Post 12: Workshop 2

An example of a "Hard" shadow.

For preparation for our short film we were asked to think about the quality of video production through technical elements such as lighting. We divided the sections into two main elements; direction and quality. Quality involved focusing on the intensity of the illumination for example hard lighting. Hard lighting is a direct light source creating bold shadows with crisp textures and edges.



"Soft" lighting shadows.

The second element to the quality of lighting includes soft lighting, this is indirect light which blurs contours and textures and there are softer contrasts and shadows between the light and shade.

The direction of light focuses on the specific light source and where it has been positioned in order to make the shot. For example how it bounces off the different surfaces after being positioned at either the front, back, side or above. Ultimately every light source has a point where it is at its brightest.

After defining the two varieties of the elements of light we watched Madonna’s Vogue music video. Whilst watching this we were able to identify the variety of light sources and how effective they were for the film video. Not only does the video use the Film Noir effect it also includes distinctive soft light sources where in which images have blurred contours and textures. This is most noticeably seen on the faces of characters, they appear to not have defined shapes or curves and a lot of the women’s clothing is unclear due to the softer light source illuminating the clothing.

Madonna's Vogue Video 

Whilst watching the video I noticed a clear example of hard lighting. From looking at the image above you can see the direct intensity of the light illuminating off of the diamonds on her back, furthermore creating a hard sense of lighting. Crisp textures and edges have been created due to the direct light source and bold dark shadows can be noticed underneath Madonna’s arm.

After analysing the different parts to lighting we were assigned the class to create images using both direction and quality of lighting. Due to having such a small class we worked as a class in creating the different images. Whilst doing so we had to allocate different job roles for everyone, this allowed everyone to have an equal part and ultimately we all worked towards us having an equal understanding of the variety of light elements by the end of the project. Before the filming took place we were given a range of equipment to use throughout our experiment and then were left to come up with our ideas on how we would create the variety of shots and how we would arrange our equipment.

The equipment we were given was:
• Mini DV camera
• Tripod
• Batteries
• Base plate
• Tape
• Laminated whiteboards and marker pens
• 1x lowel pro 250W lamp
• 1x stand
• Extension lead
• Barn doors
• Torch
• Black wrap and crock clips
• White materials and tin foil
• Safety gloves

Kelly & Charlotte Post 12 by MrsShipp100

The first video shows the range of light sources we experimented with and the affects it had upon the back ground and the characters faces etc. The second clip is a commentary of detailed descriptions regarding the different light sources used in the original video. Throughout our script we have analysed every shot individually and commented on the affect it has.

After analysing the different elements of lighting and defining the quality and direct aspects to lighting by understanding has improved dramatically. I now have a better understanding of the different effects of lighting and how it can change the films affect and tone easily. When it comes to creating our own short films it is important for us to consider the different light sources available and how they will in due course help convey different moods for the characters. The workshop has made me realise that during the planning for our short film we need to consider the lighting and how effective it will be. It is also important for us to remember and use the different types of equipment to manipulate the light. This includes using barn doors and light diffusers. 

Post 11: Workshop 1

When making a short film, the aspect of style is incredibly important.
Lighting is an example of style, which can be demonstrated to have an important affect upon the films production.

FILM NOIR

Within the research of lighting “Film Noir” was often highlighted as an important aspect of the films style. “Film Noir” is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, one that particularly emphasise cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood’s classic film noir period generally stretched between the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with low key, black and white, visual style with both bright lights and effective shadowing.

Film noir films generally contained a cynical, hard hearted male character who encounters a beautiful promiscuous amoral, double dealing and seductive female. This theme is an obvious link to the era film noirs were first established. The 1940’s highlighted the years where there was a considerate amount of power for women, but their roles on screen did in fact suffer. The photos situated to the left and the right of my text are examples of film noir ways of lighting. The short clip below of “Double Indemnity” (1944) highlights a specific section involving film noirs wit and seduction.

