I filmed this scene over a week ago, however I only edited it recently. I wasn’t that happy with uploading the content as I only had access to a camcorder and my iPhone to film the scene. I chose to use my iPhone as the screen is larger and the camcorder (like my phone) couldn’t add anything in terms of manual settings (focus, exposure, etc).

The scene is taken from a screenwriting friend of mine’s script (Harrison Murray) called ‘Presence’ which follows a young boy who is enlisted with the task of cleaning up crime scenes. I chose a scene that could convey the action without dialogue as my test for filming prose written by somebody else.

The prose and my notes towards filming the scene are here: harrison prose

As the director of the scene, I chose to take my own liberties in how I interpreted the scene and decided (as you can see in my notes) not to include Rhonda and Chris in this scene as I just wanted to focus on Liam. I didn’t believe that Rhonda and Chris really added anything to the scene and in the context of the script were moving between locations which is why they are included in the script for this scene. In hindsight now, it would be interesting to include these characters to practice focus pulling and how that could effect the scene.

I had some ideas about using a particular location and decided to use my phone to take some test footage and photos according to my shot list. I then decided to just film it on my phone to test my camera coverage choices as a sketch with the aim of re-shooting it in the future.

As I am researching the director’s vision and ownership of the text as well as working with prose VS script, I should reflect on how working from somebody else’s text effected the way I worked. I wasn’t very motivated to film this scene as I didn’t have any grand ideas of how to make it visually interesting or unique. I didn’t feel attached to the project and so deciding to film the scene on my phone wasn’t a big issue for me as it would have been if I did for my own text. In a way it felt a bit freeing to not be constrained by large equipment and to just capture the image in a very immediate way, without having to worry about setting the tripod to the correct height, etc. However, this scene has definitely suffered due to my lack of ownership of the text/project as I would’ve taken much more care and probably made more creative choices if it was my own text.

With my interrogation scene, I have been much more motivated to investigate different shots, implementing lighting and set design, and researching similar scenes to inspire me – all of which I didn’t even consider when filming this scene. The shot construction is quite simple and crosses the line (I think?), however I think if next time I wrote a floor plan, maybe used a better location and used a camera with a tripod I may create something much closer to what the writer envisioned. I really wanted to get a bird’s eye view of Liam with the case, however I couldn’t reach my arms over enough to get the correct angle and still see the screen – something which could definitely be corrected by having a camera and tripod.

In re-filming this scene, I need to believe that this text is important to me in order for me to take the camera coverage and treatment of the text more seriously and create something of a higher standard.

https://vimeo.com/128359767

PLAN FOR SUBSTANTIAL BLOG POST:

My plan for writing the substantial blog post is to go through all of my past blog posts and take notes of the main reflections and how they brought me to investigating new things. I will create a flow chart for myself of the key points as a starting point for the substantial blog post.

I will evaluate what my initial thoughts and processes were in working as a filmmaker and how that changed over the semester, and reflect on my methodology as it stands now. I will also evaluate what I discovered specifically in terms of camera coverage and how it has helped my grow as a filmmaker.

I will also use screenshots and videos to help inform my blog post and my learning over this semester.

SCREENER TEXT:

I investigated how the text a director works with (script VS prose) and the ownership of the text can effect the camera coverage of the scene and a director’s vision.

I had plenty of improvements and new tests I wanted to carry out in my revised sketch of my interrogation scene. After testing different lights and lighting set-ups in class, I decided to use the Dedo light to illuminate the victim against the very dark setting. The Dedo was the appropriate choice for my scene as it can be modified to create a small or larger spotlight and the brightness can also be adjusted accordingly. The barn doors on the light also gave me more control in lighting the offside of the victim’s face.

In my last shoot, I didn’t do much written pre-production which meant that I became a bit confused as to what shots I wanted or still needed to do on the day. Therefore, I decided to write more detailed notes in terms of what shots I wanted, but also a basic floor plan to understand eye-lines and maintain lighting continuity.

These notes and plans were very helpful on the day, and allowed me to feel more confident in positioning and framing my shots.

Unfortunately, due to the availability of the people in my scene, I couldn’t film at night as I originally planned. This meant that the room was not as dark as I wanted it to be as blacking out the high windows posed a danger. The sunlight that came through the windows meant that I couldn’t completely achieve the really dark setting with one light source (dedo) that I intended to. In my future shoots, I will be filming at night to see how the dedo works and if I can achieve the lighting I initially wanted, or whether I need to implement multiple lights to achieve this look.

