AD5800-Blog
AD5800 Blog:
Act one- Introduction: introduce your story and characters. Engage us in some way. Give us a reason to care. Act two- Development: the development phase. This is usually the longest part of the story. It is where you develop your story and/or characters. Impart information. Act three- Resolution: if you have introduced a mystery or question, this is where it is answered. Conflict and crisis are resolved; the story is bought to a finish in a satisfying way.
An interlinked (by theme0 set of 2 videos for web placement, reflecting on life stories in and around Cheltenham and Gloucester while featuring individuals and/or groups of concern.
All videos must be uploaded to vimeo as final pieces.
An online blog on research and documentation include target audience, storyboarding and critic al analysis of the works produced including practice shots and pieces filmed. Even when the pieces do not concern the subject matter in focus if I am practicing videography techniques.
Ideas
First Idea
Shoot people in the park. Filming the many walks of life that use the park. As I have used the park over the course of being at university, I have noticed that lots of different types of people use the park for their own specific type of refuge from the everyday stresses. I believe that a detailed and comprehensive report and documentary film on the park would therefore be a great project to shoot, as there is such an array of happenings. My idea and goal would be to show the contrasting nature of peoples that use the park from the wildlife who live at the park, to the drug uses who use the cover of the wide empty space to take drugs without being disturbed.
shoot in and around the park, exploring the life and people who live around and use the facilities. Shoot both day and night to get a variety of people and ways of using the park.
30 SECS: Short and sweet, start with nature and gradually move up for climax ending with the use of drugs and other narcotics and anti-social behaviour.
1.weather. (Light, Wind, Rain, Snow?, Thunder & Lighting),
2.Animals. (insects, birds, mammals, rodents, pets)
3.People walking in the day. (Family’s, elderly, couples, prams,)
4. Sports. (swings and other playground equipment, Football, Frisbee, rugby, Skating)
5. anti-social Behaviour. (Pit bikes, fireworks, destruction, intimidation, hoods)
6. Drugs. (Drug’s para, drug use, druggies)
3 Min:
Same as first but longer.
Unfortunately, the assignment has been set in winter, less people are using the park as well as there being little animals or insects to be able to shoot. The skaters have also gone into hibernation for the winter, with this loss of so much subject matter I no longer feel the park can be used as a project to source affective results to standard I want to aim to achieve.
I have therefore decided to try and find a new subject matter to be able to shoot
Second Idea
Gloucestershire animal save
Gloucestershire animal save is an organisation closely related to Gloucestershire vegan society, they are an animal rights group aimed at informing the public on the real meat industry. They organise meets where they will peacefully say goodbye and show love and compassion to the animals that are being taken away to the slaughterhouse. This would be a very powerful although quite gruesome subject matter (especially to any meat eaters). My aim of the project and video would be the same as the organisations, to show the truth about the British meat industry as well as shine a bit of light on the organisation themselves.
Unfortunately, there are no planned meets for the recent future, and as I believe this would be a group that I need to become imbedded into, to be able to create a true report and documentary there again is not enough time or meetings to be able to perform this task affectively (more so for the 500 images/as I refuse to outright fire hundreds of frames without a care).
Third Idea
Interview street subjects
Interviewing my street subjects is something that may strengthen my street photography greatly, doing some field research and finding out the true perspectives of my subjects. As well as venturing into the side of street photography no one else I know have has done before.
The documentary film will take a third person point of view recorded from the perspective of the first. I believe that a lot of doors could be opened while doing this project as well as a lot of different characters can be brought in front of the camera. Although I am not sure how well this can be executed and how many of my subjects that are happy to be photographed will be happy to be filmed.
I have since found that my subjects although are willing to be photographed on the street tend to shy away from any interviews, the people who are willing are similar in character. Meaning my documentary film won’t have the critical point of view on my street photography that I want it to have gathering both side to the argument of why I should and shouldn’t photograph. Giving only a positive view of my photography from the subject’s point of view will not deliver the same strength a critical documentary would.
