Judrina approached me to collaborate on her project for the final assessment. She has some amazing ideas for transitions and effects. The other day we went out to do some filming in the city. One of the ideas we worked on was filming a subject walking from behind (i was the subject for this experiment) using 3 different shots where i am positioned differently in the frame.

Tracking the person walking forward, the two people in the outside frame slowly walk towards the centre meeting the middle frame. Once they reach the centre of the frame all three shots will merge into one. I think for just a quick experiment the idea worked, but  we need to get a steady rig to help with the movement of the shot for further attempts, to much movement of the frame is jarring.

 

We also experimented with filming the same shot twice but the subject is doing different things. Then playing the shots side by side and making them mirror each other. Giving the effect of simultaneous action.

 

Video of the mirror effect:

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B6U3RRzXVzXgX0pfV2poTjZvZFU/view?usp=sharing

 

I am looking forward to working with Judrina more, we have booked a date to do some more filming with a steady cam rig. So until next time this is Lance signing off.

 

During Class i was able to put into practise some of the ideas i had been working on for my final assessment. With the help of Mona Lisa and Brendan i was able to recreate some shots i had discussed earlier. Framing two subjects in a way that makes the audiences eye wander the frame to gain information from both characters. I purposefully put distance between Mona Lisa and Brendan to create alot more depth in the frame.

Upon reflection, i think that the execution of the shots was a great first step. I want to create more variations to these shots by:

• Adding in more subjects, the ideal number being 3
• Having one human subject and one object, idea of a beer bottle foreground, subject in background.
• Trying to manipulate the audiences eye further to wander the frame for the information rather then just giving them it.

I was also able to Experiment with movement of planes, Mona Lisa was standing on a spot while Brendan walked around here in a circle while i was in front of Brendan tracking him. What i was trying to create was this whole idea of background manipulation.

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B6U3RRzXVzXgaTlabTZER2RucTA/view?usp=sharing

The following link will show you the movement video, the first take i was moving at a pace relative to Brendan’s movement and the background blur and movement was ok, the second take i was moving faster and the background blur was really good. I would like to try this shot again and really trying to get that camera movement better. Maybe using some sort of steady cam rig to stable my shots more.

 

Upon heading back to class i saw a location that intrigued me to try some shots. I asked Judrina to be my subject and got her to lean against the wall. What i was trying to experiment with was the use of:

• The long shot through a doorway
• Highlighted background silhouetting Judrina in the foreground.
• The profile shot having Judrina looking straight ahead and also having her encompass half the frame

I was really surprised with the execution of these shots, for something that i just wanted to try out on the fly turned out to be really amazing.

I have alot more to experiment with in the coming weeks, i still haven’t decided if i will make a short film out of my ideas or just present an array of shots. So much to Ponder, so little time so until next time this is Lance signing off.

 

At the end of week 7 the class was tasked with presenting a 3 minute presentation on what they would like to explore for there final assessment. I was really intrigued with some of the ideas people were wanting to explore and it gave me a boost of inspiration into what i wanted for my final project. My Proposal was as follows:

I have been juggling around a few different ideas this semester and what I keep coming back to is a shot that I really enjoy from a music video and a shot that I saw on a TV series.

My idea was to recreate these couple of shots to gain a better understanding of how it was done. Upon looking at these shots in more detail I realised the reason I liked them (Both completely different in execution) was the fact that they used elements of foreground background and mid ground, using depth in composition. I have always been fascinated with composition of a frame, how subjects/objects are purposefully positioned in the frame to gauge a certain effect. Incorporating depth into a shot using foreground middle ground and back ground elements is something I want to explore this semester.

The music video shot uses movement in its composition to give focus to the subject in the foreground. This shot has always interested me and I’ve always wanted to emulate it. I propose to recreate this exact shot and once achieved to be able to gain the same effect in varying ways.

