June 4th

Today was a very frustrating day, as some people in our group still won't take our project seriously. We now have a firm plan of what we are going to do over the weekend. We have spent the first part of the class deciding on what we are going to do in the weekends when we film in causeway bay. In the end, we have decided to split up into two groups in a 3 and 2 so we can get more done: myself, Chris and Kevin in one group, and Benny and Charis in the other group to film on the kowloon side and to do the interview. Benny and Charis are going to Yau Ma Tei on Saturday, and will be in charge of interviewing a street cleaner. After the interview, and answers and the questions asked have to be translated to cantonese so that the interviewee would understand. My group will assign us other parts to film as well, because the interview does not take a lot of time, and I actually have not contributed much to the group at this point yet.

June 1st

Today was the beginning of my work with my new film group: Chris, Benny Marcus and Kevin. We have started to discuss the different topics that we are going to explore in this project. a discussion about what theme we are going to explore in this project. We decided to explore the theme of littering in Hong Kong and to do this we had to research on what the government was doing about this. So we went on several websites to find out more about the policies of littering in Hong Kong. We have also discussed several topics such as air pollution, light pollution, and sound pollution before deciding on this topic. As we feel strongly about littering issues in Hong Kong, we have came to decide to do the littering topic.

The Seventh Class

Today, we watched the Michael Moore presentations created by people in our class. I was slightly upset by the fact that so many chose Fahrenheit 9/11, as I have prepared a presentation on that documentary as well. I have chosen this film to present because I think it is interesting how Michael Moore shows Bush's personal life on a documentary. However, I was impressed with Joanna's presentation because she had actually taken the time to research on the facts presented in Fahrenheit 9/11 which had been very impressive as no one else did.

The Sixth Class

Today, we spent the class time given to start on the editing stage of our creation of my 30 second video. I have started to add some headings and the titles to my final cut pro after I have catured all my footage onto a computer. I have decided to group my video along with Christopher's 30 second clip because as there are not enough computers in the lab, I can share a computer with him. Along with this, we can help each other by providing each other ideas to improve our overall video including special effects that could increase the quality of our video. I have also cut out the unecessary footage that we have captured during the filming process so only the useful footage stays before for further processing and filtering. I have also altered the sound and the volume of my film as some of the audio was not captured well.

Fifth Class

Today, I have completed my video, filming all the in door scenes in my 30 second video. I have then started to help out in Christopher's film along with Boris as he needs my help filming his own 30 second video, himself, being the director. I have been intructed to film a chase scene with Chrisopher being the policeman, and me being the man who purchases the pirated CD from an unliscenced shop in a completely random place. I have tried to act for Christopher as best as I could by trying to follow all the instructions. Sometimes, we have had some discussions to create some ideas to make it better while creating the film for Christopher. This had however, wasted some of our time to refilm some errors which we did not have time to mend at the end of this period. Next time, we will learn to manage our time more wisely and to plan what we are going to do in the period first before working together as a group. This will limit these flaws created by the lack of planning of time.

Fourth Class

Getting started, we have decided to spend the first part of the film class to just brainstorm on more ideas to improve and further make our film seem 'appealing' to the class. Unfortunately after 15 minutes of discussion with myself and Christopher, we could not find any new ideas to add on to my film. As a result, we have started to film as our film's setting is at school. To help to make my flim better, I will need someone else to help us film; therefore, I have chosen Boris as he is has a humerous attitude and personality, and Kevin as my camera man as I have also chosen Christopher to help me film my 30 second video. We have then chosen the 3rd floor as our setting as I am selling shirts to the pulic so I would need a spacious place to flim this. Once we have started to film, we had encountered some problems setting out the equipment as none of us were familiar in using the equipment and how to piece them together. As a result, we have figured out a way to bring the camera into the small black 'alley' to film an over-the-shoulder shot.

