“Run, Forrest, Run” Swede - Final Cut

CCR #3

 "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"

Researching a CCR! (Research)

 Context

A CCR, or Creative Critical Response, is where students must creatively reflect on their work. It can be anything you want, but it has to answer the four questions listed. For this semester, we were fortunately required to make only one CCR about one of the four question. This allowed this to focus on mastering on CCR rather than getting overworked with making four CCR which usually downgrades the quality. Here are the four questions we could choose to do:

I've chosen to do: "How did your production skills develop throughout this project?"

Researching

To research, I had watched some CCRs made by previous students taking this class. I wanted to make something simpler since I was in a time crisis. In the end, I’ve chosen to take the most inspiration from this specific CCR.

In this CCR, it was very creative and entertaining to watch but still explains important information. Something a strong CCR has. I liked the use of his editing and the png used to represent himself. As he answers the question, he uses imagery from the tv beside him to help further explain and elaborate himself.

What I will do

I will also do a voice- over similar to his but instead I will try to incorporate videos into it. This will allow me to provide examples for my points and further elaborate on the subject to make it stronger. Since I am the cinematographer, my job is do the filmimg.

Improvements II! (Reflection)

 Time Management

I will be discussing our management in time during production/filming since it is my portion of the film. It was difficult to find a work balance between everyone in the group. Eventually, we settled on a time and plan to finish our project. 

Text message of everyone agreeing to meet up times

Of course, it did not go as plan. Almost everyone did not plan according and showed up 10 minutes to an hour late. We couldn’t really do much but just begun filming at that point. Throughout the entire film, we lost focus of time very frequently. We were barely halfway when all of us realized we only had an hour left. For me, I took a long time to set up the camera’s equipment because originally we had planed to film chronologically, which meant a lot of back and forth of high to low angled shots. These delays slowly added up and costed us a lot of filming time.

Setting up low angled shots 

This led to us having to plan another day to film. By which then we tried to really focus on finishing.

What I can do to improve

Throughout the project, I’ve came up with many ideas I felt that could help in improving my (and maybe my group’s) time management. 

First one is two rehearse camera movements beforehand. A quick practice before the actors running can help repent wasted takes and save time. 

Next is creating a more detailed shot list. What I mean by that is possible writing down what shots to film first. Roughly how long each shot should take and which ones require which actors, props, and (if) any specific lighting that needs prioritizing. Here’s an example of how it would work

Last, what me and my group tried to do on the few days we had filming: prioritizing all the difficult shots. On the first day, we finished all the long shots with the bullies. Then on the second day, we focused on all the scenes with Forrest’s braces, especially the very lengthy shot when it breaks. 

Improvements I! (Reflection)

Being a cinematographer 

When I first chosen the role of cinematographer, I had little to no experience on it. Cinematographers are responsible s for the team’s creative vision/visuals. Over time, I began to feel more confident in my cinematography, but I do understand there is still a lot of things I need to improve on before I can be “good.”

What I could have done differently/improve:

One of the main things that bother me while working as my handheld movements. Though I researched about it, I had underestimated the amount and difficulty of handheld movements (especially tracking shot!) there were in the scene until it was production time. One part I struggled with was filming the shot were Forrest’s braces falls off. Since it was sideways, I struggled with working with the environment which led to very snarky and uneven shots. 

Here is one of shots, we were running out of time to reshoot so we used this one in the final film. One thing I could’ve improved on was planning my route more carefully and did more practice runs before production.. and also wear better shoes.

Another skill I want to further develop is technical preparation before filming, especially with using equipment. There were many times where I took way too much time to adjust the tripod or any other equipment, which made our already slow production, even slower (which I will elaborate further on in a later blog). Since me and my group prioritize all the shots with the bullies first, it met there was a lot of changes within the shots. For example, still, to held hand and it required aloft of resetting equipments. 

Although I do not have much imagery to show, setting the equipment up for the first time took me around 5 minutes!!

Some things I should do next time, if I do get the role of the cinematographer again, is to definitely get used to all the equipment and be able to set up and pack up in a short amount of time in order to dedicate the time over to other much more important things… like blocking.

