due to my initial actors dropping out i have been unable to find a male character who will be able to act for me so i am going to have to play the roll myself.
in order to be able to maintain control over the look of the shots as every shot will have to be perfect due to the short duration on my video. i am having to draw up more detailed story boards so that Olivia who has agreed to film for me knows exactly what the shot should look like, this should also reduce the extra time to filming that will be added by having to review footage so I can make sure its right.
due to the weather forecast being bad for the past few days i changed my idea so that the initial exchange of looks could take place inside. the new location is now inside a cafe. the new location means that i can have a reaction shot from the girl as she would not just be passing by and would be there for the remainder of the time the guy was there for.
i thought about having the girl offer a napkin to the guy at the end, which would mean that the dream sequence may still be real but i felt this was too cheesy.
the cafe i am going to film in is a local one called Lizzys. I spoke to the owner of the shop, Lizzy, and arranged that i could go and film in their back dining room at 2:30 today.
Due to the nature of my project and its adult content i have had a hard time finding actors. i did manage to find a couple who where only going to be available this week so i have had to delay filming. i organized to film with them on Wednesday but they have since said that they would be uncomfortable filming it.
i have a female actor who would be willing to do it but it leaves me still needing a male actor. i could do this myself, but it would be very hard to get the control of the shots i will need, because due to time restrictions i'm only going to be able to shoot this once. hopefully i will be able to find someone to film this for me in the next day.
i just had a chat with my lecture about coming up with a strong idea and he suggested taking heavy inspiration from a film scene and then adding a twist to it. the idea is that i can have a couple catching eyes then cut to a passionate series of edits like the sex scene from rocknrolla
after the sequence i will cut back to the guy and girl who have just caught eyes and the guy will crash into something. so the whole idea is that the sex sequence in the middle of the film is a dream like sequence.
it was suggested that i film a car sequence because then i can have the sound of a horn. coming in at the end of the sex scene. then i could do a fast cut to the crash and it would make more sense.
while thinking of ways i can make this work, i thought to the introduction of human traffic where the movie freezes and then the main character explains about them.
to use this idea i could show my lead character on a bike and then freeze and have a short bit of voice over saying something like "this is bob, he 20 unemployed and has his head in the clouds." saying something like this would establish the incoming dream sequence.
i could use a lonely hearts column at the start and show my lead flicking through one in a cafe then walking off and then catching sight of the girl.
currently i want to differentiate between the dream sequence and the real events by using a rich brown tint which is reminiscent of chocolate. i will also use wide angle shots in the opening scene and then big close ups during the sex scene.
Violence is the most obvious thing to think of then giving the theme Crash, Bang, Wallop so i have been looking at this idea. I've been looking at the gang fight scene from A Clockwork Orange here. and at the a fight scene from the first Bourne movie
i also thought of the original batman were the noises of the sounds that fighting makes are written on screen. see 1min into this clip
now that i am at uni i have been able to upload the practice HD video i did using the footage that was shot in class.
to make this footage appear sinister i used the final cut pro colour correcter to create a colour treatment of low saturation and a high amount of dark colours. i took the audio from a website that provided free ringtones and other sample sounds which i found quickly using Google so i have no idea if they where subject to copy write. i added text to add a comic style to the scene but due to the fast nature of the editing i will need in my final piece it will be very hard to read text that is displayed on screen. if i would have taken more time on this i would have synced the visuals at the start more in time with the breathing and also made the fade time slower on them.
a technique i think that can be used well for this project is one that is employed in the comic industry and that is Closure. which is expressed in his image by Scott McCloud
the idea is to create a moment which has a consequence which the audience will be families with by using the correct code of visual language, then to cut away before anything happens the audience will then assume that the event concluded. using this i would be able to film violent events without the difficulties.
on a side note i finally have a sketch book so i will be able to develop and explore some ideas for this short.
i have just had an idea for what i could produce for my short bare with me its a bit of a weird train of thought. while listening to Imogen Heap and looking at a picture of her where she has crazy hair,
this made me think of the depiction of shinigamis, gods of death, in death note
i thought that i could make out a person to look like a shinigami then get them to interact with a computer in a demented and violent fashion while having a conversation via an instant message service with a normal person on the other end of the internet. very similar to the monkey dust sketch of the paedophile,
i am unsure if they would be fitting enough with the theme of Crash, Bang, Wollop as it relies on the aggression of the creepy character. it also would be a hard subject to edit to have a fast pace and retain the creepyness that i would want it to have.
