Canon Eos C300 Workshop

The Canon Eos C300 is a fantastic high performance video camera, used on the sets of actually hollywood productions and is a great piece of kit for any student wanting to shoot with professional standard equipment.

















In our university we have two of these camera's which are shared between DFSA and Film Production respectively. For this reason they of course can not be taken out at any time and must be booked in advance for your shoot which is why we must keep organised as a group to be able to produce a schedule soon in order to get this camera.

Being so expensive and technical as a camera, university requires that in order to take this camera out onto a shoot you must:

1) Be inducted on C300 and all the kit that comes with it
2) Have a total of 3 trained crew members on set working with the C300
3) Be signed off on your film for shooting
4) Have a pre-visualisation already completed

So this is the reason for the workshop and as a small group we were fortunate enough to have the whole main crew trained on the camera, with the decision that myself, Charlotte and Callam would be responsible for it on set.

The workshop showed the whole preparation and setup for the camera and we were provided with a checklist to go through each time we use the camera. This workflow booklet has to be followed closely in order to make sure the camera stays in working order.

We had the chance to experiment with all the lenses that come with this kit, which range from a 17mm wide angle, to a 28mm, 35mm, 80mm. It was important for me to understand the kind of image these lenses produced and how they can be used to an advantage of visual storytelling.

Following the workshop Al, Charlotte and I went back the following day to use the camera again, this time with a dolly and giving Charlotte the chance to practice with focus pulling. Speaking with the technicians and lecturers we were able to receive some good technical knowledge on how to use the camera and what they would expect as professional practice.

We also had the chance to shoot in C Log for the first time which is a very flat picture style allowing for fantastic opportunities in colour correction and grading. One thing i have to personally remember with this is that you need to light and frame the shot with C Log off so that everyone can see what the desired output will look like, then before recording turn it on, as things may look a bit brighter and desaturated if we try and prepare the shot with it turned on.

My plan as a DOP and camera operator is to try and practice with this camera, lenses, filter, movement and the footage from practice shots as much as possible so that when it comes to storyboarding, planning and shooting itself i feel confident in what image is going to be produced, how it can be achieved and know how best to use the camera to its potential.

"Pre Vis" shoot day (Recce)

An early pre visualisation shoot day was organised after receiving our first draft to move things forwards quickly. Having only just having the first draft of the script before we went to the location i did not really have the appropriate time to conjure up a shot list/storyboard as i needed to understand the emotion and feeling of the script first to decide how i would like to approach this visually and also this would be my first time seeing the location having not had a recce yet so i felt somewhat unprepared. After discussion with the director and producer, we agreed that this would be more of a recce day and a chance for the crew to go the location, decide if the location was appropriate for the story, help for creative vision with the lighting and camera options for the shoot at the location and play through the initial script to see if the plot and character progression could work.

The first thing that i wanted to make sure we sorted out once at the location was the specific areas of the house we would and could use, so i could aim my attention directly towards these when focusing on framing, movement, composition and just generally understanding the space we have to work with.

The first main space was the living room (where the scenes with Thea and Perlah take place)

The second main space would be "Yanna's Bedroom"

The third and fourth spaces were not main spaces but were found to be useful for the script. That being the Staircase and Kitchen/Diner. 

From this recce i was able to analyse each of these spaces for their potential with visual imagery in our film. We took Tamara's 7D with us and working the our director Al we went through the script and shot the first draft script that we had. Though this will definitely not be our pre visualisation it gives me and the other members of crew a fantastic idea of how we could potentially use the space. We tried a variety of angles, abiding by the rule of thirds, experimenting with symmetry and though only shooting photographs we had an attempt at looking how movement could work to the advantage of the script.

Once the final draft of the script is complete i will be referring to the photographic video that is being edited together to build the storyboard and shot list. Actually getting my hands on with camera in the location provided some fantastic inspiration and sparked creativity for the visuals that we can use.

