B2- Cinematography Challenge
Idea Generation
Pre Production
Our brief for this project was to create a 1–3 minute microfilm that is inspired by a portrait, analysing the portraits colour scheme, framing, focal points etc. The portrait that we chose for our microfilm was ‘Girl Holding a Doll’ by Marion Peck. This painting features a girl with distorted facial features, with tight pincurled hair, and a pink white lace button shirt, holding a doll. One of her eyes is looking at viewer, one eye facing towards her doll.
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We looked at this portrait and used the colours of the clothes, backgrounds, and highlight points when we were planning what shots we would be using, what colour grading we would have, as well as colour theory with 3 colours being used, known as triad.
We were also inspired by fashion designer ‘Maison Margiela’s ‘Haute Couture’ Spring/Summer 2024 collection. This collection featured beautifully crafted designs, featuring heavy dramatic silhouettes and Victorian era garments. This style of clothing represented our original portrait rather well and we decided to use certain ideas that feature in this collection.
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These factors contribute to the narrative of our film as the idea of a dollhouse and a doll family gave us the idea of a fake happy family. Characters that have been purposefully manufactured to look as ideal as possible, but none of it is real. This is how we got the idea of the themes of absent paternity and impaired fertility in our film. The portrait that we used as inspiration ties in well with this as it shows a distorted looking girl holding a doll and Pat McGrath’s makeup for Margiela’s show displays the theme of porcelain doll mixed with humanity.
We knew that with the limited time we had, and the subtleness of our story build up, that we didn't need to use dialogue to get the point across. With this, when we were planning our project we didn’t have a classic script to build from, we decided that we wanted music to be playing throughout, the choice of music will be up to each crew member as we would be making our own edits. We looked at shots from classic French new wave films, looking at the contrast used in a lot of their lighting and also keeping note of the structure of the shots, as a lot of them tell a story that we would want to portray with the plot we were building.
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We wanted to use black and white to correctly address these French new wave references, but also wanted colour to stick to the brief. With this we transitioned from black and white into colour in all of our edits. We created storyboards and shot lists with these shots in mind.
Challenges & Solutions
Production Decision
One of the issues that we faced was time constraints. The reason for this is we were going to originally use a different portrait, with an entirely different plot, colour scheme and a completely different production experience entirely. With this we were left with about half the time we would originally of had if we stuck to our original idea. With this, we had already decided that we wanted no dialogue as we didn't feel as if it was necessary to the plot. This helped us when planning production as we knew we didn’t have to consider a large window of time as audio takes up a lot of time to configure when filming. With the small amount of content needed to be filmed as well, we decided to only dedicate one day to filming. We decided to film as soon as we could, this day of filming went ahead the same week we developed the plot. We did this so we could allow ourselves more time to complete the project, with the production aspect being the only time that all of us in the crew have to be present at the same time at the same place, allowing the workflow to not be as seamless as the other stages of production.
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The time constraints that we had meant that we had to re-evaluate which factors of the film we were putting most of our energy into, with the main principle of the brief being colour grading, we decided to focus mainly on post production, therefore shortening our production time frame. With this we had to leave out many aspects that we were going to have in our original idea such as the large cast, multiple filming days, audio and a longer run time.
One of the reasons we decided to change our idea is because our original idea had a large cast, when it came to planning production it was very hard to dedicate a time where all of us would be able to film, as well as audio, as this was an aspect we had to consider for this idea.
We also changed our idea because of the location we chose to film in, with it being very far away and everyone in the cast and crew having to be provided with a train ticket, the budget would have been far too much for us to afford.
When it came to lighting, we still wanted to reference the Maison Margiela show as well as the French new wave shots, with heavy dramatic contrasting lighting being used in a lot of the shots in that. We thought that these features could go hand in hand and slot together seamlessly. This is because the Maison Margiela show had models with a glossy finish on their skin, accentuating the highlight points of the models, making them look ‘porcelain’. We decided to utilise this as we thought that this could highlight and enhance what we were trying to achieve with the French new wave shots.
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For our camera work we had created a story board with shots that we had seen in French new wave, we used these shots to tell the story. This goes along with the direction, with each camera angle highlighting the action in the shot, such as one of the characters swigging from a flask.
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One thing that we were wary of when choosing these shots for inspiration was the idea of choosing shots that we like the look of, but they don’t make sense with the narrative that we have chosen. We decided to use similar aspects of the shots, such as the framing of the two characters, but alter their positioning and the action in the scene to match the narrative, with us moving one of the characters to face the right side of the shot, and the other character facing forward to make our shot more conversational and less tense.
For my final product, I wanted a highly edited final product as I felt as if the music video style filming and storytelling would be accentuated by high production editing, with big dramatic transitions and more fast paced shots.
