Film 301 - Shooting for my Artefact

Monday 20th November 2017                Research and Experimentation     Lectures: Kaz, Dan, Andy

Cinematic techniques used for my artefact film

For my artefact film, my short film primarily consists of locked of camera shots, using the art of long takes as a way to portray a young soldiers journey as he walks across the moorland scape.

For the middle of the film I wanted a fast paced montage which would consist of references towards my intended theme of remembrance.

Here are a few screen grabs from the footage for the middle of my artefact film 

(screenshots taken using preview)

Holding a Poppy out in front - adjusting the opacity to give a ghostly effect

Walking towards the air-raid shelter, about to take a Poppy out of my inside coat pocket

For the ending of the film I opted to use a slider, however, as I had never used this piece of equipment I was unaware of the amount of space that it covered. The idea was great and once everything was put into motion, I feel like the transition of shot to shot worked well once they were superimposed over one another. The weather on the day was great as well, slightly overcast with a cool breeze which meant that my uniform wouldn't flap about.

Here are a few behind the scenes shots from shooting on location at the graveyard 

(all of these shots were taken using my phone). 

Slider kit that was employed 

Slider (Wide angled Sigma lens 10-15mm)

Adjusting the slider head and the height of the slider legs

Dressed up ready for the shoot - On location at the graveyard. 

Film 301 - Famous Visitor to Harrowbeer

Sunday 12th November 2017         Research and Experimentation      Lecturers: Kaz, Dan, Andy

The Glenn Miller Story - 1954

For my graduation film, I am going to have a section which illustrates a few famous stars who visited Harrowbeer Airfield during its time of use. Glenn Miller was one of the famous people to visit the station, after years of hard work and determination, he formed his own band and his own arrangements. I wanted to look into this further and stumbled upon the 1954 American film "Glenn Miller Story" (The Glenn Miller Story, 1954) which was directed by Anthony Mann. The film stars James Stewart as Glenn Miller and June Allyson who plays his wife called Helen Miller, but before she was called Helen Burger.

The film details the life of Glenn and how he went from an audition, writing his own arrangements for which lead to himself finding the right sound and forming his own band, who over time became one of the most successful groups of the band era. They became famous for one of their biggest songs in America, titled "Moonlight Serenade" He has it all, a beautiful wife, his own band, money, a family but he enlists and gives up his fame and success in order to entertain the troops, there was a great scene where they were onset during World War II.

I paid close attention to the way that video clips and stills of newspapers were being overlayed, it helped to illustrate the story of how Glenn Miller's band became such a hit, thinking of this film as a historical piece which consists of the rise and fall of Glenn Miller and his band. I particularly liked the section of the film where we see Glenn playing alongside Louis Armstrong and the color rapidly changes in a consistent cycle across the screen. I felt like this looked considerably vibrant, not only that but it was a very effective way of making the band who were positioned in the foreground, stand out from the background.

References
The Glenn Miller Story. (1954). [film] United States: Universal-International.

Film 301 - Iranian New Wave Cinema

Thursday 9th November 2017            Research and Experimentation     Lecturer: Kaz, Dan, Andy

The work of Abbas Kiarostami

Iranian New Wave Cinema - Five 2003  - pays homage to Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu

We watched a short film that was directed by Abbas Kiarostami Five (Five, 2003), a film which consists of 5 different long takes, with the themes of water, nature, and animals. I felt that this abstract piece of work was very interesting and I would like to have a go at implementing the ideas of long take and fixed camera angles into my research and experimentation module submission.What's unique about this piece of work is that it revolved heavily around fixed camera shots and visuals for the first 4 long takes. The short consisted of 5 sections which I have broken down below;

1). Sea waves close in towards the shore. we watch a piece of driftwood being swept along the beach, the force of the waves break the wood but we carry on spectating to see if the two bits of wood become connected and aligned within the frame. 

2). Wide angled shot which portrays the sea in the background, the consistent flow of waves and in the foreground, we witness passer by's. I felt like this shot, in particular, consisted of multiple layers, I also liked the way that there is an empty frame towards the end of the frame which we haven't seen up till now. 

3). At first glance, I thought that the animals were seals, I liked the transition changes through changing the saturation which fades us into the next shot as well as bleaching the ocean out. Particularly liked the ripple effect of the waves as they change course, visible in the background when the saturation adjustments take place. 

4). A wide-angle shot which portrays a group of ducks waddling in front of the screen, side to side, strange foley noises created to replicate the movement of the animals along the sand.  

