Screen shots of documents are posted below:
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| Shot List |
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| Shots by location |
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| Props list |
Wednesday 26 October 2011
Portrait of Place (with James Mellors): Final days before shoot.
In the last few days, James and I have been getting organised before the location trip. We have finished buying props, compiling shot lists and prop lists, and have completed our Parashoot risk assessment.
Screen shots of documents are posted below:
Screen shots of documents are posted below:
Sunday 23 October 2011
Portrait of Place (with James Mellors): Inspiration
This film by duo Joe King and Rosie Pedlow will be huge inspiration for our editing techniques, especially the continuity cutting that we plan to experiment with.
Here is a link to a site with the film 'Sea Change'. The idea that you can have a continuous movement with a changing environment will hugely influence moments in our film where we will try to acheive something very similar.
Sea Change - Joe King and Rosie Pedlow
Here is a link to a site with the film 'Sea Change'. The idea that you can have a continuous movement with a changing environment will hugely influence moments in our film where we will try to acheive something very similar.
Sea Change - Joe King and Rosie Pedlow
Portrait of Place (with James Mellors): Progress
Okay, we don't have anything to show here, but I can explain how our project has progressed.
James and I have taken our storyboards and compiled a shot list, complete with a separate breakdown by location. I would post them on here, but part of the plan relies on what props we can get hold of, so when we have been prop shopping and finished this small part of our plan, I will post the documents on here.
We plan to meet again tomorrow to practice our techniques further and finalise our project planning, including coming up with a working title for the project.
James and I have taken our storyboards and compiled a shot list, complete with a separate breakdown by location. I would post them on here, but part of the plan relies on what props we can get hold of, so when we have been prop shopping and finished this small part of our plan, I will post the documents on here.
We plan to meet again tomorrow to practice our techniques further and finalise our project planning, including coming up with a working title for the project.
Saturday 22 October 2011
Portrait of Place (with James Mellors): Initial Storyboard
I have created a very basic and low-detail storyboard for our piece. Had we had more time to plan the piece, I would have preferred to do a shot-by-shot photo storyboard. However, in the circumstances, this was the most efficient way to plan the piece.
http://jmellors.blogspot.com/
http://jmellors.blogspot.com/
Thursday 20 October 2011
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Have just been to see We Need To Talk About Kevin... Lynne Ramsay, never better. I can't tell you why it is excellent without giving the game away, so all I will say is the cinematography is amazing, the sound stands out like Miss World in a council estate, and the acting is superb (even from a toddler).
Just see it. For me.
Just see it. For me.
Portrait of Place (with James Mellors): Initial Ideas
Location: Edale, Peak District
Film Style: Experimental (silent)
Themes: The interruption of man into the natural world
Content: Movement of natural objects to become man-made objects to create a circle of destruction, highlighting the message that the man-made world does not belong in the natural environment. Emphasis on how man has no respect for the natural world and how the landscape has changed due to man.
James has drawn an original storyboard to try and organise ideas.
We then met on the day following the project brief and used these ideas to come up with a detailed plan of the film's 'narrative'. The plan now is to work on storyboarding every shot, and then to follow this with a detailed shot list in order to be fully prepared on location. We have also taken note of the props that we need to buy, and will be sourcing these over the weekend so that we can practice using them to our advantage.
We have already got together and found good locations to use, and have had these in mind while planning the frames. The areas of Edale that we would like to use are called Barber's Booth, Jacob's Ladder, and Kinder Low.
Our piece will also experiment with editing techniques. For a few shots in the film, we will film the same action in several different places in order to cut the action into several small pieces and iece them together to create a movement with a changing background. I have experimented in order to see whether this is going to be possible, and my trial worked well.
Potential Problems: Because our piece is heavily based on the movement of inanimate objects, we need to come up with a cohesive and well rehearsed plan on how we are going to get them to move the way we want them to. One big help would be to use invisible string, which we would then edit out in after-effects.
Our second problem is the likely possibility of severe weather conditions. For this reason we need to have a self-fashioned camera protection system ready to take with us, and we must have appropriate clothing ready to wear.
