Year 11 Term 1 - Passing the Salt

The first project we did this term, and therefore this year, was a short practice exercise called 'Pass the Salt'. During this exercise, we practiced about not crossing the '180 degree line', as well as the different roles, such as the cameraman, director, assistant director and actor. The basic premise of the film would be about 4 people eating at a table, and asking and passing the salt around.

The first step we took in making the film was planning and storyboarding. During this step, we as a class created the 'story' and shot types, as well as considering the genre of the film. The storyboard we created included 12 shot types.

The storyboard draft (top) and final version (bottom)

The first draft was drawn on a whiteboard. We later transferred each panel onto sheets of paper and continued from there. After we finalised the storyboard, we created a shot list to know which order we would shoot in to make filming easier. We also deviated from the storyboard a bit, and changed the last shot where C passes the salt to D. We made it so that C drops the salt and D gets upset about it, filmed that from two angles, and added an additional shot where A and B look at each other awkwardly. We decided to shoot everything in order of wideness, with wider shots being done first, midshots in the middle, and things like closeups done last.

After we completed the shot list, we decided on a place to film. We needed to film in a place with a projector since we wanted to connect the camera to the projector so everyone could see the footage more easily. We considered shooting in MPR (multi purpose room) 1, however we decided not to because the lighting was bad and wouldn't be able to connect to the projector in that room. So, we instead decided to shoot in one of the classrooms in the library.

Shooting took a total of two lessons, or two hours. While we were shooting, we each had to rotate between director, cameraman, assistant director (who managed the slate and shot list), actors, and being idle. Because we had to rotate actors, it created inconsistencies in the clips. 

The establishing shot with Sam and Shila as A and B respectively...

...but later becomes Shila and Shona as A and B in the final shot.

For equipment, we used one Sony camera, a tripod, dolly, and of course a projector, We didn't need any boom mics because it was a small project and the camera's own microphone was able to pick up the sound quite easily. When we were about to get ready for the shoot, we realised we had the french fries, yet we forgot to bring the titular salt, so we ended up using a glue stick with the word 'salt' stuck to it. Also, production took two days, and on the second day we forgot to bring the fries, so we had to disguise the containers to look like they were boxes of fries. Since we were shooting in limited space, it was sometimes difficult to do wide shots since we couldn't walk out any further and were constrained to the walls of the room. For example, the shot where Sam passes the salt to Sebastian but was intercepted by Shila could have had Sam and Sebastian within the frame, but because the room was quite small we could only get Shila and Sam partially in the frame.

In this shot, we originally planned to have only Sam (A) and Shila (B) in the frame (storyboard panel 4), however we decided it would make better sense if we included Sebastian (C) as well. Unfortunately, we couldn't get them all in frame due to space limitation.

Since the practice was supposed to be about the 180 degree rule, we needed to go around the table circularly to get everyone in. But, there were times when we actually did break the 180 degree rule, such as when C passes the salt to D and the camera looks at A and B.

Camera positions and 180 degree lines in shots 9-11

Shot 10a

Shot 10b

Shot 11

We can see that shot 11 crosses the lines of both 10a and 10b, therefore breaking the 180 degree rule. However, we concluded that despite crossing the line, it still makes sense because we already know the spatial relationship between A and B and C and D. The audience still maintains the orientation of characters from the backgrounds of the shots, even if the characters themselves have switched roles.

After filming, we realised that we forgot to shoot shots 2, 5 and 7. Looking back, we realised that those shots were combined with others. For example, shot 5 was supposed to be a close up of the salt being passed from A to B, but it was integrated into shot 4.

This was supposed to be a close-up on the 'salt'.

Most shots only took 1 or 2 takes, but shot 10, the shot where D asks for the salt, took 7 takes. We decided to change the story somewhat by adding more dialog and some acting. The shot ended up having D (Sam) getting suddenly upset and frustrated at C (Sebastian) for dropping the salt, and C acting like he doesn't care.

After we completed shooting, we all had to edit the piece individually. We were allowed to choose the genre, music, sound effects by ourselves. I decided that I would make the genre be suspenseful. I decided to keep the entire film keep the sound but add suspenseful music when D gets frustrated. I also considered adding some subtle salt shaking sounds. For my edit, I decided to make it so that shot 10 switches angles whenever needed, such as to show Sebastian's indifference when he drops the salt and then cut back to Sam. I will be editing the piece in Adobe Premiere Pro.

Editing the piece together in Premiere Pro. I had to synchronise the audio between the two clips to see where each action happens.

In the end, I decided to put the music throughout the whole video, but at a quiet volume which goes up as the video goes, and suddenly become more tense when Sam asks for the salt. The music I used is "Seeking the Truth" by Greg Noblin.

While trying to come up with an ending which is not too abrupt, I ended up expanding the last clip where Shila and Shona look at each other. I played the clip again if I could use something from that clip for the ending, and noticed that the music got cutoff right when the director says cut. I thought it would be an interesting twist if the video ended like that, so I left it so. 

In the end, I exported the project in the H.264 format at 25 fps. Rendering took ~1 minute using CUDA hardware acceleration. The final product can be watched here.