After watching the short clip of a Film noir, as a class we looked at the different types of lighting that were used and how the lights were positioned in a variety of ways. Lighting is commonly used to highlight and create shadows that can be used to manipulate the space of the different scenes. There are two different types of shadows and these are:

• Attached shadows: Attached shadows occur when lighting doesn’t illuminate parts of the object due to its shape and size.
• Cast shadows: A cast shadow is when objects block the light source and “cast” a shadow.

Lighting can help distinguish the importance a character has in the films plotline. Attention is drawn to characters that have the brighter source of light on them, similarly the characters with the less effective lighting are known to be less popular within the film.

The image to the left is an example of a cast shadow. The blinds appear to be blocking the light source from the outside sunlight and are forming a cast shadow onto the man standing directly opposite. Then man has noticeable lines across his body from the pattern of the blind, this can reinforce the theme of being imprisoned. The noticeable pattern draws attention to him rather than the man positioned on the chair.  

The following picture shows two, what can be assumed, protagonist character then a small amount of less important characters in the background. This photograph is an example of an attached shadow. The man positioned on the left of the camera’s eye has a shadowed right check due to his hate shape and size., this shadow is an attached shadow.




THE LEMON
Soon after distinguishing the two specific shadows, we were encouraged to look at how the light can have an affect on the shape and texture of different objects. This was demonstrated by watching a short video of a lemon being manipulated by a light source from a variety of angles; this noticeably had a dramatic effect on what was being filmed as it became difficult to distinguish what was being filmed due to the shadows and bright light.

OUR VERSION OF THE LEMON: THE SKULL
Following the video of the lemon in small groups we created our own versions of the film, but using different objects.  My group came to the decision to use the skull for this project as we guessed it would create illuminative shadows from the lighting and would ultimately look really effective. Prior to the filming we changed the settings on the camera, so it would specifically focus on the skull. Having done this, it was much easier to see how the movement of the light source changed the shapes and position of the attached shadows and cast shadows. We filmed the skull in a room with no outside light invasions, and only a single light bulb which we switched off when recording the film. This allowed the light to be a lot more dramatic and the shadows to be more effective and noticeable due to no interruptions from unwanted light sources.

 

Post 10

When producing a short film it is import to assign job roles to specific people so she film is produced in the best way possible.

DIRECTORS
The first department which is key to follow with regards to making any media production is the role of the director. Usually it is best known that the Director is in fact the person who is ultimately responsible for the creative vision and overall style of feature film. Within this department, the director is also supported by a number of Assistant Directors, who assure that the Director’s artistic ambitions are in fact achieved throughout the production and editing. This is done by successful time management and proving an organised work forces with a dedicated cast and crew.

• The first assistant director is simply the director’s right hand person, taking a vast amount of responsibility for numerous practicalities so that the director is free to concentrate on the creative process of the film making.
• The second assistant director is just the first assistant director’s right hand man, ensuring the production runs as smoothly as possible.
•  The film director is the driving creative force in a films production, and acts as the crucial link between the production, technical and creative terms.
• Lastly will be Runners or more commonly known as Floor Runners. The role of the runner is the accepted and conventional entry-level position within the film production industry – the first rung on the ladder.

CAMERA

Having good cinematography when making any media production involves the creation of beautiful/and or arresting images on screen. The images produced should also tell us more about a character or a location. It is important to understand that shot composition, camera movement and the way a Director of Photography chooses to manipulate light and shade, all combine to create each films unique photographic signature. A lot of heard work and preparation is involved with a projects camera work, it involves moving and operating cameras in ways that create the best shot possible. Camera crews are known to work with extremely delicate and expensive equipment, even though our production will take place with the schools equipment.. This is still the case!

