This video was extremely valuable to me as it runs through the different ways the action of reading text messages on screen can be shown. It’s interesting to note that film and television is veering away from showing the screen of a laptop or phone, maybe because its more distracting to see a screen on a screen but also because the performance of the actor is much more critical.

I’m making a conscious decision to not show any text or message on screen and not show the actual phone screen itself either. I want to make the characters reaction to the phone the main focus of the scene. Their interaction and the way they hold and use the phone, I find to be very interesting. The video essay made me think, do we need to see the text? Do we need to know what is being said or can we rely on the natural body language of the actor.

I hadn’t thought about showing any text on screen because I wanted my scenes to be able to performance and the aesthetics of the scene and location. However maybe this is something I will think about in the editing phase. I will be conducting a few test shoots soon and maybe as an experiment I could use text just to see how it changes the scene. I doubt I will use any text but this video essay maybe me very curious about how I could show messages on screen.

I found it really great being able to run through my thoughts and ideas during the week 7 presentations. I found it valuable to vocalise my ideas and make them more concrete through the feedback from Mark and Liam. I realised that my scenes are being formed around the action of ‘being on a phone’ and this being the central theme to the 4 different shots. I’ve begun to think that they are the defining feature of each scene and want to focus more on how I can creatively shoot a character on their phone and how to make that interesting. I want to use the phone light as a main source of lighting in one or two of the scenes (as they will be night shoots) as well as using available light as the fill lighting. I want to add too my hypothesis by asking ‘How can i make the action of being on a phone more interesting?’.

I was also asked how long each scene will be in duration. I am estimating about 1 minute scenes that I will decide to either cut together as one whole piece or separate into 4 different scenes. This will comes down to whether I think they interesting enough on their own or whether they feel like a completed piece together.

I also realised through speaking about my project, how important the production design of these scenes will be. I want to dress each location in the most realistic way possible but also styled to suit the character within the shot. This includes costuming too. I think I will start creating costume plans and possible prop charts for each scene.

Overall I found this presentation really helpful in consolidating my ideas!

3 or 4 different scenes that have no story arc or narrative but that highlight the ideas and experiments i have been investigating thus far. Each scene will comprise of a person on their phone, or interacting with their phone in some way, and how they also interact with the environment they are in. I have been trying to find locations that excite and interest me. Some more simple, others that have more within the locations. My four locations are: 1. An area behind Hammer Hall in the city, on a balcony area and a door that is on this balcony. 2. A small, simple style bathroom. 3. An empty room i.e. no furniture. 4. A fully dressed and homey looking bedroom.

I’ve chosen two actors that i feel can deliver a natural and suited performance. Sean and Pippa, they are able to deliver the simple action that I’ve devised and will hopefully be able to help in the creation of a beautiful scene. I’d like to dress them in a costume of a neutral palette, and for the scene on the balcony, in a workplace uniform.

My aim in this project is to create a relationship between character, action and location. There will be minimal dialogue but investigate into working out how to frame and block a scene, to create beauty and cohesion. I want to emphasise the ways in which a character becomes a part of the location and the location becomes a part of the character, in this way I’d like to dress the character in a way that suits their environment (not necessarily matches but looks like the fit in with the location they are placed). I want to focus on the aesthetics of the shot, from costuming to framing. Im not sure exactly how these small scenes will relate to each other, but that doesn’t bother me as my focus is to create well constructed scenes

1. Hammer Hall

1. Bathroom

3. Empty Room

4.  Bedroom

I’ve discovered in my investigations so far that I really like capturing people and character, I’ve had fewer attachments to landscape, however I feel like I love to see character interact within their environment and within a location. Therefore in this project I will be capturing four different scenes that all involve the same two people. Firstly Sean, he is a really usual looking person and I feel like he delivers a really natural performance. The second person I’d like to capture is my cousin Pippa who I’m also confident can produce a really natural performance. I want to direct four scenes that can represent different characters and their experience within an environment. My aim is to create aesthetically interesting scene that make character and location part of the same entity.

