Reflection

Today was the final hand in of the cinematography project. The film was brief and the screening was over quickly, however the feedback was positive though brief in itself. I will now look back on the shots I was directly involved with that made the cut.

This first shot here was taken to get the impression that the male in the foreground is watching her. I am particularly proud that I managed to make the male in the background out of focus. This was an unforeseen obstacle, and I needed to get these shots quick, so the fact I managed to use this to my advantage and make the character stand out in the shot is a proud achieve meant of mine. I also filmed the shots sandwiching this, but those are in need of better framing.















I directed all of the shots where Callum (the male actor) is behind a tree close to Lucy (female actor). This was where my contribution was strongest in the piece. This shot I played with the ISO a bit to try and give Callum's character a sinister feel. As you can see on the left side of the scree their is sunlight, I had to darken the image so it wouldn't over expose, then I played with it so that the light would look sinister and make the character more foreboding. This angle I am particularly proud of due to the fact I managed to hold the camera steady whilst keeping Lucy in the right part of frame. The lighting could have used a bit more green, but I believe that the shot works well in the overall piece.











I took this shot on the train. We needed to get some shots of the characters traveling on a train. With Connor I was limited on what I could do. I saw an opportunity to bring out Lucy's character, on how she is trying to find inspiration and think of an idea. This shot of her is trying to bring out her deep thought whilst Traveling to Grindleford. The framing I feel is great as it causes Lucy's character to occupy around 80% of the screen due to the reflection. I am very happy that I got her reflection and managed to avoid getting the camera in the reflection.










This close up is one of my favourites. I directed Callum to look towards Lucy in an admiring yet wanting manner, and this shot itself was tough to get as I wanted to make his eyes quite visible. On camera I thought I failed this but once the image was enlarged on screen I saw that I succeeded. while it is not the best shot I did, it was certainly the tougthest and I think that I succeeded quite well in capturing it.










This final shot was purely to get him staring at her from a different angle, the framing, focus and colour I believe work very well. The depth of field that leaves the back ground out of focus was indeed a strong point that made all the colours in the foreground prominent in the piece.


In reflection, I believe we took a simple concept, and made it enjoyable in the time frame. The cinematography was some of the best I have seen recorded thus far and the whole group collaborated really well.

Seuence Shots

The sequence shot, is a hard shot to find, and hard to do without making the film boring. In effect a sequence shot is basically a long shot. These days a shot is usually around 5-6 seconds long, probably due to peoples short attention spans, and the distractions around them. So a good sequence shot I think is one that goes 10-15 seconds without cutting to something else. We have tried to incorporate that in our film by having a slow camera movement towards the writer at her desk (see image) which lasts 14 seconds. Their is also a few shots where the character walks up a pathway and the shot lasts 12 seconds (see image). We also have sequence shot where The writer passes the stalker and the stalker chooses to follow her (see image). This shot lasts 18 seconds. So we have covered the sequence shot aspect of the brief very well.

Sequence shot in final film

Pathway sequence shot

Following sequence shot

Sequence shots are quite a common occurrence in film. One example I can think of comes from one of my favourite films of all time 'Saving Private Ryan'.

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2557544217?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_2 - Miller talks to Hovrath

Saving Private Ryan Sequence shot

This one shot is of Captain Miller talking to his friend Sergeant Horvath about the mission to save Private Ryan. This is just after he receives word of the mission. In this shot the camera tracks sideways very slowly, whilst the two men talk and approach at first from a distance then reach the camera. It lasts 31 seconds, and does a great deal in showing the character of Miller, as well as moving the plot forward, and answering questions that war veteran viewers might think of. This whole shot, shows how you don't always need several cuts to make the conversation more interesting. The fact that they are talking about finding one soldier, and how its like 'finding a needle in a stack of needles' adds to the shot. Considering while the conversation is going their are a lot of random troops littering the screen, and for a brief period, it is hard to pick out the characters speaking. This shows the difficulty of the task that these characters will be facing.

A british example of the sequence shot is the opening shot of 'Hot Fuzz'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RAkY4R691E - Hot Fuzz Opening shot

Hot Fuzz Sequence Shot

The shot is of a police officer entering the building and approaching the camera whilst the camera slowly moves forward, but the vast majority of the, movement comes from the character. The shot is 28 seconds long. The fact the room is empty and the lighting imply's it is dawn and the fast paced walk of the character is establishing his seriousness about his job. You could also call this shot a POV shot as the camera is clearly behind a desk, and the officer shows his badge to the camera once he reaches it as if identifying himself. However, I like the idea of this more as a sequence shot as it pulls the viewer directly in to the piece. As an opening shot, it gives you a rough idea of the characters personality, and also has an air of mystery over who the person is and what he is about, which is answered in the proceeding montage that follows this shot.


