Merritt Lum
Multimedia Digital Artist
Artstation (3D works):
https://www.artstation.com/merrittlum121
Contact:
mgl13@sfu.ca
Date:
September - October 2022
Software Used:
DaVinci Resolve
Overview
Made for an assignment to make a minute long, no-dialogue film for SFU's New Media Images class, directing, filming, editing, and synchronizing sounds, by myself (i.e. all independent, save for actors), this project - a comedic, stylish detective piece - was ultimately unique in how it presented a wide variety of challenges, expected and unexpected, each with their own demands that required both learning and execution on my part.
Process
On the pre-production end, this was the first project where I learned & executed more extensive and professional processes, having to make a full storyboard, sound log, shot list, etc. This project also saw me experiment more with comedic film techniques; referencing learnings on visual comedy, I sought to build individual scenes and overarching shot structures with pervasive incorporation of comedic contrast, movement, and a variety of other techniques as to introduce a comedic element, despite the lack of dialogue.
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One noteworthy feature of my initial shot and story planning which ultimately turned out advantageous was the overall narrative structure; being a somewhat freeform series of events that have a general, but otherwise loose order to them, I could edit more directly in terms of individual shot quality, buildup and individual scene progression.
Project Type:
Minute Film / Genre Piece
Original storyboard excerpt
Shot list excerpt
On-set, due to planning issues, the locations, narrative and shots had to be quickly and loosely adapted to a different setting; though it was originally planned to take place in a variety of indoor & urban locations, I ultimately had to film it in a park over the course of two hours.
On this note, this project was perhaps most demanding in post-production; it needed edits that were subtly creative, as to make up for shortcomings in the hastily-shot footage, whilst extremely precise to fit in the time requirement, with the final runtime being a matter of frames. This is also where the other defining feature of the project was created; in place of a more traditionally musical backing track, I sought to give the project a unique identity in its audio, using self-recorded paper and pencil sounds to make something of a 'soundtrack' that itself bridged diegetically into the film.
Editing timeline
Reflection
Though I have a few general gripes with some small moments, I ultimately feel what this project would have benefited from most is simply a stronger job in pre-production; though I was ultimately able to turn it into something usable, I feel that the project would have turned out significantly better if I had better anticipated that I would be filming it in a park, and planned the film with an overall stronger vision for it, particularly in terms of shot quality and story clarity. Furthermore, while I feel like the audio soundscape was a fairly good choice for distinguishing the project and making it unique, it may have been too ambitious of an undertaking as someone with little experience with music.
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Given that, however, I still believe this project was fairly valuable to make, particularly in terms of editing; not only was it more directly rhythmic editing than I had done in the past, it also demanded a new level of precision in my execution of it. Overall, though this project may not be perfect in some aspects, it undoubtedly was enjoyable to make while serving as an interesting learning experience, and it was considered by the instructor and TAs to be one of the best projects to result from that assignment during the semester.
