In Thursday’s online class we discussed the concept of Decoupage. We analysed and discussed two single take scenes from different French directors. Arnaud Desplechins’s “My Sex Life, or How I got into an argument” (1996) and Eric Rohmer’s “Full Moon in Paris” (1984). Both scenes definitely do have multiple frames within the shot. Despelechin’s scene has multiple sized frames within, going from medium shots, MCU’s, to Close ups all within the same take as the camera moves through the scene with the characters. “Full moon in Paris” on the other hand is a static shot and allows the characters within to move, to create the different frames and dynamics. I think Despechins’s frames are visually more interesting with the movement of the camera motivated by the actor’s movement through the crowd. However, I think Rohmer’s frames are much more comedic and allow viewer to focus on the actors movements within the frame rather than the movement of the camera.

In Exercise 7, we began to analyse definitions of Decoupage to get a more comprehensive understanding of the term. After Analysing the readings, I found Luis Bunuel’s definition of decoupage seemed, for lack of a better word, vague. Perhaps it’s the way I personally digest knowledge, but I prefer things to be more direct. Having said this, I did like a few things he said which did in turn add to my understanding of Decoupage. Things like “Dividing a thing to turn into something else” and “A landscape, if it is to be recreated in cinema, must be segmented into fifty, a hundred and more bits.” I also like Tim Barnard’s quote “It divides in order to join”. It’s digestible quotes like these that allow me to form my opinion and conceptualise decoupage. I think Tim Barnard has done an excellent job at breaking this term down and I find his reflections on the definitions extremely helpful. Henri Agel’s quote was also quite helpful. “The choice of shots and of camera angles and movements is called Decoupage. The order and length of the shots correspond to the task we call editing.”

It’s interesting that there is no real consensus on decoupage and every filmmaker has their own understanding of what it is. But I also think that’s what makes the term so intriguing and worthy of further discussion and analysis.

In week 4, After a long trip back up to Darwin, I had a meeting with Robin to discuss class work from the week before. We had a long discussion about eyeline’s and how framing eyelines correctly can have a large impact on the development of scene. This is not something I’d ever given much thought too, but I found this discussion quite interesting. The idea that a line of sight can give so much information to the audience. While when it’s done incorrectly can have a really jarring effect on the viewer. Since this meeting I have noticed it a lot in cheap television shows. When eyelines between characters don’t match up, it is definitely distracting. In reflection I now think of eyelines as not just a technical problem but something to be used to convey emotion.

In Exercise 6, Robin chose to map out a small script which featured two characters in discussion about concert tickets. Although quite simple I thought Robins approach was interesting. Creating a shot list, floor plan and then creating two story boards. One that depicts the three shots on needed on the day and the other to show how the shots may be edited together.

This is sort of an interesting process to me, but it does make sense. And after looking at the all of Robins storyboards and list’s, although all are useful, the simple floor plan seemed to me the most beneficial in my eyes. If the shoot was in a rush, I think this would be most beneficial tool when deciding how to block the scene and where to get the camera’s in position. Mapping the scene from above seems like a simple and easily digestible method of getting a clear understanding of the scene’s plan, however in more complicated scenes I can see how this could get difficult.

R1 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2020/03/19/week-1/

R2 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2020/03/19/week-2-3/

R3 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2020/03/19/scene-analysis/

Coach Carter (2005) Our Deepest Fear

Scene Link – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_fDhqRk_Ro

I chose this scene because it plays an extremely significant role in the films message and is quite impactful and emotional point in the film. I really like this scene in the film and was keen to analyse further to understand why.

This scene begins with a tracking shot from behind Coach Carter as he turns a corner to reveal the team sitting in the gym doing their school work. It then switches between a tracking shot in front of the coach as he begins to take a few steps further towards the boys and a static wide shot of the boys. The next 9 shots in the scene consist of MCU’s of both the team members and the coach. The camera then begins to dolly in, from a Medium to a closeup of both the coach and the player; Timo Cruz as it cuts between the two. Within this, MCU’s and CU’s of other players are cut in between the two primary characters in the scene. It then cuts to the wide shot of the players before cutting to an extreme long shot of all subjects in the scene.