Film Style: Experimental (silent)
Themes: The interruption of man into the natural world
Content: Movement of natural objects to become man-made objects to create a circle of destruction, highlighting the message that the man-made world does not belong in the natural environment. Emphasis on how man has no respect for the natural world and how the landscape has changed due to man.
James has drawn an original storyboard to try and organise ideas.
We then met on the day following the project brief and used these ideas to come up with a detailed plan of the film's 'narrative'. The plan now is to work on storyboarding every shot, and then to follow this with a detailed shot list in order to be fully prepared on location. We have also taken note of the props that we need to buy, and will be sourcing these over the weekend so that we can practice using them to our advantage.
We have already got together and found good locations to use, and have had these in mind while planning the frames. The areas of Edale that we would like to use are called Barber's Booth, Jacob's Ladder, and Kinder Low.
Our piece will also experiment with editing techniques. For a few shots in the film, we will film the same action in several different places in order to cut the action into several small pieces and iece them together to create a movement with a changing background. I have experimented in order to see whether this is going to be possible, and my trial worked well.
Potential Problems: Because our piece is heavily based on the movement of inanimate objects, we need to come up with a cohesive and well rehearsed plan on how we are going to get them to move the way we want them to. One big help would be to use invisible string, which we would then edit out in after-effects.
Our second problem is the likely possibility of severe weather conditions. For this reason we need to have a self-fashioned camera protection system ready to take with us, and we must have appropriate clothing ready to wear.
Monday 17 October 2011
Skin Deep
In this drama short by Yousaf Ali Khan, a teenage boy struggles to find his place in society with his mixed race background. He is half English, half Pakistani, and the film suggests that he lives in a time when it was difficult to be living in British society with any other cultural background (perhaps the 1980s).
The film is fairly typical of British social realism,made famous by directors such as Shane Meadows, mainly due to the lighting effects and the use of sound. The grey and drab colour mixing is a common technique used in social-realist filmmaking to reflect the serious and realistically harsh vibe of the subject matter - in this case, racism and gang violence. In the opening and closing sequences when the protagonist Romo (or Rasheed) is in his bathroom alone, and again when he has a choice to make in the alleyway during the attack on a young Asian boy, a very subtle spotlight is used to signify Romo's isolation in dealing with his secret; that he is of course Asian too, but being able to get away with pretending he is white protects him from race-fuelled prejudice. There is very little non-diegetic sound used. One of the examples of where it is used is the tick and ping of a metronome during the scene where Romo and his sister are walking past members of the national front on the way to school and work. Here, this rare use of sound not within the filmic world highlights the approaching danger which eventually leads to Romo's controversial decision to make his sister (who is decidedly more foreign-looking) walk ahead so as not to be associated with her. The rest of the film sound-wise works towards the suspension of disbelief so as to make the audience more aware of the very real problems that the minority ethnic cultures faced at the time. Only during moments of dramatic importance is non-diegetic sound added to build tension and lead to a shock climax; for instance when Romo begins to attack the Asian boy himself and submit to hiding behind his weak Pakistani features. I think that Khan has been successful in his use of sound in particular because he has managed to retain a very harsh but real view of British culture at the time, while also bearing in mind that, as a drama, the film should grip an audience and work through both narrative and form towards a climactic moment: when Romo shaves his head in quite a gruesome and emotionally charged way.
It is of course this end sequence that stood out to me the most in the film, and in a way, this is quite typical of a drama, in which the beginning or end scenes are usually the most memorable. Apart from a few flashbacks throughout the film, this is the only part which is altogether not like life itself. It composes a symphony of flashbacks from Romo's childhood, being cornered and verbally abused by skinheads, combined with real-time footage of him shouting insults at the mirror, a reflection of his controversial and cowardly behaviour, and a reflection of his 'rehearsal' for the events of the day in the same mirror at the start of the film. The cuts between these two quicken and build to a moment of surrealism when the two merge, and the men from his memory are there shouting at either side of his face in his reflection, while he shouts and mimics them hysterically, hacking at his head with a razor, becoming just like them. I don't think that the film would have had quite the same emotional impact on me as a viewer as it did if it wasn't for this moment of craziness and almost hyperventilation. It works within the context of the film; it has a shock-factor that impacts horrendously upon the viewer; it is a wonderful way of expressing thoughts and emotions that cannot be expressed in a real world view and it really reflects exactly the type of film that it is - drama.
