My scene is about loneliness I think, so I consciously tried to create a feel of isolation. In this post I will attempt to explain some of my choices in framing and mise en scene and how they came about.

All the little meticulously placed artworks on the walls and careful choice of decor suggests that this apartment is very lived in and was once homely. It seems odd that only one person is now seen in it. Isaac can be seen through the sliver of the door, as if he is being peered at; perhaps by someone who doesn’t want to interact with him too much, regardless of eyelines. It also find satisfaction in the way he lines up with the 3 visual panels from the left. The lighting also gives a clue that the characters may not be in the same place.

I wanted this white cup to stand out, but not in an overly intrusive way, just subtlety. Its the brightest part of the frame but only by a tiny bit. To do this I moved the rest of the mugs back so that they would sit under the shadow of the shelf above. In the shot I also changed the focus to emphasise the “lonely” placement of this white mug which was suggested to be the mug of Isaac’s partner.

Before shooting I looked around the area for things (like colour and shape) that might stick out and help me create a unique looking ‘world’ within the scene. I wanted things to look cohesive so they were tied together.  I found that the brick color matches the terracota of the babushka dolls that were in the house already.

Why did I choose to have such dramatic lighting? You may think its simply me being like, “well, its cool” but I found that having a silhouette of Isaac was much more interesting, and it also allowed for some flexibility in editing later because I didn’t have to worry too much about facial expressions.

Silhouettes also created a gloomier mood and made his figure look more lonely and isolated in the frame. The lighting at the back creates a new smaller frame to focuses us on the subject even more.

I have wanted to try this out ever since watching In the Mood for Love (2000) directed by Wong Kar Wai. Wong is well known for his precise framing and his creation of frames within frames. The nostalgic film is set in a the 1960s Hong Kong and gives us a voyeuristic peak into the secret lives of the two main characters.

The apartment that I filmed in was very small, and filled to the brim with art. There are frames all over the walls and trinkets on every flat surface. I personally love it because as soon as you enter the space you immediately get a sense of the personalities of the home owners.

Same goes with the apartments from In The Mood For Love. The

As well as colour I wanted to try and link up shots with the shapes in the frame. This may not have worked as well as I’d liked because there wasn’t a clear reason to do so.

I’ve been thinking, is ok for things to just be pretty or look cool?

I’m not completely sure and I think my final answer is that it depends on the sitch.

I have a constant urge to do just that, and with this project I’ve been trying to stamp that out. But the thing is, visuals always have an affect on the viewer, whether its because it affects the plot, or creates a memorable feeling.

I’ve had to keep checking in and rewatching to check for whether it just looks gratuitous.

How do you go from one scene to the next?

In class we talked about how different films go from scene to scene in a meaningful way. I hadn’t given much thought to how much transitions affected how we remember the last scene and how we will feel entering the next. But they are a lot more important and can be very powerful to the movie as a whole.

THE LOST WORLD: TRANSITIONS FROM PLACE TO PLACE

I went home after class with transitions on my mind, and immediately I was reminded of a scene from Jurassic Park  The opening sequence of The Lost World: Jurassic Park establishes the shock and excitement about to unfold in the rest of the film. A rich family is on the beach about to have lunch, the mother calls for her daughter to come and realizes that something is wrong. When she finds her she screams with her mouth wide open. Her scream is high pitched and piercing. In a hard cut we see Ian, played by Jeff Goldblum, yawning. I like this transition because its not too explicit e.g having a close up of their mouths or lining them up in frame exactly. We instantly see the connection between the two characters because the ‘scream’ (which is continuous) takes over the scene and is links up the  to the next shot.  The scream transitions too and begins to sound more metallic and screechy. For a brief moment between the woman screaming the the sounds of the train screech, the sound is almost musical, like the classic violin high pitched suspense sound effect used in horror movies. This is unnerving because of how relaxed Ian is, yawning, completely unaware of what just happened.

The artificially blue back drop behind Ian with a Palm tree mimics the tropical setting of the scene before, but seems off. Our realization that he is not in the same place is confirmed when we are shown in a tracking shot that Ian isn’t really in the tropics, he is at an underground train station.

Ian is now linked visually and meaningfully to the tragic death of the girl in the opening sequence. This transition is memorable and exciting because it presents us with so much information at once while introducing us to completely new character and setting at the same time in a dynamic way.

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY: TRANSITIONS OVER TIME

I recently revisited one of my old favorite movies with transitions on my mind and paid close attention to how it subtly notifies us of jumps in time and location, sometimes big and sometimes not. When Harry Met Sally (1989) directed by Rob Reiner, follows the relationship of Harry and Sally over 12 years as they date other people, watch their friends get married and develop as individuals.

Another thing that might not immediately seem like an important part of the ‘transition’ is the change in costume and hair. 80’s hair is terrifying to me and I am glad that I missed out on it. But nonetheless, the change in Sally’s hair over time. Having such a dramatic change of hairstyle jumping from one scene to the next, notifies us that lots of time has passed. These photos are in chronological order to the film, in the first one Sally is a studying to be a journalist when she first meets Harry, the second is when she bumps into Harry at the airport 2 years later and the third is when they bump into each other again a few years later in a library in New York.

The same thing can be said about the use of Harry’s beard. Harry goes back and forth between having it, and growing it out between the times that the main characters come in contact. It is also worth mentioning that whenever Harry has his beard, he is going through a rough time because he is depressed about his ex wife. When he gets himself together again he is clean shaven.

Visually stunning scenes of the seasons also give us a sense of time passing over the years. The front cover features a bright autumn background. We also see beautiful establishing shots of the heavily snowed on New York city, people barely able to trudge through the street.

A pivotal point in the film is when Sally has break down over her ex getting married. She calls Harry and he  rushes over to her house to comfort her late at night. The end up in bed together, and the next morning is extremely uncomfortable, for many reasons. A slow cross fade is used to pull from the night time to morning the next day. The difference in brightness (going from soft yellow light of the bedroom at night to bright bluish natural light) is slightly jarring which emphasizes Harry’s expression of complete disbelief. Sally, who in contrast, is completely content is rolling her head around, and tossing her insane perm about, and all over Harry’s face. Her hair move around in all directions an  We see him uncomfortably wince his eye as her tendrils of hair poke into it. So much is going on already. This transition of Harry and Sally kissing to the next shot allows us to guess what happened without giving too much information. The camera pulls back during the cross fade, creating a confusing effect where we are given more visual information to look at, but it is still all blurry. The cross fade transition is notably slow, making it difficult to see anything that is going on.

This creates the feeling that we too, are waking up slightly confused from the last scene. This pull back movement also reveals Sally’s smile first and then then, as more enters the frame we can see Harry’s shocked face,  which further emphasizes the dramatic irony that Sally does not yet know about how Harry feels about the situation.

This transition is visually interesting but also allows us get a sense of what is about to unfold.

CLASS EXERCISES

exercise 11: Observing Actions

…and now a post on transitions

Exercise 13: matching shots with lighting

ASSIGNMENT 4

A4: My creative process

Idea development for Assignment 4

A4: framing choices/ justifying mistakes :/

ANYTHING ELSE