During the production of the second assignment, I ran into a few challenges. Planning the concept of the video was simple and came somewhat easy to me. The challenges however were in deciding on the execution for the project with the consideration of the allotted time and resources. My attempt trajectory began from still vector images, to a humble attempt in flash animation, and ended with video footage. In order to achieve this decision, I had to cross a questionable boundary regarding this semester’s regulation in whether or not personal equipment can be used. Although I originally respected this notion and have accepted it, I found myself in a very restrained situation and eventually decided to break this rule. If I didn’t have the freedom to use my own equipment, film where and when I wanted, then there was no way I could complete the project in time; and I am not the kind of person that would risk a reduced grade just to follow a rule that did not consider situations similar to what I had. At this point, I was only able to rely on fruit as actors and so I did. I also remembered that one objective for this project was to improve our ability to produce proper shots. So with that in mind and the pressure of time, I decided to have a little fun. I took things less seriously by ignoring the fact that it is a project for school that will get a grade and turned it into more of a personal study by focusing on different pans and ways of shooting.
If given the opportunity to represent my concept, I would use human actors instead of fruit. If I can’t use human actors, then I would probably replace the oranges with a different kind of fruit as their peel is difficult to mark with any ink; perhaps a fruit with a similar skin as pears would do a better job. But then again, if I were to use that kind of fruit, I would not have been able to erase and replace the face expressions that way I did with the oranges. I would have to buy more fruit and find similar looking ones for the multiple face expressions I needed. So at this point, I’m not so sure anymore whether I would change my process.
In making this particular film, I learned the most on editing with Final Cut. Though, my process of filming and editing has worked in the past. This time, I encountered a problem with Final Cut that baffled me and those who tried to help me. Even with the recommended file format by the professors, Final Cut still wanted me to render everything. The video below is what I found after searching numerous internet forums that solved my problem. I recommend those who read this to incorporate the method shown in beginning a project to prevent similar problems and just to be safe.
Overall, I’m happy with my project. However, I have noticed a few discrepancies. I understand that the scene of the mother orange in the bathroom may disrupt the consistency of the color scheme that ran in the entire film. Another thing that the audience might notice is the mole originally drawn in the mother’s face had disappeared as the movie progressed; I completely forgot about it as the shoot went on. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed the characters that emerged. I thought that their respective role was enhanced in image and personally with which fruit they were. Though the oranges did a great job, I was specifically drawn to how well the pear played the part as the detective. At times, it made me laugh and others, it made me admire the combination of pear and detectives with sincerity. Obviously, that pear was my favorite. It was sad when I had to eat it; only if I could have kept it like a toy or any object that did not rot. I did however keep his hat; the one I had the hardest time trying to figure out how to manufacture. It was a personal achievement in my part; I’m very proud of it and how it helped the pear’s character and image.
In producing this project, I learned the most about pans and zooms. Not only in their composition but in the consistency and smoothness higher forms of video media execute them. It was really difficult to prevent any shaking or to pan or zoom in a steady speed. I’ve made videos before, and through my past experiences I’ve learned that shooting and editing is ridiculously effortful; but this time, being that pans, shot composition and zoom improvement were our goal, I am now more aware of and admire that which go into shot those in the movies and film I watch.
Walter Biscardis Secrets for Real-time Sequences
