L5 Investigating Contemporary Practice

7th Feb:
First top five films picked:

• The Rise (2012 Rowan Athale) - Example of self written and directed film
• Star Wars: A New Hope (1977 George Lucas) - Example of telling a story in a newly created world
• Inception (2010 Christopher Nolan) - Example of self written and directed film
• The Last Samurai (2003 Edward Zwick) - Example of making a film based on cultural research
• Where We Are (Short 2013 David Cho) - Example of directing a visual poem short film

These five were not good examples because:

• Most films don't get made
• Before I can make a feature, I need to be good at making shorts

The criteria for the top five films must be:

1. Short form
2. "Markable" by 3rd year
3. Impactful

9th Feb:

Short film structures:

• Like a gag; they lead to a payoff (3 min films)
• Little time to develop anything deep (3 min films)
• Opportunity to "layer up meaning" (form) (5 min films)
• Potential to create a universe (10 min films)

Film Form:

"You can understand the grammar (visual language) to talk French (filmmaking) but it doesn't help you to talk French"

- you can understand they theory of visual language but you have to make films to apply it.

• Take data and map it out
• Synopsis no longer efficient, structure is

Language/form = visual components/structure

"Form affects the language you use"

Micro Projects:

• Experimentation
• 1/2 day - 2 days - 1 week
• quality experience
• for me, audience of 1
• refining chosen skill (directing and writing)

First Micro Project:

"Tell a story in one camera movement"

16th Feb:

Micro Project 1: One take story

Goal:

• To tell a story by the simplest means of camera work
• Seeing how props and acting can be manipulated to tell said story

Evaluation:

• Potential to be developed
• Good camera work
• Potential to use props better for storytelling
• Good collaboration with Film Production Technology student

Refelction:

• I've learnt to communicate my vision for the project to someone with no frame of reference; so that they can understand what I was looking for in the camera movement. Thus I've learnt how to direct the camera operator to execute my vision onto film.

19th Feb:

Micro Project 2: One Take Story Developed

Goals:

• Explain a narrative with props better
• Use the camera movement to amplify the emotions the actor is feeling
• Adding a cut to the flowed one take movement to add contrast and intensity

Evaluation:

• Camera work was too shaky
• Focus pulling could have been used better from a story telling standpoint; focusing on the goal rather than the actor after the 360 turn.
• Music was effective in showing the emotion of pressure and anticipation

Reflection:

• I've learnt about the pressures of working to time and that resources such as actors and locations are limited in time of use. I've understood how these factors must be taken into consideration in pre-production.
• I'm aiming to try something different for my next micro project.

23rd Feb:

Five step Analysis Approach to Dr Strangelove Opening

Describe:

• Narration about Soviet Union's "Ultimate Weapon"
• Peaks and clouds, moving towards the peaks
• Two planes connected with a diagonal linear motif
• Romantic orchestral violins and flute
• Large and small hand drawn titles
• The planes disconnect
• Contrast of tone, planes and sky

Identify:

• Made in 1964
• Post Cuban missile crisis
• Came out the same year as the Soviet Union launched satellite images
• Stock footage
• Why are the planes attached?
• What's the song? - Try a little tenderness Instrumental
• Based on Red Alert book by Peter George; differs from book because film is black commedy
• Kubrick was beaten in making a film like this (Failsafe)
• Kubrick was not opposed to war
• Film came out during the Cold War
• Why did Kubrick differ from the novel?
• Love hate relationship between America and Soviet Union  

Interpret:

• Kubrick differed from the novel to mock nuclear war as almost being like a game
• Horizontal line reduces seriousness because he's mocking the war
• use of diagonal innuendo adds to comedic take from the very opening shot
• Kubrick realised that normality during war and impending doom is laughable 

Evaluate:

• If the filling up of fuel was not in the opening sequence, it would have been harder to realise the comedic take on the film
• Successful in war seeming less serious from music and the diagonal rod

Reflect:

• I could use the idea of turning context on its head to engage audience and deliver a point more effectively
• I'd like to know more about how metaphorical signs tell a story in the opening shot.