Music Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0_ardwzTrA

American Gothic Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTU2iSdsU8Q

 

I also have seen these techniques in a lot of other films upon further research I found this website that has a lot of different examples of depth composition.

http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2010/03/30/foreground-background-playground/

 

 

I am proposing to explore this use of depth composition in varying ways to bring attention to a certain area of the frame. Incorporating foreground ,mid ground and background elements. These experiments are not intended to have any theme or narrative. They are intended to be an exploration into the idea of depth. Working towards a final showcase of these shots edited in a way to give the audience the opportunity to gain meaning. I am excited for the rest of the semester and what it will bring, until next time this is Lance signing off.

 

 

 

 

Week 6 was a really crucial as it was the last time we could talk about our final assessment pitches before presenting them in week 7. Week 6 started like most weeks, Paul would rally the troops with some great videos and theory on the upcoming assignment before setting us out to continue our filming practise. Paul was kind enough to supply us with some scripts and gave us the incentive to come up with some shots that would work with the scripts provided.

 

On the Tuesday we had some first years attend the class and when i went out with my group to do some filming we got a couple of the first years to tag along. My group worked on some shots down at the basketball courts, where we got the first years to be in front of the camera but also gets some hands on experience behind the camera as well.

In the Thursday class Paul gave us some great tips and pointers on how we should approach out final assessment for the end of semester especially writing for the pitch. He had come up with his own pitch which he “Pitched” to us and then got the class to write down there ideas and tell the person next to them. It was great to hear everyone’s ideas for the final assessment it made you feel really inspired and i think what our class will produce will be really great.

And as the end of week 6 is over and the prospects of the Week 7 pitch on the horizon, i must get to writing. This is Lance signing off.

In week 3 Paul had us undertake an exercise where we would brainstorm some ideas and write them down into a list. One list for actions, one list for places, one list for people and then a final list for ideas we want to explore for our pitch in week 7. Being a Thursday morning I was quite tired and the whole idea of writing some creative ideas for actions, places and people was hard. Luckily the night before I was doing a reading for my cinema studies class and was really intrigued about what I read that i wanted to experiment with for my pitch in week 7 and that was the only thing that stuck in my mind.

Action Lists

Real Life	Cinema	Imagined
-Getting on and off trams/trains	-Shooting guns	-Flying
-Getting out of bed	-Driving cars	-Floating
-Walking	-Flying spaceships	-Falling
-Making breakfast/lunch/dinner	-Fighting 20 guys
-Talking on the phone
-Riding a bike
-Training at the gym
-Fighting
-Swimming

 

People list	Location list
-Chris B.	-Jungle/Forrest
-Peter F.	-Mountains/snow
-Gareth	-Ruins/old buildings
-Tom Q.	-Beach
-Sam R.	-City/Country
-Tim J.	-Restaurants
– Elizabeth W.	-The gym

 

So what is the purpose of all these lists you may ask, well at the time i asked myself the same question but upon reflection i understood that these fast thinking ideas are used to help us spark up something imaginative. I could easily look back on these lists and come up with a great narrative. I think that we can also look back on these simple lists and apply them to our final pitch in week 7. I dont want to trap myself into coming up with some great narrative for my final assessment task i want to just create some amazing shots.

Experiments and ideas for pitch in week 7

-Frontality

-Depth, volume

-Foreground, Mid ground, Back ground.

-Guiding the Audiences eye.

-Short shots with colour.

-Tricking the audience to assuming what will happen.

 

What i plan to do it undertake some varying experiments that incorporate  these ideas, I have recently watched a T.V series called american Gothic that uses some unconventional shot construction that i will explore in my experiments. I also have always enjoyed this music video by the artist Toro Y Moi that has an interesting shot that incorporates fast movement.

Toro Y Moi – So Many Details  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0_ardwzTrA

 

American Gothic – Sourced from YouTube clip  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7qmrLanLeU

I hope after a few experiments a constructive idea for my final pitch will surface. So many more experiments and examples to come in the following posts but until then this is Lance signing off.