Group Meeting w/ Damian Suparasiri, Robert Cooper & Ross Carter – Music Video

Had a group meeting with the whole crew involved with the making of the upcoming music video for the band; Cheating Jack Ketch.

Conversation w/ Damian

I had a long discussion with Damian about the visual style that he was hoping to achieve for the music video, he showed me a couple of music videos that he really liked the visual style of and was hoping to create something along the lines;

Cancer Bats – French Immersion

For me this music video seemed to be rather a simple black and white approach but cut with some scenes with very high black contrasts; there are a couple of shots where some shadows are very prominent and these to me are the most interesting shots; looking forward to the shoot I think this style will really rely on the band themselves wearing the right colours for the shoot day to achieve this style though I’m much interested in looking at working with shadows as an idea for the music video from a cinematographers viewpoint.

Tyler the Creator – Yonkers

This video was really stand out for me; as it had the same bright white background that we would have whilst shooting in the infinity cove and also the use of a tilt-shift lens in this music video reminded me that I have a Lens Baby Composer in my own set of lenses that can achieve a similar effect by blurring different areas of the image that you are filming and I’ve yet to use it on any film work to this date, and this video really got me thinking that this music video could be the prefect opportunity to experiment with the lens itself.

Conversation w/ Rob

I discussed with Rob what the equipment we were going to need to use in terms of lighting for the music video; after our lighting workshop from a couple of weeks previous where we tested out the LED lights, we both agreed that those lights wouldn’t be appropriate for the lighting style we were looking to achieve.

We agreed that the small Dedo lighting kit would be the best option for the shoot and that if we went for a 3 light set up we could look to explore with the idea of creating interesting shadows that would be projected on the back of the infinity cove and would give us the stylistic vision that Damian had wanted for the music video. We talked in depth about how the finished video would look like and from that Rob said that he would work on a lighting plan for the video so that everything would be ready for our shoot day, and to help with this we as a group decided that a test shoot prior to the actual shoot day of the video would be a great idea.

Conversation w/ Ross

I discussed with Ross which lenses that we were going to use; we as a group had already agreed that we were going to shoot the video on our Canon 550D’s as we all each have own; we also decided that it would be a good idea to book out a Canon 5D MKII from the ERC as it might come in handy for some of the shots in the music video.

In the interest of making this music video look as professional as possible we decided that it was best to book out a wide range of the Carl Zeiss lenses from the ERC as well; Ross also asked about using my Lensbaby Composer for the shoot as he wanted to look into camera movement etc. And he had the same reaction to me after watching the Tyler the Creator music video with the use of the tilt shift. We agreed that though he had not used the lens before that it would be a good experiment for his RED project even if it didn’t end up using those shots in the final version of the music video.

Group Meeting with Joe and Bob - After Arcadia

Today we had a group meeting with regards to what we needed to have and ready for the shoot day so that this project could be a success. I spoke to Joe about the prospect of looking at camera set-ups so that we could look at capturing as close to the style of the film as possible in camera so that when it came to colour correction in the edit during post production, it would be much easier to manipulate the image and get that desired stylish look we were hoping to achieve.

I mentioned that I could try downloading a preset user preference online for the shoot or even look to create my own user preference ready for shoot day; this I said would really require me to be present when he went out onto Dartmoor for the recce shoot; Joe mentioned a video guide that was on Vimeo that gave a really good and informative breakdown of picture styles for Canon DSLR’s that I might find really helpful.

I spoke to Bob also about the overall view of the Art Direction for the film and we talked about how the characters jacket itself really needed to blend in with the overall colour palette of the film; we both agreed that the jacket/coat really needed to be either a beige or light brown in colour so it stayed very neutral and not contrasting with the stylistic look of the films cinematography. I told Bob that if he wasn’t able to find a suitable jacket in time for the film, then I had a jacket that might just suit visual style of his idea for the characters appearance.

Group Meeting with the Band - Music Video

Are whole crew held a meeting with the band to discuss their ideas for the music video and how they wanted it to look. They pretty much gave us free reign on the creative look of the video, the band just wanted a performance based style video. Damian as the director decided that he would storyboard the idea and wanted to have the video in black & white.

Influences - After Arcadia

From my initial conversations with Joe (Director) about the film 'After Arcadia' we talked about numerous creative visions for the film and how he thought the film should look and feel. After reading the films brief synopsis, I gave some thought as to what films that from a visual standpoint would really connect with this project and how did I imagine in my mind would look and feel.

'After Arcadia' is set in a post apocalyptic world and follows a lonely traveler as he walks across moorland, leaving the vast piles of ruin of what used to be cities behind him. Living life day to day he walks alone search for personal items like I.D. cards and photos desperately trying to preserve what little memories of people and human life. His lonely existence is boosted by his favoured possession, a small mirror; for which he is gives him company in the form of his own reflection.

Being set in a post apocalyptic world the first film that sprang to my mind was The Road (2009, dir John Hillcoat)

For me this is one of the finest examples of a post apocalyptic film; the photography is so grim and bleak, yet it feels so naturally devastating. I particularly like the tone of colour within the film and how it's colour palette is kept down to a bare minimum of colours. The greys and the browns seem to blend and merge into one another creating this what would normal be described as a rather bland look, but as the film is so beautifully shot those colours really pull you into the post apocalyptic world with it's rawness.

This is something that I'm going to look into further and certainly discuss with Bob (Art Director).

The next film I thought of was Children of Men (2006, dir Alfonso Cuaron).

