My Finished Cinematography film

Enjoy!

My Test footage

Here are two Clips of test footage i took as i began to develop my Blog.


Test Footage - Pt 1 from Sea Based Turtle on Vimeo.


Untitled from Sea Based Turtle on Vimeo.

A Short Evaluation Of my chosen Film style

I have decided to create and experimental film piece for my cinematography project. Some of the aspects of film that i will utilize will be synchronization with sounds, Fast and slower cuts for pace, The use of rewind and speed changes and the color grading of black and white.

I have also chose to use already available lights within most of my shots to give the viewer a feel of actually being part of the scene as opposed to an outside viewer although i will i use a few shot that i will be lighting.

All of these aspects i have chosen to implement have come from the research and ideas i have been influenced by within my journey into modernist art,experimental cinematographers and Musical videos.

Further video Influences For My experimental film

Whilst i was studying the type of cinematography style i would like re-create i came across the film Eadweard Muybridge. this video piece used images synced to an audio track. This inspired me to create my own piece of cinematography using images that sync to audio to give the visuals an added sense of pace and movement.

I decided to look at a few Music Videos to see what techniques i could copy and implement into my own piece starting with a drum and bass music Video entitled "Roni size - Brown Paper Bag"





The Reverse, forward and rewind aspects of this video work brilliantly to reflect the audio track used and i will utilize these stylistic choice within my film.


The second Music Video i took influence from was a music video that i acted in and helped to Edit Last year. The track was entitled Break - Between the lines (Ft Sp MC)




One of the main aspects of this video id like to implement into my piece is the use and speed of the shot cuts i feel it really complements the backtrack and keeps the pace going. Another i noticed about this video that i would like to implement is the shapes and form of the human figures used in certain parts of the video that complement the sound effects and pauses.

The third video that helped to shape My film was a promotional one from a festival called outlook this year.



The visual movement in this video was another aspect of visual that i would like to use. As although the crowd in many of these shots aren't still for a traditionally composed shot. The movement creates feelings of fun, happyness and Freedom


I feel taking influence from these videos as well as the Inspirations of modern and realist art. I can create an experimental collage that can be though provoking as well as interesting to Watch.

Lighting Analysis of black and White Cinematography

As i made my choice of making my Film project a black and white piece i took a look and analyse the images of black and white film pieces and evaluate the uses and positions of light.

The first Film i choose to study for the lighting used was 'La Haine' a French Film Made in 1995.

For this image i choose to Analyze the possible lighting positions of the shot and Highlighted The possible angles.

The green arrows point to the positions in which i think the lighting was directed and the yellow scribbles highlight the shadows which justify my choice of the set positions.

The thing i like about the shot is how the way the character is lit portrays a lot about his character. The lighting from about his head creates a shadow beneath his eyes that gives the impression that the character has a dark undertone and is most probably a bad or evil person. 

The next Film i choose to study for the lighting Positions Was Sin City.

Possible Lighting postions
For this Image I have used;

Green to show the Direction of Lights
Yellow to highlight the dark/Shadowed Areas and...
Pink to Show a another possible light used for the shot

I think this light is really effective in this image as it makes the character stand out in the middle of the frame. I think the fact that half of her face is shadows helps to bring the dark and sometimes depressing Themes of the film.

The third image i choose to look at for the way it uses lighting was a film Called Woman on the run that was released in 1950.

 For this analysis i have Used;

 Green to show the lighting direction

Yellow to highlight the shadows

and Blue to highlight the spill of light from the lighting directions.

The use of lighting positions in this image really portray the emotional aspects of the character. I think the fact that half of his face is lit buy the other half shadowed shows that this character isn't generally a bright upbeat person. The use of shadow on his shoulder also shows how he has some sort of problem that lingers over him within this scene. 

A look into the styles and techniques of experimental Cinematographers

My Next step in developing My Cinematography piece was to look at experimental films and art pieces to study there individual styles and take influences from there stylistic choices.

The first Film i chose to look at was Moth light by Stan Brakhage

http://youtu.be/Yt3nDgnC7M8


This film is a brilliant example of an experimental piece that is visually pleasing while not using any set form or traditional composition the Shapes of the various different items create a beautiful collage of images which really captured my attention for the duration of the film. I Think one of the thing that made this piece pleasing to watch was the use of natural items such as dead leaves, flower stems and insect wings. These are all things that humans relate to and reminds us of the beauty of nature. 


I would like to take Stan Brakhage's uses of natural pattern within my Video piece. Although i wont be using natural Detritus like the items seen in this film i will be using human figures and movements of people within a social setting i.e a rave event.


The second experimental visual art piece i choose to take influence in style from was an art piece entitled Eadweard Muybridge By Edward Rose and Nick Reynolds.


http://youtu.be/MWfIeWFWBio




Stylistic Choices


As i began to study this film i started to realise a few similar stylistic choices within both this film and stan brakhage's Moth light piece. One style choice that i noticed on both films was the strict use of black and white  in each art piece. Another aspect of style i noticed was the use of form and shape i.e. the all the images used in both of these pieces were isolated in shot with no other background images to distract the eye.


