This week I began finalising my horror film and watching the films listed on them. There are a lot of examples of the POV shot throughout the genre and wanted to start getting though the films as soon as possible to avoid leaving it to the assessment until the last minute. While I wanted to cover a variety of films there simply wasn’t enough time to do so with how many films use the technique over the years and I have to work on presentations for my other classes in-between completing this project as well. With isolation still in effect I looked into horror films I owned already or could watch online so I didn’t have to leave the house and my presentation has evolved from looking at the technique from the 70’s onwards into looking at classic horror films from the 70’s to the 90’s and examining their modern remakes to see if they had included the camera technique as well and if they had was the technique improved or upgraded with the more updated camera equipment we have today or even reinvented along with new take on the source material whether that been in book based horror films or the source material of the original. I’ve decided to look at Black Christmas (1974) and it’s remakes that came out in 2006 and recently in 2019, Carrie (1976) and it’s 2013 remake, Halloween (1978) and it’s 2007 remake along with the 2018 “remake” that also serves as a sequel to the original alone ignoring the several sequels and the 2007 remake that came after it, Friday the 13^th (1980) and the only remake that was made before the property was caught up in an ongoing legal battle which was released in 2009, The Evil Dead (1981) and it’s 2013 remake, My Bloody Valentine (1981) and it’s 2009 remake release during the height of the 3D horror movie phase, my favourite classic horror franchise Child’s play and it’s 2019 remake and IT (1990) and it’s two part cinematic remake that was release in 2017 and 2019.

While everyone has decided to do research into a certain camera technique across multiple films and documentaries by different directors, I think Lachlan’s research assessment on Edgar Wright is particularly interesting as he’s chosen to look at the director’s overall unique style and how he’s applied it across his filmography. Wright’s films are all original with the exception of Scott Pilgrim vs The World which was an adaptation of a comic book series only known as Scott Pilgrim and while his films may include reoccurring cast members that’s the only thing really connecting them although there is the exception of the three flavours cornetto trilogy where the main characters in Shaun of the Dead (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and The World’s End (2013), played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, purchase Cornetto’s in the films or Cornetto wrappers are being shown across them.

Wright’s films cover a variety of situations such as car chases, shootouts, hand to hand and even sword fight scenes all of which are fun to watch and yet the director has the ability to even make simpler and quieter moments in films such as getting ready for work engaging and entertaining for the audience. As previously mentioned most of his films are unique not only due to how they’re original ideas but how different each project is for the last, so seeing how the same camera techniques are used in a movie about a zombie apocalypse are also applied in a movie about a getaway driver makes an interesting research piece. Wright’s style is so unique that anyone who’s familiar with his work is able to tell who made the film without checking who the director is, so I think Lachlan has made an excellent choice for this research topic and I’m interested in seeing his work along with everyone else’s when they’re done.

This week the group presented and explained the topics of their research assessments to the rest of us for feedback with Jesse researching how boxing matches on are covered on film, Lachlan looking into Edgar Wrights overall style across his filmography, Tully looking into how phone conversations on screen are covered between two or more scenes, Ziggy looking into when characters are taken out of their world e.g. for a song in musicals before returning back at the end and Kaan looking into documentary coverage while I explained how I’m going to look into POV shots in horror movies. I think it’s great that we’ve all chosen uniquely different topics to cover and that we could all engage with the other’s presentations and ask questions.

After the class ended I started looking into the films I could study so I started binging the YouTube channel Dead Meat where host James A. Janise does the Kill Count which goes over a horror film and does the numbers behind the kills while giving the best awards for best and worst kills in the movie. I started going over these videos as they are typically filled with interesting behind the scenes facts about the cast, crew and how shots in the movies were filmed which I believe will prove beneficial for my research topic. I also watch the ones I’d seen again and the new ones to see if there were any films that used the POV shots that I hadn’t considered so I could add them to the list of films I was already putting together. Being someone who appreciates the genre I have a stack of films at home to look through and with streaming services like Netflix having hundreds of films to pick through I should have more than enough material to research without leaving the house.