I think this scene does an excellent job of camera coverage. While it has a lot of different shots with a variety of different shot sizes and camera moves, it isn’t disorientating for the viewer at all. I think this is because the scene plays out from 2 primary perspectives or angles. The perspective of the coach and the perspective of the players. By keeping this scene to two perspectives, despite the number of different shots and visible characters, the scene feels quite intimate which works perfectly in conjunction with the overall film. By shooting and blocking the scene this way the director; Tom Carter is able to incorporate all the characters in the scene without making it feel crowded.

Due to a public holiday, Week 2 was condensed into one class. We primarily discussed the role of a focus puller. Essentially a focus puller’s role on set is keep the camera perfectly focused on the correct subject throughout the duration of the shot. We did an exercise where we constructed a scene with a character is late to class. Making his way through the depth of the room to eventually sit down. Placing the camera in the front of the room with a set focal distance, the focus puller would have keep the subject in focus throughout the shot, as the character slowly moved closer to the camera. In this exercise Robin introduced other set roles like the 1^st Assistant director, Director of Photography, Camera Operator and a Grip whom all have an impact on the focus pullers job. This was interesting exercise and provided me with more information of each individual roles on set duties. I quickly understood that no matter what your role on set, it’s going to be heavily influenced by other crew members and vice versa. The decisions you make on set are going to impact other’s roles and the film as a whole.

Week 3 was heavily impacted by the Coronavirus and learning was switched to online information. As part of the online tools I’d like to reflect on Part 2 and the contrasts in the 2 scene’s featuring dialogue at a bar. The First scene from “Gossip Girl” follows the 180-degree rule to a tee. Starts with an opening tilt/dolly shot in the bar to then a standard over the shoulder MCU and CU with what appears to at least a two-camera setup but potentially 4. This is a very conventionally shot dialogue scene and the coverage does not draw attention to itself at all. The second example from “The Fire Within” is extremely unconventional. The dialogue is shot from a multitude of different angles and half way through this the scene the 180-degree rule is broken. The consistent cutting between different angles is to me, as a viewer, disorientating. To then break the 180 degree seems to further confuse the viewer. I’m not sure what the director’s aim was when deciding to shoot the scene this way and as I haven’t seen the film in it’s entirety, I can’t comment on the camera coverage’s place within the whole film. However, the choices of the director do have an extreme effect on the viewer and the coverage in the scene definitely draws attention to itself.

In Week 1 we were introduced to the Scene In Cinema. Simplistically I understand this studio to be about the Camera Coverage in cinema and the process’ involved in developing and filming the action that plays out within a scene. Through this studio I hope to further my learning of camera coverage and how it intertwines with every other aspect of filmmaking. Hoping that by the end of the semester I have a sound understanding of my own taste and filmic style when blocking and shooting a scene.

Robin provided an entertaining introduction into the first tutorial of the semester. We did a blocking exercise where we were separated into groups and given separate scripts. Tasked to shoot a scene from our short scripts in one shot with one set focal distance. We then sat down and watched everyone perform their scene live from the camera onto a screen in the class room. We then watched some of the original examples of the same scripts we were given. Looking at how those were shot with the same constraints, and what decisions the cinematographer made compared to us. This exercise was an interesting look at how different creative minds decide to block and cover a scene.

In response to one of the set readings; Tom Reilly’s The Big Picture, its clear he has a very specific view on the blocking of a scene. In Reilly’s view, The entirety of the decisions of the scene’s blocking should come solely from the director. While I can appreciate Reilly’s opinion and understand that letting the actors dictate the blocking of the scene could potentially tarnish the directors creative vision. It doesn’t necessarily have to. I agree that overall, just because an actor is uncomfortable moving in specific ways within a scene should not mean the creative direction or pace of the film needs to go out the window. I also agree the director should always complete creative control however, Films are without a doubt collaborative works and without alternative creative opinions from actors and crew I truly believe the director is limiting the films overall potential.

