Camera and Edit: Exercise 1 Problem!

Nooo, this afternoon has been aweful.. we set off from Uni early afternoon to film some footage for our camera and edit project, two hours in we weren't doing bad at all, until we got an error on the XM2 camera saying the tape-deck or what not needs a good old clean... So we thought oh, okay then, and whipped out the tape-deck cleaner. Cleaning took place after having to work out what to do and all seemed well. This was until we decided to view the footage we had recorded in the last hour or so.

Dun, dun, duuuuuuurn for some reason all our footage was not there, apart from half a minutes worth that had gray bars across every clip. A very unhappy/annoyed Lewis and James was not what we were expecting. So, it looks like Friday will be a very long day indeed -_-

Portrait of Place - Equipment and Editing

The camera we ended up taking out from stores was the XM2.. Various problems occurred whilst we were shooting on location including the camera resetting its settings every time we turned the camera off and on again. Luckily James (who mainly controlled the camera) noticed this immediately so we were able to work around it.

The weather conditions and lighting conditions changed throughout the day, so when it came to the post-production stage we had to select each clip and adjust the brightness settings to make the final piece 'believable'.

We received some positive/critical feedback when showing our rough-cut of the video. We took the comments into consideration and altered our video accordingly. Luckily a vast majority of the footage we filmed was useable, this allowed us to create an almost '3 minute clip' (2 mins 58 seconds overall). The criticism we received included comments about some of the shots being 'fillers', so we adjusted this and included more shots that seemed to fit with what was happening on screen.

Portrait of Place - Edale Cinematography and Ideas

Wide, extreme long shot to display the opening setting

The location i found for the opening shot appears to be almost perfect for the effect we were going for; the vast, wide-open landscape contrasted with the main protagonist really gives the audience a sense of vulnerability, loneliness and being 'lost' in the wilderness. The tree in the foreground appears menacing and works perfectly in comparison to the person running across screen. It highlights the stillness of nature and how peaceful it can be yet arguably creates a sense of menace and terror.

Tripod MCU, to create a contrast between the two

 

The following shot, after the blackout, reveals a still shot of some grass gently swaying in the wind. It creates a sense of place and connection with nature, whilst giving the illusion that someone may be watching, hiding in the undergrowth. Personally i find it highly effective combing long, expansive shots with close-up, more 'personal shots' as i feel it adds variety and takes the audience from one extreme to another.

The blackouts used were intentional to create enigma in the narrative. They were to promote connotations/connections to the main protagonist's mind and what he's thinking. They also allow the audience to interpret them in their own way.. perhaps they indicate the main character's delve into madness.

Still shot from behind, providing a sense of place

This shot is also another favourite of mine. We in fact used this shot twice in the final video, however each shot is slightly different to the other. This was intended to create a sense of confusion/connection with what the character is going through. Me and my partner James also feel as if it could potentially sum up nature as a 'place that feels repetitive'. The technique of ending with one of the first shots is also a well-known technique seen in other videos, and the majority of the time they seem highly effective. Other things to note are the actual structure of the tree; it's an "iconic" tree that feels different to everything else. It allowed us to find a 'base' to evolve our narrative around. On another note, we created some basic storyboards to accompany our field trip/filming, however personally I have always preferred scouting locations and working around them to create the shots we need.

Hand-held, more 'intimate' shot

This shot, featured just over the half way point in the video is a complete contrast to the first half of the film. In this section, we aimed for a more personal, hand-held 'action' sequence to make the audience feel more involved in the protagonist's world. By using visual metaphors I feel it has helped portray loneliness (the main theme we were aiming for).

Overall, I feel that we have achieved the goals we were aiming for, however perhaps given more time, we could have expanded upon our original idea to create a more interesting movie. The combination of shots and the connection between nature and loneliness seems to have been successfully highlighted in out final piece.

The editing stage proved to be fun, yet heavily time-consuming and sometimes consuming. We stumbled across a variety of problems from cutting up the tape into separate clips, to exporting the final piece onto a 'DVD menu' format. These problems were obviously resolved (thankfully!!) but it has helped us gain experience for future projects. Given more time, i definitely feel we could have gone away to create a more interesting, tighter edit. However I think getting to grips with Final Cut more may be more important at this stage than worrying about further editing.

Inspiration came from films, videos I have created in the past, pictures, internet videos and more. I prefer to apply ideas from many different forms of media into my own work, as well as introducing my own, original ideas.. If you were to put a title on our piece, I would say it's an 'Experimental video' that focuses upon the exploration of a person in a place, heavily touching upon the theme of solitude.

Final piece title - 'Solitude'

Portrait of place - Project

Ideas and inspiration for our final piece were sourced from various media extracts. For example, I thought back to the 'No Country For Old Men' opening sequence and really enjoyed the cinematography that was used. I felt as if the huge, wide landscaped shots would work effectively in our own project.

Initially i thought upon the idea of a person running/escaping from something, perhaps himself. We weren't too sure upon how to expand upon that until my partner, James came up with the idea of using the original idea to further create a contrast between a person in an empty space i.e. the countryside, where it's vast, open and lonely. We then further built upon that idea by creating a sense of enigma to disorientate the viewer, and further make the audience question what's actually happening on screen - for example what or who is the main protagonist running away from? Has he delved into madness? Etc.

The non-linear narrative in my opinion appears to have been proven successful; by using contrasts between nature and the main protagonist, as well as a variety of camera shots.

These two shots are just an example of what helped inspired us