This week the group looked into how movement is covered in film particularly running scenes as we looked at how the actors were covered and edited in a couple of feature films such and Skyfall directed by Sam Mendes and Run Lola Run directed by Tom Tykwer before comparing them to a more documentary style approach in Tokyo Olympiad directed by Kon Ichikawa and Eikoh Hosoe. I’ve experimented with movement on screen in a couple of past short films but have mainly gone on instinct and what I could achieve with equipment I had on hand at the time so looking into this form of coverage was intriguing to me as it helped give me inspiration for whenever I plan on doing running shots again.

I’ve also started to plan for my research assessment as we need to present a pitch to the group and answer questions next week. Since Robin wants us to look into a topic that we enjoy to make it feel less like an assessment I decided to look into camera techniques used in horror movies as I’ve always appreciated the work that goes into them being someone who’s watched monster and horror movies from a young age. I’ve decided to do my assessment on the POV shots in horror movies that are through the eyes of the killer/monster/antagonist as normally POV shots are typically shown through the eyes of the protagonist as the story is usually told from their side of the story and since I’ve always wanted to analyse why a director would choose to do this and how it serves the film’s narrative but also since this type of POV killer shot started becoming common in the 1970’s I thought it’d be interesting to talk about how the technique was shot with the camera equipment back then and how it’s improved over the years.

In “Atomic Blonde” (2017) directed by David Leitch the truth and lies scene Lorraine gets revenge on Percival for killing Delphine while also recovering the List from him. Leitch uses colour and framing play a huge role in this scene in order to capture the audience’s attention and convey meaning.

From the start of the scene the use of colour plays a crucial role in subtly guiding the audience’s attention to what Leitch subtly wants them to focus on he achieves this by using green lighting as whatever is covered in this green light is usually what the director is asking the audience to focus on. From the very start of the scene when the flashbacks of Delphine taking photos of Percival is shown Delphine is bathed in the green light while the background has a yellow hue to it before cutting to a shot of Lorraine where the green light is placed on the side of her head perhaps to symbolise the gears of her mind turning while she figures out what to do next before finally cutting back to the present to Percival giving his speech about Berlin who is bathed in the light for the entire scene. When Lorraine goes to shoot him, Leitch chooses to focus on her hand holding the gun in the foreground of the shot while the background is the same light once again. This particular green lighting setup helps draw the eye as it’s placed between yellow lighting setups on either side but also after Percival has been shot he stumbles and falls directly into the beam of light and when Lorraine walks closer to Percival Leitch chooses to show the two figures from above and it highlights them and their position in the otherwise primarily dark scene.

Another key aspect of this scene is how Leitch chooses to frame his shots. Close up shots are used on Lorraine and Percival’s to help convey the intensity of the scene but also to show their emotional reactions and emphasise this to the audience especially when important plot information is given to the audience. For a large portion of the scene after Percival has been shot Lorraine is shown using a low angle shot while Percival’s are shown from a high angle to symbolise the power Lorraine has over him in this scene as she could end his life any second. Lorraine only comes down to Percival’s level in the same shot to collect the list and even then, she’s crouched down above him still holding a sense of power over him until the end.

The audio is handled very cleverly as well the dialogue gives away a pivotal moment in the movie before the explicit reveal without directly stating the twist to the audience as the two characters already know what’s going on and Leitch realises it would seem off for either one of them to state it for the audiences sake. The background noise haunting as people in the distance are celebrating the fall of the Berlin wall which is a stark contrast to the scene the audience is watching as something quite gruesome is most likely being drowned out by the lively city around them.

This week we looked back on our discussions on focal length and began looking into the works of Jean Renoir. Robin asked us to take a look at Renoir’s work but argued that we should not be discouraged from looking into his work because we “must” study it saying it is not something we have to do but the knowledge is there so why not seize the opportunity using the idea of disliking Shakespeare due to studying some works in high school as an example but I had quite the opposite opinion filmmaking actually made me interested in studying Shakespeare among other pieces of literature in high school due to how much his and other authors work had been used and referenced and parodied over the course of film history. Which is another reason I chose to do textual crossings literary adaptation as a course to study this semester.

