Video & Sound Production Exercises

 2024/4/22 - 2024/7/26

TAO YUZE/0366967

Typography / Bachelor fo Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Introduction

The three-act structure

The three-act structure divides a story into three distinct sections: the beginning, the middle, and the end. This framework separates each part to ensure clarity and progression in storytelling. While this basic outline is straightforward, it has served as the foundation upon which numerous screenwriting theories and formulas have been developed, detailed in various screenwriting manuals. Before delving into the complexities of story structure, let's first define the all-encompassing concept of the three-act structure.

The three-act structure is a narrative framework that organizes stories into three segments—Act One, Act Two, and Act Three, or more commonly, the beginning, middle, and end. This ancient tool was adapted specifically for screenwriting by Syd Field in his 1978 book "Screenplay," where he categorized these parts as the Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution.

Alternatively, some writers refer to these three acts as the setup, build, and payoff. Both terminologies are accurate. However, the core function of each act is to adhere to its own set of principles that guide the development, escalation, and resolution of the story.

Fundamentally, Act One introduces the world, characters, and the protagonist's goal, along with the conflicts or obstacles that hinder their progress. Act Two intensifies these conflicts, increasing the stakes necessary for the protagonist to achieve their goal. Act Three culminates in the resolution of the narrative, resulting in either the success or failure of the protagonist in reaching their objective.

The Three-Act Structure

Act One: The Setup

• Purpose: Introduce the main characters, setting, and the central conflict.
• Content: This act starts with an opening scene that grabs the audience's attention and sets the tone for the movie. It includes the inciting incident, which disrupts the life of the protagonist and sets them on their journey. This act establishes the stakes and lays out the protagonist’s goal. Background information is provided to help the audience understand the world and the characters.

Act Two: The Confrontation

• Purpose: Explore the conflict in depth, presenting obstacles and complications.
• Content: This is often the longest act, where the plot deepens and the emotional stakes are raised. The protagonist faces a series of challenges that test their resolve, skills, and character. This act often includes a midpoint, a crucial event or revelation that changes the protagonist’s approach or intensifies their commitment to the goal. The act continues with rising action and complications, leading to the act's climax, which sets up the final act.

Act Three: The Resolution

• Purpose: Resolve the story’s conflicts and character arcs.
• Content: This act delivers the climax of the story, where the main tensions reach their peak. It's followed by the falling action and the resolution where the protagonist either achieves their goal or fails. The resolution ties up loose ends and often provides a reflection on the journey or a glimpse into how the characters have changed. This act concludes with a final scene that leaves a lasting impression on the audience, providing closure to the narrative.

15 story beats

The concept of breaking down a story into 15 beats comes from Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat!" screenwriting method. This method expands on the traditional three-act structure by defining specific beats, or plot points, that help structure the narrative more precisely. Here’s how these 15 beats are distributed across the three acts:

Act One: The Setup

• Opening Image: Sets the tone, mood, and style of the story.
• Theme Stated: The story's theme is subtly introduced, often in dialogue.
•  Set-Up: Introduction of the main characters and their world.
• Catalyst: The inciting incident that shakes up the protagonist’s life.
•  Debate: A moment of hesitation or questioning of the new challenge.

Act Two: The Confrontation

• Break into Two: The protagonist decides to take action and enters a new world or situation.
• B Story: A subplot that usually involves a love interest or a secondary theme, supporting the main narrative.
• Fun and Games: The heart of the movie where the promise of the premise is delivered.
• Midpoint: A significant event that raises the stakes, often turning the story in a new direction.
• Bad Guys Close In: Complications and higher stakes; the protagonist's problems worsen.
• All Is Lost: The lowest point for the protagonist; a moment of great despair.
• Dark Night of the Soul: The protagonist grapples with how far they are from their goal.

Act Three: The Resolution

• Break into Three: Inspired by new information or resolution, the protagonist decides to confront the central conflict.
• Finale: The climax where the protagonist faces the main conflict and their growth is tested.
• Final Image:A mirror to the opening image, showing how the protagonist and their world have changed.

Each beat helps to keep the narrative structured and paced effectively, ensuring the story progresses logically and builds emotionally from start to finish.

Exercise 1

Everything Everywhere All at Once

Which part is act 1, act 2, act 3 respectively? Describe each act with ONE paragraph only. 

