Product Development

Media Studies A2 level

by fabyan damsyiq azhar

COMPONENT 3

On 20th July 2023, my tutor drove me there to check the place out and talk to the people there and see how they are like to get used to the atmosphere and get ideas. I did not have my camera with me because I did not expect my tutor driving me out of school to go there on that day.

On the second or third visit, we got a chance to talk to the supervisor for a while [with prior arrangement via the secretary of the company] and we talked about what I want to do, my requests and the days when we can film. At the end, he gave us his personal number.

filming day 1

On that day, my tutor just randomly took me there and I randomly had my equipment with me because I know something like this might happen. There was no word from him since our last visit so we went there uninvited.

Coincidentally, Arun, the supervisor was there. As it turn out, he gave us the wrong number [wrong number as in one single digit that was incorrect]. He let me do some landscape shots and photos while the workers were doing their daily thing like repairs and such. We informed him when we'll come back again. He says no problem.

"Arun"

Here are some 'behind the scenes' photos took by my tutor:

From what I can tell, the people there were just quiet and doing there work. For those who had their hands free were willing to help if I asked. Not a lot of them could speak Malay or English so this could be rough trying to get interviews. The only person who I could understand was Arun. Even from that I still ask him to repeat his words for what he speaks is English, the choice of words are quite unusual.

mise-en-scene

The place I'm filming at is the truck yard where they park the trucks and which also the workers and staff quarters. There's basic facilities for the living quarters also offices and a security room. When they are not out collecting, they can be seen doing simple repairs in the welding station, cleaning the truck with the jet sprayers or doing other projects.

''Noracon Sdn Bhd''

Below is the amount of footage that I got which includes mostly videos and some photos as well.

filming day 2

For this day, I planned to do an interview with Arun first. The questions are just regarding the basics of the company and some personal stuff. This would help me get an idea on how to expand on the workers answers with deeper questions since the ones that I are quite simple.

It already looked like a busy day for Arun but he still was happy enough to do the interview with me. Moreover, I have never conducted an interview before so I was quite nervous. This was with a supervisor and not my friend. I knew I had to not mess anything up. Funny how I messed up the audio. Only by a bit.

For some reason, I planned an interview without having a mic at hand. Luckily, we have one in school, a portable lavalier set which I can use but I was worried that it would be terrible but it says Sennheiser on the box so I could probably trust it. How it works is like plug-and-play so I didn't have to worry about installing anything. When I tested it out on my tutor, the audio was clipping which I absolutely hated. I tried to fix it by levelling the audio sensitivity in my camera but it still came out like that. So, I had to conduct the interview with the dread of terrible audio. I had no choice. Had to carry on.

''Arun Interview''

The interview lasted for more than 10 minutes. I didn't expect him to talk about how the trucks work but I appreciate it. He also talked about the company's philosophy. Overall, he has a very positive outlook on life and his career. I ended the interview and asked to give me a tour so I could film it which was an idea that came up in the moment and that another worker gave me a tour on the previous filming day but I did not have the mic with me and he couldn't speak a lot.

subtitles

ARUN INTERVIEW

Fabyan: Okay, introduce yourself.

Arun: I’m Arun. I’m working with Noracon Sdn Bhd. [Since] 5 years ago. I’m the supervisor. We handle projects. We also do rubbish collection. This is our scope of work. We have more than 40 workers.

Fabyan: How many trucks?

Arun: We have more than 20 trucks. It depends on the mechanism of the trucks. Like cargo truck, rubbish collection truck. We also have hook truck. For different parts of work.

Fabyan: So, it’s not just rubbish collection?

Arun: It’s not just rubbish collection only. We do parts of everything. We are also doing construction work.

Fabyan: You guys also clean mosques, is it? I saw that on Facebook.

Arun: Yes, yes, yes. This is our company’s area of specialty, waste management. We also have projects under JASTRe [Jabatan Alam Sekitar, Taman Dan Rekreasi]], JKR [Jabatan Kerja Raya], MOH [Ministry of Health]. Also we do army camps. We are all 80-90% under government. So we are private. We do collection in the private house [housing]. The schedule for garbage collection is 3 times weekly. It’s the standard for all the countries. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. This is our scope of work. We do every rotating days.

Fabyan: Here is the workers’ compound right?

Arun: This is our staff quarters also workers quarters. This is also the camp where our trucks stay.

Fabyan: Like a yard

Arun: A yard. A parking lot. We use here to park our trucks. We also do the cleaning. Everyday our trucks go out. Once they finish their work, after the rubbish is dumped. They come back here. Before parking, the trucks are cleaned. Everyday.

