Archive | May 2014

Week 9 Reading

May8

Shields is a creative nonfiction writer, and this is a fantastic book. Why are we reading this? Because it is all about what in film is called editing, and in Korsakow might be thought of as linking via keywords. What Shields thinks of as collage. Could have been written for this subject. – Adrian Miles

So this weeks reading was a lot easier to read for me than the previous ones, however I have failed to grasp the exact meaning or intent of what the reading is supposed to be telling us. This is why I have placed Adrian’s explanation of why we are reading it above, as this has somewhat helped my understanding of the readings intent.

‘The law of mosaics: how to deal with parts in the absence of wholes.’ (317) – This statement was highlighted, so I feel like it’s kind of important. Once read along with Adrian’s comment about ‘editing’ and Korsakow’s keywords, the statement makes a little more sense. Then after reading further down through the reading, it becomes apparent to me that this reading is quite insightful into the way narrative and ‘collage’ style narrative relates to what we are trying to accomplish with Korsakow. It talks of rhythm and arranging material in narrative, and this plays in with the whole concept of Korskow and how a non linear narrative can still flow through rhythm and movement and pattern and relation.

Week 8 Analysis & Reflection Q3:

May3
Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
In this scene we can see the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe what Antonioni would have considered when directing the actors and the camera.
When filming this scene, Michelangelo Antonioni would have had to have considered the camera movement, angels, focus, and direction of the actors. He would have figured out the blocking of the scene, and gone through this with the camera operator to decide on when to do pans or tilts, when to follow the movement and when to stay static. He would have also had to let the camera operator know what kind of depth of field he was looking for in particular sections, allowing the camera operator to decide on when to change the focus either during shooting via a focus pull or in between shots. He would have considered the actors movement greatly in this scene, as their movement heavily enforces the camera movement.

Week 8 Analysis & Reflection Q2:

May3

Out of the readings from week 5-7 I enjoyed most reading about film crews and ways of developing a film crew in the most effective way (week 6 reading). This reading stated that in a low budget film, the crew needs to be committed to the project, stating ‘a low-budget enterprise needs optimal unity because much will be done by few. Belief and morale really matter.’ (P.386) This really made me think to my own groups project and how we have all been working together, believing in ourselves and our film, in order to get things done the best we can. Another section of this reading I found to be interesting was the part on the Camera Department of a film crew, and especially the Camera Operator, as this is my role in my groups project. I have never really done any professional camera work before, so going into this short film project has been a little daunting to me, however I do really love learning and working with the camera. In this explanation of a good camera operator, the reading talks of how they are fairly quick to learn the signs for an actors movement, to be able to follow that movement smoothly. It discusses how a director views the scenes action in front of, or sometimes behind the camera, whereas the camera operator views it through the cameras lens, seeing it in its framed cinematic form. So this made it really clear to me that the director and camera operator have to trust each other and work as a team to capture the shots in a particular way. ‘The director must be able to rely on the camera operators discrimination,’  as the reading states. (p.396)

Week 8 Analysis & Refection Q1:

May3

In this weeks Film TV-1 lecture the content covered was somewhat useful and relevant to our group projects. Being shown how to block out a scene and use a dolly was helpful as on the day of our shoots we will need to know this kind of information and skill. The dolly was really interesting as I have never really seen one be used first hand, and it was surprising to me to see how long it actually takes to set up and conduct, and how many people it actually requires to get the shot. The blocking out of a scene, going through the steps and making sure the camera movement, focus and frame are all appropriate, is definitely something that is very relevant to our film shoots and just good to add to our knowledge base of filmmaking. The main thing I took from this weeks lecture was the explanation about the focus and focus pulling during a shot. Before this, I had no idea there was such thing as a focus puller, and I feel like after being taught this, our project will benefit as we now know how to accomplish a focus pull.

This entry was posted on May 3, 2014, in FILM-TV 1.

Reading week 8

May3

This weeks reading informed me on the different ways documentary film relates and interacts with its viewer/audience when lists and categories are used. Here are some quotes/statements front the reading that I found fascinating and/or helpful:

‘Certain documentary projects use non-narrative form as a way to prompt dialogue between the spectator and the work. ‘ p. 137

‘As Kate Nash describes the form, particularly in relation to webdocs: “the temporal ordering of elements is less important than the comparisons and associations the user is invited to make between the documentary’s elements” (2012, p. 205).’

‘For Bordwell and Thompson: [a]ssociational formal systems suggest ideas and expressive qualities by grouping images that may not have any immediate logical connection. But the very fact that the images and sounds are juxtaposed prods us to look for some connection — an association that binds them together. (2008, p. 363)’

‘In associational form relationships are created through conceptual alignment, emotional impact, visual similarities and territories of gesture. A poetic application of associational form creates relationships between elements that are more often felt than thought.’ P. 139

‘Often structured around unifying themes or existing categories and classifications, the list can also inspire thought that follows the structure of memory, impulse and flashes of association.’ P. 141

‘It is an emergent structure that is only revealed as users work their way through a site, exploring originating material, user generated content and perhaps adding their own contributions.’ P. 142

Korsakow and Screenwriters

May1

I was on google just now, doing some further research into Korsakow and multilinear films, and I came across this site where someone has made a post on Korsakow:

So, an interesting new medium for Screenwriters (and: Filmmakers) is: the K-Film, (or: Korsakow Film.)

Korsakow is a free application, invented and developed by academics, whereby – you can create a multi-linear interactive online film, that plays in a web browser.

The multi-linear nature of the K-Film medium itself (whereby, the Viewer chooses the path they navigate through the film) creates many fascinating (and: rewarding) challenges for a screenwriter.
(It also has much in common with: Game Writing and Design). [http://screenwritingresearch.com/forums/topic/on-multi-linear-online-interactive-films-or-k-films/]

The last sentence of this post prompted me to start thinking about the way that Korsakow and a screenwriter can interact. I imagine it would for sure be quite difficult for a screenwriter to plan and fully achieve a K-film the way they want. The planning and screenwriting can be done well, however, once exported as a Korsakow film the ideas and visions of the screenwriter can be quickly disregarded, as the audience is in control of what they watch and the order they watch it in. As discussed in many of the lectures so far, intended meanings by the creator or writer of pretty much any project are not always guaranteed to be received by the viewers in the same way they are sent out. Audiences take their own personal views and values into interpreting content, with this being a major factor in the way K-films are received. They can be watched in an order of the viewers choice, and therefore the viewer has final say over the way they take in the film and what exactly they believe it is trying to say – leaving the task of screenwriting for Korsakow to possibly be a difficult one.