Cinematography Research

Cinematography

Cinematography is the art of capturing images during the creation of motion pictures. It refers to the photographing of the film itself, including both the shooting and the development of the film. The cinematographer creates a consistent look for the film and makes images that will help tell the story. It's what's in the frame, the lighting, getting the mood right - getting images that push the story along and keeps the audience inside the film, not outside. In the past, artists working as cinematographers generally relied almost exclusively on cameras that captured footage on film, but over time, video capture technology has become more advanced, and as a result, many films are also made with high-definition digital cameras and other similar devices. The main focus of cinematography is capturing images for films that are both beautiful and powerful in the way they drive narrative. When it comes to the visual design of a film, the cinematographer is usually a close collaborator with the film's director, and is generally the second highest ranked person in most film crews.

The abilities needed in the field of cinematography are somewhat similar to those needed in still photography, but there are also many differences. The camera and the actors often move around while a shot is being captured, so lighting across a whole scene and manipulation of the camera during moving sequences are both crucially important aspects. There are also many tools, such as camera dollies, that a cinematographer must fully understand, and these things aren't used in still photography.

Even though cinematography is the art of capturing imagery for a film, the cinematographer himself is not necessarily the main person responsible for the way a film looks. In many cases, the director is equally or even more responsible. Often, the director may choose the angles and camera movements in a film, while the cinematographer focuses on lighting and camera lenses or other technical aspects. The dynamics of this relationship can vary quite a lot depending on the particular skills of the director. Some directors know very little about camera work, so they mostly focus on working with actors; others might have more knowledge of cinematography and collaborate much more closely on the visual aspects of the film.

There are many different ways for a cinematographer to affect the way an audience feels about a film scene. Small changes in lighting, manipulation of the colours in the frame, and subtle adjustments of lenses and focus can all play a role in creating emotions. Sometimes the techniques of cinematography can be very flashy and noticeable, leading to films that are notably unusual in a visual sense, but sometimes they are very subtle and naturalistic, often to the point where the audience doesn't even become aware of the visual manipulation.

 
Lighting is of course one of the most paramount aspects of cinematography – in fact, it is probably the single most important element that needs to be successfully achieved for a film maker to create the kind of film he or she desires. With the plethora of digital video cameras flooding the market in the last ten years, many amateur and professional film makers alike have had to struggle with learning how to properly light a scene shot with a digital camera.  Some film makers believe that a digital video can be shot with inferior cinematography and still appear comparable to an actual film in the end.  This is not the case.  The rule for successful digital video lighting is simple: a digital video has to be lit like it was shot on film for it to appear as though it was shot on film.  

An example of a standard lighting technique used by cinematographers is the three point lighting technique. It is named as such because it includes three separate lights positioned to illuminate the subject being filmed. It can be adjusted to enhance or diminish light ratios, shadows, shading, etc. The three lights involved with this standard technique are known as the key light, the fill light and the back light.  The key light is the primary lighting device used to illuminate the subject being filmed from the front.  The fill light is typically placed at an angle and adds to the lighting in order to achieve the desired effect.  The back light is, of course, shone from behind and focuses on creating a contour of the person or scene being filmed.

 Another technique that has a profound effect on the way a film is perceived is the size of the shot.  For example, a subject being shot at close range will have a much more dramatic and intimate effect on the viewer than a scene shot from several hundred feet away.  The most common shot sizes utilized by cinematographers are the following: extreme close-up, close-up, medium shot, long shot, and establishing shot.  Most of these are self-explanatory, with the establishing shot being a shot that indicates to the viewer that change of location or time has occurred.

Forced perspective is a technique applied by not only cinematographers, but engineers, architects and even army personnel.  Simply defined, it is an optical illusion that convinces the viewer that they are seeing an object (or person) from a distance that is in fact completely different from the actual distance at which the object is placed.  This is achieved by using objects that are not of standard size which manipulates the brain into thinking the object is farther or closer than it is in reality. 

Prop Research

Prop research

We have decided to feature a newspaper in our opening scene, and we are aiming to include a picture of our protagonist is we can successfully make it look realistic. We are doing this in order to follow the stereotypes of our chosen genres and make the crime look premeditated. We want to do this as we hope it will add to the tension of the film, and make it more exciting for the audience to watch as it will suggest that the antagonist is experiences and so creates enigmas and builds tension within the audience. We plan to feature the newspaper before the abduction takes place, to give a bit of background knowledge and help to unravel the plot to aid the audience with their understanding.

