Sunday 22 April 2012
Drama project role - Camera/DOP
My aim as DOP is to capture aesthetically pleasing images, taking the best out of the interesting locations. It is my intention to film handheld in the first section of the film as the couple take their seemingly romantic journey, this will then become more structured and locked off as things turn more sinister matching the controlling nature of the character, as the audience is taken on a psychological journey. I will be experimenting with some interesting lighting effects, such as underexposing the girls face whilst flooding it with blue light, transitioning from normal lighting in one shot, as she turns cold lying at the bottom of the cliff. Once back at his house I will using mids ones and twos, reenacting the same scene several times for each position. The lighting will change throughout, drawing attention to certain expressions, making the character seem more sinister, including techniques such as side on rembrandt as the male character moves forward threateningly.
Tuesday 17 April 2012
Drama project - Thoughts on Character
The seminar session partially aimed for us to understand that story is character, shown in some of the shorts viewed. We were then asked to create a characteoil implement different to ourselves in session by answering something like 30 questions. This approach didn't really work for me, whilst it does start the thinking process of character, I found it too formal and formulaic giving a flat result, answering 30 questions about a made up character doesn't necessarily create depth, especially when rushed. So later that night I decided to try and put myself into the mindset of a real person who has a very different life to me, I then wrote a short story about a snippet of his everyday routine, whilst also thinking how to express this in a filmic way in writing, so whilst there is an element of dramatisation the character is still grounded in the real, leading to greater verisimilitude or believability. As follows;
This story starts. A man lying on a bench, eyes splitting open to the sun as it rises breaking through the crisp dark air, his tired beaten face ages him beyond his years. The sun offers no warmth to his heart, nor does his damp sleeping bag that lost its warmth many years before. He frowns, as feeling returns to his limbs hanging limp from the stretched bag. "Another day, I live another day". The sun progresses past the line, glaring into the viewers eyes, sparking pain in deepest depths of his mind, layers of repressed meaning that is no longer cared for. Dropping his bundled legs his body drags itself upwards, slumping against the bench in upright position. Staring into the sun, "I'm awake", he drops his gaze, the world sparkles in tiny droplets, a multitude of colour glistening with every movement, a hard frost. It covers the grass, it covers the path, traveling up his legs and onto his chest. Inhaling the air as if for the first time, what once was refreshing no longer chills, exhaling through a scarf his breath condensates frozen in time, hanging in the air, "still some warmth" he thinks. Muscles seized, bones aching, he fails to move, "I need to move", "why move" he thinks. Moving his body forwards his hand drops to the ground, cold and hard as ever, fumbling around the attached limb knocks a pure smooth yet hard, fragile bottle, catching it before it falls. He slumps backward tightening his grip, hitting the back of the bench hearing a crack, the bottle rises with the movement keeping its momentum he raises it to his lips, a strong smelling liquid fails to burn his hairs, perhaps anti freeze, he chuckles, "that's what I need". The cold liquid slips down his throat sparking alight, falling deeper down it filters, the fire is lit. The liquid warmth flows fire through his veins as the sunlight begins to haze, he feels, "it's time to move". He stretches his back, his body, down to his legs, dropping the rigid form he stretches out his arms and swings forwards into a stand. The sleeping bag drops to the ground stepping out his body creeks, "more oil required" he thinks.
I then thought this could be expanded to a playful short that jumps from character to character, for example a cyclist goes past the homeless guy and we get the cyclists story, probably in this case through symbolism, who then passes another character and so on, perhaps the last character having some connection to the first character.