Although I believe I could get some negative reactions to my photography on camera, but they would have to be provoked into reacting this way taking away the point to the documentary and completely unbiased point of view. This critical standpoint can only be truly understood when filmed in an interview style gathering clear information from each subject to put together a true understanding of my photography from their point of views.
Same Questions for all subjects....
Fourth Idea
Chris hood. The metal detector/possibly a group of them?
I currently think this will be the bet project to shoot for the videography as well as making some decent subject matter to be able to shoot. I feel that metal detecting is an art that not many can appreciate, most seeing it as junk finders. Although most may see what they find as junk, there is a lot to be had and found underground. There has also been a lot of different news stories about people finding lost riches stashed in the dirt.
I think this would be the most achievable project for collecting the 500 pictures as this can include a variety of images from portraits, landscapes and detail shots. As well as being something that can be controlled a bit more, instead of being something to document in live action both on moving image and stills. Therefore, this will be the project I will push for most being the most likely to get a usable project out of.
Since confirming with Chris, I have found out that he is currently just detecting in his mum’s garden. Although I feel this is restricting this will be a great place to start as it shows him close to home somewhere he is comfortable and at home. I may see if there are any other locations close by that we can also go to although I don’t think the small environment will change any aspect of the film apart from risking a repetitive nature. This means I will have to rely on my videography and editing skills to keep the viewer awake and aware. I will also add a small bit of talking by Chris himself which will be recorded before any shooting, to help put a narrative into my head which will affect the shooting that I do.
I have had a small bit of experience in videography doing commissions for small businesses alongside photography jobs. I have also worked on short movies with friends as well as being hired as a videographer for a small YouTube channel. I also feel very confident with a camera so creating the videography work will not be the greatest of challenges if I plan the shots well with a detailed plan and storyboard. as well as pre-planned questions to go off before any on spot to progress any details I want to expand upon that I uncover with planned questions. I want to turn what is seen as quite a dull activity into something is understood through the use of quite abstract ways of shooting.
I also feel that there is something very strange but familiar with metal detecting something that I have found martin parr likes to highlight about the British people in his book Strange and Familiar. Looking at this book as gave me an insight of how I would like this project to be presented not only in the stills but in the videography as well. I have looked more into Raymond Deparden and the work he did on Glasgow, which demonstrates his great use of colour in the contrasting landscape around his subjects. This to me is the same aesthetic look I wish to get out of the metal detecting project as Chris looks shiny hidden treasure buried beneath decades worth of mud at the back of his mother’s garden.
I have always liked to watch Hitchcock movies as well as an interest in film noir style lighting and shooting, which I feel will make me obscure the frame a lot when shooting as well as shoot through a lot of different things and angles of shooting. All while still trying to make the frames flow together by colours, shapes, textures and lighting, although this will take a lot of thinking and setting up shot in the field, due to me not being able to scout the location
Fifth Idea:
Unfortunately I had Chris hood bail on my shoot as I was half way through carrying the equipment on public transport to the shoot location. This then made me drastically rethink my ideas when out shooting, I have decided to make my 90 seconds video studying the movements of people while linking my 500 pictures back to it by further studying subjects in and around public transport. My 3 minute video will tie in with further research into subjects and lighting for my street photography this will tie in with an interview and shoot of some close friends making their art. Studying others arts and the creation of their art as well as speaking about their art and inspirations, even when the art does not relate to your own, I believe it is very important and influencing to your own art.
This video will be shot over a number of days while the artists prepare and create their artwork, I have also decided on the equipment I will be using. I shall use a canon 6D with a 105 macro, 28mm 2.8, 17-40mm and a 50mm f1.4 to create the video I feel these lenses will cover the range I have envisioned. I will also use a rode mic and a zoom to pick up detailed sounds. I have also had to consider a way of shooting close up on the floor with a tripod. This lead me to find out about inverting the tripod heads onto the bottom of the bottom of the centre column where it would normal be located at the top. I have also purchased hot shoe converters for both a tripod screw mount and camera base screw mount which will hopefully mean I can some how evert inverting the camera.
