Story-showing

Viet-Australian Interior Architecture graduate. 28/07/17 - I'm currently on set now- volunteering as a runner. This is what I do when I'm not reading, writing or thinking about environmental/sustainability/architecture.

[producingarchitecture]

curtains draw to a close...

Working with culturally diverse young people in my team made me feel inspired by their voice and stories they felt & experienced in my local community. 

The film screening launch was at my local theatre. I took along my younger siblings and we watched five short films & a play. I felt reassured as the films all reflected themes of social & cultural issues in our community & society (terrorism, Islamophobia, intergenerational gap & barriers between migrant/english as second language adults and their young ones (second generation/english as first language).

I always wondered what went through the director’s mind when shooting the scenes... now I get to experience it (will mention at the end of post!).

So post-production and the films have been screened. My supervisor/founder of the film initiative wants the films to be applied to local festivals. He thought my idea of designing the posters & press kit will be nice. I will be working on the visual/marketing materials next week until the end of December...

--

So although my work here is mostly done in this venture, I have decided to embark on making my own film - I realised that art/film can only be done well when one is empowered/stirred/driven by a emotion/message they want to get out for people to hear/see. 

I am entering in a short film competition for: http://creativitypillar.com.au

BTS & many of my process work is found on: https://www.facebook.com/InterfaithDocumentary/

I will be on ^ website above and don’t think I will update this page anymore.

If anything, reach me on my email: 

[email protected]

chao!

j-nguyen

[producingarchitecture]

last main scene & post-production!

Creed

Our film crew is almost done. Mini pre-celebration!

I haven’t touched base here for a month. The week I flew overseas, we had our last major film shoot at Salvos for a soup kitchen scene.

I would of liked to be there but my mum told me to do errands for her before I went awayy...

Okay, let’s find some things I did help with a week or two before I went:

- I posted on Starnow(acting job listings) to call for actors to help play the character of ‘homeless/disadvantaged’ people at the soup kitchen.- I lialised with the actors on Starnow - provided them with costume information, location & emailed them the volunteer release forms.

- I met up with my director at her home (again!) As always, PROPS is always mentioned in our talk. I emailed my film coordinator a prop list including the ‘soup’ we were going to make. But... as we all know... CHANGES:

- film coordinator talked with the head volunteer at Salvos and kindly offered to help with making the soup (no need for us to buy ingredients).

- due to time restraints of our actors, we had to move the set film dates to following week. i had an idea of filming at my family’s place of worship which has an old/antique kitchen which we could use for main character to serve food for the elders... but our film coordinator chose Salvos - date more convenient & he has acquaintances there already.

--

POST PRODUCTION:

^ My attempt at using Adobe Premier Pro (video editing software), with the help of my film coordinator. I know its functions at BASIC level. 

^ my experience notes: one needs to be really meticulous & patient. i would have to play over a scene a number of times before splitting the scene, moving a cut over, experimenting with the PRECISE moment & cutting it... if i were to liken it to architecture, i would say using this software is like documenting a space/building - size, structure/detail, features...

--

I had the weekend to recover from my jetlag(Vietnam) before I contacted my director to meet up to discuss the post-production schedule.

This week’s agenda:

Finish ‘rough cuts’ & send to editor for ‘fine cutting.’ If we were to liken it to architectural terms, I would say ‘rough cutting’ would be the design development stage. After the editor watches over our team’s efforts in ‘rough cutting,’ she would choose and work her magic to knit it all together & ‘fine cut’ akin to rendering/photoshop. 

My ‘producer’ (from production designer early on to assistant producer...) duties in this post-production stage is making sure every one is on task of helping to edit before the final editing stage.

Note: My film coordinator said it usually takes 6 months for editing. Our process is different due to time constraints & us being amateurs and volunteers. That is why everyone - cinematography, sound assistant, director, assistant director is all helping to cut some scenes.

The film launch is on early November! I am excitedd.

Other than touching base on my volunteering work, I have begun working as an intern for my council (environmental department). 

I will let you know of what’s next with my film project endeavours...