In "Everything Everywhere All at Once," the three acts are distinctively marked by shifts in tone, scope, and stakes:

• Act 1: The film begins by establishing Evelyn Wang's mundane life as she struggles with the demands of her failing laundromat, strained relationships, and an impending IRS audit led by Deirdre Beaubeirdre. During a tax meeting, Evelyn's life takes a surreal turn when her husband, Waymond, reveals himself as an emissary from another universe. He informs her about the multiverse and her pivotal role in stopping a powerful villain who threatens to destroy it. This act sets up the personal and cosmic challenges Evelyn faces, highlighting her initial disbelief and confusion.
• Act 2: Act 2 plunges Evelyn deeper into the multiverse chaos, where she experiences lives where she made different choices, leading to vastly different outcomes. She learns to harness skills and memories from her other selves to navigate the challenges and battles across dimensions. This act focuses heavily on her growth and the expansion of her understanding of the multiverse, all while she battles both physical and emotional foes, including her daughter Joy's alternate universe counterpart, Jobu Tupaki, who plays a central role in the multiverse's instability.
• Act 3: The final act climaxes with Evelyn's confrontation with Jobu Tupaki and a deeper exploration of her relationship with her daughter, Joy. As the existential and literal battles intensify, Evelyn grapples with the themes of acceptance and love in the face of chaos. The resolution comes with Evelyn applying the lessons she's learned from her experiences in the multiverse to reconcile with her family and embrace the complexity of her life, culminating in a poignant, surreal, and emotional finale that blends the absurd with the deeply personal.

What is the inciting incident in the movie?

The inciting incident in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" occurs when Evelyn Wang is at the IRS office for her audit, and her husband, Waymond, suddenly changes his behavior. He turns from his usual meek self into a confident and urgent messenger from another universe. Waymond reveals to Evelyn that she must connect with different versions of herself across the multiverse to prevent a catastrophic event. This revelation propels Evelyn into the film's central narrative of multiverse adventure and is the moment that disrupts her ordinary world, setting the entire plot in motion.

What is the midpoint scene in the movie?

The midpoint of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" occurs when Evelyn fully embraces the multiverse's possibilities and begins to actively use the skills and memories of her alternate selves. This pivotal scene is marked by her fight in the IRS office, where she demonstrates a newfound mastery of bizarre, physics-defying combat techniques. During this sequence, she hops between various universes, using skills ranging from martial arts to peculiar abilities like wielding sausages as nunchucks. This shift is crucial as it represents Evelyn's transition from confusion and denial about the multiverse to taking control and actively engaging with her alternate lives to address the challenges she faces. This moment significantly raises the stakes and deepens her commitment to resolving the multiversal crisis, propelling the narrative into its more intense second half.

What is the Climax scene in the movie?

The climax of "Everything Everywhere All at Once" is a deeply emotional and visually dynamic confrontation between Evelyn and her daughter Joy's alternate universe counterpart, Jobu Tupaki. This showdown takes place in the multiverse's void, where the stakes of their conflict reach their peak. Jobu Tupaki, overwhelmed by the chaotic possibilities of the multiverse and her own existential despair, threatens to destroy all realities with a "bagel of everything" that symbolizes nihilism and the convergence of all possibilities into nothingness.

In this climax, Evelyn must not only physically confront her daughter but also emotionally connect with her, addressing the pain and misunderstanding that have built up in their relationship. Evelyn's realization that love and acceptance are the keys to saving her daughter and the multiverse leads to a heartfelt reconciliation. She convinces Jobu Tupaki to abandon her destructive plan, highlighting the film’s themes of connection, understanding, and the complexity of human relationships amidst the absurdity of their situation. This resolution of both external and internal conflicts marks the climax of the film, setting up the subsequent denouement where the characters embrace their multifaceted lives.

What is the theme of the movie?

"Everything Everywhere All at Once" explores several interconnected themes, with the central theme being the complexity of human relationships and the struggle for personal identity in a chaotic world. The film delves into how individuals navigate the pressures and expectations of family, society, and self, often feeling overwhelmed by the choices and paths available to them. It uses the multiverse as a metaphor for the infinite possibilities that life presents, emphasizing that the choices one makes are significant not just for their outcomes but for what they reveal about one's values and desires.

Additionally, the film addresses existential questions about meaning and purpose in life, particularly through its portrayal of characters who confront their fears, failures, and the absurdity of their circumstances. It suggests that embracing the chaos and complexity of life, along with accepting and loving others despite their flaws, can lead to genuine fulfillment and connection. This rich thematic tapestry is woven through a narrative that is both wildly imaginative and deeply personal, resonating on multiple emotional and intellectual levels.