Fabyan: You clean it here?

Arun: Yes, cleaning is here. We use the water jet to clean all the trucks. The inside and outside. Because we do rubbish collection everyday. So we must clean them properly.

Fabyan: The workers, they work in shifts? Do they have holidays?

Arun: Yes. Like public holidays. They don’t have to work. Especially, His Majesty’s related function [holidays]. If tomorrow is a public holiday, our schedule will be covered. We are not allowed to work on holidays.

We have alternate drivers. We have alternating helpers. So, monthly we are given four holidays. So, in that four days, we arrange other drivers, other helpers to cover the collection.

Fabyan: Do you like this job?

Arun: Yes, I like. Yeah, I’m very happy to be doing this work. Also my people doing this are very good. This is our given opportunity. Cleaning is the most important of all the areas. So, I’m really happy to do this work.

Fabyan: Are you a local?

Arun: No, I’m Indian. I was born in India. So, I’m coming for work here. My boss is also from India. He has experience for more than 30 years plus in this work. We are hundred plus workers including locals and foreigners. So far, so okay everything. I’m good. We are under project. There’s new projects every two, three months. So, we have to arrange that part of work. Different part of work. So, we do many kinds of work. So, it’s not only rubbish collection but we do cleaning work also. We supply the rubbish bins. We use three sizes, 120litres, 240litres and the third one is 660litres. The public mostly uses 120litres. It’s like the standard one. We also supply the plastic garbage bag. This is our rotated work everyday. During the rubbish collection time, our truck breaks down. We have many breakdowns. There’s two types of mechanism. One is automatic. The other is manual. Depends on the work. So, automatic means you can lock the bin and the truck automatically picks it up to dump it in the truck. The other one is manual, the people will go and bring the bin, dumping, operating. That’s the stature of mechanism.

Fabyan: What are you guys doing for today?

Arun: Today, we are doing the usual rubbish collection in the morning. The truck is already out. So, the truck is ongoing collection. Now, we are doing similar work, the cleaning work, painting work.

Fabyan: When you take the truck for repair [during breakdowns], do you do it here?

Arun: This is not the repairing area. This is the parking area. We just do the simple repairs like changing bolts, changing the batteries, changing tires, refill the oil, filling the engine with the water coolant, checking starting problems. For any major problem, we will arrange an authorized workshop. We send there for repair.

ARUN TOUR

Arun: This is our camp entrance. The name of our company is Noracon Sdn Bhd. This is our entrance. Parking for our trucks is here. So, that one is the cleaning area. Our truck will enter. So we park there and clean everything. Then after we park here. So this area. This is a different truck here [not for garbage collection]. This is a pickup truck. The garbage trucks are there. And this is the hook truck. After cleaning, we park everything here. Also any simple mechanical problem, we do our repairs here. This is our garage. The sign says that side is the auto parts repair and that side is the welding area. We use that area to weld. Here, we are doing painting work, installing the rubber [on the boat]. This is just a side project. Repairing the boat. This is our storage area.

This is our rubbish [bin] storage area. This is our worker’s quarters.

This container we use for storage. We store important things here. Like truck parts and important files. [unsure] This is the workers’ quarters. This one is the emergency exit. It’s closed. It’s only for emergencies so we cannot use it. This house is the staff house. The supervisor, the foreman. They stay here. We go this way. This is our staff quarters kitchen. Here, we also use this for storage. This is the bin. The size is 660litres. This is our storage room for scraps. This is our toilet area. We can use it here. This is one of the storage rooms. We put the truck parts inside. This is where we put our welding things. This is the gas storage area. We use three different types of gas. Gas is the normal one. The other one is the oxygen. We also use airgun.

This is the full interview subtitles. I'm going to heavily edit this in accordance to the context I'm going for to establish coherence. I got help from my tutor because I'm quite hard of hearing when it comes to words.

As I said, his choice of words are unusual. I would describe it as learning English from a manual and a lot of the phrases that he uses are I would call protocol phrases which is like terminology used by people in their line of work that a mere mortal like me has never used or even heard of before. The icing on the cake is his thick accent. The subtitles I typed out are not 100% accurate to the words that come out of Arun’s mouth in order to get his point across. I also tried to preserve his unique vocabulary if it was clear to understand to not stray too far away from his spoken words because I might interpret them wrong. To be clear, I'm not making fun of his accent, I'm just describing my experience.

''Arun Tour''

Here are some 'behind the scenes' photos took by my tutor:

I got this amount of footage that day but each is worth about 10 minutes.