This story starts. A man lying on a bench, eyes splitting open to the sun as it rises breaking through the crisp dark air, his tired beaten face ages him beyond his years. The sun offers no warmth to his heart, nor does his damp sleeping bag that lost its warmth many years before. He frowns, as feeling returns to his limbs hanging limp from the stretched bag. "Another day, I live another day". The sun progresses past the line, glaring into the viewers eyes, sparking pain in deepest depths of his mind, layers of repressed meaning that is no longer cared for. Dropping his bundled legs his body drags itself upwards, slumping against the bench in upright position. Staring into the sun, "I'm awake", he drops his gaze, the world sparkles in tiny droplets, a multitude of colour glistening with every movement, a hard frost. It covers the grass, it covers the path, traveling up his legs and onto his chest. Inhaling the air as if for the first time, what once was refreshing no longer chills, exhaling through a scarf his breath condensates frozen in time, hanging in the air, "still some warmth" he thinks. Muscles seized, bones aching, he fails to move, "I need to move", "why move" he thinks. Moving his body forwards his hand drops to the ground, cold and hard as ever, fumbling around the attached limb knocks a pure smooth yet hard, fragile bottle, catching it before it falls. He slumps backward tightening his grip, hitting the back of the bench hearing a crack, the bottle rises with the movement keeping its momentum he raises it to his lips, a strong smelling liquid fails to burn his hairs, perhaps anti freeze, he chuckles, "that's what I need". The cold liquid slips down his throat sparking alight, falling deeper down it filters, the fire is lit. The liquid warmth flows fire through his veins as the sunlight begins to haze, he feels, "it's time to move". He stretches his back, his body, down to his legs, dropping the rigid form he stretches out his arms and swings forwards into a stand. The sleeping bag drops to the ground stepping out his body creeks, "more oil required" he thinks.
I then thought this could be expanded to a playful short that jumps from character to character, for example a cyclist goes past the homeless guy and we get the cyclists story, probably in this case through symbolism, who then passes another character and so on, perhaps the last character having some connection to the first character.
Drama project - short film analysis
'sign language' (c.2010) D. Oscar Sharp
'sign language' seemed approached in a documentary style, whilst it's substance falling within the category of drama, or a film of fabricated truths. I had a few issues with its style, the focussing was irritating and the performance didn't quite convince me, there was a grey wash tone, which whilst perhaps matched the urban location lacked visual aesthetic, with odd digital splashes of unfocused colour. However, having said that the art direction was well executed, with a great use of colour. I did struggle with the format, you wanted it to be real but it wasn't, which would be fine except for the fact that I wasn't drawn into the story, it lacked believability. Another issue that fed into this was the narrative and use of time; there was no sense of time passing, so his sign shift lasted all of 7 minutes, feeding into the lack of story and believability, though the format would work as a documentary. The shallow DOF, guessing around f/2, means the face is on the edge dipping in and out focus, making it hard for the viewer to concentrate on the character, further compounded by the fast cutting, which whilst not drawing attention to itself, made more of an assault on the viewers concentration. The cgi sky writing within the credit sequence, whilst humorous, seemed to be a rather large important element of the narrative that was haphazardly stuck on at the end. I feel I've been a little harsh in my critique they are minor niggles, it is a perfectly good film with a warming story and nice ending, character is everything with this and he is certainly captivating.
'I do air' (2009) D. Martina Amati
'I do air' is a great film that holds interesting form, utilising semantic motifs of repression, control and freedom. The pivotal moment of this film in my opinion is when she actively choses to dip her socks into the puddle, something that we all avoid, but it shows her control and choice. I found personally that they didn't over dramatise the height of the diving board, which could be done with a vertigo technique or using reference points to better portray the depth, the fact that they haven't chosen this route shows to me that we as the audience is witnessing a characters psychological development through time, rather than being of her perspective. Time and sound are both effectively used, for example the suspension within the locker room slows down everything cutting out the sound, as the women talk noisily without paying any attention to her, moreover there is a definite sense of time passing as everyone leaves the pool. We are effectively immersed into this girls own little bubble, experiencing a story that would normally go unnoticed within the real world.