We have also chosen to feature a black brief case as part of the costume for our main investigator. We chose this because we want to make the investigator look sophisticated and make it clear to the audience that he is an authoritative figure that is respected and in control of the situation. It conforms to the stereotypes of the types of genres we are focusing on, especially crime as it sets the investigators apart from the general public/rest of the public, almost making the investigating team look a different class or above the rest, making them look superior. From our research, we have found this helps the audience trust the investigators, which makes the film more interesting as it evokes emotion from the audience. 

 To add to the premeditated, planned theme we are hoping to present in the opening scene, we are going to feature a read pen in which the antagonist will circle around a girl's face in a newspaper. We wanted to include this as it will catch the audience's attention, and produce enigmas as the plot unravels. It will add to the negative theme that surrounds the antagonist as it will make the audience feel slightly unnerved and uncomfortable, suggesting he is up to something suspicious. We think this follows the conventions of abduction films as it implies the antagonist is well practised and has taken part in unlawful activities before, causing the audience to form a disliking to him. 

Our protagonist will be listening to an iPod through classic white apple headphones. We have chosen to feature these as it introduces the audience to the characters background, suggesting she is of the middle/upper class. It is also a common appliance making it easier for the audience to relate to the character, which would then contribute to making the film more interesting and helping to gage the audience's attention. We also aim to make the protagonist look like a stereotypical teenager, and so we think featuring the music and headphones will aid this as it is very typical for teenagers to be engaged in their own world and oblivious to their surroundings. We think this will help to make the film more dramatic and build tension as the protagonist will appear more vulnerable and at risk.

We hope to feature a car parked on gravel in our opening scene. We will portray the car through a low angle shot, meaning only the bottom and wheels will be seen. We have chosen to feature the car in this way as it adds to the tension and themes of our opening scene, keeping identities hidden. We also want to focus the audience's attention more on the sound of the antagonist walking over the gravel and his footsteps. Again, the antagonist will be featured through a low angle shot in order to create enigmas and keep his identity hidden, with the car being secondary in the shot. 

We have chosen to use a pin board in our opening scene, which we aim to feature in the detective scenes. We have chosen to use this type of board as it conforms to the stereotypes of crime/detective genres and so we hope it will make our film seen more realistic and professional. Using this board will introduce the detective characters and their surroundings to the audience, and we hope it will emphasise the importance of the case. On this board will be pictures of other teenage girls which will have also been involved in cases of abductions, adding to the tension and suspense of the film as it will highlight the seriousness of the situation.

Mood Board

Mood Board

This is our mood board which gives everyone a vague idea about what our film connotes, displaying the different aspects of each scene, character and location. The pictures aren't precise with our ideas for the opening two minutes; however we will be using similar characters and props. I have numbered the different pictures to help signify what photos I will be discussing and my reasoning for choosing them.

The first image has been placed on my mood board because it fits in with the horror/thriller theme, which is what our film is hopefully going to be portraying. The house looks damaged and old, despite the size, its not something you can picture a traditional family living in, which is why I have chosen it. It is mangled and falling down, but the size is perfect for what we want the antagonist to represent. It fits in with the stereotypes of a typical location for a thriller film with the enormous acres of land, but little decency within the building. It represents a male who has his minds on other things, which in our case, would be the girl he is looking to take, the distractions the male is going to represent is shown through the lack of care and delicacy taken on the house. The house doesn't feature any contemporary structures which fit in with the thriller codes and conventions because the history of the building is important to the basic ideology.

Image 2 represents the crime features of our film. This is a stereotypical image which is featured in a lot of crime related programmes and films. It enables the audience to view the complexity and the detail within the crime which is being presented with all the images. In our film we will use an over the shoulder shot, like what is displayed in the image. The pictures on the board will represent the girls the antagonist has taken, subtly hinting to the audience that the antagonist is not taking our protagonist spontaneously.

Image 3 represents the main action which takes place throughout the opening two minutes; we will have numerous shots, varying from tracking shot to long shots, of our protagonist running cutting between the different scenes. The continuity of the constant cuts will help increase the tension. Image 4 is a similar image to image 3 which helps highlight the importance of the running shots because it is what keeps the opening scene together, separating it from the fantasy aspect of a crime film, linking to reality.

Image 5 helps codify our genre of a crime film because it displays the policing side of an investigation, which recognises the obvious, which is that the antagonist commits the crime. The office sets aside a separate location which helps devise the opening two minutes in to separate places which initiates the different scenes.