I will also be using some LED panels to give the shot enough light for the macro set up, I will mainly be focusing upon the creation and painting of the art. The artists main goals within their work is to create fractals within the paint using various techniques and mixtures of oils, paints and water. The finished print is done on glass I will make sure to include some reflections within the film to have some closer ties with my own personal work. I have also decided to include my own demonstrations of the fracturing in the natural environment.
I will shoot paints mixing with water as I already know that this creates fractal like patterns, I will use a lightbox to light from underneath as I feel that this will give it the best lighting. I will also play around with different textures as well as different material maybe some oil and inks, this will hopefully give my own demonstration of what the artist themselves intend to represent in their art to my current understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njeCxUspmHk
The first video I watch was 10 steps for beginner film makers. In this video I learnt of a lot of different new sources for information as well as gain a lot of good tips for my own work. The main one being to plan ahead with the filming as well as inspiration for how to lay out my blog, due to the most important factors in videography. Those being equipment, storytelling, audio, lighting and videography techniques.
Although I am starting from the begging and treating myself as a beginner to videography I have done a lot before coming to university so a lot of outside information and inspirations that were obtained previously may not be included in the blog. Due to me not knowing where this inspiration came from mainly for different lighting, framing and videography techniques I may use. I also like to think for myself a lot and put my own thoughts and feelings into the work that I create. I find that in doing so, you make the work more your own, as well as creating something more unique and less generic for someone’s first documentary film.
Use video as an expressive and creative tool for the market and world of media work. Remember content is key to engaging your audience!
Equipment
The equipment I will be using will be a Fuji Xpro1 with an 18mm lens and a mixture of Pentax Ashai lens attached using an extension tube Pentax K mount to Fuji X mount.
I may also use a canon 1100d with a mixture of different lenses depending on the shot.
A Drift Ghost 4k action camera may also be used for small detail shots, attaching to an object for a POV shot or for more creative shots like being buried in the ground and uncovered. (a shot that I am currently thinking of using in the film, as a means of initially louring the viewer into the video)
I may also use external tungsten lights found on location pairing with any lighting techniques I will alter find depending on the wanted looks for the shot.
I will also be using an external Rode mic attached via the hotshoe of my camera. Paired with a zoom audio recorder for detailed sound recordings and interviewing.
A small gimbal may also be used to stop any camera shake during moving shots although this cannot be a guarantee a tripod will be present, paired with a skateboard this may make a useful and usable alternative for moving shots.
This will all be carried in a Lowpro Event messenger shoulder bag for easy access on location.
Story telling
Story telling can relate to a lot in the film, but I will mainly be talking about the way story telling effects the shooting and editing of a video. When shooting a video, it is best to try and get a story in your head of what you want to plan out in the video. You then support this by seeking for the best angle of shot and way of capturing, lighting and field of view best for the subject matter. For example my storyline will be based upon the actions that are presented to me during the creation of the art I will then try my best to capture the actions as the a presented and display them in chronological order supported by my own materials to better represent in video format what is being presented to by the artists. This will them be pieced together during the video editing which I also intend it to be a aesthetically beautiful film to look at.
Audio
The audio of the film will be a short interview with the artist that will be played over the chronically organised videos, this is to best represent and support the artists articulation of what their art is about. This should be an interesting part of the film that also flows well with the videos. I believe this will make it one of the hardest aspects of planning the film, I may even wait till the end of the editing to finally plan an interview to make sure that the audio flows with the final video.
Lighting
We will mainly be using some LED panels to provide sufficient enough lighting for the scene, I also think there thin stature and lightness will make them good for providing a moving Lightsource if needed for panning or certain other filming styles. They are also provided with barn doors meaning we can direct light around the scene this may make it a good aspect to making the videos flow together by use of the lighting.
Videography techniques
I have look at a lot of movies over my life over a lot of genres from musicals to horrors, I feel I have a detailed knowledge of different aesthetic techniques that can be used across both videography and photography genres. I feel very confident with the outcome of the videography content although I am not massively up to speed with video settings. This knowledge was mainly found with the creation of the first 90 second video which I then implemented into the 3 min video. Although I did not use sound recording all to much in the first so hopefully don’t run into any unexpected yet unaccounted problems with the sound.
