Film Light W9

The beginning of this week I was quite sick and out of it still, but I have, in my opinion, some good takeaways. I was interested in looking at the various gels and diffusions, and in how the different companies have influenced each other, particularly with Arri utilising the nomenclature that Lee developed. It also is good to know about certain diffusions and which are appropriate to use, and the same with ND gels. As a group, we managed to use some of this knowledge when working on Assignment #3, too.

After this week I have been left inspired to explore Henri Decaë’s work, including Lift to the Scaffold (1958), Plein Soleil (1960), and Le Samouraï (1967) – all shown in class. This is both to look at his achievements as a cinematographer, but also look into (and this is something I have previously discussed) how his style may translate over different films with the three different directors – Louis Malle, René Clément, and Jean-Pierre Melville. By doing this I can also take notice of the cinematography with consideration to the time, and the equipment used and any limitations it may have had.

Performing Exercise 9, I found it was good today for everyone to have a role, it meant that at least some of the class were really in tune with what they are doing. I think it sped up the process a little bit compared to other weeks, we did end up getting four takes. Unfortunately I have no idea how they turned out! I think as well it is sometimes hard to watch the class at moments like this,  when I have no creative input. That being said, I am still feeling effects of my sickness so I was okay in sitting out in that regard.

Reflecting on some of those creative choices made today, especially the red gel on the light. with time, maybe we could have tried a shot first without the gel, with the intention of editing in the red in post-production. We could have then shot with the red gel to have a comparison. I think it is interesting in a situation like this to compare a certain variable and try to achieve the best outcome. It makes me think of a film set – there is  planning for different scenes and shots, but to what extent is there a moment of just deciding something is going to be a certain way, because it is? Of course, there is a vision for the shot, and this is why certain lighting set-ups are utilised. But why is one set-up used over something else, that may achieve different or even better results?* I think what to take out of this thought is that in class exercises there should be a considerable planning stage where these sorts of things are understood. If we know what the script requires, why do we want to plan it this way? Is it just because that is what looks good? Why does Emmaline’s have a red spotlight on her in her dream?

This creative process is something I like exploring both when I am watching something, and when I am filming. Things may just be practical, too, and not offer a meaningful explanation of why something looks a certain way. This goes back to the first lesson we had, where we discussed why we light. To create a certain atmosphere, to draw our eyes to something, to use just what we have because that is all that is there – all these reasons need to be more explicit to all involved, too, when the exercises are performed.

Film Light W8

This week was long, and limited in learning. I have been maybe the most sick I have ever been and consequentially managed to attend only one Film Light class. Still, I have some thoughts on how the Tuesday class went.

We watched some The Passion of Anna excerpts this week. Sven Nykvist was the cinematographer, and he achieved a naturalistic look across the film. This includes filling or bouncing the available light heavily, especially in the car scene. There was also continuity of lighting maintained in the scene, on each of the actors. I think the scene is nice in that it does look natural, but also has the bright colours in there, like the red of the car. In the second clip however, the sun acts as more of a motivational light source – coming in heavily from two different sides of the house. It still does work for the aesthetic of the film though.

In further research, I have read that there were some troubles during filming. Ingmar Bergman says that typically he would solve any technical problems he anticipated in the writing stage, but in this case he thought he’d better take the challenge of working things out during filming. Both Bergman and Sven Nykvist had a vision for the project, “…To make a black-and-white film in color, with certain hues emphasized in a strictly defined color scale.” They found this difficult however, and argued many times over it.

I still believe that they achieved what they set out to do, especially when looking at the fight scene – it had those strong contrasting colours, and control 0f it, especially with the bright blue eyes and bright red scarf. I think it was a really interesting take on reproducing real life with a certain style (in this case the colour) that did not impede on the naturalistic look.

(Quote excerpt from Ingmar Bergman’s second autobiography, page on The Passion of Anna found here: <https://www.ingmarbergman.se/en/production/passion-anna>)

 

Film Light W7

This week, for exercise 7, I had a go at acting. Overall it was not the most enjoyable experience, I did not like that I could not see what the shots actually looked like. This meant I was making movements based on what other people were saying but I did not see the implication of it. I figure now that I have had my go I can be behind the camera next time! I found in this exercise that I was looking at it from a more directorial perspective, which is definitely something I would like to do in another exercise.

I liked how our footage turned out, and I think making the decision to have it black and white was a good choice considering we then did not have to think about colour temperature. It also proved what we had discussed previously that, especially in black and white, we can very quickly accept what we see as the reality. When we looked at the colour version, it looked very fake – there were clearly artificial lights in the space. I do think though it worked I was wearing a dark outfit that day, which I think made my face stand out as a focal point.

One thing I was unhappy with, which was discussed in class, were the unnecessary shadows. When pointed out, it actually drew me out of the reality of the scene. I will be sure to watch out for this next time, and figure out some ways to combat the issue.  Overall I had an enjoyable experience with exercise 7, and this was especially because this time around we actually had many different shots, and did many takes too. It was good that there was some variety and we did not just have to settle for something we did not like. The only downside of this was that I did not manage to take down the shot details, which is disappointing.

On Thursday, I enjoyed enhancing my knowledge and learning how to correctly set white balance. Just playing around with it in class, we focused on the pink chair, making the colour very green. We made the remark that it had the look of Paranormal Activity, which is interesting, considering that was a low-budget production. It is definitely an easy way to set a particular style without relying on any post-production colour grading. Using white-balance to colour in certain ways is definitely an intriguing element that I would like to explore further.

Doing the colour temperature exercise was definitely more challenging than I thought – it is more than just stepping through different lights. I think we managed to achieve it in the shot where I was outdoors and stepped indoors. The shot started blue and as I walked inside the colour was more true to life, and the blue tint was eliminated. It was interesting to explore though, and when achieved is affective, as shown in the French Connection clip.

My final thought for the week goes to cinematographers, and doing more research into who it is that has shot some of my favourite movies. For example one of my favourite films, Marie Antoinette was shot by Lance Acord, who also did Lost in Translation, Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich, and Adaptation. I find it interesting to see how different people work together to create these stylised films. Of course Sofia Coppola’s work is very different to Spike Jonze’s work, so how has Lance Acord aligned to their styles, whilst also bringing forward his own style (as well as his skill and talent) to the films. The next time I watch a movie, I think my prior research of the film will not be of the director, or the actors, but of the cinematographer.