Final Course Reflection

I was wet behind the ears coming into this class. I had a basic knowledge of what makes a good shot and how to shoot it, but this class gave me so much insight to the creative and also technical side of film making. I learned how to light a scene for certain types of genres. I learned how to use multiple cameras for multiple purposes and how to use motivated movement of the camera to evoke a feeling in the audience. I learned a little more about post-production but have a long way to improve on that. I learned how important pre-production is and how lost you can be without it. Most of the lessons I have learned have come from mistakes I've made, but that's how all real lessons are learned. I learned professional terminology that will help communicate with others in the future. This class has taught me an abundance of knowledge from behind the camera work to being able to do multiple crew positions. I learned a little bit of what my style is all about and I am so glad I took this course because the amount of knowledge I acquired was equal to the amount of fun I had and that is rare for me.

A good demo reel

I think a good demo reel creates a feel for whatever mood you want to set for whatever work you are trying to get. A slow, emotional reel would be best for getting work on a dramatic tv series. Where as a fast-moving, energy filled reel would get you a job on the set of an action movie. A good reel has to include all of your best shots that are relevant to what kind of reel you are making.

What have I been learning?

The biggest part of what I've learned this year is about lighting and different cameras. I had no previous knowledge about good lighting, but now understand important concepts about lighting and how to use it to your advantage to creat the look and feel you want in your work. Working with some of the nicer, more expensive cameras was a nice change from the PD 150's and JVC's. Learning the differences and pros and cons of the cameras will help me decide in the future which camera will be best for which situation.

DSLR cameras

One of the good things about shooting on a DSLR camera is the amount of interchangeable lenses you can put on it. From wide angle to telephoto lenses, the possiblities are endless. Fast shutter speed and great image quality allow you to shoot fast action shots and sharp images. Some disadvantages include cost and weight. They are very expensive and are much heavier than your standard point and shoot cameras. These cameras can also be complex and the learning curve for new users can be high. Noise from the shutter can also be a con.

Money Shot

I think a money shot is any shot that an impartial bystander would look at and say "hey that looks really cool". Time lapses, shallow depths of field, and shots with good composition and framing would all fall under this category. Having a distant object in focus and slowly racking focus to reveal a closer obejct would also be a good example.

Directing a Scene

First, I had to decide what I wanted to do my scene on. I wanted it to be something I was interested in and could invest the time I needed into it. I chose a scene from The Big Lebowski and began to work on what kind of look I wanted to achieve. I wanted a fairly dimlit scene with hard shadows on Mr. Lebowski and soft light on The Dude. I rewrote the scene, changing a couple lines, and started to map out what kind of shots I wanted and where I wanted to place cameras and lights. This plays an extremely important role and without this kind of pre-production you will be lost when you get on set. I chose an easily accessible location and talked to my DP about how we would light the two actors opposite a desk and what kind of camera angles we would use to portray the feel we wanted. Directing the actual scene was no stressful. My DP and I knew what we wanted. The hard part was moving lights until we were satisfied and trying to get enough takes to where the dialogue would flow coherently.

favorite short film

My favorite online short film is "How They Get There" by Spike Jonze. It opens with a close up of a shoe and it starts tapping as he opens a milk carton until he sees a girl walking by and tries to act cool. He starts to walk alongside her and starts to imitate his moves. This goes back and forth until he gets hit by a car and his shoe goes flying. A track shot follows the shoe down the curb to another shoe to reveal how all of the lone shoes end up on the street. The feel of this short is very light and funny and the beginning and quickly turns dark. The reveal at the end makes the whole short make sense. I enjoy guessing until the end. There seems to be a very high production value for a short. Jonze uses movement of the camera to reveal the car and the shock on the girls face when she sees he is about to be hit. The music also helps the light hearted feel throughout.

Camera Movement

I really enjoy the dolly shot used in the beginning scene of Reservoir Dogs. The camera slowly circles the men as they drink coffee at a diner. The camera movement is smooth and moves behind the men and at times their backs take up the whole frame. This gives the scene a more intimate feel like you are actually there.

Another good use of movement is at the beginning of Goodfellas right after Ray Liotta shoots the man in the car and goes the shut the trunk. This is shocking since it is the opening scene and as soon as the voice over says "As far back as I could remember, I always wanted to be a gangster", He slams the trunk and we have a quick zoom into his face where it freezes and lets the audience marinate on that line for 5 seconds or so before the title of the movies comes up.

Slow track shots are used throughout this movie to establish the different locations that the gangsters meet and do their "business".

In Jackie Brown, as Robert Forrester's character is waiting for Pam Grier's character to be let out of jail, there is a long shot of her walking towards him. Cut together with this is a medium shot of him slowing zooming into a close up as soft music plays. This movement makes us look into his mind and see what he is thinking about this beautiful woman coming towards him.