• A script supervisor’s work involves ensuring that, despite the fact that films are shot entirely out of script sequence, they eventually make continuous verbal and visual sense. Simply, just making sure that the film makes sense and links up according to the script.
• The first assistant camera is responsible for focusing and refocusing the camera lens as the actors move within the frame of each shot and the focal length changes.
• The “grip”’s responsibility is to build, maintain and operate all the equipment that supports the camera, such as tripods, dollies, tracks, jibs or cranes.
• As mentioned before the director of photography does have a important and specific role with regards to a films making. The job of the director of photography is to give a film its unique and visual identity or look.
• The final key role that is designated to the crew in production work is a camera operator. They would have to set up, position and operate the cameras accordingly.

The other roles include the aerial camera assistant, crane operator and steadicam operator. Specific job roles such as those can be done by students with less demanding roles where they have the time and capability to help out as much as possible. This is only the case due to having such a small group of people to work with throughout our production.



LIGHTING

As do the other departments, lighting equally plays a vital role in the majority of film crews. Although some productions may make use of daylight, for most the lightings role is necessary. The different members of the lighting crew are responsible together with others such as the camera crew and art department for the look and feel of the images captured on the screen.

• The “gaffers” are in charge of all the electrical work on production. This involves leading the team of technicians who install the lighting equipment and arranging the power supply in order to create the designed lighting effects.
• A lighting technician helps to provide the relevant lighting and power supply for a film, either on a studio set or on a location. This role would involve imagination and creative skills as within our production work, we appear to not have a studio so all locations are established prior to the filming. This would involve the lighting technician to explore different ways in which the filming could proceed.
• The film productions “best boy” has to co-ordinate the team of lighting technicians and has to deal with the variety of logistics and paperwork relating to the specific role.

• Finally the moving light operator controls all the “intelligent”, or automated, lights chosen by the director of photography.

Similarly to all departments it is important that all job roles work entwine with each other to produce the best possible image on screen. Prior to the amount of people working on or in a department all of the vital job roles are capable of being followed directly.


SOUND
Although film is considered a primarily visual production, much of the storytelling and emotional resonance of a script is conveyed through dialogue. With this in mind when recording all sound on set/or location the work is done by the production sound crew. This includes production sound mixers, boom operators and sound assistants. What their specific job titles involve is to be explained below.

• A production sound mixer is responsible for the difficult and demanding job of recording sound and dialogue and ensuring that the dialogue that is recorded during filming is clear enough for the production.
• A boom operator is responsible for placing the huge microphone in the best position, without impending on camera operation. The role of the boom operator is rarely taken on boards with projects that take place within A2 media studies at our school, due to it being unnecessary as a lot of the sound is recorded in appropriate locations where it is pointless.




A boom operator statue.


• Sound assistants provide general feedback and support to the production of sound mixer and the boom operator. Their jobs involve ensuring everyone that the sound is to the best of its capability and making decisions weather any sound needs to be re-recorded.

ART/PRODUCTION DESIGN
Creating the visual world or setting for a film is the role of the Art Department as a film can be located anywhere. The look of sets or locations involves the audience more directly with the films production. The settings are rarely left to chance by film makers; a great deal of work goes into constructing appropriate back drops to any storyline. This involvement is key to the art and production department of a films making.

• Art directors act as project managers for one of the most vital departments of any film. They facilitate the productions designers’ creative vision for all the locations and sets that eventually give the film its main unique visual identity.
 
• A smaller, but still important job role within the production design department of a film includes the set decorator. Set decorators provide anything that furnishes a film set; they will arrange them all to look best suited for the films genre and theme.
• Story board artists translate screenplays or sequences from screenplays into a series of illustrations in comic book format. This takes time and dedication and a “visual eye” – similarly to the majority of the roles in this department.

• Production designers are major heads of department on film crews, and are responsible for the entire art department. They play a crucial role in helping directors to achieve the films visual requirements.

This is an area I pay particular interest in and would ideally like to focus on the visual side of the films production. I personally think my strengths lie within the imagery and more visual departments rather than the initial filming.

Applying the job roles to our own project.
After research into the variety of job roles and responsibilities that come with the production I came to the conclusion that the follows jobs should be assigned for the following people, as follows. Having noticeably small classes in our A2 lessons, our group work is within small number. With this in mind, some roles needed to be doubled meaning some of my peers will have more than one category to cover when filming our short film.


