Month: November 2017

The fim I am making is an attempt to represent Obsessive Compulsive Disorder through visual means in an artistic and unusual way. I will be orienting the whole piece around hands and how they are crucial in the anxiety relief achieved through different compulsions.

When doing research about OCDs and ways in which they have been represented in art, I came across a Polish filmmaker- Kat Napiorkowska, who mainly focuses on  mental disorders. The video she has made on OCD is not only highly insightful, accurate and relatable for anyone who suffers from the disorder, but also well-edited and aesthetically pleasing. I really admire the narration, although I do not think I will be using any in my own video.

The film seems very intimate and personal, and that is an effect that I want to achieve in my work. Similarly to Napiorkowska’s film, I will be doing a lot of close-ups and detailed shots, trying to keep them short and simple. The frames will be well-balanced and I will possibly use some symmetry to reflect some characteristics of the disorder. The cold, almost monochromatic colours seen in the video are a good representation of the topic and create a slightly tense and anxious atmosphere. I am considering using a similar colour palette.

The idea for my film came across rather abstractly – I knew I was interested in a commercial for a cosmetics brand, but there was no concrete idea for what exactly. I tend to find a lot of inspiration in music, because the melodies of a song create a feeling and image in my head. Melanie Martinez’s album “Cry Baby” focuses on the character Cry Baby, a sort of childlike embodiment of the singer facing her current issues and concerns. The entire album has a whimsical feel to it while tackling very serious matters, such as abusive familial relationships and the harms of modern societal beauty standards. ‘Mrs. Potato Head’ in particular is difficult to watch: it is centered around a young infatuated couple, both attractive and happy. The man presents the woman with a slip for a facelift appointment, assuring her it will be an improvement. Driven by either love or insecurity, the woman follows through, enduring a surgery stuffing her chest, plumping her lifts, and altering her face. The visuals are haunting, if not a bit uncomfortable, as you witness the surgeon carve and peel off her skin, leaving her blotchy, misshapen, and deeply depressed. The man leaves her, disgusted by her new appearance (which he paid for), and quickly replaces her.

My film is not so serious as this, but the music video struck a chord with me. I wanted to capture a modern problem and am hoping to incorporate a childlike whimsy to filming. It’s too easy to provide a message about “loving the real you,” it’s about creating media that sticks with viewers so they remember the visuals and connect it with the message. Part of what makes Melanie Martinez so memorable is how she forces her audience to watch very harsh realities in a childlike way – it is jarring, in fact. Adult situations are, clearly, meant for adults, and by styling it to be colorful and cute, we as an audience squirm. But it sticks, and it works. Storytelling, I  believe, is less efficient if it’s easy to put together, and I’m hoping to create something like that, even if it is less cynical than Martinez’s work.

With my budget, I know I cannot uphold the atmosphere I would like, with brighter colors and decorations, but I am hoping to edit my film to have a somewhat similar feel to ‘Mrs. Potato Head.’ I love how there are some very dull and dreary scenes, but it all has the same feeling. The bright atmosphere tricks you into thinking everything will be happy, and if I can incorporate that, I’d be very pleased.

 

We didn’t have time to show this video today own the lecture but it’s a great example of the “one take” shot (albeit a looped one).

No.5 The One-Take (One-Shot)

Kylie Minogue/ Come Into My World

Director: Michel Gondry

France/2002/ mins

Grammy award winning song given the Gondry “Infinite Loop” treatment with a lot of “cut & paste”.

useful link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_shot_(music_video)

https://youtu.be/OsA27ueSODY

The advert for ASICS opens with a dark setting to create the misè en scene which changes throughout the advert in order to show the runners progression overtime as well as the changes in outfit. The goal of the runner is explained through the technique of a loop which reveals the runner is trying to beat herself, hence the title and slogan of the advert ‘Better Your Best’.

Within this commercial I learnt a lot of techniques I would like to use in my own commercial for Nike, such as the slick cross over from ambient noise to non-diegetic music which continues throughout the advert creating a more realistic scene for the audience to follow, appealing to the everyman due to its relatability. Within the storyline we see the runner struggle and fall, also creating a more realistic and appealing advert as it is something an audience can relate with. I like the choice of the music within this advert too as it draws attention and keeps the commercial exciting, as without the music, it becomes more plain and boring to watch. 