'Rite' (2010) D. Michael Pearce
Rite follows a fairly typical relationship between a removed father and his estranged son who turns out to be gay, the mistrusted father figure tries to prove to his son that he has changed and wants to be a part of his life once again. This could be perceived as contrived, though there are subtleties throughout showing signs of genuine acceptance of his sons individuality. It's not an overly interesting film in substance though there is some solid camera work. The father figure was also a strong performance throughout, portraying a convincing character, though there is a slight sense of misdirection in terms of the characters mind set. The son plays a perfectly awkward character, though he doesn't do a lot, or say much, nonetheless this is probably representative of the situation in real life. The title 'Rite' speaks unspoken words of an individual's passage in life, holding religious connotations, nicely adding to the theme.
'About a girl' (2001) D. Brian Percival
'About a girl' is a curious film, they have certainly created a talkative character that is both likeable and captivating, so congratulations are due to the young female actor, who I'm sure played a vital role in portraying the essence of the film. Coming from deprived background and upbringing she uses her music as a way to escape from the world she lives, whilst this isn't a new ideology, her very direct way of speaking for such a young girl certainly grabs your attention. The twist at the very end to me was very unexpected mainly because all the way through we are shown a strong open character who talks about all the dis privileges of her life, making the end even more shocking because she didn't whisper a word of it despite her openness to the audience. It's very good film throughout but leaves you with a saddening un rectified ending which plays with your sympathetic connection established with the character throughout.
'Audio tour' (2010) D. Stephane Kass
'Audio tour' is a greatly comedic short film following the footsteps of a single woman, giving insight into a whole range of characters thoughts and backstories as we travel from reality into a surreal world where the audio tour narrator just won't stop. It's a new take on voyeuristic expression, my only qualm is that now its been done you couldn't do it again without duplicating the idea. I found there was a flatness to it, but better that than no feeling at all.
'LE MIROIR' (2010) D. Ramon & Pedro
'le miroir' is a creative expression of a single character as he goes through the journey that is life. There's intrigue as an audience member as to how they are filming a reflection without the camera in between, though the behind the scenes reveals their illusionist trickery. Whilst I like the fact that the mirror remains a solid throughout his life, making you pay more attention to the character, you do question how realistic is it that he would stay in the same house with the same bathroom all his life, although not an impossibility, this would also be more costly rather than a single set setup. It's clever and interesting but it's fairly one dimensional, despite being placed in the characters perspective, I still felt as an observer looking through a window on a mans life rather than being involved.
'sign language' seemed approached in a documentary style, whilst it's substance falling within the category of drama, or a film of fabricated truths. I had a few issues with its style, the focussing was irritating and the performance didn't quite convince me, there was a grey wash tone, which whilst perhaps matched the urban location lacked visual aesthetic, with odd digital splashes of unfocused colour. However, having said that the art direction was well executed, with a great use of colour. I did struggle with the format, you wanted it to be real but it wasn't, which would be fine except for the fact that I wasn't drawn into the story, it lacked believability. Another issue that fed into this was the narrative and use of time; there was no sense of time passing, so his sign shift lasted all of 7 minutes, feeding into the lack of story and believability, though the format would work as a documentary. The shallow DOF, guessing around f/2, means the face is on the edge dipping in and out focus, making it hard for the viewer to concentrate on the character, further compounded by the fast cutting, which whilst not drawing attention to itself, made more of an assault on the viewers concentration. The cgi sky writing within the credit sequence, whilst humorous, seemed to be a rather large important element of the narrative that was haphazardly stuck on at the end. I feel I've been a little harsh in my critique they are minor niggles, it is a perfectly good film with a warming story and nice ending, character is everything with this and he is certainly captivating.
'I do air' (2009) D. Martina Amati
'I do air' is a great film that holds interesting form, utilising semantic motifs of repression, control and freedom. The pivotal moment of this film in my opinion is when she actively choses to dip her socks into the puddle, something that we all avoid, but it shows her control and choice. I found personally that they didn't over dramatise the height of the diving board, which could be done with a vertigo technique or using reference points to better portray the depth, the fact that they haven't chosen this route shows to me that we as the audience is witnessing a characters psychological development through time, rather than being of her perspective. Time and sound are both effectively used, for example the suspension within the locker room slows down everything cutting out the sound, as the women talk noisily without paying any attention to her, moreover there is a definite sense of time passing as everyone leaves the pool. We are effectively immersed into this girls own little bubble, experiencing a story that would normally go unnoticed within the real world.
