OBSERVING OUR ACTORS MAKE US BETTER DIRECTORS

Unfortuntely my group of 3, completed the exercise incorrectly, but we still learned a lot! We were supposed to each complete the SAME action from the script in hopes that our different ways of doing the action would evoke ideas on different ways of shooting it. Each of us accidentally completed a different action each which made it more difficult to compare results. Perhaps it was the over excitement caused by the long list of actions we could choose from to shoot, or maybe it was just careless reading of the prompt. But the whole idea of this exercise was to OBSERVE the way our actor moves, and from that to determine the way we should cover them in the ‘scene’.

I think this is a fascinating idea, that the way the decoupage can be inspired by, or reflect on the way someone moves. The idea that the actor is guiding the shots is a very different way to how I would normally try to shoot a scene. This exercise shakes us loose from the sometimes tedious planning and story boarding that comes before we even begin block out a scene.

Rob walks with short but distinct steps. I like this. Its very different to you you’d think he would walk considering his (very very high) height. After watching him walk up and down the hallway I decided that I’d like to just capture the whole thing.

The actions in the script stated: 

Here is what we ended up shooting for this scene  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zzx0BipDqWH0uCLwwQoR8rUxRZJ-4oLC/view?usp=sharing

How abrupt! But I’ll try to explain.

How could Rob’s interesting walk tie into some kind of meaning for the script? In this short scene, I’d imagined that Rob was sort of walking without purpose, not in a hurry to be anywhere because he was unsure about what he was meant to be doing. The turning point comes when he realises something and he immediately turns back and this time RUNS the other way.

Being much shorter than Rob I noticed that as I followed

him in the first shot, that it was at quite a low angle. But this worked because it allowed Rob to fill up the frame and seem more weighted in the shot, like his walking was tasking or troubled. My shaky hands, although admittedly not deliberate, add to this frivolous vibe. Its all about that vibe.

I like the way I timed swinging the camera around Rob’s shoulder with the sort of naturalistic timing that he might have taken to register that Isaac was there.

Rob also changes his expressions very quickly, from calm to suddenly worried. So I replicated this by just doing a hard cut to his face around the other side. It is implied that he is calm as he walks up, and I think that this suddenly cut to his face works because its not ‘too cheesy’ by showing him gasping after seeing Isaac. This quick cut is disruptive and really gives the feel that Rob was caught off guard I think.

Usually I try to squeeze in some close ups (of facial expressions) out of habit and to simply have the satisfaction of joining them up to mid shots in the editing room, but I’m very glad that I didn’t go with the perhaps ‘easier option’ this time and actively tried to shoot something in a way that I wouldn’t normally. By having a mid shot of Rob’s face it allowed us to have time/ room to, in the same shot, have him run away out of frame in a non-awkward way without stressing too much about focus pulling.

What would I have done differently?

To really send the message that Rob is wandering around, half minded, It would be better to slow it down even more. Maybe I’d try and shoot it from a different angle to make his movements more laborious. Also the shot seems a bit under exposed.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE FROM CLASS

From class, I really liked the way Jonah shot John in this scene. The actions being:

I really like this for a number of reasons. Firstly that the scene is dynamic without having the camera have to move too much, which emphasises the dramatic way John moves. The framing is also satisfying to the eye. and the perspective makes the bench look like it is basically begging John to slide down it. The end point of the bench lands in smack bang in the middle of the frame which, could seem like too much but for the purposes of this shot works well and is very playful and fun.

John’s bright red jump adds a great eye catching pop of colour and really emphasises his actions against all the neutral colours of the rest of the frame.

side note: I couldn’t help but think that John has the elegance and assertive poise of a sugar glider.

This activity has reminded me how rewarding it can be to first consider the individual qualities of the actor, things that they not even know about themselves.

EXAMPLE OF ACTOR AND COVERAGE IN SYNC

This clip comes from Baby Driver (2017) directed by Edgar Wright. From about 35 seconds is where things get snappy and the highly gestural actions of the actors sync up with where the shots cut. This film overall is very sassy and exciting; this opening scene sets us up for the highly stylized ride ahead. I find the scene hilarious because Baby’s actions are so erratic and theatrical that we forget that this whole time his bum is planted firmly in his car seat. It takes a great physical actor to make create such exciting movements while seated.

When Ansel Elgort slowly turns the steering wheel (1:14) the camera dollys right as if he is turning the camera himself, the camera slows and comes to a halt as he lifts his hands which is subtle but super cool. When he jerks his whole body back with the music we immediately see a wide mid shot of his torso which pulls us back as an audience into the car.

How do you make a scene up with shots from different places? Well that’s what we tried to find out with exercise 13! The point of this activity was to play close attention to the way we light our subjects so that the shots are consistent in relation to one another.

The class split in half to complete this exercise. Here are some screencaps from my groups work.