5th Mar:

Semiotics in literature:

Signifier = "Lamp"

Signified = 

• The signified is imagined by the reader once they read the signifying word in literature, the signifier suggests the signified

Semiotics in film:

Signifier = an image of two lamps

Luxo Jr. (1986), John Lasseter

• In the film, the signifier states the signified. The artist makes a choice from infinite possibilities for the signified; the viewer can’t imagine the signified because it is stated.

-References: - Monaco J. (2009), How To Read A Film: Movies, Media and Beyond, Oxford University Press

28th Feb:

Collaborative Micro Project 1: Understanding acting from another director's vision

Clive from the course, asked me to help him with a micro project he was working on. He explained his theme of basing it off the poem Paradise Lost and that my role was to play a "tramp" that was a metaphor as the hand of God. The bottle I drank from represented to devil.

- Screenshots from The Lost Archangel Micro Project by Clive Davies

I find this micro project to be relevant to my career path of directing because:

• I'm able to be placed in the position of the actor and try to understand a director's vision based on how they direct me. This can help me to understand how I would need to direct in order help my actors understand my vision.

6th Mar:

Collaborative Micro Project 2: Working as cinematographer for a storytelling standpoint

- Penny Drop Micro Project by Oscar Remers

Leading on from the last micro project, I've collaborated with Oscar to help him make a music video. He came up with several themes which I helped him create a 3 act story. These included:

• Negative effects of consumerism
• Mental Health Awanress
• Anxiety
• Depression

 I discussed the possible cinematography to help tell the story and we went out on location to film.

5 step analysis for the opening shot:

When looking at this text, I see:

• Horizontal linear motif in the pathway contrasted by vertical posture of character sitting on the bench
• A bicycle rides parallel to the horizontal lines
• Character in the centre is wearing a green coat, the same as his surroundings; affinity of colour
• Protagonist is smoking a cigarette

After looking at the text, I want to know:

• What was the creators motivation in this scene?
• Why was a diagonal line not used?
• Why was the bicycle included in the edit?

• Oscar's themes or the music video were mental health awareness and consumerism
• Oscar wanted to make something that would leave the audience asking questions and talking about it after watching
• I shot this on a 24mm wide lens, large depth of field

The function of this text is to communicate:

• The horizontal motif is meant to contrast the vertical motif of the character in order to show opposition between the character and the world around him. In regards to mental health, many people can't openly talk about it or society is not aware of it which makes individuals feel isolated by it; thus the contrasting motif. The world is supposedly balanced and the character is contrasting to that balance.

• A vertical contrast was used instead of a diagonal because a diagonal line represents the highest form of intensity in a linear motif. A vertical line adds a more subtle intensity; this being that mental health, anxiety and depression are issues that are not as openly obvious as other issues people contend with.

• The purpose of the bicycle riding by is to show the affinity of the movement with the linear motif.

• The affinity of colour between the green coat and the grass is so the character can blend in with his surroundings. Although he is contrasting through linear motif, his coat makes him almost invisible in the world; a feeling that often people feel when it comes to discussing the awareness of mental health and the issues that come with it.

• The smoking of a cigarette is a sign of habit and addiction; a possible negative effect to consumerism or a less credible solution to deal with mental illness.

I think the text is successful in communication because:

• The contrasting linear motif between the character and the road stand out predominantly in the frame for the audience to clearly identify.
• The addition of smoking opens a wider context to the scene which audiences are aware of; this being the effects and consequences of addictions as well as smoking.

Reflecting on this, I've learnt:

• As cinematographer, I could use linear motif like this more consistently from a storytelling stand point in future projects
• I want to understand more about framing, particularity in the case of this scene, how to use it better to convey the feeling of entrapment.

Other Shots that were used in the project were as follows:

- A tightly framed shot to make the phone look like it is creeping behind the protagonist. This represents the negative effect of consumerism; in that we cannot live without technology always creeping back to use as a necessity for our daily lives.

- A receipt, another element of consumerism dominating the foreground, contrasting to the green and drawing the audience's attention away from the protagonist in the background. This is like modern consumerism acting as an easy procrastination against matters and people that we need to engage more with.

- "Help us to help you" in the foreground printed in the background. Sitting underneath it is a graffiti word of "Liar". This represents the dispute between the interests of higher authority e.g. politicians and the welfare of the societies they govern; another theme that Oscar wanted to include in his micro project.