I came home happy but the dread came back once I remembered about the audio quality. I transferred the footage to my laptop and reviewed the footage from there. As it turns out, the quality of the speaker on my camera was just terrible and the footage just had minimal clipping which made them greatly salvageable.

miscellaneous filming

Miscellaneous filming refers to the filming I did spontaneously when I just had my camera with me. There were no active decisions or planning in my head when I got these shots as it was a matter of the moment finding me and up to me to capture it. The purpose of these shots as explained in my script was to show my views of Brunei used in b-rolls.

I went cycling around my home village because I wanted to record some nature areas and also to show how the typical residential area looks. My village looks a bit chaotic with its layout and planning with some areas being slightly engulfed by vegetation but it doesn't look like the suburban ones which are terrible looking and devoid of life. This kind of village is where most people in Brunei grew up in. I filmed the more natural parts to show how pretty it is and some people were using the nature that surrounds their house as a garden for farming vegetables.

"home village"

There was also a shot I took from the more 'richer' area of the village where the owner of a nearby house put up a sign to prohibit large trucks from using that road but coincidentally, a garbage truck passed by making the shot a bit comedic.

"richer area"

Some shots I took was from my dad's car window from when he sends me to school. I just filmed the whole stretch of road because I find it beautiful while odd when compared to other countries as a lot of buildings that serve drastically different functions could be found on the same stretch of road next to each other summarizing Brunei Muara District's town planning. There were construction sites, residential areas, abandoned buildings, lonely detached houses with wide plots of land, an old military barrack if I'm not mistaken, farmland, restaurants, traditional wooden houses, a river and a lot of vegetation. Moreover, I was always drawn to fast tracking shots taken from a moving vehicle. That's what made me want to put in my film.

''road on the way to school"

The other footage I have is from Bandar Seri Begawan. Specifically, on the day of 'Perayaan' which is the celebration of the Sultan's birthday held in the city. People open up stalls and sell things but the difference is that this time, more than usual. It was quite festive and that is why I chose to film on that day, to show a patriotic, festive side to this country. On these days are when people are the most irresponsible. A lot of litter is found during the aftermath of these events and it is the same every year. I can actually say that I'm not one of these people because I barely purchase anything.

I basically took videos of the surroundings. It was nighttime so my weakness in filming is brought to the forefront. It's very difficult for me to film at night. I spent most of the time trying to find a good balance of exposure wanting to make it look cinematic [good amount of darkness] while showing legible details but in the end, most of my footage was shot at a slow shutter speed. Another issue was white balance. I can't find a good balance for that too. My footage is either too yellow. This is why I want to return to Bandar again in the afternoon to film a normal day. For these footages, I'll use them sparingly to emphasize things and make some things dreamy for the establishing b-rolls.

''Bandar Perayaan"

filming day 3

This could be under miscellaneous filming due to the footage taken is for b-rolls and mostly candid shots but I call this filming day 3 because I went out purely to film and I have much to talk about it.

On 21st August 2023, I finally returned to Bandar Seri Begawan. This time with friends. My friends who I'm in a band with called Bolasepak wanted to schedule a photoshoot of some sort in Bandar. I just brought my camera along since I had planned to return anyway. My friend Haris is the kind of person who ''recharges'' by going outside so he's quite good at exploring compared to me as I have this mental block or some sort of fear to go exploring alone. I just followed him around and took videos of the surroundings with my friend Yousseff's tripod who was there as well.

We went around and I filmed every step of the way. Anything that caught my eye, I filmed it. I filmed more of the older buildings because they look nicer and more photogenic in my opinion and the buildings are mostly old anyway. I didn't really film a lot of the iconic buildings or a lot of patriotic stuff because we simply didn't went and I choose to not focus on that. I choose to focus on what is accessible to me. Because of that, my footage could be criticized for misleading people to think that all of Brunei looks old. So, I have to balance it out with footage of people doing recreational activities in the park. As I said, I am presenting my country based on how I experience it. Maybe I should put a disclaimer. Is it really necessary? Maybe I'm overthinking it.

''Normal Day at Bandar''

The highlight of that day was when we went to the old bus station. Haris just took us there. I didn't even know we were allowed in there. There was a wall with odd graffiti. Not the handstyle type of graffiti which is more for the art. I don't know what to make of it. The words liar, sweep, hungry could be found written on the walls in Malay with normal markers. Not with graffiti mops that writers typically use. This perhaps could be poor people letting out their feelings of disdain and unsatisfaction towards their life. It could either be them joking around trying to rile people up. It is all kind of cryptic. I have never seen this type of graffiti before anywhere in Brunei. Neither have I seen anyone take photos of these either.