Unforseen Challenges
Although our production day was very successful and we weren’t faced with many issues, there is still always some issues that rise when bringing an idea that has been planned within a group into fruition. One of these was changing around some of our shots. Our reasoning for this is, we didn’t realise how little space we were going to have. With this we had to make some of our wider angle shots, more close up. This wasn’t a major problem as we were still able to translate our message in these shots anyway.
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Even though these restrictions meant that we had to adapt our visions so that we could make last minute contingencies, the close up shots that we ended up doing added to our overall intimate effect of our film.
Another issue we faced was low battery. We had a few camera batteries but when it came to swapping these batteries out and charging them in shifts, we eventually started have less power in each battery after each change over. This was a problem that only really set in towards the end of filming. With this, we had to be aware of how long we were keeping the camera on in between takes. Also rehearsing how we were going to film each take whilst the camera was off so we wouldn't be running the risk of the camera dying each take.
Competency
In pre-production, a technical skill that I had developed is curating and crafting a storyline with no dialogue. This gave me more of an abstract understanding to storytelling. When it comes to practicing filmmaking within the course, a lot of the storytelling is heavily reliant on the scriptwriting. This is something that I have heavily relied on in the past, although the writing in my previous projects has been well thought out and constructive to the plot as a whole, I don’t credit myself as a writer, and a lot of unseasoned writing has held my projects back in the past, with this I was able to tell a story without having this constraint.
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In production I was able to develop my skills in camera operation and directing. Though I wasn’t the main camera operator, I still assisted in a lot of the shots that made it to the final edit. One of the camera techniques I was able to polish was ‘focus pulling’. With directing I was able to work on my music video style filming, this is a skill that is important for me to of worked on as music videos are projects that I am working on as of now and projects that I’d like to work on in my future.
Using no dialogue was something that we were slightly hesitant to commit to, the reason for this is the idea of us not being able to portray the storyline well enough. With this we decided to put more attention into the set, costuming and cinematography to translate our message. With the costuming representing the doll aspect, the set being bright and childlike representing a doll house and our cinematography being up close bringing a sense of intimacy but also tenseness.
In post-production, I was able to develop my skills in editing as a whole. Though editing has been my main skill that I have developed over the last year and a half in this course, I had been thinking of working on a project where I could utilize many different skills within editing rather than just splicing and colour grading. With this I was able to curate a final edit with lots of different skills within editing, such as transitions, effects, altering the opacity and speed so that each shot could slot correctly in the final product.
Approach Post Production
As briefly discussed, I went into this project hoping to be able to learn new skills within editing, as well as building from skills I have already developed. My reasoning for this is, we decided to use music as our main audio throughout all of our microfilms. With this I am able to create a highly edited final product as small intricately edited transitions and effects can blend better with music rather than dialogue. My final product starts out in black and white, as inspired by French new wave. The shots are in time with the beat of the music. The first half of the film shows a girl preparing for a baby, with a shot of a calendar revealing ‘DUE DATE??’. We try to tell the story of an inactive husband with shots of him drinking, and a clear shot of her speaking and him getting distracted. The microfilm transitions to colour as a film reel, showing archived shots I didn’t end up using, pulls past the screen revealing shots in colour. The final scene translates the feeling of intensity. With the still shots, made still using warp stabilizer, I did this because we filmed with handheld camera and I wanted to create more still and serene series of shots, and the dark vignette cast over the shots. With this, I was able to convey my initial message through the editing.
One of the transitions I used for this film was a film reel, displaying lots of stills from some of the archived shots that I liked, the film reel pulled past the camera and the stills on the film reel go from black and white into colour. When the film reel pulls past the screen it reveals a shot in colour, which contrasts the first half of the film which is in black and white. I used this transition because it felt like the most natural and seamless way to make the transition from these two contrasting colour schemes. We decided to make this jump in colour scheme to highlight the intensity and the build up that the film had been creating, helping us build the storyline without dialogue.
Self Reflection
In conclusion, I have learned lessons throughout all production stages. The pre-production stage taught me production management under a time constraint, with me being able to manage equipment, locations, wardrobe, props and filming within a week. In production I have built my skill of camera operation, trying new techniques such as dolly zoom and focus pulling. Aswell as refining my skill in directing by directing a new style of film, music videos. In post production I have taught myself new features within premiere pro such as different transitions, effects, and settings within a clip such as speed and duration.
My biggest takeaway from this challenge as a whole has been expanding my storytelling skills, whereas usually if I were to tell a story in one of my films, there would be dialogue, any project I have made prior without dialogue hasn’t been storyline based. Using factors like mise en scene, to really tie in the plot with the cinematography such as using doll-like costuming and props, practising the skill of showing not telling. Though in future projects I will likely use dialogue again to assist the storytelling, this experience has taught me skills that I can apply to these projects on top of that so I can create an even more powerful plot, and invoke more emotion from the viewer.