Since we’re all coming back from Easter break this week was a bit more relaxed as some of the notes we were sent were tips to help us write our advanced drama analysis for assignment 2. I chose to do mine on “Atomic Blonde” (2017) directed by David Leitch as it’s my favourite female led film and one I believe I can write a lot about. We’ve also been asked to consider doing a research task which I’ll have to look into later this week as I haven’t been able to find the time between getting this assignment finished alongside other work that’s due for other classes this week.

Reading Response

“The Absolute Brilliance of the Single Master Shot”

This week’s reading was fun due to the structural breakdown of a shot I’ve never tried outside of the occasional studio exercise which was the master shot. It was interesting to break down the many benefits of a master shot if it fits with the goal of your scene, how it can cut down on potential on set issues such as matching eye lines and wardrobe continuity issues both of which has been recently talked about in class and how they can benefit something like a comedic scene as cutting the scene done in segmented takes in the edit room might affect the timing of the comedy I personally think while the piece makes not of how easy and cheaper master shots may be I think like all other shots in cinema they have a time and a place and shouldn’t be used solely to lessen the budget of your film in my opinion master shots work great in actions scenes and since I’m writing about atomic blonde for my drama analysis it’d be a shame not to talk about the one used in that film as it’s one of my all time favourites. The scene is several minutes long and switches into several rooms, flights of stairs and features intense fight choreography done by the actress (Charlize Theron) herself due to her determination to the character and her work but also to preserve the shot instead of segmenting takes with a stunt actress.

This week we continued the group’s discussion on decoupage by watching two clips both single take shots taking place at parties one from “My Sex Life or How I Got Into an Argument” (1996) which featured a camera following the characters around the party and “Full Moon in Paris” (1984) which was as stationary camera focusing on people dancing at a party and discussed what decoupage means in a single shot. To me decoupage will always come down to a directors intentions I don’t believe in a director covering a shot a certain way because they can it should always come down to what the director is trying to convey with a shot as discussed in the readings shots I agree would have different meanings if the shot was fragmented and shot in pieces.

We also continued our discussion about eyelines and the thought and planning that has to go into them whether it is easy for the actors as they are in the same room acting out the scene together or if they have to shoot the scenes at different times so care needs to be considered when the actors need to know where to look so that it doesn’t look bad when the footage hits the editing room. We watched a clip from “The Wild Bunch” (1969) which showed us an example of eyelines that go beyond two people having a conversation next to each other which included mapping out eyelines from characters in wagons, on horses and high above in the mountains which I thought was an interesting perspective to look at this week instead of more simple eyeline clips.

Reading Response

“Matching for Continuity: Why it’s Critical”

 Like the reading last week I found these pages enjoyable although I know a bit more about the topic going in this time around as I try to be someone who tries to keep track of continuity in my films in terms of the topics discussed here such as lighting and costuming. This has worked out well in my favour most likely due to how small I like to keep my cast so it’s easier to keep track of the people’s continuity but also I’ve noticed some characters I only need for a day or two if they’re not the main actor/s which helps since there’s less scenes to worry about. My main issue is probably keeping the consistency of my actor’s performances as communicating with them is probably my biggest flaw as a director I need to improve on.

The class currently has lack of resources due to the corona virus causing everyone to be stuck at home in lockdown which has resulted in a lot of us being unable to complete last week’s exercise being an attempt to shoot one of the four scripts we looked at last week, however, Robin suggested we attempt to do a shot list, storyboard and a camera plan of the scene instead. I chose to do the script which featured two characters named Bob and Beatrice in the hallway of an entertainment center as the plans for how I was going to visualise it came easiest to me that said while I can do the tasks given to me I really don’t like doing storyboards I think storyboards are helpful so I don’t regret doing them it’s just I’m not keen on doing them due to my poor drawing skills as I don’t think I can correctly translate what I want my shots to look like.