''Unusual Graffiti''

''Shin-chan/Canai [liar & thief]. Whoever can help bring them to the police station. [Shin-Chan/Canai] is from Lumapas whose father, Rosli is from the army and mother is from the police force.''

This is just a direct translation. I definitely can understand what it says but not what they meant by this.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my friends and I:

Came back home with tons of footage.

filming day 4

I had planned to do filming and start editing during the school holidays but for the whole two weeks I couldn't contact Arun even with his personal number. He answered only one time within those two weeks and said that he would update me the next day but didn't. I had work pending for two of my coursework subjects which are Design & Technology including the documentary. I was behind on everything. For D&T, there was just a shortage of materials and there was a month's worth delay on their delivery so I couldn't do anything. Added with the spiking difficulty in my Geography. No work but only worry and it took a toll on me.

Tuesday, 5th September 2023, a day after school just started a new term. I told everything to my tutor so he took me to the yard again uninvited. The workers just let us in. My tutor talked to one of them, named Ronel [approximate spelling] about the driver's schedule and who can I follow. Coincidentally, a truck came back and he said we could talk to them. From them, we got more clearer information compared to that of Arun's. These guys had the night shift from 8PM to 5AM.

Previously, Arun said that I cannot go in the truck because only three people can fit. I was still not willing to give up because the truck was the reason I wanted to do this in the first place. The driver's name is Sohel. He gave us his personal number. We discussed and I asked if I can fit in the truck and to my delight, he said yes. There's more seats on the back. I asked if I could follow them until their shift ends. He said yes. Hence, my spirit was rekindled. I didn't care if it was all at night. I just need to finish filming.

''Sohel''

taken from his Whatsapp profile picture

Thursday, 7th September 2023, it was the actual filming day. I was quite nervous because I know something is going to go wrong but I just didn't know what it was. I brought my friend Joshua with me. He agreed because his sleep schedule was already all over the place. My dad insisted that he accompany us by following in his own vehicle just in case. I asked him to bring some of his equipment just in case anything fails and also to give him something to do other than accompanying me.

additional equipment

Camera flash just in case it gets too dark

Extra Camera [Joshua's EOS 200D] just in case mine dies

Panasonic Handycam for variety and night-vision

Umbrella if it rains

Directional mic and audio interface to record better audio [was not used]

Joshua came by my house at around 5PM. I told him to come earlier so I can practice using his camera and he can set up his audio stuff. He skipped his Muay Thai class for this. So I thank him greatly.

We went out and it started to rain. This was the gut feeling. I forgot to ask Sohel if they go out even in the rain. The day therefore, became unpredictable. We went to the supermarket next to the yard and bought snacks [hotdog buns and 100plus] for Sohel and the others to thank them because I don't have money to actually pay them for their involvement.

I called Sohel and unfortunately, he said that they don't go out in the rain but we were already at the gate of the yard so why not just come down and talk to them for a while to get a clearer idea for the night. By some miracle, Arun was there and he had a longer beard. It was like meeting a ghost. We greeted each other. He couldn't answer all my messages and calls as he was busy. I could already tell but I had no choice but to finish my thing. I had no other way to go. I'm in too deep. Plus, he was fine with it. He was smiling and such. So, we discussed again.

Alas, we weren't allowed in the truck nor the dumping area. So, I have to compromise. I was saddened. At least, this time he explained to me clearer that it was for authorized personnel only, there's police inspections, long cues to go to the incinerator [up to 5 hours], PPE must be worn and all that complicated stuff. Now I finally understood why he can't give me a proper schedule. As for now, we had to wait for the rain to go away. Then, we can go to Sengkurong to follow their collection route he informed.

We drove back to Joshua's house to get his boots. We went there. They were thrown out by his grandmother. We went back to my house to rest for a bit and waited for the rain. I figured we can just leave the audio equipment at home because there won't be any interviews and I would just film their collection in Sengkurong instead and outside the truck.

Once the weather was clear, we went out. By now, my father has forgotten to fill the gas which he had mentioned twice. Coming to terms with my compromised ideas, the deadline and workload, my brain was throbbing, my eyes were twitching, my jaws were clenched and my hands were shaking.

Sohel told us to meet at a 24-hour convenient store. He didn't mention the name. There were a few convenient stores still open around the area so we didn't know which was the one was 24-hour as it was. We chose one shop and I snapped a picture and sent it to Sohel to make sure if that was the one and we got it in the first try.