See you soon.

j-nguyen

[producingarchitecture]

The big game

Creed

This is another late post. I am writing this shortly after completing the previous post. Sighh, I’ve not been punctual on this. These last two weeks have been pushing my adrenaline hard... I must admit - I don’t do well in long periods of constant environments of people (communicating). But this is training me for the real world (the world I will soon step foot too when I start working!)

So, I think the next day we had another film shooting (a full weekend of filming). I only managed to come for half of the film shoot.

I spent the late morning & afternoon at my parents’ worship place. I ate a satisfying lunch, dropped my family home and drove off to our set location.

‘The soccer grounds’

I made it just in time - they finished filming the ‘soccer game’ with the main character tripping over the ball etc.

‘Coach’s office’

I brought all the props I worked on the night before. I would like to add that weekend was arduous and intense - we came home around 3-4pm and I had to go home and work on designing the props!

I spent 15 mins designing:

What do you think? I think it looked okay. I spent no money on purchasing props - I tried to use what I had at home...

Our cameraman adjusting the position of the camera, making sure frame is okay etc. That’s our actor for the soccer coach. In this scene, she is annoyed with Nayel (main character) who is fasting for Ramadan instead of focusing on the game...

Sigh, I don’t know how the crew performed during the day. I hope they at least picked up a couple of scenes. It must of been a long day for them. I saw that some were hungrily eating after starving themselves for the first half of the day. Poor volunteers - I hope this film will look great at the end. Please hard work, hope it makes us proud!

^ Scene of sunset. Filming day ended. I went on the grounds with a soccer ball and played with a little kid. The air was nice - not too cold.

We’re at our home stretch now. 

--

Tomorrow, our crew is filming our last main scene at a soup kitchen (Salvos!) My mother wants me to prepare and take it easy for my trip in a couple of days. Oh no, the ‘i don’t want to disappoint my team’ is haunting me.

What do I do?

I’ll wait for tomorrow’s cues.

Goodnight.

[producingarchitecture]

Almost done filming

Creed

G’day & Chao,

This is a late post of our film shoot on the 2nd of September.

I remember that finding a location for a ‘classroom’ was difficult. We managed to use our team leader’s school (his daughter goes to for Chinese lessons!)

(Note: Thank you to the people who let us use their facilities and buildings - thank you community services!!)

I travelled to ‘Ashwood’ (around an hours drive). This time, it was closer and convenient for the actors to travel.

It was a simple day - we had extra volunteer casts that played the teacher and some class mates.

(Note: I had to play one classmate too but I was blurred out which was okay - pheww!)

Rehearsal of the teacher’s lines - she was teaching English!

Our cameraman doing some good work in getting those shots right + actors putting on their masks...

An exterior location outside the building(classroom scene) allowed us to breathe in nature and look at tones of green...

My crew - real smiles, hard work at volunteering and friendships built.

--

^ As I said, it was a simple day. I drove one of my crew & picked and dropped off one of the actors. One day of filming checked off the list. We had donuts and hot chocolate for lunch. 

Solid work. 

Countdown to final day of film screening - two months...

[producingarchitecture]

08/09

phone conversation:

head mentor:

“role of producer also is to look after relationships... different people and personalities... different ideas... take the role of a mediator...”

[producingarchitecture]

‘straightforward’

"You still studying?”

No, just graduated. I’m volunteering as a producer for a community film.

"Have you always wanted to do film?"

No but I do like art. In year 12, I wanted to do either art or science...

“So what do you want to do exactly?”

I wanted to do sustainable/environmental design (I should of elaborated)... after finishing uni, and meeting people... I went to a new theatre place nearby... 

- mentioned the community film as ‘culturally’ themed... went to a mosque... meet people from different traditions & faiths...

^ Conversation I had with a girl I met at a fitness class. I am a surprised (in a good way) that people earnestly are curious about what people ‘do’ and want to see ‘your’ work.

--

thanks to the girl who inspired me.

