This is a new idea I had because I came by a location I thought would make for a really creative shoot. The inside of a car and the aesthetics it can produced became of real intrigue to me. I also saw a scene that was filmed inside a car and I thought this is something I’d love to attempt. The action of being on a phone and being frustrated could be paired with waiting in a car and I really wanted to try to film this and use this as a scene in my final assessment. Again I want the scene to be at night and use the interior car lighting as well as the phone lighting, but for the initial test shoot I’ve shot in the daytime.

Florence + the Machine has featured in a film by Vincent Haycock called The Odyssey, that is filmed really beautifully and has scenes located within a car. I’ve tried to model a few of my shots in the same way. Another shot film called Hip Hip Hooray has scenes within a car that I found inspiring, they were filmed at night and in black and white which i found added another element to it. Again I tried to film my scene in ways similar these two other films did.

(Hip Hip Hooray 2016)

(The Odyssey 2016)

This is my test shoot in the interior of a car. I’ve used Sean as the actor and “frustration” as the emotion. I found quite fun filming the car as it was a smaller space they had less within it, but forced me to notice more within it. Again the lighting is different but i focused on the framing of each shot and what I wanted to show, working out different angles and positions. Some of these shots are quite ugly in my opinion but overall I liked using this space.

I did a second edit of this scene with the use of text and sound. The point of it highlighting more emphasis on the actual communication element and seeing what the actor sees. However I don’t like it as much. I feel like it takes away from the acting and shows audiences more than they need to see. There is no element of mystery and intrigue, its just laid out on the table and audiences are told what to think. I think for my other shoots I will leave the communication of the “story” or “action” to the actor rather than the text on screen.

I had a new idea for a potential location recently that i want to explore. I got the desire to film a scene in a car as i was witnessing someone talking on their phone in a car opposite me and I found it really intriguing. Talking to Paul he suggested i look at the film Locke with Tom Hardy, which is filmed entirely on the inside of a car. I like the idea of filming at night again and focusing on a conversation maybe or just the idea of being within a car (not too sure yet).

I really like the yellow lighting in these still from Locke. It creates a sinister tone the film (as well as the dialogue and other happenings), adding to the narrative and plot progression. I’d like to film my scene keeping in mind that the space is small and their is a lot to explore within it. Below are photos of the car i will film in.

I’ve been getting more and more interested in the way I could shoot with phones and phone lighting. As I’ve had a lot of emphasis on the action of using a photo in each scene I wanted to see if I could also light a scene or just a face within a scene using the phone light. I’ve tried to source images and footage that I’ve seen this effect created.

(Counter Production)

(Donald Iain Smith)

(Mark Andersen)

(Magenta Sky Films Inc)

As most of my shoots will be conducted at a night, and the emphasis of the scene has been placed on the phone itself i want to see if its possible to increase the screen lighting and let it bounce of the actors face, using it as the key light in a scene or at least a few shots within a scene.

When thinking about costume i want to keep my characters as natural as possible, as if they are playing versions of themselves. As these scene wont have any context there is not a lot of base these characters on, however I feel like their costume could say something. I have had a fascination with making my characters and the way they look, sort of mould into the location and situation they are in. I’ve tried to blend the two, in order to create a cohesive scene, where all elements are emphasised. A style of film called ‘Mumblecore’, in which story lines and acting styles are very realistic and raw, as well as having extremely low production values in order to enhance this “realism”. There are many films that I’ve tried to base my choices upon, when it comes to costume within a certain environment.

(Drinking Buddies 2013)

(The Puffy Chair 2005)

(Mutual Appreciation 2005)

The costume is so appropriate to their characters, its not flashy or over the top.

This is just an example of one of my scenes and how i could dress them in a way that suits their environment. What want to plan out in each scene what my actors wear in order to reach my desired effect of “naturalism” within a scene.

Bathroom Shoot. I came to realise that these test shoots I’ve been doing are pretty much to help me understand the framing of shots. My actor wasn’t available on the day that I had access to a camera on so I though I’d film in my location regardless of whether I had my actor or not. I’ve had a lot of inspiration when it comes to the filming of bathrooms and the way in which I want my shoot to look like. I filmed the test shoot in accordance with framing and camera positioning I have seen in other films. I was inspired by dialogue heavy scenes between characters and how they fit in the confined space of a bathroom. However in my scene I don’t want much dialogue and I will only use one actor. Here are some images I will base my shots off.

(High Maintenance 2012/13)

(Hip Hip Hooray 2016)

(Imaginary Friend 2016)

(Chaud Lapin – Animated Short Movie 2016)

Shot Plan – Story Board

I’ve colour graded the photo just as an experiment. I think its graded to dark and looks odd, however the sickly feel of the bathroom was interesting aspect that comes through with this dark grade.

My second shoot in the bathroom was with my actor, shot during the night time.

I’ve edited the same footage twice. I honestly unsure of how i feel about this shoot. I find it interesting, but maybe not very grabbing. Less is going on within the shot, not that that bothers me, but it might be that little bit better if the scene had another element. Right now there is no context for why he is in the bathroom or really what he is doing, maybe I can create more of a world for the character. A few shots weren’t focused properly, i found it extremely difficult to see on the small monitor, maybe next time i should use a portable monitor.

The actor was really easy to shoot, i found his interesting in his environment so I don’t think there is much about his performance i would change. Possibly even more interaction with the phone would make the scene more fulfilling. I’ve have to work this out before my final shoot.

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.