Self Evaluation

The point of view element in our film used a variety of different shot styles and techniques. We used a range of 1^st person, 3^rd person restricted, modified subjective and over the shoulder shots within sequences, after establishing eye line with the non-active participant, which in our film was the thief character. We also used a mixture of static tripod, hand held and shoulder rig shot styles to make the film have more variation and be more visually varied as it possibly could. However, even when trying to apply this, we realised that certain shot techniques didn’t work in certain places within the final film, so we didn’t use 1^st person point of view of the thief very much even though we filmed and planned for it. This is because partly due to the experience with the equipment we had, as the shoulder rig shots we filmed were very shaky, and although this adds to the realism of the film, it wasn’t what we wanted and the quality wasn’t very use-able.

When planning and filming the sequence shots, we were all very mindful to not just film a sequence shot just to get it done, but to actually carefully consider the implications and audience affect it would have. This meant us all doing a lot of research into films that contained sequence shots and in the end we agreed to do a static take. This was because we wanted the effect of our shot to allow the audience to look around the frame and see for themselves what was happing within it, and use the camera as a surveillance tool, rather than being intrusive like a mobile sequence shot. Even with our planning however, I believe that the interior sequence shot we filmed didn’t need to be cut into two as it was strong enough on its own, and our exterior time lapse could have been shorter and also have better framing.

The lighting changes, both interior and exterior, in our film were used to give a symbolic representation of a camera bag, to the non-active participant. We did this to show an internal emotion appear externally as a narrative device that we wanted to explain the thief’s motives to the audience and ultimately drive the narrative, which I believe was very obvious and successful in the final film.

Interior lighting change

Both examples of the lighting change work together as it implies the same emotion of wonder and excitement for the thief and they are used in similar situations to one another. However, I believe the exterior lighting change could have been made clearer with more context, and it does slightly over expose the thief’s face when used. The interior lighting change could also have been made clearer, potentially by showing the audience the object before the lighting change occurs. However I am still personally happy with it as it leaves some enigma around the object which keeps the audience guessing for a while before it is revealed.

Finally the colour element we used for the film was very strong and obvious to the audience as it is prominent throughout and subconsciously easy to understand the connotations it gives off.
 

Red hoodie used a colour element

The hoodie the thief wears is quite a bright red, which in the first part of the film connotes him being dangerous which links into his criminal activities nicely. However in the second part of the film, we intentionally and subtly change the meaning of the red from the thief being the danger, to him becoming in danger of being caught and found out by the stalker. This use of colour therefore is not only symbolic, but also affects the narrative and is driven by the narrative through the connotations of it changing. This being said however, the colour element is effectively very simple and not particularly provocative as it is very obvious, so we could have added more elements to it to make it more profound and interesting as in the end it does feel like a bit of a cop-out and unoriginal.

Overall the film addressed the entire list of elements required to be incorporated within it in a fairly successful and original manner. Some of the strengths of the film are that the two sequences from Grindleford and at the house work very well together, despite being filmed at different times, and provide a simple yet entertaining narrative for the audience to follow, especially as it is a silent film. We recorded the footage at the house at night time originally due to the actor’s availability, but due to some alternate planning and discussion, we managed to alter the narrative and shot list to become an ambitious sequence that actually works very effectively with the theme of criminal activity and thievery. The framing and shot sequences were also very strong as they worked very well together and flowed very smoothly. This is especially true to the POV sequences, which can be notoriously hard to follow if executed incorrectly, which in the edit, managed to join together really nicely to create an interesting and enjoyable sequence to watch.

However, the film was not without its weaknesses, the main ones being surround the technical quality of some shots. The most obvious here were in the night time sequence outside the house where the shots are particularly visually noisy.

Obvious visual noise in shots.

