Running through the technicalities of lighting with Robyn was really helpful, but i found it even more useful when we were actually encouraged to light a scene in class. Lighting Mia’s scene with the use of an intense back light (the natural light coming from the windows) as well as smaller lights on either off side of the camera was a difficult process. I’ve always found it really difficult to light a scene, and if felt that sometimes i get lazy with it. I’d like to understand it better and become patient enough to get it right in each scene i create. Because a lot of my scene will use phone lighting as a key light, it will be particularly difficult to light other elements within the scene. I feel that my locations don’t lend themselves to being easily lit, but ill have to take the time to plan the scene properly so that lighting becomes less of a hassle on shoots. 

As i think more and more about these scenes I want to shoot, and after conducting a few test shoots I’ve realised the most interesting thing about them are my actors reactions to their phones. Even when very subtle it gives something intriguing to the scene and it makes the reasoning behind showing their environment seem more appropriate. It’s as if the actor reacting to their phone, shuts them off from everything around them. They become so comfortable in their environment, but also shut off as they are absorbed with their phone. I’ve come to realise how my scenes will be shown and the reasoning behind them. I think this is, in a way what I’ve always wanted to show but I just didn’t know how to articulate it.

People reaction, whether its happy, angry, frustrated, in conjunction to the stimulus of a phone makes for something really interesting. I want this to be the more important research question in my investigation. “How can I make the use of a phone interesting in a scene?”, how will i use the location, costuming, lighting and acting to make this action interesting?

I first made a conscious effort to have minimal dialogue in scenes however I would like to have one scene that uses speech to highlight the phone use. Showing a different way people communicate with and interact with their phone. I was thinking of having my actor in the ‘Empty Room’ scene on a phone to juxtapose it with the other scenes that will remain with minimal or no dialogue.

I found this video and thought the idea was really present and strong. I like the different environments in which they filmed people on their phones really diverse and interesting. I don’t necessarily care much about highlighting a message with the usage of phones. The idea that people are always on their phones and disconnected from friends and loved ones isn’t what I’ll be focusing on but maybe more the ways we use our phones and how they become secondary characters.

I conducted my first test shoot in the bedroom of my brother’s house. The idea being that his room encompasses him, and his belongings show off himself and his passions. The room is a way of showing his comfortability and his interaction with the phone is a way of producing boredom. I love the textures of this room and all the things that fill the space, from the rug to the guitars and all the jun on the desk. I’ve blocked the scene, ensuring that Sean (the actor) is on the bed and not moving too much. Throughout the scene i’ve jumped to different phases of him on his phone. I’ve filmed this test shoot during the day which was probably the most annoying part of the entire shoot, as i originally wanted a night shoot. However clashes with timing meant that my actor was only able to film at this time and the RMIT camera was booked out any other times. I believe that I’ll have to do another test shoot of this scene during the night so that I can perfect the lighting. This shoot was for the main purpose of blocking, costuming, framing each shoot and experimenting with editing.

When organising this scene and understanding what kind of shots I wanted I consulted a few clips from films that use similar situations. One I’ve mentioned in my earlier blog posts is from HOWL and I’ve been inspired by other films that I will mention below, for the construction of this scene.

(Frances Ha 2012)

(High Maintenance 2012/13)

(Imaginary Friend 2015)

I then created a new story board of images that I tried to keep to when filming the test shoot.

This is the first edit of my test shoot. Lighting was obviously something that I didn’t focus on too highly as the lighting in the final shoot will be darken (i.e. at night). The framing of the shoots seemed to be more difficult to master and I found it difficult to get birds eye view type shots. However I still like the way they have turned out. I didn’t direct my actor very much to be honest, and I think I would have liked to focus more on his performance when I do then next shoot, as I was so consumed with the framing of the shoots I barely gave him anything to go by. His performance though is still very natural and I find his interaction quite interesting. I also colour graded slighting, more so because of the lighting and how it varied so much in each shot.

Overall I quite like how this test shoot looked. I’ve got a few more things to focus on for next time, but it didn’t enable me to create a better understanding of what I want to show in the scene. To me this scene feels flat and doesn’t create intrigue into the character or the character situation. The use of the phone isn’t really explored very creatively, I might have to sit on this and think about it for a while.

I’ve decided to take a different approach with the way I conduct my test shoots and formal shoots. Instead of filming a whole bunch of tests I will film a test and then the real shoot consecutively (i.e. over two days) so that I have more control over whats happening and get one whole shoot done at a time. This weekend I will conduct the shoot for the Empty Room Scene. I’ve borrowed a camera and a wireless lapel mic in order to execute the shots.

I’ve decided to incorporate some dialogue in the scene order to give it some context and perhaps make it more interesting. It show an alternate way in which we communicate with out phones and this hopefully with assist with the way in which I edit the test shoot, in order to make it flow.

Below is the script:

• Update: I didn’t end up filming this test shoot first as I had problems with getting the actor on that weekend. I ended up test shooting a few different scenes instead (see further blog posts)

I want to have a lot of focus on my test shoots as actual ways of still experimenting with the way I want my framing and aesthetics to look. I think my test shoots will end up quite different from my final shoots however they will give me a good idea of what I like and do not like within the space I’ve filmed in. I plan to conduct test shoots in the next week or so to understand what conditions and what not ill be filming within. Ill have to borrow the RMIT cameras, probably the EX3 as I don’t have a camera of my own to use. This has already proved to be more difficult as I have to travel to and from uni with massive equipment. I also want to borrow sounds equipment, preferably lapel mics as I want to control most of the shoot myself (i.e. have almost no crew).

My next step in Week 9 test shoots, where ill tie up loose ends and conduct my last few experiments in filming and editing before week 10 where i’ll film my first scene properly. I will definitely be focusing on the direction of my actors and working them within the spaces and locations I have sourced. I will take time to choose costume and focus on the aesthetics of the shots.