I have been finding it hard to come up with a strong idea so i took some vintage footage from archinve.org found here. and cut it down to 25 seconds. it only has about 10 edits in it so my so my final piece will have to contain much more. i also made another short film in class on Friday which i will upload at a later date.
the pace on this piece is very slow and boring i found this was because when editing i had very little footage to use because i was using an already finished piece. i was also not able to have intresting jump cuts and close ups like the City of God and Jame Bond clips i showed in a previous post. to make sure that my final piece is not boring story boarding and good shot planning will be very important, which makes it even more crucial that i think of an idea soon!
while doing this vido i was listening to Aphex Twin and i was reminded of the videos that director Chris Cunningham creates, in particular 'Come to Daddy'.
this music video dose a great job creating a really sinister atmosphere with its colour pallet, special effects, fast paced editing, location and shots.
what works really well in the opening of this music video is its use of the privileged view to create a sense of danger, this could be used to great effect in my short piece. another device that i would like to use in my piece which is in this video is there use of sound. due to the fact that it is a music video you are unable to hear the noised of the dog barking and the old woman screaming, i belive that Chris Cunningham chose to do this because it make the whole scene a lot more sinister. in my short i will not be able to have copyright music but i could have a piece of sound from one of the opening shots continue throughout, such as a tap dripping.
another set of videos that has inspired me are the ones produced by the Musicial/visual artist Pogo, his youtube can be found here. Pogo takes very short sound samples from film and places them together in order to create the beat and melodies of this songs. he then takes the corresponding visual and strings them together to create the video for the pieces. he has recently done one using real footage which he filmed of his mum in her garden.
my brief is to great a short about a situation so i could not do the same thing but i could use of the same editing style especial the interview section to express speech or make someone appear sinister.
i have gotten a reply regarding the copyright query i had with the British Sound Archive.
who directed me to here and informed me that most of the collection follows standard uk copyright laws.
he also stated that they have many copyright free recordings which can be found in the Public Collection. so this will be a great resource for me to find sounds from.
my mum also suggested i look into copyright law and see if there is any way i can use a small part of a copyrighted recording without infringing the copyright.
i have been looking at various videos and finding things that inspire me.
the idea of playing with time in the video is quite interesting to me and can be seen in the following two examples of 90's music videos.
this advert for goggle chrome has an opening 15seconds which could be for this project. the interesting shots and strong colours are really visually interesting.
for this project i really want to have a strong concept so the ideas part of the project will be crucial to its success. With this in mind i discussed the brief with my mum, who is currently an art student, to see what she could add to my initial ideas and see how she interpreted the brief. here are my initial thoughts and ideas.
my initial ideas for this project is that i really like the idea of subverting the meaning of an familier subject. which can be seen in the following clip and other re-cut trailers
this trailer takes selected sections from the horror thriller 'The Shining' and re edits it to look like a buddy movie. the key to the success of this in its use of generic conventions like the happy voice over.
due to the short duration on my film i need to set the scene in the first couple of seconds. so i need to be making strong use of these conventions in the establishing shots. i could manipulate the generic conversions by juxtaposing them with the content of the frame e.g. shooting a the scene of a murder in high key lighting with happy noises.
when i sat down to think about this project the opening sequence of 'City of God' came to mind. in particular the first 2:30 of the film. which you can see below.
the drama and narrative that are in this opening sequence are exactly what i am aiming for with my project. the long build up of the slows opening titles creates a suspenseful atmosphere so when the very fast shot of the knife appears on screen you can really feel the sharpness of the blade. the use black empty time between the knife shots helps maintain the initial sharpness the first knife shot has by leaving you in suspense. then the sound bridge of the happy carnival style music is a strong juxtaposition to the knifes which leads us away for the sinister uneasy feeling with which the film starts. when you get the shot of the worried looking chicken and a carrot being peeled and chopped you know exactly what the knife is for and the scene is set. the narrative comes from the look on the chickens face which looks as if it is actually scared, worried as has worked out its fate and wants to do something about it.