I stepped out the car, set up my camera, felt the breeze and suddenly all the tension was lifted and I felt free just taking videos and walking around.

Ten minutes before Sohel arrived, I just took videos of the surroundings, the atmosphere of a 24-hour convenient store nearing late night. This was partly for me to get used to filming at night. I properly adjusted the white balance for night scenes and it looks more cinematic now because I finally found the setting in my camera to properly set the tint not just the temperature of the footage. I also adjusted the shutter speed to be a little bit more slow to let more light in and also to get longer trails of motion blur to intensify the drowsy atmosphere of that night. I kept the iso low to minimize noise as well as to achieve that dark noir look.

I took videos of the staircase of shophouses to take fully take in more of the atmosphere and surroundings for more intimacy with it. It is to capture what people live here would see first if they were to step outside the entrance of their home. However, it's not confirmed if I will use this footage.

''Shophouse Staircase''

A while later, I was taking some landscape shots when I heard the engine of Sohel's truck in the distance. He came down the truck to meet me and briefed me on the general path of collection points for me to follow. After I adjusted the camera settings, I find that the footage looks way better plus the lights at the back of the truck make it look cinematic only highlighting the garbagemen's outline acting as my backlight while everything else is pitch black. The darkness eliminated the background giving ambiguity to its location making it look like a stage.

''Garbagemen Silhouette''

Way before I started shooting, I was hoping to capture some fun moments like bantering but during this shoot, no one said a word the whole night only directions. They were only doing their job. I did see them smiling though talking to shop owners which was nice to see. Anytime I asked anything, they just smiled. I tried to ask them questions to get a glimpse of their thoughts when they were just walking to the next point. They barely spoke Malay which was unfortunate so I can't interview them.

They collected only from chosen cages which they likely provided not bins so they had to individually pick up scraps until there's nothing left and the proces was slower than that of picking up bins and pouring dumping the garbage in the truck. That night, my nose went on a voyage. Sometimes, it smelled of onions and chicken which I find quite appetizing. It could be leftover food that was not eaten. The weirdest scent was a combination of bleach, blood and feces. It was the most unsettling scent of all. That collection point had a handful of cockroaches crawling around at a time. I could feel one crawl up my neck while I was filming.

Shooting went on until past 12AM. By then, I figured I got enough garbage collection footage. The only thing I had to do left was an interview with Sohel since he can speak Malay. I thanked Sohel and the others and left. However, I forgot to give them their snacks.

We went back at around 1AM and ate their snacks because we were hungry.

Here are some 'behind the scenes' photos taken by Joshua:

Came back home with tons of footage.

update

It is now 24th of September 2023, six days before the deadline. I have just finished editing the film with only what I have. As it turns out, the footage wasn't enough to create a cohesive narrative as it is missing the vital ingredient which is Sohel's interview. That was supposed to be the soul of the documentary so then I could build a film around it and arrange the footage according to his words. Now, if I just put Arun's interview in the film, it just sounds ridiculous. Knowing that I couldn't film the inside of the truck and the dumping place, I wanted to take the poetic route making Sohel's interview the main feature of this documentary which was the last resort to inject substance. Now, the documentary is just way different to what I had in mind. It still can be considered a documentary but without words or context and is very interpretive. It would have been special if Sohel were to speak in this. I will submit this version if my time runs out but I will still make an effort to get someone to speak in this for my own sake.

editing

screenplay

I will create a screenplay so it is easier to refer to what shots I'm talking about in editing but this will still by liable to changes and I'll explain accordingly.

I used Premiere Pro for editing the entirety of the video footages.

1.

First, I create separate bins for my footage distinguishing them between locations. I also create separate sequences for each bin. I review each of the clips and select the in and out points of those clips which I find don't look terrible.

2.

As I selected the in and out points, I dragged them to their separate sequences and it's already arranged chronologically. By that time I thought that I had an overwhelming amount of footage. The clips I have of bandar itself accumulated to approximately 20 minutes. I deleted the clips that are not consistent visually or narratively. This process took a couple of hours.

3.

For the footages from the camcorder, I transferred them using USB cable via a screen-recording software called OBS studio. I made sure the audio was not clipping by lowering the levels.

4.

Before I finished sequencing everything according to the script, I had to start adding effects to get close to what I have in mind to see if the clips I chose works or not especially for this scene. This scene is a long exposure clip of the old bus station in bandar along with the strange graffiti I encountered. The editing was done in a way to reflect how the atmosphere felt around there. I know little to none about that place and the graffiti adds to the mystery whether they were sincere or not. This scene serves as a transition to the film title cards thus, I had to make it eye-catching and quick because the title card itself would be long and also serves as a transition in the form of an evolving view outside a car window.