What I found most interesting about the film was the way that as a viewer, I identified with a character who should repulse me with his hypocritical and controversial decisions. Khan used relatively typical narrative and storytelling conventions to have this effect on the viewer (if I am of course an example of the majority). The whole story was told from Romo's point of view. There was no narration, but this simple technique instantly aligns us with the character from whose perspective the film is seen. This technique is demonstrated through much of the camerawork and framing: often Romo is the principal element in the frame, at times other faces go out of focus or face away from the camera and the only person we 'have eyes for' is Romo. In addition we are introduced to moments of intimacy when Romo is alone at the beginning and end of the film, and the over-the-shoulder shot looking into the mirror almost becomes a point-of-view shot. I think that the point can also be made from a white viewing perspective that the actor cast as Romo could easily be mistaken to be British, and for this, we almost excuse the way that he has used this fact to relieve him of prejudice, and we forgive him even though we are disgusted by his actions.
I think that the film is both a historical homage to a time in which the British were not so accepting of multiculturalism, and also speaks a message that not being able to change who we are can also be the cause of huge emotional upheaval, as in Romo's case. Romo is unable to be anything other than mixed race, so he hides behind his more British attributes to become something more accepted and secure in the society. This theory could apply to many other problems other than race, such as obesity and anorexia, nationality and social status, and perhaps this is why the film is so identifiable, even to a white audience. The film is a powerful reminder of the dangers of prejudice in any form and also hints towards ideas about identity, which have always been explored in drama through teenage characters. It is a tried and tested technique that works because teen-hood is the time in which young people begin to try and find who they are, what they like, and where they stand in society. In this film in particular, it is equally as effective, and as every adult has been through this stage in their life it is easy to relate to Romo's character, even if not his situation.
The film is fairly typical of British social realism,made famous by directors such as Shane Meadows, mainly due to the lighting effects and the use of sound. The grey and drab colour mixing is a common technique used in social-realist filmmaking to reflect the serious and realistically harsh vibe of the subject matter - in this case, racism and gang violence. In the opening and closing sequences when the protagonist Romo (or Rasheed) is in his bathroom alone, and again when he has a choice to make in the alleyway during the attack on a young Asian boy, a very subtle spotlight is used to signify Romo's isolation in dealing with his secret; that he is of course Asian too, but being able to get away with pretending he is white protects him from race-fuelled prejudice. There is very little non-diegetic sound used. One of the examples of where it is used is the tick and ping of a metronome during the scene where Romo and his sister are walking past members of the national front on the way to school and work. Here, this rare use of sound not within the filmic world highlights the approaching danger which eventually leads to Romo's controversial decision to make his sister (who is decidedly more foreign-looking) walk ahead so as not to be associated with her. The rest of the film sound-wise works towards the suspension of disbelief so as to make the audience more aware of the very real problems that the minority ethnic cultures faced at the time. Only during moments of dramatic importance is non-diegetic sound added to build tension and lead to a shock climax; for instance when Romo begins to attack the Asian boy himself and submit to hiding behind his weak Pakistani features. I think that Khan has been successful in his use of sound in particular because he has managed to retain a very harsh but real view of British culture at the time, while also bearing in mind that, as a drama, the film should grip an audience and work through both narrative and form towards a climactic moment: when Romo shaves his head in quite a gruesome and emotionally charged way.