What i learnt from this day from a DOP point of view is that first of all we definitely do need to progress the script and think more intelligently how we are going to go about the death of Yanna. There are certain limitations that i may have to work around in order to provide the film with a realism that the audience will take in, such as not actually showing Thea's pregnant stomach skin. Not having that much budget means that in order to sell the illusion of a non pregnant woman being pregnant we want to avoid seeing the stomach itself unless it is under clothing so i was trying to think of angles to make this work. Also letting the audience in on a clue that Yanna's death is imminent (suggested by the director) such as showing a halo above her in certain scenes. We noticed that there are times when we could compose the shot so a light is above her head and this may be initially missed by an audience and upon second viewing would speak strongly realising what this symbolism meant. When Yanna does die on her bed i saw that it was possible, though the technicalities of this would have to be figured out, to shoot from a god's view perspective, implying the ghost of herself is looking down on her own body and creating again strong visual imagery.

The next step from here is to talk closely with the director and scriptwriter to move the script along with our input and talk about how we would like to style this film visually, knowing the location that we could potentially be shooting in. I will start to create a mood board of images from films, pictures and paintings, keeping adding to this as time goes on.

The Camera Equipment List

As the role for Director of Photography requires i must create an initial camera equipment list which will be updated nearer to the time of shooting but is for the producer to be able to organise getting all this equipment. Being university students the hard work is fortunately done for us as most of the equipment come's in "set's" which we will book out for our shoot.

The Basic List is as follows (and currently the supplier is already sorted unless we require additional outsourcing for specific equipment)

Storytelling Through Composition

Visual Composition

As a director of photography i need to analyse films that show excellently visually a story, that even without the support of the script give the audience a clear image of what is going on throughout.

A fantastic example i found is The Division of Gravity - A short film directed by Rob Chiu. "A young man and woman feel the strain on a once loving relationship, with neither coming to realise what they have lost until it is too late." With gorgeous cinematography and moving performances, you are taken on the journey with the characters from the beginning of a relationship all the way to the bitter end.




The Visual Story:

1) - In the beginning everything is happy, they are always together and in love. There is obviously lots of kissing which is symbolic but the composition itself always leads the eye to the couple who are always together.

2) - Something starts to go wrong, loneliness is portrayed. The balance that was initially shown has gone, an emptiness in the frames becomes apparent and the shots feel like they are a bit off and missing something.

3) - A gap is created. The couple are growing apart emotionally and mentally. There is always a visual element in between the couple, showing the separation between them. This is extremely clever composition and strong imagery.

4) - The Breakup and Division. The first screenshot shows the complete contrast in characters feelings to the very first screenshot in the same setting, the perspective now looking down and lighting gloomy and murky. Each character is now alone and a space is always left beside them.

5) - The aftermath. The two both go through a reflecting period which is symbolically shown with their reflections.

This whole film contains what is referred to as 'Visual Metaphors'. As written in Cinematography Theory and Practice by Blain Brown:

"One of the most important tools as filmmakers is visual metaphor, which is the ability to convey a meaning in addition to their straightforward reality. Think of it as "reading between the lines" visually. In some films, things are simply what they are. In others, however, many images carry an implied meaning that can be a powerful storytelling tool." As we see above and as previously mentioned, the whole story is lead by a strong visual story that gives the literal meaning to the metaphor being shown in each for the characters.

Framing and movement has so much play in the storytelling through composition. A short example i found was from the film Birthday by Pietro Malegori:



This shows the story of a man and a woman, once parents, mourning the death of their son on the day of his birthday. There is no dialogue and the story is not very strong however we see beautiful composition throughout the short piece with the camera movement always moving in or sliding across to reveal more of the image. We definitely get the feeling of separation and loneliness from the couple with the empty space that is left beside them when it feels like something should be there. Also there is a lot of central framing, this feels very dramatic and shows you that they truly are the only one person, they are very lifeless in their motions and all the colours are very desaturated. The camera movements are constantly 'pulling us in' to try and build a connection and understand what is going on. Whilst i do not feel this is as strong as the example above i really enjoyed the framing in this and is an excellent example of how to make your visuals pleasing to the audience and create a strong presence on screen with the characters.