In one of the footage, there is just a split second of long exposure goodness where the light entering from the end of the bus stop look like spotlights. It doesn't look random is what I mean. So I used that part of the footage along with others but first I slowed it down to prolong the goodness. The screenshot above was before I knew putting 200% speed was going to speed it up.

5.

I duplicated the 'split second' clip multiple times to produce a flickering effect. I layered another clip [walking towards a door way] on top of it and gave it a blend mode [overlay] that looks best. This blend mode isolates the highlights making the 'split second' clip look more like spotlights. Then, I added cross dissolve to the beginning of both clips the top one starting slower to show the flickering first.

6.

I added the 'strange graffiti' clip after the 'doorway' clip. Same as before, I will make the editing for this part to be flashy and quick to not make audience focus on them [graffiti] too much and to avoid making it boring. This part serves as a transition while giving quick insight to maybe the disdain the working class have that have manifested through graffiti.

I blended [difference] the first clip on top of each other on a delay to make them look displaced. I put cross dissolve transition at the beginning to avoid making it too abrupt. The other clips I randomly layered them for randomness because the graffiti was also random. The blending modes were also different [divide and overlay]. I added cross dissolve too on one of them just to make the flickering not too annoying.

7.

I went ahead and continued copy-pasting the best footage from the bandar sequence to the main sequence. I had to learn to not get too attached to those footages so I can condense those 20mins into this 5 minute film. My judgement of choosing clips was based on how good it looks composition-wise and in terms of content as in what the people are doing in it. I try to recognize patterns in the mundane. My favourite clip was the the young lady and old man intersecting paths by coincidence. I recognize where those two were going when I was looking for things to film and I got so excited and immediately set up my camera. I wasn't quick enough so I only managed to get the part where they intersect.

The pattern on this one is three uniformed men [tying into labour, one of the themes of my film] passing by a rubbish bin [garbage man documentary].

The clips on composition I used textbook techniques like the leaning lines, wide-static shots and such to provide calmness after the flickering footage.

Selecting and arranging took a couple days because I was quite indecisive and that the script I made in pre-production planning was just a general one where I had no idea how the footage would turn out. This might be the thing that took most of my time editing.

8.

I spaced out a number of clips so that there is a black screen in between to make it cinematic and not too abrupt. Before this, I had a lot more 'black screen' transitions because I found every clip going into another to be awkward. However, I realized that was okay to do and no one would really notice that. The multiple black screen instead will be the subject o complaint because I was abusing it. So, I reserved it for the most drastic of change which was for mise-en-scene and filming format [DV and HD].

9.

The clip after the bandar clip was the long tracking shot of the road that I was talking about in my product development on miscellaneous filming. I elaborated there on why I chose to film this long stretch of roadside view. I placed it in that part of the sequence because it serves as a backdrop for the title cards. it serves as a neat transition to the next mise-en-scene like we are driving there.

10.

This part acts as an establishing shot [wide-static shot] for how their yard looks like. The duration is long because I want the viewer to take it all in. The worker [I was too shy to ask his name] picking up the trash [I didn't ask him to do it]. The flag on the truck waving. The plastic bag flying around makes it look like a tumbleweed and this shot looks like it's from a western which is what I like about it. This shot is followed by a couple other static shots of scraps leftover on decommissioned trucks and the workers walking around the welding area to capture atmosphere. There are more shots which I didn't end up using although it shows their activities, it is not cinematic enough [too cluttered an not in a good way] for this version. If I can get another interview, I'll have enough context to put it in as I have elaborated in 'update'.

11.

Another change of setting takes place. This time is in Sengkurong around a 24-hour convenient store. I filmed this area to establish an atmosphere that you get late night thus, an establishing shot [wide-random movement]. I filmed the people around doing their thing. I chose to film with DV format because it can film nighttime good because it has a nighttime exposure mode. The gritty tape look suits and amplifies the atmosphere of doing dirty work late at night. I reserved the tape format for montages of scenery and repetitive work.

12.

For this small part, this to smoothen a transition of format to HD. This is a shot of a window around that area. I found this lit window to look lonely and it gives off that kind of symbolism. Surrounded by complete darkness outside and with only plain interior on the inside. This window is on a shophouse probably for workers which is why I find to be related to the theme of this film. I duplicated the clip and layered it with [difference] for abstraction.

13.

