I'm not sure that any of us realised how much editing would be involved in the amount of work that we took on. With all of the stop motion photo's, compromising of around 150 photo's, we managed to gain around 30 seconds of footage, which we were all a little shocked about. This in itself took hours to get each photo down to the right length so that they would flow nicely into one another and give the moving effect that we were aiming for.
Also another section that took the longest was accurately putting the poker game clips together as a lot of cutting was needed to place the clips accurately.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Experimental film- Shoot day chapter 'stand out in the crowd'
I feel that the filming for this chapter was fairly simple to achieve as the city centre was the perfect location to get crowds of people. To begin with we actually experienced a little trouble wit the lighting as it was a bright day, some of the technical aspects of the camera had to be revised such as the ND filters, to get the most out of the shot.
Experimental film- Shoot day chapter 'beautiful' & 'lucky'
On the day of the shoot we booked out the small photography studio. We first set up a table that we could use to set up for the 'lucky' chapter and filmed this whole section whilst waiting the arrival of my sister for the 'beautiful' chapter. This scene was important to make sure that we captured right as it was going have to be perfect if it was to edit the way that we intended it to go. We first had to film Paul from numerous angles, ensuring that he was positioned correctly to be able to cut the other shots alongside it to create the allusion that he was playing poker with himself. A few hours and costume changes later this sequence was complete.
Once my sister had arrived, the main task was actually setting up the camera so that the photo's would run smoothly after one another in the edit. Looking back at some of these photo's i feel that we could possibly have found a better way to keep the camera steady as we reverted to using the camera hand held rather than on a tripod as the small studio wasn't big enough to move the tripod around in a full circle. In hinds sight we should probably have used the larger studio as there is more space to manoeuvre the camera on the tripod.
However, overall i am really please with how the session went as it gave us all an insight into doing something that we'd not done much of before and gave us a good base for our film.
Once my sister had arrived, the main task was actually setting up the camera so that the photo's would run smoothly after one another in the edit. Looking back at some of these photo's i feel that we could possibly have found a better way to keep the camera steady as we reverted to using the camera hand held rather than on a tripod as the small studio wasn't big enough to move the tripod around in a full circle. In hinds sight we should probably have used the larger studio as there is more space to manoeuvre the camera on the tripod.
However, overall i am really please with how the session went as it gave us all an insight into doing something that we'd not done much of before and gave us a good base for our film.
Experimental fim- Chapter 'beautiful (makeup)'
Experimental film- Research
I also searched on youtube and came across an interesting piece created by students from another university. What i like about this piece is the use of the colour effects and thought this would be a good idea to use in our piece. As well as this they use a still photo throughout about a minute of the clip, along with on screen text, this goes along with our idea to use stop motion photography clips with writing on screen. I think that they have done very well with the editing in creating a confusing scenario for the character and audience a like as it leaves you baffled by the clever camera tricks making the character appear to go into one door and suddenly reappear through another. The good use of different camera angles create a sense of direction and flow between the clips as well as the text explaining to the audience what the character has to do in order to solve this puzzle. The colour red seeming to be of some importance to the character is well documented at the end by using the onscreen blocks to take the character back to reality and to the actual puzzle in which she is trying to solve, having created one side of the puzzle completely red, it seems her task is complete.
Experimental film- Lighting testing
We decided that it'd be a good idea to test the lighting in the studio before we shot for our final piece of film. We experimented with the idea of mirrors and may even use some of the photo's in our film. We experimented with different positions of the standard lights within the studio and where they would be best placed to get the most out of our idea. We also played around with the different coloured back drop and quickly realised that the black back drop suited the piece better. We took it in turns to take the photo's so that each person was involved in all of the process. I think that most of the photo's worked well however some have come out darker than planned.
Experimental film- Main idea initial planning
Once we'd come up with our initial 'What do you want to be when you grow up' idea, we sat down and made a plan as to how and what each sequence would entail to make it show what we intended to show. We made an initial story board of the sequence in which the film would run, including the title words we wanted to use to show our point.