Choosing an all white wall may have seemed like an easy way out, but it is deceptively simple. This is because  by having nothing much in the background, our attention as a view is drawn to the details of our subjects faces, picking up on how the light shapes them. In our establishing shot, there is no clear direction from which the lighting shines, although soft and flattering, this means that even lighting must be created for the rest of the scene. Also in the first shot Sophia is about to speak so we should have anticipated that her face should be more lit in preparation for her close up maybe.

In the second shot of Sophia where she says her line, the lighting comes from above, creating a dramatic shadow under her eyes and chin. I don’t think that this is the most popular choice for most conversation scenes, but if matched up well it might not matter.

Unfortunately in the third shot, the lighting on Isaac’s face is a bit flat. but at least the lighting on the wall is soft and has a nice gradient. To me we didn’t manage to match up the scenes well in terms of lighting on his face because in the first shot, you can clearly see that there is meant to be more light on his face. But in terms of colouring, it is very consistent and might fool someone!

The tessellated green background came as a bit of a surprise but works. It would have looked better if the wall was further back to make it more believable because it seems like the wall would have been further back in the establishing shot. The eyelines are slightly off in the shot with Madeleine, it also would have looked better if Madeline was under less flat lighting. This final shot of Jack is very cool, placed in the center of the shot with his arms crossed he looks like an important character in the scene. I’m not sure if I would have kept the light source in the scene since it is a bit too bright and distracting, also in the establishing shot, the ceiling seems much higher and probably wouldn’t have lights low enough to appear in frame at that front on angle.

This was my favorite of the three.

Despite the third shot of John having uneven lighting that might not be possible within the room they are in, to me it doesn’t matter. The mood is overall tied together with this final shot. The dramatic lighting that cuts off at his eyeline somewhat distracts from the fact that the shot isn’t in the same location as the first two. The change in wall paint colour also doesn’t seem to have a negative affect because we can’t see what it might look like in the establishing shot. I think this scene also works because the overall colour pallete is muted and murky, so the slight change in wall colour isn’t noticeable.

THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION LIGHTING OVER 3 SCENES

Here is a back to back comparison of the 3 scenes I will be referring to. To me, these scenes are a good lesson on how light can be very different for different people in a shot, but still make visually logical sense. There is a clear direction that the light is coming from in each scene, which wouldn’t necessarily create the same effect in real life on set, but we accept this lighting as the reality of the scene because it just works.

The scenes that I found come from the film The Shawshank Redemption (1994) directed by Frank Darabont and Red’s character is heartbreaking.There are 3 scenes with Red throughout the film where he is required to check in with authorities about whether he feels “rehabilitated.” Lighting is used to establish and remind the audience that this has happened before. The three times that Red comes in to be questioned, the lighting and camera movement are similar and create a kind of template for the interview. This plays into the idea of the mind numbing repetition, and infuriating formalities of prison life. This repetitive set up also implies that the other many interviews have been omitted from the film. The point of these scenes are to show that Red has been detained for almost all his life, and that nothing has changed.

Now back to the scenes!

We first see an intimidating establishing shot of the authorities all seated at a table, blooming natural light coming in from behind them. This lighting highlights their figures and shrouds their expressions, portraying them as faceless, indifferent  members of a powerful group. We immediately get a sense of the injustice of 5 people against 1. This expressive backlighting also sets up the power dynamic for the scene. The 5 men look divine and important. Red does not.

In contrast to this, on both of the first two interviews, the lighting does not favour Red at all. In image two, he seems flat and as a result, uninterested, like he isn’t trying. This matches up with his acting because he has clearly done this a million times, his words are rehearsed and falsely enthusiastic.

The lighting on the wall behind Red also ‘makes sense’  because we can see a panel of light to his left that matches the shapes of the windows we had previously seen in the shot before. If he had have been placed directly in the block of light, there would have been a much more different affect, he might have looked too over exposed or just too bright for the scene in general, even if that lighting was ‘real.’

In the third screen capture of Red (in the denim jacket) He is well light on the face, but he still doesn’t seem powerful in comparison to the panel. The lighting is causing a shine on his face that makes him seem shocked on unprepared, emphasizing that he is under interrogation. The way he enters the room is hasty and nervous, he sits down quickly as he if can’t bare the thought of wasting their time.

The third version below is where (spoiler) Red’s application to leave prison is accepted. The types of shots and camera movement are THE SAME but the LIGHTING HAS CHANGED! This is very exciting to me. The scene feels completely different because of the way the light hits Red.

Red commands the scene with his movement; he slips in and out of the shadows by moving forward into the frame. This time he seems in control, taking his time. The way his face is hidden by the shadow as he enters the room prepares the audience for a grand statement, like someone who is walking into a spot light on stage. It’s like he has paced into the room to reveal his face when he wants to, telling them, “its me again, get ready.” 

The rather high contrast, directional lighting comes at an angle to his face, which is much more flattering. The way the blinds create this striped textured light on him makes him seem different, and paired with his badass attitude towards the panel, he seems mysterious and in cool.