Context
Type of Project: Short Film
Done for: Course Assignment
Programs/Skills: Adobe After Effects + Adobe Premiere
Timeframe: November 2023 – December 2023
Project Role: Group Project – Director and Video Editor
Other Members:
– Ian Jakubowski: Producer and VFX Work
– Jihoon Lee: Video editor and Camera Operator
– Muhammad Junaid: Sound and VFX work
Actors:
– Jerry Dong
– Sam Torok
Final Video
Process
As part of a final project for a course, created a short film called The Battle. The film is about two friends who play a chess game to resolve a dispute over who should wash the dishes. The film has a focus on movement, both of the players and the chess pieces themselves.
My main part of the project was doing the directing duties by lining up shots and giving direction to the actors. It was my first time leading the filming of a project like this and I think that overall the shots look quite nice. Initially we worked on story boarding and making a shot list of the scene. I took on the scenes of the actual match while my group mates took on the intro and outro of the scene. We had a few different iterations of the story board to help us better picture how scenes would look like. I drew a few digital pictures for the story board initially. I also used some photographs as these felt more clear what would be on screen.
Image 2-4 : Story boards made for the film. The first two were made by me, the last one was made by Jihoon.
During the filming days my job was directing. I would lead people, both the actors and my teammates, on what shots we were doing and what scenes would look like. I directed all of the Chess scenes, while my teammates did more of the house based scenes (although I helped and gave opinions during). During the filming there were some issues with the storyboard and shot list. Some angles of shots were either not possible or looked strange, so we had to adapt and work to find different perspectives to shoot from. We also had a few problems with the general tone of the film. We wanted it to be overall a bit serious due to the players taking the game seriously, but goofy as the entire scenario is a bit outrageous. Through multiple takes and experimentation, we were able to help the shots and actors strike a happy medium between the two.
Image 5-6 : Behind the scenes shots of our filming days. The first one was in a greenroom where we had significantly more control over the lighting and visuals. The second day was at my house where we filmed more standard shots. This contrast was important for the direction of our film
Beyond directing, I also took on a few extra responsibilities. One I took was editing together both an initial rough cut and a sequenced cut of our final film using Adobe Premiere and Davinci Resolve, a free open source video editor. Both of these videos were made to help us get critique on ideas, as well as to help communicate the order and pace of the film within the group. We had some issues regarding shot order as we changed a few shot angles during filming, so I took it on myself to order the shots so others could do more edits later with a clear picture of how the film’s shots should connect with each other. We also felt the film was a bit lifeless during the initial rough cut as their faces were rarely shown during the match, so we decided to add more focus on the expressions of the players during the match. This helped a lot to keep shots interesting and different and helped the players feel more connected with the game itself.
Image 7 – The final sequenced video of the film that I made in order for it to be sent off to my group mates as a complete package. This made the video both easier to work with and easier to transfer between devices as we did not need to send all the video files along side it.
Reflection
Overall this was my first big project where I took on directing duties. It was a lot of work and a lot of care and attention had to be given at all times. I think I learned a lot, not just about filming techniques and shot structure, but also about working in a group and with actors and making sure everyone is on the same page. This project was a huge undertaking that required a lot of teamwork and communication to complete. Some compromises were made along the way, either personal or simply due to running out of time, but in a group project it is important to let everyone contribute and share ideas the best they can. I believe that we successfully came together and made a fun film that can be enjoyed by many, which was the goal from the beginning