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The Stanley Kubrick project over the last couple of weeks has been a really interesting project. It gave me a lot of new skills and knowledge as a filmmaker. The one amazing thing stood out to me while doing this project was how much effort Kubrick put into his work.
How did I develop My idea?(Pre Production)
My idea for my Stanley Kubrick project is about a man called Jack who keeps getting phone calls from an unknown number but the person on the phone says ‘If you leave the house you will die”! Jack try’s to phone the police but all the phone lines are down and the man the phone rings one more time. Jack says “where are you”(fade to black). Jack walks down an alleyway where he sees a figure! (But the viewer can’t see the killer’s point of view) and the man gets stabbed to death 💀(with a lot of blood inspired by the shining). The end scene you realise it’s all in the man’s head. My idea for the story developed in a lot of ways while watching Kubrick films, including the way he used different camera techniques e.g. the one point perspective and the symmetry work Kubrick used in his films.
The two films which really inspired me with my storyline and my overall film was ‘Full Metal Jacket’ and one of my favorite films Kubrick ever made was ‘The Shining’. They inspired me by the overall way the characters were portrayed in the film, for example, the characters ‘Jack’ and ‘Private Pile’ in the films. Their characters were showing mental health issues in both of the films and I liked how Kubrick showed how both characters were slowly going mad in everyday life.
For example here is a comparison between the two characters which I did from one of my slides for my powerpoint for task one.
I am going to compare and contrast two inspired characters from the Full metal jacket and The Shining.
Jack form The Shining was an extremely sympathetic character and he was a good husband, and a good writer in the most part, but in a lot of ways the hotel transformed Jack from a good person into an evil person.
Private Pyle was a marine in training but Private Pyle was an emotionally unstable individual who shouldn’t have been allowed into military service. In the first place, his character was showing mental health issues nearer the end of the film.
In my opinion, the two characters had a lot of the same mental health issues. I think this is why the two characters inspired me in a lot of ways with my character Jack in ‘The Phone Call’.
Pre-production forms
Scripted; How I made this was using a software called Celtext
Project Proposal; Used the programme word
I 
My production
The filming took about 3 hours long because we had to set up all the equipment to the best of our standards keeping in our minds how ‘Standly Kubrick used to spend hours setting up his equipment and stressing out people on set. After setting up I went through the script again with my cameraman, Jacob Rogers, showing him how I would like the camera angles to be and also asking his opinion on what shots to include in the project. One problem we faced straight into the production was my Canon 200d camera wasn’t charged, so I was really happy my cameraman had a 4k camera spare on set which made life easier.
The location we picked for production was, simply put, amazing because we did our research of locations (also we didn’t pick any busy locations too). The first location we picked is a games room that we have in the garden at my home location. The location was perfect because I wanted to give my short film a classic look and feel to it. I think this location really embraced the classic look.
Here is a screen shot showing you the first location we picked for ‘The Phone call’
My second location was down an alleyway in Warlingham. I picked this location because I was inspired from one scene of The Shining where Billy sees the horror girls down the hall way. I felt the location really created a horror feel to the film also it a great way to show one of Kubrick camera tricks in his films, which was the one point Perspective .
Here is a screenshot showing my character Jack meeting his killer for the first time!!
Here is a screenshot of Billy seeing the Horror girls for the first time!!
Post-Production ( Editing)
My ‘post-production editing’ for my short inspired film the phone call was achieved by using an editing program called ‘Adobe Premier Pro CC’ which has been a reliable program over the last 2 years. I imported my video clip into the timeline, then I did a rough edit to see how my clip’s looked and sounded. The only problem I had was editing in 4k because the program can’t handle 4k very well.
I overcame this editing problem by using a tool called ‘ Render in and out effect’; I used this tool as a work-around while editing because it is very hard to look through footage when it is lagging on the timeline.
Here is a screenshot showing my editing timeline:
After looking back at my footage in the timeline. I noted an audio issue throughout all my clips in the timeline. The issue was that I kept hearing a hissing sound coming from my surroundings in the footage. I worked out what was causing the problem in the sound quality in my footage. I was using a shotgun microphone to capture clean audio but I didn’t realize I had a broken lead connected to my canon 200d camera which was causing the hissing issue.
