#creative camera

[alexcaldownapier]

First Trimester - Workflow and Creative Camera Techniques

This first term has taught me so much. Sometimes I think it might be too much - I can barely keep it in my head. My notes are scrawling and at times incoherent but they are always filled with information. It’s brought me closer to every frame I watch as I can further break down the elements within them. SHOTDECK, which was I was introduced to on this course, has been a fascinating tool for me. I can spend hours on it, looking through stills from my favourite films and trying to understand how it was created. For example:

This is from a film I enjoy - The Intouchables (2011). It’s a striking shot, perfectly composed. I feel now, through this course, I can better understand how it was created. They’ve used a reasonably wide lens, perhaps a 17mm, on a tripod at eye level with Omar Sy’s character. This lets us look up at the art, admire it, while still giving him enough importance so that he can undercut it through his dialogue and performance. The light is motivated by the window that has been established to the left. This makes the lighting seem natural and realistic. The key light is quite soft light to mimic the sun and is kept mostly off the wall and the art, which lets the highlights on the characters stand out while keeping the white of the wall natural and not overly bright. There’s minimal fill and no backlight as the characters stand out from the background already, due to their dark costumes. The limited use of colour draws our eye to the art and the m&m’s which emphasises Driss’ view on the art and his dismissal of it due to its inaccessibility. 

Anyways, I’ll shut up about that, the point is across. Another thing - I am so far off grasping all of these elements when it comes to creating my own images. Too often all the notes I’ve taken and everything I’ve learned goes straight out of my head when I’m on set. I need to constantly remind myself that I can adjust ISO, aperture, shutter speed, etc. On the final project, I barely touched the camera settings until Samuel asked me what ISO I was shooting at. Going forward, need to try KEEP THESE THINGS IN MIND. I’ve also thought a lot more about my submissions for the early exercises - I wasn’t really using what I’d been taught when creating them. I’m reasonably happy with them although I should have taken more care with them and used my newly acquired skills. I think, now term is finished, I’ll have another crack at them and see what I come up with.

For exercise 3, I was a little unhappy with our final submission. I felt the shots chosen by my group were not the most inventive or interesting and also didn’t really convey the location very well. I think we should’ve taken longer to come up with our shots. Recently, I made a small series of shots, mainly so I had something to practice editing with. Here it is:

I shot it on the fly using my camcorder on my way into town. I’m quite happy with the shots and learning how to use AVID with this was fun. I managed to do some sound editing and colour grading and while I’m still a ways off, I’ve got the basics of AVID down.

So, learning outcomes:

Outline the main theories, concepts and principles involved in digital workflow and creative camera techniques - I think I’ve got this, I’m still working on making it second nature, but I’m definitely aware of the separate elements.

Develop an awareness of and reproduce routine camera operations required for the completion of creative photographic/ filmic briefs - Again, while I can complete briefs and I’m definitely aware of what is needed, I need to take more care and think deeper about how I’m completing these briefs.

Recognise and duplicate effective digital workflow skills towards a professional photographic / filmic outcome - I think that, while there were problems with my final project, I was still able to recognise and duplicate workflow skills.

Account for your creative ideas and respond to feedback - My blog could definitely be a bit more developed through the year, this is a little bit of a last minute dash.

Exercise some initiative and independence in carrying out defined activities with an awareness of professional practice - I do think, across my modules, I’ve used initiative to drive the groups I’ve worked with forward and keep us on the right path.

Overall, I’ve loved this first trimester and feel I’m learning a lot. Can’t wait for the new year.

[alexcaldownapier]

Final Exercise - Reflections

Recreation (above) - Original (Below)

Scene Recreation - Baby Driver (2017)

Happy with the framing, lenses, production design and performances, however, the colouring is nothing like the original and the camera movements are occasionally shaky. 

Crew: Jack Birrell - Director, Bonnie Sanderson - Editor/Producer, Alex Caldow - DOP/ Producer, James Fox - Sound, Samuel Tabotta - Sound/ Camera operator.

Starring: James Fox - Bats, Bonnie Sanderson - Doc, Jack Birrell - Baby/Eddie, Alex Caldow - JD.

