and dominant colours such as blue, black, white and seldom red.
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This simple movement of tucking himself in aims to symbolize the character resorting back to his personal space which is threatened, hinting to the major threat of society's power blocs and its influences. Also, the pink blanket aims to question the sexuality of THE BOY as being potentially bi-sexual or homosexual. This thickens the internal conflict, as it accumulates on the prior conflict caused by society earlier.
ACT III - "The Toilet of Doom"
Tuesday 21st November 2017
A big and significant sequence in production today:
The climax of everything we've been building up towards.
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The toilet scene aims to reveal the physical invasion or "take-over" of THE BOY by society's dominant ideologies and its authority on subordinates. Also, this is the other physical form of the antagonist, other than the fly, which is hinted to be the toilet.
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Today, Toy had reunited with us, so the full dream team assembled all equipment in their department and responsibilities and headed straight to the restroom we had booked after school. Like always, time was never on our side, so we had to pack everything in the 1 hour and 30 minutes we've got.
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After overlooking the location and getting used to the work area we were in, the production went on full flow. During shots, I had composed the mise en scene, or imagined a camera in the view of my eye and asked Toy to ocassionally step in to measure cinematographic touches to the shot; rule of thirds, golden rule, 180 degree rule, composition, framing.
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Meanwhile, Ryu would swap, change and adjust between appropriate camera lenses that matched my demands for specific angles in specific shots for specific meanings.
More details of the lenses and equipment are on his blog:
I had proposed and adapted the original idea in the story board of the toilet physically fighting the protagonist with the flushing, water spitting out of the bowl, as well as the toilet's cover physically moving in a talking motion (we planned to attach a string to the bowl and for the prop master to move the string upwards and downwards in the other stall)
The presence of the antagonist now lies in the whole restroom, and not specifically one item or object. This corners the protagonist and rises the power of the society entity over a whole room, than one object.
My spontaneous 'creative burst' moments came useful again, as I had adapted and made sudden but impactful decisions before shooting.
BEFORE...
...AFTER
INTO
The toilet door becomes an obstacle, forcing him into the targeted stall for the premeditated attack.
Even the urinals make an appearance; nearly every shot a toilet appliance is aimed to be shown in order to undermine the antogonist's presence. In addition, it also takes the attention away from the protagonist-
conflict of POWER.
And of course, the classic toilet. I had advised Ryu to perform a quick close-up zoom to dramatize the power and presence of the physical form of the antagonist.
ILLUSION OF DILLUSION
We had a challenge to pull off: that was the illusion of the spray hitting the audience through the POV shot, without damaging the camera.
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Using the technique on the right, we had gotten away with a clean and dry camera, a great shot, and a happy dream team !
ACT IV - "The Social Scene": PART 1
Friday 23rd November 2017
With rapid progress to 75% of all shots done, we celebrated. Yet, we have to be cautious and treat the remaining with the same amount of effort, care and quality we had built so much work and invested so much thought into.
It was going to be someday...
And it was today.
The day when everything goes out of plan, the books reach the cover, and we start thinking.
The social scene.
THE PROBLEM-O-RAMA 3000
Friday 23rd November 2017
1. Who are we going to ask to be the actors as the "social masks"?
2. How are we going to represent them as products of society now that the original plan to digitally add the logos on them is scrapped due to messiness and overwork?
3. How are we supposed to have many versions of 'me' as multiple actors? Toy has to stay as THE PERFECT BOY and cannot switch roles!
4. How are we supposed to sync in time the motions of THE BOY with the duplicated versions of Richy?
5. Looks like time's up. What now?
There were no actors around, so we resorted to using me, as the director, the movement and actions will match the most accurate performance of the vision.
When things are not real, you make them real. I resorted to being explicit and physical in showing the impact and possession society has literally over the bodies of the social masks- the followers, from all the preferred readings and dominant ideologies of the conglomerates under those companies.
Using Ryu's duplication technique, prolonged concentration, precise choreography and a gratitude for patience... this should be a walk in the park.
