Shutter showdown

We've been pretty bad at keeping the blog up-to-date with what we're doing... so the next few posts are going to be a bit of a catchup. First off is High Noon or The Shutter Showdown (thanks Laura for the name): during our first prototyping session, we made the cardboard prototypes of camera stands (tripods) and guns (shutter release triggers), we tried them out and got photos like these:


[see the photo above full size - Matt the sure shooter!]


Since then we've done a drawing:



and Jimmy has started to work on version 2:



I guess the main question it's raised for me is; how do we contextualise this as an object or experience? The answer to the question doesn't need to be singular, we can develop multiple different contexts and objects, but trying to work out it's place will help us understand in what way we're designing it. For example, the object could be a full-blown toy - something for the kids, akin to a dance mat or a nerf game for the cinematically conscious. Or it could be a more along the line of high-end, niche camera equiptment (as I talked about in this blog post) - functionally and aesthetically like this gear from Zacuto - see their 'Western' themed review and their objects are all a bit gun-like:



I guess the important drivers are: The experience, it's a lot of fun. The image, you get to look very cool. The competition, everyone wants to be the fastest gun in the west.

Putting Leo to bed

The accidental revelation of the day was taking these two photos... it fulfills my desire to be like Leonardo Dicaprio. I look cool, I feel cool, I am cool!

I can now move forward.

Kit contains:
"10 paces each" distance gauge
2 x ankle height camera stands
2 x infra red remotes with holsters (left or right handed)
2 x cardio targets with integrated camera receiver connections

When you aim, you aim for the heart. Each person wears a cardio target (badge: one can be sheriff) which is wired up to the camera shutter. When the remote hits the target the shutter fires and the picture captures the time (there must be a time thing on the image itself). Both cameras are compared to see who is dead.

Frodo saves Sam

Problem is that Sam's not reaching out 'cause he's just drowning.

Showdown moment

So this is what I'm thinking about.




But we don't want anything like this.

The Frenzy of the Visible

...when Neo is shot, then resurrected (triggered by a kiss from Trinity in 'real' space that reverses the Prince Charming tradition) his speed becomes a mark of his Holiness. He is driven by a speed that is so phenomenal he can catch bullets in full flight. And we become party to this holy experience within the matrix. We witness his speed through the stillness of the image. Bullets are literally frozen in time and space and we marvel at Neo who contemplates bullets that we know move so fast they should be imperceptible to the human eye. We see the world through his eyes, eyes that create a freeze-frame effect out of 'bullet-time' speed. In these last minutes of the film, Neo has mastered the frenzy of the visible and we have been granted access to this mastery.

http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/3/matrix.html

The Cinema Screen as Prosthesis of Perception

I have a book from the library called The senses still [C. Nadia Seremetakis, 1994; The University of Chicago Press]. It's a collection of essays around questions like "What happens when perception and memory are globalized through transnational media and the homogenization of material experience?".

The first essay I think we should all read is The Cinema Screen as Prosthesis of Perception [Susan Buck-Morss]. Here's an amateur attempt at a synopsis:

She proposes that Cimema (the consumption of images by large numbers of people via a screen) is a good way to understand what Husserl was getting at in The Idea of Phenomenology [1964], where Husserl was trying to uncover the essential truths of 'perception': what exactly it is 'to see'. Buck-Morris suggests that Cinema actually does what Husserl tries to theorise.

When something is perceived you've got:
a) The person perceiving
b) The thing being perceived
But to get at the pure nature of perception (some kind of universal truth of it) you have to get rid of a) and b). He did this in a really complicated and academically rigorous way which most people will never understand.

Because cinema provides a space where no thing or things are actually experienced, only the image of things which are not really there, then b) is removed. What we see is the presence of an absence, and it doesn't matter what we are shown: makes no difference if it's fact or fiction, because it's not actually there!!

Because in cinema every individual perceives exactly the same representation (whatever the director decides the camera should capture), then there is a standardisation which can be allied with universality. In an actual experience, each individual percieves from their subjective view point. In a cinema experience the entire audience perceives from one point of view: they have no choice, there is no subjectivity to their "seeing".



