TCF 312: It will be missed

Well my time in this class has come to an end. Sadly, I can't take it again because if I could I would. I have learned more about film making and cameras in this class than any other class but mostly I will miss the level of competition in the class. Though we were not necessarily competing in the class, most of my classmates created such great work that it lifted the class to a higher standard. I learned so much from those around me and it forced me to push myself harder and try to get shots that before I didn't think I would be able to get.

      From a more technical aspect I also learned a lot of the techniques in film making. Lighting being the main one. Before this class I knew the basics of light (key, fill, back) but I didn't really understand how to actually convert what I thought a scene should look like to what it actually looks like. It was great learning about all of the important parts of lighting, all of the technical things but what I found out to be the greatest part was all the experience I got. I liked the fact that we would spend hardly any days lecturing about techniques but instead would go out and actually shoot a lit scene. I will admit there were times when I felt over my head but but that actually help me progress. If I was lost on what we were doing Rachel would force us to use the equipment and push us to understand through doing. Even when that didn't work it would inspire me to go online and see how other did it and learn that way.

      There are so many things I could gush on about this class but I am going to move on and start talking about myself because after all I suppose this class is about teaching me. So, through this class I did learn a lot about myself. Before this class I didn't find myself particularly good at any part of film making. There were a couple things that I did that I thought looked ok but nothing that I thought were really that great, but now I think that I have found what I am good at. I enjoy shooting live events, and I am fairly good with hand-held shots. Right now I am working to get better with dolly equipment and smooth shots but  I believe that I have really progressed with hand-held and I believe that I am a lot better at capturing moments that a spontaneous and real. I suppose that is why I want to shoot documentaries and I believe that this class has really gotten me closer to achieving that.

Thanks Dr. R

The DSLR

   
  The DSLR is definitely an awesome camera. It has some of the greatest potential for such an unassuming camera. The camera is of course meant for shooting pictures but also has a video mode that allows the camera to capture great video. One of the main benefits of the camera is the fact that it has a fairly large sensor in it which can capture really great images but also makes it fairly hard to focus with the camera. Which brings me to another one of the camera's major issues which is the fact that it is a still photography camera. Which means that the camera is not originally meant for video, so a lot of problems arise like how the camera fits in your hand, adjusting focus and zoom during a take, or panning the camera which causes a rolling shutter as well as some aliasing issues. Other than these couple of issues the camera is a great camera for capturing video. It's small, it has a good sensor, it does well on time lapse shots, etc and after you get some peripherals a lot of the problems become a lot better. So just because it's a still camera, don't count it out.

Camera Movement

There are a lot of great camera shots that I like. I remember putting a couple in my second post so I will just post a couple and comment on them so first:

The Vertigo Shot

         I definitely think the vertigo shot is a great example of movement. Though it doesn't appear to be a movement shot it definitely is and I think it looks really cool so I'm leaving it.

Tracking Shot

 

     I've used this shot before but I can't help it. I really love this shot. It pushed the limits on what was an appropriate length to follow someone tracking. It was really nice.




 Another great tracking shot from Oldboy.


and finally a bad crane shot. Rule of thumb, Don't hit the camera.

Favorite DP

Nicola Pecorini 

     When choosing my favorite DP it took me a little bit of time because there are a lot of Cinematographers who have created beautiful work. But after a couple of minutes I decided on Nicola Pecorini because his style of lighting is something that I enjoy a lot and that I would like to try to duplicate some day. He was the DP for films like Tidelands and The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus. All of his works are very beautiful and he uses so many great wide shots but they all have a gritty quality that is just great. I also like the fact that he is a cinematographer who is always concerned with the story. If a film has a bad script he won't film it. Here is a little tidbit that I read from him that I thought was funny. "I'm not interested in making even big movies with shitty scripts. So for me the only thing is the story. I mean I'm in a lucky position somehow because I can make commercials; I can make a living without having to jump from one movie to the next, but really the scripts are more and more crap." Overall, I like just like his style.