Experimental film- Seminar
In the seminar with Dom we watched several different experimental films to give us a hint at what kind of project we could look into doing and to inspire any ideas. These are the notes from the session;
Ballet Mecanique- Fernand Leger (1924)
Ballet Mecanique- Fernand Leger (1924)
- Flashing images
- Music
- Mirrors/ reflection
- Female characters mainly shown
- Light/ shadows
- Fast cuts
- Black & white (old)
- Focus on specific female features (eyes/ lips)
- Strange objects- viewers imagination
- Repetition
- Not afraid to show camera in reflection
- No narrative
- Seemingly random images with no link
- Words on screen (French)
- Music doesn't link to images
- Found it a hard watch as i didn't understand the idea behind it. For the era it was made it's brave but very arty- cubism
- Music is annoying but is used to build pace & feeling for the images it's showing
- Representative of the industrialisation of society after WW1
Star Guitar- The chemical brothers (2002)
- Industrialisation explored again but it seems in a more positive way (music)
- Switch between night & day
- Cuts between locations shown by a passing train
- All shot from a moving train
- Up tempo music makes it easier & more fun to watch
- No real ending
- Colour
- Repetition- train passing
- Smoother camera work- increase in technology
- Like this better because there's more of a story to it and it's easier to watch & take in
- Representation of society's acceptance of industrialisation- switch from train station & wires to a neighbourhood
An Optical Poem- Oskar Fischinger (1938)
- Music represents on screen more
- Repetition
- Shapes & colours
- Happy colours- fits music
- Do quite like it, it just gets a little repetitive and drags on a little too long
- Different shapes represent different sounds
OM- John Smith
- Man in foreground- black background, smoke rising up
- Constant annoying humming of 'OM'
- Changes sound
- Add in head being shaved- makes 'OM' fit to the shaver noise
- Stops when shaver turned off
- Interesting representations- start by thinking of a Buddha- ending with a Nazi skin head
- Like the idea just the sound gets annoying
Fisticuffs- Miranda Kennel
- Repetition of a man entering a bar and causing trouble, ending by him getting punched/ kicked/ headbutted
- Normal pub sounds/ conversations
- People walk/ fighting in background/ foreground- other people oblivious
- Mirrored situation
- Man gets involved & wins
- Seems a little pointless
- Ends with a bell, everyone goes silent & carries on like nothing happened
- Fighting continues
- Everyone once again oblivious
- Bell & man gets K.O
- Ends with the destruction caused & closing of pub
- Nice idea in the filming & the way it was shot
- Trying to lift violence out of Western TV into everyday British society
Sunday, 12 February 2012
Experimental film- Final idea
After discussing our ideas with Dom we decided to go with the beauty idea. We decided to use the word 'aspiration' as our base word as it is stated in the project brief. We got together and thought up idea's that we would be able to film around. The idea we agreed upon was to use the phrase 'What do you want to be when you grow up?'. We then made a mind map of different ideas we could think of that linked to this phrase.
One of the things that i always wanted to do was to do a piece on the 'American Dream' and how this is portrayed in modern society. Especially to do with the idea of becoming famous and like the people that we see in magazines. One of the idea's that we came up with when thinking about this was the idea of a girl not feeling beautiful unless she wore makeup. We thought that we could show this in a way that wouldn't just be a simple film of a makeup demonstration as this wouldn't get our idea across quite as we would have liked it. We thought what would make the piece more experimental was to add the idea of photograph and stop motion into the piece. i knew the perfect person to fill the role of the girl (my younger sister who will rarely go anywhere without makeup on) and the photography studio would be a perfect location for the photo's as they have full light set ups as well as the studio/ modelling feel.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
One of the things that i always wanted to do was to do a piece on the 'American Dream' and how this is portrayed in modern society. Especially to do with the idea of becoming famous and like the people that we see in magazines. One of the idea's that we came up with when thinking about this was the idea of a girl not feeling beautiful unless she wore makeup. We thought that we could show this in a way that wouldn't just be a simple film of a makeup demonstration as this wouldn't get our idea across quite as we would have liked it. We thought what would make the piece more experimental was to add the idea of photograph and stop motion into the piece. i knew the perfect person to fill the role of the girl (my younger sister who will rarely go anywhere without makeup on) and the photography studio would be a perfect location for the photo's as they have full light set ups as well as the studio/ modelling feel.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
- Beautiful
- Princess
- Thin/ Skinny
- A Player
- Happy
- Sorted
- Rich
- Mansion
- Fast cars
- Famous
- Model
- Actor
- Sportsman
- Lucky
- Clever
- University
- Good Job
- Heroic
- Policeman
- Fireman
- Super hero
- Loved
- Prince Charming
- Kids
- Big Wedding
- Successful
- Good Job
After we'd come up with a brief list of different ideas that we could use to go with our phrase we went into the studio to experiment with lighting (see lighting post) that we could possibly use on the day.