Exercise 1 Mints & doritos

This class exercise was designed to teach us how to splice and edit scripts, and during the course of the class I discovered that my PR version was different from Mr. Martin's. (Mine is 2024, Mr. Martin is CC) So I re-learned to use the 2024 version of PR after class. The splicing script is very simple. The order is to sort the scripts and connect them at the end of each other. As for editing, use the razor tool to cut off the parts that need to be removed and the useful parts, and then delete the parts that need to be removed. You need to use a storyboard for reference when sequencing your scripts

Exercise 2

Medium Shot

Single shot

Cowboy Shot

Full Shot

Medium Close Up Shot & Depth Field

Medium Shot

Double Medium Shot & Depth Field

Double Cow Boy Shot & Depth Field

The bottom image is not considered an over-the-shoulder (O.S) shot because it doesn't include the shoulder of a foreground character framing the shot. An over-the-shoulder shot typically features part of the foreground character's shoulder or head to create a viewpoint that seems to look over this character’s shoulder, thus focusing on what they are seeing or interacting with. The bottom image, however, is a straightforward shot of a person sitting at a table, without any part of another character in the foreground to establish this perspective.

Top Left Image:This is a Close-Up (CU)shot. It primarily focuses on the subject's face to capture expressions and emotions, thus allowing the audience to engage more deeply with the subject's feelings.

Top Right Image: This is a Macro Shot. It focuses closely on a very small subject or a detail within a larger scene—in this case, a butterfly on a flower—highlighting features that would be missed in a wider shot.

Bottom Left Image: This shot is a Detail Shot. It zooms in on a particular detail of the scene—here, a hand interacting with food—emphasizing the action and drawing attention to specific elements, such as texture and motion.

Bottom Right Image: This is a Medium Shot (MS). It captures the subject from a mid-level perspective, typically from the waist up. This shot balances context and detail, showing some environment while keeping focus on the subject's actions or state.

Top Left: This is a Medium Shot (MS). It shows the character from about waist-up, which is typical for a medium shot, capturing some background detail while keeping the focus on the character's actions.

Top Right: This shot is a Wide Shot (WS). It captures a broad view of the cityscape, typically used to establish the setting.

Bottom Left: This is a Medium Close-Up (MCU). It focuses more closely on the character than a medium shot, typically framing the body from the chest up

Bottom Right: This is a Detail Shot, focusing closely on hands interacting with a wallet and money, emphasizing the action and details.

Top Left: This is a Medium Long Shot (MLS), showing the character in his environment with a bit more body visible than a medium shot, yet not as wide as a long shot

Top Right: This shot is a Close-Up (CU) focusing tightly on the character's face to capture emotional nuances.

Bottom Left: This is a Medium Shot (MS), capturing the character from the waist up, allowing the viewer to see the character's expression in the context of some background.

Bottom Right: Another Medium Shot (MS), focusing on the interaction between two characters, framing them from the waist up.

Top Left: This can be considered a Full Shot (FS) as it shows the character in his entirety along with some background, helping to establish the setting.

Top Right: This is a Close-Up (CU) of an elderly person, focusing on her actions and expressions.

Bottom Left: This shot is a Medium Close-Up (MCU), showing the character from the chest up, focusing on her facial expressions

.

Bottom Right: This is a Long Shot (LS) showing the character in a broader setting, capturing his full body and the surrounding context.

Foreground, Midground, and Background

Foreground: This is the part of a photograph or scene that is nearest to the viewer. In an image, this

area typically appears at the bottom and includes objects or subjects that are closest to the camera lens.

Midground: This is the area between the foreground and the background. It acts as a transitional zone, where the main subject of the image often resides, providing a sense of depth.

Background: This is the part of the scene that lies behind the main subject of the image. It often provides contextual information and helps to add depth and layers to the composition.

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Depth of Field

Depth of Field (DoF) refers to the range of distance within a photograph that appears acceptably sharp. It indicates how much of the background and foreground area around the focal point is in focus.

Deep Depth of Field

Deep Depth of Field means more of the image is in focus, from the foreground to the background. It's often used in landscapes to ensure everything from the nearest to the farthest points are sharp.

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Shallow Depth of Field

Shallow Depth of Field means only a small part of the image, typically where the subject is focused, is sharp, while the rest of the image (foreground and background) is blurred. This effect is often used in portraits to emphasize the subject by blurring the background.

