As a media maker, the role that social media plays not just in my day to day communication life, but my ability to share content and build a portfolio of my work, is insurmountable in its potential to grow what I stand for and what I have to offer creatively. As someone looking to potentially start their own communications business, the role that social media can play in getting my name and brand out there is limitless. Sensis data, when diving into the specifics of my target audience (those living in Melbourne or rural Victoria with access to handheld, connected devices), shows that approximately 83% of them frequently use Facebook, or Instagram on a daily basis. This tells me that having a strong presence on social media could be vital to building myself a strong portfolio to show my clientele. As Mark said in week two, we as young media markers are strongly informed and capable of using social media to its marketing and distributing potential.

This class in many ways will be informed by work in my elective ‘Managing a Communications Business’ and vise versa, as they go hand in hand in helping me create and expand my business, with my learnings from this class about social media being the backbone of my operations in the business elective. Using the broken down Sensis data, I can see that only 25% of my audience trust companies with lots of followers, which tells me that consumers are smarter and more aware of the dangers associated with social media. Conversely, 53% of my audience would trust companies that interact with customers on social media. These sorts of learnings that suggest consumers look for honesty and communication when trusting socially active companies reinforces the value of partaking in this studio in relation to the greater goals of my degree. The ability to bounce information between classes to achieve a common goal will give me great drive and ability in marketing my services through the ever-expanding social media network.

Social media is complicated in its openness to opinion and free speech. Whilst this theoretically creates a mutually inclusive online community for self-expression, it is often abused in a manner that reveals some of the more unpleasant and ethically challenging sides of the stream. The unsubstantiated and untrue information published on social media, known as ‘fake news’, creates blurred lines that diminish user understanding of truth, opinion, lies.

An immediate example of how unverified content spreads and is manipulated on social media is the ‘sale of Muslim girls in London’. It was an illustration demonstrating how extremist Islamic groups are taking over Europe, a dramatization not depicting real events to raise awareness surrounding the terrible acts of ISIS. It was then reinterpreted and reposted across various social media pages and place Britain under huge scrutiny by consumers who ate it up as truthful. This is a prime example of how people place so must trust in the surface level reporting of social media, and how pages and organizations thrive off the vulnerability of one-way reporting to consumers.

Clickbait is another huge problem in mainstream social media reporting that I personally see on a daily basis. Fox Sports, for example, is an organization I follow and regularly get information from on Facebook, yet their content is very often deliberately misleading at the surface level without further digging. Very recently they did a post regarding a Fremantle AFL player who had been sent for precautionary coronavirus testing after catching up with a friend who had returned from overseas a few weeks earlier. The caption stated ‘the coronavirus has finally reached the AFL’, with the subtitle saying ‘could see football go into lockdown’. Clicking and reading the article confirms that the guy he came into contact with had already been cleared from having it, so there was never any doubt the player would be cleared too. Knowing that people usually just glance at most social media articles, the misleading and manipulative captioning led to hysteria amongst the large community who trust the large Fox organization to be blunt and upfront with their reporting. To me, this is the most frustrating and challenging part of social media, in how you simply cannot believe what is stated at the surface level to be true without further digging, regardless of the page’s merits.

Personally, the only part of social media that I can think of about social media that is inspiring is how people can so quickly and efficiently rally together behind a good cause. I recently had someone I went to school with commit suicide, and just last night I got tagged in a post from a friend with a short speech to raise awareness around men’s mental health, with some statistics backing it saying ‘it’s okay to not be okay’, with a photo of themselves. The idea is that I then do the same and tag more people to spead the message and get involved. Just hours later my whole Facebook feed was covered in these messages of support and rallying behind a wonderful cause.

I won’t share a URL below because it’s personal, but it’s just one example of the power of social media to raise awareness around an incredibly important issue, and that to me is inspiring.

One article on ‘Sale of girls in London’:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/britain-first-london-sex-slave_uk_574e9926e4b096898c8da3ec?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACKyB_3wNKK5orC1ciQgaaQ3sCehE6TIM95KYDf0Gwei9s0jxeeapZkEEJip70Ac-w_9sWS-6B_nQvdr_6qiJKpz-Yd-EBXvL31naj_vgtOOcVMlcvvcCeIDaok6QnJlNkRq4w9MgL_bcqxaFiHeHWfLMXSr52cjUCSWCUyX6Yae

For my last reflective post for the studio, I wanted to do a short lighting analysis of one of my favorite childhood films in Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, which ushered a darker and more mature tone for the franchise that is heavily shot at night. The analysis links in nicely with our study this week of lighting scenes at night using the ambiance of the setting and re-explores the rationale behind motivated lighting.

