on Reflection 4:
https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qingxinzheng/2020/04/19/the-scene-in-the…nema-refection-4/
Reflection 5:
https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qingxinzheng/2020/04/19/the-scene-in-the-cinema-refection-5/
Reflection 6:
https://www.mediafactory.org.au/qingxinzheng/2020/04/19/the-scene-in-the-cinema-refection-6/
Scene analysis:
on For this analysis, I have chosen a segment from 1917, a 2019 British epic war film directed , co-written, and produced by Sam Mendes. The film tells the story of two young British soldiers during the first world war who are order to deliver a message calling off an attack doomed to fail soon after the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line during Operation Alberich in 1917. This message is especially important to one of the soldiers, as his brother is taking apart in the pending attack.
The whole movie was accomplished with long takes and elaborately choreographed moving camera shots to give the effect of two continuous takes. The following scene I have decided to analyse is from the beginning of 1917 to two main characters leave the trenches in the film which time code is 00:51-08:12.
The shot begin with the beautiful peaceful flowers and plants form then the camera slowly move back to introduce us the two main characters, Lance Corporal William “Will” Schofield (George MacKay ) and Lance Corporal Thomas “Tom” Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman ). The colour in this shot makes people comfortable because of the greens. With a sarge wakes Blake up, the camera Starts to follow Blake’s movement slightly as a mid shot. As the camera following them, the mid shot becomes to wide shot shows us more setting which giving us the look of the war. More colour comes in shot different from the first shot it gets dirty because is the color of the muddy earth. The audience follow their leads with their speed motion and changes in conversation. Orchestral music as the background music. The scene begins util now is still serenity.
The character was kept in the middle of the whatever the framing changes between mid shot and wide shot util 03:39, the position of characters changes. Blake is behind Will that gives us the information Will may older than Blake because due to the conversation, audience may be announced that Will is more mature than Blake. At this time, Will tries to lead Blake. The trenches on either side began to get higher. There are few solider come across in front of Blake and Will. The picture of the trenches changes from only two characters to more soldiers on the move. From their conversation, the audience get to know there has to be the push. Sam sets a tense tone.
As I mentioned before, two characters was kept in the middle of the framing util they gets in the trenches, the camera moves like a snake following their movement. The framing is a mid shot and the two characters keep changing their position from left to right or right to left when they turn corners. As the camera moves, turns a half around from their front to their side then turns behind them at last. In this shot, appears the fourth character who has dialogue. After that, we starts to follow Blake’s footstep. In this angle, it feels like we are personally on the scene, a part of this shot. Then at 04:47, this is the first time camera stop moving, here comes a sarge and he explains the thing then walks into the basement. At 4:51, Blake switch the centre with the sarge and have a short conversation with Will face to face. The framing is so great that the cinematographer uses his techniques of framing leading to get which character audience should focus on and the effective information he wants to share us. Immediately following, Blake and Will walk into the basement. The light source changed from the natural light outside to the dark warm light in the basement starts getting into something essential. The view is behind the two main characters but in front of General Erinmore. The soldier on General’s right hand side only gets a little bit lights but more shadow. The general, as the dominant figure in the scene, is in the middle between the two characters. The light on his face is from the ground.Light sources on both sides of the face provide contrast. The whole setting creates an atmosphere of war deliberation makes the audience getting in the situation.Repressed stratagems and rivalries. The soldiers behind General are out of focus, the cinematography require us to put attention on General. The shot starts to zoom in follows the motion of the General, the audience take a look on the map that starts to give the reason why the main character gets here. As the General asks, the picture back on his face. The scene from wide shot becomes to mid shot. At 06:30, General Erinmore turns , the audience get to see the front of main characters. They get the lights on which means they get into the plan and receive the order. As the camera moving on, there are different facial expression shows on the characters. At 07:13, their reaction to the order, they look at different place after saluting.At this time, Will’s psychological activities maybe why he should do this and Blake worries about his brother. Camera follows their movement when they have a conversation with the lieutenant. Before they leave, they gives us the frame of their back and shows us General Erinmore again that he provides us more message. Blake leaves first and then Will. We back to the ground and as their speed of motion more and more fast. The audience gets more and more nervous as they immerse themselves in it.
The director shot in real time to make the audience feel the urgency of the character with one take tracking. Sam superimposed the character building and emotion of the protagonist on the scene scheduling. The way that he film immerse the audience in a brutal and real war environment. Every minute and every second of the audience is real, breathing with the protagonist. Camera track the whole scene, revolves around the main characters. The machine position and framing change with the scene.The position of the protagonist changes with the panoramic, mid – shot ,close-up and different angles to shoot.Either the distance or the angle, Sam tries to break the flat space of viewing and shows the audience a three-dimensional free space of war.All of these need the cooperation between the weather, actors, cinematographer and setting in one take that could create a perfect effect. Otherwise, everything should start over. In terms of the sound effect, Orchestral music and cello movie soundtrack together in the lead rhythm and highlights the climax.
Although the war is cruel, the experience of the film was a feast for the eyes.
on Reflection 6
In this week, we talked about focal length and review the knowledge point of depth of field.