Referring to the Shot list! (Implementation)

Staying Organized

During filming I brought my shot list in order to make sure every shot was captured and nothing was forgotten. After each shots I made sure to check it off to keep track of our progress. Having a shot list allowed us to go out of order as well. This was especially important since the bikers were only there for one day of filming. Using it allowed us to prioritize all the bully-related shots first and complete the rest on a separate day without confusion.

Shot list after day 1 of production. On day 2, everything was checked off.

Finishing Production on time

Luckily after our two days (around 4 hours of filming time) we completed all our shots.

During our second day of filming, we checked our shot list to see if we had missed any and luckily we realized before it was too late. For shot #6, I noticed that in the notes I had written there was back and front shot of Jenny pushing Forrest to run away from the bullies. 

If we had not checked our shot list, it was a guarantee we would have missed it and been forced to shoot it on another day, which costed time.  

Utilizing a shotlist for this project specifically has made me realize its importance to being efficient, accurate and staying on schedule.

Moving Shots! (Implementation)

Context

During production one of the main things I had troubles with is shooting moving shots, especially moving tracking shots. This is because I don't just have to move only the camera, but my whole body as well. There were many occasions where I had to reshoot because it was not straight or too shaky. Filming at the park made it so the ground was uneven and muddy (since it had rained second day of filming). I had to quickly learn how to adjust to my surroundings!

Camera Rotations!

One camera movements I had to recreate were panning shots. This is where the camera does not move physically and only rotates horizontally. This is one example of a panning shot we filmed! Shot 23 take 3:

One thing I had to make sure I did correctly was rotating the camera at the right time. The first two times, the framing was off and the movement felt too uneven/choppy. I had to learn how to move at a consistent and smooth speed, considering how the slightest hesitation or clumsy motion made the shot feel wobbly.

Moving shots 

Filming shots where I had to move with the camera were challenging since the location we were filming was bumpy and I had to move backwards for the majority. 

This is one of the many bloopers for this take. It is low leveled and angled, meaning I could barely see the camera since I had to move at the same time. Also in this specific blooper, the camera is slightly tilted, not matching up to the horizontal axis.

Here I tried fixing all the issues from the previous takes. Sound here does not matter since it is all muted/non-diegetic. This is also the take we decided on to use for the Final Cut.

For reference this is what it looked like filming!

After each blooper/bad take I tried to identify the issue, whether it be: pathway issues, crooked camera angles, or timing problems. Next, I would attempt to come up with a solution. For example, if it was timing, I’d make sure with the actor know how fast he’d have to run or how quicker I’d have to move until we found an even ground. In general, I needed to quickly pinpoint what went wrong and how to correct/adapt it.

Filming Angles and Levels! (Implementation)

Sweding/Production

The purpose of a swede is to recreate a scene from a famous movie with significantly lower budget. It teaches the importance of how films create emotions with their limited amount of equipment.

During production, I made sure to have my camera in the right position to match the shot we were recreating.

We began production on 11/23 at 13:50 and finished 11/24 at 15:36

Here are side-by-side stills from our final/good shots compared to the actual scene, two of which I drew for our storyboard! (These are stills from raw footages without any editing)

Example #1

Here in this shot, Forrest falls to the ground after being fit by multiple rocks from the bullies. It is a low leveled and angled shot. It makes Forrest look inferior to bullies as they tower him. The camera is much closer to Forrest as this is a memory he shares to someone (we’re in his perspective).

Example #2

This shot displays a near ground-level shot of one of the bullies chasing Forrest. It contrasts size as Forrest is shown to be much smaller than the bullies. It demonstrates Forrest’s fear as he is being chased and makes us share his fears as well. The bullies are also moving quick and steady while Forrest is limping and slow.

 

Example #3 (with videos)

In this shot we struggled with blocking, getting the right angles and timing. It shifts focus from the bullies to Jenny. Moving from a lower to higher level in a short amount of time. This is one of the best shots I have, even though the timing is a bit off, it still carries out its message.

All of these shots are definitely not 1:1 perfect replicas of the originals. Nevertheless, putting them side by side has helped me see how close I actually got. Even with differences in framing (and timing) each shot still carry out the same visual effect the original scene from Forrest Gump does. It showed me what details mattered to the emotional impact and what difference in my shot didn’t change the meaning. For example, in the first example, the camera was not as low as the original, and it cut off some of the bullies’ faces but the emotional meaning remained the same despite that.