Final Cut

 

CCR question 3

 

I’m the king of the world, Swede (Reflection)

Doing this project was definitely a challenge for me, but at the same time it taught me a lot. When I received the cinematography equipment, I was very excited because I felt like a real cinematographer. When I got home that day, I practiced a lot with the tripod and the other things too. The first few days were just about thoroughly analyzing the scene from the movie we chose (I'm the king of the world, Titanic). While analyzing the scene, I realized that my knowledge of composition, camera movement, settings, lighting, and balance was very basic, to the point that I didn't even know how to define the end and beginning of a scene. After that I started watching a lot of videos related to my role, and soon after that knowledge helped me to analyze the scene, record it and publish the blogs. I also realized that using real cinematography equipment completely changed the way I understand filmmaking. For example before this project, I had only analyzed scenes as a viewer (and before Media Studies, I didn’t analyze scenes at all, I just watched them) but actually adjusting the tripod, testing angles, and experimenting with framing helped me finally see how much work goes into creating something that looks simple on screen. At first, I also made too many mistakes when stabilizing the shots because my hands shook a lot every time I held the camera, and this was a problem that affected my equipment. The solution was to practice the shots more with the camera before recording the official ones and to use the tripod to stabilize the shots. Recreating the "I'm the king of the world" scene made me appreciate the original scene even more. Although I've seen Titanic many times as a regular viewer, I never fully grasped the depth and meaning of each cinematic decision. The balance of the characters, the camera movements, and the lighting all combined to create the feeling of freedom that the scene intended to convey. Working with my team also taught me how important communication is in filmmaking. As the cinematographer, I had to guide the framing and help my team understand the visual mood we were trying to achieve (this helped me build confidence and take my role more seriously) My team is very good and hardworking, especially the director and the editor. We all worked incredibly hard to finish the project on time and to a high standard. That's why we met repeatedly to film, organize, and create the sets and all the elements of the scene. It wasn't easy work at all; since we were filming in miniature, we had to make everything very small. Also I can’t not include the blogs, creating the production blogs helped me stay organized and reflect on what I was learning step by step, it also made me notice my own improvement, because every take showed a new challenge I overcame. 

Overall, this project challenged me in a way that made me grow both technically and in a creatively way. Even though it was difficult at times, it made me realize that cinematography is something I really like, now im a begginer but I'll work very hard to get better at it.

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

Behind the Scenes

My attempts at CCR (Reflection)

Format:

Initially, I wanted to present my CCR as an interview style video, where an interviewer asks me questions and I respond in my role as the cinematographer of our Titanic Swede remake. I thought it was a good idea, but then I realized that I wasn't visually showing the process of creating Swede, so I decided to change the format to include behind-the-scenes photos and videos (planning) and footage of Swede itself.

I changed the format to the behind the scenes process and planning with my answer to the question. To be honest, I have no experience editing or recording sound, so I watched a few basic tutorials and got started because I had little time. Here is my initial CCR, it is complete and edited, but I thought it wouldn't be appropriate for my role:

Initial Interview CCR

After reviewing the assignment and analyzing CCRs from previous years, I learned that a CCR has to be related to the film (swede). Although my question was good (which is why I used it for my new CCR), the audiovisual aspect didn't align with what I, as a cinematographer, was trying to convey.

Final CCR

CCR part 1 (Planning)

 My CCR Post Part 1 (Cinematographer)

Question I will answer:

‘How did your production skills develop throughout this project?’

What it’s a CCR?

It stands for Creative Critical Response, it's a reflection on the work we create. This is evaluated individually, not as a group.

What I plan to say:

How I:

developed stronger cinematic analysis skill.

Learned to break down the original scene shot by shot.

Learned to identify and classify camera movements.

Improved at creating shot lists and recognizing where each shot begins/ends (and also where the scene ends)

My attention to detail grew because I analyzed the scene second by second.

Technical Cinematography Skills

Improved my understanding of camera settings (ISO, aperture.)

Practiced using the tripod for precise and stable framing.

Learned about lighting setups like key light, backlight, side lighting.

Mise-en-Scène and Problem Solving

Developed improvisation skills to adapt household materials into set pieces.

Improved at keeping visual consistency while shooting miniatures. Solved unexpected problems during challenging scenes (like for example the dolphin sequence and the oven scene) 

Communication and Collaboration

How I: Learned to communicate visually with the director and rest of the team.

Followed creative suggestions and integrated the director’s vision.

