Editing

Editing 

As I have never edited any video footage before my videographer offered to do it for me. I trusted him with this as he graduated with a film and video production degree so has a lot more knowledge about this than me. As I previously stated in one of my posts I did do some research on video editing as I wanted to direct the final outcome. The link below really helped me to understand the different scene transitions which was the one thing I was focusing most on during my learning process. Throughout my film I have mainly used a match cut, which is where it cuts straight to the next shot, and a crossfade scene transition being more of a gradual fade into the next shot. 

http://www.mediacollege.com/video/editing/transition/types.html

There have been several edits of the footage, below is a brief breakdown of the changes that have occurred. 

The first edit was pretty rough just to get an idea of how it will/should look. The 1st scene had to be cut down as the zoom in was too slow. The footage for the first make-up look had to be changed as the female hand was prominent and overpowering, also the head would dip too much into the shadows. The editor added in an effect to morph the face when my model was scrapping away the make-up, this wasn't planned but I really liked this effect so decided to keep it in. 

In the second edit the reverse sequence was a bit too quick so instead of the whole sequence slowed down my editor and I made a joint decision on having the beginning slower and having it speed up gradually. Also I wasn't too keen on the match cut at the end of the film, I wanted it to fade slowly into black and then smoothly running into the credits.

After those changes where made the film was not yet finished. I still had the credits to do, the editor created a rough credit list but again there were a couple of things I wanted differently in regards to layout and description.

These alterations where sent to me with the addition of music, it is incredible how much of an impact the music has on a film. I was very happy with the music and no alterations had to be made with that. However with the credit change I realised a few spelling errors which then had to be corrected.

After thinking I was pretty much done with the editing process I realised that the title of the film also had a spelling mistake. I was shocked that after having watched it so many times and having shown it to other that it wasn't realised before. Instead of Dimensional the title said Dimentional, it is minor but something that would definitely not look good if presented like that as it is the first thing people see.

Filming day

Filming day

This post is basically explaining how my day went filming, I woke up ill and super nervous which didn't help but the adrenaline and excitement is definitely something that kept me focused and determined to get it right.

After packing all my stuff into the car I had to drive to town to pick up my model, videographer and photographer. I knew my model was going to be a little late so called him and sent him a message to make sure he was on his way, after waiting a little while longer with no response I called him again he told me he was ill and wasn't sure whether to still come down. I decided to call my back-up model as it would take him an hour if not longer to get to the studio, eating into my studio time which I am of course paying for. I could not get hold of my other model so asked my brother, who was supposed to be taking on set pictures, to model for me instead which thank God he did. Not going to lie I was close to tears at this point and just wanted to get it done today.

When getting to the studio, me and the videographer set up the lights which was trickier than expected but overall worked out quite well. 

The studio was freezing as the boiler was broken, also something I only found out this morning which wasn't very handy as my model had to be topless through most of it. Luckily I brought towels and a dressing-gown with me. 

After applying the tape we set out to film the first 3 scenes, as my brother was supposed to be the male hands in the film my videographer set up the camera for me so that I could use his hands instead. All I had to do is to press the button on the camera to cut and roll. 

Following on, I decided to film the last 2 scenes with the mirror as the tape will look exactly the same as in the first few scenes. Furthermore no make-up has to be removed and re-applied this way. As we only had a black backdrop it was difficult to position the mirror as the sides and front were not plain black. I managed to place the mirror on a step in the corner of the backdrop so when the camera would turn all angles were black. The only thing was this scene has to be filmed by hand (no tripod) and due to the backdrop issue the videographer had to be really close up to the model. Besides all these small problems the footage came out the way I wanted it to.

As I like to keep my collaborates happy and motivated, I brought along plenty of food, snacks, coffee, tea and soft drinks to make sure they are all well looked after. So before filming again we had a break to refuel. 

I brought straws so that my model was able to drink throughout the filming process; during the day the tape had to be removed in certain areas so that he was able to eat so I made sure I took pictures for continuity purposes. 

While the rest was taking a break, I laid down cut open bin bags on the floor to make sure the studio was kept clean as the make-up was likely to drip on the floor. The floor was not visible in those shots so it did not matter what it looked like.

We carried on filming the rest of the scenes in order, and no real problems occurred. Tape had to be re-applied a couple of times but that was expected. 

I made sure to get a couple of takes of each scene to make sure I had the shot I wanted. 

I viewed all the footage at the end of the day and was really happy with the outcome, now I just have to wait and see how it will look when it is all put together and edited.

Final preparations

Final preparations 

Because of my practice run I already had all the supplies necessary for the make-up application.

The only things I needed to buy now was a skin coloured body suit and sort out a mirror. 

I bought a body suit to fit the model and packed some bull-clips just encase it is a little baggy. 

I also went to Argos to get a cheap free standing mirror, although after getting it home I realised that I wouldn't be able to transport it in my tiny car with my collaborates and make-up bags. So instead to my mirror off my wall wrapped that up and will be taking that with me instead. 

I also re-confirmed the date with my collaborates to make sure they know what times to be there and to ensure that they will not drop out last minute.

