Pre-Production and Industry Practice
Pre-Production and Industry Practice
CW2 Digital Portfolio
Chung Duy Nguyen
Table of Contents
Learning journey
The program is very practical with on job training where i had the chance to learn camera work, script writing, lighting and other aspects of film production. All my tutors were professional filmmakers who have many years of experience in film production. They were very helpful and always provide constructive feedback that help me to upskills and create better product. Camera kits availability also allowed me to be more creative.
During my first year I have created a documentary and a short film. During this time I was not sure about my career path. I didn’t know whether I love to write script, director or cinematographer. All I could confirm at that time was my love for film making. I opened myself to everything. I wrote the first script myself, helped out with camera work and also acting. My first complete piece of work was the documentary. I was cinematographer handling all the camera work and edited the film myself using final cut pro. I really enjoyed the shoot as i was free to be creative. I captured everything that we planned and also extra cut away that I later found it very useful in the post-production. The part I that helped me learn a lot was editing the documentary. While I was editing the film I have a better idea of storyboarding and the importance of close-up and cut-away. All these helped me to create stronger story. Thanks to my post-production tutor who provided very useful feedback on the choice of shot, pace and video effects. He helped me to tell the story in better way. The project also allowed me to learn how to work in a group. There was many problems as we were all new filmmakers. However it is a learning curve. We all learn from our mistake. However the more obstacles I have to encounter, my love to filmmaking grow stronger.
documentary
Eventually, toward the end of my first year I have found that I have great interest in cinematography. I have spent a lot of time learning about camera angle, composition, colour, lighting and mood. “Film directing shot by shot: visualizing from concept to screen” a book from Steve Katz (1991) helped me to build the basics foundation of camera angle. The more I learn, the more I can confirm that this is the career path that I will pursuit. I then volunteered to be cinematographer for our year end project. It’s a 5 minutes short film the dog face. This was my very first cinematic film that shot. I planned very careful for the production day. I kept effective communication with director. I did a lot of research by watching films with similar theme and then created a mood board for the short film. I found controlling light and camera work at the same time was very challenging. That was when I realise the importance of pre-production process. The more time we spend for pre-production, the quicker the production day will be. However when I watched the final product it gave me great motivation to move on to the next project. In addition, teamwork was another thing that made I love film production even more. I always feel that my team crew got my back. They supported me in anyway. Film production allowed me to build great soft skill such as team work, communicational, problem solving, organisational skills and much more. Toward the end of first year, I have confirmed my career path. Filmmaking is not only my interest, it also suite my personality and ability where I want to work in a team and be creative. I also hope that I can create a film that can deliver meaningful message and make change to the society. To me a career is not just about about money but it’s also about the meaning and contribution to the society.
shortfilm
Alongside my studies, I also learn photography. This allowed me to develop my lighting and composition skill. While I was working for R7 production, I had chance to take photos for Mayfair kitchen and Mayfair bar which include food and beverage, interior and exterior. Architecture photography was not easy like I thought. It required good eyes of interior design as I have to place extra decoration features and choose the best angle that can the room in the way that it can best tell the story of the place. It also require lighting skills and camera technique. Throughout the project I have again the following skills:
Self-learning: in order to take ownership of the project I bought an online course and practice by taking photos of London architecture. It was very difficult at the beginning as I encountered many problems editing the photos where I had to merge different layers together. However by doing the search to solve the problem, I have learned so much. Eventually I managed to convince the team leader let me lead the project with support from other team member.
Negotiation skill: Customer always wants to make the most of their investment therefore compromise is very important. I always listen to customer carefully to understand their need and recommend the best production plan that is suitable to their budget. The important thing was to deliver what I promised.
Lighting skill: I had to use different type of light to lit the place. For example, I had to use big light (2k lights) for outdoor shot and smaller light for indoor shot. Controlling lighting in different place gave me experience of how much light will need for a certain area. This helped me a lot with planning the short film later in the year. I managed to estimate the right number of light needed for the scene. This saved the production cost as we only get the right number of lights.
Camera skill: during the project I had the chance to experience different type of camera lens. I used macro lens for food which allow me to capture small detail of the food. I also used tilt-shift lens for the interior and exterior photos. This allowed me to fix the distortion problem of wide angle lens. This helped me a lot with planning for the shoot later as I was able to choose the right lens for the scenes that can better tell the story.
Team work: we only can take interior photo after the restaurant closed and early morning for exterior shot. It was really stressful and tiring. This developed my ability to work under pressure and teamwork. I collaboratively work with my co-worker to achieve the best result. We motivated each other to go through the hard time.
Eventually the customer was very happy with the result and trusted us to take photo for their other restaurant in London. I later managed to ustilise all the skill that gained from the project.