The scene starts with an establishing shot (above) looking down on the space that expresses the motivation for the lighting on Harry, coming predominantly from a florescent street light circled blue, that creates a top light glow around Harry’s hair that brings him out from the dark background (below). The playground scene behind him appears heavily filled yet not removed from naturalism as the cool hard lighting mimics the ambiance that could be believably be achieved by the moonlight. The moon is established as being the motivation for the fill by the expansive soft glow in the top right of the establishing frame circled in red.

The key light is also acknowledged by Harry when it starts flickering and extinguishes, adding to the believability that the street light could singularly be responsible for the lighting in this scene. When the street light goes out, it sucks the warmth out of the scene which is now proposed to be lit entirely by ambient moonlight which is cooler. It’s evident when comparing the above and below shots, that additional light is being pumped onto the left side of Harry’s face given away by the sudden brightness of the spotlight glowing on the footpath screen left (below). This is disguised by a cut between the street light and this shot which aids the subtlety of the light transition.

I really like the lighting qualities present in this scene. It clearly establishes naturalism through the lighting decisions that reflect the ambience of a dark street, and is highly motivated by the sources you would expect to expose such a location at night. Despite this, the lighting is highly dramatised through the use of juxtaposing colour temperature between the blue street ambience and the warm glow of a street lamp. When the street lamp is switched off, it leaves a cold and empty scene that not only foreshadows the danger that follows, but is highly functional on both a creative and technical level. It’s very cleverly constructed.

Tuesday’s class was a grounded one that encouraged me to think about the function of lighting beyond simply what it does for the mood or atmosphere of a scene. Whether consciously aware of it or not every film has a lighting ‘style’ that is indicative of the cinematographers ‘look’ they are going for with a given film. As Robin put it, it’s something that’s difficult to describe, but each film has its own look that’s achieved through lighting. Looking back at Chopper, the film I analysed last week, the lighting is incredibly distinctive through its use of colour temperature and exposure which sparked my initial interest in colour temperature to begin with. It was a look the cinematographer was very consciously aware of, going to the extent even of using different types of film purely for the sake of achieving the colour profile present during the scenes at Pentridge prison. This lighting style creates a general ambience that is reflected across the whole film. In the case of Chopper, the lighting aesthetic is deliberately ugly to emphasize the twisted and detached nature of Chopper’s reality. It’s a hyper-stylised look that has become a trademark of Geoffrey Hall’s (Chopper cinematographer) other work, which includes Red Dog. While not a particularly amazing cinematographer, his work demonstrates how every cinematographer has a style that is predominantly established through their lighting decisions.

Screengrabs from Geoffery Hall films:

Chopper (2000)

Red Dog (2011)

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010)

The question has been raised throughout the course regarding what the function of lighting is, particularly in a drama film, and how it functions. In the case of Geoffery Hall’s work above, the lighting functions as a dominant display of ambience. It’s incredibly expressive and overwhelming, but in ways that are completely intentional not just as a narrative device, but as a preferred visual spectacle, regardless of how ugly the look is.

In Tuesday’s class, we had our group presentations and one of the requirements for assignment 4 was to analyse that of another group, in my discussion of this I made reference to how analysing the Australian film Chopper (refer to http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-reflection-on-other-presentation-wk9/). I decided an analysis as part of this reflection would beneficial to generating ideas as to how colour temperature can be used to create meaning in films, which is the purpose of our group’s upcoming second investigative piece.

The film is split into two acts, with the first half taking place inside Melbournes now closed Pentridge Prison, where it’s subject Mark Brandon Read spent most of his life inside. To recapture the sterile ambience of B block, Dominik shot on a different kind of film which had a natural alteration on the colour temperature, as well as extensive use of blue lighting and deliberately overexposed shots. This is complemented by the costume design which emphasises the blue temperature spectrum. All these elements come together to convey Reads loneliness and isolation, which Dominik describes as the most fascinating part of the film’s character analysis.

I think it would be a really awesome idea to make a scene based on the stylistic choices made through colour temperature in this film if we were to go down the path of making a new and more fleshed out scene. At this stage it appears we will be picking up where we left off with our first investigative piece, however, the mood created through colour temperature in Chopper is very much the purpose of what we aim to achieve next.

On a side note, I missed Thursday’s class because it wasn’t justifiable to commute while the Geelong train line was under repair. My apologies. I have continued to collaborate with my group regarding our second investigative piece.