Pre-production

We chose this scene as we wanted to challenge ourselves when it came to editing and coverage while still being able to achieve a truthful recreation. The lighting is quite simple and we felt we could recreate the location pretty well (more on that later). As Cal was heading home early, we were already one crew member down so we had to call up James Fox, who did an excellent job, to fill in as an actor. Jack, Bonnie and I went round some charity shops looking for costumes, doing a pretty spot on job with the suit for Doc and the shirt for Eddie. The others were a little harder. For Bats’ costume, we bought a red jumper then taped on bits of paper for the details and for JD’s vest, we had to compromise with a yellow t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The rest of the production design was handled by Bonnie and Jack who created the heist planning board (pretty spot on!) and got the newspaper and toy cars, they did a great job dressing the set and I think it works quite well in the finished scene. The only draw backs come from the location. While the studio did offer a wide space and tables and chairs, the bright white walls hindered us when it came to creating contrast in the lighting and getting more colour into the shots. We should have thought ahead and made some props for the background with some colour in them, perhaps some fake pillars. We planned out the lighting, lenses, framing and shooting schedule all before the shoot - here’s our master doc:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iKBeYIbA3CZMcQUt0Q6a2EaaEuKo9VwPZ71b34jAyw0/edit?usp=sharing

Production

On the day of the shoot, Sophie, our camera operator had to pull out due to Covid fears. This put us in a bit of a tight spot as one key shot required all of us to be in shot. We quickly reached out to others on the course and Samuel, always keen to lend a hand, came to our rescue. We set up the lighting with two Sachtler lamps pointed at a bounce board to create the soft daylight feel and a small LED as fill in some shots. The flag I had booked was comically small (I hadn’t checked the dimensions) so wasn’t much use in the medium and wide shots, we were only able to use this on the extreme close-ups for negative fill which did create some nice contrast. Another set back was that the sound equipment was broken and for too long we worried that we just weren’t using it right, eventually we asked Ben for help and he got us another sound recorder. This set off our schedule as we cracked on with the shots that didn’t require sound so our order was muddled up. Once we did get the sound working, the shoot went a lot smoother. For the sliding shots, we used two methods - either we placed the tripod on top of a jacket and pulled it across the table or we used a skateboard with the camera on top. These methods *kinda* worked; there were some issues. The shots required a pan as well as a track which meant we needed two camera operators and this added to the shakiness of the shots. The jacket was a little shaky and the skateboard had an irregularity in one wheel which meant that when moving it slowly as required, the movement seems to stop then start again - this can be seen in the final film. The long push-in also required Bonnie to help me out with the focus. We did a huge number of takes but even then the final shot still has some focus and movement issues. We did manage to get it all shot in the time given on set which was a relief. 

Post-Production

We edited together, with Bonnie taking the lead and having final cut. I think we managed to get the pace and rhythm of the scene down. This was helped by the music used in the first half as this let us stick to the beat. Editing to music was very fun and then when the monologue begins, we edited to that, matching the cuts based on where they were in the monologue. In the end, our edit was only 2 seconds longer than the original. I enjoyed messing around with the audio at the start of the scene and I think we get the idea across well. We also added in a sound effect used in the scene - a pen clicking - which I think adds a little something. The colour grading was the main challenge in the edit. Due to the bright white location, it was hard to get the necessary darkness in the background while keeping the characters visible. The final grade is flat and dark and while some shots have the necessary contrast, most don’t due to the white that is EVERYWHERE in the shots. Another oversite was the aspect ratio, something I’m only realising now while writing this. The original is a lot wider than ours which takes us even further away from an accurate recreation.

Comparisons

In this one, we got the contrast pretty close although the head position and skin tone is off. The background is also too white.

This one is just too dark, but any chance of brightening it up resulted in the white wall being too in your face. The set issues are most notable in these shots. Lighting could also be wrapped around a little more. Performance is excellent.

Again, brightness and saturation is an issue, however the framing and lighting, I am pretty happy with. This shot really shows off the production design as well (apart from the location).

The lighting and framing I’m pretty happy with although more light is needed on the board. This one is all in the tones, the lack of saturation and the whiteness in the face detract from it.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with this, while it’s flawed and scrappy, I think it sticks to the tone well and is a pretty faithful recreation despite the colouring and location. Doing the comparison has cheered me up a little as well as it’s a lot closer than I thought it was.

[alexcaldownapier]

Exercise 3 - Workflow and Creative Camera Technniques

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[Had trouble imbedding, Edited by BenMcMorran]

Expressing a location in 8 shots.

Our group was made up of myself, Rowen Henderson, Mary Hannah, Katie Cox, Ben McMorran, Jack Weir and Euan Millar. 

