ORIGINAL, test 1, 2 and 3 (Clip 1)

ORIGINAL, test 1, 2 and 3 (Clip 2)

ORIGINAL, test 1, 2 and 3 (Clip 3)

Screenshot from ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’

DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS

When I approach film making, I think it is similar to the way many of us may do which is starting with a script or some dialogue and building everything else around that, including where it would best be shot or what kind of setting it should be in. However, sometimes I find when I do this it turns out a little incoherent and can seem a little bit out of place when I haven’t put enough thought into it, so I decided, along with my group members, to switch things up a bit.

For this project I am instead working from the ground up and focusing on the location first, then hoping some kind of story or narrative will fall into place from that. I’m not really concerned about working with a set script in mind, I more want to arrive at a location and let characters take form in some way that would best fit the place.

I mainly want to experiment with long tracking shots like the scene from La La Land where they are getting ready to go to the party, as well as stand out colour in clothing, and focusing on the fashion in a particularly barren location or one that has very neutral colours.

Screenshot from ‘La La Land’

For a long time now, I have loved the ending scene of Brian de Palma’s ‘Carrie’, where one of the only girls left alive is walking to Carrie’s ‘grave’ and there is a long tracking shot of the girl walking until she arrives. I knew there was something different about the scene, but until recently, I had no idea that Brian de Palma actually had the actress walk backwards and then he played it forwards in post-production, so the scene seems slightly “off” and nightmare like. I would love to recreate this with an actor in the graveyard next to where I live, and it would be exceptional if I could get a smoke machine to make the shot fall into a rather eerie, thriller genre trope.

Screenshot from ‘Carrie’.

OUTSIDE LIGHTING EXERCISE

The way I see this video, I think resembles the way many see Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 film, ‘The Room’. Perhaps the greatest bad movie ever made. I’m not too sure what is going on here, and it looks like crap, but it is also magnificent (mainly for the way that Rosie rocks the camera). The first shot in the sequence was the one that I directed and “owned”, and while we were supposed to be paying attention to lighting, I’m not sure I did at all. It wasn’t creative in any special way, the light didn’t dapple around her face spectacularly, dreary sunlight just lit up her face enough for her to be seen. The first and second clips accidentally didn’t get any coinciding audio recorded on the microphone, so there is an abrupt change between the second and third clip where you can actually hear Rosie’s voice. Ideally, if I were to do it again, I would have changed locations to somewhere, perhaps under a tree, so I could experiment with capturing dappled light (although it was a very overcast day and not much was working in our favour anyway). Most of the shots are far too overexposed and the framing of the shots isn’t great in general, but at least it was an exercise in which Rosie got to make us laugh (as seen in the end).

INDOORS LIGHTING EXCERCISE

Thursday of Week 8 saw us learning about three point lighting, so we continued experimenting with focus-pulling involving two subjects and a bunch of new lights. This was my first ever introduction to lighting in a studio so I came out semi-confused and semi-excited to continue playing with the lights. We ended up using a panel light with an orange cover (still unsure as to what it’s called) to light the off-side of Adrian’s face; plus two dedo lights for the background and fill. I wasn’t operating the camera for the duration of the class, and while I like both clips, I wish we focused more on Cody’s face in the second one, or perhaps not at all so that he remained mysterious and threatening as the audience wouldn’t be able to make out his features as much. I do love the way how Adrian turns in the first clip, as  the warm light on his face to begin with seems to give the environment he is in an eerie feel, but when he sharply turns all you can see is the blue light, making it appear like the scene has changed and there is now a chilling feeling being conveyed. Obviously, this sounds slightly drawn out of proportion due to the fact that it was just a small experiment filmed in class with Adrian and Cody acting, but I think it could be applied successfully to further experiments when we want it to appear a bit more serious.

LOVE IN THE LIBRARY

Although I was acting in this exercise, colloquially titled by our group, ‘Love in The Library’, it was one of the most enjoyable videos from this semester to film and edit. Filming in the library only really sprang to mind as an idea due to the fact that we thought it wouldn’t be crowded during that time of day, and we could use the abundance of space however we wanted. We hadn’t initially thought about using dialogue, but we did have to come to terms with the fact that, of course, filming in the library meant no speaking. This wasn’t a problem though, as we ended up putting our characters in a traditional library setting, and having them as complete strangers to each other. In post production, I decided to keep it as a silent film (apart from the background sounds of the library recorded), though if I go back to the video again I would love to put a piece of music on top and see how it changes the mood, whether it becomes more romantic and intense or whether I make it go down the road of comical and light-hearted. I decided to keep the small giggle at the end in, as although I wasn’t meant to break character during the production, and Michael cut it out in his edit, I liked the idea of the characters kind of making light of the situation. I initially didn’t touch colour correcting the video, so it looks very dark and blue, though I used ‘Love in the Library’ in my colour grade post so there is a rather dramatic change there.

SCENE DECONSTRUCTION

Made two years after his Silence of the Lambs won the big five Oscars, Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia (1993), did what no other film had done before: it openly discussed AIDS with unflinching honesty. The film was searing and controversial, an all-around game changer.

When we see Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) in this scene, he is well into his battle against AIDS, and his attorney, Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), is working hard on the final stages of Beckett’s wrongful termination lawsuit. The two of them sit in Beckett’s apartment, going over questioning for the trial, whilst Beckett puts on his favourite background music: opera.

The scene starring Maria Callas’ “La Momma Morta” is a powerful and distressing depiction of Beckett’s acceptance of death and enjoyment of living in the moment. The scene begins with extreme close ups of each of the men’s faces, showing the colossal contrast in their expressions – Beckett’s demonstrating an absolute adoration of the music and Miller’s conveying complete bitterness and withdrawal. The camera tracks Hanks as he stands up and moves towards the centre of the room, taking his IV stand with him, all from a very high/above angle. It captures Beckett moving around the room, firstly in typical warm house lights, though as the song begins to reach a climax, its as if all the lights in the room fade away, before he becomes bathed in an intense red light. He listens, translates the lyrics and explains the song to an opera-hating Miller, who undergoes his last conversion not only in his opinion of homosexuality, but a conversion of heart overall.

There are cuts back to Washington as he follows Hanks’ journey through the music, but mainly it focuses on Hanks with an unsteady but flowing camera technique that gives the scene a surreal, dream-like quality. Along with the glowing, red light, the fireplace continues to flicker, casting dancing light on the actors’ faces, enough for you to realise there are tears appearing in both of their eyes. When the camera focuses on Beckett, you practically forget Andrew has AIDS and simply view him as someone enthralled by beautiful music, until the IV drip comes back into frame. The red light is particularly exceptional in reflecting the passion pouring out through the music whilst also conveying an ominous vibe, as just before, the pair were discussing how Beckett may not live to see the end of the trial.

The scene is so intense it is arguable that it could be an overkill to the film, but the soundtrack provides an emotional elevation for the audience until the very end. It has been a favourite scene of mine for years, and I will never forget how much it made me cry when I saw it for the first time.