WEEK 4: CINEMATOGRAPHY

For this week, we had a spokeswoman who came in to teach us about CINEMATOGRAPHY and will be with us this weekend to help us on our shoots. Her name was Janet and some of her credits include "THE WORST WITCH", "MURDER GAME" and a Political Broadcast for the Conservatives in 1997 where a Granny gets shot!

Her background is actually stemmed from English as she studied the subject at York University however she got involved in Independent Films. She then learnt Cinematography at the National Film and Television School.

One of the first things that she showed us was the beginning of a DVD which you can buy from the BFI, called "VISION OF LIGHT." It's relatively old but in the opening two minutes, we learnt ONE MAJOR thing about the role:

"A CINEMATOGRAPHER needs to TELL the AUDIENCE what they NEED to look at."  It's a CREATIVE PROCESS rather a CRAFT as well as an INTERPRETIVE ART FORM rather than recording LIVE ACTION.

HOW TO TELL A STORY?

To achieve this, we need to learn and understand the CAMERA and AESTHETICS to create a perfect balance between the TECHNICAL side and the ARTISTIC side. There are TWO things about CAMERA that as a CINEMATOGRAPHER you need to understand how it can EFFECT the image and they are: LENS and LIGHTNING.

LENS.

There are two types of LENS that we can use, a WIDE lens and a LONG lens. The WIDE lens shows an ELONGATED PERSPECTIVE and as we ZOOM IN, we COMPRESS that PERSPECTIVE to narrow the DEPTH OF FILED we have.

This in turn allows us to FOCUS on what needs to be IN FOCUS and directs the AUDIENCE'S EYE in where we want them to look, which we was TAUGHT right at the beginning.

A COUNTER ZOOM is where the CAMERA moves BACK as you ZOOM IN and keep the FRAME the same SIZE. The EFFECT of this keeps the SUBJECT where they are and the BACKGROUND ALTERS and moves.

Here are two examples:

The EFFECT this has on the AUDIENCE leaves them at UNEASE for NO APPARENT REASON; it's like we are on DRUGS as the TWO CHARACTERS remain the SAME SIZE and STILL compared to the BACKGROUND which moves BACKWARDS and FORWARDS.



However, the EFFECT this SHOWS is the need of URGENCY and our PROTAGONIST finally sees the GREAT WHITE SHARK for the first time. It VISUALLY shows how SURREAL of the entire SCENE as we see his REACTION seeing a boy being eaten by the GREAT WHITE SHARK, which is SURREAL enough to witness, everyone PANICS and the PACE quickens, which can be seen with the QUICKNESS of this COUNTER ZOOM

SPIELBERG is a MASTER in EMOTION MANIPULATION as another thing that a CINEMATOGRAPHER needs to GRASP is the EMOTIONAL CORRELATION between what all these TOOLS they can use to CREATE the SCENE and what EMOTION EFFECT it has on the AUDIENCE.



This ORSEN WELL'S film does EXACTLY that.

The VERY FIRST IMAGE we see is the BOMB so the AUDIENCE ANTICIPATE when the bomb will EXPLODE. We KNOW that the BOMB has been place in the BONNET of the CAR in which the AUDIENCE see CONSTANTLY - WHEN will it BLOW?

TENSION is building from the OUTSET. In this OPENING we are TOLD many things:

We KNOW that it's set around the AMERICAN/MEXICAN BOARDER.
Our PROTAGONIST has just got MARRIED and he has just UNCOVERED some DRUG GANG.

Just like "CITIZEN KANE" there are no CUTS until the car EXPLODES at the end of the clip.

Another example (however I couldn't find it on YT) is from "ROSEMARY'S BABY" a 1968 film by POLANSKI. This scene that I will discuss about makes the AUDIENCE REACT in a way in which the EVENT was ACTUALLY happening.

The TELEPHONE SCENE in which we can HEAR the Grandmother on the PHONE, however we can't see her face - the AUDIENCE in the cinema's all TURNED THEIR HEADS to see AROUND the door frame. Very CLEVER!

LIGHTING.

Another CRUCIAL thing that needs to be understood is the IMPORTANCE of LIGHTNING as OVER LIGHTNING or UNDER LIGHTNING can really SPOIL a SCENE.

CINEMATOGRAPHERS get the SACK if they don't LIGHT an ACTOR/RESS properly to hide their wrinkles or something. You can use LIGHTING to aid your CREATION of a THREE DIMENSIONAL IMAGE as you LAYER the two types of LIGHT we have: HARD and SOFT light.

HARD LIGHT is sunlight on a clear sky whilst SOFT LIGHT is the amount of LIGHT pass through a CLOUDY SKY. Therefore, it's how much SHADOW is in the scene.

If you were to watch the clip from "TOUCH OF EVIL" look how LIGHT has been LAYERED to create SHADOW - we see the SHADOW of the guy with the bomb across the wall and overall the scene is in SOFT LIGHT as there are a lot of SHADOWS.

This can also help us to DETERMINE what the STYLE of a film is. GENRES such as HORROR and FILM NOIR will be in SOFT LIGHT as they RELY on SHADOW to create SUSPENSE, TENSION and ANXIETY as that's what we would EXPECT to see. However, a COMEDY or a MUSICAL would be HARD LIGHT as there are no SHADOWS at all.

SOFT LIGHT comes with a WARNING: It MAY FLATTEN THE IMAGE as there are no LAYERS.

"A PROPHET" a 2009 French Film by JACQUES AUDIARD has INCREDIBLE LIGHTING and we just watched the opening SEQUENCE which was PITCH BLACK and the best to describe is that the LIGHT looks like to be from an annoying light bulb that swings as it just HITS the DETAIL in which we NEED to SEE i.e. the handcuffs, the bars, our CENTRAL CHARACTER'S face.

If you have the opportunity to watch it, do so!

All of this I WISHED I knew more about as looking back at HEADLINE, for a HORROR film there was quite a lot of LIGHTING which we couldn't avoid - we HAD to film in in a SUMMER'S AFTERNOON and I won't have NO WHERE NEAR the equipment I am going to have on Sunday. Yet this is all just a LEARNING CURVE and I have been thinking about how I would film my SECOND FILM.

I've been trying to work out how I would FILM the laptop and BLOCK out the CREW'S and the CAMERA REFLECTIONS as that was another thing in which went wrong in HEADLINE - I think to do this, I need to CAST SHADOW on the part of the LAPTOP in which our REFLECTIONS will be seen and just show our TWO CHARACTERS.

Another PROBLEMATIC scenario will be how to CLOSE A DOOR via the SUPERNATURAL - that will be the first thing I will FILM as it will be CHALLENGING to do. I have an IDEA so fingers' cross it'll WORK.

Thanks again Janet for this week's seminar!