"Many of these still shots could be hanging in a gallery somewhere, in fact, this entire film as a piece could fit well in a gallery setting. The dolly moves in particular pulled me in. Each time the camera got a bit closer to the characters, I leaned in a little more, and paid a little more attention to the faces and the emotions of the two characters. There is always the opportunity to be heavy handed with these types of films, but even without any dialogue, I was fully engaged in the story. Being able to tell a story without dialogue also means it can mean more to a wider audience. If you don't have to worry about subtitles and different languages, it lets the universal emotions affect the viewer rather than the delivery of the lines." - Joe Marine

The Rules of Composition:

Looking at the examples above it is quite apparent that there is a certain structure of framing being followed which is always very aesthetically pleasing to look at. Composition rules and conventions are older than cinema and photography. Most of the concepts in this page have been used for hundreds of years in painting. Filmmakers and photographers have borrowed many techniques from painters and used them as a springboard for new ideas and practices.

Lead Room - If a character is looking frame left, then he should be positioned frame right. This makes the framing comfortable because the subject is looking at the open space in front of him. This open space is called lead room or lead space.

Rule of Thirds - Another basic composition notion is the Rule of Thirds. The basis of the rule is that a visual composition is most pleasing to the eye when its compositional elements conform to an imaginary set of lines that divide the frame into equal thirds, both horizontally and vertically and stems from the theory that the human eye naturally gravitates to intersectional points when the image is split into thirds. So basically aim to always frame on these spots and avoid the centre frame.

(Example of The Rule of Thirds in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)


Symmetry and centre frame - Though it is not best advised to have symmetry in shots and centre frame because of the psychological effect is has on the audience and not fitting with the rule of thirds, when executed will and used for a particular purpose, symmetry and centre framing can work well as shown by these two examples from Wes Anderson and Stanley Kubrick:

Understanding how to portray losing a loved one

Films that deal with grieving:


Beginners - The film is structured as a series of interconnected flashbacks. Following the death of his father Hal, Oliver reflects on their relationship following the death of Oliver's mother, Georgia. Shortly after her death, Hal came out to his son and began exploring life as an openly gay man. He becomes active in the gay community, finds love and becomes more honest with himself and with his son. As a result, Oliver and Hal become closer during this time. Shortly after Hal's death, Oliver meets Anna, a French actress, at a party. Inspired by his father's attitude towards the end of his life and their relationship, Oliver decides to pursue a romance with her.




Three Colors: Blue - is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew, free of personal commitments, belongings, grief or love. She intends to numb herself by withdrawing from the world and living completely independently, anonymously and in solitude in the Parisian metropolis.




Welcome to the Rileys - James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo have spent years mourning the tragic loss of their 15-year old daughter. They cope in their own ways. He sleeps with a waitress, and she never leaves the house under any circumstance. But when Doug (Gandolfini) travels to New Orleans for a trade show and lands himself in the life of a very young, runaway girl named Mallory (Kristen Stewart) who spends time stripping and turning tricks to maintain her meager, dirty existence. Doug takes Mallory under his wing. He helps her clean up her house, attempts to give her a direction in life, all while telling his wife that he just can’t come home. This prompts his wife to leave the house and come to New Orleans, where she and Doug spend time weaving themselves into Mallory’s life, finding only more trouble as they get more and more involved.




Charlie St Cloud - Charlie St. Cloud (Zac Efron) is a young man overcome by grief at the death of his younger brother, who takes a job as caretaker of the cemetery in which his brother Sam is buried. Charlie has a special bond with Sam, he meets him every night to play catch and to talk. Then, a girl comes into Charlie’s life and he must choose between keeping a promise he made to Sam, or going after the girl he loves.




Rabbit Hole - Becca and Howie Corbett are a happily married couple whose perfect world is forever changed when their young son, Danny, is killed by a car. Becca, an executive-turned-stay-at-home mother, tries to redefine her existence in a surreal landscape of well-meaning family and friends. Painful, poignant, and often funny, Becca's experiences lead her to find solace in a mysterious relationship with a troubled young comic-book artist, Jason - the teenage driver of the car that killed Danny. Becca's fixation with Jason pulls her away from memories of Danny, while Howie immerses himself in the past, seeking refuge in outsiders who offer him something Becca is unable to give. The Corbetts, both adrift, make surprising and dangerous choices as they choose a path that will determine their fate.