the fast paced editing and interesting angles create a metonym for them celebrating and having a good time while also keeping us interested and allowing us to slowly picture the scene in our minds.
another element which helps this style of editing work is the handheld camera which moves has a large amount of movement within each shot. this moving camera style can also be seen in the opening sequence of the latest James Bond film 'Quantum of Solace'
both this and the opening of 'City of God' use alot of very dark shots to build a mood at the start of the sequences. Unlike 'City of God' however the James Bond sequence starts with a wide angle shot of the landscape of which it is set in, which then moves closer in to reveal a tunnel which you could just see the card driving through. this very overtly sets the scene so that your focus is on the fast paced action of the car chase instead of on discovering the mood and location of what you are seeing. this is also backed up the the soundtrack and relatively slow paced editing which build to a crescendo followed by several shots very quickly edited together showing him switching into gear and speeding off.
This first part of the fast paced action seems to follow an editing pattern of Cause and Effect, where the Cause is a short fast paced sequence of actions and the Effect of those actions is shown in a wide angle shot with a longer duration. this is something i feel that i will be able to use in my project.
The Hollywood Formula is basicaly a pattern that a whole load of films follow. it goes a little something like this.
persons situation
person needs to change situation
situation begins to change through conflict (high point)
it fails (turning point)
person tried to change situation a different way
it fails (low point)
radical change to situation or point of no return
situation builds to a climax (highest point)
this works with Archetypal characters to produce most of the films we see.
it can been seen in these spoof 1 min versions of 'Top Gun'.
i am interested in this because of the short nature of out film, 15 seconds, we can not possible have all of these elements. so i can just take a segment of it to display to leave the audience wanting more, this is done in film trailers.
part of the restriction of the brief which i didn't mention in my last post is the use of sound. the brief states;
you will use single individual noise events (crash, bump, bang etc) not a continuous soundtrack of pieces of music. This can be based on the sounds recorded while filming and or/sourced by not copyright sound effects.
my mum told me about the British Sound Archive, sounds.bl.uk, which has thousands of sounds but i am not sure about the copyright of these sounds so i have emailed them to find out more information.
Archive.org is another source that i could possibly sample sounds from. thinking of archive.org made me think that i could possibly incorporate some vintage footage into my short piece in some form or another or i could make some practice pieces using vintage footage.
when i was looking into the copyright on archive.org i found this in the FAQ section
If the work was made in 1923 or earlier, it is probably public domain and can be uploaded. NOTE! Restored versions of the film or new soundtracks for silent films can have more recent copyrights that are still valid - usually a copyright notice for a new soundtrack or restoration will appear in the film.
This means that i am likely to be able to use very old footage and sounds that i find. however i would need to carefully consider how vintage footage will sit with its low resolution with the high resolution footage i will be filming.
our last project of the year is Time Based Media or film editing. after a horribly small amount of work on my last blog project due to injury and doing to much of my development work in my head i think this next project will allow me to do some good blog work.
brief
Use video editing to convet a fast and stimulating experience. to do this, you need to make a short film piece that lasts no more than 15 seconds. the piece can either describe an everydat situation in a dramatic or dynamic way or subvert the expected response to a situation. for example,
The unbearable loundness of making breakfast as seen through a hangover
Riding a children's roundabout made to seem dark, sinister and threatening
Create 15 seconds of video with no less that 20 edits, placing an emphasis on abript editing that makes it look as action packed as possible, and creates a mood such as discordance or dynamism. you will try to make a film which represents the main actions as key moments and which creates as much dramatic impact as possible. you will edit the piece with teh goal of making a film which is as economical and succinct as possible.
The theme for the project is Crash Bang Wallop
we will be using final cut to make this project, which is Mac only software, because of this i will need to manage my time so that i will be able to complete the lengthy editing process during lessons.
when i look at the brief 15 seconds strikes me as a very short amount of time. this means that every shot and choice of edit will be heavily scrutinised. the key to this project i feel is in thinking of, planning and executing a very strong concept.
