Tuesday, 6 January 2015

TREATMENT

Working Title:  Motion
Length:   5 – 10 minutes
Crew:  Myles Chimutanda, Chris Kelly and Oscar Bernstein


Short synopsis:

The film is about a dancer battling himself. The dance will be hip-hop with a mix of street and breakdance.



Mid-Length synopsis/outline:

It starts off with him walking and dancing at the same time. He then bumps into himself (a reflection of himself) and it becomes a dance competition on whose better but we never know whose better.


Analysis of approach (500 words):

The dancer will dance backwards and I will reverse it in postproduction to make him or her go forward. I want to focus more on the style and movement of the dance. I have chosen two locations to film in. The first location is alongside a graffiti wall where he will meet his opposite and the other location is a tunnel. I will use slow motion and time-lapse effect to create different paces within the film. I will also use the Go Pro camera to get different angles that are interesting and will experiment with different shots (close ups and wide shots). I’m thinking of having it in black and white but will try different colours and low saturations and see which one works well. The sound will mostly be affected by the dance moves but I want a variety of sounds ranging from fast beats, vocals, metal bashing, soothing sounds and soft melodies. I might make the sound design first and have the dancer dance to it but I find this to be hard. The editing will have a split screen effect but the division line will not be visible.

The main influences for this piece are:

Vanishing Points by Marites Carino : http://www.tentacletribe.com/vanishing-points-dance-film-2013/

Choros by Michael Langan: http://www.shortoftheweek.com/2013/02/05/choros/

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EDITING


The editing for this film was very hard. I had problems trying to make it look interesting and different and changing the pace of the film. As I began changing the colour and inverting the shots, I began to see different methods of editing it.






In the image above, I over-layed to two videos together and made one negative. The idea was to create a dark feeling with different colours of from black to green and red. I used the 24 colour wheel to guide me in the colour correction.


Each colour creates a different mood and I constantly experimented with a range of colours. I tried creating a hypnotic effect using the ink but had complications in doing that. In order to create such an effect I need to use adobe after effects and I'm not good in using that software.

This is different type of effect that Oscar was able to do. It created a chaotic moment within the film and changes the rhythm which is good.


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PLAN B

I have had complications in finding a dancer for my film. I have looked at the SHU dance society, University of Sheffield dance society and non of them are available. I got in touch with some local dance studios within Sheffield and the dancers are busy because of Christmas as they have performances going on. I have sent a request on star now for dancers but got no response.

From this I have talked to the rest of the group and we started thinking of a different idea to do. The idea will be almost similar to the dance idea but in a different concept. The other plan was also to do something similar to Oscar's idea and try and combine it with mine.

The idea I have in mind is to use a biker. He will be cycling and will use the go pro to capture the footage. This is similar to what chris kelly presented as a source of inspiration for his 1 minute piece. I have asked him if its possible to do it but it might be too late because we don't have a lot of time and Oscar does not like doing bikes. Never the less I went and did a trial to see if the idea was possible to do.

This is Chris Lowe and I filmed him riding his bike and mounted a go pro on his chest to get a different angle. The idea was that there were two bikers who look identical and it ends up becoming a race. One has a red hat and the other has a helmet.




After doing this, I have found out that idea is not working.  The concept has no direction and visually its not interesting.

I watched a couple of videos on YouTube about ink and I have found it interesting. Its like liquid dancing in liquid and the results create a tranquil effect.


Before fully committing to this idea I wanted to see how it works to the brief. We were given obstructions to follow and would this concept work. These are things I looked at:
  • The film can be more than 5 minutes long
  • Its got 1 object which is the ink
  • The location is in front of any white background. The ink will be poured in a jar of water.
  • Its non linear
  • Chris is doing the sound design for it
  • Breaking the fourth wall: it does this emotionally by combining colour, movement and sound together.
We have discussed the roles and Oscar is doing the filming, Chris is doing the sound design and I'm editing.

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1 MINUTE FILM

I'm having doubts about my dancer in terms of when his available to perform. I'm considering to take the role as the dancer but I don't like looking at myself when i dance. So i would pre fare if i wasn't visible in the film.

The best way to hide myself and still be present is by using shadows & silhouettes . Shadows are a good way to hide myself but not the dance.  





From the shadows I began to think about colour and how it would change the mood of the film. Thinking about colour reminded me of disco lights I saw at a Halloween party. I like the colours of disco lights as they have a variation of colours but I don't want it to look like a club night. 

I thought of lights that glowed in the dark and glow sticks came into mind. I bought small glow sticks and taped them to body and danced in the dark. I started with a few glow sticks and the more I placed on my body the more interesting it became. 




For this piece, I was playing the music on my phone. It made me consider to either make my own soundtrack and have it play in the background to which I would dance to. I could use this idea of creating sound for my main piece by creating a sound track first and have the dancer dance to it but it might be tricking depending on what kind of dancer I have.

I have learnt a few things from this one minute exercise. It helped me think of different ways to present my subject like in an abstract way. This piece has influenced me in my main project to
work around my dancer. Filming at night under a street lamp, this gives a shadow/silhouette effect and depending on the dancers availability I could use this style of the glow sticks.


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Thursday, 6 November 2014

DANCE

At this moment, the idea is about dancing. I want to focus more on the style and movement of the dance. 