Short films that deal with grieving:


Margo Lily - A couple is determined to plant a tree in the middle of winter following the loss of their child



Grape Soda - A short film about life, death, and the glue that holds the broken pieces in between.




To Build a Home - Comprised of two parts, To Build a Home firstly chronicles the last hours of a dying woman (Julia Ford), as her dedicated and faithful partner (Peter Mullan) cares and comforts for his love in her final moments. In the second part of the short, we see Mullan’s broken shell of a man, coming to terms with the loss of his beloved and struggling to face his future without the woman he loves. It’s an emotional journey full of feeling and atmosphere with a story that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the passing of a loved one.

Colour

Colour in Visual Storytelling:

Colour is one of the most important tools for a DOP and not merely because you can do beautiful things with it. For more fundamentally is its power as a communications tool. Colour affects the viewer in the same way that music or dance does: it reaches people at a gut emotional level. For this reason, it can be a powerful tool in creating visual subtext.

There are three aspects of colour that we must understand as cinematographers:

- Basic colour theory
- Controlling colour in the camera and in lighting
- Visual story telling

To understand how colour can be used as an intrinsic filming tool it is good to examine films where colour has been used for more than just it's beauty. Take for instance, the 1999 film, “The Matrix” – directed by Andy and Lana Wachowski.

There is a subtle use of colour as a visual cue for the location. When Neo and Morpheous talk inside the Matrix – there’s a sickly green cast to everything – reminiscent of the old green monochrome computer monitors. When out of the Matrix, the colours are more natural.























The colour here works in more than one way:

1) As a basic device to make sure the audience isn’t confused. In a movie where some scenes cut back and forth dozens of times between characters inside the Matrix and characters in the “real world,” there absolutely needs to be an understood signal to clearly place the audience.


2) The colour palette works on an emotional level. By setting up Neo’s normal existence as a sickly green, we understand the freshness that the real world offers.


From the same year we can compare that to this opening scene from Sam Mendes’ “American Beauty”:




When American Beauty is critiqued, the colour red and its symbolism is always brought up. The way Ball uses it, it refers to a concept: the life force, which, by nature, tries to defy the suppressiveness of suburban life. That's why, the first time we meet Annette Bening, she's cutting red roses. She's cutting the life force. For Kevin Spacey, the life force which suburbia can't repress is sex. And so, in his fantasies, Mena Suvari, his object of lust, floats on a bed of red rose petals, or soaks in a tub covered in roses. In their final, near-sexual encounter, a vase of red roses is evident.

However, something to notice is that red isn't the only colour shown during the film. In fact Red, White and Blue are all extremely prominent and clever composed throughout.

These are the colours of the American flag and are seen prominently around the Burnham home. They symbolise that the Burnham family are living the "American Dream'.

Compare those bold primary colour scheme to the earthy tones of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s 2001 film Amelie.


Jeunet uses a rich warm palette of Greens, yellows and reds – a signature colour palette of his that gives his films a sort of grotesque yet magical warmth to them. Blue is used sparingly, and when it is it’s a bold contrast to the established earthy tones.

These three films, coming out just a few years apart, represent just a small part of of the creative use of colour filmmakers employed coming out of the 1990s and into the new millennium.


Colour Palettes:

Below is a visual digital scrapbook of colour palettes from famous films that i can use as reference when searching for visual style and colour of my own to create an identity for the film i will be working on.

The importance of the colour palette:

To pick out a very common example of a director who has built up his own "style" when it comes to colour palettes it's good to examine Wes Anderson. Just by watching a single frame of ‘The Great Budapest Hotel’ you can tell that it’s a Wes Anderson movie. This is because of its symmetrical compositions, saturated colour pallet and typically 70’s styling. "Wes Anderson's colour palettes are integral to his cinematic ‘world-building’. His eye for art direction and fantastic attention to detail creates the appropriate space and tone for his characters to exist in – and for the viewer to lose themselves in. They ultimately become their own visual language, the way character themes are elaborated in cinematic scores, allowing an immersive visual experience whether the sound is on or not." Every film has its own way of telling its story. The colour palette helps the director to enhance the emotional aspect of the film and helps viewers to respond to it. The role of a colour palette starts from the visual interpretation of the script that makes the film look real to taking on a subtle character of its own. The mood or the feeling created by the colour palette stays with the viewer even after the film has ended. Choosing the colour palette for the film begins from the preproduction stage with the production designer, director and the art department and then the minds of cinematographer and the colourist takes place. These minds decide on how the set are going to be, the costume design, lights, how the film will read its colours, the effect and overall feeling of the film.