[producingarchitecture]

I have often been asked the qualifications for an Art Director. Architectural knowledge of all periods and some engineering knowledge are essential. But to this you can add theatrical licence and lashings of imagination for you may be called upon to design anything from a hat shop to the interior of a submarine

Eric Thompson (architect, artist & filmmaker)

- Trained in Australia & worked in the USA.

[producingarchitecture]

5th day film shooting

Creed

And that’s a wrap for today.

A day of rain, hail, clouds, sunshine and winds but that didn’t stop our production of the film! 

Today again on a Sunday, our crew began shooting the scenes of the soccer game/training.

A reminder of the film’s synopsis...

Main story revolves around a boy and soccer. He finds difficulties with fasting for ‘Ramadan’ and keeping his physical and mental health in check, when he is up against his team and his strict coach.

Artificial lights is set up. Like architecture, the ‘colour’ and ‘colour intensity’ gives a different mood against a room, surface and space. I’m presuming this type of light is - Cool White, LED 10000K 

Camera set up. The cameraman is working with a new technique of filming - the ‘slider.’ This type of shot is typical in cinematic films. And action... left from the white brick wall, following the main character, to him and his team... slide...

My team watching the take - director, actors (soccer players & main character). This is a change room of a football team we have adapted. It has an industrial + contemporary vibe (white textured render over brick, exposed ceiling beams, timber and rubber tiled floors).

Reflections:

- We have managed to finish the scenes planned in the ‘call schedule.’ Although we finished an hour and a half after the set time, everyone was happy and managed to keep warm (from playing soccer!)

- Working with the community provides many benefits: 

Travel & food expenses reimbursements

Utilise community amenities and buildings (like this one!)

Interact, engage and work with a range of people of different cultures, demographics etc.

Signing off now,

Next shooting is a DOUBLE-WEEKEND. I will need to mentally prepare, plan and rest haha 

Til then,

julianne

[producingarchitecture]

note for tmr’s film shooting

The mentor & founder of the film organisation told me that my work is like ‘event management.’

After last week and this week’s preparation and organisation of the upcoming film shootings (the most challenging ones to shoot), I did not realise that I strayed away from the ‘prod/art director role.’

Let me explain...

After speaking to my other assistant producer and the boss, I accepted what was easy and convenient.

There is a scene that required a ‘bbq.’ As the place we will be shooting tmr doesn’t have one, I thought using the kitchen amenities they have would be okay. But the boss said that it wouldn’t match the ‘look’ of the film i.e we need the ‘smoke’ and the exterior view of the players and the soccer ground.

Getting to the point now...

I realised that all of this ‘management’ and ‘organisation’ stripped away a little bit of my imagination and my role as an ‘artist.’

I think this can be applied to an architect in a firm.

We can so focused in the management side of things that we forget about the people/client, about the experience and about the creation...

We forget the ‘intangibles...’

That was just my thought.

Tomorrow marks our fifth day of shooting. Hope we continue to find ground in our progress of filming. I think we’re halfway.

I’ll tell you all about it after tmr,

julianne

[producingarchitecture]

Rain rain go away...

Creed - 4th day shooting

23/08 

*big breathe out...

I’m tired. Looking over the day, I didn’t really do much or meet that many people but my head feels weak and worn out.

Let me try to think about today:

Scene description for today’s CALL SHEET:

- main character practicing soccer on the grounds.

- main character & his mum having a dialogue in the car.

The Agenda:

1. meet at 6pm

2. eat dinner 

3. start filming!

Sound simple? Gosh, I wish reality was exactly what we plan but it goes wayward, takes us on a rollercoaster, unexpected turns, little surprises but looking back, it is worth it.

Anyways, those three points above had a lot of mini behind the scenes, errands that let us to finish shooting the scenes...

1. we didn’t follow our time schedule

2. we had to use our backup plan to film at a different location than our planned one 

3. the role of a production designer

- I messaged the director late last night if everything was good for today’s film shooting

- I woke up to a message from her that I needed to buy dinner for that today (pizza!)

- Asked director if location was locked in place (needed the football lights to be turned on!)

- Messaged the other assistant producer & said that the school was in charge of the lights

- So I called the school but principal was unavailable and left a message to him.