The Third Class

Today, we spent our time drawing our storyboards for our 30 second video about intellectual property rights. I began drawing my storyboard by drawing a sketch of each scene on what is going to happen in that particular frame. I drew approximate camera angles in the givne boxes to give a better idea for myself as to what I am looking for during the filming process of the project. I have also wrote some descriptions on the sheet of paper stating what the scene is about, the kind of audio aid (music) used in this frame, the approximate duration etc. Also, I have thought of some different ideas and how to use audio to make my video more professional and I have also brainstormed on different ways to get my message over to the audience easily.

I have learnt how to list out the different ideas in my head to create a mind map, then to develop on my ideas to come up with one idea at last.

The Second Class (New Project)

Today, we have started really to brainstorm on what topic we are going to focus on and to understand what is intellectual properties. To relate this topic with making a 30 second clip, I think that we would have to first understand the topic, and then to brainstorming the different ways to show the misuse of intellectual property. We have thought of ideas such as selling fake clothes, selling fake and pirated dvds etc. However, we have thought of only these two ideas. The things that have inspired my thoughts are that I have thought of the large amount of "immitations" of clothes in Thailand. Also, in Hong Kong, there are lots of different stores selling pirated CDs. However, no one ever realizes the risk of buying the pirated CDs in Hong Kong, so I would like the fact that we could use this opportunity to create a sense of awareness in Hong Kong having so many people unaware of this situation.

A New Project

Today, we have started on a new project. This project is about joining a film competition that requires a 30 second clip depicting intellectual property along with a chinese dialogue (if the clip is in english), with chinese subtitles (if the clip is in english). The given time limit of this project is 2 weeks of school time along with the easter break to complete this project. However, the plan of the project was, first, to work in groups desired; but we then switched to working in pairs. As our original group was a group of five, we had to split up to different groups. Having problems with dealing with the groups, we have spent most of the first period to just deciding the different group we are going to be in in this project. As a result, I have decided to move out of the group and join with Christopher who is on the other group. We have spent this class together discussing ideas about what our video is going to be and to read the website www.myvideocompetition.com to look at the important rules and regulations in order to contribute and participate in this event.

Today, I have learnt how to solve problems by considering that if no one makes a move, we will not get very far and will waste a lot of time which could be used in a lot of different ways.

The Twelfth Class

Today, we have spent most of the time filming as we did not use our time wisely previously. By doing this, we did not have time to edit our documentary and our comic strip as other groups are already on their final stages of their film and documentary. This had a great impact on our group as we have finally realized that organizing our time is very important. As a group, we have felt if we have used the time wisely we could have a chance to complete our given task but since we have failed to do so, self reflection is needed. By filming the last parts of the documentary, we have captured the footage onto Final Cut Pro. By doing so, we have again wasted 20 minutes of our film class capturing the video. Meanwhile we have just discussed of how to improve our time management on the next unit of work, and to make our film as best as possible in the limited amount of time.

The Eleventh Class

During this class, we have spent most of our time finalizing our final product, the documentary and the comic strip that we have work on for the past month. We have also spent most of the time filming while everyone is already working on their editing and are on their final stages of the documentary and the comic strip. While they were editing, we were the only group that were still filming, which shows that we need to organize and use our time wisely instead of wasting it on unnecessary acts such as joking around, and talking about things that are not relevant to what we are doing. After this class, as a group, we have noticed that we still have not filmed parts of the documentary which also suggests that we have not used our time as wisely as other groups. As the class after the next is going to be the "screening class", we have decided to spend some of the lunch times to finish off the documentary and to edit it.

Through this class, I thought that our group could have done better in time management and to use it wisely instead of wasting it.