Director of Photography Preparation

Many of the extracts below have been taken from Paul Wheeler - Practical Cinematography as a very useful resource of information for cinematography.


The DP’s Preparation Research: 

“While it is the DP’s job to interpret the script and the director’s vision of that script, it is an immense help if you can base your imagined pictures on reality - it brings a greater believability to the finished film.”

“Making up your own scrapbooks is an excellent way to accumulate images and enables you to add pictures from newspapers and magazines to your collection.”

“When i am stuck for an image to work from, just flicking through a couple of scrapbooks will as often as not start my mind off down an interesting path - not necessarily from a particular picture, but somehow to randomness fires up ideas and unlocks my visual imagination.”


Preparing for the shoot: 

Recces - The recce, the English colloquial abbreviation for reconnoitre (location scouting) comes in two parts:

1) Recceing with the director and/or location manager some time prior to principal photography is usually productive and enjoyable

2) The technical recce, which usually occurs just a week or two before the shoot commences, where the DP has to finalise all the technical requirements, is usually straightforward hard work. Recceing with the director and other department heads is a most creative process. It is the time, if you haven't worked together before, to get to know each other and understand each other’s visualisation of the film.


The Camera Equipment List: 

The camera equipment list will probably be published twice. The line producer or production manager will usually ask the DP early on in the production run-up for a guess, or wish list, of the equipment that will be required as the basic kit in order to get competitive quotes from different suppliers. For professional practice it is good to follow this rule of thumb. Once the supplier has been chose, the recce is over and a basic list can be decided upon, it is vital that you provide this new list as soon as possible. This is so everything can be time organised to arrive when it is needed.


List that would be expected to fill out: 

• (Camera)

• (Zoom Lenses)

• (Prime Lenses)

• (Telephoto Prime Lenses)

• (Camera Accessories)

• (Video Assist Accessories)

• (Filters)

• (Grip Equipment)

• (Heads and Legs)

Obviously not all of this would be expected necessarily for a student film shoot, however it provides an outline of what would be expected professionally which i will try to follow as close as i can after seeing the location, as a recce is being organised soon.

Another list that needs to be created is a “Lighting List” but someone else is taking up the role of lighting during our production, so i will be talking with them in order to get this created once they have decided what is needed.


The technical schedule: 

This is basically a very accurate daily list of all my requirements for the whole of a film. Before going on a recce, enter ‘Camera: Normal Kit’ and ‘Lighting: Normal Kit’ on all the shoot days to the schedule. Then, enter you days off so that they show on the agenda; this gives you an entry for every day of the whole shooting period. Then, referring to the production’s draft schedule, enter the scene numbers you are going to shoot on all the given dates.

Having prepared your schedule this way as you go round the locations on the technical recce, all you have to enter are the changes from the normal kit. For a small shoot such as the one i will be on, the technical schedule will likely only span over the course of half a week or so and i will be on location everyday, but this is something that i will still be creating to as much detail as possible.

“By producing this kind of technical schedule you make it easy for the office to keep the production on track and you have created a situation whereby you will be bothered far less on the set as things change. Hence, you get more time to do what you really enjoy - shooting the film!”

Group meeting - Decision to pursue See you Soon

Group Meeting Notes:

As a group we sat and talked about the films which could be pursued and a decision was made to go forward with See you Soon. Though it needed much development, currently it was the most realistic film which had been proposed.

The first matter of business would be designating roles amongst our group which we could follow for pre production and execute in the actual production itself.

My role was assigned as Director of Photography.

