Production Research
Research
ANALYSIS
DoodleBug
Directed by Christopher Nolan
The first film, I want to analyse was a short film shot and directed by Christopher Nolan (who has directed major blockbusters like Interstellar and Inception) called Doodlebug, which was one of his first films he shot when he was at school. There are clear issues with the film, however, I have ignored these issues because of the low budget for the film and it is one of his first. During this analysis I will be focusing purely on the framing, camera movement, lighting and in-camera effects as these are the main area of focus for the DoP to work on. Those 4 categories I have chosen will link to our project and how certain techniques could be used in our film. I will be using a variety of different sources from books, websites and journals to help further my knowledge of understanding why a DoP has done specific things to help the narrative and how to use the camera to manipulate the audience's emotions.
What is the film about:
The film opens showing a dishevelled man in his disgusting flat that he hasn't cleaned. We are soon shown that this man looks like he suffers from mental illness (anxiety and paranoia) as he is looking around his flat for a bug-like creature running on his floor. It is later revealed that the bug-like creature resembles a miniature version of himself. With every movement the miniature version did, it was then later matched by the larger version. He finally corners the smaller version of himself and squashes it with a shoe but is subsequently squashed by a larger version of himself.
Framing:
Framing is a key element to filmmaking as this is where the DoP and Director would work closely to work out what would be the best thing to progress the narrative "Setting the frame is a series of choices that decide what the viewer will see and not see." (B, Brown. 2012) if this does not happen correctly then the framing will be wrong and it won't suit the theme or genre of whatever you're filming.
Normally with analysis, I would pick out certain shots within the film and break down the framing. However, due to this film being extremely short there isn't much within the framing that would suggest anything towards the narrative. For this film, I noticed that Christopher Nolan had very clear framing and nothing that would break the standard framing that fits the genre's conventions. The majority of the shots seen in this film is a mixture between MCU (medium close-up) and CU (Close up) as shown in figure 1 and 2. The constant use of these shots was done on purpose because those types of shots are used to show the audience how the character is feeling "...close-up with a long lens at a close range. This allows the actor to establish a strong connection with the audience..." (MasterClass, Staff. 2021) which would then have the same feeling with the audience.
As seen in fig 1 and 2 the framing is tight on the subject which paired with quick edits can suggest the characters unstable and unnatural behaviour.
Camera Movements
There are many different camera movements in this particular film, however, the two I want to analyse are the tracking shots and the handheld motion displayed in the film. The reason why I have picked these two shots specifically is that I know that I will be testing out this style for our film (which will be shown in the test shoots blog).
After watching Doodlebug multiple times I noticed that there is a wide range of different movements, however, they don't happen often. It's clear that Christopher Nolan knew exactly how the camera was supposed to move within the scene. One movement I noticed was tracking and how he would track towards either the character or objects around the room that showed the importance to the story. I noticed that the camera would track towards specific items that the character would look at this is done to show its importance and connection with the character. However, it wasn't the movement that was appealing it was the speed at which the camera was moving towards the items paired with quick edits. The tracking would be slow as if the camera was sneaking up to each item or sneaking up to him. The use of slow tracking is done to "...give the viewer an ominous experience..." (Studiobinder, 2018) which works well for this specific film. Due to his clear instability to cope with his paranoia the slow tracking works well as it makes the audience feel uncomfortable. On the other hand, this would not work unless the editor paired the slow tracking with quick cuts. This creates a good juxtaposition between the movement of the camera and the pacing of the edit, which then makes it uncomfortable to watch for the audience. This is exactly what Christopher Nolan wanted to create as it immerses us in the action happening on-screen, I want to recreate this sense of tension and unpredictability for our film as it will strengthen the theme of being mentally unwell.
The second camera movement that I noticed was that in some movements the camera looked handheld"A handheld shot occurs when the camera is removed from the tripod and is literally 'handheld' by the camera operator." (Sijll, J V. 2005) handheld camera movements can be used in a variety of different ways, however, I want the handheld movements to show the audience that his paranoia is getting worse, which was done in Doodlebug. The handheld movement is very subtle, but it works because the handheld gives a specific effect that is not possible if the camera was fixed onto a tripod "The effect creates an unstable image. The bumpier the shot, the more instability can be suggested. The impact of the shot is often exaggerated by juxtaposing it with a smooth shot or one that is locked down." (Sijll, J V. 2005) which is what Nolan did well. as the mixture between handheld then fixed makes the film more jarring to watch and acts as an extension of the characters mental state. This effect would work really well for our project as the character slowly gets more paranoid as the narrative progresses so handheld paired with fixed shots would make the final edit feel tenser as the audience begins to question the character's sanity.
Lighting
this film is shot in black and white, which means that the DoP must get creative with the lighting choices as there are no colour to help suggest emotion" Light creates more than just visual effects... it also has a biological and psychological effect that can impact the health and wellbeing of humans." (TPC. N/A. Coloured lighting can drastically change how the audience's emotions are perceived as colour can have a subconscious effect on how we process colours "Color can affect us emotionally, psychologically and even physically, often without us becoming aware." (Risk, M. 2020) which is what I want to do with our film. However, with Doodlebug there is no colour as it's shot in black and white this means that in order to create the same emotions Nolan needed to be creative with shadows. As shown in figure 3 the shadow cuts off most of the characters face making the shot look underexposed. I really like how the shot looks underexposed, however, due to this film being shot on film it's hard to colour correct the shot in post. The darkness in the shots acts as another character that toys with his paranoia, but not only that the darkness adds to his instability. This is a common theme in darker movies because "where there is no light, one cannot see; and when one cannot see, his imagination starts to run wild. He begins to suspect that something is about to happen." (Alton, J. 1995) which is exactly what Nolan has done in Doodlebug and this is something I will test before filming Control.