     

 

DP Reel

Framing got slightly messed up during export but other than that....enjoy


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Artist Statement

     Over the past couple of months my vision has slowly been developing. At first I wasn't sure at all how to capture my look let alone what my look would be but now as I have reached the end of the semester I believe that I have final established my vision. I believe that this reel capture some of what I am about. In this reel I tried to meld some of my "pretty", scenic shots with a more intense side of my filming. I tried to capture a shock value and really push the dichotomy between between the two styles. In my work I would like to become a serious independent documentary maker and I think this reel shows visually how I like to express people. I like to show their real side but I also like to show their "electric" side, full of excitement and motion. I like to show both sides of people the sides they advertise to everyone and the sides they hide to themselves. I hope that some of this comes across visually in my work.

Rocky!

Beautiful Lighting

Andy Goldsworthy

    My belief is that the natural light in nature is one of the most beautiful lights. The changing of the day can show changes in mood and atmosphere. I chose Andy Goldsworthy as an example of beautiful lighting because he creates scultures that interact with the natural lighting around the works that he creates.They both interact with the light and are created from the light. The sculptures are created with the mood in mind and are framed by the environment themselves.

Rarindra Prakarsa

   I also chose a work by Rarindra Prakarsa because of his use of mood in photography.  He also is amazing at composition. This work in particular uses a lot of the same compositional techiniques that we talk about. It just about puts the focus of attention in the right third but also directs the eye with the use of one point perspective. The low key lighting shows a starkness between the left side of the picture and the right but it also has a softness to the light that portrays a somber mood in the work.

I've included a couple more of his works so you can get an idea of his style of photography:

Shot by Shot Scene Analysis (American Psycho)

       One of my favorite intros in a movie is the beginning of American Psycho. The Cinematographer, Andrzej Sekula, managed to create a collection of cohesive scenes that beautifully convey the emotion of the movie. This scene sets the tone of the entire move incredibly.

Thoughts on the Portrait

This assignment on portrait of a place was definitely an interesting one. For one I found out that filming in an apartment with no lighting equipment is not very fun. It is hard enough trying to convey your ideas of a film to your DP without having to worry about how to avoid three lamps, and a giant wall of light, also known as my window. Overall, although the portrait didn't turn out the way I would have liked it to, the communication process between the DP and I was pretty solid. Even though, he didn't always shoot shots the way I would have liked them to be shot, he found ways to frame and light that I would have not thought of and that added to the overall work.


So far I haven't gotten any feedback yet from people watching, so my thoughts on that will have to wait but I have learned a lot from listening to comments people have made about other projects that are similar to mine. I have learned about cameras that can deal with low light situations better and I have also been able to recognize flaws in my own work as well as a couple of tricks to fix filming errors. So this project has been a very good learning tool for me, I won't make the same lighting mistakes twice (well at least not three times).

A broken Portrait

A Camera Debate

                  SONY                                                    VS                                        JVC         







       




      When debating these cameras I am at somewhat of a crossroad because I like both of these cameras for two different reasons. First off I like the Sony mainly for an somewhat illogical reason, it feels good in my hands. Unlike the JVC the the Sony HDV has a lot more heft to it. When I hold it it feels more solid, and I feel more comfortable with it. Even though this is most likely untrue, I feel like I have more control with it, like it is more steady. Another thing that draws me more towards the Sony are the two focus/ zoom wheels. One of the things that is most important to me is that it is easy for me to adjust focus. With the sony it is convenient to change focus by zooming in with one wheel and adjusting the focus with the other. The JVC frustrates me in that I need to toggle back in for between the focus and the zoom. In a clinch moment I like to be able adjust the focus without accidentally zooming.
   With that said the JVC has one major thing going for it, the flash memory card. The one thing that would keep me from using the sony altogether is the mini-DV tape. Few things frustrate me more than having to log and capture. On more than one occasion I have lost precious film because of an error while logging and capturing. I can hardly imagine anything worse than having a great day filming and lose all of your work because a tape deck eats your mini-DV. I have nightmares of log and capture decks that are waiting to chomp through my innocent little min-dv.
   For that reason alone I am probably more inclined to use the JVC but I will never discount a good camera because of evil tape decks. So overall it's still pretty even