I will also be using the EX3 as the Canon 650D seemed to struggle in low-lighting and therefore it resulted in having grain in my video which I don’t want to have in my ‘final scene’. The DSLRs have been useful so far in allowing me to test out different set-ups, shots and experiment with all of these, however I have continued to have issues with them throughout the past few weeks. From having custom white balance problems to grain/noise, sometimes they have been more of a hassle than a help. I hope that the EX3 will be much easier to use, especially since I am more familiar with the settings on it compared to the 650D.

As you can see, from my shot list and floor plan, I did modify some of my shots on the day due to the location and equipment. The dizzying perspective shot that I wanted to test out (shot 4) didn’t work out on the 650D as tracking and zooming in the opposite direction was very difficult to do with this equipment so instead I just used a low-angle shot from the victim’s perspective of the captor coming through the door. However, I would like to add more drama to this moment of the scene and so I want to try the tracking and zooming in opposite directions with the EX3 and/or experiment with different sized shots of this moment. The panning shot of the captor walking towards the victim was inspired by the similar shot in Casino Royale, however due to the location I couldn’t achieve this as there was a lot of stuff in the background that would distract from the shot. I will try this shot though and cover the mess with sheets/blankets or try and ‘cheat’ the shot around so I can get this dynamic shot. I wanted to also experiment with focus pulling specifically in this shot and will do so in my next shoot. The close-up of the victim’s hands didn’t work out how I would like as the background is distracting and the believability of the victim’s hands being clenched together didn’t work.

Despite not shooting at night, I was quite happy with the effect the dedo light gave compared to the last scene I filmed. Lighting the offside of the victim’s face allowed for interesting shadows that were especially dynamic in the low-angle medium-close up of the victim. Having a lighting source also allowed me to experiment with characters moving in and out of the light, something I particularly liked in the Casino Royale scene, and created a mood and tone that previously wasn’t there.

The sound design is very basic in this version and in my future versions I will be implementing sound fx, music and a more dynamic atmos track.

During editing, I didn’t work from a storyboard or really have a specific idea of how I would edit the shots together. I just took it step by step, picking the best takes of the shots and then deciding in which order I would like to show them. What I found most interesting during editing was discovering interesting ways to cut between the shots, keeping the lighting continuity in mind. I tested out dropping the opacity frame by frame to create the effect of the fluoro light flickering, however I found that it was too distracting and didn’t add anything to the scene so I didn’t include it.

Including the lighting source, and the medium-close up of the victim added a whole other dimension and depth to my scene that was previously missing, and this scene is much closer to my vision than the previous sketch.

https://vimeo.com/128331287

As part of my research into refining my interrogation room scene, I have been looking at similar scenes to hopefully gain some inspiration or new ideas on which elements I would like to use for my own scene. Studying only the visuals and not listening to the audio has helped me to better understand which elements I would like to include in my own version of an interrogation scene.

The interrogation room scene in ‘Casino Royale’ implements similar lighting to what I would like to use. The set is quite dark with a hard light source lighting the victim (Bond) creating strong shadows and highlighting the features of both characters’ faces as they move in and out of the path of the light source. The camera moves quite a lot within this scene, drawing the audience’s attention to different movements, characters and items which create suspense and a sense of imminent danger, putting the audience on the edge of their seat. The framing choices make use of the background, middle ground and foreground of the shot, connecting all of the things happening in each part of the frame with one another.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/JDJOXiPSRIs&#8221; frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

The camera pans quickly up and down, to show the switchblade and the chair. The fast movement creates a sense of panic for the audience as their focus is guided between the two items and then to Bond in the background lying on the ground.

Another interesting shot I found was the captor moving towards the camera from complete darkness into the path of the light, creating a sense of uneasiness as well as demonstrating that he is the person to fear in this scene.

The challenge of creating a scene with very limited lighting to create an almost pitch black setting that will still allow the camera to operate and function well is something I am facing. The lighting used in this scene is something I want to try and experiment with and create for my own scene. In this particular shot, the light source seems to be coming from the upper left of frame, positioned slightly down to illuminate only a small part of the character’s face as he moves towards the camera. It seems as though Paul’s rule of positioning the light source where the interviewer would be in comparison to the actor/subject and camera is being implemented here. The light source is direct and hard, creating strong shadows and narrowing the illumination to only light a small portion of the character’s face. Perhaps a red hat with barn doors was used in this case to create the narrow, hard lighting.