16th Mar:

Turning Point:

In order to identify my direction, I have looked back on some of my previous work to correlate any similarities between them:

• Flame (2017) L4 Exploring Meaning Through Narrative
• Voyager One - Music Video (2018) Extra side project
• Where Angels Fall - Lyric Video (2017) Extra side project 

- Flame (2017) L4

- Voyager One - Music Video (2018) Side project

- Where Angels Fall - Music Video (2017) Side project

From looking back on these projects, I've deduced similarities between them:

• I have a keen desire to use framing and space (e.g. rule of thirds) as visual storytelling components:

Framing in Flame:

Framing in Where Angels Fall:

With assistance from a tutorial with Matt, I'm keen to do more research into the golden ratio; as this is a type of framing I apparently like using a lot.

• I notice that my use of dialogue is little to none, I'm keen to use the visual as much as possible to communicate the story. Therefore silent film may also be an area I will want to research deeper into.

• From a music stand point, I find that I like using music over the shorts I make (e.g Where Angels Fall and Voyager One have underlying stories that the songs help to reveal)

17th Mar:

New Top 5

After finding what appears consistently in my work, I'm now able to refine my original top 5:

• Stutterer (2015) Benjamin Cleary
• A Stranger Kind (2014) Oliver Murray
• Midnight (Coldplay Music Video) (2014) Mary Wigmore 
• Heavy (LINKIN PARK Music Video) (2017) Tim Mattia
• Wrapped (2015) Florian Wittmann, Falko Paeper & Roman Kaelin

Stutterer (2015) Benjamin Cleary (Case Study):

Opening Shot:

When Looking at the opening shot, I see:

• Extreme close up of a stuttering mouth; focusing on it with shallow depth of field.
• One point perspective with the protagonist in front of the vanishing point.
• His expressions are appear blank

After looking at this, I want to know:

• Who was this film made for?

- The film was made in 2015 and has been screened in over 100 festivals.

- It has won over 25 awards including an Academy Award for best live action short film 2016, and also winner of audience award at DC Shorts Festival 2015.

The function of this opening shot is to communicate:

• The obstruction that dialogue faces in emphasis in the mouth stuttering; focused on by the shallow depth of field.
•  His blank expressions on the outside don't match what he's thinking and speaks internally. Therefore we are made to see the dilemma he faces with self confidence.
• The one point perspective force all lines in shot; from the blinds and the hand rail to draw the audience's focus to him in the centre. We are made to see the blank expressions in his face and how it is affecting him so.

I think the opening shot is successful in its communication because:

• Right from the start, the audience is presented with the conflict the protagonist has to battle through the whole film. And that the conflict is affecting his life so much that it fills the opening shot for them to see.

From this, I've learnt:

• How to force the audience's focus onto what Cleary wants us to see in his opening shot.
• Presenting the conflict in an overwhelming manner in the very opening shot.

From the text, I see:

• The golden ratio used in the framing of the shot
• Several books stacked up in the background
• The protagonist is typing online

I want to find out:

• Why frame the shot in this way?

- The golden ratio is a pattern that appears in nature and so can be seen as natural or comfortable

The function is to communicate:

• That the protagonist is comfortable typing behind a computer screen as it is a way to communicate without needing to confront the conflict. Thus he feels comfortable in this frame, as conveyed by the use of the golden ratio.
• The stacks of books suggest that he is an educated and smart individual; which makes us feel sympathetic towards him because he has all this knowledge but can't openly share it with anyone.

The text was successful in it's communication because:

• The audience is able to see that he is comfortable using a computer talking in comparison to the opening shot where he couldn't talk over the phone. 

I've learnt:

• The use of the golden ratio is something that I want to use more in my own projects.

I chose this film to be part of my top 5 because it prohibits the use of dialogue by adding a literal obstruction of the protagonist having a speech impediment. Non dietetic narration is used to reflect his internal thoughts but it is necessary to have in order for us to understand the physical boundary he faces from speaking his mind.

References: http://www.benjamincleary.net/

A Stranger Kind (2015) Oliver Murray

Watchable Link:

https://vimeo.com/105812888

A Stranger Kind is the next film on my top 5 because it is an example of a self written and directed short film; something that I would like to do myself as part of my career path.

