Making the digital video “Figure/Ground” Part 11: Biggest File...Ever.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
In this post, we’re discussing a sequence, entitled, “December 17”.
When I was touring with my previous film, Escape Velocity, I attended a workshop/lecture from a film professor at the wonderful Port Townsend (Washington) Film Festival.
He showed us examples of Orson Welle’s film work, including segments from Citizen Kaine and Touch of Evil. Instead of telling the story with several cuts comprised of different shots, the scenes were each shot as one single long shot in which the actors, the lighting crew and the camera man had to perform carefully choreographed and coordinated movements in order to keep out of each other’s way and get the shot as the scene progressed. I was fascinated with this, and it stayed with me. I tried to incorporate a few long choreographed scenes into Figure/Ground where appropriate, to provide some visual contrast to my usual quick cuts.
Although this is a very modest application of the technique, this sequence was filmed in a single take. The camera had to move into several different positions and everyone had to time their actions perfectly to the voice-over narration.
Basically, the father is in bed, dying, struggling to communicate with the family.
Nurse giving him water with a damp cloth.
This blog entry is part of an ongoing series documenting the creation of my short film, “Figure/Ground”, about the death of my father, starring veteran actor Allan Kulakow. The finished film is a hybrid of photographic and painted imagery, created using Photoshop, After Effects and Final Cut Pro. The film uses many of the techniques discussed in my book “Digital Art Revolution”. I’ll document my techniques, approaches, decision process and frustrations in hopes that they’ll be of interest to digital artists and filmmakers.
(Below) Saying “Hellooo.” To let us know that he can hear us. During the filming, Ian has to climb on top of the bed as smoothly and carefully as possible to avoid shaking the camera as he continues filming from an areal point of view.
(Below) Struggling...
Because this is all filmed in one take, I create one giant filmstrip file for the entire sequence. (The other sequences were made from several smaller files, divided into individual shots.) This is one of the largest files I’ve ever worked with and every little change is INCREDIBLY slow to process. Although it’s easier to maintain consistency with a single file, I begin to regret not breaking the document into pieces. The document is 267 inches x 395 inches at 72 ppi. Gahh.
Links to other entries about the making of Figure/Ground:
Digital Art Revolution Blog