The lighting implemented in another shot of the captor is also quite interesting and something I would like to try to replicate for my own scene.

The shadows across his face make it clear that he is dangerous. The light source is quite bright on his left ear and the right side of his face is mostly shadowed, suggesting that the light source is slightly behind him to the upper right of frame, positioned down onto him. Once again, the lighting is hard, direct, and narrow. I would like to try and experiment with all of these lighting choices, trying to replicate them myself, taking almost identical stills of my tests to see if my first thoughts are right, or whether different lighting positions have been used in this scene.

The next shot shows the victim illuminated, while the rest of the room is dark – another thing I want to use for my own scene. The hard lighting over his whole body makes him seem quite vulnerable, almost like a deer in headlights.

The only way I can think that this effect could be achieved is by having a direct overhead light, illuminating the actor while ensuring the surrounds are dark. However, when he turns his head to his left, shadows appear around his jawline. This suggests that the offside of his face is being lit and that the light source is positioned to the left of frame, close to the camera position.

In terms of framing, I hadn’t previously considered using a shot of the victim where the side of his face is facing the camera and had only thought of more face-one shots. I’m not sure whether I like this frame, however it might be useful to show the victim moving his head around more vigorously and looking at his surroundings.

This perspective shot is quite simple, but effective in demonstrating that there is no escape. This is something I struggled to show in my sketch of this scene as the location only permitted me to shoot in one direction. The set dressing is really dynamic and I definitely want to include multiple perspective shots to demonstrate the victim trying to plan his escape, and the doomed feeling of the reality that he can’t. Location depends on this kind of shot to work and I need to think more creatively of ways I can create something as dynamic as this shot.

The movement of the camera as the captor approaches the victim in the chair is something I am interested in experimenting with as well. The camera tilt down from the captor’s face to his hand holding the rope/weapon and pans from right to left to reveal him walking towards Bond who is at a 90 degree angle to the camera. This is an interesting alternative to the shot I used of the captor walking into frame as the camera remained static. I would like to try this kind of movement in my next sketch of this scene. I would never have considered positioning the victim at a 90 degree angle to the camera as the captor walks towards him as I was always aware of trying to show his reaction to being in his dire situation. For this reason, I won’t be positioning the actor in this way.

The next shot really interests me and is something I immediately envisioned when I wrote the scene.

The captor is in complete darkness behind the victim who is illuminated. The offside of his face is lit, with shadows on the onside of his face, suggesting that the light source is positioned at a sharp angle down from the top left of frame so that the captor is not lit until he moves forward into the light.

The camera tracks in as the captor moves into the light. While the movement is quite dramatic, it’s not something I would necessarily want to replicate as my scene is more about the terrifying experience the victim is going through rather than the pain the captor is about to inflict. I want my scene to be more ambiguous than the actions in this scene.

The majority of the rest of the shots in the rest of this scene include a wide shot and many close ups in a shot-reverse shot style between the two characters – something I am not interested in replicating. Overall, this scene provided me with ideas mainly to do with lighting and set dressing which I will be experimenting with in future sketch shoots.

While I am still interested in researching my proposal, I am more excited about the prospect of experimenting with different ways to film the interrogation scene. I would really like to test out different shot constructions, framing, focus pulling and lighting to enhance the scene I have written. While I do have many of my own ideas on how to achieve the visuals I have in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to investigate similar scenes to see what other choices other directors have made. I decided to watch the scenes without listening to the audio so that I could focus my attention on the visuals completely. While audio is very important to any scene, and I do want to have a dynamic soundtrack that reflects the mood of this scene, I just wanted to initially focus only on the visual to begin with.

After watching quite a few different interrogation scenes, I noticed some similarities. This type of scene tends to be shot in a wide shot, then medium close-ups in a shot-reverse style. There are many famous examples by extraordinary directors who have their own distinct styles, however quite often the shot-reverse shot was used. One example in particular was ‘True Romance’ by Quentin Tarantino in which Christopher Walken’s character is trying to get information from Steve Gonzales’ character (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yon2GyoiM). While I haven’t seen the entire film, this scene to me could have been filmed in a much more interesting and creative way. The performances are fantastic, however the choice of shots and editing has let them down.