 This is due to the practical lighting provided by street lamps, shops and cars passing, and as it was raining, it meant we couldn’t bring any of our own lights out on the exterior shots so we had to work with what we had. This meant increasing the gain on the camera itself to +6 or +12 which, as you can see, caused a visible drop in the quality of a few particular shots where we needed certain things to be visible, for example the close up of the door needed to show that the door was open, which was almost impossible to tell without using the gain. Another technical issue we had was the whole Grindleford sequence was unfortunately shot on the wrong setting on the camera (we believe was either the fps recorded or the bit rate) which caused a visual difference in quality and colour of the sequence. This was all because of our inexperience with the camera and lack of care or practice when setting it up. Finally, we had an issue regarding the ending of our film as in the final piece it is very lackluster and seems to end abruptly. This was due to the time we had with our group that day and that we didn’t manage our time as efficiently as we possibly could have done when filming the previous shots, so we had to cut the filming short and quickly improvise an ending, instead of following the shots that Mike had planned out.

As we all needed to plan and film our own shots, it was hard to define any specific roles within the group, but after a few meetings, I took on the directing role for the film with my narrative being the one the group wanted to work with. This meant me writing up a small explanation of the narrative for the rest of the group to work and plan their shots from, whilst also organising who would do which sequence of shots. I drew up my own shot list of how I personally visualised the film to be which the others then analysed and added their own shots to.

First draft of narrative idea

The shots I planned started with the opening sequence outside the house, when the thief character is first seen. For this sequence I wanted to introduce not only the character, but also who the audience would identify with straight from the off, with a small POV sequence. “… the most powerful cuing device is the sight line of an actor in CU.” (Katz. S, 1991, Film Directing: Shot by Shot: Visualizing from concept to screen, Focal Press) To address this, I used a mid-shot of the character, showing his eye line, followed by two modified subjective shots of the door. This not only allows the audience to identify with the character, but also highlights the symbolism of the door within the narrative and encourages them to carry one watching.

I also planned the time lapse outside the house, which was an example of a sequence shot, and an exterior lighting change. The reasoning behind this shot is that we wanted something to transport and explain to the audience the change of location and time. This was the only plausible way to do that within the time limits we had for the final screening and in the end the group decided it did both of these things effectively and that we would keep it in.

I also planned the beginning few shots in Grindleford, from the first shot to the over the shoulder shot, along with a few other sections of the sequence in that location. I mainly used Film Directing: Shot by Shot by Steven Katz for this to allow me to create obvious identification with the non-active participant by using the levels of identification I previously mentioned, close-ups of eye line, modified or third person subjective then back to a close up. Another notable shot I did here was the planning for a hand held shot that represents the first person point of view of the thief looking around a tree, which altered from the normal style I used.

Finally, I also took on the role of editing all the footage together which wasn’t a particularly demanding job due to the solid planning we had all done for all our shots and the communication throughout, so I managed to complete the edit with no real major issues in only a small amount of time.

As a group we worked very well with one another, we all got along and met weekly to update one another on individual and group progress. We were all competent for the most part with the equipment and cinematography techniques we needed to carry out, due to a decent level of attendance and engagement with the module. However, there were a few small issues that did arise in the end, the main one being the availability of both the group and the actor we used, alongside a slow reaction to the brief which caused planning at the start to be uneventful. There were also one or two shots that were not very strong, which none of the group, including myself, decided to take it upon themselves to call out the mistake and ask for it to be reshot.

Overall in this module I have learnt a great deal about the technical side of filming and being a cinematographer. The main thing being that when shooting, you must always be keeping note of all the technical details of the camera, such as focal length, aperture, camera position and framing as well as time recorded and take number. These are all necessary to making the filming process as organised and professional as possible, as well as making it easy for the editor and post production team to carry out their jobs. I have also learnt that there are a huge amount of elements that cinematographers have to consider when filming such as lighting positioning including practical lights, geographical locations and where you can set up the camera e.c.t. Ultimately, these issues are solved by preliminary planning, including location scouting, floor plans and collecting the right amount of equipment for shoots. Storyboarding is also a very useful way of showing your ideas and your vision of what to film and how to film it especially when communicating with a group.

In the end, the film stuck pretty solidly to how we planned it to go, with only a few changes, the biggest being a geographical change of location to shoot the first part of the film in. We originally wanted to film in the studio to make the lighting change more controlled, but then due to availability we had to change it last minute. The whole group responded well to this though however, and with only a days’ notice, we all managed to reorganise our shots and carry them out with only one or two issues. We also altered a few shots that differed from the storyboard in the Grindleford sequence, due to the way they looked in the edit (being too jarring and quick cut) so we either cut some shots out and just continued with others, or adapted on set and recorded different ones from different angles.

