Reflection 1

Through the study of week 7, I realized that as a director, how to correctly guide the actors to convey what they want to express is particularly important.  First of all, the director’s ability to accurately judge actors is very important.  What kind of actor is suitable for what type of role, if the judgment is correct, the communication between the director and the actor will be smoother.  Can save the time of later running-in.  Of course, experienced directors will first fully understand their actors, and then formulate shooting plans, and can even adjust the appropriate shooting methods according to the states of different actors, so that the actors can complete the director’s needs in the most relaxed environment and in the most comfortable state. Secondly, the storyboard manuscript can also help directors and actors to communicate more effectively.  Learn to preview in advance to see if these shots can achieve the effects and emotions you want, and be aware of them in advance.  Only in this way can we know which lenses can play what role, which lenses are indispensable, and which lenses can push emotions to accurate plot points.  Because the shooting scene will change due to various issues at any time, and only when you are prepared in advance, these external factors will not disrupt your plans and ideas, and will not mess up your measure.  Of course, the most important thing is the trust between the actor and the director.  I have a deep understanding of this during the practice homework before shooting. As my parents performed as newcomers with no shooting experience, the first thing to overcome was the fear of the camera.  I first gave them psychological comfort, and then clearly put forward my request.  During the filming process, they completely trusted me and strictly implemented the requirements that I put forward. Although not as brilliant as the performance of professional actors, the result turns out was much more better compared to the first time we shoot.

Reflection 2

I learned a variety of knowledge about camera movements and motion photography. Motion photography is divided into two categories: fixed position panning and tilting，and moving photography. When shooting, the camera position remains unchanged, and the shooting direction is continuously changed, which is called panning or tilting. Mobile photography not only continuously changes the shooting direction when shooting, but also continuously changes the shooting position.  Motion photography breaks the limitations of the frame on space.  Rolling and panning essentially break the left and right boundaries of the frame, and the screen shows the breadth of a continuous horizontal space. Vertical panning and movement (lifting movement) are the restrictions on the space arranged on the upper and lower boundaries of the frame, showing the height and depth of the space. So the basic function of sports photography is to show the breadth and height of the space. In film photography, there are many types of sports equipment used as sports lenses, mainly including slides, elevators, Steadicam, camera vibrators, Avia, and even ordinary civilian cars and helicopters can be used as sports lenses for film photography. With the advancement of technology, motion equipment that can be used by film and television workers is becoming more and more abundant. But when shooting this kind of sports lens, I often encounter the problem of inaccurate focus. After a variety of experiments, I found that in shooting, it is necessary to deal with the relationship between the movement both in the frame and the movement outside the frame. Every transition of the camera movement should be consistent with the transformation of the character’s movement and direction, and the transformation of the plot and emotional development. So that the external movement of the picture is coordinated with the internal movement of the picture, and the internal rhythm and external rhythm are harmoniously unified.

Reflection 3

In addition to the 180-degree rule that needs to be followed in normal conversations between two people, I also learned some details that I have to pay attention to when shooting multi-person conversations. Generally speaking, when I enter to the space for the first time, I definitely want to understand the positional relationship between this space and various characters, so I generally need a panoramic view at the beginning, or a sports lens that can accommodate most people. Then when the character starts to speak, I need to get closer and zoom in to see the person’s face clearly, but I can’t appear directly in front of the character’s line of sight, so that audience feel that they are being looked directly at by him, making the audiences nervous and uncomfortable. I have to move the camera a bit offset so that they feel more comfortable. Therefore, when speaking, it is usually a close up of the protagonist’s face. But the distance shouldn’t be too close, too close will make audience nervous and uncomfortable, and audiences will feel that they will be touched by others, so I have to move away and use the telephoto method to see his face clearly.  When different characters speak, your viewing direction has to change. In order to always see the front face of the other person (a little bit sideways), my position is likely to change as well.  Pay attention to the change of this position. Don’t cross the middle of those people and cross to the other side (over the axis), and don’t run to the place where the left and right positions of the characters are interchanged in your eyes (the same over the axis), this will make you dizzy.  (The character’s left and right positions are suddenly swapped), so I need to always keep dangling in the area on one side.  If I want to go to the other side, it is best to have an intermediate process, don’t jump over directly.

Reflection 4

I think I finally knows the difference between decoupage and montage. Both “decoupage” and “montage” have the meaning of organizing, arranging, and combining various footages of film and television according to the requirements of “creative conception”.  So I think that “decoupage” and “montage” are synonymous in terms of meaning.  But editing cannot generalize or represent montage, and montage cannot fully include decoupage.