The Tenth Class

In today's class since it was a single period, we did not get much work done as the computers were not working at the moment. However, we have attempted to capture the documentary footage that we had to the computer, sadly it kept on freezing so we could not do anything about it. As a group, we have wasted a whole period by waiting for the computer to load, so we have decided to go to the multimedia lab to work on our documentary. At lunch, I have said my lines again in a very expressionless way, and Jerald's job was to educate and teach me how to say lines in special expressions and feelings. He gave me constructive comments to show the process and the improvements that I have encountered. Unfortunately, I did not learn much today as I have only recorded a small part of my dialogue and Jerald had to give me feedback to show the improvements.

The Nineth Class

During this class, I have started to find some special effects for our final product along with the comic strip given. Having done the recording process of the project, we spent most of the time searching for a better way to improve on our product. I have spent this double period searching for some interesting tones after discussing about the fact that we would still have to capture the material that we have produced from last class. We have also done some work on the documentary and have started to cut some parts of the discussion as some parts of the discussions are irrelevant which we have reflected on ourselves as we have not stuck to the topic. We have cut out unecessary parts of the product as it would make the documentary lengthy, and it would not be interesting for the viewer to watch.

Today, I have learnt how to use the program Final Cut Pro as I have had the chance to edit our dialogue and I have cut out the unecessary audios and just to keep the ones that we are going to use.

The Eighth Class

During todays class, we have continued to record our dialogue. As usual, our group have continued working on our final product which is to record the dialogue for our comic strip given. We have occupied a room to record our dialogues for the last time as we have planned to complete the recording section of the project today. We have deicded to finish recording as we would like to spend more time on finding specific background music that would suit our film on freeplaymusic.com. Whilst capturing the recordings we have done the last class, we have discussed what kind of emotions are needed to make the scenes more colorful as without the expressions in the dialogue, it would seem dull. We have also listed the different sound effects that we are going to need to make the comic lively and realistic.

Today, I have learnt that the comic has to be understood before reading the dialogue, so that the person being recorded would understand what is going on and will incorporate the feelings.

The Seventh Class

Today, we have continued to record the dialogue for our comic strip given. When i first started talking and reciting the lines of the comic, I felt uneasy. After a while, I have gotten used to talking in different tone of voices at the same time and I have completed most of the comic today (as the main character). However as other work needs to be done such as making the documentary on the process we went through. So as a result, two members of our group had to stay in the lab to work on editting the documentary and to capture it. I have also felt that I have improved a lot in terms of talking in different "voices". To improve further, I think that instead of sticking to the same types of voices, I should explore on anger, sadness, and excitement.

I have learnt a lot in this class in terms of talking in the different tones of voices that I have chosen to explore on.

The Sixth Class

Today, we have decided to start to record our dialogue. We have went into several practice rooms to see if they are quiet enough for us to record. As a result, we have chosen one of the music practice rooms and we have started to record. As I was not here the previous class due to having a Golf Competition, I had to get my head back into the comic as soon as possible so I could successfully show the character's feelings within by using different emotions while dictating the dialogue shown on the comic. Although the lines were easy to say, at first, I did not really get used to the way we had to record the sound as I have never personally done this before. After recording several more lines, as I am the main character of the comic, I felt much easier as I just had to say the line three times in different tone of voices. After this class, we have completed nearly half of the comic.

During this class, I have learnt how to talk in different tones of voices and to reveal different emotions in talking and reciting the lines on the comic.

The Fifth Class

During this class, we have started to discuss how we were going to record the sound clips along with a microphone to show the dialogue printed on the comic given. As a group we discussed aspects such as what sounds we are going to need to produce the comic strip such as sounds of horses galloping, sounds of water, birds chirping, eagle's call etc. All these aspects of the production of the comic is very important as without the use of these special effects, the comic would be dull and grey. However, it does not mean that the dialogue does not require emotions, as a group, we have also discussed how to make our speech in "color" showing the emotions that we are required to show to reveal the character's feelings within. By making sure that we have a variety of different tone of voices, we are going to record 3 different types of voices for each line on the comic; we will then choose the best one out of three to include into the final product.