Final FIlm : Screening and Feedback

Yesterday we showed our film to the rest of the group and our tutor for the last time before handing it in. Since the last tutorial we added another 3 minute sequence to the beginning of our film in a different location to Grindleford to help the explain the narrative of the film, whilst also including some of the cinematography elements we were required to include in the final film e.g. the interior lighting change. Apart from that addition, we stuck very carefully and precisely to our storyboards or shot lists that each individual had planned which made the editing process very straight forward as well as made us all clear on what we needed to set up for and film as soon as we were on location.



The group gave us some positive feedback mainly focusing on the POV sequences in both sections of the film. This was because it was very clear who the audience were identifying with from the start which made the film easier to follow. They also liked the use of lighting changes around the bag that the thief stole. They said it was clear that this was a symbolic item that held significance around the narrative and set up the plot for later in the film.
Improvements we could have made to the film include, in the first sequence, due to the exterior lighting and camera settings, we had to use gain on the camera for objects to be visible when filming, this caused considerable visual noise which was unintentional and lowered the professional quality of the film. Also the Grindleford footage we shot was on the wrong setting for the camera which makes the image look strange compared to what it normally should be.

2nd Shoot Day

After shooting the footage in Grindleford, our group decided it was best to film another similar sequence in a different location to help form a narrative whilst also addressing all of the cinematography techniques we needed to include in the final film. We decided to film in a house at night time, to help the realism regarding the thief stealing something whilst also explaining why someone is following him. We also used a house to do an interior lighting change to give continuity to the exterior one we did in Grindleford surrounding the bag.

I planned the opening shots for this small sequence, which ultimately is the start of the film, and the group supported my decision to introduce some of the elements straight away.

The main element I wanted to get across at first was a small POV sequence with the thief looking into houses. This is because it makes the audience instantly identify with this character and want to find out what he is doing, which is what we wanted the audience to do straight away. I used a mixture of  static wides, mids and close ups to get this desired effect, following a narrative control template from Film Directing : Shot by Shot : Visualizing from concept to screen (1991) by Steven D. Katz.

I also wanted to introduce one more element into this sequence so I built upon the already existing colour element, the red hoodie on the thief, and we shot next to a street light which gave off a strong red light which contrasted with the bright lights of cars going by. The reason for this is to show the danger surrounding this character and that they are not to be trusted, which is highlighted by his questionable actions.

Finally I planned a sequence shot time lapse outside the house to transition the narrative to one location to the next. This required me filming for 45 minutes as the sun rose outside the house and then compressing it in the edit to about 25 seconds long.

This shot also served as an exterior lighting change used as a narrative device.

After my sequence the rest of the group planned their shots to support the narrative. We had another sequence shot inside the house of the thief looking around a room and finding the bag, waking the stalker up as he left which set up the sequence and plot for the Grindleford section.
We did encounter some problems when filming this section of the film, mainly to do with under exposure and gain due to the time it was recorded and the camera we used (Canon 305). Some shots really struggled to be exposed with the practical light we had, mainly outside, so we used the gain on them but this main the shots very visually noisy which effects the quality of the final film overall. However that was the only negative point we really had with this second shoot, and we hope both parts of the documentary will fit well together and make a decent film.

The Place Beyond The Pines Analysis

The Place Beyond The Pines (2012) by Derek Cianfrance is a drama/thriller film starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes and follows a mix of the life of a motorcycle performer, Luke, who starts robbing banks to support his young child, and half way through changes to following a cop, Avery, who shoots and kills Luke when in a police chase. Then the majority of the story is about the son of Luke, AJ, and his interaction with the Avery's son, Jason. The two sons don't know the history their dads share and become friends and slowly discover their parents pasts.
This film had  a lot of different and interesting cinematography elements in it which I can analyse and adapt to put into our final film.
The first opening sequence is a long take, using hand held, following Luke through a carnival. The purpose of this long take is to establish the location and give the audience a sense of place.