Person A (Writer of the script): Director. It is important that the person whom created the script to be the director due to them having the best insight into what they hope their film will be produced like. The director can over see everything that happens and has involvement in all of the departments ensuring the ideas are made visual are work according to how they were thought up originally.


Person B will take the role of being in charge and fulfilling all of the roles with regards to the camera department when filming the short film. They will have to cover all aspects include the preparation, constant conversation and group work with the director as well as filming the project to its full potential.


Person C will focus on the two departments which are lighting and sound, due to these two departments working so closely together anyway it seemed like the perfect opportunity to allow them to directly link due to us having such a significantly small crew.


Finally Person D, which I hope will ideally be myself.. I/ or who ever works within this department will focus on the production design work for the film. By doing this they will have to work closely with the director enabling that they can find the correct locations for the development and filming of the short film.


As assigning specific roles it became clear that all departments will noticeably entwine with each other. Even though each person will have their own specific work to be doing, it is important that the entire group are available to help one another.

The image to the right shows my initial plan for organising roles within the group work. The image elaborates on what the roles are for each person involved and how we can all work together as a group to achieve the best possible project.

Post 9

The images below show my first draft of my script idea; the script has a range of notes all over it, to help produce my second draft. Taking into consideration all the information it is clear that I, ideally, need to be more visual in my short film. Becky Knapp came back to our school to give us help on the basic ideas of writing a script, with this in mind Becky read all of our class scripts and gave us a lot of feedback on how we can improve or alter our ideas.

After getting the class to read my script I was intrigued to know their opinions, with this in mind I jotted down any thought provoking ideas that will ultimately benefit me. Clearly the main problem with my script is its initial format and structure, those points can easily be mended and I assure I will do so in my forthcoming draft. I seem to have a problem that I have too much dialogue with no specific moral dilemma. After listening to everyone’s comments, including Becky’s I came to the conclusion that I need to twist my story ever so slightly for it to have more of an affect. By doing so, I plan on making my short film more realistic by having both characters been “friends via the computer” before hand. This will then develop their relationship and as the plot develops it doesn’t become so predictable. This will hopefully have a better reaction from audiences. With my first draft script I found myself convincing not only myself that my ideas would work, but also the people around me. With this being a problem, it was clear that amending my script and plot ever so slightly can only but benefit me.

The image below is a new diagram showing the tracking of the events that are going to take place in my short film. As you can see I have altered the structure of my short film, hoping that it will eventually make the ending less conventional for audiences. My main aim is that the girls confine in each other and a friendship is formed between them both, by this being the case it hopefully will become more of a shock when RACHEL realises that the girl next door is in fact the person she has been confining in all of the time.

Plot Outline, 2

After the slight changes to my plot, it is clear that my plot summery needs to be altered ever so slightly. Both girl characters are seen to have an initial friendship prior to the short film, with this in mind it gives the chance for the girl’s relationship to develop and for the events that take place not to be so sudden and suspicious as well as predictable. As the short film develops, similarly does the friendship. The girls are seen talking to each other via the computer numerous times, different times in the day and different days in the year. It becomes clear from the beginning that the character Jayney is planning to move house, coincidently a “stranger” moves next door to Rachel on Christmas Day.

Completely oblivious that the girls are in fact in very close proximities to each other, they continue to talk over the computer. After a prior discussion with regards to the girl that has moved next door to Rachel, Rachel continues to slate her as a person in a negative manor. It then doesn’t take much initiative to realise that Rachel is in fact referring to the girl she has become extremely close to. With this in mind, audiences are then left with the question as to weather Rachel does in fact own up to Jayney Ray for what she has done. By having a cliff hanger ending, I am hoping this will be affective in the terms that audiences can create a justifiable opinion on both characters and conclude the ending in the ways they so desire. By doing this, it will leave room for debates and different possible outcomes.