In week 13, as a studio, we held a screening/ exhibition of the experiments created throughout the semester. Each group screened a selection of their work to peers and a few other media students in the RMIT Theatre. In our screening, we screened portions of both of our experiments. Showing our first experiment which focused on the dynamics of creating a silhouette. Then screening our second experiment that carried on from the first, focusing on silhouette in a neo noir style scene.

When asked which ways our screened work engaged the audience and communicated a key concern of the studio. I respond with, that I hope our screened work kept the audience engaged enough to focus on what we were trying to achieve. The goals of both of our experiments were clear cut and simple. Yet without us introducing the idea behind the experiments, it could have been confusing for audience members as to what we were trying to achieve. Our introduction of dark music to accompany the footage in our second experiment seemed to go a long way in generating a vibe to accompany our footage. Helping bring to life the action in our shots. I felt as though the audience did comprehend our experiment goals when viewing them at the exhibition. After gaining feedback from studio members, all understood our intentions and believed we effectively communicated our ideas without the need of a verbal introduction.

If I were to keep working on our second experiment, I would turn it into a short film instead of a single take. Keeping the neo noir style we created, I would utilize our shots as a stylistically vision and create a stylized neo noir crime/thriller. Essentially using our Experiment shots as tests for the visual style of our film. After conducting the experiments on Silhouette, I would utilize the skills learnt to create suspense and mystery within our film. Developing scenes that incorporate a silhouetted figure. I would also utilize the research we did on Colour Palette’s in our second experiment. Using neon lights to visually distinguish bad from good. Associating blue with good and red with evil proved to be a great way to utilize a creative element to add to the films narrative.

When looking at the other groups screened work two pieces really jumped out at me. Eleanor, Jagger and Noah’s exhibition was, in my opinion, the most entertaining. Their second experiment translated really well onto the bigger screen. They created a short scene set in a getaway car. The scene was cut together nicely and lit in a realistic nature. Subjects in the scene were filled nicely and the scene visually came across really professional. Their exhibition as a whole was a great example of utilizing the techniques learned in the studio and transferring them to a narrative scene which was a key concept discussed in class. The group that produced the Make-up scene also did a good job. They created an interesting scene that was lit with both soft and hard light. The use of lights with different colour temperatures was also interesting and gave the scene an unusual feel. This was a key concept discussed in class so, without knowing their true intentions, this was an interesting choice.

It was an interesting experience viewing our work on the cinema screen in front of an audience. Underwhelming is the first word that comes to mind. Your so used to seeing professional work on a screen of that size. So when our work was screened it came across quite amateur. I saw our work in a whole new light when watching it in front of an audience. For some odd reason I quickly became extremely analytical of our experiments and noticed things I hadn’t before. The entire viewing experience proved to be very beneficial and allowed to me to further reflect on our works.

#1 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/16/1-reflection-class-16/

#2 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/16/2-reflection-neo-noir-research/

#3 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/16/3-reflection-week-8/

#4 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/16/4-reflection-eleanor-jagger-and-noahs-experiment/

#5 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/16/5-reflection-week-11/

#6 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/17/6-reflection-week-12/

Experiment 1 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/17/experiment-1-reflection/

Experiment 2 – https://www.mediafactory.org.au/tully-hemsley/2019/10/17/experiment-2-reflection/

In this task we aimed to expand on the first experiment about silhouette and take our gained knowledge and use this tool in a Neo Noir style scene. We aimed to light this scene with contrasting neon colours featuring a victim sitting on a chair before a shooter with a gun appears from the shadows and pulls his trigger. Using the depth in the room and creative lighting we aimed to utilise our time to stylistically create silhouettes of both the shooter and the victim in different shots while changing the distribution of colours in the scene. 

Before this experiment I undertook some research to base our visual style off. John Wick (2014) from director Chad Stahelski and Cinematographer Jonathon Sela proved to be a great resource. Using contrasting warm and cool neon colours in neo noir shootout scene proved to be the perfect inspiration for our piece. We decided to adopt a similar colour pallete to our experiment. We also toyed with the idea of colour associations and how this might affect the perceptions of our characters. For Example Red is associated with danger in the human brain while blue is associated with safety.