Moth Light Example

Eadweard Muybridge Example

Further Aspects of Style i would like to incorporate into My piece

Another aspect of the Eadward Muybridge film that id like to use was the use of the forward and reverse editing techniques he had used to certain shots. I think the way it was used within this piece give the viewer two different ways to interpret the image.

The second aspect of style that was used in this piece was repetition a good example of this can be seen in the film at 0.36 - 0.44. The image is repeated a number of times which i think is a very effective technique within experimental cinema as it portrays the non natural, non linear feel of the artpiece.

The final technique i noticed was the way in which this piece had been synchronised to the music. Although i know we will not receive extra marks for the use of sound i believe it will be important for my film to be synchronized visually to audio.

http://youtu.be/MWfIeWFWBio

Exploring and taking influences from the Modern Era of Art

While exploring the different era's of art it was the modern era that caught my intrigue the most. As a lot of painters around the twentieth century began to create artwork that went against the traditional rules of painting that had been seen before such as the use of correct size, scale and colour.

One of the Ideals that this era of artists seemed to portray to me was that art is Art, wether it is made to be understood or not understood, liked or disliked. As i researched a number of artists involved in the modern art era their revolutionary out look on the art of their time it became a greatly influential factor at how i looked at the film piece that i would create and what i would want it to be about.

I've decided to evaluate a number of paintings from the different era's and have a look how these artists use form, shapes patterns and composition within there works.

Fauvism
One of the first artists i choose to study in more detail was 'Woman Playing a Guitar' by the Artist Georges Braque.

One of the first things that caught me about this painting is the Lines and vivid shapes that Georges Braque uses. Even though the painting is surreal and not traditional in its form and structure he somehow manages to get across the idea of a woman playing guitar by the use of the broken figures and shapes used.

Analysing this painting made me reflect on the way that i would want to compose certain shots in my project and i began to "think outside of the box" as far as my composition was concerned. I would like to imitate the more abstract style of using composition and apply it to my work.

The next Artpiece i chose to draw inspiration from was a painting entitled 'Guernica' by Pablo Picasso

As i did some background research of this photo i was really surprised at the amount of symbolism and representation that Picasso had used. The painting was created as a reminder of the horrors of war seen in the times of the Spanish Civil war. At first i had no idea of the meaning of it but as i studied it further i began to see the abundance of symbolism within it. As i researched deeper into the symbols within this piece it became very apparent to me that this painting is very much open to interpretation by anyone. I feel that by creating something that can be seen and interpreted by differently by each person truly captures the essence of true art. Rather than giving the viewer something straight forward and simple being unique and letting the viewer read between the lines pushes them to use their own imagination and brings the art to life. I Read an except about Picasso's own interpretation of this piece and this is what he said about it.

"...this bull is a bull and this horse is a horse... If you give a meaning to certain things in my paintings it may be very true, but it is not my idea to give this meaning. What ideas and conclusions you have got I obtained too, but instinctively, unconsciously. I make the painting for the painting. I paint the objects for what they are."

What i like most about this painting is the usage of the shapes and lines within this piece. I think Picasso's choice of leaving the painting black and white really adds to the effectiveness of the image as it allows the viewer to study the image in depth without the distraction of colors. I also think that if the painting was in color it would totally destroy the feelings of the surreal lines,shapes and symbols.

The use of tone and contrast in this painting inspired me to make a piece that will be mainly in black and white. I think changing my piece into black and white will give the viewers a feel of watching some thing non-natural thus giving them the opportunity to interpret my work in whatever way they feel fit.

Existentialism




During the 1900's a school of philosophers and artists began a move movement called the Existentialism movement. This movement explored the themes of Angst, Freedom, Facticity, Authentic non authenticy, Despair, The Other, Reason and the Absurd.

I would like to use a few of these topics such as Freedom and The other within my own piece so this painting was a real eye opener to me as learnt about the background of the Existential movement and The feelings behind the painting.

The painting i chose to analyse from this era was a painting titled "HeadVI" By Francis Bacon.

One of the first things that struck me when i first saw this picture is of how it really hit something inside of me emotionally. Although this painting doesn't really use any traditional uses of form or composition i feel the symbolism of the overall image is extremely powerful.

 To me this painting portrays a mans eternal struggle to think outside of the box whilst the very reason he is trying to think outside the box is because the box is, and will always be there. This gave me a stylistic revelation on my outlook into my own artwork and creations. I began to think about using my skills to create something that may not necessarily be original but definitely unique when it came to creating my own piece of cinematography. 

I think What Francis Bacon Was trying to show with this painting was the struggles of an artist in the 1940's-1950's to break away from the normality of classical composition and doing s created a very powerful and inspirational piece of work that stands for so many ideals that not everyone with understand and or wish to think or speak about. This is definitely one outlook on art and creation that i share with this artist and movement.