Re-read studio description
After re-read the studio description, I have the new understanding of coverage in film and the purpose of this studio. Coverage, simply is to go through the play completely from the main shot first, and then shoot some content again according to the situation from different angle. The main shot and overlay shot method is the most mainstream scene shooting process, its advantages are obvious, the order of first master and then cover first solves the problem of following shot. Secondly, it leaves more space for shooting day. When shooting the main scene, it still can adjust the covering shot. After the completion of the main shot, under the condition of time permitting and respecting the actors, shooting proper amount of overlay shots can create more options for the re-creation of post-editing. If I were the director, my own workflow going to be: determine a main shot and then adjust the overlay through the process of rehearsal, trial shooting and shooting the main shot. Main shot- overlay shot is just one way of shooting scene, some director with strong visual narratives, such as my research topic Bong Joon-ho. He had a very precise shot design, and even edited it in his head during the script stage, there is a very limited amount of coverage between the different shots. But also, a shot-by-shot like Bong Joon-ho means there may be a few snags in the editing process. The editor of Parasites revealed in the interview, there was no shot covering the shot, if a shot was bad, other scenes of the same shot could only be used to piece together a usable material. So in my opinion, I think to every director has their own understanding of coverage, I still need to learn and search more principle and hands-on experience.
Shot composition
During I am working on my research topic, I am interested in film shot composition. I found the balance and symmetry composition appears in Bong’s film very much. Its important for directors and cinematographers to know the rules of composition. Sometimes for special reasons, they used balance and symmetry to break the rule of thirds. The rule of the thirds is nothing else than a simplification of the golden mean, a simple rule to be followed so that your subject is placed within a certain area of an imaginary grid, which splits your picture in 9 equal areas. In the shooting, we can use the rule of third in two functions basically. First, we can divide the image into two distinctive area which over 1:3 and 2:3 of the size of the picture. Secondly, imagine drawing a tic-tac-toe board, the characters stand on both sides of the intersecting line. Furthermore, Bong like to set eye level composition. This composition brings the audience and the character at eye level, which implies the concept of equality between the viewer and the character, and guide the audience’s mind to think “if I were there, how do I feel”, this composition make audiences feels that they are already there. Eye level composition mostly appears in “Mother”.
Reflect research topic
Before I settle down my research topic, my previous idea was to discuss and dig more information about decoupage, but my feedback is find more related to decoupage, because the studio is all around decoupage and coverage. So, my firstly change is to discuss the revolution of Asian animation film, but this topic is not really related to the studio conception, because we can’t see much more coverage in the animation film, it is hard to discuss, and the to talk about revolution is quite tedious. So, after I talk with Robbin, I decided to change my topic as Bong Joon-ho’s style of filming and his coverage in the film. I mainly focus on his coverage in different movies and in the similar way to shot, and what going to telling audiences thought this shot composition, also, he’s personal ideas about pre-production. Those will be discussed by the studio concept.
Scene review
In the class 22, the clips of MAD MEN, this scene have 6 shots, mainly focus on 3 character’s conversation. The beginning of this scene is medium shot, the man wearing the black suit waling out of elevator fast, then walk out of the camera, and the camera is panning/following to the man walking out of the elevator secondly, bring him to their conversation area. And the third man is come out of the door, they are standing at the middle of the corridor. This is the first shot. And we can see the end of the first shot was balance and symmetry composition. When they are having the conversation, there were talking in two people, and those are medium close-up dirty shots. And the following shot when they three standing in the camera, the shot become medium close-up shot, which is different with the first shot. In the last shot, when the man is leaving, the camera focal length zooms out a little bit but still focus on the left two men.
Kid with a Bike
In the clip of Kid with a Bike 2, the camera is tracking him, we can see the picture is shaking, this is the function to show the kid is fluttered. If the scene need to shoot by hand hold, it might be many rehearsals before shooting. And to keep the camera as still as possible in every scene. The motion of track can be straight of radian along with the motion amplitude of the subject. Following shot well give audience to perceive the space and scene in the picture as much as possible. Furthermore, in this clip, the camera being paced there enabled us to have an all-encompassing shot, 360 degrees, giving the audience the impression of being inside. Handheld is freer and cannot be limited by space, when the camera shaking that can create a tense an dizzying viewing effect, and the camera can be close to the subject as possible to observe details, also, handheld can create a realistic subjective perspective.