In-camera Effects
For this section, I wanted to talk about in-camera effects for this film the reason for this is because we originally wanted digital effects, but soon realised that it was far too complex for us. So with this, we knew that we wanted more practical effects that we can do on the day. However, I did not see any being used. The only effects being used are digital effects added into the film during post-production.
Pi (1998)
Director Darren Aronofsky
Director of Photography
Intro
The second film I want to analyse is called Pi (1998) directed by the master of phycological thrillers Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky has been a major influence on our film and our team see him as the greatest director for the specific genre we are working towards. Pi is one of his lesser-known films and is clearly low budget compared to a lot of his other work. The reason why I have decided to analyse this film is that the theme of the film is borderline the same as Control. Both films follow one character's journey into paranoia and madness. In this analysis, I will have a brief description of the events that transpired during the film, and then I will go onto the specific categories that we're done in the previous analysis, framing, camera movement, lighting and in-camera effect. I will also be using different books, websites and journals to help further my understanding and strengthen my analysis. I really enjoyed watching this film and it's given me a lot of inspiration for our project, especially with framing and how different angles made me feel whilst watching.
what is the film about
Pi follows talented mathematician Max as he discovers that most things in the world have mathematical elements which make them predictable. With this knowledge, he makes it his mission to find a pattern with the stock market and in doing so he slowly starts to exhibit traits of someone who is paranoid and we see him constantly taking medicine to prevent the migraines he is having. He seeks advice from his mentor who is concerned for Max as it looks like he is not resting and is going to work himself to death. Max ignores his mentor's pleas to rest and whilst working discovered a 216 combination of number, which he believes to be a glitch in his findings. At first, he ignores the numbers as he believes them to be useless. However, within that number, he starts to correctly guess percentages within the stock market. During this time Max finds a group of Jewish mathemetician who shows him that the Jewish language is all numbers (which is key for later in the film). After discovering this number he starts to hallucinate men following him around everywhere. After some more twists and turns, Max is then confronted by the Jewish men as they believe the 216 number is the true name of the Jewish God and they want to decrypt the number for their religion. Max refuses to give them the number and returns to his flat where he finally snaps with his paranoia and mental illness and drills into the side of his head and dies. However, the film doesn't end there as it cuts to Max sitting outside and a girl from his flat building runs up to him and starts to question him with difficult math problems.
Framing
I really loved the cinematography in this film as it broke the conventional framing methods like the rule of thirds and others and used the camera to manipulate what the audience saw in the frame. For this section, I have found two examples of the framing in this film and will be explaining why I thought they were good and what effect did that have on the audience and then would it work in our film.
The first example of framing that I thought worked well in this film the usage of extreme close-ups "A shot taken of a subject or object at close range that shows greater detail. The shot is tightly framed and is most often used to frame a character's face in such a way that it fills the screen and dominates the scene." (Hellerman, J. 2019) on Max. As seen in figure 1 and 2 the DoP has used extreme close-ups but in different scenarios.
Figure 3 Extreme close up of Max Waking up in Pi (1998)
The extreme close up (ECU) shown in figure 1 clearly is a very unpleasant shot to look at as it throws the audience straight in with an uncomfortable introduction to the character. Doing this has already briefly shown the audience the uncomfortable nature of the film and can show the characters mental state. This is a technique that I have thought about using in our film as ECU's to put the audience right into the action and they can be right there as they follow our characters descent into paranoia and madness. The second usage of ECU I saw in Pi was whenever Max took his prescription pills and it was done to be used for a montage sequence "A montage is simply a series of shots related by theme." (Brown, B. 2012) which has been an element in our film that I would like to try. The ECU's in the montage creates a sense of urgency in the character's behaviour, which would pair well with showing the audience his decline in mental health.
The second element of framing that I want to analyse is the use of negative space within the frame "Negative space is simply space around and between the subject of a composition." (Renée, V. 2017) I really liked the use of this as the negative space emphasizes his isolation and loneliness from the rest of the world. Not only does it show his isolation, but the use of negative space can also suggest that something possibly might happen, which can make the audience feel more on edge as they're waiting for something to happen. Figure 2 shows this technique being used and as you can see the framing is done so it looks like the numbers are entering his head, which suggested that the numbers never stop going through his head even when it looks like he's stopped. This plays onto the fact that due to Max never stopping the numbers are slowly making him more insane and paranoid.
Figure 4 Negative space within Pi (Numbers going into his head)
Overall, I believe that this film was a perfect film to analyse for framing as it was constantly challenging the conventions of the genre and pushing the boundaries with what would make the audience feel the most uncomfortable. Which is an element of. the camera work I have spoken about in the previous unit that I want to try and recreate and this film has given me a lot of inspiration for our film.
camera movement
Throughout Pi, there are many different varieties of camera movements that are used to make the audience feel uncomfortable, which is one main element I want to do for our film. There are 2 main movements that I wanted to discuss and analyse to further understand my knowledge of the movement. The first use of camera movement I noticed was at the beginning of the film when Max first leaves his apartment. In this scene there are 2 different movements, but because they juxtapose each other works well with showing how chaotic the outside world is to Max. The movement that faces Max is what is known as a Snorricam shot. A Snorricam is a camera that is fixed onto the actor facing towards him, but due to the camera being fixed onto him the camera moves with the talent creating a dizziness effect (as seen in figure 5 and 6). This specific movement is seen in many different films and its main use is that it "...creates a wildly disorienting point of view and a skewed perspective that immediately grabs the audience's attention." (McGregor, L. 2017) which adds to the feeling that Max is slightly insane or paranoid. This movement is paired with another in the final film as the shots cut between each other to create a very disorientating world, which perfectly establishes the world Max lives in. The shot is just a standard handheld tracking shot of the busy streets as people push their way past the camera, which simulates the world pushing its way past Max. The two shots create this sense of instability, which capture the characters emotions and the way they feel perfectly.
