Skills experiment
Equipment
Gimble and camera exercise:
Camera slide exercise:
The purpose of this task was to experiment with the new pieces of equipment and get used to how they work, to do this in a group we each took our turn to film with both the gimble and sliding board to capture the angel's/movements the equipment is intended for. With the gimble we were able to capture smooth movements for example when someone is walking without the footage looking jaulty, this was a challenge as we had to make sure the gimble did not re-adjust the camera midway through ruining the shot. The sliding board enabled us to capture distorting shots, when moving the camera backwards on the slide we would zoom in using the lense to distort the surroundings of the focused objects (water bottle). When reflecting on the brief as a group we experimented with different pieces of equipment and managed to convey movement in each shot using the equipment to our advantage. From this task I have learnt that the gimble is something I would need more practice using when filming future projects however would prove very useful when convey certain actions in a scene as goes for the sliding board.
Camera movement
I believe as a group we were very successful in conveying the same movement's from the ''Amelie'' film clips using both the gimble and sliding board, we did however make a change to the last clip this is because we wanted the scene to be more compelling whilst keeping that same downward movement of the camera. The biggest strengths from this task would be the smoothness that we were able to capture in each action, and the practice using the equipment gave us all. When filming the second scene it was a struggle turning the camera without putting it off balance causing it to move too far right, this meant we had to film it a couple of times trying different ways of moving it each shot which only improved our skillset of using the gimble. Areas for improvement on this task would be keeping the camera in focus, in the last shot the camera unfocussed when the book is picked up next time the camera would need to be further back, more practice with the equipment would make the camera movements just that bit smoother and steady when being held in one place for a few seconds. Overall, when comparing the movements of the camera in the ''Amelie'' shots to our own I would say we captured them perfectly for it being the second time using the gimble and sliding board.
Lighting
Watching Tv
Driving a car
Fire
The purpose of this task was to using light create different scenarios, these being watching Tv, driving and fire. To create these situations as a group we used coloured gels and multiple lights. For both the fire and tv scenario we turned the brightness up and down to create a flickering effect, and for the driving scene we had two lights one moving side to side for street lamps the other back and forth for oncoming car headlights. Although it took a couple of tries and moving around the lights we were able to successfully capture each scenario creating the perfect illusion, in post I was even able to add sound effects to make it more realistic, when comparing the outcome to the brief we were as creative as we could of been and were able to experiment becoming confident with the equipment which are skills transferable in future projects. Overall from this task I learnt how important lighting is when filming and how it can be manipulated to benefit projects on a low budget.
Lighting
Noir
(Kealan Forrest, n.d.)
Typical conventions of a Noir film include it being in black and white, there high and low angle shots are used to represent a characters power; mobsters will be filmed using low angles to signify the power they have over people. And tilted shots to make the audience feel uneasy especially about the character on screen. The shadows are a staple piece of the noir genre, they are used to create mystery/suspense which is the whole basis of this genre, this can all be created through low key lighting to emphasize shadows and create depth.
- Strong key light and back light
- Less dominants fill light to contrast creating a softer look
- Hard lighting -Sharp edged shadows (from a single source of light)
- Cut-outs can be used to cast a shadow (blinds)
- Illuminating only the eyes and brow to capture a dramatic look
My example
When comparing our images to the original I believe we were very successful in capturing the noir genre using light, we kept with the black and white theme and experimented with the shadows which is a prominent characteristic of noir films. This however, was a difficult task to capturing the shadow as the curtain made it look too distorted when compared with the original image which can be clearly made out as the sharp silhouette of a man. To overcome this issue we needed the light we used brightness to be very high to eliminate any darkness surrounding the character leaving only their shadow, the lighting needed to be placed off to the side at an angle to reflect this shadow whilst keeping the character in shot as did the the original example. As a group we decided to only use one light as this is all we needed when experimenting, eliminating both the back and fill light leaving only a hard key light which fit perfectly to the theme creating a sharp edged shadow as intended. Our biggest strength was creating an example very similar to the original, using our knowledge of the noir lighting we were able to set up in a way that would make the process run smoothly and experiment freely discovering what works and does not finding that the props helped to make it more realistic and that one light was the most effective. When doing the task again we could try incorporating the fill light to add more detail to the character as they are very much in the dark, compared with the original you can make out features of the face. Over all, I gained an understanding into the noir genre and how effective lighting can be to a scene when depicting a specific tone and will be an area I'll considering most important in all future projects.
Behind the scenes:
My example
Horror
(Sam Hart, 2020)
My example:
to outline the character; we had to turn the brightness down so it would not reveal the surrounding space keeping the character in darkness. We used a white light on the opposite side as well, as we found the silhouette was too weak without it and turning up the backlight only made the surrounding area light up. The task took a lot of adjusting of brightnesses and moving of the lights but in the end we were able to capture a successful image depicting a horror like theme. When doing the task again we could try having the character face the other way like in the example and even incorporate some props to see how it would affect the outcome. Overall, I gained a better understanding on how the placement of lights can affect what it shown on the camera; angling a light upwards will focus the light on a specific object and shine less on the surrounding area, but facing a light directly forwards can be overpowering distorting a silhouette; which is knowledge that will make future projects run smoother allowing for more experimentation.
