Showing posts with label Camera Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camera Work. Show all posts
Friday, 4 April 2014
Monday, 20 January 2014
Fargo
This weekend I also happened to watch Fargo, the 1996 Crime-Thriller directed by the Coen brothers.
The story tells of Jerry Lundegaard who decides to pay two thugs to kidnap his wife with the promise of sharing the 80,000 dollar ransom 50-50. Things go wrong and the thugs end up killing 3 innocent bystanders: a police ranger and a couple on vacation. They decide they want the full $80,000 and refuse to give his wife back otherwise. This is on top of the bank and car dealerships demanding money from Lundegaard. The heroine of the story is Marge Gunderson - the heavily pregnant, coffee drinking police officer.
I believe the Coen brothers added the character of Marge to bring a lightness and comedic relief to the story. Coen brothers films are very rarely without a stock character like Marge, but she seems to embody the 'American Spirit' of doing what's right (along with eating fast food for nearly every meal).
The shots of the snow in Fargo, North Dakota gave the film a feel of isolation, as in these shots all you can see is white. One point I noticed was that the snow was always immaculately clean (apart from the blood). There were tire tracks but no dirt or mud was present. This gave the film an almost farcical feel, as if the little town of Fargo was in fact unreal.
At one point Lundegaard is looking around in the snow. The camera all of a sudden becomes his point of view and pans around back and forth standing in one spot, showing that the expanse of a barbed wire fence on the left is exactly the same as the stretch to the right, making it seem like a never ending road.
Many times the camera ends up in the passenger seat of a car, even if both seats are occupied by characters. The swapping out of characters for cameras give the shots a more personal feel, as if the audience is sitting across from Marge or Shep (the Native American crooked garage worker). The camera spends a lot of time following cars, in the back of cars, on the front of cars and once on the floor of the car. It gives the audience the sense that in Fargo this is the only way to get around. Cars are a key theme in the film, with Lundegaard working at a car dealership, Shep at a garage, the crooks steal a car and Marge with her police brawler.
Fargo North Dakota is supposedly the home of the giant Paul Bunyan, and his pet Babe the blue Ox. The directors use this symbolism by adding a huge statue of Bunyan at the entrance to the town, as if he looks on to all the crime and judges, silently and still. The camera has to pan up to look at his face, which is terrifying in the dark and quiet of the snowy night.This harmless statue is one of the shots that makes the audience the most uneasy, which shows how much power an inanimate object has when put in the right setting. As well as this, the characters converge at the dive bar 'The Blue Ox', a reference to Babe. This again adds to the farcical feel of the town and shows that the people of Fargo stick at home, as if all the corruption stays and festers in Fargo.
I found the use of cars, the magical imagery of Bunyan and Babe and the camera angles in the cars, snow and bars all contributed to the mount of tension, remorse at the death and the love for Marge elicited by the Coen brothers in this film.
In the end, Carl (Steve Buscemi) the corrupt murderer returns to the town to hide over $1,000,000 in the snow before returning to his accomplice and he never goes back for it (he never leaves their hide out again). The Coen brothers began the film with 'Based on a true story, as the events happened', and never told the audience what happened to the money in the end, and it was said that a Japanese woman actually flew to America, traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to try and find the money and died trying.
The story tells of Jerry Lundegaard who decides to pay two thugs to kidnap his wife with the promise of sharing the 80,000 dollar ransom 50-50. Things go wrong and the thugs end up killing 3 innocent bystanders: a police ranger and a couple on vacation. They decide they want the full $80,000 and refuse to give his wife back otherwise. This is on top of the bank and car dealerships demanding money from Lundegaard. The heroine of the story is Marge Gunderson - the heavily pregnant, coffee drinking police officer.
I believe the Coen brothers added the character of Marge to bring a lightness and comedic relief to the story. Coen brothers films are very rarely without a stock character like Marge, but she seems to embody the 'American Spirit' of doing what's right (along with eating fast food for nearly every meal).
The shots of the snow in Fargo, North Dakota gave the film a feel of isolation, as in these shots all you can see is white. One point I noticed was that the snow was always immaculately clean (apart from the blood). There were tire tracks but no dirt or mud was present. This gave the film an almost farcical feel, as if the little town of Fargo was in fact unreal.
At one point Lundegaard is looking around in the snow. The camera all of a sudden becomes his point of view and pans around back and forth standing in one spot, showing that the expanse of a barbed wire fence on the left is exactly the same as the stretch to the right, making it seem like a never ending road.