It is of course this end sequence that stood out to me the most in the film, and in a way, this is quite typical of a drama, in which the beginning or end scenes are usually the most memorable. Apart from a few flashbacks throughout the film, this is the only part which is altogether not like life itself. It composes a symphony of flashbacks from Romo's childhood, being cornered and verbally abused by skinheads, combined with real-time footage of him shouting insults at the mirror, a reflection of his controversial and cowardly behaviour, and a reflection of his 'rehearsal' for the events of the day in the same mirror at the start of the film. The cuts between these two quicken and build to a moment of surrealism when the two merge, and the men from his memory are there shouting at either side of his face in his reflection, while he shouts and mimics them hysterically, hacking at his head with a razor, becoming just like them. I don't think that the film would have had quite the same emotional impact on me as a viewer as it did if it wasn't for this moment of craziness and almost hyperventilation. It works within the context of the film; it has a shock-factor that impacts horrendously upon the viewer; it is a wonderful way of expressing thoughts and emotions that cannot be expressed in a real world view and it really reflects exactly the type of film that it is - drama.
What I found most interesting about the film was the way that as a viewer, I identified with a character who should repulse me with his hypocritical and controversial decisions. Khan used relatively typical narrative and storytelling conventions to have this effect on the viewer (if I am of course an example of the majority). The whole story was told from Romo's point of view. There was no narration, but this simple technique instantly aligns us with the character from whose perspective the film is seen. This technique is demonstrated through much of the camerawork and framing: often Romo is the principal element in the frame, at times other faces go out of focus or face away from the camera and the only person we 'have eyes for' is Romo. In addition we are introduced to moments of intimacy when Romo is alone at the beginning and end of the film, and the over-the-shoulder shot looking into the mirror almost becomes a point-of-view shot. I think that the point can also be made from a white viewing perspective that the actor cast as Romo could easily be mistaken to be British, and for this, we almost excuse the way that he has used this fact to relieve him of prejudice, and we forgive him even though we are disgusted by his actions.
I think that the film is both a historical homage to a time in which the British were not so accepting of multiculturalism, and also speaks a message that not being able to change who we are can also be the cause of huge emotional upheaval, as in Romo's case. Romo is unable to be anything other than mixed race, so he hides behind his more British attributes to become something more accepted and secure in the society. This theory could apply to many other problems other than race, such as obesity and anorexia, nationality and social status, and perhaps this is why the film is so identifiable, even to a white audience. The film is a powerful reminder of the dangers of prejudice in any form and also hints towards ideas about identity, which have always been explored in drama through teenage characters. It is a tried and tested technique that works because teen-hood is the time in which young people begin to try and find who they are, what they like, and where they stand in society. In this film in particular, it is equally as effective, and as every adult has been through this stage in their life it is easy to relate to Romo's character, even if not his situation.
Sunday 9 October 2011
2photo.ru
A nice photography blog from Russia, where I have today discovered the fine celebrity portrait work of Martin Schoeller, both comedic...
and beautiful.
And just LOOK at these gorgeous close-ups!
MOVE. LEARN. EAT.
Having a little play on StumbleUpon is always good fun, and it makes your day when you find something that really sparks your interest.
This set of 3 short films was made by Rick Mereki on a round-the-world trip with two other men; one of which is featured in the films.
I see these films as a great example of simple documentary filmmaking, and urge you to take a little look. There is nothing deep or conceptual about the films, but they are beautifully made and I think they give you a sense of culture and the diversity of this world.
http://vimeo.com/27246366
This set of 3 short films was made by Rick Mereki on a round-the-world trip with two other men; one of which is featured in the films.
I see these films as a great example of simple documentary filmmaking, and urge you to take a little look. There is nothing deep or conceptual about the films, but they are beautifully made and I think they give you a sense of culture and the diversity of this world.
http://vimeo.com/27246366
Thursday 6 October 2011
The Life Size Zoetrope
In this experimental documentary short by Mark Simon Hewis, the life of a man is told through the medium of a huge zoetrope with people on it, holding pictures to illustrate the narration.
As the documentary begins, people are seen to be lining up, readying themselves to be thrown around in circles on this giant wheel. During the film, the narrator describes in the present tense the mundane but landmark moments of his life; birth, his first words, his first day at school, the first time he was beaten up, his first kiss, the first time he has sex, drinking through his teens, getting a degree, his girlfriend falling pregnant, the birth of his child etc. This follows through to old age and his untimely death by cancer, ending in an image of his eye, closing and fading away repeatedly, with the simple words: 'once upon a time there was a wheel'.