- Reported to director & told me to try calling him again.

- Did other errands at home.

2 hours later... late arvo

- I called back to the school. Got hold of the principal - he said school was not responsible with lights. The council installed them and is responsible.

- Notified assistant producer - she had a backup plan of another location nearby her houses. She had the keys to the park and could turn on the football ground lights.

- Reported back to director - told her to stick to original location and use the backup plan if needed.

1 hour later... 

- messaging director about any final equipment/props/dressings to bring. Who & what

- it began raining around 4:30pm...

- 5:15pm - messaged director if we needed to CANCEL

- director said to ask film leader to help make the decision

- called director he was optimistic about shooting in the rain (more dramatic & diverse for the film)

- reported back to director that this evening was still on!

Half an hour til meet up with film crew...

-Ordered pizzas online & went to pick it up

-Arrived at director’s house  @6:20pm with film crew to eat dinner 

-Director’s younger sister was ill - the scene needed director’s mother to go to the scene.

- Film leader suggester for me to stay at home and look after her while everyone else left to go shoot the scene - I agreed!

...I got to talk with her sister and watched a film while she snuggled on the sofa.

And that’s a WRAP!

I didn’t get to out and create but I was needed and that’s what mattered today.

Goodnight.

[producingarchitecture]

True story...

19/08

I had a random flashback in my primary school years. I was part of the ‘backstage/set/prop’ helpers for my school production...

Note:

- I really liked the ‘backstage’ role. I didn’t want to be in ‘public’ or ‘act’ on stage, i got to be the cool kid hiding in the back.

[producingarchitecture]

Prop design

Creed film

I had to design a small ‘prop’ for last week’s shooting at my house.

For one scene, the main character found a news clipping on his bedroom door. While reading it, he called out to his mum that he will help out volunteering at this ‘soup kitchen.’

Character tensions:

- Maintain extra curriculum activities with his mum, his traditions (Ramadan) and pleasing his soccer mates & soccer coach.

Fig. 1 - Scan of the ‘type’ design of ‘soup kitchen’

Fig. 2 - Scan of my drawing of a Google inspired image of a pot & ladle (reminds me of an Old English period civilisation - brown wood, potato & carrot soup, young children with plaited hair, dresses, boys with shorts, sand, skipping ropes...)

Fig. 2 - Finished design. Timber floor background used as the backdrop of poster. Contrast heavy with bold black with subdued peach.

Director suggested me to crumple the paper to make the prop more ‘real.’ The ‘crinkled’ texture implying his mum finding it at the local soup kitchen, perhaps folding it in her bag... the ‘state’ that it is in now is different than when it was first found.

--

Size - A5

Medium - Medium Brush pen & Black Texta Marker, on A5 Visual Diary

Software - Adobe Indesign CC

Font - Helvetica Neue

Printing - Normal bond paper @officeworks

19/08

[producingarchitecture]

2nd film shooting

Film Project 2: Creed

Call: 10:30am @ my house, 12/08/17

Fig.1 - Approx.11:30am. This scene is shot in the main character’s proposed bedroom. He is woken up by his mum at 4:45am to eat his early meal as part of Ramadan.

Our crew was very focused in getting the shots right so I couldn’t take pictures to portray the actual scene. The film lights shone a midnight blue tone that casted a shadow on the character’s face (to show the moonlight).

It looked like a horror film when the lights were turned off!

My mum, the ‘film caterer’ cooked a homestyle vegetarian and chicken stir fry.

^ We ate merrily. We took turns around the table sharing our ‘favourite food.’ I like to facilitate or ask open ended questions(like this one) for discussion. It’s a good way to engage in an informal/casual conversation.

--

Reflections:

- Again, the attitude of being ‘open-minded’ and FLEXIBLE is needed. We planned to shoot another scene at the park after our lunch break. But we used up a lot of time setting up, planning for the scene etc. that we still had a couple more to shoot at my home. We finished filming the bedroom and the bathroom scene at 4pm (the plan was to finish at 1pm...).

