Week 7 Reflection/ Epiphany

Although this week’s focus was on our 3-minute class presentations that we had to deliver on Friday, I was able to divide my time between writing my presentation and concentrating on the video investigation task that Paul issued to complete and submit this week. Through undertaking this task, it was my aim to explore, not only what imagery I wanted to depict on screen for my final film, but how I’m going to capture it more in the technical sense. Whether I need wide-angle lenses, a follow focus to assist me when shifting focal points, what sort of lighting equipment I needed to shoot in the dark and how I could shoot my focal subjects to achieve the best aesthetic shot.

After completing my storyboard/ visual references of the type of visuals I want to capture, I decided the best way for me to decide how I’m going to shoot the film was to shoot a test video, reflect on it, and if I’m not happy with the results, to shoot another video on the following weekend where I’d technically alter my shooting methods to see which way can produce the best results.

This week, with the help of a good friend of mine who was happy to perform in my video, I was able to film some of the shots I had in mind to be featured in my final film. However, I decided to shoot my test video under certain constraints, which would affect the overall essence and look of the video. Although I didn’t know whether or not these constraints would work to my advantage, I nevertheless wanted to explore and experiment with them anyway.

So my video was shot very similar to how Dogme 95 films were created, as I wanted to explore filmmaking styles that emphasize realism and the simplification of film production. Persisting to exist between 1995 till 2005, Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement created to “purify filmmaking” urging filmmakers to focus on the story and actors performances rather than superficial elements of production. When making a Dogme film, there were certain rules known as the vow of chastity, which filmmakers had to abide by. These rules included:

1 Filming must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in.

2 Music must not be used unless it occurs within the scene being filmed.

3 The camera must be hand-held; filming must take place where the action takes place.

4 The film must be in colour. No special lighting.

5 Optical work and filters are forbidden.

6 No superficial action (No murders, weapons, etc.)

7 No temporal or geographical alienation.

8 No genre movies.

9 The aspect ratio must be 4:3, not widescreen.

10 The director must not be credited.

With exception to rules 2 and 9, I remained loyal to these rules. Consequentially I was able to obtain a certain stylistic look throughout my footage, which expressed rawness and realism, accentuated by the shakiness of the camera and the lack of over lighting. This made me realize that I may not need all the equipment that I initially thought I needed such as a tripod and additional lighting, which will counter my acquired results with a more polished and artificial “big budget” production look. Certainly in this case, I was able to understand the concept “sometimes more is less”. As I am still not sure what kind of style I want my final film to reflect, either raw/ natural or polished/ Hollywood film-eque, I will aim to do some additional camera test using more equipment to determine my productions final shooting conditions.

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VIDEO LINK:

https://drive.google.com/a/rmit.edu.au/file/d/0B_EHaIpWZ2UNM3dBelNaODRneUU/view?usp=sharing

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