Film Production Coursework

Time plan and criteria

Establishing the time plan for the coursework. This helps keep me on track with deadlines and I also have a wider view on the tasks set in the future. 

To gather initial ideas from watching the listed films for my coursework, I really wanted to develop my film on silent cinema. I love the visual and technical features of the movement and to recreate these elements within my own film, I think would be really effective. 

The best feature, in my opinion, with silent film is the lack of dialogue. I feel as sometimes to write speech between characters can feel quite robotic. It is very common for the flow of dialogue to not work. As I don't have a high budget for the production of the film, I'm not working with talented actors; instead I'm just using my friends to shoot with. Silent film for my situation just fits well for me and the piece I want to produce.  

I have linked my Pinterest board to show the type of visual inspiration I'm questioning to use. Including features of the German Expressionist movement. 

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/leorobertsart/film-production-inspiration/




Evaluating listed films

"La Jetée"

"Meshes in the Afternoon" 

"The Grandmother"

       "Connect"

Researching into "The Grandmother"

I wanted to develop my knowledge on "The Grandmother" as that was the film I struggled to understand the concept. I found the short film to be so strange and unusual and looking at the work in more depth made much more sense to me.  

Silent Film: Chosen Genre

From previously creating my own silent film within a 2 hour lesson task, I really enjoyed filming this. Within the production of this, I still had some element of expressive and creative control as of the placement of the lighting to create casting shadows, which is a convention of the movement. 

Doing this style of film for my coursework will progress my knowledge further into the technique and stylised elements of silent film.   

Moodboard of visuals 

Location

Story Circle: 8 Step Narrative

From watching the video attached above, I found a easy breakdown of a formula to write an effective narrative for a story, demonstrated in many successful films such as "The Dark Knight" by Christopher Nolan. 

Each step shows why the main protagonist is acting in that specific way and what their motifs are, corresponding to Batman but also clearly demonstrating the steps listed.    

Applying 8 Step To My Film:

From using the 8 Step guide, it has really helped me to progress my concept into a strong plot for my film, with detail with the motif of my main protagonist (The Photographer) but it has also helped me plan a feature of Film Noir into my film, inserting a love interest whom is the  femme fatal however she will not be as prominent as other femme fatals have been in past film noir films as The Photographer manages to achieve his dream of pursuing his form of work and becoming successful, the femme fatal was the pivotal point of him to realise what he needs. Without having the 8 Step guide, I wouldn't of been able to clearly plan this in detail to make it become a complex feature within my film.

Corresponding to each step of the story circle, I have numbered the points and added a plan for the narrative to develop and evolve, clearly seeing what section of the plot fits into each category. 

Storyboard Plan

Key: 
Red - Shot movement 
Blue - Diegetic sound 

From producing my own short storyboard for the initial idea of what my short film will consist of, my concept for the plot would be to just follow an individuals day-to-day life, adding the elements of fantasy through moving image were the everyday lifestyle would just be the photograph. After trying to develop this concept, I felt as if the plot was too similar to "Connect" and I wanted to focus more on the style of films made in the Silent Film and Film Noir period. 

In Depth Storyboard 

To develop my concept, I created another storyboard however this plan had many more spaces for shots. I wanted to do this again as while I was producing my drawings for my digital piece, I still wasn't sure on the plot and were the film would progress to. So I took already existing sketches and added them into a more detailed storyboard plan I can refer to on shoot in Prague, to keep myself in check for when I come to edit my film. 

Once I come back from Prague, I will record my voiceover to edit alongside my visuals and footage, which will narrate the story of "The Photographer." However while I am in Prague, I will record features and potential samples of diegetic sound to correspond to the environment in the footage, adding depth and the sense of realism into the production.

Starting to film

As I want to continue to shoot in black and white, developing the skills I initially learned from the 2 hour silent film task previous to this, conducting further in depth research to understand the techniques and setting on a Canon DSLR to produce footage looking professional and dated from the Silent Film era.

9 Tips For Shooting In Black and White:

Black and White Shooting Tutorial:

Both of the videos I linked, I watched to help me understand how to shoot in black and white on a DSLR camera and how to go through the process on my own camera to achieve the visual technique. 

I wanted to shoot in black and white as I felt as if I could get a better feel for the environment I wish to shoot in Prague, pulling out and focusing on significant and prominent features of architecture. 

Watch Test Film:

The test film of the watch is a good starting point I wanted to show for how the photo stills and moving footage would work and correspond together. The camera was handheld in the video to show the sense and feel of if you were the character, experiencing this for yourself, as in the film, the photo stills will be representing The Photographer's work and the moving image will show his experiences, emotions and fantasies. 