This is a list of dances that I'm thinking about:

  • Street & Break dance
  • Salsa
  • Tap dance
  • Pole 
  • Krumping
  • Tango
  • Irish dance
  • Ballet
  • Stepping / Stomping
  • Belly
The concept of the film will depend on the dance that choose. The dance I want is street and break dance but that all depends on if I am able to find the dancer I want. 


Filming Techniques
  • The long take: i will experiment on the long take 
  • A variety of angles: this will range from low angle shots to high angle shots or oblique shots
  • Go pro footage: I like the first person view which you get from this camera and I want to incorporate that style in the film. 
  • 50 / 60 frames for slow motion: There are dance moves that look good in slow motion and having this style will visually make it look good if used in the correct way. 
  • Time Lapse
  • Multiple locations

Editing techniques
  • Splitscreen: I love the split screen and in this film I will use it to make a double of the character. I'm thinking of Duplicating him and have a dance battle against himself. 
  • The sound design will depend on the style of the dance
  • The colour and tone of the film will depend on the concept and locations I choose

Locations

These are some of the locations I had in mind. I'm looking at areas with a hip hop or dark theme behind them like graffiti and dark places. 


Graffiti walls on the corner. Here I would have the dancer come in from the right and then the left and meet at the corner to start the dance off.



Tunnels like this would look great and make it dark and creepy. This place could be used for a dramatic moment.


Walls with lights. The idea with the walls is to have a time lapse whereby the location behind the dancer is changing and not that dance.


Under a street lamp and have the background look dark.


Dark paths which are less lit.





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Wednesday, 29 October 2014

RESEARCH

Below are some of the experimental films I have researched for different ideas such as character, mood, techniques, styles and story. 

Grace Schwindt - The Chair



The film depicts a story from her grandmother about the occupation of Berlin in 1945. The story is personal and simple and it begins with a chair. The film uses images of different chairs and I see them as a metaphor of the different people that were present during the occupation as she tells her story. Every object or scar has a story behind it and this film has influenced me to look at objects that might have interesting stories behind them and how I could portray it using images.



Robert Mckillop - Cold Comfort




Is a short 10 minute by Robert Mckillop. This is more of a drama piece than an experimental but I like it of how its a character driven story, instead of a plot driven story. The lighting, mood, tone, environment and camera angles all work to make us love this character (teenage girl). This film has made me consider on the type of techniques I could experiment with to develop my character, if I choose to use a character in my film.

Michael Langan - Choros




I found this short film very interesting in terms of the technical aspects of how Langan managed to create a ghost like movement using one character and how he creates duplicates of the same character in the field towards the end of the film. I like the way he does it and how it flows. This film has made me think of ways I could present my character within the film. This maybe the positioning of the character and how the move within the frame or creating a double of the same character. 



Prov Myza - The Slippery Mountain


Is a Russian film made by Prov Myza (2006). The film simply shows people climbing up a mountain and as they are climbing, they are getting shot one by one and fall down. They get up and start climbing again but they are still getting shot. This repeats over and over until the film ends. This is a simple concept of using sound plus image with a powerful meaning behind it. The people are used as a metaphor of what's going in Russian. They are like in a pit trying to escape but cant because they are being oppressed to shot down. As a young film maker, this film inspires me to think of simple concepts that can have a big impact in terms of idea. There's nothing wrong with a big and complicated concept but sometimes simple ones work the best.
















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Friday, 17 October 2014

THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS

Is a Danish documentary film (2003) made by Lars Von Trier and Jørgen Leth. In this film, Lars Von Trier gives Leth the task of remaking The Perfect Human (1967) five times, each time with different obstructions.

The original film:

1st Obstruction 
  • To be filmed in Cuba and no set is allowed
  • No shot must be longer than 12 frames
  • Answer the question posed in the original film


Leth finds this obstruction to be a curse. From my point of view I see it as an advantage of being creative (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger). The film he made was interesting. It felt like stop motion animation.  

2nd Obstruction 
  • To film in a miserable place and not show it in the background 
  • Leth to take on the role as the perfect human 
  • The meal scene without the woman


Even though Leth was told not to include the background of the location, he showed it through a transparent screen. I see this as a true reflection of himself and not the idea. The effect added something more to the film, both physically and emotionally. The scene where Leth is eating the meal with all the people standing behind him creates questions. The film narrator goes on to say "here's the perfect human eating". But as a viewer I did not see the perfectness as you could see people in the background and the perfect human eating by himself. It created a meaning of greediness and reminded me how lucky I am. This has influenced me to think about my background when filming as might create a different meaning to what I want to present.

3rd Obstruction 
  • Complete freedom in the making of the film or go back to Bombay and re shoot. 


He refused to go back to Bombay and filmed it in Brussels. This version is modern and I like the techniques he use (split screen). The scene I liked the most was when the woman talks into the camera. She's breaking the fourth wall and it felt as if I was the perfect human, who had the desires mentioned within the film. I like this technique and its a good way to get the audiences attention. 

4th Obstruction 
  • To make the film into a cartoon


I like the colours within the cartoon and he didn't make into a cheesy / comedian cartoon. It had the themes of the first 3 obstructions he had made before this and included some shots from the original film as well. 

5th Obstruction 
  • Lars will make the film
  • Leth will be credited & will do the voice over for the script


The last version of the film is more personal. This is between Lars and Leth and their great friendship between the two film-makers. 

External links



Reference



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