Figure 6 Handheld tracking through the city in Pi (1998)
This is what I need to start thinking about for our film, which two movements work together to create a sense of urgency and instability. It also has a good effect at showing the outside world through the eyes of the main character and this is what I want to recreate for Control.
Lighting
This section is going to be different compared to the last lot of analysis' I produced as this is the only film that has been in black and white. My main focus on lighting was the usage of practical lighting mixed with different colour lights. However, as this is shot in black and white I can't talk about the colour. On the other hand, this will be a good experience as I can focus more on how the shadows cast in the image has an effect on the audience the same as the colour would.
Clearly shown in figure 5 a lot of the shots looked underexposed "An underexposed image is the sort of photograph that one might consider to be too dark." (Naryškin, R. 2020) and the shots that are like this have a lot of space within the frame where a big dark shadow would cast across Max. The underexposed lighting "evokes a mood and presents an obscured exaggerated vision of the threat." (The Take. 2016) which helps add to the theme of Max being paranoid. The different usages of the shadows being over his face add to the mystery of the character. The same effect was done in the Goodfather, where the main character would be underexposed so that the audience couldn't see his face making him appear more sinister. Darkness is a key element of this film as said before it adds to the mystery of the character "Where there is no light, one cannot see; and when one cannot see, his imagination starts to run wild." (Alton, J. 1995) this is a technique that I want to recreate for our film as I want the mystery of the aliens to have an effect on the audience as they start to question the reality of our film.
In-camera effect
There was one in-camera effect "In-Camera Effects are special effects achieved by manipulating the camera or its parts. The effect exists on the original camera negative or video recording before it is sent to a lab or modified." (TV Tropes. N/A) that I noticed which was every time Max would display a headache he would freak out and the camera would also freak out, but this is due to those scenes using multiple cameras. Darren Aronofsky did a masterclass back in 2016 where he spoke about finding the film grammar for Pi 1998 and he explained his thought process for doing this in-camera technique. Darren wanted the audience to be able to feel the pain Max was feeling whenever he had a episode with his headaches. To do this Aronofsky got an additional 2 cameras one that picked up heat and the other would capture the vibrations "So we started to come up with a language of subjective filmmaking where when he was having headaches and he would freak out we would use these different cameras i talked about, the heat camera and the vibration camera, to give a sense to the audience what it felt like to feel that type of pain." (Aronkofsky, D. 2016), which created a very unpleasent effect that perfectly captured the pain Max was feeling. Now we won't be able to recreate this type of effect for our film due to budget restrictions, but this technique would be great for our film especially after the montage scene when the big reveal of aliens.
Requiem For A Dream
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Director of Photography by Matthew Libatique
Intro
The third and final film that I am going to analyse is another fantastic film by Darren Aronofsky. As stated in the previous analysis, Darren Aronofsky has been a major influence in the production unit as he and his DoP have really challenged the conventional filmmaking methods that Hollywood has gotten used to throughout the years. Like the previous analysis, I will be focusing on the work the DoP has done through the categories of framing, camera movements, lighting and in-camera effects and how they all have an effect on the audience, which I could potentially recreate for our film. I watched this film a few times and discovered new elements of filmmaking that I have not come across in the previous analysis'. I really enjoyed this film and it has given me a lot of inspiration for our film.
what is the film about
The film follows Sara Goldfarb, who is a retired widow living in a small city apartment on her own. She spends the majority of her time watching game shows on TV, especially a show that promotes self-help. She has a son called Harry who is a junkie and spends a lot of his time with his girlfriend Marion and best friend Tyrone. Harry and Tyrone have dreams of being big-time drug dealers, whereas Marion could have been a fashion designer or artist but is swept along in Harry's drug-centric world. Whilst this is happening Sara received a phone call from who she thinks is the television station telling her that she has won the chance to appear on her favourite show. After finding this news out she makes it her mission to try and fit into a red dress she wore when she was younger. In order to fit into the red dress, Sara needed to go on a diet, however, this proved very difficult for her. This leads her to start a diet pill, which is very addictive and is very harmful to her mental state. By the end of the film, everyone is so far down a spiral due to drugs that no one has a happy ending.
Framing
This film pushed the conventions of framing for this film, the creativity behind the framing of each shot was incredible. Matthew Libatique really pushed his creativity with the camera by achieving some framing that I thought would be too jarring, however, with this film each framing option seemed to be an extension of the emotions of the characters. Due to the film having a lot of different main characters that the story focuses on so depending on who in the scene the framing would change to suit their emotions. For example, there was one shot where the camera was angled up high looking down at Sara Goldfarb "High angle shots can signal a character's vulnerability. It is like a psychological vantage point for anyone other than the character in the frame." (Studiobinder. 2020) in this particular case, the high angle shot comes from the perspective of the TV and appears to make Sara look small and weak, then the next shot would be a low angle from Sara's perspective looking at the TV which pairs well together. The framing choices for that particular scene were done to show the power change between the TV and Sara as she has allowed herself to become a slave to the TV and depends on the pills to keep the TV satisfied. This type of framing is simple yet untraditional framing is an element of being a DoP that I can explore and challenge its purpose for our film and how it can affect the audience.
As I've mentioned I want to recreate this style of framing for our film and I know where I could potentially use this style. There is a scene where our character has a conversation with his miniature figures and I think that I could use the same style of framing used in Requiem for a Dream to achieve an unusual power shift within the scene making an inanimate object have more power over the living character.