I’ve been influenced by a few scenes in films, from HOWL to Tiny furniture that all aim to capture a scene in a smaller environment and a closer frame. I also want to have a combination of steady hand held camera and tripod. Ill try some scenes hand held and other on the tripod. My aim will be to present the location tight and well constructed visuals. I want to see the character interact with their location while also being lost in a most on their phone. So the action that will carry through each of these scenes is that they are always interacting with a phone. I’ve chosen this action as I think it creates reason for them within a shot, it feels natural and everyday.

I’ve been trying to source as many interesting locations as I can in my investigations. The first scene has been chosen as I found a really interesting location. I went behind Hammer Hall in the CBD and found a balcony area that looks onto the city. I don’t necessarily want to capture the city but I want to capture a character that sits amongst this building and the city. The character will be on their phone and unaware. I want to capture a really beautiful scene that could be place somewhere in a short film. The scene will deliberately have no dialogue. I’d like to capture this at night as to defuse any lighting issues with the very apparent sun. Also I think the mood of the scene suits a night location. I will also try and dress the character in a way that suits their environment in this case they will be dressed in a work uniform.

The second scene will be an empty bedroom. I’ve found the house of a friend that is completely free of any furniture, as they are moving house and I thought this would be a really interesting area to capture. Again I will have the actor placed in this environment on their phone, however this time they will be having a conversation to someone we don’t know.

The third scene will be Sean in his bedroom, I wanted to capture a character within an environment they are really comfortable in, and shoot a scene that characterises them. He will appear on his phone and I will capture certain elements in his room and Sean sitting amongst his belongings.

The final scene will be in the crappy bathroom of my house, and because of the windows in the bathroom I think it would be nicer to film at night. The lighting in the bathroom is yellow light, so I might need to get some white lights to defuse this. But I like the grossness and crappiness of this bathroom with static like feel so hopefully this is realised through the shoot. I want these four locations to be varied and highlight different moments. This scene will be most similar to that of which I’ve experimented with. The character will be on their phone.

I think I want to create story in these scenes, without much dialogue and without any context at all. And I think this can be investigated and highlighted though the acting, the blocking within the location and basically the character within their environment.

I want to pretty much shoot the location in the most varied way possible and edit it down to a complete scene. There won’t be a lot of action but more action in the way the camera moves around the environment. The camera will mostly be stationary however, not many panning or tracking shots, I want to keep them to a minimum. Ill compact these four scenes and put them along side each other to see what kind of story, if any I have created. The point of my project is mainly to create beautiful and interesting shots, less so about the story, but maybe moments within a longer narrative.

My least favourite thing for sure is recording sound. It requires a lot of patience (although no more patience that it requires to set up a camera and frame a scene) and I find it difficult at the times to actually that care much. However I found it really helpful when we began working in groups and practicing the action of recording sound. It is much easier once roles have been assigned and a shoot has itself an AD, a director, a sound person etc. rather than one or two people doing everything. I found that when I was recording sound in Tuesday’s class, my sole responsibility was just just checking the levels of dialogue being spoken. When conducting shoots on my own it was such a burden but in a group it become a fulfilling role. The direction of my project isn’t really around the role of sound or recording dialogue but I’ve realised how important it is to any scene or shot. I feel as if you notice crap sound and do not notice great sound, which is the key to a great scene.

I watched Howl for the first time the other night for my other class Textual Crossings: Literary Adaptations. I was first turned off by the cover due to my disliking of James Franco but became included by the way the film was shot. What I noticed was the stylistic decisions made by directors Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and the way in which the interview scenes were filmed. The shots were moving all over the place, from side to side, to the front to above the characters head. I thought the mise-en-scene was stunning and the small room gave an intimacy to the interview. I loved that Franco’s character (Ginsberg) suited the space he was in, the location and his character was so similar and as I’ve mentioned quite a few times, it places a lot of emphasis on the location becoming and intwined as a character itself.

I’d really like to start searching for more interesting locations. I don’t particularly enjoy filming outside due to a lot of natural light issues, however night shoots could change that. I’ve found a few small interior locations such as a bathroom and a public bathroom that both seem interesting. Not sure how I could use these but I would like to start being more aware of what kind of locations I like and dislike.

