Filming and Editing the Interrogation Floodlight Flashback

Just like when Novikof sees the nice dog before entering the library, he sees the same color and shape of the interrogation lamp that swung above him in another childhood trauma. I edited this in because it adds intrigue to the character and further establishes context, mood, and motivations in the opening. The swinging light special effect hints at the context of totalitarian government or at least a group of terror-inducing people. This is also evident by the punching foley and screams of pain from an adult male. The audience is made very uneasy when from the elevator button's red light (as red light signals warning, just as I took notes about when watching the flood lights in the American submarine in Hunt for Red October). This special effect also adds to Novikof's motivation to run from the guard (as, in the audience's mind, the guard could be part of the group performing the torture referenced.  

I reached out to Patton Horton, an expert in antique and vintage wares, about where I might find vintage, industrial floodlights for the interrogation flashback. 

Some screenshots from Patton's Ebay:

But after all the money I had spent on other props and gear for this production, I decided to try using what I already had. My family owns a lot of antique lamps (although not overly industrial), and so I decided to turn a red (to match with the ring in the video it will be placed inside), vintage lantern upside down, attach it to a chain which hangs from the ceiling, and swing it back and forth in a dark room with the light on. Although the light itself is a warm yellow-white tone, I will color correct it in Premiere to match the red shade from the elevator button light. This lamp is located in Mims (Central Florida), about 3 and a half hours from my house. So I plan to go there in early March to find it and edit it in. I also plan to use this same lamp in the Creative Critical Reflection. 

I also heard that there was a similar light to the one I want in a small, local thrift store, so I called the owner and sent this inspiration photos over text for her to see if she had anything that could work. The owner text me that she didn't have, nor has ever had, anything like it, so I went to Habitat for Humanity.

Before I filmed that, however, I edited the elevator button light footage. 

To add emphasis to the sudden reaction Novikof experiences when seeing the lit circle in the same shade as the interrogation floodlights, I created a quick zoom animation on a CU, at a low angle to show it was coming from the POV of the button itself. I did this by keying the position of the shot, and I added easing to make it jerk less. I did this by right clicking on the last key and going to "temporal interpolation" and clicking "ease in" and then right click on the first key and then going to "ease out."

I used the "hard light" blend layer on the masked and feathered out shot of the elevator button light as to both fade the trigger (and then the trauma within the trigger) onto Novikof's face, communicating to the audience what he is thinking. 

The color could be seen clearly, but the darker parts would be more opaque, allowing Garretts face to be scene, implying that this was what he was thinking and that it illicit a strong reaction from him. 

By swinging the camera (and then slowing down the pacing through speed/duration controls) I created the movement of the swinging floodlight, further connecting the trigger to the traumatic memory.

When I zoomed in on this shot, I was sure to ease the keyed movement in scaling and position. This was so that the movement was smoother and I did it using the temporal interpolation, clicking
"ease in" on the keys at the end of the pair and then "ease out" on the keys at the start of the pair. 

I changed the speed of the clip where Garrett breathes deeply to manipulate the timing with the audio from the flashback and the score. I could also change for just how long his breath took. His wearing a mask gave me even more control over this, as his mouth did not give away just when he was breathing. 

I made a copy of this clip and reversed the speed of the second one before his breath. That way I could further increase the time before the breath and give more time for the flashback. 

These two screenshots show my editing of the breathing foley. I was able to incorporate lighter breathing and the white noise of the elevator and the elevator's movement sounds into the audio clip by fading out some clips and blending them with others. I used the exponential fade and layering audio clips over each other very often. 

This was how I created the interrogation floodlight effect.