 It also makes the audience see a third person POV of behind the character, much like the sequence shot in Elephant (2003) by Gus Van Sant, and this shows us where the character is going, what he interacts with and what he's looking at. Due to these things being obvious to the audience, they attach themselves with the character and empathise with them and to see what their part is in the narrative of the film. This technique is repeated later on in the film where Luke's son is walking through a party and the shots are two small sequence shots from the back of the character, used in the same effect. I liked the use of this long take as it was a mobile and done through an interesting location which means the audience are instantly engaging with the film and the character shown.
There was also an alternative use of POV sequences in this film as the majority of it was shot Hand held to give a more 1st person POV or 3rd person restricted POV to it and make the audience feel as though the camera is them. A good example of this would be at 1hour 15 minutes into the film where AJ is in a pharmacy store trying to steal some drugs for a party. The camera starts by following him into the store from behind (much like the shot at the start of the film with his father) and then pulls away so he is facing it, looking off to the side behind a shelf.

The camera then rapidly pans to the direction in which AJ is looking so the audience see the quick camera movement as if they themselves have just turned their heads to see what AJ is looking at.

This alternative style of POV sequences is very interesting and engaging with the audience due to the 'control' they feel as though they have in the scene. When they want to know where AJ is looking they see his face, and after that is established we move with the camera to where he is looking.
The final convention I would like to point out is the use of an interior lighting change. This occurs at 15 minutes into the film where Luke is inside a church at the back, watching his son being christened. He begins to cry for a bit then dips his head down, making his face and head darker. He then lifts it up after he stops crying, and turns looking into the sunlight.

I believe this is symbolic of the character Luke moving on with his life, as he wasn't invited to the baptism of his own son and he knows he isn't wanted by the mother to help out at all so he realises this and the light symbols change for him. I think it works well here because the location of a church already implies change/redemption so using it here gives a heavy emotive feeling for the audience to sympathise with Luke and want him to change.
All in all The Place Beyond The Pines was a very interesting film, especially in terms of cinematography, as it uses a wide variety of conventions to portray different emotions, themes and actions throughout. I will keep in mind the conventions I have picked out here when making our final film and perhaps incorporate the technical styles used into it, to increase the quality of it.

Grindleford Shoot + My shots

Today we went to Grindleford and shot the sequence we had planned previously. We discussed the whole narrative through once again as a group the day before and did detailed plans of what shots/sequences we individually wanted to film. I chose the start of the POV sequence in Grindleford to plan as well as the long take in the studio. The POV sequence is what we filmed today and it began with a mid shot of a stone bench with the thief walking into shot and looking around. It then cuts to a close up of his face looking just above camera which then cuts to an over the shoulder of the bag in the thief's hands. Then it cuts to the same mid shot of the thief from before looking from side to side which then transitions into a close up of him looking slowly over his shoulder. This then cuts to a first person POV of the person following him on top of the hill behind him. It will then cut back to the same close up of him looking back around and then to a mid shot of him walking quickly off. Here is the storyboard I completed to show this sequence visually:

To make the most of our time and so I didn't have to keep setting up after each little shot, I decided to do a run through of the scene at all the camera angles (minus the first person POV of the hill) before re-positioning and this worked very effectively as it allowed me to view the action at different angles which may effect the position or frequency of each shot.

Here are some stills from the footage recorded today:

I think the shots came out as I planned them to up to a point, due to the storyboarding and advanced planning that went into them, however the thing we couldn't control was the light coverage, which kept changing in between shots which proved problematic when adjusting the exposure on the camera. We originally wrote down the F value for the opening shots to keep it as close to that as possible when changing angles, however this became irrelevant when the sun kept dipping in and out of clouds all day. What we should have done in hindsight is used the reflector and possibly a flag to control the light as much as possible during the sequence. Overall though, I am happy the way this small sequence turned out and how in uses POV to add to the drama of the narrative.