Favourite films/inspiration
Here are some films that I watched to help inspire with the creation of my own video and for ideas when it comes to the shooting of my own videos.
Scott pilgrim verses the world
Moonrise kingdom
Mad max
Dick tracey
The cook, thief, his wife, her lover
The holy mountain
Sweeney todd
The fall
500 days of summer
The aviator
O, brother where art though
Sin city
Vertigo
Birds
A clock work orange
Enter the void
The shinging
Flouting weeds
The Danish girl
In the mood for lover
Zeitghost
The cove
Faces of death
Jesus camp
Deliver us from evil
500 pictures story/Evaluation
The 500 story pictures is one of the first photo stories I stuggled to create this was mainly due to the final picture count. I mainly shoot film down the my lack of needing to take hundreds of pictures to finally get a good one. This made it hard for me to stick to my preferred medium of film photography and analogue techniques and equipment without mentioning the absurd cost it would take to create the required amount of images.
This leaves me with not other option than to turn to digital photography and cameras with to say I dislike using would be an understatement. I never feel engaged with the cameras the only digital camera that gives you the same engagement and control of a film camera for me is the Xpro 1. Which doesn’t give me the full immersion with the subject matter and equipment but gets closer than any other digital camera I have tried. Although the camera is not full frame I counter acted this by using an 18mm lens this makes it look around 27mm full frame 35mm format.
The final images where going to be based upon the study of people and lighting in and around transport locations and hubs. This was to tie into my 90 second video which Is the study of people and lighting in the street scenes that I currently use. Along with the 3 min video which will be based upon the creation of somebody else’s art and the discussion with the artists. This will all then tie back to my personal street photography work, which will hopefully provide me with new sources of information, ideas and to help generate new work.
The 500 pictures will be taken off of the hip and away from the eye, a style I have mainly learnt from Tom Wood when I met him a few years ago. I implemented the day that I met him after he spoke about the random framing sometime delivering good results. As it kept him more hidden from the subjects giving him more time and delivering a candid moment every time. Although I did not use this technique for long stopping in fact before I even developed my first negatives from that technique of shooting. As I knew I already preferred framing the subjects and scenes myself, if I wanted a candid moment I needed to be faster and I can only blame myself for it so I need to earnt o just get faster and so this is what I did.
Although now I feel it is the perfect time to relook at shooting from the hip as it take many shots almost rapid fire of pictures to get a usefully framed and sharp image. Which makes It lot better that film photography, although I agree this will make the quality of my work diminish massively. I would hopefully in a real life situation be granted a pardon from digital camera’s by the editor if he was provided with supporting materials to demonstrate my use of analogue cameras and technuiqes which I know give a lot better results for me that digital. In the real world I don’t feel they would hesitate with substantial proof as well as making sure I do the job well if they want 500 with 20 finals, I would prefer to shoot 5 rolls and provide the 20 finals as I’m sure they would meet their reequipments even more so than digital, as each shot would have been considered very carefully.
I think that I have executed this brief to the specification of the brief, although I feel I should have shot the bet images on film and mad up the rest of the image count by DSLR. I feel that the images are not the best and I am not at all happy with them, feeling that they do not represent me well as a photographer nor the quality that I try and aim for.
I believe that If I shot a lot more then this may have helped as well as shooting from eye level instead of the hip and chest level. Although some shots came out pretty good, I feel that the study will go great from my street photography though. As although I couldn’t shoot this technique well with a digital camera I know I can shoot it well with a film camera so will definitely try and develop upon it. Maybe trying to get a certain camera tied in with this camera like I have with all the other styles I have developed I link them with a specific camera (as this makes I easier to pick back up and remember after a sustained period of time of not shooting that style). I am thinking maybe a Canon Canonnet QL19 Giii as this is a small camera perfect for what I think I need.
