REFLECTION
Assignment 2 was a difficult one for me, mainly due to technical difficulties. I originally thought we were required to use our iPhones (as we did with Assignment 1), so when I went to shoot my first two videos (‘hurt’ & ‘word’), I had already limited myself to some extent. By the time I was shooting the second videos (‘portrait’ & ‘joy’), I had upgraded my equipment and as a result the quality went up. Not due to more effort, better organisation or stronger concepts (I would argue they are actually weaker in that respect), but simply due to the technical aspect of using a quality DSLR camera vs. a smartphone camera. I think all students should be on a level playing field in that respect but I understand this assignment was simply an exercise and it’s possible I missed you mentioning in class we should use better quality equipment. Either way I’m happy with my final output, however with more time I would reshoot my original two videos with the DSLR and I’m sure they would look far sharper.
The first video I completed was for the prompt ‘word’. My intention with this piece was to capture written word on screen, without using any post-production (ie. credit sequence). This was achieved by finding words written around my house, for example on magazines, computer screens, books, CDs, etc. This idea came straight to me, as I feel that showing a character’s belongings and things around them can tell a lot about them before you ever see or hear them. I have found also that social media has sparsely been captured in film/television to a super-effective standard, although some examples came to mind and were definitely inspirations. Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ (1) is a great early example of a series that excellently captured social media on screen (take this scene (2) for example, of Hannah constructing a tweet). Another is Donald Glover’s ‘Atlanta’ (3), another series that accurately captures social media (Instagram, Snapchat) and it’s role in modern society on screen. Cinematically, I used slow tracking and tilt shots to move the camera across books and CDs, and moved the on-screen words using a static shot when filming on my computer screen. I opted for no sound for this piece as to focus on the visuals.
The next video I completed (the final using my iPhone) was for the word prompt ‘hurt’. While initially I was searching for a deeper idea to interpret the prompt, I struggled to come up with something and instead re-interpreted the prompt to the words ‘isolation’ & ‘loneliness’. I thought about interesting ways to capture these feelings on screen, and decided to create a scene involving a character doing actions, however never actually seeing that character, as if they were invisible. I attempted to complete this using what I had with me, which was myself, my house and my iPhone. I shot from angles that could imply there was a person impacting on the scenery, while instead I could actually push and pull to open doors, hit switches etc. It’s an effect that I think I completed to an extent, but also with some more time, better equipment and someone to help me, I think I could’ve executed the concept to a far higher standard. One of the strongest parts of the piece in my opinion was the sound design. I attempted to make the audio mimic as if I was actually doing these actions (opening doors, walking down the hall etc.), and along with the loud blowing whistle of the kettle, that helps it make for an engaging short piece.
After our class on Tuesday, I decided to borrow a DSLR camera for my final two videos. The first I completed was for the prompt ‘portrait’. I decided to make a semi fictional portrait of my friend Andrew at his job as a media publicist. I intended to emulate (to an extent) the style of Jim Jarmusch, as I’d just recently watched his films ‘Broken Flowers’ (4) and ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ (5) , and found his style extremely engaging visually, especially in the latter. A specific sequence of ‘Coffee and Cigarettes’ that I was inspired by was ‘Renee‘ (6). The minimal shots, muted background noise, and deadpan humour were all aspects I attempted to emulate in this piece. This also inspired me to convert my footage to black and white. Although I initially intended to use a tripod so I could have a static camera, we had some difficulties with the equipment and as a result had to use a hand-held style. Jarmusch has very little camera movement in his films, instead creating beautiful shots and allowing the characters to exist within that frame. I emulated this effect by using (to the best of my ability without a tripod) static shots and spending some time to construct a visually engaging frame before we shot. I also had zero dialogue in order to focus on the character (and his thoughts), and the shot itself.
My final video I completed was for the prompt ‘joy’. This was the prompt that I most struggled with to come up with an idea, as I was searching for something deeper than simply ‘things that make me happy’. But once I had the DSLR, I thought that simply capturing things that ‘bring me joy’ in great detail (with a good soundtrack) could be quite cinematic. I located things around my house that made me happy every time I saw them (a vase with flowers, a bird ornament, my sister’s typewriter, a painting in my hallway & my turntable), and attempted to capture them in strangle angles, focusing on certain specifics that may usually get overlooked. Once I loaded my footage into Premiere Pro, I discovered that my shaky hands had made the footage less cinematic and more amateur looking, so I experimented with the ‘warp stabilization’ tool, and I found it worked to great effect, not only smoothing the footage but creating a strange effect that, accompanied with the music (7) created an effective and engaging final piece.
(1) Girls (HBO) 2012, television series, United States of America, Produced by Apatow Productions
(2) Tasha R 2013, Girls – All Adventurous Women Do (Dancing On My Own), YouTube, 18 Jan, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czypjhDctGg>
(3) Atlanta (FX) 2016, television series, United States of America, Produced by D. Glover
(4) Broken Flowers 2005, film, Focus Features, New York, NY, Directed by Jim Jarmusch
(5) Coffee and Cigarettes 2003, film, MGM Distribution Co., Los Angeles, CA, Directed by Jim Jarmusch
(6) el za 2011, Coffee and Cigarettes – Renee, YouTube, 9 Dec, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJC6DqvKhVg&t=7s>
(7) Azura, 2017, Paraiso ‘89, sound recording, World Building, Washington, D.C.