The reason that this film came to mind is because; though I'm not the biggest fan of the film itself, the visual style and photography always stuck with me. It got me thinking about how the film made great use of it's landscapes and settings with the contrasts of what we see at eye level and the sky above. There's as if the colour at times is drained from the screen and also looking at the framing of clouds, mist/fog, smoke etc... contrasts and textures give the film the post apocalyptic look and feel whilst still having vibrant life in shot (i.e. trees, plants etc..)

I feel that I'm actually only scraping the surface with this film and feel that if I delve deeper into how this film was shot, I might uncover some really interest ideas and hopefully find something more behind the cinematography in the film.

The last film that I thought of was the old 80's made for British TV film Threads (1984, dir Mick Jackson).

The main reason why this film was so prominent in my mind when thinking about 'After Arcadia' was because Threads to me always felt real, like a documentary film. I'll list some time codes below to share some examples of why this film is so powerful and important to my vision for the project.

@ 00:09 - The man in shot is what I have envisioned for the lead character in 'After Arcadia'. The man in shot has the grittiness and dirty feel to him and without looking just like a homeless person, he looks as if the world around him has collapsed and sucked all the life and soul away. His clothes have become indiscernible and look to just be an extension of his body.

@ 00:38 - The sky in shot looks so dark and grim and with the sharp brightness of the sun shining through the gloomy clouds, the shot makes you believe that there's been a nuclear attack and the UV ray's have become stronger than before.

@ 02:21 - The landscape in shot of dead trees and gloomy clouds above giving the scene a true feeling of death.

These just a few examples of why this film will influence me for the project; as an overall piece the film just looks naturally post apocalyptic without really on any fancy photography or after effects, which gives the film it's gritty and raw feel, which I always felt captured a realistic view of how the world would look after a devastating nuclear attack.

I feel that if I can take a slice of style from The Road and Children of Men and apply that artistic style to the rawness and gritty feel of Threads, that I might be able to achieve a visual style that will not only have a stylistic look but also feel realistic.

Group Meeting with Joe Tippett and Bob Brice - After Arcadia

After Joe had told me that he wanted me to be on board as the Cinematographer for his short film ‘After Arcadia’ we had a small group meeting between ourselves and Bob Brice (Art Director). Joe gave me the early stages of the script to read through and after he and Bob talked about the influences they had for the film and how they themselves imagined it would look as a final piece. Joe expressed his desire for the film to be completely shot out on the moors and Bob made it clear that the lead characters costume was going to play a huge part with the visual style of the film and much like in The Road (2009, dir John Hillcoat) the costume should fit in tonally with the photography of the film itself.

The mention of John Hillcoat’s The Road was funny because it was actually the film that was most prominent in my mind from listening to the initial idea for the short and then reading through the early stages of the script; I also really enjoyed the visual style of that film and thought that something similar would really suit this project.

At the end of the meeting I took a copy of the uncompleted script to read through a few more times and told Joe and Bob that I would look at some more films that might influence me for this project and whose visual style would have some relevance to the general outlook and feel of ‘After Arcadia’.

Discussion with Joe Tippett - After Arcadia

After the afternoon session at college, I spoke to Joe about the prospect of possibly joining his crew on his short film idea ‘After Arcadia’ as D.O.P/Cinematographer; we discussed briefly about the idea behind the film and the films that he felt were similar in tone with his initial idea. He said that he would think about this as he had already had a lot of interest shown by our peers, but said that he would give me a definitive answer by next Thursday (27^th Oct).

I asked about joining the project as the D.O.P/Cinematographer because I’ve already got this job role on an upcoming music video shoot with Damian Suparasisi, Ross Carter and Rob Cooper for a local band called ‘Cheating Jack Ketch’. I’ve not had any experience with the role as D.O.P/Cinematographer so for the project I really want to challenge myself within this role and I thought that taking on two projects with completely different outlooks and technical aspects would be very helpful for my development as a Cinematographer.

Not just the fact one project was a short film and the other a music video; but with the music video the plan is to shoot the video in the infinity cove working with minimal lighting and the plan for the short film ‘After Arcadia’ is to be shot completely outdoors and using natural lighting only; be able to work on both projects with give me a wide range of challenges across both projects.

Lighting Workshop (14/10/11) - Music Video

Taking part of the Lighting Workshop which required us to work with students from the 2nd Year of Film Arts, was a chance to see how I would work with others and how well I was able to perform as an acting Director of Photography (DOP).

I wasn't in a group with my other colleagues for which I'm going to be working with on my RED project, but recently I've been able to find some upcoming work on numerous music videos for some local bands. The first of which is for the band Cheating Jack Ketch, for which I will also be working as DOP on.

So I decided that the lighting workshop would be a great place to test out, not only different lighting equipment for the music video to see how it would look, but to also gain some experience and look for constructive criticism from my fellow peers.

As it turned out the actual test shots turned out to be a complete failure, only really coming to the conclusion that the LED lights that we were testing weren't going to be any good for the music video. But the workshop was still very productive as I learned that I needed to be more prepared for the role; because we had gone into the workshop with just some brief storyboard shots which weren't prioritized beforehand, time quickly got away from us and we ended up not actually getting anywhere near the amount of footage that we wanted to test done.

After speaking to Andy Hardwick; who had be taking notes and the way we as a group had worked together, he mentioned that the standout problem was the apparent lack of organisation and mix up in communications within the crew.

From this Lighting Workshop, I feel the need to go and research the role of DOP more thoroughly so that I'm fully aware of my responsibilities on set and in pre-production.