What follows is a compilation of purely trash collection of that area at night. I thought I had too much footage at first [of the collection]. I was done filtering out footage and arranging them. At that point, I find it to be quite repetitive in a bad and annoying way. So, I filtered out more clips which were the ones that have little to no motivation towards filming it. I left the ones that are the most distinct. Those few clips although few, it's distinction gives audience a sense of more variety. However, the issue was now the documentary equates to about 3 and a half minutes. For now, I will explain those distinctions. First, the top clip is kind of like a tease on its own. It's a wide shot of two people standing around like who are these people?? even though it's obvious. Then, the truck comes in the shot taking up the whole frame blackening it and those two are revealed to be garbagemen as one approaches the sack throwing away little scraps.

This shot was inspired by the intro shot to Mr. Bean with the spotlight where he falls to the floor. During the shoot, I thought to myself I can't just film them collect rubbish. I wanted to add variety by filming everything else that comes into view during the time I had with them. Here, the subject was the shadow they cast. The lights at the back of the truck acting as the spotlight and this is their stage performing their duties.

Filming aspects of the job was important for getting deep in detail. Like this close up shot of his hands pulling the lever activating the packer panel squeezing the juice out of the garbage. The little scraps escaping through the gaps plunging into the sludge and leftovers getting thrown into the hopper at the last minute.

This panning shot was to juxtapose people in the shop shopping at their leisure and the garbagemen at the back of the building collecting the waste of the products being sold.

This somewhat high angle shot was not really to make subjects viewed low and submissive. The code here is that the shot is prolonged to represent repetitiveness until it oppresses the viewer.

14.

I tried presenting the repetitive nature of the occupation in a more engaging way. Instead of just showing it just that footage for a prolonged time, I cut up sections of it and squeezed other short clips in between those cuts that I spaced out in the sequence so that no matter what other clip plays, the same plays where it left off making it look like flashbacks.

However, it looked even more annoying so I reduced the number of clips. The two very short clips layered at the top is to make it flicker a bit to increase intensity maybe to reflect a bad day on the job. The maximum intensity is represented by that long shot without any interruptions except for abstraction and layered footage to represent dissociation. At least that is what I think they feel during the job because they barely say a word to each other.

15.

The abstract footage was done by adding noise to the footage and blending it on divide. I put cross dissolve transition to make it smoother. The blended footage I used was from the camcorder. It looked unusable at first but using it gave it a really good texture when it was blended like that. Since the tape footage was layered on top of the HD camera footage the aspect ratio didn't match so I cropped it. From there, I ran out of footage at around 3 and a half minutes due to so many compromises.

16.

To pass time, moved on to colour-grading the footage. I'm not really an expert on colours especially when it comes to using curves. All I know is that some footage are just too yellow due to the white balance. On some shoots my settings change due to adjusting to different environments. That one perfect setting I got for the car tracking shot where the ground was golden and the sky looking blue I couldn't replicate. The footage in Bandar was quite yellow but the sky was too bright while the light on the buildings were how I wanted. So, I tried to fix those issues the best I could from the ways that I know how.

Basically, I just lowered the tint and the white balance to not make it too yellow while still having distinct look as in not make it too raw looking which I dislike on my footage. I noticed that when I lower the contrast and the highlights, it gave it more of a film look which I really like. It neutralizes the footage and makes it easy on the eyes. I amplified it by giving each clip a subtle grain effect by 3%. I gave most of the clips this treatment [low contrast] except for some of the clips. I preserved the high contrast scenes mostly in the night footage because of noise issues [ugly] and that that was already how I wanted it.

17.

documentary title [updated]

This time I have to make title cards and come up with a name for the documentary. I was stumped when looked back at the interview. Arun didn't say anything particular that could be used as a name. Moreover, I didn't put his interview in [refer to pre-production planning documentary title].

So, I just reflected on my favourite titles in media and try to figure out why I like them. One of them was Metal Gear Solid which is one of my favourite video game franchises of all time. When I first heard the title, I thought those words were put together like from a scramble because it was random but somehow it manages to sound so captivating. Metal Gear is the name of the nuclear weapon featured in the game that serves as a catalyst for events while the word Solid, that was added to the name in the third game of the franchise serves a few meanings. First, it sounds cool. Second, Solid is the code name of the protagonist Solid Snake. Thirdly, the third game is the first of the franchise to have 3D graphics. Finally, it was to poke fun at a rival company called Square.

At this point of editing, the documentary looks like a comparison between day and night for Brunei with the focus being night with the garbage collectors being the star of the night. It doesn't take the factual exposition route. My film is like diving into the lesser documented parts of Brunei by Bruneian media. It is like a memoir.