In shot 1, we decided to give the victim a silhouette with a red edge light off to his side. While the shooter moves through the scene behind him before illuminating himself in harsh neon green. The Colour contrast between the bright blue background and red foreground comes across very aesthetically pleasing and seems to have some emotional undertones. (see link below)

In shot 2, we attempted to keep the shooter completely silhouetted and the victim lit with a red key light and contrasting green edge light. This colour combination still gives the victim an evil feel due to the red key light while the completely silhouetted shooter in front of a blue background has a safe, trustworthy feeling. (see link below)

In shots 3 and 4, we turned the lighting combinations around with cooler colours in the foreground and warmer colours in the background. We kept the same lighting setup as the previous shot yet the feeling of the image changed substantially. The victim for the first time seemed like the “good guy” and the shooter seemed to have sinister intentions. (see link below)

Shot 5 was an experiment within the experiment. We tried to create a different angle of the scene while keeping its sinister neo noir tone. The shot features the victim still sitting in blue light with the shooter emerging from the subtle shadows and his gun illuminated in red. The setup for this shot required two cutters in between the blue and red lights. The goal in this shot was to have the gun correctly exposed with the rest of the shooters body only slightly illuminated which is what we have successfully achieved. (see link below)

Overall this experiment gave me the opportunity to build on our last task and experiment with coloured lighting in a filmic situation. It was interesting how lighting the characters in different colours could enhance or detract from their motivations. Adding emotion through colour is something I wouldn’t usually consider doing and am now keen to pursue this technique further on future endeavours.

Scene Link – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hLbkzKXf-npzS9CFDnX9_hP6A7NGEiTC

In this task we went for a purely experimentational route. Aiming to truly understand the fundamentals of creating “the perfect silhouette”. We decided to experiment with several slightly different lighting setups to investigate which combination of variables achieved a desired effect. Ultimately aiming to create a silhouette with no detail, well defined edges and a correctly exposed background. We went and shot 20 different variations of our setups in the hope to narrow it down to a selected 5 shots that we thought could be discussed and achieved our initial aim. 

We chose shot 1 because it was our simplest lighting setup that created our desired effect. We had a keylight directed at the wall behind me and a backlight intended to define the edges of the silhouette shape. In this shot we narrowed the backlight from Wide to Tight and you can see some detail in the subject’s clothes disappear. What I learnt from this shot was that to control the amount of light wrapping around the front of the subject, narrowing the beam of the backlight had a significant effect on this. ( See link below for details).

We chose shot 2 because it acted as the next evolution to shot 1. We added to our existing light setup with two dedo’s angled towards our subject from behind at a 45 degree angle. Through this change we hoped to add an edge of light around the subject. I liked how the addition of these lights shaped the subjects facial features without revealing the details of the face itslef. ( See link below for details).

We chose Shots 3 and 4 because they also provided another evolution to our silhouette. We added another subject into the shot and correctly lit and exposed for his skin tone. This meant we had to increase the amount of light into the camera which had a flow on effect in exposing more of our silhouetted subject. So to fight this we had to introduce cutters to the scene to stop the spill of extra light reaching our silhouette. What I learnt from these two shots was the ability to control existing light without changing the light itself. ( See link below for details).

Finally, in shot 5 we added to our existing setup with two dedo’s facing the subject at a 45 degree angle from behind. Similar to that on shot 2. I thought this shot was less successful as the highlights on the edge lose a lot of detail as they are over exposed. The Dedo also catches Terrance’s shoulder which was an undesired effect. ( See link below for details).

Overall, This experiment provided me with a finer grasp on the tools and set up required to create a silhouette. Giving me a deeper understanding of everything that goes into creating the desired effect while being able to incorporate it into cinematic situations.

Video Piece – https://drive.google.com/open?id=1TXKonXFRsRzoavJEmJTndOOtWsBwoYke