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Foreground, Midground, and Background Composition: This image effectively demonstrates the separation of spatial layers within a scene. The foreground features vibrant flowers, the midground has a person reading under a tree, and the background showcases a mountain landscape.

Deep Depth of Field: This landscape image shows everything from the close-up flowers to the distant mountains in sharp focus, illustrating a deep depth of field.

Shallow Depth of Field: This portrait image highlights a woman reading a book in a park, with her sharply in focus and the background featuring blurred trees and people, depicting a shallow depth of field.

What is the 180 Degree Rule?

The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline in film making and cinematography that helps maintain spatial consistency and orientation in a scene. This rule stipulates that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to each other. To achieve this, the camera should stay on one side of an imaginary line drawn between the two characters. This line is often referred to as the "axis of action."

By keeping the camera on one side of this axis, the spatial relationship between the characters remains consistent to the viewer, avoiding potential confusion. Crossing this line can disorient the audience because the characters will appear flipped.

What is Continuity in Cinematography?

Continuity in cinematography refers to the seamless flow of the action or the visual narrative from one shot to another without any jarring visual contradictions. It ensures that the story moves forward in a way that is logically coherent and visually stable, helping the audience maintain their suspension of disbelief. Continuity involves maintaining consistent character positions, props, costume, and the direction of movement from shot to shot.

Adherence to the 180 Degree Rule

To determine if a video adheres to the 180 degree rule, you would watch to see if the camera maintains its position relative to the axis of action throughout the scene. If the camera crosses this line, it can result in a reverse in the screen direction (i.e., a character that was on the left in one shot appears on the right in the next), which can be disorienting unless done deliberately for a specific effect.

If you have a specific video or scene in question, I can help analyze it based on a description or by viewing stills to determine if it adheres to the 180 degree rule.

What is  dynamic screen direction?

Dynamic screen direction refers to changes in the perceived direction of movement within a film's scene, conveyed through the motion of subjects or the camera itself. This concept is crucial in visual storytelling, as it influences how viewers perceive the narrative's flow and the spatial orientation of the action.

Self-Photography

Following the PPT, I shot ten videos and then edited them using PR. Since the total length was limited to 35 seconds, I edited them down to about three seconds.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13d1AzcwDjqOUL6Ul4JSDn72fBewv-Dkb/view?usp=drive_link

Lalin

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aAdpCSObxb1zWPOvPyDstHMezP0P9s6_/view?usp=drive_link

Before making lalin, I numbered the pieces according to the storyboard and then spliced them together. I used the razor tool to subtract and reassemble the pieces from the prep stage

Because I overwrote my PR file when making a personal shooting job, my lalin source file was lost.

PROJECT1

First make a table to list the lines and sex in different scenes

Then continue recording. Since I ignored the actual conversation speed of the characters in the video during the first recording, I need to record again based on the video.

The sound effects prepared in advance are only for reference. During the actual dubbing, I re-searched for more accurate audio based on the video content. I thought the audio without the soundtrack was too bland, so I added a background noise to enhance the realism of the composition.

Mr. Martin suggested that we use a pitch controller to modify the voice of the female character, but in practice I found that my voice was not suitable for using a rising pitch. After using a rising pitch, my voice turned into an electronic noise. So I decided not to use rising intonation processing

When applying sound effects, you need to increase the gain of some sound effects that need to be highlighted (destruction and impact), and reduce the gain of background noise.

youtube link:https://youtu.be/Pm0JsS_5oJ8

Week 1 asynchronous class Quiz result

Week 1 asynchronous class Quiz result

feedback:Lens sizes are very diverse. Memorizing standard examples is not enough. I also need to analyze complex scenes and atypical examples.

Week 2 asynchronous class Quiz result

Week 2 asynchronous class Quiz result

feedback:My PR version is different from Mr. Martin’s demonstration. The operation interface is different. I need additional software learning to better keep up with the rhythm.

Week 3 asynchronous class Quiz result

Week 3 asynchronous class Quiz result

feedback:I found that this course requires bold creativity. The current assignments are not that difficult, but it is foreseeable that I have to feel bold enough to try various ideas. Just sitting in front of a computer will not lead to success

Week 4 asynchronous class Quiz result

feedback:When dubbing, I need to pay attention to the duration in advance. I need to be more active in completing the creation. It is not enough at the moment.