'Rite' (2010) D. Michael Pearce
Rite follows a fairly typical relationship between a removed father and his estranged son who turns out to be gay, the mistrusted father figure tries to prove to his son that he has changed and wants to be a part of his life once again. This could be perceived as contrived, though there are subtleties throughout showing signs of genuine acceptance of his sons individuality. It's not an overly interesting film in substance though there is some solid camera work. The father figure was also a strong performance throughout, portraying a convincing character, though there is a slight sense of misdirection in terms of the characters mind set. The son plays a perfectly awkward character, though he doesn't do a lot, or say much, nonetheless this is probably representative of the situation in real life. The title 'Rite' speaks unspoken words of an individual's passage in life, holding religious connotations, nicely adding to the theme.
'About a girl' (2001) D. Brian Percival
'About a girl' is a curious film, they have certainly created a talkative character that is both likeable and captivating, so congratulations are due to the young female actor, who I'm sure played a vital role in portraying the essence of the film. Coming from deprived background and upbringing she uses her music as a way to escape from the world she lives, whilst this isn't a new ideology, her very direct way of speaking for such a young girl certainly grabs your attention. The twist at the very end to me was very unexpected mainly because all the way through we are shown a strong open character who talks about all the dis privileges of her life, making the end even more shocking because she didn't whisper a word of it despite her openness to the audience. It's very good film throughout but leaves you with a saddening un rectified ending which plays with your sympathetic connection established with the character throughout.
'Audio tour' (2010) D. Stephane Kass
'Audio tour' is a greatly comedic short film following the footsteps of a single woman, giving insight into a whole range of characters thoughts and backstories as we travel from reality into a surreal world where the audio tour narrator just won't stop. It's a new take on voyeuristic expression, my only qualm is that now its been done you couldn't do it again without duplicating the idea. I found there was a flatness to it, but better that than no feeling at all.
'LE MIROIR' (2010) D. Ramon & Pedro
'le miroir' is a creative expression of a single character as he goes through the journey that is life. There's intrigue as an audience member as to how they are filming a reflection without the camera in between, though the behind the scenes reveals their illusionist trickery. Whilst I like the fact that the mirror remains a solid throughout his life, making you pay more attention to the character, you do question how realistic is it that he would stay in the same house with the same bathroom all his life, although not an impossibility, this would also be more costly rather than a single set setup. It's clever and interesting but it's fairly one dimensional, despite being placed in the characters perspective, I still felt as an observer looking through a window on a mans life rather than being involved.
Tuesday 10 April 2012
New Brief - Drama Project
The brief for this project is to create a 5 MINUTE DRAMA FILM which conveys the notion of ‘JOURNEY'.
JOURNEY
1. a travelling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time; trip
2. a distance, course, or area travelled or suitable for travelling
3. a period of travel
4. Passage or progress from one stage to another
As a group project, you have the opportunity to be far-reaching and ambitious in a way that you might not undertake in an individual project. However, your project must also be realistic and achievable within the time available to create the work. This is a chance to engage and involve others in your work via cast, contributors, and your fellow group members. It is important to clearly communicate throughout the planning, production and post-production of your project, in order to get things done on time, and at the best of your ability, and to avoid misunderstandings, complications, or bad time management.
| PROJECT REQUIREMENTS – your project MUST include the following elements: |
| -Only use a MAXIMUM of 3 character - Use a MAXIMUM of 3 locations - Shot on location outside of the university building - Shot with Synch Sound - Demonstrate an awareness of mise-en-scene in shot design - Include a strong element of sound design - Shot and edited at the aspect ratio of 16:9 letterboxed - The final work must be five minutes long (no longer and no shorter) |
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