I am going to stop here because I don't know if writing all of this on the blog is useful or not... If it is, then I will post some quotes which feed in to quite a few things we are doing.

I R D J Loizeau

Yippee-kay-ay-boyo

Richard Harris: Juggernaut

I know it's not the same thing, but the colour coded choice reminded me of this. Difference is that he's told what each one will do.

Keanu on his back

Why not.

This is our film...

I found this film while I was looking for Richard Harris in Juggernaut. It's not out yet. Info from Wikipedia entry:

The Hurt Locker is an upcoming award winning 2009 American war film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Filmed entirely on location in Jordan, the film is based on recently declassified information about a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team in present day Iraq.

In Iraq, an elite U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit is forced to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse in the chaos of war in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.[16] Jeremy Renner plays the leader of the EOD team, as he contends with not only defusing bombs in the backdrop of a war but also the psychological and emotional strain that it inflicts.[17]

Someone even references Juggernaut while talking about this new film:

Freddie Jones' famous line from Juggernaut, fans will recall, is "cut the blue wire." He says this to Richard Harris, waits, and then says it again. But Harris smells a rat and cuts the red wire instead. It's the right choice. Whew.

Just look at the bloody poster.

Here's the trailer.

Big Ben? Fictional Bomb?

MLCM - The Leone filter

I was thinking about whether it would be possible to give a photograph or a movie a feeling of Leone, Kubrick et. al. in post-production. Inspired by Laura's previous posts about quality, framing and scale i thought i'd give it a go. It becomes almost like a cinematic filter for your media life.

I know its a little confused in terms of image choice (i.e. it's from one of our other projects), but it was the best image i had... i'll show the other experiments too.

So I started with this photo of Tilly - I thought it had a certain cinematic quality:

I then cropped it using the same proportions as Leone:


This gives it a certain amount of extra tension and presence. The I adjusted the image and added a filter or two:




The final one i think is the most successful... It's best seen full screen, but i'm sure you get the gist. I also did these two - one terrifying image of John Sutton - due to the 'Glare' it moves into the Kubrick territory - and the other of a snowman:




I'm not really sure where this is going... I think it maybe about the 'affect' - but how could this be brought into the process of capture? Could we design genre specific cameras/equipment?

Snorricam

A SnorriCam (also chestcam, bodymount camera, bodycam or bodymount) is a camera device used in filmmaking that is rigged to the body of the actor, facing the actor directly, so when he walks, he does not appear to move, but everything around him does. A SnorriCam presents a dynamic point of view from the actor's perspective, providing an unusual sense of vertigo for the viewer.

It's how they did this to Harvey Keitel (Mean Streets, about 58 seconds into this clip).

And this to Sir Digby Chicken Caesar (The Mitchell and Webb look).

Here's how you make a rig for a Snorricam, but I recommend turning the sound down because the American kids are really annoying.

Quentin Tarantino (MLCM)

He uses so much from everywhere, he can't possibly have any signature visual effects. He does use this a lot though. It features in every one of his films, although I think he refutes the idea that he does it as a 'trademark' shot.

The Trunk shot


No explanation needed.

NEXT TIME: Will really be Film Noir because I'm going to bed now.

Sergio Leone (MLCM)

Just a couple of obvious ones to start. Leone used extreme long and extreme close up shots to great effect. He did extreme close ups of people and objects.


Sometimes a long shot turns into a close up, like here. This is the opening shot from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.


It suddenly becomes this shot, an extreme close up, without the camera moving or any editing. This guy just moves into frame.


He used this as a device, whereby we accept that what is in front of the camera is the 'whole' picture. We think we are looking at one thing, but then suddenly something else is revealed: but because it was off camera it was hidden. This is the same for the actors. If we can't see it, neither can they! He discloses major events that are sitting right alongside the main characters, but they are totally surprised by them.

He also used deep focus to connect events in space. There's a very wide shot, covering a big distance, but everything is in focus and the composition links both people and objects.


The image above looks a bit wrong (it's too wide) but the first two look like 2.39:1 which is the ratio he filmed.

Ha ha.

NEXT TIME: I'll do Film Noir but I've got to get up really early in the morning so I'm not doing it now.