Many times the camera ends up in the passenger seat of a car, even if both seats are occupied by characters. The swapping out of characters for cameras give the shots a more personal feel, as if the audience is sitting across from Marge or Shep (the Native American crooked garage worker). The camera spends a lot of time following cars, in the back of cars, on the front of cars and once on the floor of the car. It gives the audience the sense that in Fargo this is the only way to get around. Cars are a key theme in the film, with Lundegaard working at a car dealership, Shep at a garage, the crooks steal a car and Marge with her police brawler.
Fargo North Dakota is supposedly the home of the giant Paul Bunyan, and his pet Babe the blue Ox. The directors use this symbolism by adding a huge statue of Bunyan at the entrance to the town, as if he looks on to all the crime and judges, silently and still. The camera has to pan up to look at his face, which is terrifying in the dark and quiet of the snowy night.This harmless statue is one of the shots that makes the audience the most uneasy, which shows how much power an inanimate object has when put in the right setting. As well as this, the characters converge at the dive bar 'The Blue Ox', a reference to Babe. This again adds to the farcical feel of the town and shows that the people of Fargo stick at home, as if all the corruption stays and festers in Fargo.
I found the use of cars, the magical imagery of Bunyan and Babe and the camera angles in the cars, snow and bars all contributed to the mount of tension, remorse at the death and the love for Marge elicited by the Coen brothers in this film.
In the end, Carl (Steve Buscemi) the corrupt murderer returns to the town to hide over $1,000,000 in the snow before returning to his accomplice and he never goes back for it (he never leaves their hide out again). The Coen brothers began the film with 'Based on a true story, as the events happened', and never told the audience what happened to the money in the end, and it was said that a Japanese woman actually flew to America, traveled to Fargo, North Dakota to try and find the money and died trying.
Byzantium
This weekend I watched the 2012 Fantasy-Horror Byzantium, directed by Neil Jordan.
This film told the story of a 200 year old mother and daughter fleeing from the law in a historic seaside town. The film is full of flashbacks - filtered making them look grainy and blurry, the edges fading leaving the center clear. These flashbacks often dated back to Georgian England, where the grey beaches give the shots an aged look - but the brothel was richer in colour which made the shot feel claustrophobic and gave you fear for the character entering the place.
The audience meets the character of the mother (Gemma Arterton) when she is a young 16 year old girl working in the beaches. Her clothing throughout the flashbacks seem progress in a time line. At first, a simple soft pink dress with many shawls on her waist and a head-dress against the cold. Second, when she is sent to work at the brothel, a slim Burgundy dress with little embellishment. Finally, once she has become a vampire, an elaborate blue silk dress patterned with white flowers and bordered with lace and long draping sleeves. This I believe shows her progression towards the dark/unholy side, and by the end it is as if the devil has rewarded her transformation by dressing her in finery as legends tell. It is eye catching and noticeable, making the audience aware which works well.
Many of the shots show death and destruction in the background (when the protagonists kill or are discovered, they douse the scene of the crime in fuel and strike a match), making the actors stand out in the foreground, often walking away from the blaze against the crowd which highlights the mundane nature the task holds for them, which I found very effective.
Much of the action took place through glass, often clouded of stained. It gave the victims a less graphic ending which made it easier to watch and any dialogue was muffled. This was eerie in the sense that anyone else in the building (in one case a hospital) would not have heard if there was a cry for help.
The shots were also quite long, as many times characters are traced up a rock face, falling and stumbling before reaching the top. The lack of music and the mention of the curse on the rock builds the tension and suspense.
Overall I found the use of diegetic sound (mostly piano playing), the use of glass, the faded flashbacks and the violent background action worked well together to produce an effective fantasy-horror that spared no one.
This film told the story of a 200 year old mother and daughter fleeing from the law in a historic seaside town. The film is full of flashbacks - filtered making them look grainy and blurry, the edges fading leaving the center clear. These flashbacks often dated back to Georgian England, where the grey beaches give the shots an aged look - but the brothel was richer in colour which made the shot feel claustrophobic and gave you fear for the character entering the place.
The audience meets the character of the mother (Gemma Arterton) when she is a young 16 year old girl working in the beaches. Her clothing throughout the flashbacks seem progress in a time line. At first, a simple soft pink dress with many shawls on her waist and a head-dress against the cold. Second, when she is sent to work at the brothel, a slim Burgundy dress with little embellishment. Finally, once she has become a vampire, an elaborate blue silk dress patterned with white flowers and bordered with lace and long draping sleeves. This I believe shows her progression towards the dark/unholy side, and by the end it is as if the devil has rewarded her transformation by dressing her in finery as legends tell. It is eye catching and noticeable, making the audience aware which works well.
