Camera Shots

I have looked at a number of Art House films and I have noticed that numerous different shots are effective when promoting different ideas and emotions. As I have created a short film I have only had at most ten minutes to make the narrative, genre and characterization clear. This has meant that I have had to think carefully about every camera angle used.  

After looking through my notes and story board I decided that 3 sections of my film were vital. I have tried shooting each of these 3 sections in a number of different ways to see which shot types were most effective.

CLOSE UPS 

Throughout my piece I’ve used numerous of close ups, such as a close up of my female protagonists lips while exchanging dialogue, which are key conventions of art house films. Using lots of close ups would make my film seem authentic and more like an Art house film. I believed that this would help make the piece feel more personal for the audience as close ups create a sense of intimacy between the actors and the viewers. I also feel close ups make the piece emotional for the audience and help when it comes to empathy towards the characters as we are able to see the expressions of the actors more clearly.

I had considered using wide shots for a lot of the film particularly the arguments as I felt this would create a hazy feel that would symbols the characters confused recollection; and their vulnerability to it, due to their positioning in the frame. After shooting both ways I felt that close ups looked much better. Without numerous close ups the film looked more like an attempt at a documentary rather than an art house film.  

CUTS BETWEEN LONG AND SHORT SHOTS

I used a mix between long shots and short shots which really helps with the surreal sense of the film because it makes the film seem trance or dream like which is a perfect symbolism for the protagonists mental illness. I also felt that this mix of shots showed the different emotions the protagonist feels. The short shots are intended to show panic and discomfort at the memories of the relationship going wrong and the long shots show a element of longing and obsession as she is obsessed with the mistakes made and the way they ruined a happy relationship. If I used entirely short shots it gave the film a panic sense to it and made it seem more like a horror film due to the conventions we would see with shot times. Entirely long followed conventions of love and drama films, however, it diluted the films dramatic power which could lose the attention of the audience affecting their emotive response to the film. 

To make sure that their was a perfect balance between long and short shots in my film when using a slow motion camera shot, say of a candle flame flickering, I paired this with a cut to a fast motion shot, such as a photo being burnt.

360 DEGREE CAMERA SHOTS

360 degree shots perfectly capture prolonging emotions and ideas which made this a key shot when filming my argument. This shot was also effective in my piece due to the fact that the cycler motion gives a hazy/dizzy feel to the shot symbolizing my female protagonists depression with the slowness symbolizing her distress and agony. The shot delivered to the audience that this fight was a constant conflict which helped the audience better understand the narrative of the piece and deliver background information that would be needed. Also, the 360 degree shot gives the audience an idea of the cyclical nature of the relationship due to the repeated cyclical motion of the camera itself. 

Existing Films That Have Shaped My Ideas

At the start of this year my knowledge of Art House films was reasonable small.  I knew that I wanted to create a short art house film as I was keen to push myself to create something that would appeal to an intelligent and mature target audience.

To develop my knowledge of art house films I looked at the Guardian List of the top 25 Art House Films.  I then watched a number of the films that were discussed. Some of these films have been really useful when working on this project as I have wanted to recreated certain emotions that were so effective portrayed.

CITIZEN KANE

I was very impressed by the way regret is presented in Citizen Kane. I wanted my protagonist to show a similar quite, sense of regret. I wanted her sadness to be clear but I did not want her heartbreak to look over the top. I feel this film did a great job at showing strong emotions without ever becoming cliché or melodramatic. 

I also like the fact the film was based around a mystery. I have tried to create a similar sense of mystery in my last shots as it is unclear if the boyfriend dies or not. With the references to suicide also being ambigious to make the theme comical.

L’ANTALANTE

I really dislike most depictions of love that are common in blockbuster films and I loved how in this film it showed love as being problematic.  I feel this film showed that love and hate and anger are all a part of most relationships which inspired me to film the 360 degree shot of the characters arguing. I felt this clearly showed that the relationship between the characters was filled with problems and a lot of negative feelings. I wanted the audience to film the fights were on going like the circular motion of the camera.

MULHOLLAND DRIVE

This film was a lot more surreal than I ever intended my film to be, but it encouraged me to think about representation and presenting narrative in a non traditional way. This degree of surrealism inspired me to be confident in my creativity, which may be limited in blockbuster films. This is what encouraged me to use the candle as a motif and include flashbacks in my film. I feel this has been a successful but non patronising way of getting the audience to understand how the love between the two characters was both powerful and fragile.

Focus Group

For my focus group I gathered a group of 20, 15-19 year olds and screened them my film. I decided to ask this amount of people as I felt that 20 was a large enough group that I would be given a range of opinions, but it was also small enough that I could really listen and react to the different feedback that I was given. The 15- 19 year olds were made up of 8 males and entirely females. It was very important to me to have a only females included as the target audience for my film is women.

The main reasons I held this focus group was because I wanted to find out about:

1.       The emotional response to the film,

2.       Any criticism on the acting/performance,

3.       Feedback on the the continuity of the films narrative,

4.       Any response to the backing tracks effect on the film

5.       The audience’s overall enjoyment of the film.

I carried out the research myself because I believed it would be a beneficial learning experience and it would mean that I can hear the critique from the group first hand. The first showing resulted in a casting change and minor changes to the narrative, script and casting because they stated that the film seemed cliché making the emotive response in the audience towards the film and the characters harder. The second showing had only minor improvements on their responses so to improve this I completely rewrote the script and narrative and changed the casting of the female characters.