I tried coming up with names and following that Metal Gear Solid format, I came up with Mine Place Nighttime because it's a memoir of my country at nighttime through the grit of garbage collectors. However, it just doesn't sound good in my opinion. Not catchy enough. I thought it sounded mysterious at first which is what I wanted.

I looked up name generators on the internet for films and I put together two results I got which was Obscured and Labour. Obscured Labour. It matches quite well with everything about my film. Obscured can be used to describe the surroundings. Obscured labour to describe garbage collection how it's overlooked. However, I have a bad history with the word obscure. To me, it just sounds pretentious. It does sound cool but I opted to transfer the name to Malay. The translation is not exact. Buruh Terselindung. Terselindung means hidden. Hidden and obscured is more or less the same. This name sounds better to me because I can't judge my mother tongue.

18.

I designed the logo same as the logo from my Component 1. It's fast and it is like my house-style now. I wrote the words on paper and smeared a little rubbing alcohol on it so it bleeds. I scanned it and processed it in Photoshop.

19.

I edited both words separately so it would be easier to re-size things if the logo doesn't fit because both words combined is quite long. I went ahead to camera raw filter and adjusted the temperature to blue because the garbage collecting scene, the colour-scheme was mostly blue. Since, I cropped a small portion of the scan, it is quite pixelated. My trick is to add a lot of grain from the camera raw filter to trick the eyes into thinking that the image has got a lot of detail since the grain is so fine. Then, I used the wand tool to select and delete all the white background.

20.

I saved both images as a PNG file and exported it to Premiere. I positioned it where and when I want the title card. Had to choose a blending mod that looks best. The look that I was going for was a bit transparent while the leftover white values that the wand tool didn't catch disappear or at least blends in with the background as well as to give a distinct look. Hard Mix did that.

21.

To compensate for the cut of content I just put one more long exposure clip from the Bandar Perayaan as a transition. I duplicated it to prolong it. I layered the second clip slightly touching the end of it. I used the cut tool to split the second clip and blended the first one to Overlay. This was all done to add variety and make both clips look different from each other.

The ending clip is just the continuation of the long tracking shot which is kind of boring but I have no choice as putting other clips won't work and not enough context is provided. I gave both footage the same colour-grading treatment adjusted accordingly. Ultimately, it is an unfinished film.

22.

After all that, I work on the audio. First, I unlink all the unnecessary or unusable audio. Some footage has me or Joshua talking and joking while filming, some has the camera strap tapping on the camera mic, some is just clipping, some is the lav mic connected to the aux of the camera while not being turned on. I unlink and I delete the track. Then, for the ones I kept, I adjusted it to avoid the level bar from going red.

23.

Some audio tracks I extend to the black screen so that the audio plays when the video isn't. It's a common technique in films to make it more cinematic. Like audio slowly creeping in before the footage plays. I added Exponential Fade to it to make it more smoother. After, that I was having slow rendering issues so it prevents me from previewing some parts so I chose to export it and edit it in a different project file.

24.

I downloaded a low hum royalty-free audio for filling the void gaps in audio with atmosphere. I was trying to find like a subtle synth soundtrack that can be played throughout the film. This low hum was reminiscent to the soundtrack of Sans Soleil [a documentary] which was what I was going for. Before, I wanted to compose my own score but I don't really have the time for that.

25.

I also downloaded another song from which I think might be copyrighted but the band that made it is not very famous and that song is just a interlude which is short and not really well-known in their discography. The song name is I Want More Life by Fleeting Joys. What appeals to me about this song is that it is a shoegaze song [noise-rock-pop-drone-effect-heavy-ambient music] with strings and it fluctuates in and out of tune. Gives off a euphoric and melancholic atmosphere. Just beautiful stuff and it quite suits to be a soundtrack to a film. I put this song on the first abstract scene with the unusual graffiti and the old bus station.

26.

In the new project file, I re-arranged some parts like the old bus station scene switched places to after the Bandar scene before the long tracking car ride shot. Previously, it was the opposite. This placement of scenes makes more scenes as it is smoother and less forced.

27.

Finally, I added more text before the main film name. I added the film company name and the credits of the waste disposal company. I chose this font because I like how it is a little goofy and ugly but not too much. Not really a serious and generic font. I personally like it. The colour red was inspired by Stanley Kubrick title sequences how he can just make things so simple and here, simple is the way to go.

THIS CONCLUDES EDITING FOR NOW

Here is the link to this version: https://youtu.be/OJHkHsZUXKs

MEDIA STUDIES A2 LEVEL

Media Studies A2 level

COMPONENT 3