David Fincher (MLCM)

Well it's not really, it's just Fight Club. This is a lot harder than I thought...

Scenes without Tyler were toned down to look washed out and more 'real'. They used a lot of de-saturated colours in the set, wardrobe and make-up.


Natural or ‘real’ lighting was used as much as possible (city lights and fluorescence). Colours within the film are garish and loud, but are made to appear mundane and drab.


Some scenes were purposefully darkened to hide the characters’ eyes (reference to Gordon Willis’ technique). Film processing later stretched the contrast (making it ugly), underexposed the print (making it darker), resilvered (which increases density) and a dirty patina was added.


Cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth.

NEXT TIME: Sergio Leone

Stanley Kubrick (MLCM)

I already know that this isn't the right way to approach this project, but never mind. I'll come to that later. This is a very brief list of (relevant) Kubrickesque devices.

The Glare
A character tilts his head down slightly whilst fixing his eyes upwards. This works really well to suggest mental unhinging, even when it's subtle (Jack below). We have Alex in A Clockwork Orange, Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket, and Jack Torrence in The Shining.




There are much more extreme versions in The Shining as he becomes more and more deranged, but I like that it works even when it's slight.

Symmetry

Kubrick uses symmetry to achieve two very specific effects: firstly, to lull an audience into a sense of false security, and secondly, to parody or counterpoint the ensuing chaos, the asym-metrical destruction. Danny's extravagant tricycle-rides around the hotel are repeated several times as joyride, rollercoaster, guided tour.
Just when we think we've seen the ride, he sets off on another one, a tricycle trip too many (yawn . . .) and WHUMP! The wheels stop, the little feet falter on the pedals. Suddenly we have a spooky pair of twin girls, a liftshaft full of blood, a man wearing a sinister rabbit mask - just when we thought we were getting a bit bored with all this tricycle riding.

Source here.

There's symmetry all over the place (The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, 2001, Dr Strangelove).

The image of Danny in The Shining is an also an example of a following shot, where the camera literally follows a character. It's a type of Point of View shot (POV, subjective or over-the-shoulder shot).

NEXT TIME: David Fincher

Cinematography: Scale (MLCM)

This is all cut and pasted from the Yale Film Analysis Website. I have taken out bits that aren't relevant.

Section 3 - Scale
If the same object were filmed at different shot scales it would often signify quite differently. Shot scale can foster intimacy with a character, or conversely, it can swallow the character in its environment. Orson Welles exploited divergent shot scales in Citizen Kane (1941) to demonstrate the changing power relationship between Charles Foster Kane and his lawyer. As a boy, his figure is lost in the snow at the back of the shot as the lawyer arranges for his adoption. As a young man he rebels against Bernstein's oversight, rising in the frame as he asserts himself.

EXTREME LONG SHOT
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen. Usually the first or last shots of a sequence, that can also function as establishing shots. […]

LONG SHOT
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would appear nearly the height of the screen. It makes for a relatively stable shot that can accomodate movement without reframing. It is therefore commonly used in genres where a full body action is to be seen in its entirety, for instance Hollywood Musicals or 1970s Martial Arts films. Another advantage of the long shot is that it allows to show a character and her/his surroundings in a single frame […]

MEDIUM LONG SHOT
Framing such than an object four or five feet high would fill most of the screen vertically. Also called plain américain, given its recurrence in the Western genre, where it was important to keep a cowboy's weapon in the image.

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is fairly large; a human figure seen from the chest up would fill most of the screen.

CLOSE-UP
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large. In a close-up a person's head, or some other similarly sized object, would fill the frame. Framing scales are not universal, but rather established in relationship with other frames from the same film. […] Framing scales are usually drawn in relationship to the human figure but this can be misleading since a frame need not include people.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP
A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small object or a part of the body usually shot with a zoom lens. Again, faces are the most recurrent images in extreme close-ups, […]

URL: http://classes.yale.edu/film-analysis_Last Modified: August 27, 2002_Certifying Authority: Film Studies Program_Copyright © 2002 Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520

NEXT TIME: Stanley Kubrick

Cinematography: Framing (MLCM)

This is all cut and pasted from the Yale Film Analysis Website. I have taken out bits that aren't relevant.

