Paua on the Beach - Making of my Debut Short Film! - video Dailymotion

MasinaT

Hi guys! In 2018 in the early days of my youtube channel, I was living in Samoa with my father's family. I did media class in a homeschooling program and had to make a short film production for an assessment task. I thought of many fantastical concepts and this led to me creating my debut short film!  Now how did I think of my short film in the first place? and how have I planned to create my production? Many years later, I compiled a video outlining behind the scenes of Paua on the Beach.   FOLLOW ME Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/masina.taulealo.3 Tumblr: https://masinat.tumblr.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/masinataulealo?lang=en   SONGS In the Shadows - The Rasmus  Music composed by Setu Taule'alo

Transcript

00:00There are many magical and supernatural things in the world that have been researched and there

00:12are many things that cannot be explained. There are flying humans, waterfalls that go upwards,

00:17flower circles and magical necklaces, like this one in my short film.

00:21So Power on the Beach is a fantasy thriller short film slash music video about a boy who finds a

00:33magical necklace on the beach and then witnesses unusual paranormal phenomenon. I, Masina Taule Alu,

00:40created my debut short film in 2018 and it really shaped the way I would make proper films in the

00:46future.

01:04It all started in 2017. My family and I once moved to Samoa to help our grandparents with

01:09their cafe business. During my time there I did an online homeschooling program called DECV,

01:14now called Virtual School Victoria. One of my favourite subjects was media studies where I

01:20researched film and television and also made little videos. For one assessment in 2018 I had to think of

01:27a short film idea that was five minutes long. And this is where Power on the Beach began.

01:42I started with some simple brainstorming, thinking of ideas and concepts that were funny, magical and

01:49suspenseful, albeit less feasible to do. One idea that my family were curious about was the magical

01:55necklace idea. As I lived in Samoa I thought about what would happen if I found a necklace in a forest

02:02or on the beach. Did someone lose it? Did it belong to a mystical being? Does it grant magical powers? And if I

02:08find one, what if it led to mysterious events? It was fun to think about and with those ideas in mind

02:14I went ahead with the idea.

02:27The genre of the film is a supernatural fantasy thriller. The fantasy and supernatural genres are

02:32used to show things that are not real and imaginary. Some typical themes used in fantasy are myths and

02:38legends, bravery, good versus evil, unusual realities, strength, overcoming difficulties and trust.

02:47Power on the Beach explores the theme of unusual realities.

02:50Power on the Beach

03:00Along with my own idea there were two media productions which served as some form of inspiration.

03:06This is a music video from The Rasmus called In The Shadows which involves the narrative of a housemaid

03:11in the 18th century. The woman sees the band in the mirrors and near the end gets pulled inside the

03:16move by the lead singer to where they are performing in front of a crowd. At the end the house residents

03:22go to her room to find she has disappeared. This in some way inspired me because I like modern narratives

03:27with a magical fantasy theme and the end has a cliffhanger emphasis which I used for the film.

03:33There is also the Horcrux necklace from the Harry Potter movie series. There are seven different

03:38Horcruxes which hold parts of Voldemort's soul. This here is the Slytherin Locket Horcrux. This is

03:43This inspired the necklace for my short film because the Horcrux is a magical object.

04:00I used two coated conventions to crucially shape my film consisting of camera angles and colour palettes.

04:07For camera angles I wanted to show the perspective of different characters and objects using the point

04:12of view shot. Aside from shots of what the boy sees I did point of view shots from the necklace.

04:17This shows that the necklace is magical, has its own supernatural powers or an identity itself and

04:22these effects gave life to the inanimate object to convey these possibilities. The point of view

04:27shots from the boy would make the audience experience how the boy sees things and what it feels

04:31like to be that character. I also used close-ups to show his emotions as he is going through a strange

04:36and intense situation. There are wide shots to give the audience more information where the narrative takes

04:41place and tracking shots to show where the boy is going which makes the audience focus on him.

04:46Perhaps one camera technique I used is the low angle shot pointing upwards towards the character.

04:51This is used to communicate a sense of grandeur and that the character is in control of the scenario.

04:55Tim Burton uses these camera angles a lot in his film productions.

04:59Low angle camera pointing upwards shows that the character is in power.

05:03High angle camera pointing downwards shows that the character is vulnerable.