Reflection of week 9 presentation
Reflect to Cora’s research topic- Chungking Express by Wong Kar-wai. Chungking Express is a 1994 Hong Kong romantic crime comedy drama film. The film consists of two stories told in sequence, each about a lovesick Hong Kong policeman mulling over his relationship with a woman. I had research in the previous study. This film use the narrative means of story juxtaposition, telling two stories, so this will reflect the isolation of the individual characters. the different scenes, different emotions and different ways of shooting and editing reflect the skill of photographers and editors. At the beginning of the film, a handheld camera follows the woman as she walks, and the police chase footage. Two separate scene are both of use the overlay function. The whole film combines unique cinematography and sound effects in a quick editing method, which is to better present this film with his style. I have had watch his other films, like In the mood for love, I noticed, in his film, he has own style of color correction, when you watch the film, the color represents the mood and emotion of different characters.
Research project
My research topic is South Korea director Bong Joon-ho, and his styling of making a film. Bong Joon-ho was born in Daegu, South Korea. He graduated from Yonsei University, one of the three major universities in South Korea. Therefore, he has profound knowledge base. After he graduated, Bong Joon-ho devoted himself to the film industry. His debut film is Barking dogs never bite, and he trying the thriller suspense Memories of murder, Mother, and Si-Fi film The Host, action Si-Fi film Snow Piercer, the Parasites is won the top prize of the 72th Cannes film festival and the 92th annual academy four best.
He draws very meticulous storyboards, going on set without storyboards feels like standing in grand central station without pants. And he said make films that satisfy you, don’t think about other people, create something that satisfies you. Furthermore, In Bong joon-ho’s film, this kind of sudden mistake is kind of unnormal in the film, but that give the audiences expectations. Like, Chiris is fighting with enemy in the train and he stepped on a fish then fall on the floor. Another example is in the film Okja, a man is running fast but hit by an opening car door.
Snow piercer is a South Korea-America film directed by Bong Joon-ho. When is film release in North America, The Weinstein Company considers the duration is bit long for release and they hope to cut 20 minutes. Bong Joon-ho expressed strongly disagrees, sometimes he is portending does not know what are they talking in English. “In Hollywood, the producers always interfere with the director.” Boog Joon-ho also said: “A foreign director in Hollywood, they are restrained, you don’t have the final cut authority, or the production company having the power than the director, but I have the most power of control.” The absolute control of the film is protection to his creative idea.
To talk about Parasites, this film is reveals the class gap between rich and poor. From this film, that shows the satirize of realism. This film use the classic Hollywood techniques, designs a fascinating plot, sets up new conflicts step by step, promotes the plot development by the “motivation”, and uses mature Hollywood classicism model to show human nature. And, Long shots, depth of field shots, frame composition, extension composition, horizontal composition, diagonal composition and closed composition to highlight the characteristics of the environment.
Bong joon-ho deepened his theme through symbolic metaphors, such as picking up a stone and putting it down, symbolizing the desire to rise and the desire to let go, and the cockroach being a symbol of the lower class. In the end of film, Bong Joon-ho uses a symmetrical ending to draw people’s thoughts on the structural violence of society, the emotional resonance for the people at the bottom and the tyranny of the powerful class.
In addition, Bong seems don’t like normal coverage, for example, he instead of covering up the dialogue with a backbeat, switches between the characters. In an interview, Bong said: “When parasites were made, there was no coverage, and didn’t even shoot the main scene. So, if a shot doesn’t work in the editing room, we sew different shots together to make it look like on shot. We did this is to cutting perfect.
In the interview No Film School Bong said “In the party scene, which was originally in the storyboard and script, Kim Ki taek(driver) and Mr.Park in Native American headdress hiding together, and they have a conversation before the chaos begins. In the script and storyboard setting, there is a moment when Kim get a whiff of Mr. Park, a crucial moment when he really “cross the line”. But when we cut it, we cut it out. Because we considering how to get the audience to understand that moment when Taek changed. Throughout the film, especially at the end, you will see him get more and more angry, and empathize with and understand this character’s transformation? If we cut the original script and storyboard, Teak smelled Mr. Park, then audience would have disappeared in an instant, so we decided to make the conversation between Taek and Mr. Park even more intense, and asking them to end the conversation by their eyes. They don’t say anything, and they walk through the party, and chaos begins.
Through the research, I found director Bong joon-ho is a very creative person, he has strong basic skills on drawing, character analysis, he made the character as ordinary people to telling the story. And also, his film are many turning points. When the direction of the story or the character reverses at the last minute, it impressed audiences. The turning points is more like a sudden revelation of the central style of the story or the director’s point of view that directly changes the main line of the film.