With initial discussion this means i will be undertaking the following tasks and researching into these

• Framing and Camera Movement

• Responsible for Visual Style and Composition as a whole

• Technical Camera/Lens knowledge and Operation of the camera

• Creation of Storyboard / Shot list 

• Colour Grading

Notes on what is next:

- First draft of script comes in on the 26th of October.

- Pre visualisation on the 31st of October.


Notes on tasks i must complete:

1) Research films that deal with grievance, visually.

2) Study five films, look out for their framing and how they approach the topic of grievance.

3) How will the camera interact with the subject?

4) Technical aspects of the C300.

Tutorial for EFA and result of this

Critique of Efa

Once i had presented my idea for Efa i had the chance to have some initial critique from Kathleen and Rosie, and then the following week, a tutorial with Nigel. Here is a summary of general review and how i could move forward and things to consider.

Consider the sensitivity of the subject. Get first hand experience.

The main point raised was that i needed to take into account the sensitivity of this subject as there will be audience members with mothers, grandmothers and loved ones in nursing homes so i cannot approach it lightly, also there will be those with experience of a family member or friend with memory problems. If i do not research this properly i could end up upsetting viewers not portraying accurately the reality of these subjects

For this reason it was discussed that in order to take this idea and story further i would need to get first hand experience, i.e. volunteer at a care/nursing home for a period of time to understand what it really is like as at the moment i have no real idea, only what i have seen and heard from people and films. To make this a true and real film i cannot recycle what is shown on other films. Getting this first hand experience also helps with really developing what i have, i may find an actual person to base the story on, looking at their personality and physical traits.

Consider the complexity and of the film

Another point that was made that for this type of film and story it is something more that 3rd Year film students would make for their grad film and this may not really be achievable for DFSA. I did realise that it was quite ambitious for that reason and so there could be adjustments from locations to the actually story that could be simplified to create a more achievable film.

Films to watch for inspiration and development:

Armour - The retired piano players and teachers Georges and Anne live in a comfortable apartment in Paris. Their daughter Eva is a musician in tour through Europe. One day, Anne has a stroke that paralyses her right side, and Georges nurses his wife and promises that he will send her neither to a hospital nor to a nursing home. Soon Anne's life deteriorates and her mental and physical capabilities decline very fast leading Georges to take a tragic decision.





The Befuddled Box of Betty Buttifint - A touching examination of a fractured memory. Janis Pugh's experimental film, made in collaboration with the Central School of Speech and Drama, portrays an elderly woman living within her own confused mind. Using the vivid landscape of her memories, Pugh's film blurs the line between reality and fantasy, and between real memories and symbols of Betty's past. Featuring a lead performance from Illona Linthwaite as a woman struggling to make sense of her life, it is a moving, poetic take on the life, loves and losses of a person whose world is fading away.





Shirin - A short film about a daughter and her father. Both have secrets. Starring Hussina Raja and Bhasker Patel. Written and directed by Stephen Fingleton. Produced by Loreta Zajarskyte.





SHIRIN (full movie) from Stephen Fingleton on Vimeo.

Book to read:

David Mamet – On directing film

Proposal of other films i could work on

Having a group already decided as we worked so well together last year means that we all have to collectively decide, looking at each others proposals, which film would be best to make a reality. We had a day of presentations and from this i was able to see what potential film i could work on if mine were not chosen and also started to have a quick brainstorm about how i would approach these films and how they could benefit my role.

Transit

Transit is a film developed and written by Tamara and Al. I got the chance to read the script that they had been developing and understand the type of film they were proposing. Originally it was set to be an animation but was altered to try and be made into a live action film. It follows the story of a child's imagination with the outside world and how her perspective is not actually far from the truth. It originated from Tamara telling about a story her friend told her when she was younger, the story talked about how her friend (a frequent flyer) thought that when she was traveling by plane as a child, she always imagined that while she was in that plane the whole world was changing around her while she was not noticing (for example, people would change and move around the world like a set).

My initial thoughts with Transit was that it had quite a likeness to The Truman Show. Everyone has scripted roles in the "real world" and this goes on every day. The girl comes to realise this but is shunned by her mother when she talks about it.