05:08For example in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there is a low angle shot of Willy Wonka in the

05:12great glass elevator. This shows that the character is in complete control because Wonka made the

05:16elevator and is the only one who knows how to operate it. There's also this scene from Miss

05:20Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children where Miss Peregrine is turning back time. There are often

05:24low angle shots of her to convey that she is in control.

05:27Not just that but there is one scene where Jake is being carried by Bronwyn. This is a point of view

05:36shot from Jake who is seeing the girl's legs as he is being carried by her.

05:41For colour palettes I used darkish blue undertones to portray a supernatural dreamlike state throughout

05:46the film. This is similar to the colour palette in the same film where Jake meets the peculiar children.

05:50There is a bluish colour haze over the lighting which conveys a mysterious mood because Jake is

05:54encountering the peculiar children for the first time. Later Jake and the peculiar children are

05:59inside a cave. There is low key bluish light above and beyond the children. This also conveys a mysterious

06:04mood as Jake is entering the time loop for the first time and he does not know what a time loop is.

06:09This gives the audience a feeling of magic and mystery.

06:11A similar colour palette is also used in Pan's Labyrinth in the scene where Ophelia enters the

06:25labyrinth for the first time and meets the fawn. The colour palette shows it as night time as the

06:30moon is shining down into the chamber but it also creates a mysterious and magical mood as Ophelia is

06:34talking to a magical creature for the first time.

06:47So I figured out my concept, that's great, but I couldn't start just yet. I needed resources and

06:52props for my film and I needed a song first as that will help me with the structuring and storyboards.

06:58For my necklace I found a little blue necklace that one of my parents had.

07:02It is shaped like a shell and there is a vibrant blue colour that stands out and reflects light.

07:06It is made out of a Bawa shell, a mouldy name for a large edible sea snail in El Teror.

07:11This is why I named my film Bawa on the Beach.

07:15Now for my song. I had no idea what song I wanted to use. When I was 16 I used to think of using other

07:20people's songs that were likely copyright protected. In one case I almost chose this Green Day song but it

07:25was about the US invasion of Iraq which shows that it isn't appropriate to use for another narrative.

07:29I then turned to my father Setu Taole Allo. Since 2016 he has been using multiple synthesizers,

07:37sound softwares and Ableton to create music and he has created multiple samples of his music.

07:42So I skimped through his music and found one track that sounded fitting for my narrative and genre.

07:47It was a calm and eerie tune which had a crescendo at the second third of the song. So I chose that song

07:52and made some adjustments, added other features and reduced it to five minutes.

07:56I was then finally ready to work on my storyboard.

08:08I took about two weeks to complete my storyboard with simple visuals and stick figures.

08:12I was finally ready to start shooting the production.

08:15I got both my parents to operate the camera and I also cast myself as the main character.

08:21We started off by shooting on a Sunday. We shot the first scene at Vavao Beach,

08:25south of Apollo Island. Me and my family often went there to relax and enjoy the water. It was

08:30also quite sunny and cloudy so it was the perfect time to film. We filmed aerial shots around the beach

08:36and we also found a shady area to put the necklace. After the beach scene, me and my mother took spare time

08:42to go out by ourselves and film the driving scenes. In the film, I didn't really know why it had a car

08:48driver character. To me, it seems like some minor side character driving the boy home or some sort

08:53of taxi, Uber driver, a car hop or an old family friend driving the boy home. We then filmed the

08:59house and the climax scene in our grandparents' house. In the climax, the boy finds the necklace

09:04changing colours and the house starts going berserk. I flicked on and off lights, turned on taps fully,

09:09got my parents and grandparents to help me out and even played stock footage of a glitchy screen

09:14on our TV. For the ending, I actually woke up in the morning and filmed that part by myself to

09:20really capture the essence of waking up in bed. I was finally finished with all the filming. Now all

09:34there was left was to edit the footage together. For some footage, I used iMovie to stabilise shaky

09:39footage. Firstly, I watched a tutorial video on how I can change the colour palette in clips.

09:44I found in Adobe Premiere that there is a tool called Fast Colour Corrector, which creates cinematic

09:49colour. I can adjust the colour tint to any kind of colour and control the saturation, balance and input

09:55levels. I made the colour palette dark blue and have used it for the beach and driving scenes.

10:00I wanted to give the scenery a mystical appearance which fits in with the magical effect of the

10:04necklace and create a dreamlike atmosphere. For the house scene, I used a darkish green colour

10:09palette to convey a sense of unease as the necklace is changing colours and is affecting the house.