I also like the choice of shot types within this commercial as they use a mixture of extreme long shots and close ups which helps the audience establish the scene but also focuses them to what the advertisement is about; trainers and running. 

 

In 2012 Nike created a campaign titled ‘Find your greatness’ which consists of a series of short commercials showing regular people (not athletes or traditionally fit looking people) achieving things that to some would not be considered great but because it’s that characters own personal journey, it’s great to them; ‘Find Your Greatness’. Each commercial consists of a voiceover commenting unexpected inspirational advice, for example; ‘Greatness needs a lot of things, But it doesn’t need an audience’. It gives the everyman the inspiration to work on what they think is greatness and not to compare to other people. I like this campaign because the commercials are simplistic in that they focus on a single character doing a fairly simplistic action and use only ambient/ diegetic sound effects accompanied by a voiceover.

Within these commercials, and amongst some other research, I began to pick up on the traditional structure for Nike’s commercials;

• A slogan in their typeface with a full stop at the end.
• The logo on its own as the last shot overlaid onto a slow moving clip – Futura ultra condensed bold.

These are elements I will need to include in my commercial in order to make it look realistic and professional.

We all know BBC’s stunning Planet Earth series. Inspired by the visuals, narrative and sound design, I want to explore ways in which I can apply filming and editing techniques similar to that seen within the series, within my short film about Guernsey.

Colour grading is something that I desire to learn and believe it will enable my short film to have further impact on my audience. Colour grading done on film cameras such as that of blackMagic cameras or RED cameras gives the footage a sense of depth as the raw footage that comes out of the camera is extremely flat. Through colour grading, elements such as the leopard shown within the thumbnail above, become more bold and vibrant and detailed. This as a whole, will further enhance the appeal and effectiveness of the sequence to the eyes of the audience, especially in any travel/wildlife documentary.

The use of sound design within this series is something in particular that I want to learn. It adds so much more depth to the sequence than just purely having background music. I believe that the sound within any film is vital for creating an impact and this is especially so for commercials. Within my film, I want to incorporate sound design as it will add another element of depth. Although visuals are a key feature within any commercial, sound added to the visuals create a sequence that captivates the attention of an audience.

Because I am making a commercial for a location, simple ambient sounds such as that of background noise in a cafe, or sounds of the ocean added discretely within the sequence will bring the sequence to life. The subtle sounds will add to the film. This use of sound design is something in particular that I want to experiment with within the making process of the film.

Influenced by award winning creative agency, Beautiful Destinations, telling stories of a place and the community is something that I would like to do within my short film. Using cinematic B-roll and emphasis on sound design, I would like to create a short film about Guernsey and why some locals never want to leave. Creating a commercial for a beautiful place and encouraging others to visit – in the same way as Beautiful Destinations does with all of the content they produce.

With a following of over 13.5 million people within over 180 countries, Beautiful Destinations works with governments, charities and brands to promote positivity, inclusion, vibrancy and colour which are at the heart of the brand.

I will be exploring editing and filming techniques that will enable my film to be visually appealing whilst maintaining the goal and aim to encourage people to visit Guernsey.

Beautiful destinations editor Ninoia Langer, uses many different techniques within the short films. Transitions are elements that Langer uses continually within his edits. Transitions such as a luma fade, rotation and many more, have become an internet sensation within the internet film community. Inspired by this use of transitions, I might look at ways in which I can create transitions that will add to my film. Ninoia Langer also uses techniques as slow motion and through using a timecode function within after effects creates a speed-ramp effect which add a new element of motion to the sequence. This combined with a ‘whoosh’ sound effect, together adds a stylistic feature which causes beautiful destination’s video’s to stand out from the crowd.

Furthermore, looking at the techniques used by Beautiful destinations and that of sound design and colour grading, I want to add these to my film and generate a commercial for Guernsey that stands out from previous commercials for Guernsey.

I decided to look at fan-made title sequences to see how other people interpreted a show and came across one someone made for Once Upon a Time, it is not the opening but the ending credits, however, the style of the video is very interesting. The use of still images and animation is captivating.

Images from http://parallelteeth.com/Merk-I-m-Easy

This is a really nice example of using photoshop to make motion. It is not title sequence but the way it create the mask to the man and the animated images are  extremely visually attractive and worked quite well. I think it is also a good idea to learn from how it made the video and apply what has been learnt on the title sequence we made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0O0AScybwg