Exercise Two: Quite literally a ‘field exercise’ (True to Form)

“Found a field, found a camera, found some grass, found a weekend to film, found the freedom to experiment, I’m fantastically flabbergasted” Michael Serpell 13.5.2017 

Exercise 2 was a crucial exercise for the outcome of my production, two elements that needed to be clear by the end of the proposed filming on Saturday was the location of filming and the type of camera I was going to film my final experiment with.

Exercise un,deux. Bacchus Marsh and the You Yangs were locations strongly suggested by the class and Paul our True to Form Studio teacher.I departed on the two hour journey up the western ring road hoping for some long aged grass at the proposed location or better yet on the way there.

Following the familiar trend, the weather was not great. It was overcast with light showers, heavy at times but overall poor lighting and really no clear idea where to film. Incredibly driving through Caroline Springs and Rockbank my eyes were fixated on a large allustrious field of long grass, the right sun-tinged colour and thankfully not too far from Melbourne either.  I couldn’t resist… I needed to see it close up. To my amazement, it was exactly what I needed, long enough grass for my subject and about leg to waste high in sections for a subject at my height, I was very impressed to say the least.

The aim was to find a location and to experiment with the Sony X70 which I was using for the first time. I had an idea of proposed shots in my head which I wanted to film, I brought a tripod which allowed me to focus on separate strands of grass and then use the steadiness of the tripod to move the camera slowly through the grass to give away the perspective of the subject .

The X70 has a large sensor which allowed to capture in detail everything in frame, the close ups and extreme close ups despite being more clearer than what I expected weren’t as clear, crisp and in depth as the SLR, probably due to the larger sensor size of the SLR however the X70 sensor wasn’t too far off., the autofocus and filters deals better with contrast and produces in my opinion a better image.

The high frame rate although not experimented and tampered with on this particular shot will be of interest in future weeks when I film with my subject. My subject will be filmed running through the long grassed field potentially in slow motion, and the X70 can film with high frame rate slowing down the subjects actions. Depending on the editing and the clarity of the slowed down footage it may aesthetically look better to film on the SLR and slow down the footage however if the movement doesn’t look natural enough and too stagnant then the high frame rate on the X70 may be able to improve the movement. Another consideration is slowing down the footage when editing which although it may look shaky at times may be a lot easier to achieve.

Factors affecting the film was natural light, I wasn’t too fussed during this filming as this filming intended purpose was to find a location and experiment with the camera however desirably a sunny day in the dawn or dusk would be most pleasing as the light through the grass and movement of the grass will be properly lit up and as far as beauty is concerned with sunlight the grass will be at its poetic best.

Weather is an uncontrollable element but on this shot I did manage to film a minute worth of sunlight which was better than what was expected on this particular occasion.

I am confident that this is a location that can work effectively for future shooting the next exercise is to film much of the same but with an SLR camera to give the film a different look.

Planning:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best variety of shots taken during shooting Exercise 2 13.5.2017

Grass in deep focus (pay attention to the movement of the wind through the grass and the finite details of the grass)

 

Golden Grass (best bit of lighting I received all day although it was a short shot, the exposure was high and did work blending out the background)

 

Grass pan (simple pan over the field, saturation tampered with, a good idea of the space and vastness we’re working with)

 

Grass still shot (field in a still shot, notice the movement of the grass and how it moves independently and as one)

 

Grass pan across the field (again saturated again slow pan commenting on the vastness, comparing the sky with the grass and how the two opposes blend together as one)

 

Grass (slow zoom into the grass focusing on one strong point of grass)

 

Grass in detailed pan (grass in close up, tight framing pan through the repetitiveness yet diversity of each strand of unique grass)

 

Yellow grass in detail (although not the most yellow grass, same focus on grass in close up, static shot)

 

Grass close up detail Part II (Grass again in a tight close up this time specifically focusing on a small network of grass strands)

 

Grass Movement change in exposure (short but powerful shot of changed exposure and saturation of grass in still shot, lower angle)

 

Grass close up detail (grass static shot in glass up following movement of grass)

 

Timelapse Grass (experimented with turning 15 minutes worth of footage into a 0:22 second time lapse beautiful to see the rapid moving grass and ominous clouds moving as one)

 

Walking through grass quickly (perspective of the girl running through the grass similar shot may be used in final)

 

Walking through golden grass (best burst on sunlight we received on this shoot, walking slowly admiring the varsity of grass and beautiful colour which is emphasized with full sun exposure)

Link to full experiment 2 playlist

Michael Serpell