Image 6 indicates the style of house we are using to locate an establishing shot in. It is a large, American-style house which represents wealth and purity with the cream painting. Having such a big house helps fit in with the stereotypes of a criminal’s behaviour.

Image 7 gives the viewers a brief idea of what sort of costumes will be involved, it is aimed at the antagonist as the large black boots represents the stereotypical idea of a disturbed farmer seeking for popularity and appearance. The low angle shot is a good indication in to what sort of shot we will be using in our opening scene, keeping the identity luminal.

Image 8 is a pivotal image which sums up the whole film, instantly, by taking a glance at the males face you can tell this sort of man is likely to be mentally challenged and very stereotypically paedophile, this is due to the stereotypes of which the society creates through their everyday life. The smirk distracts the audience from his criminal side and the clothing subverts to the stereotypes, side-tracking the audience in to thinking he is not the antagonist of the movie.

Image 9 displays another location of which the majority of the film will be shot in, the green area with the large trees drooping over a single pathway fits in with our creepy manor of our film. The same with image 10, which only slightly differs from image 9 because it is an open planned area, they are both locations which would be used when our protagonist is running. However the reasoning for how the differs is due to the open and closed planned areas and how they portray different emotions. The open planned area suggests freedom and how the protagonist is most likely to be safer because it has a larger surface area for more people to commute to. The closed area makes the protagonist more vulnerable because it is so secretive and discrete.

Storyboard

Rough Storyboard Copy

 

Own Production Company - Raccoon Productions

Raccoon Productions
 

 

Raccoon Productions is primarily the production company owned by myself, Eve Patterson and Charlotte Welch. It contains only one division and that is Raccoon Cinema productions. Raccoon Productions specialise in low-budget films, accompanied by Preliminary Tasks. Raccoon Productions tackle subjects which gravitate towards a mixture of fast-paced and slow-paced action, mostly with the crime feature involved. They also produce such films with a mixture of genres involved within the film, which is why Raccoon Productions is a suitable production company for our film.

Racoon Productions is best known for taking its taboos to another level. In the upcoming Raccoon Cinema feature film, the audience will experience a new height of tension and a higher class of filming. Despite the low-budget, the film remains of a high rank and production value due to the realism portrayed through the classy locations and use of camera angles. We felt that our design of the Raccoon Productions logo is contemporary and ideal for our film, it is not too overbearing for the audience to view and it would be memorable due to the simplistic design and unusual name. We will feature this before or after our film to display our creation and add realism on to the film.

Planning And Research Targets And Provisional Mark

Targets

You could revisit research posts and explore further target audience, editing, mise en scene, locations, camera composition, sound, light, use of titles, genre indicators, key moments. Create an animatic using your storyboard materials and comments on its strengths - this is key. You need to evidence your music research and choices. Post on the history of your genre. Make sure you haven't posted something without commenting on it fully. Evidence your timetabling. 17/20

Post-production

Post-production

Post-production is part of the editing process, when all the filming is complete and the directors and producers have to scan over the clips they have filmed and replay them to see if there is anything they need to re-film. The worst part of post-production is realising you have forgotten to film something so you have to go out and re-film, this affects the continuity of the film as the weather may be different, or the location may have changed in some sort of way.

When we went through our clips, especially with the running scenes, we noticed that they have ended to early, meaning our protagonist does not leave the frame, however luckily we though up of a solution, and this was to merge the running scenes together so they cut from one clip to another without noticing the early ending. There were lots of things which we felt could have gone better, for example the placement of the branches and leaves obscuring the view of the runner, if we looked back over the clip when filming we would have noticed that our protagonist is barely noticeable, in this case we could have chopped the branches down smaller so the shot would have been more effective, luckily this was not a major flaw. We also felt that we should have filmed more running scenes, this is so we could have more of an option to play around with, without being limited. Luckily there were not any major errors which arose, so luckily we felt the editing process was not too stressful. Overall we filmed about 1hr 40mins worth of footage, this is a lot of footage to cut down in to the time bracket of two minutes.

So far our film is still over the limit at 2mins 35secs, this is increasing the pressure to cut down on footage, and is making the decision making difficult. We have cut down a lot of tracking shots with our antagonist which has reduced the time, this has also worked in our favour as the film looks much neater without the constant following of our antagonists route. We still have more cutting down to do as we still need to incorporate the production companies, however we are slowly but surely getting there.