The locations for the film are the most interesting but challenging area. It primarily takes place on a plane, which though quite ambitious for a student film and i did initially challenge as ridiculous, is through the work of our producer Tamara, potentially achievable budget and location wise but it would be very top end budget for what we would want to be doing.

From a cinematography perspective, it gives me a great challenge of working in an unusual environment which would look fantastic on a portfolio, not only do i have the potential to create some stunning visuals that simulate a plane in the sky, from inside and maybe even outside shooting in but i have the chance to show my ability to work in an unusual environment.

Upon research i noticed a lot of films that deal with filming on a plane have two things in common that would not work with transit:

1) There is a disaster eminent

2) The whole plane is used, showing all passengers

For transit we want to focus on just the girl in her seat and her mother, with extras around them giving the impression of a full plane. I would need to be very considerate of how this is achievable, particularly the focus of just one passenger instead of the whole plane.

I found some initial inspiration from the film Red Eye to be a useful reference and can see how lighting is used here to highlight the main character with 6/7 extras surrounding him to give the impression of a full plane. This is something i will look further into.

For the plane set we would be looking into using an aeroplane from a junkyard where old planes are taken when they can no longer be used for flight. As students we have been told we could get a discount on the regular price to rent these out. Things we would need to consider is how we are going to get equipment there and have a recce to see limitations that would arise. I imagine we would struggle with lighting as there will be no power sources nearby, this may mean the requirement of a generator. Lighting is extremely important for a set like this as we are trying to simulate something that is thousands of miles in the sky.

Using a plane from this space would give us the ability to make the whole film look as realistic as possible and selling the effect of flying could be easily achieved with green screen for the windows and I would expect that the best way to achieve motion of flying would be in the editing process to add shake later on. We can cover all elements of a production that challenges everyones skill areas. We would need to be careful as this is a student film that we don't get too carried away with a full scale production that is way out of our ability.

















For all the scenes in the plane i feel like the aim would be to concentrate on close shots, mostly focused on the girl and her mother as in a plane you are quite cramped and limited with your space so with the film being quite personal to these two characters instead of all the passengers, keeping all of the shots close and intimate really builds the audiences relationship with the girl and her mother.

I would need to do a lot of research into films that deal with children and particularly their imagination to see how cinematographers create a visual style for these types of films as well as specifically films that deal with flight to understand movements, framing and lighting that works.

For the other scenes outside of the plane that have been suggested such as a taxi driver, people walking on the street, i would imagine these to be quite short shots that only deal with a couple of different angles and once a final script is decided and these extra characters i would find visual references of the spaces, places and people, particularly referring to how the Truman Show deals with the idea of real people being actors.


See you Soon

See you soon is a mother daughter story that was developed by Tamara. This story is somewhat of a tragedy as it deals with the death of a daughter and how the mother grieves for her. Originally it dealt with the mothers death and took place in a funeral hall then then back at the family home where the mother and daughter lived.

See you soon was proposed as a film that incorporates flashbacks with realtime. The effect that inspired this is Shunpo.



SHUNPO from BURAYAN on Vimeo.


Shunpo excellently achieves match cuts to perfection between different environments making a magnificent on screen performance. The framing is an absolute essential part of this short film and will be the big focus as a cinematographer for achieving the flashback match cuts for see you soon. I really enjoy breaking this down frame by frame to see how they achieve some of the angles and shots in a clever way. For example in the scene below the dancer goes from climbing up some stairs, to seemingly putting her head against the wall next to them, but as the camera turns and the woman gets up we realise she is laying down in a different location. This is a brilliant demonstration of match cutting between two locations and is something i would love to be able to make happen in this film.

For the main scenes which take place in the family home i would need to look at the locations proposed and how we would intersect between the two. Research looking into how films cover both past and present, maybe looking into how we can effectively demonstrate the different time zones with lighting.

Phone box film (un-named) 
This film is not as developed as the other two but play on a cyclical theme of having a camera rig going round a phonebox where the single actor is playing out a role throughout. Stylistically this is a nice idea and maybe would work well for an experimental piece but it seems for an actual film it is unlikely to have the development to move forward.