Shot by Shot Scene Analysis

02/10/10

            For my shot by shot scene analysis, I decided to examine the opening scene of the Coen brother’s cult favorite The Big Lebowski. The movie opens with various Extremely Long Shots of landscapes and scenery around the Los Angeles area while Sam Elliot’s character is introducing the main character. The opening scene I will be discussing starts directly after the Extremely Long landscape shots with a Long Shot of the main character walking down the dairy aisle in the grocery store. He starts as far away from the camera as possible and slowly walks forward while Sam Elliot gives a little background information on Jeff Bridges’ character, “the dude”. This shot shows visual evidence of what Sam Elliot is explaining about “the dude”. It shows his loneliness and apathy to the world and his basic laid-back, still-living-in-the-60s vibe. The lower angle the shot is taken from uses excellent diagonals with the top and bottom of the aisle descending to a vanishing point where we see the dude walking towards us. This shot enhances the idea of “the dude” being central in the story because it shows his importance from a low angle. He stops and opens a milk carton and proceeds to drink it while the camera slowly moves closer and pans to his upper body.

            The next shot cuts to a Medium Close Up of the cashier at the grocery store. She appears on the right third of the frame and has plenty of look room on the left side. Then, another Medium Close Up of “the dude” with milk in his mustache. The next shot shows an Extreme Close Up of “the dude” writing a check for .69 cents. Both of his hands are seen below the check book and a credit card on the upper left third brings the shot better composition. Cut back to a Medium Close Up of “the dude” looking over the shoulder of the cashier, apparently interested in something in the back ground. The next shot is a Frame within a Frame of George Bush Sr. on a television set talking about how he won’t stand for the aggression in Kuwait. This shot seems to give a sense of time and when the story takes place. Every shot with “the dude” in the grocery store seems to further his sense of general disregard for what is considered the norm.

            The next shot shows “the dude” from behind with a Long Shot of him walking through his apartment complex. Then it cuts to a Long Shot of him from the front approaching his apartment. This shot starts out at a low angle and then pans up to his upper body as he unlocks his door. Throughout this entire shot, the camera keeps good head and look room while the camera pans left and up. Another Frame within a Frame shot from the interior of the house shows “the dude” entering his apartment and shutting the door. The interior of the house is completely dark until he turns on the light to reveal a front Medium Two Shot, where a man is leaning up against the wall directly next to the door. “the dude” is in the foreground and as he slowly turns to the man in the background a man jumps on him from the right side of the frame. This shot was an excellent reveal, because there is no conflict up until the point in the movie where “the dude” turns on the lights to reveal a menacing man who had been waiting for him. This also tells you something bad is about to happen when we can see the man at the door but “the dude” can’t.

            The man who tackled “the dude” shoves/drags him down the hallway towards his bath room with two different door frames providing an excellent Frame within a Frame shot showing the action until they reach the bathroom. A low angle Two Shot, basically from the floor of the bathroom, shows the attacker holding “the dude” from the back of head over a toilet that is in the left third of the frame. The low angle of this shot provides the attacker with a sense of authority and power. An Over the Shoulder Two Shot shows the attacker dunking “the dude” into the toilet repeatedly asking him where his money is. A Frame within a Frame shows the first man that was revealed walking into the bathroom through the two door frames. This shot is also seen from the bottom of the floor low angle and is a reverse angle opposite of the first Frame within a Frame. Keeping this low angle every time the attackers are shown throughout the scene shows the two attackers being more dominating and powerful. Another Medium Close up from the same low angle shows the attacker pulling “the dude” out of the toilet followed by the same Over the Shoulder Two Shot where the attacker is dunking “the dude” back into the toilet. Another low angle Medium Close Up shows “the dude” being repeatedly dunked in and out of the toilet. Another Frame within a Frame from the same low angle shows the first man revealed walking back into the living room through the two door frames. Another low angle Medium Close Up shows “the dude” being brought out of the toilet water where he makes a smart ass remark. Again followed by an Over the Shoulder Two Shot where “the dude” is pushed back down into the water. The repetition of these two shots followed in close secession to each other shows the will power of the attackers to get the money they want. However, in the next low angle Medium Close Up, with the toilet still in frame, the attacker throws “the dude” onto the floor.

This time the camera is switched to the opposite side of the room showing “the dude” sitting on the floor next to the toilet recovering from his ordeal. His position is mainly on the left third of the screen and provides good head and look room. The next shot is from the position of “the dude” on the floor looking at the first attacker peeing on his living room rug through a Long Shot Frame within a Frame. The man peeing is seen through the two door frames and has good head room. A Medium Shot of “the dude” is seen from a high angle making him seem helpless and at their mercy. In this shot, “the dude” is centered in the middle of the screen and doesn’t provide very good composition. Another Frame within a Frame shows the attacker still peeing on the rug from the position of “the dude”. Another Medium Shot of “the dude” is followed by a low angle Medium Close Up of the attacker who dunked “the dude”.  Another Frame within a Frame shows the man peeing looking back at “the dude” and laughing. After that, a Medium Close Up of “the dude” sitting next to the toilet offers too little headroom. A low angle Close Up of the dunker cuts off part of his head, but as we discussed in class, it is all right to cut off the top of the head in a Close Up. Another Medium Shot of “the dude” has good look room as he reaches into the toilet to pull out his sunglasses. A low angle Medium Close Up of the dunker shows him reaching to pick something up off of the ground.