Another great example of a sequences shot is at the end of british film 'Trainspotting'.

Trainspotting ending shot  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eUz8-dYtNc - Trainspotting ending (4:20-4:50)


Another great example of a sequences shot is at the end of british film 'Trainspotting'. The ending shot is of Mark Renton's monologue, in which he talks about how he's going to make a change. the shot seems almost stationary and is nearly this same framing of him walking towards the camera which slowly fades out to black ending the film. The uplifting music and the smile that comes across his face at 4:28 on the line 'moving on', gives an uplifting feel and creates the illusion of a happy ending even though this character has stabbed his friends in the back stealing the money. However, it underlines that the main character is making a change and has his own happy ending. As an ending shot, it leaves the audience leaving on a happy note, despite an hour and a half of death, sex, hard drug use, fights, and foul language, which I think makes this a highly underrated final shot, in arguably the best british film of all time.

Use of Colours

All films from the get go have a use of colours. They base these sometimes on genre, sometimes on the character, sometimes the mood, and sometimes just to identify the individual. In our cinematography film we had our characters wear basic clothes, and our instructions to Callum was for him to be in brown and green, as to blend in with the woodland area, making him less obvious to the writer he is stalking, and easy to miss.

When talking about dull basic colours, one example I have learned from listening to a commentary and watching a making of documentary, is the colours of 'The World's End'.

The Worlds End Poster

In the commentary, Edgar Write and Simon Pegg talk at length about how the 'Blanks' all wear blue and green. On a passive viewing this is hard to notice, however when watching it with the commentary, it gets a lot more noticeable. They emphasise that everyone and everything in the town is generally blue and green, to give out that they all follow the same trend, and ideals. Take these two stills for example (see images).

Full shot

Cars

As you can see, the colours of the car are green and blue, and the make of vehicle is exactly the same. Also if you look at these images below you can see the people are all dressed in general blue and green. This itself makes the key characters who have not been replaced stand out. The colour use is intended to isolate the protagonists, and make the network (antagonist) feel more like and organised unit rather than a bunch of random supernatural enemy's (see images).

Gang in toilet

Receptionist lady

It is also worth noting that the characters of Peter and Oliver, who start out human, are also wearing all blue. These are the two main characters that do get replaced with a blank, who wear green and blue as their formula. So this use of the characters colour itself, foreshadows their fate (see image).













It is also worth noting that while Peter (far right) and Oliver (far left) are in all blue the central three are not, with Gary (centre) wearing all black, and the other two wearing bland colours, but not blue or green.

The basic yet preciseness of this british film, I believe emphasises the point of the use of colour in film to a high degree. As I stated earlier, our characters will be wearing colours of a similar blandness, as seen below (see images).

Callum the stalker, wearing green and brown to blend more in more with the wooded settting

Lucy the writer wearing basic colours but with bait of brightness to make her stick out slightly from the woodland setting. 

Lighting Change

Lighting change is an aspect of cinematography that needs planning. Lighting in its nature acts as a mood setter in a piece of film. Thus a lighting change can change the mood, and in some cases make the image more personal or even make the character look scary. If you stop and think about it, you will have a hard time picking a character your scared of that wasn't darkly lit. You will have a hard time finding a sinister character that is brightly lit for the whole film. Their is a reason horrors and thrillers are darkly lit, whilst comedys and family films are commanly lit with bright colours. Their are a few exceptions, but for the most part this lore has stuck. One example I can think of where a character is good natured, but has come across sinister due to a lighting change is 'Gandalf' from 'The Fellowship Of The Ring' (see link below).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKaw5SjeHx0 - Gandalf Scares Bilbo

In this scene Bilbo is paranoid that Gandalf wants the one ring and Gandalf realises the ring is corrupting Bilbo, hence why he uses his magic to subdue the sudden aggression of Bilbo (see images).

Lighting begins to turn dark

Full darkness

Lighting brightens again

Lighting change to normal

As the images shown above display, the lighting becomes incredibly dark making Gandalf seem like an evil, sinister and powerful character. This is where Gandalf gives his first occurrence of being a strong wizard. However, by picture four his threat has diminished, and reduces back to the caring and good natured Gandalf that we grow to love throughout the film.This I believe is an obvious place to start in as it is one of the few times that the fantasy cross from a lighthearted film into a dark relm that the two sequels would be exploring more. Andrew Lesnie both adds seriousness to the scene and teases the viewer about the darkness that will come.

The lighting change we will use however is more subtle. Things like a fridge door opening which is our chosen method of lighting change. Their is also simply flicking a light switch on and off. One perfect example comes at the end of the horror movie 'Saw' (see image).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJyvVMgl-p0 - ending scene (see 2:32).

