Production 1

Production Report I


After all the plot and story line discussion, we were heading to one of our friend's house to try out our first scene which is professor Gnos sofa pondering scene.

      Once we started to shoot, things doesn't turn out the way we wanted especially the undesired shooting condition and light setting. It took us almost 2 to 3 hours just for 1 single scene. We were lost after the first attempt and can't really imagine how are we gonna make this film done.

But once we over-viewed the short clip we shot in the camera screen, surprisingly it turns out quite well. Black and white film is really something! It enhances the deep emotion of the film with a little trick in the lighting. And we also used the flashlight in our phone and a torchlight to act as the main light and the filled light. Honestly, playing with the lighting can really test your visual perspective and also your contrast understanding. I really learnt a lot of lighting setting and i can feel that my visual perspective is changing throughout the whole production. I'm getting more into it! For Gnos‘s ponder scene, we focus more on the swinging light effect which acts as the swinging light bulb. It creates more seriousness and deep feeling to the whole surrounding.                                                                              

And our noir film is more on third person narration, which means our actors didn't really talk much in the scene, is all about the expression and the music trick. 

              Of course we faced tons of problems throughout the shooting. Shooting venue is one of the issue we have to deal with because we need to find a suitable spot for the right scene which is also convenient to our team members. Therefore, some of us can't really attend to the shooting due to others assignments arrangement and have to delay it. And also sometimes we have to shoot at night for the scene requirements but some of us can't overnight at the shooting place due to parental disagreement or such. These lead to some tiffing among us during the group discussion. But i understand, everyone is so tiring and most of the time we have to repeat the scene on and on and on just to get it right. Apparently, i can tell most of us are very frustrating at that time. Besides the noir assignment, we still have at least 5 to 6 large assignments on our hand. Frankly speaking, i can't really put 100% concentration on each assignment. Sometimes i just gave up on a few assignments and spend more time on this. Sorry, because I can't really handle this much.

          The next scene will be the bar scene where Mr X will be trying to allure Prof Gnos into his trap while having a drink. This mini bar is actually in one of our team mate's living room, therefore if we couldn't catch the right angle to shoot this scene, the audiences might aware of the sofa and television behind the bar. Then it will be screwed.... A couple of bartender scene will be shot for a more proper "bar" environment.

We added a few matured elements in the film such as the ashtray and the cigarette to portrait the heavy environment. Back in the days, cigarette is a common element in noir film.

     We actually wanted to use the lighted up cigarette to have some smoke effect from the ashtray. But because is not really appropriate to make other people's house full of cigarette smoke, yet his family members are non-smoker so we decided to cut or split the cigarette into half and make it looks real.

      Behind the scene is quite humorous as well. Because Prof Gnos's heavy Russian moustache keep on falling while shooting. The dumbest part is he didn't even noticed it and continue to finish his sentence with a serious look.

failed!

failed!

failed!

failed!

failed!

failed!

The next scene will be some romantic flashback scene which needed a beautiful spot to shoot. Luckily my buddy's uncle has a huge Bangalore in Kajang and allow us to further our shooting. 

Check these out 

How cool is the ceiling..

Scene discussion among us 

Extremely cinematic pool

The romance scene consists of me and my girlfriend walking and having fun alongside the pool which is a flashback moment.Since she's my girlfriend, therefore is more easier to shoot this kind of intimate act,lol...

      After that, we have the staircase scene where both of us meet each other. And also some lip sync chatting in the dining table.

    All I can say is this place is fulled of potential for our film shooting because it's interior structure is very rich and every time i get there, I will make sure to fully utilize the space without wasting. Therefore we decided to stay for 2 days in the house to accelerate our progress because there is so much to shoot.

First wig in my life...

Pizza feast!

Checking in a huge room for us to do group discussion.

ngom ngom ngom......

         Throughout the whole production, we shared our sweat, tears and blood together...blood as in injuries during the shoot lah...Although is very exhausted and stress, but all of us still willing to work together even till midnight. Some of us even dozed off in the middle of shooting and have to delay it to the next day. Shooting a film is a hella work to do!