Week 7 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/10/film-light-week-7-reflection/

Week 8 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-week-8-reflection/

Week 9 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-week-9-reflection/

Week 10 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/10/01/film-light-week-10-reflection/

Week 11 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/10/07/film-light-week-11-reflection/

Week 12 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/10/15/film-light-week-12-reflection/

Presentation Analysis:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-reflection-on-other-presentation-wk9/

Project 1 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-production-1-reflection/

Project 2 Reflection:

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/jonah-ahearn/2019/09/22/film-light-production-2-reflection/

Video Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qVX8gfHsgYTRdT6M2ao2TCX9SX6NK-yE

Committing with the same group as the first investigative piece, we decided to continue experimenting with colour temperature, with the goal being to stage a scene in which we could create varying colour temperatures using different spaces and lighting conditions, without the help of an artificial film light used in piece 1. By omitting the film light from our second piece it encouraged us to more critically interact with how light naturally reacts off surfaces and manipulating them rather than simply overpowering it with an artificial lamp. Our location for this shoot was in building 8 past the tech office near the theatre room using the large window panes that peer outside to establish different lighting conditions (as pictured below). The script itself is a simple conversation between two students, one of whom is waiting inside for the other to arrive, the later is established as being just down the street.

Learning from our mistakes last time, we came prepared with knowing what we wanted and how we would achieve it. The shoot took two hours after class on Tuesday the 8th, finishing up midday with some sound recording. We did the first few shots inside where the two actors interact face to face, where we had to deal with a mixture of fixed and variable light sources. As the cinematographer, my initial thought process was to capture a close up of Chloe as she checks her watch and rings Tash, with the street visible through the windows behind her, focus pulling to Tash and panning with her walking screen left to right on the street. She would then go around the corner as the camera loses her but keeps panning screen right to meet her at the door she enters through. As the camera meets her, she looks up to see Chloe, where the camera whip pans screen left for Chloes line of dialogue (“your late”), before Tash walks in from screen right to join her in the shot.

This would obviously have been a single take from a fixed position and would have been a dynamic way to interlace the changing colour temperature between interior and exterior spaces. Whilst we were setting up, it was a very overcast day and raining which allowed us to achieve a balanced exposure between Chloe and the exterior, unfortunately, the conditions changed and blew the background way out which made this shot unachievable. Although the single shot was always going to be a side experiment anyway, we went back to our original plan of shooting interior and exterior shots separately.

By forcing ourselves to film only with available light, we found this exercise to be much more instructive and therefore thought-provoking as we had to apply our knowledge of how the lighting behaves rather than how to turn one on. We found ourselves engaging more so with how the actors are positioned in relation to the available light rather than the other way around since the actor is the controllable variable in this scenario.

For the interior shots, we had to deal with the ugly downlights that created very top-heavy lighting. For the close up of Chloe, we blocked the light directly above her by taping a bounce board over it, then used two c stands to position a bounce board punching light back into the fill side of her face as shown above. We opted to use the natural daylight from the windows as the key to create a silhouette around her head that helps to remove her from the background. This was important due to the clashing between Chloe’s hair and the blue chair fabric behind her.

We had the same problem with the downlights in Tash’s’ tracking shot, where we had to compensate for the ugly downlights. At the top of the stairs, we attempted to block the light directly above her but found it was too dark and we couldn’t punch light back in because the windows didn’t span that far around. For continuity purposes we wanted the source to be the window like Chloes CU, so we couldn’t fill it by bouncing from the other side. We decided on multiple diffusing layers on the downlight to see if we could soften it and wrap the light further down her face, which was surprisingly successful. We then blocked the second light on her walk path by sticking a sheet over it and then placing a bounce board on the ground next to her to bounce light back up under her face from the downlight to her right. We also used a bounce board to punch light into the fill side at her final marker. The results of all this were fairly impressive and I was delighted with the results considering the nature of the artificial lighting. The setup is depicted above.

The outdoor shots were of a similar nature where we bounced light back into Tash in a successful attempt to amplify the natural light source on the subject to further differentiate and emphasise the natural changes in colour temperature. As the shot above shows, we were also able to find a location in which the colours complemented that of the subject’s clothing, which looks really striking in that shot.

If I had the opportunity again, something I would have improved upon was the camera coverage of the scene. As I said I really wanted to do that fixed position single take as I feel it would have better established the spacial relationship between the two characters, which wasn’t as good as it could have been in the final take. We never manage to clearly identify where the two spaces are in relation to each other, especially since Tash technically starts from behind Chloe and walks North-West down Swanston street past her and ends up entering the room from the same bearings in front of Chloe, I feel like how Tash got there could have been covered better. Again, if the lighting was more overcast as it was the morning before we shot, establishing the interior space in relation to the exterior where Tash is walking would have been much easier.