Initial Observations: The location is very loud being situated above a busy road. Light during the golden hour lands really satisfyingly onto the architecture of the bridge with a lovely warm hue. The approach to the bridge is also visually pleasing with a symmetrical layout. A reflective building to the left also warps the surrounding while providing some interesting reflections. The bridge has some nice lights that come on at night and the cars underneath become more pronounced with their headlights lighting the surrounding. I also noticed the office buildings who’s lights are on, giving a slight glimpse into the buildings. The walkway to the bridge also lights up during the night in a fairly dramatic way. 

Reflective Writing: You’re drawn to the walkway above the river of light, the crashing waves of horns echoing through the entrance. It stands unmoving, enveloped by high rise buildings broken only by a ravine of red and white. Golden rays get caught by the jutting logs of steel supporting the metallic beam that glides from one side to another. Walls of glass present their warped reflections as if to criticise every passerby, each illuminated window hinting towards another watching world. As the sky is Submerged into blue the walkway glows golden, its approach being lit by a train of spotlights guiding you towards it like a plane along its runway.

[written by Rowen Henderson]

[Story boards by me:)]

[alexcaldownapier]

Floor plan for zoom calls

[alexcaldownapier]

Tripod shot. Steady when static yet can still be jerky when tracking motion. Gives a solid, detached viewpoint. 

[alexcaldownapier]

Centre framing/ rule of thirds

[alexcaldownapier]

Week 5 - Workflow and Creative Camera Techniques

Film Analysis - Superbad (2007)

The scene I chose to analyse is the moment where Seth (Jonah Hill) enters a supermarket, planning to steal some alcohol. It shows a series of Seth’s fantasies and the filmmakers have done a great job of putting us in his head. The cinematography, lighting, editing and sound all contribute to the comedy and the character.

As Seth enters, he spies a security guard - his first obstacle. Objects flash through the foreground as the camera tracks across the shopfloor, keeping its focus on the security guard. This mimics Seth’s POV as well as instilling some panic and energy into the scene. The reverse shows Seth’s movement through the shop, his intense stare and his quip “ hope piggy can run”. Having set up the stakes and put us into Seth’s mind, the next shot, a wide of the unintimidating, bored guard, small in the frame, accompanied by unassuming shop ambience, undercuts this hilariously. 

Then, the first fantasy - the cashier believes he is 22 years old. This small segment is shown in two medium-wide, over the shoulder shots. This lets us see the physicality of Jonah Hill’s performance and plays up the off beat tone. As Seth highfives the cashier, we cut back into the close up of Seth still in the aisles. Framing him this close allows us to see how irritated he is by the stupidity of his own plan. But now, encroaching into the foreground of the shot is another person. An old lady is down the aisle and now, as he looks at her, a new plan goes through Seth’s head. She can buy him the alcohol. This second fantasy is filmed in the same medium-wide static shots as before and again smash cutting back to reality, this time to the old lady staring at him confused. 

Seth moves on down the aisle and picks up some vodka off the shelf. A slow push in on the bottle, emphasising its importance in Seth’s mind. We look up at him as he holds it.

Already we know something is wrong. While the rest of the film is warm and golden, the colouring here is cold and bright. Seth sticks out starkly against the white background, he is in the open.

From behind him comes the order - “don’t do it, kid”, and now the camera dollies up, the background spinning away, revealing the security guard in the background. This shot is brilliantly over the top, evoking action films like Bad Boys, with its epic spinning cameras. The shallow depth of field makes the background blur, creating a very stylised background. It not only adds to the comedy of the scene but also makes us relate to Seth and understand his situation. We understand him, even when we’re laughing at him.

A dramatic, cartoonish score comes in as a fight breaks out. The previously slow editing turns to quick cuts, heightening the intensity as the security guard attacks him, eventually slicing his throat with a broken bottle. The score transitions into more of a classic horror theme, Seth is bleeding out, this is the end, he’ll never go to that party, why did he have to steal that bottle? --- Then… 

Seth walks through the shop parking lot, his head hanging in shame. The score is replaced with his feet scraping along the tarmac. We’re back to reality and we realise he was just a scared kid. He lashes out at his friend when he asks what happened. He tries once more to slip into fantasy as he tells them of a “Security breach”, but we aren’t fooled.

The filmmakers used all the tools at their disposal to create a fun scene that at the same time introduces important themes and gets to the heart of one of the characters. In his grandiose plans and fantasies, we see Seth’s insecurities and understand his anger. He constantly tries to build himself up and lashes out when his sad reality is presented to him.

All of this is expressed clearly through the cinematography, sound and editing. 

[rowboatguilliman-blog]

"We came up with this method of strapping an iPhone to Logan that the camera would actually lock to," Leigh explains.

"So, the [phone] was under his clothes and wherever he moved, the camera would go with it."