by Tom Lewis -

Epiphany / Reflection 3

Epiphany

This week i had an epiphany about superpowers, or supernatural themes in films, in particularly the editing and special effects that go into it. I have in the past tried some with photos using fishing wire to make it look as if it is floating. There are some examples in a couple of music videos where it is really well done Raffertie, I AM WHAT I AM. If i were to do a scene i would really like to incorporate something like this.

Reflection

The first editing task was complete on Wednesday of this week and some of the final cuts turned out really well. I especially enjoyed the group that had the coin stuck in the eye as well as the constantly changing characters. It was technically perfect for exposure and focus and the angles / panning was awesome. Overall this assignment was useful as we were able to bounce of other people in the group while all working towards the same goal.

The second activity was a bit harder as we had problems with the camera and i know i personally forgot how hard it is to remember lines and ques within a 6 minute period. I didn’t find the filming process as productive because half of the time it just felt like we were either trying to fix a problem with the camera or remember lines. If it was a task to test our selves in a short time period then it was good but with the course focus being on taking time with a scene and shot i feel like it didn’t really relate or help me. I am really excited with the prospect of setting up a scene from scratch using your own personal methodology. I think once i figure out how I want to go about it, some of the hands on task will come a bit easier. All in all it felt like we were just revising how to use the equipment again which ive already done, it’s fair enough that people including myself could learn the equipment better, but (you won’t like this Paul) I’m quite comfortable using a SLR. I know it isn’t a professional standard although for the purpose of constructing a scene for me personally, a SLR quality is ok. Working on a scene or sequence in a group situation is helpful however! it does help me understand how to work in that environment etc.

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by Tom Lewis -

Found Scene #1

Scene

Lars and the Real Girl is a movie directed by Craig Gilesppe following the story of Lars and his mannequin girlfriend Bianca. The scene is of the two at their first outing at a friends house party.

The scene opens with a reverse over the shoulder shot of a conversation between 2 friends with Lars standing on the outside. The shot has Lars as the main focus even though he is not participating in the conversation. The scene then cuts to a medium close-up of Lars and then to one of Bianca sitting in the next room framed really nicely by the doorway. These shots alternate a couple of times with the continuous tendency of the camera moving closer to the faces of Lars and Bianca. I love how this moves the conversation between the other two characters as quite a secondary motif to the love between Lars and Bianca. The final cut from Bianca to Lars is really special as it sticks on Lars for quite a bit longer with a slow smooth ‘zoom/movement’ towards his face. This personally makes me feel like the shot is trying to catch a moment in time as if everything is frozen but still very much alive. The scene ends with a dance between Lars and Bianca in the living room to the song ‘this must be the place’ by talking heads. It is one of the most beautiful sequences I have ever seen, more the music and accompanied by the acting but the long shot, something I haven’t really delved into too deeply, is absolutely amazing.

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by Tom Lewis -

Epiphany 2

In history of film theory today we were discussing impressionism and compared two films from different eras that employ very similar techniques, those films being Taxi Driver ‘Martin Scorcese’ and The House of Usher ‘Jean Epstein’. One of the girls mentioned how Scorcese used a strong sense of colour to bring up this impressionistic aspect of the film. I thought it would be really cool to cut between two scenes or shots with the use a a blank colour accompanied by music that may reflect the colour some way. It was really vivid in my head so I would really like to try it.

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by Tom Lewis -

Ehpifahknee 1

This week i had a cold so epiphanies were hard to come by. I tried to epiphanising but that doesn’t even exist.

On a serious note, I was thinking of what Paul and Robin were saying about how directors are very different about how they approach a scene, pre-planning, the process they go through on set, and how that turns out for the editors in post production.

I then thought about my favourite director in terms of how they set up a scene and David Fincher was the first that came to mind. I watched this video about him a while ago, and this youtube guy unpacks Fincher’s ‘directing’ style, and demonstrates them through a couple of different scenes over a few of his movies. I feel like a lot of what Fincher does takes a lot of planning and it makes sense. Especially, when he discusses his limited use of hand held camera shots in his movies, preferring a more fluid, detached approach. I like this idea of having the camera as a vision for the audience where they feel they could view the scene from any angle, as if they could float through the scene and view it for what it is. As opposed to feeling the presence of the camera man with hand-held footage etc. (which i definitely don’t have any vendetta against) i believe this would be more challenging.

Sayonara

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