Film Plan

We met up a number of times to plan for going out and shooting the film where we planned each of our shots, contributed to the narrative and organised what we would need to do when. The narrative was a big part of the discussion as we needed it to be clear and solid in order to plan shots effectively, so we eventually decided to make the film about a kleptomaniac who is seen stealing something and followed back to where they hoard all of the objects they have stolen. We want to start the film in the university studio after a shoot and have the main character, the thief, steal a camera bag from it but is seen by another person. The thief then leaves the studio and is followed to a forest (Grindleford) where he realises the other person is onto him and tries to lose them. When he does, he goes to where he keeps all of the items he has stolen and leaves again to carry on his 'spree'.
Although the narrative isn't very deep or tight, we all agreed that this would be a very effective way of addressing all the cinematography elements in a short film, without over complicating the story making it too hard to follow and too much work to complete given our time limit. Also, we are not marked on sound, our group has decided to use no dialogue in the film, so the simple narrative aids this decision as the story is quite easy to understand without the help of speech.

First draft of Narrative Plan

Addressing the different elements
After discussing and finalising our narrative, we began planning how we would incorporate each cinematography element into the film and where we would use them.

• Colour - We needed to use colour as a narrative and symbolic element at some point during the film. We thought about using the object that the thief steals as the main colour element for a while, but then decided to use it along side another just because we would have to frame every shot to get the camera bag in which could prove problematic when doing the POV sequence, so we thought we would have the thief wearing a red hoodie. This is symbolic of not only the thief being a danger to society by braking the law, but also that he is the one in danger by being almost caught. The camera bag is black with a little bit of red on, and this is symbolic of mystery and incognito in terms of the thief not wanting people to know that he has stolen it.
• POV - We needed to have a 2 minute long sequence that favours the point of view of the non-active participant, which is the person being followed (the thief). We thought planned this sequence to be in the forests surrounding Grindleford to show the thief's realisation that he is being followed and the panic it causes. To do this we're using a mixture of shots and a lot that surround a three step pov sequence that I mention in a previous post. This is where the first shot shows the characters eyeline in third person restricted POV, then an over the shoulder, first person or modified subjective of the direction of the eyeline, then a final shot of the character, normally close up of them, with a modified subjective of the direction they are still looking in.
• Lighting - We need an internal and external example of a lighting change used as a narrative device. For our external change we are going to use a reflector to show the symbolic change of emotional joy when the thief sees all the items he has hoarded. For the internal change we are going to use the thief escaping the crime scene through a dark corridor into the light which is symbolic of freedom, but also shows the narrative progressing into a different space (from one location to the next).
• Sequence shot - We need to plan a sequence shot/long take. We have already planned a few of these but the main one we will use is the opening shot in the studio where we will have a wide of everyone packing up after the shoot and in the centre of the frame, have the thief steal the camera bag and walking off shot followed closely by the person that sees him and follows him out. We have taken influence from Michael Haneke with this shot as he frequently uses long takes with important actions occurring within them as a method of making the audience actively search for the action in scene abolishing the passive audience watching of films.

 Here is the rough shot list we created after discussing both the narrative and the elements to include within it and how to realise this into a film.

Seminar Shoot with Sound Group

Today's seminar we worked with the sound students and two actors to shoot a small scene we have be looking at in previous weeks. As with the CPR shoot, our roles today were to set up lighting and compose different shots in front of a green screen after planning them in previous weeks as a group. The script that we were given was as follows:

Our group took a while to get our head around some of the narrative in the script as it seemed as though some dialogue or connection had been taking out to join the parts together. However we still planned a rough shot list with the script and how we would run through the sequence as once again we would only have 40 minutes to film all our shots. Our group decided that we would run the whole scene through from 4 different compositions to start with and then look at the closer details e.g close ups. First of all the set up we wanted was, as mentioned in the script, to have 3 pools of light separate from one another of for the whole scene to be acted out in one of these pools. To do this we set up 3 dado's high up on stands, attached to a grip that put them almost directly over the actors.

Due to time and lack of numbers, we joined by helping out another group in the technical side of things by setting up lights, reflectors and directing the actors. In this seminar I learnt the importance to be constantly making notes when filming so you can record what iris you used, the focus, zoom length, white balance e.t.c so when it comes to editing you can have as much information as possible to aid you when it comes to post-production. Also having a storyboard and/or a shot list can really help out when time becomes an issue during a shoot because you always have something to work with to guide you if you get off track.