After getting over the issue, I did some soundscape work with Steve Davids.
Why are sound effects so important in a film?
The ‘sound’ refers to everything we hear in a movie — words, sound effects, and music. The sound is used in the film to heighten a mood, provide us with information about the location of a scene, advance the plot, and tell us about the characters in the story. There are two categories of sound in a film: Diegetic and Non-Diegetic.
What I have learned doing soundscape is how hard it truly is making the sounds seem like they are happening in the scene, for example, I downloaded one sound effect called ‘Old fashion telephone’ I thought to myself I would just add the sound effect onto the timeline in adobe premiere pro but I was wrong….
The reason I was wrong about the sound effect was that you have to do a lot more than just adding the sound effect in the timeline; what you have to do is spend a lot of time making the sound right in the scene by using the different effects in the program including Adobe Audition, logic x….. Also, the most important thing in the film industry with sound is hearing back the sound effects in a real studio with speakers in order to check if you got the right levels of the audio and to check if you got any problems in the sound wave.
The one sound effect I recorded with my rode video microphone was the line in the scene where ‘Jack’ gets an unknown caller calling him with the line “If you leave the house you die”. The person I recorded was my dad because I felt he fitted the character well.
I wouldn’t know this if I hadn’t expanded my skills and knowledge learning about the soundscape aspect and also making mistakes with the soundscape as I learn tfrom my mistakes in a big way.
Here are the sound effects I added to my short film:
Havard Generator
15 Facts About Your Favorite Stanley Kubrick Movies | Mental Floss. 2018. 15 Facts About Your Favorite Stanley Kubrick Movies | Mental Floss. [ONLINE] Available at: http://mentalfloss.com/article/89560/15-facts-about-your-favorite-stanley-kubrick-movies. [Accessed 26 March 2018].
IMDb. 2018. Stanley Kubrick – IMDb. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000040/. [Accessed 26 March 2018].
Highsnobiety. 2018. Stanley Kubrick: What You Need to Know About His Films. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/08/19/stanley-kubrick/. [Accessed 26 March 2018].
The Phone Call inspired by Stanley Kubrick.
Today as a group we went to see the Stanley Kubrick Archive at the URL in London. I thought the experience today was very inspiring to see Stanley Kubrick work in the flesh. One amazing thing I learnt from this experience was the pre production side of film making is very important in the film industry.
Stanley Kubrick pre production work in the archive was amazing to see from all the script for his work on 2001,and the yellow notes with the words saying ‘All work and no play dull boy jack’ from the shining.
Here are the pictures,I took with my iPhone X showing the Stanley Kubrick archive.
Harvard Referencing
University of Arts London, Web Team. 2018. The Stanley Kubrick Archive – Archives & Special Collections Centre – UAL. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.arts.ac.uk/study-at-ual/library-services/collections-and-archives/archives-and-special-collections-centre/stanley-kubrick-archive/. [Accessed 21 March 2018].
Today I finished the post-production stage of my project by exporting my short inspired Standley Kubrick film ‘The Phone Call’ from the adobe premiere pro software to my youtube account at the college also on my own personal account outside the college.
The one problem I faced with exporting my finished project was I had to export two version to my finished film, this is because I have been working with the 4k resolution in the post-production edited. but I was speaking to my course teacher ‘Elena’ and she said “I cant export my short film in 4k because the college cant handles the 4k resolution on their server” what I had to be export the second version in a different resolution .
Here is the setting, I had to export my short film the phone call into;
The college version
format resolution
H264 720p
The difference between 720p vs 4k are:
720P Revolution
When we reference a resolution — 720p, for example — it refers to the rows and columns of pixels inside a display. A 720p television has 1,280 columns and 720 rows of pixels, hence “720p.” Multiply the two numbers for a total of 921,600 pixels. This is the minimum resolution that can be called “high definition,” or HD.
4K “Ultra HD”
The next level of HD is 4K — often called “Ultra HD” or UHD. Technically, the name is a bit of a misnomer, because there are only 3,840 columns and 2,160 rows of pixels (so shouldn’t it be 2160p?). That’s a total of 8,294,400 pixels, which is four times as many pixels as a Full HD 1080p display and nine times as many pixels as a 720p display.