Give Nicholas some applause for wearing the mask under the hot weather for every scenes.

Camera man is definitely not an easy job.

For me, the most unforgettable scene will be the fighting scene which is me and the killer Nicholas. This action scene is extremely difficult because we expect more for this climax, therefore all the falling and jumping are REAL...no substitution taking part as well

Real body tossing, but we did all the safety precaution during the shoot. So it's fine.

     And we even extended our fighting scene to a water brawling which took us quite some time and energy to shoot that.

You jump

I jump

      This was Nicholas's idea though, hahaha! At first i heard about this I was shocked , but then i agreed this water fighting scene will be the climax for our film...So let's go for it! We have to wear a whole set of suit and pants to jump into the freaking cold water without NG. I can't feel my own heartbeat after i came out from the water. My body was numbed and even had a flu. Still, we have to carry on...

Take this!

Splash!

Furthermore! We have another water scene which is Prof Gnos's suicide moment. I can't possibly forgot about that day because it was the most suffering part in the whole production, for me and Gnos. 

How Prof Gnos die?

In the water....water...

I'm ready....

   Soooo I, as the camera man for this scene will be backward diving into the water with a Nikon water resistance camera in my hand. And Gnos will be also doing the same thing except he has to wear long shirt, long pants and a pair of leather shoes.

The first attempt is crazy and suffering...While Gnos was back falling into the water, I miscalculate the depth of the water and he straight away banged on my camera from above, and the camera poked onto my eye socket...

DAMN!

After a few attempt, the results are getting better and better.

The reason why I choose to let Gnos die in the water is because 

Still can smile...

We actually got chased off by the security guard because there's no way we can wear a full covered dress code and jump into the public pool. But luckily the timing was perfect, before we got chased off, we have done everything we need. 

Narration idealogy:

There was a scene where Mr X trying to allure Gnos in the bar.

Mr X mentioned "happiness" with a vicious smile on his face.

When he said happiness, the camera was only focusing at his mouth but without the eye.
The reason why is because I wanted Mr X to do the mouth acting instead of a whole face expression,thus make the scene more treacherous.
Our film is basically 80% third person narration which means that our actors does not really have to talk that much but only a certain moment.
And we're planning to use the Ivona Text To Speech software to tuned our voices.

Crit Thinking:

Although I don't really like to criticise other people. But I would like to speak out the facts.
Based on my opinion about the fettle of my group, Some of them are actually quite hard-working. However, a few of them are not really contribute much in this production and don't worry...I will keep this confidential.
But honestly speaking, Some of you really need to have your own initiative especially in a group work. You can't just think that there's other members will help you to do this, that's the wrong way of thinking.
During our group discussion, I really expect you all to stuff me with your ideas which you've prepared instead of 3 little kittens doing the brain thing. I swear I'm not against anyone or anything, just speaking the truth and this might really help you guys in the future if designer is the path you've chosen. Self approach is the basic of learning yet communicate with people. Without this, we can't really become something great.
These are my little complains and hope you guys don't take it personally hahaha.
And don't keep it in yourself, feel free to speak it out with me. Remember, be initiative.



Self Reflection:

Although I've contribute tons of effort in it, I still psychologically felt unsatisfied for the scenes we shot...

I don't know what happen to myself.

Perfectionist...perhaps?

Anyway, I think I can do much better after went through all these obstacles.

As a freshman in shooting film, I think I'm still considered moderate.

But now I'm trying to look forward and not regretting of what I have done since these are not only my own hard work, yet is ours...

I like to work with my team-mates, is not because the work load is lesser, but the process, the enjoyment, the raw sweat and tears we shed together...that's the point of the entire assignment is all about. At least this is how I feel.


Film Poster:

Luckily I got a Photoshop pro among my friends.
If not this poster won't be done in such a graphical way.
As you can see, I combined all of our members in a different size of grid over my body which illuminates that all of them are connecting to the protagonist which is me.
And our title is La Bella Mort which is translated from French.
La means The
Bella means Beautiful
Mort means Death
"The beautiful death" is the film title as I mentioned in the previous post.