5). Unlike the 4 shots previous, this long take revolves heavily around the sound design, we hear the animals and can see a small ripple of water which moves from the center of the screen to the top of the frame. About 3/4 of the way through this we can visibly see that the object that has been reflected in the moon, this then cuts out to a wide angled shot of the sea at Dawn.

Here is an image from the film Five (2003) - Long Take No.3

Here is a film that I created alongside a few students in response to Five called One Filling, I edited this piece with the intention of experimenting with sound distortion and color correction.

One Filling from Luke Curno on Vimeo.

References

Five. (2003). [film] The Caspian Sea in Iran and Spain: Kimstim.

Film 301 - Ghostly Past

Monday 6th November 2017         Research and Experimentation       Lecturers: Kaz, Dan, Andy

Ghostly Past

Over the past week I have been researching into the different kinds of Uniforms that fit my Great Coat that I bought whilst out at Davidstow Airfield, which portrays 2 and a half rings on the shoulders. I decided that I wanted to dress up and look the part for the test shots as I could get a flavour for the costume design and how the colour would show up on a wide angled camera.

Here is a screen grab of myself dressed up as a Squadron Leader

For the shoot on the moorland I visited the RAF Harrowbeer Archives, Michael the owner lent myself an Officer's Hat with a cloth peak as well as an RAF kit bag which I stuffed with Camo netting and bean bags. I discovered that the coat that I bought at Davidstow would have belonged to a Squadron Leader, enhanced by the badges.

Whilst on the moors, I used my Nikon D3300 with my sigma wide angled lens ranging between 15-20mm, I set the camera up on the tripod to film a 20 second clip where there would be no movement within the frame. Then I would let the camera roll for a second time as I walk across the screen, I would then layer both pieces of footage over each other in the edit and then I would change the opacity to make myself look like a ghost walking across the screen.

Here are a few screen grabs from my overlay experiment

I had the idea of stitching together footage I had filmed of a spitfire at the Harrowbeer Airfield event, I then filmed myself pretending that I was tracking the plane in the sky, changing the opacity again meant that I looked like a ghost from the past.

As well as the moorland shots, I experimented with the gravestones and graveyard, a panning shot which tracked across the gravestones of a crew who crashed, I took still images of the gravestones and then superimposed them onto the footage, creating freeze frames but adding consistency to the movement of the frames.

Here is a screen grab to show the experiment with the graveyard and gravestones

I have decided that for my Research and Experimentation module, that I want to create a short film to do with Rememberance Day. I shall create the character of a young soldier who once worked in the RAF force and was posted at RAF Harrowbeer. Another shot idea that I have come up with will involve footage of myself holding a poppy in my hand, clenching it tightly in my fist, but I will overlay this shot with another shot where I drop the Poppy onto the floor. 

After testing out different kind of shots I have been thinking about a way to connotate the idea of a film about a soldier who is being remembered while remembering others. For the final shot of the film I want to use a slider for two shots, the first shot will be static portraying myself saluting soldiers graves. This will be overlayed with a slider shot which will slide across the graves so the frame will transform from a static shot into a consistent movement. 

Film 301 - Moorland Re-Wilding Shoot

Friday 3rd November 2017       Research and Experimentation       Lectures: Kaz, Dan, Andy

Moorland Re-Wilding Shoot

For this filming shoot, I have partnered up with a student on my course who has a key interest in sound recording, while I await the birds, he will be set up with a Parabolic microphone nearby to capture the surrounding atmosphere. The location although perfect for my nature filmmaking, it wasn't the best for sound recording as the moorland spot was just off of the main road, which meant that the mic would constantly pick up the sound of the cars as they went on by.

I decided upon embarking into the outdoors to test out and experiment with other ways to film my footage for the rewilding section of my graduation film which will consist of a variety of different shots which can be cut together to create a fast-paced rhythmic montage. 

A week previous I accompanied a bird ringer who I have known for many years, specializing within this niche, monitoring and reporting his findings to the British Trust for Ornithology. He would first set up the nets which are where the birds would fly into the net and get caught up in the netting, but they would be unharmed. In order to attract the species of birds, he would place speakers in the middle on the floor of the netting which would play the audio track of the birds that he was trying to capture.

Here are some behind the scenes shots from the bird ringing (taken on my phone).

I have downloaded and mixed together to create an audio track which has a duration of an hour, I hope to place this using my phone and placing it into a waterproof bag, chance to experiment with different ways of attracting nature to increase my chances of success. I would like to add that I shall not be using a net of any sort as I want to capture the birds on their flight paths through the treetops.

Here is a link to a blog post which goes into more detail about the setup for the shoot and the process for creating my wildlife set.