The more interesting camera coverage choices that I found in interrogation scenes used a moving camera to create a sense of emotional instability. They also made framing choices which guided the audience’s eye to shift focus between different people/items/movements within the same frame, making clever use of background, middle ground and foreground space. The lighting used in these scenes tended to be quite hard, creating shadows and definition on the characters’ faces, while also furthering character development. In the more creative examples, the director’s choices meant that characters moved in and out of light, creating a dynamic illumination within the scene. One of the main challenges I am facing is trying to create an almost pitch black room with one direct light source but still allowing the camera to “see” the characters move in the dark space. I have found a couple of examples of this, as well as having only a character’s face illuminated and the rest of his body in darkness, almost as if his head is floating within the space.

I will discuss these points in more detail in future found scenes to hopefully inspire my own scene.

So far in my research journey, I am finding that I am more excited to experiment and film the scenes that I have written, in comparison to the ones that my screenwriting friend has. This could be due to the challenges that I face when filming the scenes he has written, eg; trying to make a location look like a hospital waiting room, specific props, and the young age of one of the characters.

However, it could also be an insight into my research proposal and discovering that perhaps having more creative control over a project makes me feel more creative and free to experiment with my vision, rather than trying to adhere to someone else’s vision. I feel quite obligated to adhere to the texts he has provided me with as I don’t want to disappoint him and make him feel as though I have let his written idea down. However, I also feel quite constrained by this feeling of obligation and just want to change it up to suit my own ideas. This is a bit of a conflict I am having at the moment and I am wondering whether it might be a good idea to try and film something written by somebody who I don’t know to see whether I would feel the same.

I have been considering whether lighting is something I want to focus on in my shoots. I previously thought that I would only really make it a focus if it was central to the scene itself. However, now when I think about the scenes I immediately picture how the lighting looks and what kind of mood it gives. In particular, the scenes that I have written give me a sense of the type of lighting I would like to use and implement to convey the particular moods.

After doing a sketch shoot of the interrogation scene, I realised that lighting is super important in creating a suspenseful, dangerous mood for this scene. I would like to try and implement a hard yellow light to create interesting shadows on the victim’s face while keeping the rest of the room as dark as possible. I even think that the use of lighting could replace the black hood prop; by cutting out the minimal lighting at the end of the scene to complete darkness the sense of imminent danger would be obvious, while also being more ambiguous and less melodramatic than my sketch shoot (using the black hood).

For the script that I wrote which is set outdoors; I would like to use the natural sunlight to my advantage and in particular utilizing the soft light that comes through the tree branches in the location I want to film. This of course, depends on the weather as well as the time of day and will be something I investigate using even my iPhone to test the best time of day to film this particular scene, to get the soft sunlight coming through.

While lighting does pose another element for me to consider and think about, the benefits of utilizing it to my advantage are high and therefore I will try and experiment as much as I can with it to achieve the best result for my vision.

Below is the prose I wrote, and the video of the sketch shoot I filmed and edited over the weekend in my home.

Prose https://vimeo.com/126667403

I wrote the prose as a reinterpretation of a short story I wrote previously. During the writing process, I thought about the likelihood of being able to get certain shots, locations, etc to inform my re-write of the scene. I also took notes on how I visualised the scene looking and the camera coverage I was after.

I decided to film the scene in my garage as it was the biggest, and emptiest space that I could find, that would allow me to make the character seem small and insignificant in the frame. However, the location I chose provided some constraints as well. There was a lot of clutter as well as two fridges, all of which I wouldn’t have been able to cover with theater blacks. This meant I had to carefully select my shots to ensure the clutter wasn’t framed, which restricted the camera set-ups. This meant that I had to ‘cheat’ the background of the shot of the hands tied and had to be strategic about the door opening shot. During filming, I liked the wide shot of the victim, and decided against doing the close-ups of his eyes darting around the room and gulping, as I felt the wide shot demonstrated his vulnerability. In hindsight, I wish I had shot them so that I had the choice in post-production as to what shots I would like to use or not.

Due to the constraints of the location, I also couldn’t get as many shots of the captor and the ones that I did manage to get were not interesting in my opinion. I would like to try and re-shoot this scene in a different location, possibly the breakout space in the edit suites to test out some different camera set-ups. Hopefully this will be closer to my vision than the one posted above.

I also couldn’t get my hands on a silver reflective table to experiment with reflections as I previously wanted to, however hopefully in future shoots I will be able to do so. I didn’t experiment with the lighting in my sketch shoot as I wanted to see whether I could get the desired effect with the natural light of the location chosen, or through post-production. I would like to test out using dim tungsten lighting in my future shoots of this scene and experiment with how it can set the mood.