Camera Movement
There was one movement in this film that blows my mind when I saw it for the first time and that was the tracking shots, but whilst it was tracking there would be a timelapse on the world apart from on Sara. This happened a few times in the movie and each time blew me away I really liked the deeper message conveyed by the movement, which was showing how chaotic the world has become for Sara. A tracking shot as stated in the previous analysis is "... a tracking shot is any shot in which the camera physically moves sideways, forward, or backward through the scene. Tracking shots usually last longer than other shots, follow one or more moving subjects, and immerse the audience in a particular setting." (MasterClass Staff. 2021)
Lighting
The lighting throughout this movie was great and each character had their own colour palette for the film and the colours of the lights and the brightness change as they have a changing moment in the story. One technique that I saw was when the characters were at the peak of their spiral the lighting got darker to reflect how the characters were feeling. Due to them being in a bad part of their lives to reflect the darkness they were feeling the lighting matched. For example, this happened in the scene where the fridge begins to move simulating Sara's spiral into paranoia and insanity. However, I don't want to analyse the use of darkness as I have already analysed that in a previous film, but it is nice to see that same effect being used in multiple films as it shows that the effect works for altering the audience's emotions.
The specific element that I want to analyse for lighting is practical lighting "...is the techniques of using light sources that are seen within the frame of a shot." (Studiobinder. 2020) which occurs a lot during the film. However, there was one scene where the practical lighting was really good with showing the intensity of Sara's final spiral before fleeing her apartment in fear.
As seen in the scene this is the pivotal moment in Sara's story as this is when he spirals into taking diet pills has completely messed with her mental state as she begins to hallucinate that her flat is changing into the set of the tv show. The use of studio lights and other sources of lighting was clearly seen in the film, but the lights paired with the quick cuts of the edit makes the scene more jarring as the lights are so bright. This is done to show the intensity of her hallucination and shows the full effects of what the pills have done to a woman who seemed normal at the beginning of the film.
I liked how the lighting was done in this scene and it's made me consider having more practical lighting for a scene in our film where the character discovers a probe in his anus and stumble around the house in shock. I could potentially use practical lighting in this scene to make the effect of disbelief seem more believable.
Camera Research
For this section of the research, I have decided to expand on the research I have already done in the previous unit. During that unit I focused primarily on what equipment I wanted, so for this side of research, I'm going to expand on the look and feel I am looking for in our film. This means I will be expanding on what I have already discovered and implemented into my work. With the Analysis above I have already shown my understanding and findings in more professional work, which has inspired me to look at different more creative ideas that we could workaround. With feedback from the previous unit I now know the direction, our film is going in so I can start to be more specific with ideas for our film. The research is going to give me inspiration for how I want to frame our film and what style of lighting I want.
Shots I want to potentially recreate:
The first shot I potentially want to recreate is not really just a singular shot instead it's an entire sequence. This is from the horror/thriller Jacob's Ladder, which released in 1990. During this scene, the main protagonist Jacob is in a club and during this scene, he begins to hallucinate. To show the intensity of his hallucination the scene is paired with flashing strobes and quick unnatural shots.
The scene starts off very calm and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves at the party, however, Jacob seems to be having a problem and begins to walk out. As he is walking he begins to notice figures in the corner in his eyes and he also sees that everyone is dancing and acting very demonic. The scene then speeds up by having more cuts and bright lights which would make the audience more uncomfortable. I really think that trying something similar to this for CONTROL.
Uncomfortable Framing & its Effect on the Audience
Throughout this journey, in trying to make this film I have made it clear that I want to be really creative with the shots and I want to manipulate how the audience perceives the story by making them feel on edge all the time. I can do this by using a different style of framing other than the normal conventional framing, instead, I want shots to be unnatural to the eye which would make our audience think more about the film and means that I have kept their attention for the whole film. So for this section, I will be looking through different camera angles and movements that can be used to manipulate the audience.
Pan & Tilt
These two camera movements are one of the most commonly used shots in the film. The purpose of using these two shots would be to reveal aspects of the scene not seen in the frame to start off with. A pan and tilt shot is basically the same shot, however, the movement goes in opposite directions "...the term pan applies to left or right horizontal movement of the camera." (Brown, B. 2012) whereas the tilt "... is up or down movement without changing the cameras position." (Brown, B. 2012) so they are technically the same style of shot however one has up and down movement and the other goes from side to side. There are many different reasons why a pan or tilt shot may be used however to most common reason why they are used is that the movement is meant to "... guide our eyes and attention towards certain aspect of the scene. Because it's often revelatory in nature, it tends to build a certain kind of anticipation in us as we subconsciously ask ourselves 'What's about to happen?" (Wolfcrow. Unknown) which is exactly the emotion I want from the audience. I want to build up anticipation and tension as there is not much dialogue within our film so I need to have these style of shots to add another dimension to the film. To make these shot suit the film I am making I would have to think about the speed at which the camera would cover the scene. If the shot is too quick then it wouldn't have the right effect on the audience. If the pan and tilt are slow this build up tension towards something that might happen which is how I would use this movement.
Tracking, Dolly, and Crane shots
These next three shots are all shots that the camera would physically move throughout the scene using different stabilisation equipment. The tracking shot is "The simplest and most clearly motivated of the camera moves is to track along with a character or a vehicle in the same direction... the movement is alongside and parallel. (Brown, B. 2012) which is a standard shot and has an effect on the audience by making them feel like they're part of the action that is happening on screen, which I have already thought about using in our film.