About focal length, Lens focal length tells us the angle of view—how much of the scene will be captured—and the magnification—how large individual elements will be. The longer the focal length, the narrower the angle of view and the higher the magnification. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and the lower the magnification.
The focal length of an optical system is a measure of how strongly the system converges (focuses) or diverges (defocuses) light.
In a single lens objective, the focal length is the distance to the film plane, but since most objectives are a rather complicated set of lenses it’s not that simple.
That’s rather technical, but the most interesting characteristic of focal length is that it’s one of the decisive factors in how the angle of view of your lens is. The longer the focal length is, the narrower the field of view. The other decisive factor in the angle of view is the size of the film or sensor.
Lenses with a fixed focal length are also called primes, and lenses with a variable focal length are called zoom lenses.
The physical properties of a lens at a given focal length also affect the depth of field. A shorter focal length lens (say 27mm) focused at 5 meters, set at f/4 has a deeper DOF (perhaps from 3 meters in front and 20 meters behind) than a longer focal length (say 300mm), also set at f/4 focused at 5 meters.
There are both practical and creative consideration when making these decisions, so understanding focal length might be the most important visual tool for a director to comprehend.
A longer focal length, such as 135mm or 85mm in the diagram below, results in a narrower angle of view and greater magnification. Meanwhile, a shorter focal length, such as 24mm or 14mm, translates to a wider angle of view and less magnification.
In this first example, below, the camera is positioned the same distance from the subject and different lenses are used:
In the next focal length example, the camera is positioned at varying distances with different lenses, as indicated in each photo:
In summary, the lens mm number refers to the focal length or magnification. This can also be casually referred to as the lens size. Different manufacturers make lenses with different characteristics. So when I film something, I really need to think about what lens I want to use in the shot.
on Reflection 5
In this week, we focus on eyelines. When shooting a film or video production, actors need to know where to look. Consistent eyelines affect continuity in editing, so it is important to consider eyelines in every shot. Eyeline match also refers to an editing technique that ensures continuity of the characters’ gazes. It gives the illusion that the two characters are looking at each other. In a scene with multiple shots of different characters interacting, it must be clear who is looking at whom.
I watched two example that Robin gave, the first is My Sex Life, or How I got into an Arguement (1996) which is a continuing shot that camera follows the character’s movement. The characters in the frame always change position or the other character that need to talk with. So the eyeline in the shot is very important that you need to lead the audience a correct way that what or whom they need to focus on. The scene was kind of interesting, I am digging with continuing shot these days so that is a good scene help me understanding eyeline in one take shot.
The second one is Full Moon in Paris (1984) which is different from the first. That is a mobile static shot. But the cinematographer deals with the camera position and the eyeline so well that audience would focus on the frame.
And Robin showed us Carlos as well that Robin described as a modern style of lighting which means the exposure not always on the face of the character taking. The mise-en-scene is so important and also the camera works. So far I still don’t have more thought about the scene but it is interesting. I need more time to watch it again and again.
The 180 degree rules exists to preserve screen direction. It’s an invisible line drawn down the center of a scene between two actors; a semi-circle extends half of a circle’s radius (or 180 degrees) around them. The rule preserves eyeline in a dialogue sequence, and, crucially, maintains screen direction (so that one character is always moving left and the other, right).
For me, I don’t think that is necessary to follow the 180 degree rules. I mean, there are some great directors break the rules as well. So in my opinion, just make sense in the scene that you shoot. Break the rules does not mean that you are not making sense. In some ways, shooting the scenes without following 180 degree rules is kind of fun.
on Reflection 4
In this week, due to the situation, I could not practice with camera to do a scene so Idid a storyboard, shot list and floor plan. Although the script is short, there are not so much dialogue, after all the classes before that, I consider a lot to make it as easy but show the relationship and conflict between the characters. What I think about is: who is the main character we want to focus on this scene? What happened or what is going to happen between the characters? What story may about then? It was just a simple scene, when I submitted my work online, I also have a opportunity to see other classmate’s work. That was fun that you can see the same script bur people will film it in different ways.
And about decoupage, as I studied, decoupage is not editing. It’s fundamentally distinct from editing that it is more or less applied or realised through the editing process. The term was initially split into two meanings ‘decoupage’ and ‘decoupage technique’ the initial relating to concerns of film form whilst the latter was roughly defined as the process of cutting up the script from the narrative, a detailed plan for shooting complete with camera indications, stage directions and editing directions. The reflection I wrote before that I have a wrong definition of decoupage now so far I got what it means and still need more time to learn and think about that. So the easy way to think of decoupage is that means ‘to cut up’.
Montage and Decoupage are two very important terms which have been used throughout film history. Varying definitions, functions and methodologies of such terms have been widely theorised and practised upon within cinema.A key difference that I found is that decoupage seems to apply to a single unified space, whereas montage can apply to multiple spaces(parallel montage) or a single space. In the end the terms are largely context dependant on whose definition you refer to them with, although each author has attempted to define a particular the terms as a particular process, the terms themselves seem to be somewhat dependant on the individuals philosophical approach to filmmaking.