One of the biggest changes in narrative was to make the boyfriends speech seem like a memory rather than an imagined conversation. The original plan was for the boyfriend to be speaking to the protagonist as an imagined conversation. I wanted this to show that the protagonist was feeling guilty about the way she had spoken to him. Instead of looking like a reflection of her conscience it instead looked “cheesy” and someone in the focus group said it almost appeared comical. I instead changed this and included a fight scene instead. I felt this argument showed the characters regrets in a much more clear way it also made the film feel more believable.

Throughout the editing process I used to the focus groups to help with minor decisions such as camera shots and positioning which proved to be much more helpful and insightful due to their impartial opinion. When the film was finished in editing I showed the focus group a full final viewing of the film, the answers to all the questions came back positive however some members stated that the continuous song, although being a good emotive fit to the genre, made the film seem more like a music video due to the lack of other non-diegtic sound. However, when correcting this problem the overall vote was that the original was better for continuity purposes.



Characters revisited

In my previous work I researched the most popular names of the 90's, from when my target audience was born, and found two names to use to help with emotive purposes. However, when trying to find my piece more emotive I revisited names and decided to leave both my characters unnamed, this will help the audience empathise with the main protagonist because they could believe it could be them or anyone that they know.

Shooting Plan

LOCATIONS

For my film, to help create empathy, I plan to use a teenager’s room. This will create empathy because, according to structuralism theory, if my target audience see’s things that are similar to things that they may have in their room then they are more likely to empathise with the characters on screen and their situation. Also I will need a car for one of my locations so I decided to use a Nissan Micra because these are the sort of cars that young drivers would be able to afford to help create empathy.

ACTORS

The girl I originally decided to use had the right image because she looked believable in the role with her looking like a natural teenager and not someone the target audience would feel alienated by. However she failed to follow instructions which failed to give a naturalistic performance. The casting of the male character was due to practical reasons, however because he was an A Level drama student he still gave a naturalistic performance and behaved in a professional manner. Considering the male actor I used played the role well I looked for a girl who was taking A Level drama also, however, the girl I used overplayed the role which would reduce the authenticity of the piece and the empathy from the target audience. Finally I found a girl who played the role well and followed direction, this meant the target audience can feel empathy with the character.

EQUIPMENT

I will be using cannon DSLR 550D to film on due to convenience. Also I need a shot of a candle being blown out in slow motion; therefore, to do this I will be using a slow motion camera also.  To edit my film I will be using IMovie due to the fact that this is the software I am familiar with using so i can focus on the product itself more than the learning the software. I will not need any lighting equipment because I aim to use naturalistic cinematography to help the audience empathise with the piece because it is more like real life.

PROPS

The props I will need include:

·         Candles

·         Roses

·         Tea lights

·         Lighter

·         Matches

·         Bottle of wine (made from water and red food colouring)

·         Tablets (vitamin C tablets put into an empty prescription bottle)

COSTUME

For each character both male and female protagonist I was aiming for a look that would help with the target audience empathising with the characters. To do this I needed to find a naturalistic look. For the female I decided to go for a look that seemed to make her look like a normal university student so I went for a look similar like the one below.

In another scene, to make her seem like she was grieving over a lost boyfriend, I had her wearing a men’s t-shirt. For the male I also wanted a costume that would make him seem like a normal teenage boy so that the audience can empathise with him, for this I looked into casual fashion trends for men and I aim to use a costume that is similar to the one below.

SUPPORT STAFF

For my piece being single camera work and not including any studio light or excess equipment I will not need any support staff.

MUSIC

For the music I wanted a song that would be original but still follow codes and conventions of my chosen genre. Most art house films include music from an indie rock music genre from this I contacted a small band and have made a deal for them to write the music for the piece. This now means I have a piece of music which conforms with art house love genre conventions and a piece that will be free from copyright for use in this film.

Ancillary Products

At first I decided to make a film poster and webpage for my ancillary products, since then this idea has changed making me decide to make a film poster and a magazine front cover instead. This is due to the fact that during my research into art house films I found that webpages are a convention of blockbuster films rather than art house. This meant that to keep a verisimilitude about my product. However, there are still not any well known art house magazines, or well known film magazines such as Empire or Total Film which have a main feature of art house films, however, this will be much easier to create with a verisimilitude sense then a film web page will be.

Recurring Motif's In Film

A recurring motif is any repeated element that has symbolic significance in a story. Through its repetition, a motif can help produce theme or mood in the piece. A recurring motif is created through the use of imagery, structural components, language, and other narrative elements. This can be seen in many art house films and is also seen in Christopher Nolan's film Inception as the spinning top. In my film I firstly aimed to use eyes as a recurring motif, however, when filmed and repeated this started to look cheesy and cliche. Through redrafting of the script I changed the motif to be fire which enforced the idea of destruction that will be seen in the piece, when filmed I believe this has worked very well and is much more effective than the recurring motif of eyes.