 

poor mini-dv :(

ps: also the sony menu is easier for me to navigate.........so there

My Goals

   Currently my goal for filmmaking is to be able to capture characters in a light that showcases and exemplifies their personality. Currently I am working on a documentary about a young man who is a drag queen in Alabama. He is a character that is big and in your face and I would like to be able to show that in my documentary about him.

   My goals for this class is to be able to find my visual style and be able to express it so that I can capture important moments when I am filming. Whether it be for a documentary or if a movie. Also in this course I would like to be able to learn how to film moments in real life. I would like to be able to capture pieces of life that are difficult to capture on film without the assistance of lighting equipment or sound crews. I am interested in capturing things as they happen and not just setting artificial scenes. In my filmmaking I want to be a spectator of events not interrupting them but being a silent bystander, in that moment being able to capture the moment in it's essence.

   Through this course I hope to accentuate the talents that I already have but also learn new techniques that will allow me to push the limits on filmmaking and capture life as closely as I can. Similar to filmmakers like Frederick Wiseman and Titicut Follies. I want to be able to capture something real and meaningful through documentaries and I would like to be able to learn lighting and styles so that I can capture what I want.

My Visual Style

               Due to the fact that I am a painting minor and because I love to paint all the time most of my visual style is inspired from artists that I aspire to paint like. Here are a couple of my favorites.

                                                       Chuck Close:

"Self-portrait"

"Emma"

  Chuck close is a source of a lot of inspiration for me. His early works of hyper realism is something I aspire to do in my film making. The paintings are as large as a person and visually engage the viewer with their eyes. I aspire to capture the audiences attention similarly in my film making through close ups that engage the viewer. "Emma" is a work that is much like my visual style in painting by using blocks of color to compose a vivid image.

                                                       Lucian Freud:

 


















Freud's use of color to show the interaction of light and skin inspires me to set  scenes in which light affects the mood and tone through it's interaction with the characters. His use of  color and framing is something I would like to reference in my films to create intense moods through lighting.











Random Like:


Opening Scene 28 Weeks Later from Nick Vasutin on Vimeo.
Say what you will about zombie movies but this movie has one of my favorite tracking shots. I love the shot at 4:00 where the main character is running on the left side of the screen while the people chasing him pull in closer from the background on the right. Awesome shot!


Almost as great as the finale of the 400 Blows with the one minute tracking shot....



                                                           Dolls:
I like the visual style in this film because it balances the characters in the film with an almost fantastical background. This film, through it's visual style, pushes to represent these characters in the film almost as dolls on a stage playing out the drama of there relationships. This can be seen very plainly in shots from the beginning and the end of the film where the dolls are dress almost identical to the characters.

This use of imagery and visual style is used well in this scene where the characters move through a wooded area. This shot is meant to show beauty but I believe that it is also meant to built the feeling of tension and isolation as these characters never talk to each other for almost 15 mins. I like the shots in this film because they help build emotion in the film very well. The acting in this film is not great and the themes can be overpowering but it will pull on your emotional strings through long beautiful shots.


 





(The sound is off is it is just better to turn off the volume. The music does help make this movie but the sound is off by about a minute. So it's hard to bear)

10 Favorite Films +1

1.Casablanca

2.Breakfast at Tiffany's

3.Life is Beautiful

4.The General

 5.The Breakfast Club

6.Scent of a Woman

7.The Killing Fields

8.The Pianist

9.Delicatessen

10.Band of Outsiders

(11.) The 400 Blows