10:15For the necklace that was changing colours, I used to change colour tool in After Effects and the

10:19Rotobrush tool. When I used the Rotobrush tool for the first time, it wasn't easy and the tracking of

10:24the rotobrush on the necklace wasn't too accurate. So I learned to use the Rotobrush tool frame by frame

10:29and make refinements. With the glowing effect, I used a glow tool in After Effects, but I didn't just

10:35rely on software to make the necklace glow. When I filmed the scene of the boy holding a necklace,

10:39I used a torch to light the necklace up. For the necklace point of view shot, I pulled up my camera

10:45and a torch shining on my face. For the shot of holding the necklace, I held a torch over my hand

10:50to capture a realistic glow effect. For the wide shot of the boy holding the necklace, I held the

10:54necklace and held the torch while hiding it. With these effects, I wanted the audience to feel tense,

11:00surprised and intrigued.

11:12So now that I was finished with my short film, I was ready to send it out into the world. I didn't want

11:17to do it yet as I wanted to try and make a couple movie style posters for the first time. I ended up

11:22waiting until I got settled back in Melbourne and ended up publishing it on YouTube in February 2019.

11:28I didn't really submit it to film festivals then as I had no idea on how to do it online

11:32and I was still quite young. That was about to change years later.

11:36In 2020, I came across Film Freeway, a platform to submit indie films to film festivals.

11:41So I submitted my short film to a couple of festivals and Power on the Beach ended up getting

11:46into nine festivals. I received two semi-finalists, two finalists, two nominees and I ended up getting

11:51a trophy for my short film.

12:02It has been a while since I made the film, but just to ask, what was my intention of making this in the

12:06first place? Well, since I started my YouTube channel and my senior team in 2016, I've been

12:11interested in exploring different editing styles and camera techniques that I'm interested in.

12:15I've also been interested in creating something magical and mysterious.

12:18I've seen how Tim Burton uses his camera angles and colour palaces and I wanted to make something

12:22similar. I was interested in the fantasy genre and I enjoy how narratives can blend fantasy with

12:27reality. I've been trying to explore new video editing techniques and film cameras at different

12:31angles to create a mysterious effect and show different perspectives. The story I wanted to tell is

12:36that some things in reality are not always what they seem and weird things can happen with no logical

12:41explanation or evidence. Sometimes things in life have no explanation and it seems that magic is real.

12:47My audience would be interested in fantasy, supernatural, techno music and mysteries. They

12:51would have the hobbies of reading fantasy and science fiction stories, watching low-budget independent

12:56films and who are interested in supernatural themes and genres in movies. I wanted the audience to be

13:01curious and intrigued by the events that happen. I wanted them to question what is real and what's not.

13:06I wanted them to feel what it's like for the boy going through these strange things and I wanted

13:09them to feel confused and wonder what is real by the end of the film. I created this effect with

13:14point of view shots from the boy and the necklace and with darkish colour palettes. I have a feeling

13:18my audience would be curious and expect something weird to happen because of the style of the music

13:22and how the narrative is introduced at the beginning of the film. The audience would expect a

13:26mystery and ending with no clear answers because they are common themes in fantasy and supernatural

13:31genres. I wanted to fulfil the audience's expectations by using special effects to

13:35create a supernatural element to the narrative. Also, I have created tension and suspense by

13:40synchronising the musical climax to the visuals of the narrative.

13:43The audience might expect it to happen due to the nature of the narrative. I intended for the

13:55story and production to turn out like how they are presented in professional feature length fantasy

13:59films and with the use of colour palettes and special effects it makes the necklace seem like it

14:04has magical powers that can affect the boy and his life.

14:16So that was the story of my debut short film and how I managed to create something engaging.

14:21At the time I felt like I had achieved the quality of an advanced filmmaker for the first time.

14:25I came across some problems like why I wanted the camera to point but I sorted that out.

14:29I undertaken most of the production roles as director, editor, cinematographer and

14:33actor. I've definitely come a long way since I made this short film and I've made several other

14:38films years later. Thank you very much for watching and if you find a necklace mysteriously out on the

14:42beach it would be nice to hear about it and what might have happened to you after you found it.

14:47Overall, magic can be around any corner even when you least expect it.

15:03I snap my fingers.

15:16Thank you wrong.

15:16There you go there.

15:19Have some breakfast on the moon.

15:21The moon was blinking, it was야지, the sky, Anita ...

15:22...

15:23...

15:24...

15:25...

Paua on the Beach - Making of my Debut Short Film!

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