Coursework
Communication and Practice
For weeks six and seven we began to prepare for the short online assessment by taking a mock test and then being encouraged to revise in reading week. I had kept a cohesive set of notes which did make revising a lot easier however I did find that condensing the information in order to retain as much information as possible was really difficult as we have been through a lot of content. I also struggle with the pressure of timed assessments as I have slower processing than the average person making it difficult to read the questions quickly.
Film Narrative
The sound workshop was very interesting to me as I feel that I have not explored the purpose and technicalities of sound in films enough therefore much of the information that was given was new to me. Furthermore looking at the way that Kurosawa and Lynch use sound made me consider more deeply how detrimental sound can be to the creation of a film. Reading week also allowed me time to start planning for Tableau 1 which we came up with an idea.
Workflow and Creative Camera Techniques
our workshop on the standard practice for setting up a shot was really helpful as it gave us the opportunity to understand how a set can work efficiently. I thought the role of assistant director seemed really interesting and is often discredited as being a less important role when much of the action that occurs on set is led by the assistant director who needs to be alert and thinks fast.
Home, Sweet Home - Exercize 2
This exercise made me consider how the atmosphere in an environment can be conveyed in a shot. We found this derelict block of flats and wanted to enforce the sense of isolation and abandonment. We, therefore, chose a desaturated look with sharp cuts and very slight movement. However, I feel that we may have benefited from also filming inside the flats as this could have more immersively depicted what life in this area is like. We captured more than 8 shots therefore it was difficult to select only 8 shots to establish a sense of place.
Short film review - Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (Neal Suresh Mulani)
This film follows the birthday party of a narcissistic gen-z boy and his delicately arranged birthday party. The plot focuses on the relationship between Gary and his friends, especially Alma, and how life after college can make it difficult to maintain meaningful and close friendships. The snappy editing of this film and the use of focus shifts to indicate isolation were really effective in conveying the impact social media has had on socializing and expressing mood within the film. However, I did feel that the film’s narrative attempted to build up a climax but by the end of the film, I was unsure exactly what the climax was intended to be.
Notes From Reading
- using different lenses can change the world created in a film and how the space feels
- important parts of lens choice include perspective, compression, softness, and contrast
- a lens works closely with the frame to create both subjective and objective meaning
- it's important to create a frame with foreground, midground, and background
- lens perspective looks at how lenses can capture a vast width, typical perspectives include 35mm and 50 mm
- with wider lenses, the closer something is to a wide lens the more distortion is caused and there is usually a larger depth of field
- deep focus allows us to see both the foreground and background very clearly
- telephoto lenses can be used to compress space and can often make stunts look more dangerous and emphasize the beauty
- to reduce the depth of field pull back and use a longer lens
- focus puller is responsible for focusing on the person speaking, an emotional subject, a person facing the camera, or an actor that has the lowest number on the call sheet
- filtration allows an image to be far softer and softer lenses although having less optical complexity works for this
- flares and glares hit the lens to create a beam of light
- eye level shots are the most common lens height but it is good to use a variety to keep the audience engaged
- high angles are good for establishing locations and low angles, although reducing subjectivity, can make a figure appear more threatening
Comments