Thier are a lot of differences in the specs of 720p vs 4k but Watching the footage back on my iMac pro, you cant really tell the revolution have changed all that much from 4k revolution to 720p…. this is because how good my quality of the cameras used in the project was and how my research into the lighting aspected help make a good looking video.
just can’t wait until I can show the rest of the class, my short film ‘The Phone Call’. Here is my finished project ‘The Phone Call’
Today I wanted to find out what people thought and feeling were about my film’ The phone call‘ have I covered all the aspects of ‘Stanley Kubrick’ style of filming? including The one point perceptive and one viewpoint.
I think it good to hear from other people feedback, because you cant get better and improve on your filmmaking skills
The only thing I think I didn’t cover was symmetry in my shots
Today I started my ‘post-production editing’ for my short inspired film the phone call. I achieve this by using an editing program called ‘Adobe primer pro cc’ which has been a reliable program over the last 2 year using the software. I imported my video clip into the timeline, after importing them I did a rough edited to see how my clip’s looked and sounded. The only problem I’m having is editing in 4k because of the program cant handly 4k very well.
I overcame this editing program by using a tool called ‘ Render in and out effect’, I used this tool to get a better workout space while editing because of it very hard to look through footage when it lagging on the timeline.
Here is a screenshot showing my editing timeline
On 14/3/18 I’m currently working on the soundscape for the scenes in my film because I have a lot of foley work to include in different areas of my film. I will be working with one of the sound people at the college called ‘Steve Davids’ working on making the sound effects work in the phone call scene of my film.
why are sound effects used so important in a film?
The sound” refers to everything we hear in a movie — words, sound effects, and music. The sound is used in the film to heighten a mood, provide us with information about the location of a scene, advance the plot, and tell us about the characters in the story. There are two categories of sound in a film: Diegetic and Non-Diegetic.
What I have learned so fair doing soundscape is how hard it truly is making the sounds seem like they are happening in the scene, for example, I downloaded one sound effect called ‘Old fashion telephone’ I thought to myself I would just add the sound effect onto the timeline in adobe premiere pro but I was wrong….
The reason I was wrong about the sound effect was you have to do a lot more than just adding the sound effect in the timeline, what you have to do is spend a lot of time making the sound right in the scene by using the different effect in the program including Adobe Audition, logic x….. Also, the most important thing in the film industry with sound is hearing back the sound effect you a real studio with speak to checked if you got the right levels of the audio and to check if you got any problems in the sound wave.
The one sound effect, I recorded with my rode video microphone was the line in the scene where ‘Jack’ gets an unknown caller calling him’ with the line “If you leave the house you die” The person I recorded was my dad because I felt he fitted the character well.
I wouldn’t know this if I didn’t expand my skills and knowledge to learn the soundscape aspect also making mistakes with the soundscape because I learn from my mistakes in a big way.
Here is all the sound effect I added to ‘the phone call’
The sound effect above (Old fashion phone call) was added to the scene where my character ‘Jack’ gets an unknown phone call from a mystery man.
The sound effect above( Scary Heavy Breathing) was added to the scene where my character ‘Jack’ gets an unknown phone call from a mystery man. I added this sound effect in because it creates tension in the scene.
The sound effect above( Cinematic tension Buildup) was added to the scene where my character ‘Jack’ meet the unknown killer down the alleyway. I picked this sound effect because I think it really fits the scene perfectly.
Harvard referencing generator
The Los Angeles Film School. 2018. The Importance of Sound – The Los Angeles Film School. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.lafilm.edu/blog/the-importance-of-sound/. [Accessed 16 March 2018].
prezi.com. 2018. Why is sound so important in a film? by Tom Durnford on Prezi. [ONLINE] Available at: https://prezi.com/gcudciijm0wc/why-is-sound-so-important-in-a-film/. [Accessed 16 March 2018].
Today I started the production of my short film called the phone call. I found the production went very smooth and less stressful than my other projects because of my pre-production work was very well planned out. One problem I will face in the post-production stage is, I think I have filmed too much for this short project.
My storyline for this project is’ Jack’ keeps getting phone calls from an unknown number that keep calling him, but the person on the phone says ‘If you leave the house you will die”! Jack try’s to phone the police but all the phone lines are down and the man) the phone rings one more time with a message ‘Jack’ say “where are you”(fade to black) Jack walked down an alleyway where he sees a figure! (But the views cant see the killer point of view) and the man gets stabbed to death 💀(With a lot of blood inspired by the shinning) the end scene you realize it all in. the man’s head!