The next shot is a little more difficult to explain. The shot is an Over the Shoulder shot from behind the dunker looking at “the dude”. But the camera angle is waist high, so it is more of an Around the Waist Shot. This shot shows “the dude” casually sitting on the toilet talking to his assailants. These shots of him convey a general lack of interest because he has no idea what money they are talking about. The object the dunker picked up was a bowling ball in a bag and the next shot is a Close Up of the ball dropping and breaking some tiles on the floor. The ball dropping and breaking symbolizes when the attackers realize they have the wrong guy. A low angle Medium Close Up shows the dunker again followed by the Frame within a Frame of the pisser turning around to face them from down the hall. A Close Up of “the dude” shows his face dripping wet and his glasses and hair askew. This shot is used to convey the confusion of the events that have just taken place. Another low angle Medium Close Up of the dunker shows him yelling something to the pisser and cuts to the Frame within a Frame of the pisser making a smart remark to “the dude”. In a Close Up of “the dude”, he pulls his shades down to reply. The Close Up is used to show the emotions on the face of “the dude” to show his bewilderment and apathy. Another Frame within a Frame shows the two attackers exiting the house followed by a Long Shot of “the dude” sitting on the toilet. The Long Shot is almost comical because after all of the events that took place, he’s just sitting on his toilet dripping wet and the sound of a door closing signals the opening credits.

 

Artist Statement

For each small project we filmed for this year, I tried to show a purpose for the story. In my portrait of a place, I wanted to juxtapose the beautiful, natural side of Lakeside Lake with the dirty, polluted side. For my scene assignment, I strived to emphasize the fact that Mr. Lebowski was the antagonist by casting hard shadows on him in all of his shots. I try to have motivated movement of the camera and to move the story through visuals and not rely on dialogue. I have a long way to go, but can already see my self improving as a film student. I am becoming better at translating what I see in my mind onto the screen. I dont really feel I have enough of a body of work to have a certain style, but hope to see one develop in the future.

This photograph of the Statue of St. Peter shows an accurately focused subject in beautiful lighting. The exposure is also very good despite the difficult lighting. The low angle and bright light coming from the to left corner make this statue appear to be a god of sorts.

I think this picture by Rarindra Prakarsa is a wonderful example of lighting. The hazy background light in the top right sets the mood for the picture. It reflects off the water and silhouettes a boat that is on the lower horizontal third line at the point where it meets the far right vertical third line. The plants on the left side are illuminated almost fluorescentally and acts as a balance to the otherwise darker woods on the left half of the picture.

What did I learn from my portrait assignment?

In creating my portrait assignment, I learned that it takes a lot more time to edit a short film than I thought, especially when there were a couple things I had no idea how to do. But my classmates were helpful with a couple things I was confused about. I learned a lot about working with a DP and felt like we had good communication and executed our shots well. The feedback from classmates was enormously helpful because I am always eager to hear or learn something new that I might not know about or might not know how to do well. Some of the short films produced by my peers blew me away. They were so talented and it inspires me to work even harder on my next project and to try to achieve something that visually appealing.

Different Cameras

In working with the different cameras, I reinforced my previous idea that I like shooting with the JVC much better. Last year in Swartz's class, I shot with the HDV and was annoyed at the entire process of shooting on tape and then having to transfer it onto the computers. The media card is so much simpler and faster, so you can get to working on your editing. The zoom and focus however is much worse on the JVC in my opinion. I'd rather have two separate rings to focus and zoom like the HDV as opposed to flipping a switch for one ring on the JVC. The JVC also doesn't fare very well in low light conditions.

Goals for filmmaking

My goals for film making are basically just to work my way up from gripping and gaffing and one day to have my ideas and thoughts portrayed on the screen, no matter how big or small the production. My learning goals for the course are to get better acquainted with cameras that I am not used to using. I also need more experience with post production and editing my actual footage. I hope to take from this class a better understanding of those aspects of the production process.

I also really enjoy the way Quentin Tarantino directs his movies and builds suspense within his characters. He keeps you guessing who the rat is in this film for example.

 

I am inspired by the way Martin Scorcese lights this particular film and the way he portrays this character. Robert De Niro plays a manic depressive cabbie who turns vigilante in a brothel towards the end. Scorcese makes you interested in De Niro's character and the reasons he does what he does.

10 favorite things

1. Hot Wings

2. Scorcese Movies

3. Soccer

4. Golden Retrievers

5.  Flip-Flops

6. FIFA 2010

7. Liverpool FC

8. The Dark Tower Series

9. The Sopranos

10. Reservoir Dogs