Ajay
About
A lonely immigrant wanders through Santa Monica Pier.
Production
The chaos and noise of the amusement park is a reflection of Ajay’s life. His alienation is seen in the people around him, visually out of focus and out of reach.
The visual elements were shot in one night in Santa Monica Pier, the sound elements were recorded over three days. The voiceover was written and performed after principal photography.
The movie was shot at 24FPS / 1080P. A 50mm prime lens was used with the following settings: ISO 1600; shutter speed 1/30s; aperture size F/1.8. The picture setting was set to neutral, allowing for color grading during post-production. All lighting came from the amusement park itself with no additional lighting equipment.
The sounds of traffic, vehicles, police siren, passers-by, carnival games, seagulls, roller coaster, water, ocean waves were distinct elements in the sound mix. Sound becomes more ambient the further away it is recorded from the source, so many sounds were recorded from several distances. The sound elements were recorded as uncompressed 96k, 24-bit stereo audio.
By viewing the sound mix as a waveform in Audacity, it was determined the proper line level for dialog is -12dB to -6dB (a low voice or whisper can be -18dB).
The film was edited in Final Cut Pro X and then exported to ProRes 422, an intermediate codec. The release version is MPEG 4.
Tools
Canon T3i (Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens), Tascam DR-05 Digital Audio Recorder, Audio-Technica ATR-55 Line Cardioid Condenser Microphone, C-Stands (custom-built from PVC pipe), Fancier FC-270A Tripod / FC-02H Head, Final Cut Pro X (Mac), Neat Video (Mac), Audacity (Mac), Handbrake (Mac), Photoshop (Mac).
Credits
Written and Directed by Richard Tur.
Starring Earl Reginhard.
Produced by Arline L. Bronzaft.
Running Time: 3:41 | Aspect Ratio: 16:9 | Stereo | 2013 | Color | Drama | USA | English | Short Film
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