Visual Styles

One thing that really excites me about film is the art of portraying a narrative through the visual medium. Now this can be done in the traditional ‘real life’ appearance as many films do, and do so successfully, however its those daring enough to try something different that really stick in the mind. Here are a few interesting visuals:

Okay, so this one isn’t from a film, but its gameplay appears not too dissimilar so use your imaginations a bit. This trailer is for a platform game being released sometime this year called Ori and the Blind Forest by Moon Studios, a worldwide collaboration of designers and programmers who have been working on the game for the past four years. Whats interesting about this visual is the strong contrast of lighting and stark colours that create a real luscious appearance to the characters and settings.

The two above clips are from Sin City and The Spirit, both are what could be called dark-comic book adaptations, each portraying a deprived city in need of a hero but instead offered up a down on your luck guy for a ‘hero’. Both films make use of dark visuals and in some cases black and white to create a gritty feel to the film almost like a film noir style. Both also make play on strong key colours throughout the story like the red of blood and the yellow of skin, things that are either odd to the story or that they want to draw attention to. In some senses this drowns out the scene and causes our eyes to focus on this colour, a powerful technique when used correctly.

This amazing film shot and directed by Terrence Malick called The Tree of Life tackles the difficult question of the meaning of life and creation. It does this in a really interesting self reflection of the main character, looking back upon his life. Throughout Terrence Malick utilises some truly inspiring lighting to influence the mood of scenes, and though this is not uncommon in mainstream film visuals, Terrence takes this to a new level with an in-depth understanding of the influence these visuals have over others. The film also features a beautiful sequence where it depicts the creation of the universe that again plays with the lighting almost like a beautiful dance, it is truly majestic and one of my favourite scenes from any movie.

The Script – First Draft

I finished work on my first script for my short film “A Game of Bluffs” (working title). I would appreciate any constructive criticisms as I will be completing a second draft next week to continue developing it. Please leave a comment in the comments below or feel free to fill out a report form and email it to me at Snaithius@hotmail.com, thank you.

A Game of Bluffs Screenplay

SCRIPT REPORT FORM

Shooting Process – Person to Person

When it came to shooting our group was very well prepared. We were fortunate in that Karen had possession of a lot of equipment that we could use to capture our piece, however, it was made apparent to us during lecture that our plan for capturing audio via a lav mic was good but not perfect. We took this criticism onboard and began practicing with a boom mic to capture the audio from two sources. This provided us with a back up source of audio which proved useful since it during one interview the lav mic picked up a bit of rustling. We also role-played the shooting scenario a few times beforehand so we were each familiar with our roles and the positioning of the equipment within each environment, this helped is set up fast and efficiently and carry an air of professionalism in front of our subjects.

We were fortunate enough to have put research and planning into a back up option, Craig Thompson. This came into play as unfortunately Maurice was taken into hospital a few days before our planned shoot, and so unsure what might happen we filmed Craig. I think it showed and felt that our hearts weren’t fully in the Craig shoot since we had invested more interest and time into Maurice’s story however I was impressed how we handled the situation and it taught me that with media its always important to have a back up for everything and allow for flexibility in your planning in case of such events. We were fortunate that Maurice recovered well and we were able to continue as planned.

Overall, I felt confident and rehearsed when it came to shooting both interviews and not only that but our final product benefitted from this with some great shots and beautiful lighting/audio captured. The team were professional and disciplined and willing to put in the effort and time into making this successful.

Shoulder Mount and Camera Work

I took to Birmingham with my filming equipment this weekend past to practice my camera skills at ‘ The Prosthetics Event’ as it had been quite some time since I had done so myself (longer than I care to mention!) and I had come to the realisation that to better my technical skills would take a more pro-active approach. I had wanted to take small steps at first and so booked out a simple to use Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera along side a Shoulder Mount for that on the move shooting style. I also had a Zoom H1 audio recorder which I trusted my friend to operate for me on my que to try and capture a better quality of sound.

Sony HDR-PJ200E Video Camera
I booked out this particular camera for several reasons real, firstly it is very simple to use especially since I have had previous experience of using it, it is a simple open and click. Its small size as well is ideal for shooting on the move as I thought I would be for the majority of the event, it seemed like the most obvious choice. On reflection now I would like to advance further and experiment with a better quality of camera. The small size of it didn’t particularly lend itself to the professional appearance that I am chasing and its image wasn’t as clear and crisp as I had wanted. I also quickly ran out of space on my memory card and had to resort to hastily deleting footage I felt wasn’t going to be a good as the event picked up pace near the end, in hindsight I will be taking a spare memory card and a fully charged laptop ready to unload footage during breaks between shooting.
Shoulder Mount
This was my first time using a Shoulder Mount having booked it out on my tutors recommendation to help steady my camera work better, especially whilst one the move. I could certainly see the appeal of such a piece of equipment, it presents itself as sturdy and professional and has the obvious advantage of mobility over a standard tripod. However, I found that my hands were not too steady, my knees were wobbly and neither was my shoulder which presented me with a few moments of shakiness. It is important to note however that for a lot of shots I was actually sat down in a lecture theatre for hours at the far reaches of the room meaning that I had to be almost fully zoomed at most times, in hindsight  a small tripod might have been better for this situation.
Zoom H1
I had not yet used this piece of equipment either however I found it rather simple to use, a rather straight forward point and click with a few bits of advice picked up from a friend of mine who did Sound Technology at university thrown in for good measure. It did capture a lot better sound than the camera as you would expect, however being so far back meant that it really didn’t capture as well as I had hoped, and there was a lot of surround sound interference from the audience.

Shooting like an Editor

I found this helpful video about considering the editing process before and during the filming process to make the post-production side slightly easier to handle, I think its really useful and I can’t wait to put some of this stuff into action. Enjoy!