Nam an resort-Vietnam
At R7 production Ltd I took part in different projects:
Prewedding photography: I normally love to take photo as my personal interest. with my photography experience the team allowed me to take ownership of low budget prewedding photography. I would like to do this project because after graduate I would like to do wedding photography and video to start my career in film industry. This is easy cash generator. And It is a big market that is easy to break in. I was quite nervous at the beginning as it was my first project with the company and I really wanted to get it done at high standard. I started by chatting with customer to ease the atmosphere and get to know the customer better. This also made the customer feel more natural in front of my camera. This helped me to develop my communication and customer service skill which will definitely help with my future career in film making. The customer was very happy with the result and also my manager.
Hinh prewedding
Wedding video: The manager was more confident with me and allowed me to film their actual wedding. Although I have filmed wedding before, this time I still felt really nervous. I also watched many wedding videos and learn some cinematic angle that looks good for wedding. I planned very careful before the wedding by going through the plan for the day, talked to customers any moment that they specially would love to have in the video ..ect. Excellent camera skill that I gained from the course was my key to success the project. I controlled lighting and camera very quickly which is essential for event shooting as you don’t have second take. I worked really well with my colleague. We divided tasks very clear ahead of the wedding and it went really smooth toward the end. Although it was really tired as we worked from 7am to 1pm but I really enjoyed it.
wedding video
Event trailer: It was only short trailer for a student event. However it was crime theme which I was really interested. I really wanted to use the low key lighting that I have learnt from school. There few cinematic scenes that I would love to recreate. The most important thing was that they have connection with a camera hiring company who sponsor them red dragon-X camera for the shoot. I was amazed with the camera kit that they have. Although it was a really low budget but R7 production would like to sponsor and handover the task for me. It was my very first time using Red dragon-X camera thus I was really nervous. I have done so much research about the camera. I read everything in the camera manual. I also borrowed some extra light from school for the project as I wanted it to look the best. It was great experience. The finally video was a valuable footage for my portfolio. I felt so lucky that I had the chance operate the big camera which gave me confidence to be cinematographer in my graduate project where we also used red camera. The lesson that I have learnt was never be afraid of challenge, learn from mistake and grow with success.
trailer LSE
Film industry is a very difficult industry to break into as it require a lot of specific skill and connections. Overall, the experience that I gained from R7 production gave me a realistic view of career path into film industry. I formed a clear plan for the future after my graduation and started to find people who have the same vision and would love to form a team. Everyone dreams of a feature film but we all need an clear action plan to make our dream come true.
After graduating from the university of Greenwich, I will set up a small production company in Vietnam with my friend. We will open to all type of video production. The following re the film product that we will focus on:
Wedding video: wedding video is a very big market that will allow us to generate quick inflow cash for the team to fund other project. In the past I have filmed many weddings and have enough experience to share with other team members and also enough showreel to show to customers. I am also planning to join the wedding fair to promote the company and directly get contracts from customers. There are also agency ( wedding planners) in Vietnam that we can cooperate.
Commercial video: This is also a potential product that can generate quick cash flow. With my customer service experience, I am confident that I can negotiate with customer and deliver the best product to customer. However we will need a lot of visual effect to create a catchy commercial video. I will need to find a visual effect person to join the team. This will open us to more opportunities. As a team leader, I will be responsible for creating team portfolio and peaching.
Short film: Our final goal is always create a meaningful feature film that can influence the society. Its certain that we can’t make film without money. Wedding and commercial video will be a chance for us to expand our connection and generate fund for us to work on our feature film. Even though we will also try get sponsor and help from other teams. We aim to produce high quality short film to send to film festival. This will increase company profile and also allow team member to upskill. Nowadays YouTube is also a distribution channel which we can use to public our short film to increase channel subscriber. This also allow us to earn money from advertiser. We are planning to create web drama. I will hold a contest for young people to come up with new idea for web drama and cooperate with the winner to create the film. This will be a bridge for us to connect with young talent.
Feature film: This is my final goal. However I need a lot of knowledge , experience and connection to break into feature film. I will start with applying for assistant position to learn more about on-set production and expand my connection. Get to know professional director and producer is very important as I can introduce my film and also look for cooperation opportunity if they are interested. Helping out the production that producing the film with similar theme to the film that I would like to make will increase the chance to success.
Overall, throughout the course I have confirmed my great passion for film making and my work experience, knowledge gained and technical skills will allow me to build a successful career in film industry. I will try my best to work hard not only for myself but also for the whole team.
Word count: 2282 words
Bibliography
Katz, S. D. (1991). Film directing shot by shot: Visualizing from concept to screen.
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