The themes in the film were immediately clear: the circle of life, the mundaneness of human activity and the relative unimportance of each of our existences in the universe. These existential themes come across in the film's form; an unoriginal idea reworked into a metaphor that is both striking and memorable. The zoetrope itself: a circle that begins and ends in one place and moves in one direction, much like the passage of time. I thought it was interesting that Hewis decided to put people on the zoetrope (as opposed to just mounting images onto it), and this demonstrates perfectly the way that the universe picks people up, throws them around for a while, and then their turn is over. The zoetrope as a wheel even puts paid to the phrase 'a cog in the universe'. For this reason, I think that the form of the film is very closely related to the themes, and the message that is put across in the telling of the narrator's life.
You could say that the film is persuasive; that the narrator wants you to look at his uninspiring earthly life and decide to live yours with a bit more excitement. I prefer to think that the film has a far bleaker outlook, and is more a comment on how unimportant we are in the grand scheme of things, and how routine and commonplace our lives become. It is a 'circle of life story': the life of a man is not that different to anyone else's and after he is gone, it is repeated again. This is reflected in the way that the images shown are repeated, demonstrating how this is not the first and last time events like this will take place.
The reason that the film is so appealing is related both to the audience and the filmmaker. As an audience, a life we are so used to seeing happen around us is so easy to relate to, especially when the film makes us think that ours will probably be exactly the same. In addition, the story feels personal to the filmmaker, and so we feel intimately drawn to the narration so as to know about Hewis himself. Knowing that Hewis studied animation and spends a large part of his work animating, we feel more closely aligned to him with his interesting alternative to animation and stop motion effects. Some could see the film as a case of technique over concept, but I think that the technique is what makes us believe in the filmmaker and his message.
As the documentary begins, people are seen to be lining up, readying themselves to be thrown around in circles on this giant wheel. During the film, the narrator describes in the present tense the mundane but landmark moments of his life; birth, his first words, his first day at school, the first time he was beaten up, his first kiss, the first time he has sex, drinking through his teens, getting a degree, his girlfriend falling pregnant, the birth of his child etc. This follows through to old age and his untimely death by cancer, ending in an image of his eye, closing and fading away repeatedly, with the simple words: 'once upon a time there was a wheel'.
The themes in the film were immediately clear: the circle of life, the mundaneness of human activity and the relative unimportance of each of our existences in the universe. These existential themes come across in the film's form; an unoriginal idea reworked into a metaphor that is both striking and memorable. The zoetrope itself: a circle that begins and ends in one place and moves in one direction, much like the passage of time. I thought it was interesting that Hewis decided to put people on the zoetrope (as opposed to just mounting images onto it), and this demonstrates perfectly the way that the universe picks people up, throws them around for a while, and then their turn is over. The zoetrope as a wheel even puts paid to the phrase 'a cog in the universe'. For this reason, I think that the form of the film is very closely related to the themes, and the message that is put across in the telling of the narrator's life.
You could say that the film is persuasive; that the narrator wants you to look at his uninspiring earthly life and decide to live yours with a bit more excitement. I prefer to think that the film has a far bleaker outlook, and is more a comment on how unimportant we are in the grand scheme of things, and how routine and commonplace our lives become. It is a 'circle of life story': the life of a man is not that different to anyone else's and after he is gone, it is repeated again. This is reflected in the way that the images shown are repeated, demonstrating how this is not the first and last time events like this will take place.
The reason that the film is so appealing is related both to the audience and the filmmaker. As an audience, a life we are so used to seeing happen around us is so easy to relate to, especially when the film makes us think that ours will probably be exactly the same. In addition, the story feels personal to the filmmaker, and so we feel intimately drawn to the narration so as to know about Hewis himself. Knowing that Hewis studied animation and spends a large part of his work animating, we feel more closely aligned to him with his interesting alternative to animation and stop motion effects. Some could see the film as a case of technique over concept, but I think that the technique is what makes us believe in the filmmaker and his message.
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