For the horror genre we were only taking inspiration from our example image, we wanted to re create the silhouette which is used in horror films to add mystery to a character as you can only see their outline, building suspense as to who they are. Although our own example does not match up to the original, we created what we intended to but instead had the character facing towards the camera and added the element of colour. Although red can be used to represent love it's also a common theme among horror movies as it also represents blood, symbolising murder. To capture this we had a fill light off to the side covered by a red gel, we placed the light further away and had the brightness higher than the backlight, slightly lighting half of the face, but not enough to make out clear details keeping the mystery. Behind the character was a white backlight angled upwards
Fantasy
(TopReviews, 2017)
My examples:
Comparing the original image to our example I believe we were very successful in capturing the lighting. Due to the previous task we had gained a better understanding as to how to use the gel colours which made the process less complicated and we ran into only one problem, that was that the characters face was too much in the dark; when looking at the original image you can see they used a fill light to blend the two colours bringing to light the characters face. The first of our own examples you can see the blue side of the characters face has nearly no detail but once we added a white fill light the detail has been brought back. We used both a blue and red gel angling the blue light further back and the red light to the side of the character, as they are at an angle. In post production I was even able to play around with some filters changing the two colours completely. Our biggest strength from this task would be incorporating both the colours whilst keeping the character's features visible however, when doing this task again we could of tried using the lighter curtain to see if this would of helped bounce some of the colours, like in the example image's background. Overall, this task enabled me to get better at setting up the equipment making future set ups a lot quicker; and also that colours can help to drive the narrative representing more than just a light but conflict between good and evil like in the example, and is an area that can be very useful to a story, such as future projects.
Aperture
The purpose of this task was to experiment with the different ways aperture can affect the focus on your video, for our experiments we had to create a focus pull (rack focus), someone walking into focus and then combine the two following the character (walking at different speeds). To do each of these we utilized the colleges arts area, making the focus pull the easiest of them to capture; using two different ceramic pieces and twisting the aperture lens we could shift the focus between the two blurring the other. We struggled at first with the walking into focus, with such a busy background it was hard to see whether the focus had shifted onto the character or not; in the end we had to do it manually as we found this had the most successful outcome, we had to work out the right time to turn the aperture wheel and how fast to do it before taking the character out of focus. Combining both of these skills was the hardest task and looking over the outcome I believe we were not successful in capturing it, it was only when we looked over the footage on the computer that we could see we were pulling the focus too much, even blurring the character out; we used an open space and manually turnt the focusing wheel which combined with the speed of the character was hard to know whether we were too slow or fast. When completing this task again we would need to spend more time experimenting, and utilize maybe a smaller area with more in the background to focus from to the character. When responding to the brief we were partly successful in creating it, the first two experiments outcomes were successful however, we could of experimented with different backgrounds and objects to see how this would then effect the aperture, the last task we were not successful in capturing it or even experimenting further by having the character walk a variety of speeds. Overall, from this task I learnt how to manually adjust the aperture to pull the focus from one object to another or even a character; I also learnt that it is important to experiment in more ways than one with a task, to see how it would change the settings/outcome, and is something I will note in future experiments.
Aperture
(Ale Cloppet, 2017)
Comparing our outcome to the example we used I believe we were successful in re-creating the focus, but also the overall theme; through the use of the arts area we were able to capture a variety of focus shots, including a focus pull and someone walking into focus, combining what we had learnt in the previous task. Our biggest strength would be our creativity, we decided to introduce two characters to our scene and experimented, in the shot where the second character walked in we wanted the audience focus to be on them, by manually adjusting the focus we were able to blur the first character shifting the focus to the new one. This is also an area of improvement, when discussing our outcome with our tutor I noted that we could of spent more time introducing the first character; when looking at the example there is a prominent scene of a character looking at a painting, with the camera gradually gets closer to both; this is a scene we could of spent time creating before introducing the second character, building a connection to the audience. We did struggle capturing the second scene, we had to ensure the camera was in the right position to capture all of the paintings whilst keeping at an angle, this meant the first two paintings had to be in focus otherwise we would start with it all in a blur; we had to manually adjust the focus taking a couple of tries as we did not want the focus to go past the paintings; in the end we captured the shot we were aiming for. We were also able to capture a variety of focus pull shots, focusing from one object to the surrounding space building the background around our characters. We only took inspiration from the example video as there are no changes to the focus therefor changing it entirely to fit our task, we felt the art area resembled the museum and added focus pulls to scenes of inanimate objects and art. Overall we were successfully able to capture a scene incorporating a varierty of focus changes furthering our skills with the camera and directing.
Sound
For this task we were introduced to Adobe Audition an editing software specifically for sound; I was given three silent clips to experiment with using the new software, adding sounds from a sound library and manipulating them in Adobe Audition. For the first clip I was instructed to add an internal monologue (reading in their head) I used a audio book for the voice and for the sounds of birds, the paper/hands I used freesounds.org an online sound library. Using Adobe Audition made the process very easy; applying each sound to a new track meant I was able to individually edit them, adding affects to specific sounds leaving the rest unaffected. After the first video I felt more confident in experimenting, for the second video I manipulated the music to go from the characters POV to the surrounding area's POV, I split the sound where I wanted the shift creating two different tracks, adding the filter to the first half and faded it out slightly; then faded the second track in to achieve a smooth transition from the headphones to the surrounding space sounds. For the final video I wanted to experiment with manipulating sounds, I added an echo to the sounds of crows and the gun shot to enforce that they are in an empty desert and played around with some settings to see how it would then effect the sound. Overall from this task I was able to gain a basic understanding on how to use Adobe Audition which is a software I hope to use more of in the future to better my projects and become more confident using.