This scene shows the big reveal, and ending of the film saw. In this scene, the real killer is leaving the room and intends to leave Adam for dead. Thogh the lighting change does not add much to the actual story, it does change the film from bright to dark in a second. In a pervious scene, Laurence and Adam had hope of getting out of this situation. even during this ending scene their is still some hope as Adam try's to kill the real killer. However, as soon as he's about to leave and Adam has no means of stoping him, all hope is gone. So, this lighting change from brightly lit to almost total darkness, may symbolise the loss of hope (see image below).

Lights on

Lights out

Both the subtle and the dramatic changes of lighting help to emphasise the story of films, and the examples provided hopefully provide clarification of that.

As I stated, the lighting change in our project is mearly a subtle one, that also informs the piece of film where we see the fridge door open from the inside (see images).

Fridge close

Fridge open

Point Of View (POV)

Of the four elements we have to include in our cinematography work, point of view, aka POV, is my personal favourite of the selection. The concept of point of view, is to have the camera act as the individuals eyes. This gives the viewer both a personal view from the character and allows them to step into the characters shows.

I personally am a big fan of first person films, more commonly known as 'found footage' films. However, I only like these types of films if they are done correctly. For example, I love the film 'Cloverfield'. Though it has a mixed reaction critically, I believe it to be a strong point of the first person genre as it gives out a realistic feel of how people would record such an event. The fact that one of the popular criticisms is that you don't get a clear view of the monster until near the end, baffled me  somewhat, due to the fact that if I personally was trying to capture footage of a deadly monster that trys to destroy the city, I would hardly be thinking of getting that perfect shot. A decent example of this is when they are walking down the street, and the army suddenly appears to confront the monster. The group then takes refuge in the subway system, and on the way down the camera turns, and we just get a glimpse of the monster. (see image) This is only for a second, but is enough to establish how big the monster is, and gives a more real feel as the character 'Hud' is not interested in getting the money shot, but more about escaping danger (see the link, the monster appears from 1:22-1:24)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6esR4uGEFCc - Cloverfield monster flash

monster flash

The only time you do see the monster clearly, (minus a couple of flashes early on),  is she the character holding the camera freezes, and points it directly at the monster for a full twenty two seconds (see link below 00:50-01:12). This I believe is the weakest point of the film, as my overwhelming urge would be to run in that situation. This furthers my point that the shakiness of the camera is a good thing in the film, as it reflects what the average human would do in this situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocb7pXndlug - Cloverfield hud meets monster

Only clear view of the monster

However, POV isn't all about the found footage format. Sometimes in movies their are only one or two shots taken from the POV stand point. These shots can belt to establish a lot in the overall piece. One such example comes from one of my most admired cinematographers/ directors of photography Bill Butler. This certain POV shot comes from Steven Speilberg's 'Jaws'. This scene is in the opening few minutes where 'Chrissie' decides to go skinny dipping. Whilst in the water, we get an underwater shot which comes from the sharks point of view (see link below 1:28-1:35).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrEvK-tv5OI - Jaws POV shot underwater

POV shot

This shot in combination with the foreboding music, establishes that 'Chrissie' is in mortal danger, and that the shark is looking for prey. The slow movement getting closer builds up the tension within the viewer, wanting Chrissie to swim away to no avail. We do not see the shark, and the way Mr Butler has done this, is both a simple yet creative way to let the audience know whats coming without revealing to much. This sort of subtlety is used a few times throughout the film, constantly teasing the viewer about the threat underwater, without revealing its physical form.

Another effective use of POV shot, comes from a cinematographer called Ben Davis (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1023204/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cr19). He has been the cinematographer / director of photography on a few films I enjoy, all of which have the fantasy/comic book feel (Stardust, Guardians of the Galaxy). However the film i am referencing here is 'Kick Ass'. Their is a heavy use of first person over the course of 48 seconds with intercutting (see link below 1:52-2:40). In this scene 'Hit Girl' has taken out the lights in a warehouse where gang members are holding her father and Kick Ass hostage. The first person starts when she puts on night vision goggles, and what follows is a first person shooteresque scene (see images) in which she takes out many thugs. Halfway through a fire is lit, which ends the first person aspect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pbuEujuirY - Hit girl rescue scene

Establishing POV

First Person Shooter Esque

This whole first person sequence is built perfectly as we are seeing the preciseness of Hit Girls skills and also the fact that it opens after a section of near silence, makes it both exciting and enjoyable to view. The action packed music fits this sequence perfectly, and the camera movements in this first person are smooth and give it that feel of being in the persons shoes. By extension it makes these shot feel like a first person shooter game, and does well to address the audience as those who read comics, are also likely to play video games, which in effect creates a link between the two worlds.