The Dolly shot is slightly different to the tracking shot but serves the same purpose. In this shot, the camera would be attached to a tripod and the tripod would be connected to tracks via the wheels on the tripod. This then allows the camera to move smoothly through the scene. Like with the tracking shot, however rather than going parallel to the actor, whereas "Dolly shots move us towards or away from a character, most commonly when they are stationary during a dialogue scene. Occasionally dolly shots can also move around a character." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) this means that this type of movement allows the audience to see the character creation. The dolly shot brings the audience closer to the action and allows the audience to see the emotional state of the character. However, this all depends on the scenario that the dolly is being used for, for example, "... a slow dolly into a distraught woman staring at the floor while she talks about her late husband's abusive nature will pull us into her emotional state and make use more empathetic to her plight than if the camera was locked off in a long shot." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) which is the style I'm looking to recreate. I like the thought of a slow dolly as it can be used to build tension, this can be done in our film as there is a scene where our character is researching everything about aliens and we end the scene with him rocking in the corner as he's so scared. A slow dolly toward our character whilst he rocks can add to the unnerving situation unfolding on screen.
The final shot in this section is the crane shot " Crane shots are often used to help us understand the setting better." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) however, this shot works best with good production design. there are many different emotions that can be covered with this movement, however, to get the best out of a crane is to either start the camera high above the scene and could move into the scene "... the most basic variety of crane shot is to start with a high angle view of the overall scene as an establishing shot and then to move down and in to isolate piece of the geography: most often our main characters, who then proceed with the action and dialogue." (Brown, B. 2012) and the other way would be to start low and slowly move away from the scene going up high. Normally if this shot was to be used the camera operator will use multiple movements like tilt, pan, tracking, and dolly as all of these shots pair well with the crane. I have used a crane before in a previous project and I really like how it could enter and leave the scene. However, I don't see an opportunity in our film to use this piece of equipment as I don't think it will benefit the narrative and the director's vision.
The Zoom
The next shot is not really a movement but gives off a look that makes the camera look like it's moving. This shot is called the zoom shot and "... is an effect produced by the zoom lens. The frame itself is 'moved by adjusting the focal length of the lens through the duration of the shot." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) this is not to be confused with a dolly shot as they act in a similar nature. Zoom is done to magnify what's in focus without changing the perspective of what's in the frame, however, zoom is not used in feature film making "The reason is simple: a zoom calls attention to itself and makes the audience aware they are watching a movie." (Brown, B. 2012) and this is something I don't want to do as it takes the audience away from what's happening in the frame.
Static shot
The static shot is the most commonly used shot in filmmaking, as not all shots have to be moving the static shot is done "By keeping your camera locked off, you can guide the audience's attention to focus on the specific action (or lack thereof if the script calls for it) as the story unfolds." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) doing this can help create a sense of intensity as the audience's feelings are drawn deeper into the action. The static shot is good for getting really close to the action without affecting the character's performance.
High and Low angles
High and low angled shots are the two most known shots, which have the most obvious effect on how the audience perceives the narrative and characters. This shot is done commonly to convey the power within the scene, for example, if the camera is high looking down at the character makes them seem smaller and more diminutive, thus making them more inferior, whereas if the camera was low looking up it makes the character appear bigger, taller, and more dominant. I've already spoken about this in one of my analysis where we see the character from a high angle making them seem more inferior which was done to show her mental health. This is an element and technique that I will definitely be using for our film as I want to always show our character from a higher angle than normal to subtly show how inferior he is compared to the Aliens.
POV
POV stands for point of view this means that a POV shot is when you place a camera in a way that shows the audience exactly what the character sees through their eyes. This style of shot can be really interesting to use as it can convey many different emotions "the effect this had on us as the audience is we experience the scene from the perspective of that character... this will cause us to empathize with the character and draw us deeper into the scene, thus heightening whatever emotion is in the scene..." (Wolfcrow. Unknown) which is what makes this shot work so well. Unfortunately, I don't see anywhere that this style of shot could go in our film that would help progress the narrative and it won't take the audience out of the action.
The Dutch Angle
The dutch angle is a shot I have seen in many different thriller and horror movies "The dutch angle is a very stylistic choice where the camera is intentionally placed at an off-kilter angle during the scene." (wolfcrow. unknown) as it can be used to suggest that something is about to happen or that it's already happening. I really like the idea of using this shot within our film because during our story there are moments where everything is being misplaced and he believes that the aliens are doing it. So I think that a dutch angle would be a benefit to our film as it gives an obvious feeling to the audiences that something in the scene is off making the audience feel uncomfortable.
Framing for a Thriller.
Thriller films are well known for building up suspense throughout and to create suspense and to get the right emotion from the audience the cinematographer has to think about all the elements that would help create tension. One way a DoP can create tension is through framing, camera movement, and lighting. All of the shot above can be used in a thriller, however, they would have to be altered for the specific theme of whatever product they're working on. Frame composition is such a crucial element of being a DoP "selecting a frame is the fundamental act of filmmaking; as filmmakers, we must direct the audience's attention... choosing the frame is a matter of conveying the story, but also a question of composition, rhythm, and perspective." (Brown, B 2012) all of those need to be planned out before thinking about the framing of the shot. I noticed with a lot of thrillers that in the frame there is a lot of what known as negative space "This is the technique where the composition is largely made up of a consistent space that contrasts or engulfs the subject of the frame." (Hayes, J. 2017) I've mentioned this already in one of my analysis and really like the idea of having an empty pace within the frame as it suggests to the audience that he is lonely. Not only does negative space have that effect as "when a portion of the frame is left empty, but the first effect is also a sense of imbalance. Something is missing and this creates anxiety, even is subconscious." (Dunham, B. 2020) this is something I've mentioned that I want to incorporate into our film. The reason why I think this style of framing would work well for our film is because of the themes our film is doing. We've made It clear that we want to have a good representation of mental health and this style of framing adds to the fact that our character is unstable and has anxiety and paranoia.