Doing each actor's 30 second sequence consisting of their arrival, sitting and reaction, I had proposed to Ryu to signal myself and Toy by stepping loudly using his shoe every interval of 15, 22 and then 26 seconds in order to provide the cue for the appropriate reaction without looking at the camera and breaking the flow.
I am very proud this technique worked and so does the dream team- it paid off.
It appears as if we have to reschedule! What a rare ocassion. Well, at least Ryu gets some time to edit, I have time to look over the story board and edit with Toy.
ACT IV - "The Social Scene": PART 2
Monday 4th December 2017
Not a full week and the dream team are once again back with the social scene. Eager to get production finished due to the nearing of our production deadline, we paid extra effort in today's session.
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Alike the scene above, we needed to express the effect and impact that society has had on THE BOY. With this, I had an absurd idea to propose we recreate, using the same duplication technique that Ryu has now seemed to master, on a bunch of myselfs and Toy.
The aim was to create the psychological symptom of hallucinations of himself 'fitting in' with the PERFECT BOY as a way to tempt the protagonist, but ultimately to suggest the great power society has over consumers like the BOY, to invade his mind and vision through their preferred readings of what a perfect person should be. The result was once again, tiresome in making sure none of us moved to overlap the framing and make editing a hill up in challenge, but overall it was worth it. Spectacular.
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And like usual; all good things come to those who wait... time once again ran out.
ACT IV - "The Social Scene": PART 3
Monday 11th December 2017
Exactly a week after last week's tackle on the challenging and time-consuming social scene, I had HEAVILY INSISTED to the dream team that we nail the coffin today. And with no hesitation, they agreed faster than I took my breath of air after insisting.
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The shots today are no longer the duplication shots, which proved to take too much time to film and edit for poor Ryu. We had decided to focus on the filler and transition shots which add more colour and bridge the main duplication shots together in this sequence of the social scene.
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Wanting to tackle the recurring problem once and for all, I had recruited female actors to provide some diversity and variation in the character demographics of GRATIFLY. This 'burst of creative thought' proved to be beneficial again, as the female form may connote to attraction to male protagonists, which thickens the temptation and CONSENTIVE POWER that society has over the protagonist, emotionally and psychologically. This worked well in building up to the coercive power later in the toilet scene with physical control and manipulation. Also, I had advised Ryu in keeping the audio in this specific scene where the girls talk, as it serves to be a contrast in the prior static and radio/media dialogue diegetic sound effect to be added in post production.
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The legitimacy of a real voice and conversation the girls made aims to provide a change of mood and tone in the audience's journey of male dominated static sound effect language controlled by the power blocs. To suggest the emotional conflict (which is another cameo of the conflict theme seen in physical of food scene, musically in entrance, emotionally in social, physically in toilet and psychologically in bed scene), the elation yet disbelief of the protagonist in this discovery is accompanied by an advanced dolly zoom technique.
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Taken from JAWS, the movement and precise timing serves as the key to perfecting this crucial shot. After many failed attempts however, I had manually crafted the dolly zoom effect by physically moving towards the camera to smoothen the transition and reduce the pressure from the cinematographer.
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In the midst of this stressful time under time pressure and a list of shots to finish, Toy and Ryu kept each other occupied;
Interestingly enough, I wanted some stress relief from all the production sessions on some recorded screen time. Having recently watched Face Off (1997), the iconic opening came to my mind when I found the sixth form entrance available and empty one afternoon. From pure silliness, it became a a great transition and offered more insight into the character development of his innocence (being his playful nature and holy music's connotation) to show the before conditions as he became an outcast and gradually punished by the society entity.
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What started as a joke ended up being the joke, literally. One take. Full passion. Seriously.
As the finishing shot of the scene, the action called for Toy scribbling a black and large pen representing the dominant ideology of society on the protagonist's POV. It was agreed to employ the same easy and effective technique that Ryu created of the "smack pane effect", Toy labels it.
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It took about 5 to 6 takes to reach the rhythm, speed and performance I had desired it should be, and as usual: time consuming- even had the permanent ink 'tattooed' on my skin- but overall it was worth it.
The clean-up...