Collaborated with the editor and sound team to plan each shot.

Improved at working under pressure and staying organized.

Workflow and Organization

Improved my time management and ability to meet deadlines (still working on that)

Organized shooting sessions with my team.

Understood the workflow of recreating a professional scene with limited resources.

CCR planning:

Editing the CCR

Editing the CCR

Recording in very small spaces and preparing the Mise-en-Scène 2 (implementation)

Recording in very small spaces:

That scene was very difficult to film despite only having three shots. Since the machinery needed to be moved manually with two hands, we knew it was going to be very complicated. We also needed to move the characters; since Legos can't make facial expressions, we needed to move them around a lot. Not only that, our director had to use hand gestures to signal the scene, shot, and take to the editor, and he also had to tell me when to start filming. The icing on the cake was that I needed to film from very close up because the scene required close-ups, and I also needed the tripod for stability because I was filming crouching down.

At that moment I was a little stressed because I thought we weren't going to be able to film the scene. We tried three times and realized it wasn't working because there were too many hands inside the oven (six in total). That not only jeopardized the visuals of the scene, but also the quality and stability of the shots.

​​​Behind the scenes

The solution? We arrived at it through communication and teamwork. Our director spoke with the editor, and they agreed to use hand movements for the scene from a distance; in other words, the editor would be guided by the sound. We already had two hands out of the oven, only four more to go. For my part, I spoke with the director and decided not to use the tripod . I knew it risked the stability of the shots, but with too many hands in the way, I couldn't film properly. In the end, only two hands remained (those of the editor's brother), and he operated the equipment perfectly.

I learned that sometimes using a tripod (even though it provides stability) becomes impossible in challenging locations. As the cinematographer , I had to assess the space and make the decision to shoot handheld, prioritizing framing and movement over stabilization. I also learned how crucial communication is on set; this scene only worked because the director, editor, and I were in constant communication. We had to solve problems quickly, adapt roles, and find a workflow that minimized the number of people involved.

Behind the scenes after problem solving

Recording in very small spaces and preparing the Mise-en-Scène part 1 (implementation)

Context:

On November 28th, we filmed our second scene. Although this scene was very short, it was very difficult to film. The scene consists of three shots, each approximately 2-4 seconds long. The only problem is that this scene shows the workers inside the ship's machinery. Since our director decided to use Legos and miniature sets (something that was easier to recreate, but not to film), we had to adapt all our resources to very small sets.

Legos are easy to film and handle; the only problem, as I mentioned, is that we had to film the ship's machinery from the inside and the workers working with coal.

​

Still image from our swede​ "Im the king of the world" Titanic

Preparing the Mise-en-Scène:

We filmed most of the scenes at our editor's house. She is very creative; when we told her we needed a set to film that scene, she immediately had an idea and got to work preparing it. His idea was to film in the oven (obviously turned off). I thought it was a good idea, and so did our director. 

We already had the location to film, but we needed the characters and a background as close to the real thing as possible. I came up with the idea of ​​using a Lego submarine we had, since the machinery was similar, and it didn't really have to be identical because we're making a Swede. Our editor's brother also helped us prepare everything; he made the machinery that moved (the machinery was moved manually). Oh, and I almost forgot, we used the Lego sailor figures we had for the characters.

Still image from our swede​ "Im the king of the world" Titanic

Still image from our swede​ "Im the king of the world" Titanic

Following the Shot List (Implementation)

For our production, I used the shot list I created for the scenes we're recreating in our Swede (I'm the king of the world - Titanic). The shot list keeps the entire film crew aligned because it breaks down the scene into specific camera setups, angles, movements, and technical needs. It's really important because instead of guessing what comes next, the team knows exactly which shot is being captured and how it contributes to the final sequence. In our case, since we're recreating a scene as faithfully as possible to the film, we need our shot list to be accurate.

When we were filming on our third day of production, my team and I realized that something wasn't right. We were on Scene 1, Shot 8, but the descriptions and camera movements on the shot list didn't match our reference. So I pulled out my list of the minutes and seconds of the scene with the shots and realized that I had entered it correctly in that list, but when I transferred it to the shot list, I made a mistake and omitted a one-second shot (shot 8).

That very short shot slowed us down in production. My solution was to go over the shots again and make sure they were all there, and also add the missing shot. In the end, we were able to film those scenes, and it wasn't a big problem, aside from a slight delay because we realized the mistake very quickly.

Shot list after fix it