Lecture 1: 17/02/2021
During the first lecture, we were introduced to the module, developing an understanding of what a shooting plan is and how to make use of various camera shots and angles.
Shooting plan (Floor plan)
Drawing storyboards and floor plans are a great way to help us plan our filming. Storyboards help to display how the sequence will look and help us to visualize it. However, a floor plan is a scale diagram of a room or suite of rooms viewed from above and used especially for planning effective use and arrangement of furnishings (Merriam-Webster). In planning our shots in advance, it will help us with where to position the camera and actors to get the shots we want. In shooting plans, arrow show motion and dynamic actions.
Pan and tilt
When we move your camera horizontally, we are panning, which means we are moving the camera either left to right or right to left, while its base is set at a fixed point. The position of the camera itself is not changed, only the way it faces. Such types of shots are ideal for creating a sense of location in your narrative.
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Tilting is when we move the camera vertically, up to down or down to up, while its foundation is set to a certain point. It usually requires the use of a tripod where the camera is fixed, like panning, but we change the angle it points to. When introducing a character, particularly the important one, these shots are common.
Panning
Tilting
My own examples of panning and tilting
Low and high angle shots
“A high-angle shot occurs when the camera is placed above a subject with the lens pointing down. This makes the subject appear small and vulnerable” (Jennifer van Sijll, Cinematic Storytelling)
“A low-angle shot occurs when the camera is placed below the subject and the lens is pointing up. This causes the subject to appear larger-than-life” (Jennifer van Sijll, Cinematic Storytelling)
a high-angle shot from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2"
a low-angle shot from "Rising Arizona"
Aspect ratio
A picture's aspect ratio is the ratio of its width to its height. As in 16:9, it is usually represented as two numbers divided by a colon. The aspect ratio affects the way an audience perceives a movie or TV show.
Camera shots
Different camera shots (my own photographs)
XLS
MLS
CU
VLS
MS
VCU
LS
MCU
XCU
My favourite photographer and filmmaker
Photographer: Sebastião Salgado
He is not just a great photographer, but he is also the narrator of our contemporary world and its most unsettling aspects. His astonishing photographs display human pain resulting from exploitation, the suffering of migrations, the terror of wars, and ecological destruction. He portrayed the most shocking, sensational, and utterly poetic moments of truth, or according to Cartier-Bresson “the decisive moments”.
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“Photography is deeply subjective. It is my way of seeing – my pictures are made with my political and ideological ideas.” (Sebastiano Salgado, 2017)
Filmmaker: Lars von Trier
His films are not just different and unique; they are impressive, complicated, psychologically challenging and unsettling; the exact type of art that I admire. Von Trier is a filmmaker who experiments and rebels against the conventional at every opportunity with his haunting and provocative films (forget about some of his stupid remarks/jokes about Hitler and Nazis). In other words, he challenges the world thorough cinema.
Statement of intent
I have always been critical of the standard, tedious and habit-based lives of others around me; The lives in which people play a given social role and struggle to meet others' expectations. For me, however, life is the very opportunity in which one can create meaning and value for oneself and others; it is not the illusion of being free despite being in bondage to habits and fears. Therefore, let us expand our imagination boundaries, visualise a different reality, and unleash our creativity. Although dramatic changes cost a lot in the real world and their results are not always controllable, I think we can harmlessly make a different world through cinema and visual effects. That is why I chose VFX.
Lecture 2: 24/02/2021
In this lecture, we were first given an overview of the types of shots, camera angles and movements we should know. Then we developed an understanding of what photo stories are and how we should do a task regarding that.
Different Camera Movements
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Exposure Triangle
Aperture, shutter speed, and ISO make up the Exposure Triangle. To obtain the desired outcome, we must match all three, so adjustments to one requiring adjustments to at least one of the others to preserve the proper exposure.
ISO
ISO regulates the sensitivity of the camera's sensor. The less sensitive the sensor is to light, the lower the ISO. Therefore, the ISO setting determines how sensitive the camera is.
Note: As the ISO increases, the presence of digital noise also increases.
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Shutter speed
The shutter speed determines the amount of time the shutter is open. That is, it limits the amount of time light is allowed to reach your camera's sensor. The longer the shutter speed, the more light that results. The less light that reaches the sensor, the faster the shutter speed.
Note: As shutter speed increases, motion blur decreases.
Aperture
The size of the lens opening is referred to as the aperture. To put it simply, It controls the amount of light entering the lens. The bigger the opening, the more light it lets in; the smaller it is, the less light it lets in.
