by Tom Lewis -

Week 8 – Shields, David. Reality Hunger: A Manifesto

This weeks reading is by David Shields who genuinely comes across as a bit of a weirdo. The reading covers a number of different thoughts that David Shields has about the idea of collage. Some that I agree with and some that I don’t, and some that I don’t understand.

Ones that I found most interesting

342 ‘The main question collage artists face: you’ve found some interesting material – how do you go about arranging it?

317 ‘The law of mosaics: how to deal with parts in the absence of wholes’

Some that i just completely didn’t understand

353 ‘I hate quotations’

362 ‘Nothing is going to happen in the book’

by Tom Lewis -

Week 6 – Soar, Matt. Making (with) the Korsakow System

This reading is outlined by one of the makers of the Korsakow system, Matt Soar and his thoughts towards the evolving area of new media. As the media forms expand with the depth and development in software tools new ways to create things are introduced, therefor creating a whole new platform on which ‘things’ can be assembled.

The section regarding the relevance of Korsakow and the number of other interactive documentaries for future art makers was very interesting and makes me think of what I personally believe will be the future of interactive documentaries. I believe that there will be programs (there sort of already is) out there that will be universally popular as interactive form of documentary. On this note, snapchat is one that just came to mind being quite revolutionary in the way that it allows the users to share videos as ‘stories’ that can be viewed as many times as the audience likes within a 12 hour time frame. Unlike Korsakow, a majority of the users aren’t making these stories with the intention of making a documentary however the concept is there! I personally believe that Korsakow is a interesting program however I don’t think that I personally achieve anything from making interactive documentaries on it. I’m sure there are people that like the ambiguity and quite abstract format that allows makers to create, however I have been moulded to be more attached to the traditional forms of film and documentary making.

by Tom Lewis -

Analysis Reflection 5

Q1

During the lecture a number of different lighting techniques and lights were displayed to give us an overview of what we may be able to use for our films.

For our film I initially thought that lighting wouldn’t be a real issue as it is a mood piece which doesn’t really have any focus on extra lighting to create the atmosphere. Whati did not take into consideration is that fact that lighting can be used to illuminate the face, in a natural way. Soft lighting, such as the LED panels, can be taylored to enhance the moody feelings. Hard light can also be used to enhance outside sunrays which will be helpful for our project.

After undertaking a practice shoot i found that the lighting can enhance the frame and add another element to the scene which is great and something i need to be more aware of for future shoots

Q2

Reading ‘Lighting the shot’

Light metering is a principle that is covered in the reading that I have always wanted to understand and the simple explanation helped me understand what it is all about. I have seen some behind the scenes videos of movie sets where the DOP uses the light meter whenever a new shot is about to take place. Although we won’t be using a light meter it was still very helpful to finally understand what it is used for and how it works.

This reading helped me come to the realisation of the importance of lighting continuity, especially if you are using artificial lighting. I think this will be hard however if you use the same 180 degree principle that you use for the camera with your lighting, it could help manage this continuity.

Q3

Cues would have been the most important aspect of Michelangelo Antonio’s directing this particular scene. The characters were constantly on the move which would have made it difficult for continuity but by choreographing and setting up the shots in the scene.

Another thing that Antonio would have had to consider is the placement of the actors in the shots which would have been achieved with tape or items as placement cues on the ground or on the wall. One thing that I am not 100% sure on is if there was more then one camera used. If there were two it would have made it a lot easier to capture the different angles of the actors while keeping continuity.