Coldplay "Midnight" (2014) Mary Wigmore and LINKIN PARK "Heavy" (2017) Tim Mattia:

- Midnight

- Heavy

Both of these are examples of music videos that I would want to make; stylistically by the way they look and the way they're shot.

Wrapped (2015) Florian Wittmann, Falko Paeper & Roman Kaelin

Watchable Link:

https://vimeo.com/161495805

Wrapped is an example of a experimental film that uses no dialogue to tell the story of the circle of life and nature. I particularly like the use of stop motion photography with the cg animation. This may be something I don't want to make but nerveless like the creative decisions made in this short.

Research: The Golden Ratio:

In Mathematics, it means 1.61803398875

Definition of the golden ration according to livescience.com:

"The Golden ratio is a special number found by dividing a line into two parts so that the longer part divided by the smaller part is also equal to the whole length divided by the longer part."

In film:

- Sergio Leone The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

The golden ration is used to frame both characters in one shot and also to point towards where the action is going to happen, in this case where Tuco is standing on the right.

- Stanley Kubrick, A Clockwork Orange (1971)

In this case, Kubrick has used the golden ratio to assist the one point perspective. Almost cramming the shot into a tight composition so you can see Alex and his gang to the extent of where they are and what's around them.

-References: 

Live Science golden ratio definition: https://www.livescience.com/37704-phi-golden-ratio.html

Composition in film: http://www.masteringfilm.com/composition-the-golden-mean/

19th Mar:

Micro Project 3: Green Screen Experimentation and Collaboration

After reviewing my interests and my previous work, I wanted to try something more abstract for the next micro project; a combination of live action and animation using chroma key.

- Micro Project

I collaborated with Will, the Film Production Technology student from my first micro project, to help me design the cinematography and realise my vision.

This was a little more challenging for me because we'd be filming in front of  a green slate; so I backed up explaining my vision by showing Will some pre-visualisation drawings and graphics I had made:

- A very rough sketch summarising the wider story I want to tell with this theme we'd be using for the chroma key experiment.

- I constructed this pre-vis in after effects as an example of the environment we'd be using to replace the green.

- Setup in the Green screen studio, using the fluorescent lights to balance out the green and one tungsten light to mimic the hard light of the sun.

-Chroma Key transition clip. Effect Keylight (1.2) was added from after effects to remove the green and the subject is placed on top of a pre-illustrated background of the moon. 

Also on this micro project, I collaborated with Ellie from the course who has an interest in 2D animation; this is were my abilities and interests are not focused so I sought out help from her.

- I asked Ellie to animate a 2D flower with bright colours. This being that I wanted the moon to burst with saturation contrasted to the de-saturated tone it is recognised as being.

- I also asked Ellie to animate a palm tree sprouting from the ground as I wanted to create the look of "an oasis on the moon".

The general "story" included in this experiment is about an traveller who has crashed on the Moon and is fascinated by the Earth that he sees from the moon surface. He's so hypnotised by the Earth's beauty that he tries to grow life on the Moon to make it look exactly like Earth.

Goals:

• Investigate visual storytelling in music video form
• Understand the dynamics of green screen and chroma key

Reflection:

• Successful in using chroma key, should I want to apply it to future projects
• More practice and development needed in motion tracking and camera movements when using green screen.
• Successful in applying visual components for the story telling. e.g. one point perspective and shape

Visual Schematic of Learning and Research:

Digital Pitch:

- Micro Projects: Master Cut

What I've Learnt:

• I've understood the difference between acting directors and visual directors
• I'm aware that I need to fine tune my abilities to make short films before I can consider feature film ideas
• I've discovered how film can be made as a denotation of itself or a connotation of itself. e.g the long take micro projects as being a long build up to a big moment for the protagonist.
• I've identified specific areas of study to research further; e.g. the golden ratio and silent film.
• I've identified also possible routes to take for my specific specialism of directing; e.g. music video

How my learning has identified my career path:

• I want to become a visual director more so than an acting one.
• I have the possibility of beginning by making music videos and make the transition over to film.