One thriller TV series that I spoke about a lot in the previous pre-production unit was Mr Robot and the framing within that show. Mr Robot is a fantastic psychological thriller that follows a character that suffers from many different mental health problems. To represent his feeling and how messed up his head was the framing would match, which lead to a lot of the show having very unnatural framing that made the show more interesting to watch as I (the audience) felt really uncomfortable and it made me understand what he has to go through on a daily basis.
In-camera Effects
After doing some test shoot in the previous unit regarding the VFX shot that I initially wanted to do. The reason why I have changed my mind about this area of the film is that our editor is concerned that he will not be able to make the visual effects look believable. For this reason, I have made the decision to not use visual effect and to use in-camera effects "In-camera effects are special effects rendered solely through the creative use of the camera at the time of recording. (Adobe. Unknown). There are many different in-camera effects that are used in filmmaking, however, these are the ones I want to focus on: Dolly zoom, rack focus, and forced perspective.
Dolly Zoom
I have spoken about this camera shot so much when thinking about how I want the style of this film to look like. I put examples in the mood reel and have looked into specific elements on why I think it would work. I believe that this would be a great shot to try and achieve for our film as it can give off different effects for the audience "They can create a sudden sense of unease and disorientation. They can signal powerful and uncanny emotional states such as tension, epiphany, euphoria, and dread." (Shields, M. 2021) which is the effect I want to achieve for our film. I know a few areas of the film where this potential shot would work. The scene I'm thinking of is when he is researching into the aliens and as he discovers that it is aliens that's when it would use the dolly zoom as it would create that sense of tension and dread for the audience.
Rack Focus
The rack focus is a simple effect where you "... can quickly add emotion and suspense to a scene. With this move, the camera's focal length changes so a blurry background or foreground becomes clear." (Adobe. Unknown) which is an easy effect to achieve. This type of shot is normally designed so that the director can have control over the viewer's attention as it can bring objects into focus or out of focus, thus manipulating the audience's attention. This type of shot is seen in many different blockbuster movies the one that stands out in my head the most is from the scene in Casino Royale, where a rack focus is done to take away the attention of Bond and puts all of the attention onto a broken wine bottle. I think that this effect would really work in some areas of the film. The reason I believe this is because in our film the main protagonist begins to notice that objects he is placing down keep moving around his house. So I could use the rack focus to take away the audience attention and bring it to the object moving around. This way it shows the audience that something unnatural is happening, which would give the film more tension.
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| Figure 8 Casino Roylae Rack Focus |
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| Figure 9 Casino Royale Rack Focus |
Forced Perspective
Forced perspective is another in-camera effect used by many different DoP's in filmmaking and has been done in many blockbuster movies like The Lord of the Rings and in Elf. This effect is when "...filmmakers take advantage of the two-dimensional nature of film cameras to produce an optical illusion. Because something far away appears smaller than something close up..." (Adobe. Unknown) this means that to make a character appear taller than another character you would place them closer to the camera and to make another character seem small they would be further away. This gives the illusion that two characters of the same size can look different in size, with one character towering over another. This is seen in The Lord of the Rings with Gandalf as he towers over the Hobbits and Dwarves when in reality they're all the same height. This effect could potentially work really well as I could make the figurines in to film appear a lot bigger than what they actually are. This would give off the effect to the audience that everything is slightly off with our character life and everything is different to him.
Split lens diopter
The split lens diopter is another in-camera effect that I have already looked into for this production. This is a piece of equipment that is attached to the camera and gives off the effect that two subjects that are different focal lengths away are both in focus. This shot is great for allowing multiple dimensions of the screen to be in focus which allows the audience to see both sides of the frame and it can be used to show the audience something important. However, even though the split lens diopter is great for achieving that it also has its downfalls "The trouble with the split diopter is that it produces shots that are 'impossible', In other words, our eyes can't create their own split focus image, it's unnatural. So, when we see it in a film, you run the risk of pulling the audience out of the movie." (Dunham, B. 2020) this is something I don't want to do. I want to keep the audience's attention, so I might have to rethink using this potential shot from our film. I like the idea of the shot looking unnatural as that could be another suggestion to the audience that something is happening, but I don't want to risk pulling them out of the movie.
Projector
After looking into in-camera effects I spoke to Ethan and James and we discovered a potential purchase for our film that we think will give the look of our film that edge compared to others in our course. We noticed a video by the American YouTube page Film Riot, Film Riot are great at doing tutorials and showing other creative and cheap ways of achieving some interesting looking shots.
The video shows off all the possibilities that a projector can have for production. I personally like the use of just the project, however, he did state that he would use other lights to help him. Even though he recommends using other lights to help with the projection I don't think I would want that. I know that in our film there is a scene where our character is researching into the event that keeps occurring and when he realises that aliens are the source he loses control and freaks out. I think that if we were to play a glitching projection over his face whilst he freaks out it can add to the fact that his mental health has deteriorated to a degree where he can't be helped. I will have to purchase a projector to be able to test this idea. Knowing that I want to test with a projector I have tried to look for one to purchase online and I discovered one on Amazon for a reasonable price of only £52.99.
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| Figure 10 screenshot of the projector on Amazon |
Lighting Research
Coloured Lights / RGB Bulbs
Lights are very crucial for filmmaking as it helps show what is in the frame, but a lot of DoP's also use coloured lights to enhance the emotion that is meant to be felt in that specific scene. In the previous unit, I touched upon the psychology behind colour and how each colour has a subconscious effect on the audience. I really want to push the boundaries of colour and I want the colour to act as an extension of the emotion of the characters. To do this for our film Ethan suggested rather than using coloured gels to place over the LED panels that we could buy some RGB changing bulbs and can use them for the practical lights in the scene.
