I’ve been reviewing footage for my short Speculative Fiction film and I am seeing opportunities to add some visual interest to the storyline. I’ve gone back and shot all of my scenes a second time, but from different camera angles. This should help break up the monotony of each scene and keep the story flowing at a quicker pace. I’m also visualizing a couple of different quick-cut techniques to show the Operating System (antagonist) slowly becoming fearful, angry and self-aware. Right now I’m experimenting with altering small 1-2 second clips throughout the video switching to the O/S’s viewpoint through the User’s eyes. This video is a good illustration of the feel I’m going for, minus the ridiculous amount of CGI.
(UPDATE – 10/1) After showing my rough cut edits, the class unanimously agreed my 1-2 second frame alterations were a little overkill, and most of the tension building in the storyline could be achieved with audio effects. I agree with these comments, and am starting to realize keeping it simple is the best approach with an amateur film project.
Miriam Petruzzelli’s review of You, Robot (by Riccardo Notte) opens with a similar question that I am trying to address with this project: “What is natural and what is artificial? What characteristic does this distinction take on today, if there be one possible?” I want highlight the ambiguity of what artificiality means when we start installing smart or symbiotic technology into our bodies. We may be headed towards a major shift in self-identification.
Audio an aspect I’m still tinkering with. I have gotten a couple cool effects to represent the O/S’s voice.. I wanted the O/S voice to be my voice, but with a slightly adjusted timbre. I feel like this will present a more intimate link between the User and the O/S. I am working on recording my own voice as well and just rented a field recorder to hopefully get some cleaner audio. I am not happy with the outdoor audio’s ambience either, so I’m scrapping it and replacing it with a much more controllable outdoor track I nabbed off of freesound.org. I’m hoping the recorded dialogue will help bring this film to life.