Note: As the aperture size increases, the depth of field decreases.
Exposure Triangle Cheat-Sheet
Check out this photography exposure triangle cheat sheet: Open Link
Photo Story: Cheesy Potato Chips
Lecture 3: 03/03/2021
This week, we gained an insight into what forced perspective is and how we can generate ideas to utilise forced perspective and create complex compositions. We also got introduced to the techniques and tips about developing ideas for a child's dream sequence, and then we were encouraged to sketch out thumbnails for our idea.
Some excerpts from different scripts
It is crucial for us to get familiar with the specific format and template of scripts. The following is some excerpts from a few scripts I found clear and helpful on the internet.
Child's dream sequence
Note: This is just my first idea, so it is not necessarily the best I can come up with, and I may have to refine and amend it as time goes by.
Emma stands in front of the mirror in her bedroom, looking at her dark, sunken, and hollow eyes. Her lips start to tremble, and she bursts into tears. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she notices her image in the mirror is slowly changing. Her lips appear to be laughing in the mirror. She finds herself totally terrified and disoriented. She turns around to look about the room and see if someone is there. There is no one in her room other than herself. She stares at her smiling reflection in the mirror again, and feelings of fear and melancholy swamp her. Then, her reflection in the mirror moves abruptly and causes her to step back at once. She sees her image jumps out of the mirror with a smiling face, laughing loudly and maniacally. She runs away.​
My recent experiments with photography
Landscape
Taken by iPhone 11 Pro
Taken by iPhone 11 Pro
Portrait
Taken by Sony a7iii. ISO: 125, focal length: 50mm, f / 1.8, 1/125 sec
Forced perspective
​Forced perspective is a vision manipulation technique and an in-camera effect that uses optical illusions to make objects look bigger, smaller, farther, or closer than they are. With the forced perspective, human visual perception is influenced by seeing the relation between scaled objects and the camera or spectator's viewpoint.
How to create a forced perspective
Lecture 4: 10/03/2021
Class tasks
We did a storyboarding task and tried to sketch out some shooting plans and camera shots corresponding to them. Each of us created a basic scenario consisting of two characters, two assets (these could be props or part of the setting), an environment, a clear lighting source, and three camera positions to tell the story. We drew our own ‘shooting plan’ for our scenario and then swapped scenarios with another group member. Then, we drew someone else’s scenario showing the shooting plan and what we would expect to see in the frame from each camera position.
My scenario:
Characters: a man and a woman
Assets: a gun, a table, a vase, two chairs, a handbag
Environment: Inside the dining room in a house
Light source: key light and fill light (artificial)
Camera positions: two over the shoulder shots, one mid-shot
My shooting plan
Camera shots for my scenario
Rodrigo's scenario:
Characters: a boy and a girl
Assets: a long road, a house
Environment: Outside a farmhouse
Light source: sunlight (natural)
Camera positions: an establishing shot (extreme long shot), a point-of-view long shot (in the boy's eyes), an over the shoulder shot (behind the girl)
Rodrigo's shooting plan
Camera shots for Rodrigo's scenario
Video: Tell A Story With Photography
Two photo stories I have found very compelling
Bogeyman (1973), by Duane Michals
Untitled (1976), by Janice Guy
Lecture 5
Class tasks: Making Stories from Other Sources
Task 1
As a task, each of us selected one of the shared pictures on Blackboard to build our own 12 shot storyboard by using a wide range of shots. I chose Bacchus and Ariadne painting by Titian.
Titian's Bacchus & Ariadne
The storyboard I made
Task 2
We selected our own appropriate large format image and did the same task as the first one.
The image I chose: Liberty Leading the People, by Eugène Delacroix
The storyboard I made
Task 3
Finally, we Swapped our images with each other and created a story from the material shared with us by our group.
Rocco's image
The storyboard I made from Rocco's image
Smart goals and objectives
SMART is an acronym giving criteria for setting sensible goals and objectives. SMART stands for the criteria as follows:
Lecture 6: The Kuleshov Effect
Task 1
I used a few images I found on the internet in order to juxtapose them in sequence, conveying different meanings and emotions.
Startled
Feeling sick
Lust
Task 2
The aim of task 2 is to create my own short video by juxtaposing different images and use sound, eliciting various meanings as well as feelings in the audience.
Assignment 1: Photo Story
Video with sound. Please listen with headphones for a better experience.