Using the monitors in class was really helpful to learn how to construct and scene and determine blocking. Its so much easier to see on a bigger monitor and also really helpful when you are using multiple cameras. I hadn’t even thought of making sure the eye line of each actor matched, until it was pointed out to me. The thing that struck me the most was the activity that involved us recreating the scene from Mad Men in two different ways. The first with multiple shots and cameras, and the second in a single take. Although it was more difficult to block and move the camera in a single take, I found it made for more creative filmmaking. A lot of trust was put on the DOP but I think it creates conversation between many different people on set. Even though I haven’t seen the footage (and it could be terrible) I think it could make a somewhat boring scene that bit more interesting.

Speaking with Tim in class he mentioned that he was exploring the ‘Long Take’ and investigating the way in which a scene can be created using just one take. I really liked this idea and even though I’m not looking at investigating the same thing I think I can take a few things from his idea. I think that long takes allow for a more natural performance and the ability to see more of a character interacting with another character. Joe Swanberg’s Marriage Material features really long and drawn out scenes consisting of a couple and their, at times in depth conversations. I think the long take allows both characters to been seen in the most realistic way possible, as performances are not tarnished through cross editing. I’d like to focus more on slow scenes and holding a take for longer.

A List of Possible Locations

• locations I find interesting

1.

2.

3.

4.

I was re-watching Tiny Furniture the other day and  noticed how beautifully the film had been shot. The slow pace of the film was made enjoyable by the beautiful visuals and the framing of each shot. This particular bathroom scene was interesting to me as it reminded me of how I tried to capture my own bathroom shoot. I first of all think the actual bathroom we see here in tiny furniture is really aesthetically beautiful, the blue tiles in contrast to the two characters are stunning. But what I like most is the simplicity of the amount of “stuff” in the shot, it isn’t overcrowded.  We can only see the top of the shoulders and head of these two girls and an emphasis is placed on the walls and the location of the space. Not only to hide the nudity of the characters but I feel like these two actor become a part of the space, the bathroom creates something interesting in the scene. We need to know they are in the bathroom, it focuses on the intimacy these two girls have and as an audience it is important to recognise that they are in a bathroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4exNn2Li1Q

(from 1.37: bathroom scene)

Mainly I just love the naturalism to this scene and I have an obsession with scenes in bathrooms. Maybe because it always feels slightly scummy but also very real. I think this would be something I’d like to re-shoot and try to perfect, the bathroom shoot.

This is a short piece of footage from outside that I really liked. It seems a bit over exposed but that actual framing is well constructed. I like the linear composition of the shot, the wooden panels all lining up to point at the central café, and two people sitting right of the screen. The branches and shadows frame the shot and I think this frontal shot frame it quite nicely.

In class we went over colour grading and I wanted to experiment with colour grading the same shots in different ways. I’ve gone for cool and warm tones as well as blue and green tones. I feel like its difficult to compare them when they are all placed together, it feels a bit amateurish looking at all these different filters lined up. I almost just prefer the original colouring of the shot. I think with outdoor shoots the colour grading just looks a bit dodgy and amateur. I think I’ll have to experiment with an indoor shoot and grade that.

With this bathroom shoot I found the interior location easier to colour grade. I think the most subtle of grading makes a huge difference and can help create a different tone to the piece. The grading I did on the third shot is almost a sickly yellow colour, I think this changes the way you see Annick in the bathroom, its almost like a deathly/sickly vibe that makes her character seem worse off. Interesting to see how grading alone can change the way we look at a character.

I want to highlight location and character and them as the one being. I’ve devised a quick experimental shoot that will involve a character in a very plain environment and I want as minimal movement from the actor. I would like to see if I could dress the actor in clothes that suit the environment, darker colours that draw little attention to the actor in any way. The colour of the location is pale greens and greys, not very vibrant colours.

Location: Staircase

1. Staircase – Night

Girl walks down to the mid point of the staircase.

2. INT Staircase – Night

She sits down and on the left side of the screen and listens to a conversation that can be overheard from off screen.

3. Staircase – Night

Girl doesn’t move much but is focused on listening

4. Staircase – Night

The conversation ends and she moves her head to a front on position .