Video Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UzhYo32NTtnPz9nrAHP3EVD5Ci4yZelW

I did my first investigative piece with Chloe, James, and Natasha, as we all shared an interest in how a scene can be saturated using purely practical equipment, with no post production work applied to them. As Robin as said, one of the defining methods of cinematography and the filmmaking practice as a whole over still photography is the desire to shoot to show direct from the camera. In other words, get it right on the day. The final video linked above has had no post production effects done to it, so we can analyse the direct and indirect complications of lighting on set and through the camera. The aims of what we wanted to do were not linked to a specific outcome but rather a broader and open to interpretation expiriment on the effects of lighting, particularly in its tinge on each individual who watches it. Specifically, we experimented with how colour temperature and white balance effects the tone and mood of a basic scene. We decided the best way to achieve this would be with a well locked down location in which the lighting can easily be controlled. The eventual shooting location was on the ground floor of building 10 at RMIT next to an elevator (screen left) with a small caged off storage area next to it. We positioned the camera so that the framing cut off the elevator and the wooden panneling on the left, locking it off to the caged door to give a greater perception of depth to what actually a 1.5×2 metre pen.

Through this and the clever blocking of light entering the cage, the space appears more like the end of a dark alley way than a well lit oak lined collaborative space. We used a cutter to block the light directly above James and punched a 2k Tungsten light directly onto the middle of the cage to create a hard source that could then be manipulated. Exposure was not altered across any of the takes for control purposes. We shot four different takes, two without gel and two with gel a blue daylight gel, each white balanced for different colours to get a broad range of colour interactions. Perhaps the most noteworthy observation I made upon reviewing the footage is the brightness that is offered when geling the light versus not. The two shots without the blue gel are considerably brighter, particularly on the back wall of the fenced off area, which removes the illusion of an endless dark space, even on the rather dark and errie purple white balance. As mentioned, we wanted to keep the script relatively open to allow for critical audience interaction with each stylistic choice.

For myself personally, the later two expiriements are more effective in drawing attention to the highlights on James courtesy of the cooler temperature of the pratical light, which in turn subtracts from the percieved punch onto the back wall. In terms of how I interpreted the scene, the green and blue colour profiles established by the purple (no gel) and orange (blue gel) white balances respectively emit a grotesque ambience that I feel plays well into my feel of the scene as one in which James’ character is being setup. The brashness of these colours helps mold an uneasy visual for the viewer which in turn evokes a sense of danger. The blue in my opinion works particularly well due to the aforementioned highlights that appear to drain light from the back of shot, emphasising the emptiness of the space. Given the issues that plagued production the previous week, I am very pleased with the outcome of this exericse. It has helped develop my understanding of how lighting can evoke feeling in a scene and the numerous ways in which it can be manipualted on the day of the shoot. After presenting our findings to the class on monday, it is clear that the group shares an interest in fleshing out the concepts explored in the first piece and potentially honing in on one of these colours to create a dramatic scene. It’s good to see that everyone is keen to follow up on this.

The presentation I have chosen to reflect on was that of Eleanor, Noah, and Jagger, the latter of whom was not present. Having missed the start of their presentation due to public transport woes, I think I still got the gist of what they were trying to achieve, and generally speaking I was thoroughly impressed. The intention of their exercise was to see how many different lighting setups they could achieve using a limited amount of equipment, most notably only one light source, using varyingly technical shots from films as their control variable. It’s quite an interesting approach in terms of it’s study into pre-established lighting techniques, and the extra challenge they’ve set themselves of limiting equipment expenditure is conceptually well thought out.

One of the exercises biggest strengths I feel is how it forces them to think practically and in great detail about how these shots were actually achieved on set, so in many ways, they were challenging themselves to think like real filmmakers in order to see results. I was drawn to this presentation particularly through my love of the horror genre in which multiple shots were chosen to recreate. I think they’ve done just about everything they possibly could have to recreate those shots with a single light source. The bounce board set up for the shot from IT I found particularly brilliant. The presentation itself was clear and their critical evaluation of their work was highly constructive and spoke volumes of their interest in what they’re doing. Overall it was a very well thought out presentation.

I think the shot of the person on the boat with the sun behind them on the horizon would have been better replicated outside the studio, but then again that takes time and would require an enormous amount of light control I couldn’t find to be conceivable with three people.

One thing I found beneficial hearing about the other group’s projects was that it helped me create a new strand of thinking about how we should attack our second investigative piece. From the aforementioned group, I concluded it would be a really good idea to look at the use of colour temperature in other films and analyse them for insight on how we could possibly improve our second piece. The most immediate film that came to mind is Andrew Dominik’s 2000 Australian crime film Chopper starring Eric Bana, which aside from being a great film, is one of the most deliberately ugly yet intriguing examples of extreme colour temperature manipulation. I will be analysing this as part of my week 10 reflection.