Many of the shots show death and destruction in the background (when the protagonists kill or are discovered, they douse the scene of the crime in fuel and strike a match), making the actors stand out in the foreground, often walking away from the blaze against the crowd which highlights the mundane nature the task holds for them, which I found very effective.
Much of the action took place through glass, often clouded of stained. It gave the victims a less graphic ending which made it easier to watch and any dialogue was muffled. This was eerie in the sense that anyone else in the building (in one case a hospital) would not have heard if there was a cry for help.
The shots were also quite long, as many times characters are traced up a rock face, falling and stumbling before reaching the top. The lack of music and the mention of the curse on the rock builds the tension and suspense.
Overall I found the use of diegetic sound (mostly piano playing), the use of glass, the faded flashbacks and the violent background action worked well together to produce an effective fantasy-horror that spared no one.
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Top 30 Camera Shots
I have just stumbled across this guide to Empire's top 30 camera angles, including multiple examples of films in which each one is used. This link I am finding extremely valuable.
The all-important link: http://www.empireonline.com/features/film-studies-101-camera-shots-styles/
Many of these shots are frequently used in the films that have influenced my plan for an opening sequence, such as the Deep Focus shot, POV shot and the Whip Pan.
Some of these shots I have previously been unaware of, and I feel using these new techniques will add depth to the work I produce on a visual level.
Thursday, 17 October 2013
Princess Chelsea - Monkey Eats Bananas
I watched this music video earlier, and I noticed some of the camera angles were quite interesting...
The editor appears to have layered various trimmed pieces of film over each other, with several independent images moving at once.
The video as a whole seems to have been poorly edited for fashionable effect, as the edges of the layered films are rough and pixelated.
Early on in the clip the shots change so fast it is almost as if you can see one image through another. Later when the monkey is playing the drums, the editor seems to have flipped the shot, so it plays once as it was filmed, and the second time it plays as if it had been mirrored.
Watching this has given me some strong ideas of what I would like to steer clear from when I come to make my film opening.
The editor appears to have layered various trimmed pieces of film over each other, with several independent images moving at once.
The video as a whole seems to have been poorly edited for fashionable effect, as the edges of the layered films are rough and pixelated.
Early on in the clip the shots change so fast it is almost as if you can see one image through another. Later when the monkey is playing the drums, the editor seems to have flipped the shot, so it plays once as it was filmed, and the second time it plays as if it had been mirrored.
Watching this has given me some strong ideas of what I would like to steer clear from when I come to make my film opening.
Friday, 27 September 2013
Alexa and Priya's Prelim Task Evaluation
We decided to make use of the green screen in as interesting a way as possible, so we settled on discussing our prelim task internationally. We had the idea of using videos instead of pictures as the background (I wanted wolves in the snow and Priya wanted gentle ocean waves), but we couldn't figure out how to save the videos and insert them over our green-screen conversation. In which case, some research into applying wolf/wave related videos over green-screen will be required.
My Preliminary Task
Here is my first ever clip/video! I have included shot reverse shot, 180 rule and match on action to create my preliminary task.
Monday, 9 September 2013
Cinematic Techniques
The three principal shot techniques we covered today were:
Shot Reverse Shot - The Shot Reverse Shot is a technique where we see one character looking at/speaking to another in one shot, and in the next we see the first character being spoken to by the second. Both characters are in the same positions in each shot and are often seen over the shoulder of the other.
180* Rule - The 180* Rule involves placing an imaginary line called the axis across the shot from a bird's-eye view, which helps to clarify where the camera can move when filming two people from the side on (face to face). It's called 180* because once you've figured out the line you can only stay on one side, and so can only move the camera 180* around the subject you're filming. Since anyone observing a real conversation would tend to stand on one side of it for the duration, if the camera kept swaping it wouldn't look natural.
Match on Action - A technique where the camera switches from one thing to another as long as the shots graphically match.
Shot Reverse Shot - The Shot Reverse Shot is a technique where we see one character looking at/speaking to another in one shot, and in the next we see the first character being spoken to by the second. Both characters are in the same positions in each shot and are often seen over the shoulder of the other.
180* Rule - The 180* Rule involves placing an imaginary line called the axis across the shot from a bird's-eye view, which helps to clarify where the camera can move when filming two people from the side on (face to face). It's called 180* because once you've figured out the line you can only stay on one side, and so can only move the camera 180* around the subject you're filming. Since anyone observing a real conversation would tend to stand on one side of it for the duration, if the camera kept swaping it wouldn't look natural.
Match on Action - A technique where the camera switches from one thing to another as long as the shots graphically match.
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