Production – Music Video

The shoot today went really smoothly; though we did have some noise complaints that sent us back on our schedule. The reason for today’s shoot going so well I thought was because of our pre-planning before hand, from the Lighting Workshop last month and our Test Shoot previously we had enough time to gel together as a crew with everyone communicating really well with each other. We also shoot from using some storyboards as reference.

These really allowed us to make sure that we captured all the different shots required for the video with the least amount of performances that the band had to provide in front of camera and also allowed us to be a bit more creative with certain cutaway shots. One nicely composed shot I really liked on set was a cutaway of the drummer playing his kick drum from a very low angle.

This I thought might really work well in the final edit of the film as the music track itself seemed to have an heavy emphasis on the drum and the kick drum in particular.

I had decided to shoot the footage in colour, because I thought that filming in the monochrome setting on the Canon 550D probably wouldn't allow as much creative freedom with colour correction in post. Though I did at times put the camera in monochrome setting as a reference point to see how the lighting set up was looking on camera, the setting up of the lighting for each shot was achieve really quickly as Rob had brought his Lighting Plan to the shoot and there were pretty much spot on in terms of position. Any minor tweaks that we’re made was by me talking to Rob on set and showing him what I thought needed to be changed in order to get the creative vision that Damian had wanted for the video.

And before we started shooting any scenes I would show Damian how the shots looked in camera before recording any footage, this allowed us to capture and be creative with the shadows that me and Rob had set up to be projected onto the back of the Infinity Cove.

We stayed on schedule for the shoot, despite having some complaints from the noise coming from the drums (guess that was to be expected), we probably in hindsight should have given prior warning to the ERC that we would be filming a band and that the noise levels would probably be very high for periods of our shoot; a bonus of the shoot was the decision to shoot digital, as we not only had the Canon 5D MKII from the stores, but we all brought our own cameras to the shoot, which allowed all of us to chip in with the camera work, for alternative shots with the idea that they could be used as nice cutaways in the final edit, Overall a highly successful day of shooting and I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished article in black & white.

Equipment collected/Equipment List – After Arcadia

Today I picked up all the equipment that I booked from the ERC from last week. I also borrowed some equipment from Rob Cooper that we needed for the shoot in a couple of days.

Equipment List

Canon 550D

18mm Zeiss Lens

28mm Zeiss Lens

50mm Zeiss Lens

Monfrotto Tripod

DSLR Rig

Marantz

ME67 (mic)

Small Sunbouncer

Large Reflector

Tent (keep equipment dry)

Large Umbrella (might provide useful on set if it rains heavly)

Last minute research before shoot – After Arcadia

Today Joe planned on going through some rehearsals with our actor, so decided that I should also keep myself busy and do some last minute research to get more prepared for the shoot in a couple of days; I found this book on composition in the library called Picture Composition by Peter Ward and I found a couple of really hopefully quotes.

In summary, good composition is the best arrangement of the subject matter in sympathy with the function of the shot. It should have simplicity and intensity and achieve its objective with clarity, precision and economy. (Ward, 2002:7)

This I believe applies really well to one of the shots that we plan to shoot; where a simple shot of our character is the centre piece of the composition of the shot, but he’s talking to something just out of shot implying an importance to whatever it is just out of shot whilst concentrating on his character that is in the shot. Hopefully this composition will make the audience sympathize more with our character whilst still being aware that something just out of shot will play a huge importance to our characters situation and feelings.

Colour not only has a profound influence on composition, in many forms of image making, it is the subject of the composition. (Ward, 2002:84)

I feel that if I can get the right stylistic look for this film within my own personal camera settings during the filming of the footage for ‘After Arcadia’ then I believe the visual style and the colour palette of the film itself will create this environment that will have it’s very own atmosphere and give the film some substance through the visuals alone; I hope to find the balance of style and realism that will leave an imprint of the films cinematography in the minds of the audience.

Interesting and helpful research - After Arcadia

After our group discussion today, I was reminded of some rather interesting quotes and information that I had come across early in the week from my research.

With the prospect of our shoot day being rather cloudy it reminded me of a quote from cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond (Deliverance) from the book More Contemporary Cinematographers on Their Art by Pauline B. Rogers. Which I had been reading because of the connection with director John Boorman who Joe has listed as one of his main influences from his 1968 film Hell in the Pacific. And from a cinematographers standpoint I thought that Deliverance (1972, dir. John Boorman) was an interesting piece because of it’s cinematography within a natural environment.

“We were very lucky with the weather” he adds. “The sky was cloudy most of the time.” For Zsigmond, this was the simplest way to shoot the picture. He didn’t have to wait for the sun and the lighting matched all day. (Rogers, 2000:179)

Looking at the forecast for our shoot day it is due to be very cloudy and a strong possibility that we might have 100% cloud cover, which would be great for matching up the lighting, though I’ve still got a Sunbouncer and a large reflector booked out for the shoot day just in case the forecast is wrong. This quote really stuck with me because even though you expect professional cinematographers to be meticulous with their attention to detail in regards to lighting especially it seems that even the professionals get lucky in regards to lighting and weather when shooting outdoors and can concentrate more on all the shots they need.

After the group discussion when everyone seemed to be really keen on the idea of shooting a montage scene I also remember a couple of quotes from two books I’d been researching this week, the first is the same book as mentioned above and on the same page as the previous quote.