Ethan and I have managed to find These Dimmed LVWIT B22 Bayonet Smart WiFi LED bulbs, which I think would be great for production. The fact that these bulbs are able to connect to a smartphone and are easy to change the colour makes it very practical for us to use them. These bulbs would not be our only main source of light in each scene so these bulbs would mainly be for the practical lights because "when you incorporate practical in lighting, the audience visually understands where that light is coming from." (DeGuzman, K. 2021) and when the practicals are a different colour it can have a subconscious psychological effect on the audience which is what I set out to achieve in the final edit.
Psychology of colour
Colour is a vital area in filmmaking as colour can have a huge effect on how the audience perceives the narrative in the frame. There are many reasons why colour is used in the film, however, there are two main reasons "The primary reason for using colour in film might be obvious: to make the images colorful, dynamic, and beautiful. But there is a secondary reason that facilitates visual storytelling." (Risk, M. 2020) and each colour has its own use to make the audience feel a different emotion. This is known as the psychology behind the colour, which is something I have already researched for this unit in the previous unit. However, I only went into this area in little detail I want to narrow down the exact colours I want to use for our film.
Expressionism vs realism
For this section of my research, I wanted to look into expressionism vs realism, for this, I want to know the difference between the two and what I think would best suit our film. Expressionism was an art movement that began in the early 1900s and was done because "Expressionism art typically presented the world from a subjected view and thus attempted to show a distorted view of this world to evoke a mood or idea." (Crabbe, E. 2016) which is what I aim to achieve through our film. I want to 'evoke' the moods of the audience and I have made it clear that I want to challenge how the audience perceives what's in the frame. However, that quote is referring to expressionism through another art form rather than through cinema. Expressionism can be done in so many different ways in cinema "Expressionist films would use atmospheric lighting, asymmetrical camera angles and highlight many object and characters with the use of high contrast between dark and light." (Crabbe, E. 2016) for our production I want to do this through the lighting. To do this for our film I want the lighting to be a reflection of how the character is feeling. The reason I want to do this is so that the coloured lights will have a subconscious effect on the audience's behaviour. Realism is the opposite of expressionism, realism is where the DoP department would use all the methods to make the film more realistic. This is so that the audience feel that what is happening on screen could happen to them. I really like both ways of filming, however, I want our film to look different and this is expressionism is the best way to get the right emotion from the audience.
Lighting for a Thriller
Lighting for any type of production is subjective, you can light any scene the way you want that best reflects the action happening on screen. I know the style of lighting I want to achieve for our film and knowing that our film will be a Sci-Fi/Thriller I want to look into specific lighting techniques and the effect they have on the audience.
Practical Lighting
Practical lighting is a technique where "...using light sources that are seen within the frame of a shot. These light sources that are seen within the frame..." (DeGuzman, K. 2021) this technique is used a lot in different thrillers like in Seven. This technique is when the light source would be placed in areas of the scene, this makes the light seem more natural. I like the thought of using practical lighting for our film as it means that I have to sit and plan where I want the light to be in the frame. Having lights purposefully in the frame will have a great effect on the audience as having lights viable in the frame means that they're immersed deeper into the movie. I will be using a variety of different lights for production, I will use LED panels as well as practical lights.
Key Lighting
Key lighting is the primary source of light in the scene "A key light is the primary light source of the scene. It is the most intense and direct light source." (Hellerman, J. 2019) and this is a technique that I want to use for our film. The reason I want to use this technique is that it can help establish the mood and tone of our film. An example of this technique being used is from the film prisoner. As shown In figure 9 this is from the film prisoners and the lighting perfectly captures the mood of the scene, the fact that the only thing that is visible in the scene is the actor which makes the audience focus on their performance and emotion.
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| Figure 12 Key Lighting in Prisoners |
Low Key Lighting
Another lighting technique that is used a lot in thrillers and darker themed movies is called Low Key Lighting "...low key lighting is a filmic lighting style that uses a hard source to encase your scene in shadow. Low key lighting wants contrast and blackness." (Hellerman, J. 2019) which is an interesting technique. This style of lighting relies on harsh shadows to create dramatic suspense this is what I want to recreate for our film. An example of this technique being used well is from No Country for Old Men shown in figure 10.
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| Figure 13 Low key lighting in No Country for Old Men |
Backlighting
The next technique I wanted to cover was backlighting, this is when a light is "...placed higher than the object it is lighting. Backlights are used to separate an object from a background." (Hellerman, J. 2019)which is done to give the shot more dimension giving the location more depth. This type of lighting is used in many different productions, an example of this can be seen in Shutter Island (Figure 11)
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| Figure 14 Backlighting in Shutter Island |
I think this style of lighting would really work well especially with the amount of practical lighting I plan on using for our film.
Hard Lighting
Hard lighting is another technique I want to use for our production because "Hard light is a hard souring of light that can be created with a direct beam from a light source or from the sunlight." (Hellerman, J. 2019) this creates shadows and harsh lines that would help gain the attention of the audience as their imagination would come into play as they wonder what could be causing that shadow. I think this technique would work really well as I could use the harsh shadows as an extension of the unnatural event occurring within our characters house.
