Michael Firus | Picture = 1000 words ∴ 4 seconds of 25fps video = 100,000 words.

Scene Deconstruction: The Darjeeling Limited

Wes Anderson’s 2007 adventure comedy-drama film The Darjeeling Limited relies on many elements of filmmaking in order to construct sentiment and narrative meaning. In terms of production design, immediately apparent in this clip is its use of authentic on-location filmmaking. Principal photography, from which this clip of course originates, took place over a number of…

Exploration

The above clips represent a small amount of the footage taken on the day. For my final project for this studio, I decided to take some initial test shots. This was to work out how to coordinate logistical problems as well as ascertain whether such content was as interesting as I had originally anticipated. Indeed,…

Love in the library

The above project constitutes the most enjoyable piece of impromptu classwork I have done in the studio so far. It is an example of those rare moments where all elements seem to come together with elegance. This is not to say it lacked challenges, quite the contrary. However they were the type of difficulties that…

Lighting Exercise

This exercise offered an intriguing exploration of lighting. Tasked with finding some distinctive lighting around campus, my goal for this exercise was two-fold. First of all, I wanted it to simply be an exploration of the conventional practice of lighting the “off-side” of the actor’s face. Second of all, I wanted to see how a…

Colour Grading

Through colour grading, a multitude of differing meanings can be created using the same footage. This post is an exploration of these meanings. For this exercise, I will use footage I have shot that I intend to use (in part of course) in my final project. All the following colour work was done within the…

Final Project Idea development: Logistics

Over the last weekend, I undertook the first shoot for my final project. The footage shot so far was primarily for the purposes of exploration of the logistical issues that might come up, and indeed, some of the footage could be used in the final product. In order to achieve the desired fog for the…

Final Project Idea development: further consolidation

As time progresses and more thought is given to this studio’s final project, I have set a course for the exploration of how the environment can create meaning and aesthetic beauty; I will also explore ways in which acting can formulate a scenario that can impart understanding to the audience regarding it’s context and motivation….

Final Project Idea development: Looking at Picnic at Hanging Rock

In order to explore my idea further for the final project, it seems pertinent to examine a film with similar technique to that which I want to achieve: Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir 1975) Much theory surrounds Weirs construction of the film, but the concepts I am beginning to apply to my own work…

Assessment 2 – Scene analysis: The Grand Budapest Hotel: Society Of The Crossed Keys

Immediately apparent in this scene from Wes Anderson’s 2014 comedy film is the way in which the director structures the mise en scene. Symmetry is favoured by Anderson, and this is often achieved through the use his sets. For example, all the reception desks of the various hotels essentially follow the same design principle. This…

Assessment 2 – Reflection 1 – “Lenny”

The “Lenny” script was one that we looked at very early in the studio. Indeed, this media artifact was the first one I had ever filmed with the Sony news gathering-type cameras that we now use regularly. For this reason, the creation of the following sequence was done with the aim of beginning the process…