Section 2 - Framing
In one sense, cinema is an art of selection. The edges of the image create a "frame" that includes or excludes aspects of what occurs in front of the camera -- the "profilmic event". The expressive qualities of framing include the angle of the camera to the object, the aspect ratio of the projected image, the relationship between camera and object, and the association of camera with character. In Cruel Story of Youth (Seishun zankoku monogatari, Oshima Nagisa, 1960) the radical decentering of the character in relation to the frame marks their failed struggle to find a place in their world.

ANGLE OF FRAMING
Many films are shot with a camera that appears to be at approximately the same height as its subject. However, it is possible to film from a position that is significantly lower or higher than the dominant element of the shot. In that case, the image is described as low angle or high angle respectively. Angle of framing can be used to indicate the relation between a character and the camera's point of view. Or can simply be used to create striking visual compositions.

Camera angle is often used to suggest either vulnerability or power. In The Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda,1999) the father, who rules absolute over his family, is often portrayed from a low angle, therefore aggrandizing his figure.

On the other hand, his blind son Mohammad and his elderly grandmother are often shot from a high angle, emphasizing their dependence and smallness. These interpretations are not exclusive, however.
[…]

ASPECT RATIO
The ratio of the horizontal to the vertical sides of an image. Until the 1950s almost all film was shot in a 4:3 or 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Some filmmakers used multiple projectors to create a wider aspect ratio whereas others claimed that the screen should be square, not rectangular. Widescreen formats became more popular in the 1950s and now films are made in a variety of aspect ratios -- some of the most common being 1.66:1, 1.76:1, 1.85:1, and 2.35:1 (cinemascope).

Widescreen films are often trimmed for television or video release, effectively altering the original compositions. Some DVD's have the option of showing the film in its original format and in a reduced ratio that fits the TV screen. Compare the same frame from Bertolucci's Besieged (L'Assedio, 1998). Objects appear much more cramped with the reduced aspect ratio, giving an impression of physical (and psychological) space different from the theatrical release.

LEVEL OF FRAMING
Not only the angle from which a camera films but the height can also be a significant element in a film. A low-level camera is placed close to the ground whereas a high-level camera would be placed above the typical perspective shown in the cinema. Camera level is used to signify sympathy for characters who occupy particular levels in the image, or just to create pleasurable compositions. Camera level is obviously used to a greater advantage when the difference in height bewteen objects or characters is greater. In The Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda, Iran, 1999) Majid Majidi uses different camera height to emphasize the difference between Mohammad and his father.
[…]

CANTED FRAMING
Canted Framing is a view in which the frame is not level; either the right or left side is lower than the other, causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an upright positon. Canted framings are used to create an impression of chaos and instability. They are therefore associated with the frantic rhythms of action films, music videos and animation.

Many Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s blend elements of the genres mentioned above, for instance Tsui Hark's Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, 1986). These films employ unconventional framings to achieve their signature dizzing, freewheeling style. Canted framings are also common when shooting with a Steadycam.
[…]

POINT-OF-VIEW SHOT
A shot taken with the camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be, showing what the character would see; usually cut in before or after a shot of the character looking. Horror films and thrillers often use POV shots to suggest a menacing and unseen presence in the scene. Films that use many point-of-view shots tend toward dynamic and non-naturalistic style. In this clip from Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 1986) the female impersonator's fear of the soldier who attempts to procure him for his general is rendered comic by the cut to POV and wide angle.

POV is one of the means by which audiences are encouraged to identify with characters. However, it is actually a relatively rare technique: identificatory mechanisms rely more on sympathetic character and the flow of narrative information than on simple optical affiliation.

WIDE ANGLE LENS
A lens of short focal length that affects a scene's perspective by distorting straight lines near the edges of the frame and by exaggerating the distance between foreground and background planes. In doing so it allows for more space to enter the frame (hence the name "wide"), which makes it more convenient for shooting in a closed location, for instance a real room, rather than a three-wall studio room. In addition, a wider lens allows for a bigger depth of field. In 35mm filming, a wide angle lens is 30mm or less. See also telephoto lens.

NEXT TIME: Scale