ILLUSTRATION LIST
Fig. 1 Framing in Doodlebug (1997) [Youtube video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfBwOdsHaWI (Accessed 25/03/2021)
Fig. 2 Framing in Doodlebug (1997) [Youtube video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfBwOdsHaWI (Accessed 25/03/2021)
Fig. 3 Extreme close up in Pi (1998) [Youtube Video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_CtgelI6xU&list=PLZbXA4lyCtqoNdRYdJFkAI5r1BG_60zXJ&index=1 (Accessed 26/03/2021)
Fig. 4 Negative space used in Pi (1998) [Youtube video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWaUUbcS5jU (Accessed 26/03/2021)
Fig. 5 Snoriicam being used in Pi (1998) [Youtube video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWaUUbcS5jU (Accessed 26/03/2021)
Fig. 6 Handheld camera movement in Pi (1998) [YouTube Video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWaUUbcS5jU (Accessed 26/03/2021)
Fig. 7 Underexposed lighting in Pi (1998) [YouTube Video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vi7043z6tI (Accessed 27/03/2021)
Fig. 8 Rack Focus in Casino Royale (2006) [Youtube Video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGYLe01oT6s&t=202s (Accessed 1/04/2021)
Fig. 9 Rack Focus in Casino Royale (2006) [Youtube Video, Screenshot] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGYLe01oT6s&t=202s (Accessed 1/04/2021)
Fig. 10 Projector on Amazon UK (2021) [Amazon, Screenshot] At: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08JG49S86/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Fig. 11 Psychology of colour in film (2020) [StudioBinder, Screenshot] At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-color-in-film-50-examples-of-movie-color-palettes/ (Accessed 5/04/2021)
Fig. 12 Key lighting in Prisoners (2013) [Studiobinder, Screenshot] At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-key-light-definition/ (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Fig. 13 Low-Key Lighting in No Country for Old Men [StudioBinder, Screenshot] At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-key-light-definition/ (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Fig. 14 Backlighting in Shutter Island [StudioBinder, Screenshot] At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-key-light-definition/ (Accessed 4/04/2021)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adobe. (Unknown) Use film camera effects to add movie magic to your videos. At: https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/video/discover/film-camera-effects.html (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Alton, J. (1995) Painting with Light. New York: New York Macmillan.
Aronofsky, D. (2016) Masterclass: How Darren Aronofsky Would Shoot Pi Today. At: https://www.mentorless.com/2016/08/27/camera-darren-aronofsky-shoot-pi-today/ (Accessed 30/03/2021)
Brown, B. (2012) Cinematography Theory and Practice: Image making for cinematographers and Directors. (2nd ed.) Milton Park: Focal Press.
Cinematography Effects from Music Videos. (2021) [Online Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBCscJ-jaRs (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Deguzman, K. (2021) What is Practical Lighting in Film? Tips and Techniques Explained. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-practical-lighting-in-film/ (Accessed 2/04/2021)
Dunham, B. (2020) Elements of Suspense - Building Suspense with Film Technique. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/elements-of-suspense/ (Accessed 4/04/2021)
Dunham, B. (2020) Ultimate Guide to Camera Focus: Understanding Depth of Field. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/types-of-camera-focus-in-film/ (Accessed 5/04/2021)
Hellerman, J. (2019) 13 Film Lighting Techniques Every Filmmaker Should Know. At: https://nofilmschool.com/film-lighting-techniques-and-examples (Accessed 6/04/2021)
Hellerman, J. (2019) Creative Uses of the Close Up Shot in Filmmaking. https://nofilmschool.com/Close-up-shot-uses-and-examples (Accessed 27/03/2021)
Horror Lighitng: From Below (2016) [Online Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPDBMYSGvSs&t=139s (Accessed 28/03/2021)
How to Shoot Better Tracking Shots [Examples of #Trackingshots] [Online Video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkVYpzyJvG8&t=213s (Accessed 25/04/2021)
Jacob’s Ladder - Party Scene. At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PEAtDt0zTU (Accessed 3/04/2021)
McGregor, L (2017) SnorriCam: When to Use One and How to Make a Rig. At: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/snorricam-when-to-use-and-how-to-make-a-rig/ (Accessed 28/03/2021)
Naryškin, R. (2020) Underexposure vs Overexposure - A Beginner’s Guide. At: https://photographylife.com/underexposure-and-overexposure-in-photography (Accessed 29/03/2021)
Renée, V. (2017) Watch: What’s Negative Space and How Can You Use It Effectively in Your Own Films? At: https://nofilmschool.com/2017/01/negative-space-film-frame (Accessed 27/03/2021)
Risk, M. (2020) How TO Use Color in Film: 50+ Examples of Movie Color Palettes. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-use-color-in-film-50-examples-of-movie-color-palettes/ (Accessed 25/03/2021)
Shields, M. (2021) How Does the Dolly Zoom Work? At: https://filmschoolrejects.com/dolly-zoom/ (Accessed 5/04/2021)
Sijll, J V. (2005) Cinematic storytelling: The 100 most powerful film conventions every filmmaker must know. Laurel Canyon Blvd: Michael Wiese Productions.
Staff, MasterClass. (2021) Film 101: What Is a Close-Up Shot? How to Creatively Use a Close-Up Camera Angle to Convey Emotion. At: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/film-101-what-is-a-close-up-shot-how-to-creatively-use-a-close-up-camera-angle-to-convey-emotion (Accessed 25/03/2021)
Staff, MasterClass. (2021) How Tracking Shots Work: 5 Examples of Tracking Shots in Film. At: https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-tracking-shots-work-in-film#what-is-a-tracking-shot (Accessed 1/04/2021)
StudioBinder. (2020) High Angle Shota: Creative Example of Camera Movements & Angles At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/high-angle-shot-camera-movement-angle/(Accessed 1/04/2021)
StudioBinder. (2021) What is Practical Lighting in Film? Tips and Techniques Explained. At: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-practical-lighting-in-film/ (Accessed 1/04/2021)
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Wolfcrow. (Unknown) How filmmakers manipulate our emotions using camera angles and movements. At: https://wolfcrow.com/how-filmmakers-manipulate-our-emotions-using-camera-angles-and-movement/ (Accessed 3/04/2021)
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