Here is a screenshot of Jack getting the phone call. Also, the photo shows what Mr. Kubrick used a lot in his film that was ‘The one point perspective’ Which really inspired me to use this in my short film.
The production
The filming took about 3 hours long because we had to set up all the equipment to the best of are standers keeping in our minds how ‘Standly Kubrick used to spend hours setting up his equipment up and stressing out people on set. After setting up I went through the scripted again with my cameraman Jacob Rogers, showing him how I would like the camera angles to be also asking his opinion on what shots to include in the project. One problem we faced straight into the production was my Canon 200d camera wasn’t charged, So I was really happy My cameraman had a 4k camera spare on set which made life easier.
The location we picked for production, was simply put was amazing because we did are researching the locations also we didn’t pick any busy locations too… The first location we picked is a games room we have in my garden at my home location. The location was perfect because I wanted to give my short film a classic look and feel to it. which I think this location really embrace the classic look.
Music
The music will be a big deal in my short film because the way music can change the look and feel of the film you are watching. which I never realized until we did an exercise in class with the music teacher called Nick, what we did was we got given different pieces of classical music to listen too after listening to the music we got asked where it took us in our minds. This was done because we could make an amazing film but if we don’t consider and think about what classical music we put into our films could turn a good film into a bad one.
For example one of the best films ‘Stanley Kubrick’ ever made was The Shining, The opening of the film is a great overlook of a great scenery from the river to the mountains but it wasn’t all the scenery which helped the film become a success, but it was the music used for the opening that made the film.
Here is a video of the opening of ‘The Shining’ showing how music can make a film better.
Today I did some ‘Test shots’ today for my short film the Phone call. Test shots are important in the film industry… because it allows you to come up with ideas on what camera angle you would like in your films, also it helps you to run through what equipment you are using work.
My first test shot, was taken down an alleyway near my home location with my iPhone X. I choose this location because it really embraces the one point perspective which ‘Stanley Kubrick’ used a lot in his films.
When I’m in the production stage, I will be filming in the evening to create the horror tension. which this idea was inspired by the film the shinning.
iPhone X setting
Lightning – Staged lightning
Colour- Dark
Camera- 12 megapixels
My second test shot was taken down my games room at my home location. I picked this location for the same reason as the first test shot because of it really in brace the one point perspective element.
Havard Referencing Generator
Apple (United Kingdom). 2018. iPhone X – Apple (UK). [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-x/. [Accessed 16 March 2018].
Pre-Pro. 2018. Pre-Pro. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cineman.co.uk/pre.html. [Accessed 16 March 2018].
Today I and my camera operator Jacob Rogers wanted to test out one of our secondary cameras we are using for the Stanley Kubrick project. We tested a camera called Panasonic camera, to test out the quality of the 4k ability. The main reason we wanted to do this test was that it a brand new camera that I haven’t used for any of my projects before.
Here are the camera specs:
My thoughts on the camera are it has all the elements of what a great filming camera should have, for example, the autofocus is lovely a smooth in a shot which is a bonus for a future filmmaker like myself. But one thing the camera should have is a microphone input! because of it very important feature to have because if you have bad audio in your film. It doesn’t matter if your camera films in 4k the film will sound very bad so that why I think a microphone input is important.
I will be using this camera for the first part of my film’ The phone call’ when my character is playing chess. Because I want to get the cinematic shots of the game’s chess because it will give a great view of why the game chess was so important in ‘Stanly Kubrick career.
Here is the video of the test shot using the 4k camera
Harvard referencing
DC-TZ90 Superzoom Cameras – Panasonic UK & Ireland. 2018. DC-TZ90 Superzoom Cameras – Panasonic UK & Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.panasonic.com/uk/consumer/cameras-camcorders/lumix-digital-cameras/superzoom-cameras/dc-tz90.html. [Accessed 07 March 2018].
Film Crew. 2018. Film Crew | Jobs & Responsibilities. [ONLINE] Available at: https://thefilmproduction.wordpress.com. [Accessed 07 March 2018].
MDA Production 