In conclusion, I feel that first person is essential for getting into a characters shoes directly, and those from the characters eyes bring out a connection between the viewers and the character. I have taken this on board and tried to incorperate it in the group project (see images).

Stalker looks

POV

Favorite Cinematographers and DOP's

The art of cinematography is quite an unnoticed thing, however being a student in this field, I have gone to look at films with cinematography I enjoy. From their I have gone to see who the cinematographer/DOP was on that particular film, and looked at other films they have been involved with. Looking at the stuff they work on, patterns become clear.

In this post I will talk about the various Cinematographers/DOP's I admire based on the films they have worked on, their speciality, and of course how favoured they are. For example, my favourite director in Hollywood, is one Steven Spielberg. He has directed many timeless classics and though he has fallen silent in recent years, the Oscar nomination of his film 'Lincoln' for Best Picture and Best Director in 2013, show a possible comeback. My two favourite films by Spielberg are two world war two storys: 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Schindler's List', both of which were nominated for and the latter actually winning 'Best Picture' at their respective Oscars. What does this have to do with Cinematography? It brings me to my first cinematographer. Besides getting the nomination, another trait that all three films share is the same cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski.

JANUSZ KAMINSKI
IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001405/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Janusz Kaminski

Janusz Kaminski is a regular on Speilberg's Films including: 'War Horse' (2011), 'Lincoln' (2012), 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998), 'Schindler's List' (1993), 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' (1997), 'War of The Worlds' (2005), 'The Terminal' (2004), 'Minority Report' (2002), and 'Catch Me If You Can' (2002), winning Oscars for Private Ryan and Schindler's List.











His constant appearance on Speilberg's films is well justified, considering his use of cinematography is nothing but beautiful. His use of the camera to capture an old fassioned feel of the time periods set in 'Lincoln' and War Horse' is effective in capturing the dullness of the time period in comparison today, but does so in the use of beautiful imagery.

Shot From Lincoln

Shot From War Horse

The two images below give out the dull graded feel of the time period, with the people all wearing basic colours, with black and brown being perticularly focused upon. The general colour scape is rather similar in these two pieces which were released nearly a year apart. The man is also experienced in war movies with 'Schindlers List', 'War Horse', and 'Saving Private Ryan' all on his resume. Take a look at these two screen grabs.

Shot from War Horse

Shot From Saving Private Ryan

Both these shots are taken when the soldiers are running headlong into a wave of machine gun fire. Despite one being set in world war one and the other being set in world war two, the shots are remarkably similar. If you look two soldiers are in exactly the same area of the frame. Both images capture the mood and horror of war perfectly. Considering the beach landing in 'Saving Private Ryan' is widely considered as being one of the best battle scenes of all time, 'War Horse' gives a sense of nostalgia from the piece and the coverage of the battle is both shaky and smooth, as in the camera shakes to give it a documentary feel but flows smoothly enough so as not to confuse the audience.

This award winning Cinematographer, has left a solid mark on hollywood cinema and his ability is something to be admired. His twenty year partnership with Spielberg, I believe is one of Hollywoods strongest partnerships behind the camera.

As much as Hollywood cinema is a spectacle to watch, I acknowledge that it is something I may not reach, and Hollywood itself, has a hard time putting out a constant stream of classics. I find solace in this, by looking at  other forms of cinema including: Japanese, Korean, Swedish, Spanish and German. However, one stand out type of storytelling, originates from the British cinema.  Due to the fact that I myself am British, I understand the languages more, and the stereotypical British humour that these films incorporate. This leads me to my next Cinematographer/DOP who has left his own stable on British and world cinema. His name is Brian Tufano.

BRIAN TUFANO
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005909/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Brian Tufano

Brian Tufano's resume spans nearly 50 years, having started out in small documentaries back in 1966. In that time period, he has worked on british classics such as: 'Billy Elliot' (2000), 'Quadrophenia' (1979), 'East Is East' (1999), 'Kidulthood' (2006), 'Adulthood' (2008), and 'Trainspotting' (1996).

Though not widely recognised in the world, I believe that this man has the most prolific resume in British cinema.







His use of cinematography is quite different to the polished images you see from Kaminski, with a more british independent feel, preferring not to use highly graded colour, instead keeping the shot as natural as possible with maybe a slight colour correction.



LARRY FONG
IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0284583/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Larry Fong

BEN DAVIS
IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1023204/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Ben Davis 

ANDREW LESNIE
IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0504226/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Andrew Lesnie

MICHAEL BONVILLAN
IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0095272/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Michael Bonvillan