In terms of the lucky idea, we came up with a clever plan that would inevitably take a lot of planning and editing time, but if created properly would become a success. We had the idea that a poker game would be a good way to show a person being lucky, however we decided to put a twist on this by having the same person as all of the poker players. This could show that to be lucky, you have to think it yourself before you're actually going to achieve anything.
For the rich idea we could use a montage of free archive images of big houses and fast cars along with a sped up clip of someone driving. As i am the only one with a car, i set up the camera to record myself driving too and from a location that was a short distance away.
In terms of the lucky idea, we came up with a clever plan that would inevitably take a lot of planning and editing time, but if created properly would become a success. We had the idea that a poker game would be a good way to show a person being lucky, however we decided to put a twist on this by having the same person as all of the poker players. This could show that to be lucky, you have to think it yourself before you're actually going to achieve anything.
For the rich idea we could use a montage of free archive images of big houses and fast cars along with a sped up clip of someone driving. As i am the only one with a car, i set up the camera to record myself driving too and from a location that was a short distance away.
Final Ideas- What do you want to be...
- Someone famous- Photos of Ruby
- Model/ Beautiful- Makeup of Aimee
- Rich- Montage of fast cars & Big houses
- On TV- Static of Paul locked in TV
- Thin- Clips of mid-rift of strangers in town
- Sportsman- Rugby clips
- Lucky- Paul poker game
- Loved- Pets
- Beautiful- Stills of makeup coming out of bag
- Rockstar- Clips from concerts
- Clever- University footage- entrance
- Happy- People laughing- nights out on facebook
Experimental film- initial planning
During one of our sessions with Dom we were given the chance to meet up with our group and throw ideas at each other, and discuss where we wanted the project to go. We first decided on roles that each of us would do in line with the brief. This didn't take us too long as thankfully we all had ideas about which role we would like to perform, although we all agreed that we would all take part in the different stages. it was decided that Paul would fill the roles of the producer/ director, I would perform the roles of the camera/ edit and Ruby would do the sound/ edit.
One of the main ideas that we liked best was to do with the idea of beauty and aspiration. This is one of the things that has interested me for a long time. We wanted to focus on the social ideas of being beautiful and what society perceives beauty as being. One of the ways we thought about exploring this was to focus on the celebrity side of beauty and how people (mainly women) aspire to be like the women that they see in magazines and films.
A second idea was money and the power and greed that comes with it. We thought of a few ideas like filming a poker game where the players were played by the same character, as a way of showing how a person feels towards themselves and what they would do for money.
A third idea was to do something in terms of literature and focus mainly on films like Alice in Wonderland and somehow show the idea of time and the rabbit hole in forms of a person's life and the mystery that forms around it.
One of the main ideas that we liked best was to do with the idea of beauty and aspiration. This is one of the things that has interested me for a long time. We wanted to focus on the social ideas of being beautiful and what society perceives beauty as being. One of the ways we thought about exploring this was to focus on the celebrity side of beauty and how people (mainly women) aspire to be like the women that they see in magazines and films.
A second idea was money and the power and greed that comes with it. We thought of a few ideas like filming a poker game where the players were played by the same character, as a way of showing how a person feels towards themselves and what they would do for money.
A third idea was to do something in terms of literature and focus mainly on films like Alice in Wonderland and somehow show the idea of time and the rabbit hole in forms of a person's life and the mystery that forms around it.
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