“The challenge was how to make the trip down the river exciting,” Zsigmond says. “We shot different tests on the river, like shooting from boat to boat. We also tried different angles, different camera moves. (Rogers, 2000:179)

This made me think that I myself should walk around the area once on location to find interesting and believable areas where I can portray our character traveling across land in the montage for the film; though because of our time constraints this might have to just be done by framing scenes just in the camera without our actor playing out each scene as we have an already very tight shooting schedule and too long spent on this will see our light source soon fading fast. I will look to envisage the montage shots as we walk through the shooting location and whilst I’m setting up the user preferences in the camera before shooting commences.

The other quote that came to mind after our group meeting was from the book Cinematography: Theory & Practice by Blain Brown. I had been reading this early in the week as it looked like it might be a good source of information for those looking to develop themselves as upcoming Cinematographers.

Montage is generally only useful for short sequence in narrative storytelling. It can be useful informational work such as documentaries or industrials but most often just for short sequences to establish a mood or give an overall impression of a process or situation. (Brown, 2002:27)

This I thought was a very interesting quote and one that was key in my decision in looking to create a montage scene on our shoot day as looking to establish our character and his setting and situation is actually really key to the overall aspect of the short film project as a whole. And the reference that montages are prominent in documentaries just adds to my overall vision of the film as my idea initially was to have this film have a realistic feel to it and hopefully the inclusion of a montage would subconsciously have that effect on the viewers mind, that the film would seem more believable and feel very realistic.

There was another quote from earlier in the same book that made me think about a certain shot in the opening scene of ‘After Arcadia’ the quote is in reference to Hitchcock’s Rule, that was actually brought up in a recent morning session with Andy James after the screen of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 film Rope.

The size of an object in the frame should equal its importance in the story at the moment. (Brown, 2002:25)

This made me really think about one of our scheduled scenes for the shoot day when our character is speaking directly into a mirror; as the mirror is actually a really important object and matter in the film, we could try and apply this rule to our film and have a very close up of the mirror as our character is speaking to it as at this point the mirror is extremely important to the film; and also I have an idea for the montage, so that at the end of the montage our character can find an object that signals previous human existence which again is a massive part of the idea behind ‘After Arcadia’.

Group Meeting with Joe and Bob – After Arcadia

Today’s meeting was about the logistics of the upcoming shoot day; we decided that filming at the clay quarry in Plymstock would be the best for our project and Alex Littleboy has agreed to show us the way on our shoot day. We looked at the weather forecast which was due to be cloudy with a high chance of rain later in the afternoon. I also brought up the idea of a montage that I had from last night after watching Alex’s film The Blackouts; the rest of the group seemed very keen on the idea of this and we as a group decided that we would try and fit it into our shooting schedule directly after the shooting of opening scene was complete.

Telephone discussion with Joe – After Arcadia

I had a telephone conversation with Joe who told me the bad news that Andy Hardwick had to pull out of the shoot as our transport as he has a job interview on the shooting day, but Joe did mention that he has spoken to Alex Littleboy about where he shot the final scene for his FMP last year; it turns out that it’s an abandoned clay quarry somewhere out in Plymstock and is accessible via a bus route.

We also discussed about what we are actually going to be handing in for the RED project and we as a whole crew have decided that it is best that we will only shoot one scene for the purpose of the module. We feel that we will be able to focus all our efforts on a more concentrated approach to maximize our developments within our dedicated roles and areas of research. We have decided that the first scene in the script is the best course of action to shoot as it gives the strongest insight to the films character and would be most useful for everyone involved in the project; including our actor.

After my telephone conversation with Joe I decided that I would re-watch Alex Littleboy’s FMP from last year; The Blackouts:

From watching this film again, the scenery in shots at the clay quarry really struck me as having great potential for filming a montage scene; I will bring this up in our next group meeting which is scheduled for tomorrow.

RED Proposal v2.0

For my RED project I aim to challenge myself in the role as Director of Photography/Cinematographer; this is a role that I've yet to undertake. For the module I will be taking on two separate projects that will challenge me in different ways within the same job role.

My first project is working on a music video for local band ‘Cheating Jack Ketch’; I will be working with Damian Suparasiri (Director/Editor), Robert Cooper (Lighting) and Ross Carter (Camera) on this project. For me this challenge will be to try and create the visual style that director Damian specifically wants; this will mean filming in colour so that when Damian goes into the edit he is able to get the high contrasts that he is looking for the final piece. This will be me working on a visual style that I’m being told to create with little freedom and working with Lighting (Rob) in a studio environment.

The second project is working collaboratively with Joe Tippett (Director) and Bob Brice (Art Director) on a short film called ‘After Arcadia’. Part of the challenge that I’ve got to overcome is working closely with Joe and Bob to creating a vision of a post apocalyptic world on camera. As the film will be solely shot outdoors, I’ve restricted myself to only working with natural light to try and achieve the best visual outcome in camera so when the film goes into post production, it will be easier and more productive to apply colour correction to the footage. This is also going to be part of my role to take on the role of colour correction in post production.

I hope to gain a wide range of different experiences of working in the role of D.O.P/Cinematographer and looking to experiment with camera set ups and colour correction and also see the difference of working to create a Director’s specific predetermined style and also have the freedom to create my own vision of someone else’s film.