- My mother had the chance to get to know my film crew. As Melbourne is a multicultural society, my mum talked to an Australian, an Indian mother and two daughters and two Vietnamese girls. It was obviously a bit easier for my mum to speak with the Vietnamese girls! I had the opportunity to listen and engage in the conversations and learn about their family, traditions, wants in life. It was special. I was stripped out of my ‘role’ in the film as a production designer and talked to them as if were we friends.

- It is easy to go shooting for a film and doing your designated role as a production designer etc. BUT to make the film more deep, detailed and authentic, I think the film crew needs to constantly work and ask questions to the DIRECTOR. My mind can imagine ideas differently to the script than the director. I found that I had to frequently look at the director and observe her body language, to be patient with what she wants and try to understand deeper about what she wants out of the scene. Can you imagine trying to translate a vision into physical reality? That is really hard. We need to help her make her story ‘real...’

[producingarchitecture]

First film shooting

Film Project 2: Creed

Synopsis:

A young boy finds inner tensions between pleasing his soccer coach and his Muslim traditions during Ramadan. He is challenged by keeping hold of his family’s traditional roots in an environment of different people and cultures.

05/08 - CALL

Natural light just as important in fictional/narrative buildings for filming. 

Cameras rolling for an early film shooting @7:30am (Sunshine Mosque).

Light & shadow play on ‘Corinthian Column’ patterned carpet.

Location move to shoot in the exterior. Helping out with the ‘sound’ recording.

Reflections:

- I helped play the ‘assistant producer’ - time management & verbal communication is key to keep on schedule and to help the actors and other crew informed with everything!

- Learnt to be more adaptable/flexible when things don’t go our way eg. Addition of camera shots, set clothes too small (used it to put across shoulder), changed schedule of scenes...

[producingarchitecture]

Fun fundraiser film

This is what is so great with local/small government funded organisations/companies... people helping each other.

Today, I went to help the director of the community film organisation to record a short piece of a performance. 

The performance was done by a group of disabled/handicapped members of Salvation Amy. The leaders of that group contributed money towards our film project. That’s so nice.

In return, the director and I produced a short film of their jolly performance at the shopping hall.

Ten minutes before flash mob performance. Microphone on - check! Battery charged - check! 

Other people beginning to circle around them...

We finished off the fundraiser day by having a free meal at the Salvation Army Hall(Sunshine). 

The people were lovely, polite and were great dancers!

[producingarchitecture]

First film shooting

Film project 1: ‘Bittersweet’

Synopsis: 

A young Somalian girl finds conflicting challenges with her heritage. While staying over at her grandmother’s house, she learns the art and culture of making traditional Somalian tea. Her relationship is reconciled with her grandmother and ‘cultural’ self...

29/07 - CALL 

Reflections:

- One needs a lot of energy/stamina and patience with crew and director.

- One needs to stand a lot.

- It is slow but rewarding...

[producingarchitecture]

Minutes with director

Reflections from a production designer’s POV:

Last weekend:

I was invited over her ‘house’ to review the script and plan the ‘call schedule.’ I highlighted ‘house’ because this aligns with:

- notion of ‘comfort’

- notion of ‘informality’

- breaking down barriers (vulnerability to one’s personal home)

I met her mum and younger sister. I looked for clues and subtleties to her personality and demeanour around me and with her family. It was a bit different - but it showed her bond to her family. My eyes scanned around her family photographs, to listening to her mum sing an Indian song while cooking...

--

Notes:

- It was real. It felt genuine. 

- I gained some insights from her culture.

PD duties:

- Communicate with director (a lot!) - also dig deep with questions to find the intentions of the director - how to best interpret words/feelings into pictures?

- Need to encourage director (my director was nervous knowing the film shootings will be very soon)

- Do some director duties - contact this person, location/site permits (deal with council like an architect does!), site visits, 

Application to my career:

- Balance of being ‘professional’ and being authentic in a ‘comfortable’ and ‘cosy’ environment/setting.

- How to portray the ‘culture’ (religious/traditions, social, historical) of buildings?

^ 01/08/17 - first draft