Test Sound Samples:  

When in the editing process, I will use sound samples from Youtube (converting the file just to use the sound) for the background sound for the film. I'm still not sure if I should have non diegetic sound as well as diegetic but I can develop and work on this later on in the editing process. 


Voiceover

To add depth and a further understanding to my film, I wanted to create a voiceover to overlay onto my film, corresponding to the visuals as my plot progresses. 

Film Draft

Final Film

Evaluative Analysis

A brief synopsis of my film,“The Photographer,” follows the story of The Photographer who shares his personal struggle with his work and mental health, visiting Prague to distract himself from his issues. He finds himself following a trail of clues which takes him all around the area, leading him to this mysterious woman. The pivotal point in the film is when The Woman takes The Photographer’s money as she already previously knew of him and his work, wanting to be with him only to take advantage of his wealth.

My aims for my created film is to create the stylised visuals reflecting on Silent Cinema, with similar techniques from my chosen short films. I also aim to make my protagonist feel as relatable and authentic as possible, allowing the intended audience response to feel empathetic when the narrative reaches the plot twist.

From analysing “La Jetée,” this was my main source of inspiration as of the visual style of the editing, cinematography and sound.

My main substance of the film is a series of photographs, shot in black and white and edited together with a non-diegetic sound voiceover, narrating and moving the plot forward. This was also accompanied by non-diegetic music, building tension and adding ambient music at specific scenes to emphasise the plot, enforcing a desired emotion from the spectators.

The way the footage is edited together with cross fade techniques creates more of a steady and softer cut compared to a jump cut which is much harsher. Within “La Jetée,” there was only one scene with moving footage where the rest of the film was multiple photographs edited together. As of this, when the moving footage scene of the woman moving her eyes isn’t even noticed as of the entirety of the footage used is images. From the editing techniques used on the photographs, they almost look as if they were moving anyway. This effect is created by gradual fades from black to the image, slowly revealing the shot.

To include within my own short film, I will use the narrative technique “La Jetée” used with the voiceover, photograph footage and limited film only to emphasise specific elements of the narrative. By doing this, the structure of my film will have the basic rule of: the most and the least insignificant scenes of the plot, which will be demonstrated through images. The scenes which are important to the narrative, will be moving pictures. I will also shoot in black and white, as seen in the short film.

My influences from “Meshes in the Afternoon” my influences from this, for my own film, are the expressive film making techniques, specifically demonstrated through the use of lighting and the narrative.

From having ‘The Woman’ repeat her actions effectively shows the repetition of the day-to-day lifestyle she has. It also carries the element of mystery, from using the props such as the knife to engage the spectator to continue to follow the plot of the film, until the message of men controlling women becomes clear, revealing to the spectators at the end of the film. I like the way the narrative is told as it leaves space for the spectator to depict the meaning of its purpose, allowing ideologies about the plot before the film reveals the ending.

“Meshes in the Afternoon” isn’t a German expressionist film however it is filmed in an expressive filming style. The format is really effective as it has a simplistic but impactful way to create a visually striking film. This is predominately controlled by the factor of using lighting to create large, casted shadows, within this, also creating a high contrast between low-key and high-key lighting on the faces of the characters, to create a more theatrical and extravagant cinematic visual style when filming.

Features from “Meshes in the Afternoon” I would like to take inspiration from: shooting in black and white which allows the surroundings to become more simplistic, as when the scene is already in the format you will edit with, it allows you as a film maker to become more expressive and creative yourself as your colour range is simplified. You focus on creating dramatic visuals without being distracted by colour as in coloured film. 

Within the short film, Lynch uses the aspects of and mise en scene to achieve his expressionistic narrative and visual style.

The mise en scene, specifically the performance, within “The Grandmother” displays the loneliness and abandonment of ‘The Boy’ as of the way his animalistic parents treat him by only calling him “Mutt,” dehumanising ‘The Boy’ and not giving him an actual name, as he is just a byproduct of life, just like an animal would treat their own offspring. Within the actor’s performance, the connotations to animalistic behaviour is emphasised more by the movement and the dynamics of ‘The Parents’ as they move within the scene. This ideology is suggested from them sitting and scurrying along the floor, on their hands and knees, just as a dog or four-legged-animal would act or behave.

To separate ‘The Boy’ and ‘The Grandmother’ compared to ‘The Parents,’ the use of mise en scene within the clothing, shows the different dynamics between which characters are considered to be ‘human’. Having normal emotions like sadness, and loneliness (as ‘The Boy’ demonstrates) ‘The Grandmother’ and ‘The Boy’ both are dressed in normal, black and white clothing. ‘The Parents’ however, are wearing different clothes with earthy coloured tones, not caring about their appearance as they look messy and rugged, also implying animalistic characteristics.