In terms of the application of “decoupage” and “montage” in film industries, “decoupage” emphasizes technicality, while “montage” emphasizes artistic quality.  From a technical point of view, “decoupage” has to solve the problems of film material selection, editing points, fluency, information volume, etc. These problems do not belong to the category of “montage” theory. The essence of decoupage, to put it simply, is to complete the creation of the montage image through the decomposition and combination of the main action. Decomposing actions and combining actions are the basic methods for narrating stories and expressing content in film and television art.  When decomposing actions, choose and concentrate well, and choose and compare well when combining actions. The selection, concentration, and comparison of actions must be regulated in accordance with the rules and methods of montage.

It can also be seen from the creation of a movie that montage runs through the creation of film, while decoupage does not run through the entire process of film and television creation. It is only a stage or part of film and television creation, but montage is specifically expressed through editing.  Generally speaking, montage originated in the screenwriter’s conception, embodied in the director’s sub-mirror, embodied in the photographer’s lens, and finalized on the editor’s editing stage.

It can be seen that decoupage is only a component of montage and cannot represent montage.  As far as editing is concerned, montage is not the entire content of decoupage, but montage is also an important part of editing. Decoupage is not just simply connecting the shots together, the production of montage effects also requires editing to be completed.  This is why the same film, a good editor can make the film vivid, poor editing can make the film boring.

Reflection 5

Robin led us to watch so many excellent movie clips. Among them, a French movie called The Kid with a Bike aroused my interest, so I watched the entire flim after class.  In general, this movie tells a childhood experience of Cyril, a boy who was abandoned by his father. The film is directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luke Dardenne. The Dardennes are good at expressing the characters’ experiences and life trajectories with documentary records. Different from the complicated narrative techniques and renderings of other directors, the Dardenne brothers’ films are more real and simple, and are a documentary approach to show people and things in the film. This film uses character conversations to show the development of the story, so the middle shot is used more in the account of character communication.  This scene mainly shows the movements of the upper body of the character. The focus of the composition is more on the relationship between the half-length body of the character, the emotional communication, and the relationship between the characters. Therefore, the middle shot accounts for a large proportion of the whole movie. In the film, Cyril’s perspective is used as the narrative mode in the process of communication with father, adoptive mother Samantha, and bad boy. Give the audience a more real and distance experience. In addition, the medium shot also considers the environment in the composition of the picture, and the use of large pages will not lose the sense of environmental presence.  The most noteworthy is the boy’s bicycle that runs through the whole movie.  As one of the clues of the whole story, it makes the rhythm of the whole film vary, and it also makes the whole film move.  Continuous cycling is always interspersed in the frames, but many of them are trajectories with oblique angles, which represent the intense Cyril inside. When running, it also runs in a diagonal direction, which separates the frame, forms a visual impact, breaks the balance of the calm story, and reflects the changing process of the characters’ hearts.  When Cyril is in a good mood riding a bicycle, he is leisurely, riding parallel to the frame. The scene demonstrates Cyril’s mood and attitude through different riding angles.  Through the ingenious design of the composition, the heart of the characters is mastered, which is also the highlight of the story of the guiding speech.  Cyril is always riding a bike in his mind.  The most important thing to ignore is the difference between composition and movement.

To be honest, I didn’t think I would be interested in this kind of movies before, but after watching it carefully, I find out the unique charming point of this kind of feature film. Maybe I will continue to watch the complete movie shared by Robin in the future.

Reflection on presentation

The presentations of my classmates on their research topics showed me a lot of different knowledge about camera coverage, which gave me a lot of inspirations. Among them, Nolan’s science fiction movie ‘Inception’ mentioned by Michael really provide a deep impression to me. In movies, the special effects technology has developed to the point of ” Mix the spurious with the genuine”. In the past, some unattainable scenes can be turned into real images, especially some difficult action shots. All we have to do is to set up a green screen, even if you use a substitute, it will not be affected the results. But director Christopher Nolan, in the modern era of advanced technology, he still abandons the technical tools like CG, insist on actual location shooting.  For example, during the weightless fight of the second-level dream, the other people turn to the photographer and the camera when they revolve, and Nolan decided to turn around the whole corridor.  The crew built a 360-degree hotel corridor in an airplane hangar. Nolan completed the whole scene with the real shots in it. That kind of shocking and real visual experience is difficult to fully reproduce with special effects.

In addition to real location shooting can bring shocking visual experience to the audience, I think that real location shooting is more about to bring the audiences a sense of realism that naturally blends into the shooting content and environment. The vast majority movies of Wong Kar-wai I studied were also shot in real scenes. In the films “In the Mood for Love” and “Chungking Express “, the selected interior environments include residential buildings, fast food restaurants, single-bedroom dormitories, and market stalls… and so on are all shooting in real scene.  The real environment reveals the rich life atmosphere of ordinary people and the natural life state, and the accumulated traces of life fully show the living space of the little people in Hong Kong society.