I am getting nervous for filming now, but I have everything organised so hopefully the day will run smoothly. 

Storyboard

Storyboard

I have never made a storyboard before and I can safely say that my drawing skills aren't fantastic. After my practice run it was easier for me to visualise how I wanted the film to look and to put down onto paper what has been in my head. I have sent a copy of this over to my videographer to inform him on how exactly I want the final outcome to be. 

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Practice run

Practice run

This practise run helped me to refine my project before filming. It enabled me to test the make-up on a model, to see how well it stayed on the face and how the model coped with some of the discomfort. I could also observe how sustainable the make-up was under the lighting and if the movement of the head affected the make-up in anyway.

Although the tape was not pleasant on the face as the features are stretched to take on different forms it did not hurt. It gave the exact effect that I wanted to achieve.

The layer of foundation in this practice was no where near thick enough. The next look worked out well and I tried adding eyelashes to the look to increase the ambiguity of gender. However I not that impressed with how it looks and think it is slightly distracting of the overall appearance. Plus when repeating the sequence on top of the mask the eyelashes may droop or slip which will look messy.

The dripping of the make-up worked well however I think I would have to film pretty quickly after application to see it drip down before it solidifies.

I didn't cover my models eyes in the practice as I wanted to get plasters to cover the lids to ensure nothing drips into the eyes. Also in this look the make-up application is not thick enough as you can tell when the model is scrapping it off.

I am pretty pleased with my practice and it has helped me a lot to feel confident and organised for the official filming. 

The lighting set-up in this practice isn't right, it was slightly over exposed and didn't give it an eerie feel which is what I am hoping to achieve when setting up the lighting correctly. Also it was filmed on my phone, therefore the quality isn't great.

Madame Peripetie

Madame Peripetie

Madame Peripetie is a extraordinary artist, her work represents surrealisms, dadaism and is truly avant-garde. Her work displays and discovers various art forms such as fashion, architecture, and photography; correlating these aspects onto the human body and infusing her designs with her eccentric flare. 

I was fortunate enough to discuss my ideas and designs with her, her knowledge is remarkable and has enabled me to look into things deeper instead of observing the shallow information presented to us.

The main thing Madame Peripetie suggested to me was to practice with various types of tape.

There are so many different types of tape so decided to have a play around with a few. I had to bare in mind that it had to be friendly to skin but was still strong enough to create the look I am going for. 

Masking tape:

I have used this tape before when applying make-up as it doesn't hurt the skin, however it didn't work very well for this design due to the colour and its hold. Also it has a slight texture to it which did not work well when the make-up was applied over the top.

Magic/invisible tape:

This tape worked rather well but I actually liked it when practicing the looks before that the tape was visible, so decided not to use magic tape.

Cello-tape:

As previously practiced, due to its smooth surface the make-up it hard to apply to the tape also it is shiny which is a factor I personally didn't like.

Double sided tape:

The hold of this tape wasn't fantastic, it is always a little fiddly to work with too. Because of it being double sided the make-up worked quite well on it although its hold on the skin when the make-up was applied was also not very good as the glue would loosen.

Scotch-tape:

This has so far been the best, I have practiced the looks with this when I did my practice run and was happy with the outcome. It tends to hold quite well and shapes the features the way I want it to look. The make-up can also be applied to it well, so I will be using this when filming my project.

Madame Peripetie also gave me some further reference points such as Lucy & Bart's projects on body architecture; I previously researched Bart Hess and was intrigued by his work so it is interesting to see his collaborative work with Lucy McRae. As suggested I have also researched photographer Gillian Wearing and the film 'The science of sleep'.

Lucy & Bart:

Their work is highly innovative and experimental which is something I would like to achieve with my project. They manipulate the body and the expression of beauty which is another factor I am challenging in my FMP. 

Their work is fascinating and discovers re-inventions of the human form, by often using usual object yet fabricating them to represent and alternate visualisation. 

This is one example of their work, showing how simplistic materials can influence the human form. This is something I am trying to create by the use of tape and the face mask.

Gillian Wearing:

British photographer Gillian Wearing explores people's personas and private lives, often revealing a paradox. This is something I can relate to looking at my project, the make-up acts like a mask a concealment of who we are as the physicality's do not always portray inner-self.

This project is called "Me in My Mask", this project of Wearing really interested me, throughout this project Wearing takes self-portraits wearing rubber masks modelled on family members and of herself when she was younger. Hopefully just like my film, these images are queried by the observer questioning what they are looking at. It leaves you wanting to discover what is underneath.

The Science of Sleep:

At first I was a little puzzled why she recommended that I watched this film, but after analysing it properly there are a couple of factors that I can relate to in regards to my project. The film is based around his dreams and his creative and innovative mindset. Stephane talks about how dreams are influenced by relationships, friendships etc it shows how our minds are manipulated by these factors as dreams can be a creation from our subconscious which also shows that due to these manipulative factors we feel pressured to act or present ourselves in certain ways. 

This film represents the overlapping of surrealism and realism and the distortion of reality which is also a large focus point of my film.