This week we also started to delve into the French term decoupage which I’m very interested to look into as it is something I wish we’d looked more into the last few years and it’s one of if not the primary reason I picked this class my first preference as I want to be a director and want to expand my knowledge into more than just basic camera set ups and delve into the more emotional side of decoupage instead of picking a angle because it looks cool because I think it’s a skill I need to improve on if I want to be a successful director.

Reading Response

“The Background Action: How to Keep it Real and How to Get it Right”

I really enjoyed this reading as the staging of extras is something I haven’t had to many chances to do yet but always understood the importance of extras when it came to the film’s continuity. I appreciated the reading talked about the importance of accuracy by going to officials or people who actually do what you need your extras to do for a living to get advice in order to make the performance authentic as well as the talking about the role of technical advisers which is a role I haven’t had the chance to do myself yet but would like to challenge myself with doing in order to get a better perspective on managing extras on set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx75t8V4R70

From the start of the scene the audience can assume where Arthur’s headspace is at as it is established early on in the film that Arthur is suicidal shown in his joke book which read’s “I just hope my death makes more cents than my life” and when he pretends to be on the show he practices shooting himself telling the audience that’s what he intends to do once he’s actually on there however the shots leading up to it actually tell the audience that he has no intention of doing so before the scene actually reveals it.

This shown by having Murray make jokes about him about him before he comes on stage but he is shown is darkness, anger on his face and the camera shown at a low angle looking up at him giving the audience the sense that he has power over the upcoming event. Arthur in a wide shot does a little bit of slow-motion dancing calling back to his dance on the steps reminding the audience of this new “joker” form he has taken. I believe Arthur being shown here is also a specific choice as the director shows a character who the audience believes is about pull the curtain down on his own life joyously emerging from a curtain. Phoenix’s performance here is astounding showing the audience that the old Arthur wouldn’t dream of acting this way dancing around and kissing another one of Murray’s Guests all shown in wide shots to convey the point of view from the audience in the studio. The following shots are as both audience perspectives and camera perspectives as Phillips attempts to shoot and edit this scene like the interview would have been presented to home viewers with the exception of a few shots to the camera screen which leads to Joker being asked to tell a joke. The camera uses a wide lense and an audience pov even keeping a camera in shot to show how Joker looks to them, reaching to pull what the audience watching the film think is his gun but clever blocking with the use of Murray’s desk in a mid-shot puts the audience on edge until the reveal of the joke book instead. The scenes then begin to intense thanks to the use of score and Phillips going back to a cinematic approach to the camera work using close ups before going back to more calmer mid shots when the tension seems to decrease slightly.

With the university moving the classes online for at least the next month I, along with the rest of the class, was unable to take part in planned group practical exercises instead we looked at the readings Robin posted.

This week’s reading focused on my favourite aspects of directing a film which is the individual styles that directors leave on their work due to combination of their choices such as the shots involved, character blocking as well as other factors such as set and costume design by looking at a variety of clips each set in pairs that had a similar situation eg: characters talking in a bar and analysed the differences in them. I thoroughly enjoyed this week’s reading as it not only covered a topic I’m interested in but it challenged me to look more in depth at these scenes and the directorial choices involved by each one by making me question why I thought the directors chose those shots over others and how if I was shooting those scenes what choices would I make instead.

In part 3 I watched a scene from the movie Margaret (2011) Directed by Kenneth Lonergan and Robin asked us to break it down:

This scene conveys a lot of information from the very start using wide shots of busy sidewalks the central character is walking up and down before cutting to a shot of her looking for a cowboy hat in stores in between the two wide shots this is used to show the audience how much time and effort she must be spending to look for this hat before we see the bus driver. The shot choices here are very specific to put the audience on edge as we have two characters one of which is driving a bus and the other is running alongside it on the road talking to each other and clearly not paying attention to what’s in front of them which is why the director chooses to show the camera choices through their eyes as their conversation stays entirely on them through a combination of mid and wide shots and the director chooses to not show what’s ahead on the road itself just as the characters are not paying attention to what’s ahead until we see the woman when it’s too late for the bus driver.