BRYDAN MEREDITH s3547569 Film 3
Here is a link to my footage.
For my initiative blog post I decided to film outside the media and communications building with a smaller Sony camera (and relevant tripod) in comparison to the much larger EX3 cameras we have been learning and using within class. The reason I chose this camera opposed to the other, larger one is due to its portability/ The camera and tri-pod I used were quite lightweight, which is handy because I wanted to be able to move around the back courtyard and perform shots of many different areas. The first place I went was the place I shot my first 50 second film with the larger camera last week, there are some nice leafless trees there, that frame an old doorway-it’s quite a picturesque image. The second place I went too was the big tent on the synthetic grass at the top of the courtyard; I got some interesting shots of people coming through the tent and down the stairs-but nothing too spectacular, most of it was quite boring. I felt as though the shot lack depth and personality-it looked quite ordinary, with a cold, silver table and flimsy black seats as the rather placid point of interest. I also felt the angle my camera was on couldn’t present the personalities of the individuals walking past it.
With my third shot however, I (rather coincidently), created quite a rhythmic and layered film. I think all up the film goes for about a minute and appears choreographed. The film, as it runs, presents itself like a piece of music, that starts with one instrument and builds-before ending on the same instrument-going full circle creating a satisfactory resolution. It begins with a lone window-washer dwarfed in a long shot by Building 9 and its surrounds. As he washes its windows, a small number of people enter its surrounds and quickly and quietly disperse (exiting the frame) until a group of people enter from the front of the shot before seemingly splitting into smaller groups and evenly exiting the frame on both sides of the bottom stairs. As this occurs, a fellow window washer renders assistance to our protagonist, washing the highest window-a happy ending.
Some things I thought worked well with the shot were:
- The positioning of the camera at the top, to the right of the stairs. By having the camera here I could create quite a layered shot with a prominent foreground and background.
- The colours: The mild colours of the courtyard, particularly the auburn walls, matched the mild environment outside creating a cool, succinct colour palette.
- The rhythm of the people within the shot. I felt as though no one distracted the viewer from looking at who they should be looking at, as the group of walkers entered the shot-the background subjects became somewhat less active-whilst the group of walkers dominated the audience’s attention. And as they disperse out of the shot, the other window washers actions eventuate.
- I thought the pace of the film was quite nice, it was slow and relaxed.
Some things I thought didn’t work well:
- My framing was ever so slightly off, If I had my time again I would have moved my camera slightly to my right a little bit more, so the left side of my screen captured the end of the wall (not a little bit of the walkway)
- The sound was a bit horrible. There were constructions happening around the area I was shooting-and instead of getting nice background noises like the wind, people talking, or birds I got muffled electronic work tools.
Some Final Questions:
How should I approach this task, or this idea? When doing these Lumiere Brothers-esque 50 second films I think it’s good to approach filming with an idea of what you want to capture. Though I did some shooting beforehand of just places, I knew I wanted to capture a human in the act of doing something quite commonplace and everyday-like window washing. There is something that has always been quite mysterious about everyday things being caught as they are on film.
Did my approach work? I think it did. It meant I documented the surrounds without interfering with anyone’s practices. Had I have asked the window washers and walkers to do what they did-it would make my film quite un-authentic and would have no doubt affected the honest result I ended up getting.
My Link.