Throughout this lesson, I have learnt how to work as a group and how to discuss some aspects of the comic with others showing initiative to improve, and to make the comic more interesting in the end.

The Fourth Class

During todays class, we have started to get into groups in order to create sounds for a comic that was randomly assigned to us. At first, we had some problems into organizing our teams of 5 as friends wanted to go together. Somehow, we have decided on how to organize our groups and my group consists of Jerald Lim, Mung Lok Wong, Michelle, Charis Kong and myself. We have started to analyze our comic given and we have imported the images onto Final Cut Pro to look at the different sounds we need. I have learnt today how to discuss in a group and how to project different ideas in my mind politely to others without offending other's imagination. I have also learnt how to analyze the images in depth within a group discussion which was pretty hard for me before as I am used to working individually. Throughout this class, Ms Wong has introduced the topic to us and we have discussed as a group as to how we are going to produce this piece.

The Third Class

Today as a class, we have learnt what a diegetic and a non-diegetic sound is. As this class was a introduction to something completely new to me, at first, it was really hard for me to adapt to the class as I did not really know what was going on. After a while, I have started to understand the differences between diegetic, and non-diegetic sound; a diegetic sound is when the sound comes originates from a film, for example, the ringing of a phone in the scene, the sound of door creaking etc. A non-diegetic sound is when the sound does not originate from the film itself, but is added in to create a psycological effect, for example, if the film was a horror film, the editor would obviously add some suspenseful background music to the film to enhance the mood of the film.

To start the unit of sound studies in film, we have gotten into groups of 4 or 5 to search for different sources of sound using a boom and headphones for sound precision. Some sounds that we needed to find was the sound of water, youth, danger, emergency, silence etc. Throughout this lesson, we have found most of the sounds that represent these words' definition.

A Special Class

Throughout this class, I have learnt limited techniques on how to edit the film and how to actually use Final Cut Pro as a tool to help us edit the clip that we have produced on the First Class as a member of our group has forgotten to bring the tape and has left it at home. To solve this problem, we had to film the clips quickly to produce a complete film as the project is due today (including the editing process). This taught us a lesson on why we should be responsible for ourselves and also for our group. After repeating what we had done on the first lesson, we have started to edit with Final Cut Pro. Being a complete amateur towards editing, I had to watch Jerald Lim, a member of our group who has took film for two years, to teach us how to properly edit the film.

As time was running out, we had to leave when we were halfway done as we still had class to attend. So as a group, we have decided that we came back during lunch to finish the project off. However, a member of our group did not compromise and was not willing to work on the project at lunch, so we had to finish the project with a group member missing.

This lesson was really useful and had taught me a lot; not technically but it has taught be how to take responsibility for your own actions, and how to deal with urgent situations that occur during a limited amount of time. However as I am in a film class, I wish that next class I will gain more technical skills compared to the class today.

The First Class

Today was the first class of film, and I have never experienced filming or even acting in a film. I have learnt a lot of filming techniques that I have never even heard of. Firstly as a group, we have produced different usages of the camera angles such as using the 180 Degree Rule to film a 2-way dialogue which is panning the camera from left to right 180 degrees. We have also applied the Rule of Thirds by filming a student walking anywhere in the school and we have chosen the student to walk on the corridor applying the rule. The Rule of Thirds is basically dividing the scene into thirds, and what ever is located on the intersections of the division lines will look better than directly filming the person. To experiment some of the techniques of using the camera to create different emotions by changing the lighting to show either a harsh, or an upbeat emotion.

The feeling of being recorded is very exciting, and after producing the film, the great satisfaction of the finished product is unbelievable. I would look forward to learning the different techniques of filming as I am very interested in this subject. Throughout today's class, I have learnt the 180 Degree Rule, the Rule of Thirds, and how to use lighting to vary from a harsh, to an upbeat emotion. I would, however, like to investigate how the music of the film affects the overall video in the future.