Artist Research Task: My Favourite Artists and Designers
Frank Frazetta
Frank Frazetta was an American fantasy and science fiction artist best known for his works on comic books, book covers, illustrations, posters and album covers, among other things. He is called the "Godfather" of fantasy fiction, as one of the most well-known illustrators of the 20th century.
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud (Mœbius)
Jean Henri Gaston Giraud was a French artist, cartoonist, and writer best known for his surreal, almost abstract science fiction and fantasy comics. Several science fiction and fantasy films, including Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element, and The Abyss, used Mobius' storyboards and concept drawings.
Week 8: The 12 Principles of Animation
Task: making a short and very basic animation
During the lecture 8, we were asked to make a short animation using an appropriate app on our smartphone. I used IMotion which has the 'onion skinning' feature for a better result. I used cut-out paper elements to make a giraffe and move its legs and body.
Frame Rate
The word frame rate, also known as frames per second (fps), refers to the number of still frames that make up a single second of a moving image.
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Shooting in 1s: there is 1 image per frame at 24 frames per second (24fps)
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Shooting in 2s: there is 1 image for every 2 frames (12fps)
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Shooting in 3s: there is 1 image for every 3 frames (8fps)
The Twelve Principles of Animation
In 1981, two Disney animators, Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, in their book 'The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation' proposed 12 elementary rules and concepts of animation, as bellow:
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Squash and Stretch
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Anticipation
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Staging
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Straight ahead action and pose to pose
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Follow through and overlapping action
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Slow in and slow out
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Arcs
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Secondary action
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Timing
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Exaggeration
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Solid drawing
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Appeal
I have explained and demonstrated each of them (click here to read more), as they are still beneficial to animation.
Lecture 09: 21/04/2021
During this lecture, we were given tutorial slots to discuss our work so far and develop our own work analysis.
Reflective/critical analysis
WWW ( WHAT WENT WELL...)
I learned Photography in-depth and practised it a lot. My extensive research and individual study on Photography and visual storytelling, and most importantly, the lectures and workshops by the university, have led me to have a good understanding of framing, composition, camera settings, editing photos, etc. I have managed to put my knowledge into practice so far.
EBI (EVEN BETTER IF...)
I have found out that I could be more confident and relaxed to experiment and not be afraid of making mistakes. I sometimes find myself struggling to come up with new ideas or choose between them, as my mind seems to be obsessed with making the best choice and producing the best result.
Lecture 10: 28/04/2021
Notan
Notan is a Japanese design style that involves the interaction and juxtaposition of light and dark components in creating art and imagery.
Class Task
We were to choose a selection of still images from films, and focus on tonal contrast and make our own transcriptions of these stills in respect of the Notan design concept.
My Notan Stills
The Pianist (2002)
The Matrix (1999)
Fight Club (1999)
Week 11: Thinking Ahead
Specific
What is it exactly you will be doing; how long will it be; in what format will it be presented; what is it you want to achieve exactly?
My assignment 2 is a stop-motion animation about a lonely woman who cannot sleep at night. She is used to putting a toy on the bed next to her when sleeping. Tossing and turning a lot, she notices the doll is moving and...
The type of stop-motion I intend to make is Pixilation so that I will have a live actress in each frame of my animation, and I will animate the actress instead of using drawings or clay figures. The live subject poses while one or more frames are taken, and then she slightly changes her pose before the next frames.
Measurable
What will your success criteria be; How will you measure its success?
My stop-motion should be as smooth as possible. Also, I will use the 12 principles of animation as a foundation, although some principles do not apply to the type of animation I aim to make.
Achievable
Will you actually be able to do what it is you are planning with the equipment, skills, time and other constraints you may have?
My assignment 2 will be approximately 30-sec stop-motion animation. I will make it on 2s, meaning that I will put 12 frames per sec. Therefore, I need 30*12 (360!) photos.
Realistic
Is the execution realistic?
I know from experience that I may end up not using many of the pictures I take, so I may need to take more than 360 photos to be able to choose between them.
Timebound
How much time do you have to do this in? When is the deadline? When will you be able to factor in working on this project?
The whole project will have been completed within the timeframe of 7-8 days. I need 1 day to prepare the location, shooting set, lights and props. I will shoot the photos in a 1-day timeframe, and then I need 2-3 days to make and edit the animation, and then I need 1-2 more day/s for polishing/tweaking the outcome and making the final adjustments it may require.
Pixilation examples:
Assignment 2: Stop Motion
Video with sound. Please listen with headphones for a better experience.