From analysing “The Grandmother” I will use the ideology of using significant elements of mise en scene as Lynch demonstrates in an expressive and imaginative way, almost creating a dream like aesthetic within his film. Including and crafting the use of mise en scene adds small details which adds depth into my own film emphasising my intended narrative. For example, creating an emphasis on specific scenes adding a further layer of impactful storytelling. With the influence from “Grandmother,” I intend to effectively use mise en scene, within my own film to demonstrate the close and intimate relationship between The Photographer and The Mysterious Woman by shooting a close up on the rings. 

Within “Connect” I also found the use of non-diegetic music effective as it changes dynamics as it phases through ‘The Woman’s’ headphones as she daydreams on the bus. From doing this, it allows the spectators to relate to her, as being easily distracted by music or technology as it is something quite common in today’s society.

Analysing the narrative, I really liked the simplistic plot as it was still quite effective. Having ‘The Woman’ placed on a bus was an unusual location. However, I felt as it kept a relatable feature into the spectators response, as catching public transport is something most people have done in their lives.The cinematography captures her weird fantasies well, as of the shot type. The technique frames ‘The Woman’s’ perspective, placing the spectator in her position as she was experiencing the events.

The warm colour palette used reflects on the personality and aesthetic of the interaction ‘The Woman’ has with ‘The Man’ on the bus. You could argue that the interaction between the two characters could be another one of ‘The woman’s’ fantasies: implied by the title of the film, as perhaps she needs a connection from being isolated, only listening to her music, which leads her to fantasise about her day-to-day life as an escape. Subsequently, in my opinion, I feel as she did fantasise the interaction of holding hands with ‘The Man,’ as depicted by the fast light flashes over the close up of the hands shot, which could be interpreted as a dream like fantasy. This fantasy is more discreet compared to her others.

The influences I have taken from “Connect” is the use of sound and how the use of ambient music can add so much depth into a scene, which shows emphasis towards an intended emotion and reaction from the spectators. Also using the ideology of the split fantasy and real world, demonstrated with two different extremes from the actors performance.

Evaluation:

At the beginning of my creative process, I struggled with producing a strong structure to develop. This was when I watched “Connect” which gave me the idea for my narrative to use the film and photography footage to represent different features to be an effective storyteller. Just like in “Connect” with the fantasy scenes, my film footage will show the experience of ‘The Photographer’ and the image inserts to act as his ‘work,’ evidencing the photograph pieces he creates. Essentially, using the image footage as a form of prop to evidence the development of the protagonist, making the narrative more believable for the spectators.

To help develop my narrative and structure of my film, I watched the "Dan Harmon Story Circle: 8 Proven Steps to Better Stories" video on Youtube for a deeper understanding on how to construct an effective structure: allowing the motifs of my characters to be legitimate and realistic for the spectators to grasp.

This was a pivotal part of my planning to understand how to create a basic structured narrative, then to add further detail and specific shot types into each component of my storytelling to portray a successful message and piece of film. As I had my plan set around visiting Prague, I had more than enough time to figure out what shot types I needed prior to my trip. This planning helped to create a detailed storyboard, which I used to give myself an outline of the visuals of the cinematography adding to the small details to enhance the storytelling.

On the other hand, the trip to Prague was the main part of my film, so I couldn’t start shooting any sooner as I had to wait to go, adding the pressure of being able to shoot everything while I was away as I couldn’t recreate the establishing shots with the buildings of the story when I returned back.

While collecting footage, I shot in the black and white setting on my camera to purposefully under or over expose my images to fit the aesthetic of my film. ‘The Woman’ acts as the Femme Fatale which links to Film Noir. I feel as the genre of my film is a hybrid of features of Film Noir, Black and White and Silent Film. Doing this, I have a lot of creative control over these genres as of the cinematography, mise en scene and the lighting aspects of the film production. I also had a lot of creative control while editing, as I could visually see how much footage I had to work with to fit the narrative, within the 5 minute mark.

I created the visual style (seen in the screenshot above) by initially shooting in black and white (predominantly underexposing my images) to make an extreme contrast. In the editing process, I would adjust the levels if I needed to, then I would insert the ‘Silent Era’ effect over the top of my


footage or photograph which added a vignette around the shot, allowing the focal point to be in the central area of the shot. Linking to my initial aims, I feel as I have met them by creating a highly cinematic style of visuals and creating an empathetic character the spectators can support.


Final Edit of my Short Film "The Photographer":