What I'm going to apply to my next project:

• The use of space as a specific component for visual storytelling
• Utilising the golden ratio
• Apply the obstruction of cutting dialogue; only using it when it is needed for a specific turning point of the film.
• Using elements like music to fill in the absence of dialogue.

Investigating Contemporary Practice Evaluation:

Beginning this module, I was a little confused as to where to begin. I’ve know from the start that my chosen career path was to get into directing, but up to now I wasn’t sure exactly what I meant by that. My first top five films I chose were selected on the basis of my desire to write and direct feature films as my choice of career. It later became apparent that feature films are unrealistic at this stage and shorts should be my focus point. 

The first micro project I did was quite simply attempting to tell a story in one take using props and acting as the storytelling components. For this, I collaborated with a student from Film Production Technology.

The relevance of this micro project was to demonstrate my ability to communicate my vision as a director to someone who had no idea what I saw in my head. It helped me to understand the sorts of details I need to include when planning such projects and explaining them to others. In many aspects, the micro project was successful; especially given in feedback from the group presentation. It had potential to be developed, and the props could be utilised more towards the visual storytelling.

This lead me to my next micro project, creating a new iteration of the one take idea but this time including a cut at a fundamental turning point of intensity. For this, I went out on location to my brother’s football training ground. I had a few minutes to do a quick recce and less than 20 minutes to film the whole thing. These limitations have taught me the pressures of filming and the importance of timekeeping with everything prepared in advance; especially when you have limitations that come with shooting on location such as these.

When it came to editing, the cut proved most effective and was amplified even more with my selection of music; a soundtrack that was tense but at the same time calm and anticipating. From this particular micro project, I noticed that I have a certain preference to the framing of shots to aid the visual storytelling. I picked up on this to address in further detail.

As well as my own micro projects, I collaborated with others on the course as well. I undertook an acting role in one of Clive’s micro projects. I found this to be relevant as it was useful to see how another director tried to explain their vision to me so that I can reflect that in my performance; a valuable experience for me to apply to my own work when communicating with my own actors.

I also worked with Oscar to make a music video or ‘visual poem’ for one of his micro projects.

Seeing that I possess an interest in framing and for that matter cinematography, I helped him design the shots for his story and then go out on location to film for him. All this helped me work out the sorts of things I could be doing as a director; that could possibly branch into music video.

After this, I thought it useful to review previous works that I had done to try and find a correlating pattern that may help me identify specifically where I want to specialise in directing. From my final L4 film and two music videos I made; one live action and the other animated, I found that framing for storytelling is something of a frequent occurrence in my work. A tutorial with Matt pointed me to look into the golden ratio and the rule of thirds as something to look further into.

In addition, I also found that dialogue in my films is scarce. And that I rely on using visual storytelling to speak for the story.  This led to me investigating visual directing, silent film and even music videos; all areas that do not necessarily dictate that dialogue is essential.

From this, I was able to refine my top five films into more relevant choices; having researched a little into exactly what it is I want to make in my films. Two of these films were shorts; one specifically using no diegetic dialogue as an obstruction, the other was an example of a self-written and directed film which I am still keen on doing. The third was an experimental film with no dialogue at all but was able to explain its story using visual language. The last two were music videos as examples of the stylised look that I might apply to music videos that I would hope to make.

This led to my next micro project. Going off at a tangent compared to the rest, I wanted to investigate the use of green screen for visual storytelling. I chose to do this in music video form, cutting it to a song I had composed in advance. I also tried to combine live action with animation; thus collaborating with Ellie who specialises in animation. Overall it proved a success; I feel that I have gained from it the understanding of the dynamics to create a scene that can ultimately use the visual and the music to create a narrative; the need for dialogue can be dispensed.

This module overall has been a great investigation in narrowing down my specialism to the specific sections of visual directing. Going into the next module, I feel that I am prepared enough to create a vision for a short film that I can confidently put onto a screen; with collaborative efforts working towards what I see the film to be.

That being said, this module has identified that I lack in analysis skills and the depth of my research needs to be more extensive if I am to grasp a firm understanding of my area of practice. These are areas of which I intend to improve on so that I can confidently analyse other practitioners’ work and apply the theories I learn to my own work.