Midterm’s getting closer! So finally Ayesha Khizer and I sat down to finalize the script. At first our mind wandered to new scripts new stories, but finally it made sense and we realized let’s just keep it visually appealing and erase the dialogues. The only dialogue we kept is the one which will highlight gambling.
3rd October,
2017
Dear Diary, I realized I have to push myself, give my best and rest leave it to God, hoping for best....
The Even
Ma’am gave us an assignment after last class in which we have to shoot 5 shots, in which we are experimenting with the lights. So I knew okay I have to give my best to this, so I contacted seniors discussed ideas and googled different ideas and camera settings required for them. I found out the fire effect can be faked through lights so I searched up on that. In the end, I had 3-4 ideas for my shots which I executed today in the tv studio with the help of Ayesha and TV studio assistants.
I used a monopod that I had borrowed from a friend which was very handy!
For the Fire shot: I used tungsten light and placed red gel paper with butter paper on it, Then took black chart paper and used it as a cutter which caused the flickering effect just like of fire.
For disco effect, I used CD and flashed light on it which caused a prism effect and by spinning the cd it caused a disco light effect.
For Blue and Red, I asked Ayesha to sit on a chair and placed two lights on her sides at different angles. One had red gel paper on it and one had blue. I placed butter paper to make the lights smoother.
This one-shot which I really wanted to turn out good was the music video one. It required a different light and of course more efficiency, I suppose due to which I could not get what I wanted but I got 60% of the effect I wanted. I placed in front of Ayesha at a high angle and made her stand in front of a wall but at a distance that a silhouette outlining became of her in camera and there was a light shining behind her. This effect is used in music videos.
The last shot I took at home of my cousin, in which I used room lights and two phone flashlights to get three-point lighting effect.
It took us 4 hours to get these shots. In the end, we were only able to get one shot for Ayesha. Very tiring but productive today because we both did not give up!
6th October,
2017
Today started off with getting shots done for Ayesha. As TV studio lights weren’t available, natural lights it was! Ayesha had planned on using gel papers so we took them to a garden like an area, and Ayesha got her shots done. It was a different experience analyzing the sun’s direction and where a shadow is made and what type of effects occur using gel papers. Laveeza tagged along with us for her shots, and wanted to use candle for one of her shots, in the end we went to tv studio, made it all dark and played with candle light, which gave an amazing effect, which I will use to shoot photos for my friend’s product photography in which I will highlight her product through candle only, as I have a camera and my friend asked if I can which I thought I should totally do it, asthis way my skills will polish and I'lll discover my potential.
In class we were taught how to make work plan for the midterm TVC and at night we had to submit both TVC and script final with characterization so I decided to write the work plan as I wanted to take a complete responsibility of anything and not sit behind my fears if I will do right or wrong, so I did that and Ayesha did the characterization and finalizing the script.
9th October,
2017
Ma’am showed us advertisements which consumed lateral thinking and creativity. She showed us an ad of diet Pepsi, which we had to recreate for Diet Pepsi, keeping the similar concept but different idea. It was a home assignment so I got after coming home. I have a gray sofa at home which has a small gap below it so gray can of Pepsi and gray sofa hit me and I got an idea to use that for my advertisement. Basically, it means due to diet Pepsi you’ll get so slim you’ll be able to pass below the sofa. I took around 100 shots just to get one perfect photo for the advertisements and experimented with different lights. I used a torch which with a blue gel to get the blue light effect (used in Pepsi identity) and achieve a blue effect under the sofa to highlight the meaning visually.
16th October,
2017
Our work plan script all got set, I asked my friends around and managed to find Manahil and Rida for the roles of wife and daughter of the gambler. Finally, we started shooting on 19th and it was a great experience. I learned a lot and gained confidence in myself. I practiced how to handle the camera and how to set lights appropriately! During the shoot, I was able to shoot smooth pan shots and capture images for print ads, which were designed by Khizer later on. I felt a sense of achievement on able to get the appropriate light to shoot in and the best moment was when the light switch to scar turned out on point.
Getting the actors to act was also fun. Instructing Manahil on how to act and watching her act so intensely and perfectly, I felt pride and happiness that I was able to get such a talented kid to work with.
I learned a lot in this project and I feel more motivated to move forward with my work!
19th, 20th & 23rd
October 2017
On our last day before midterms start, Ma'am taught us about color psychology in advertisements, and about logos, after which she asked us to write an idea for our creative journal and its logo. We were given 20 mins, and I immediately thought of what attracts to me and matched them with my journey of what I went through in order to get myself to work hard. So I love mandalas! and colors. I thought why not show my journey by matching these both and came up with an idea.
After mids, ma'am asked us to make a presentation which will explain the concept, creative choices that will be used for journal so I designed the presentation on Canva and used a similar design concept for the presentation also. I enjoyed doing this I am hoping it will turn out great!
30th October & 20th November
2017
As I had planned before, I decided to go with candle light idea for my friend's product photography. I used a black dupatta for the background and jewelry for the traditional touch as they are Turkish pouches and took photos of every pouch under candlelight which gave a warm classy effect.
27th November, 2017
