Visual Culture Question

For my Visual Culture question I will explore "Is there such a thing as an author in film making? How can the outcomes of such a collaborative industry be attributed to one person? Discuss within the context of the
Auteur"
The first step in this process will be to define an auteur and then once I understand what an auteur is I will find auteurs from varying periods in film history and look at what they did for the industry and research into if these auteurs actually did these things alone or in a collaboration which has been overlooked.

Definition of Cinematography

The definition of cinematography is the art or science of motion picture. It this includes the technique of shooting and the development of film itself. 

The cinematographer is often referred to as the directors main visual assistant. 

I decided for my Professional Studies report I will research and write about 'The Role of the Cinematographer in Industry and its Developing Challenge form CGI'  

5th Production Meeting

	Action	Name
1.	Widen search, sending out more adverts for actors. Start to look at potential students for the role.	All
2.	Test green screen and the DVD glare to see the quality of video and sound.	All
3.	Put all emails and evidence of us trying to find actors. In pdf format.	All

For this meeting the whole group have been given the same tasks. We all have to search for an actress to play Sarah Connor and find some students who could possibly act as back ups. Also mine and Dans idea for using green screen is finally being tested and we are all attending a test in the studio. Finally we have to convert all the files we previously uploaded onto the the VLE into pdf format.

Email to Actress

"Hello, I am a Creative Film student at CCAD Hartlepool and my current project is to recreate a 2 minute scene from Terminator 2. We are searching for an actress to play Sarah Connor and are wondering if you would be willing to play the role. Unfortunately due to our current situation with only having a small budget this work will be unpaid but we will be willing to pay for your expenses and produce a copy of our project if you wanted one. Please be in touch as soon as possible, thank you.

Yours Faithfully

Abby Colclough" 

Step Outline

1. We see a young girl around the age of 7 crying and discover it is because both of her parents have died in a car accident.
2. Cutting to some time later when the girl is a young teen around 14 living in a children's home, we see her going to school and being bullied.
3. When she returns to the home she looks through her parents old things, trying to find antyhing that will make her feel better. She finds some old DVDs that they used to watch as a family.
4. She sits alone and watches one of the shows. It involves time travel and the girls gets obsessed with this and wants to use this as a way to escape her life and go back to when her parents are alive.
5. She gets books about advanced physics and theories about time travel being possible
6. The obsession with science get her bullied even more and her failing ideas push her to try and kill herself in the school bathrooms with some tablets she found in the home.
7. She is found by another student before she gets critical and is taken to hospital.
8. She wakes up in the hospital, surprised, but still convinced that she wants to die so she walks up to the roof with all the strength she has.
9. Just as she is standing on the edge, a nurse who has followed her stops her ad they simply sit on the roof and chat.
10.(a) The nurse understands the girl, they get along well and eventually the nurse adopts the girl into her own family.
10.(b) The nurse is actually the girl from the future who came back in time to tell herself that she was never going to jump but building a time machine was not the answer either, she just needed to find a friend who could support her.
10.(c) We do not find out who the nurse is but it is hinted that the nurse is the girl from the future.

Lighting Research

Lighting a room evenly or in 'high key' normally uses three lights; a key light, a back light and a fill light. The key light lights the main area of the room as a kind of flooding light, normally placed in front of the set to cover most of the main objects. The back light comes from the area behind the shot to assure that any important elements near the back of the shot are also lit well. Finally a fill light is placed somewhere around the shot to fill any shadows that could make the light seem uneven and to assure the lighting is softer.
'Low Key' lighting is when there is high contrast between the light and shadowy areas, often used to make a shot appear more dramatic or to make the tone more sinister. I will not being using this kind of lighting for our project but it would normally use only a key light and sometimes a back light but never a fill light.
For lighting I am also looking at Gels and since our film contains a shot that is mainly seem to be lit by daylight from a window, I am looking into using a blue gel over at least one of the lights to make sure the light looks like normal daylight. I am also considering using a cool light instead of three red heads to ensure our lighting not to harsh and has a soft edge.
At the moment I am considering using a red head as a key light, the cool light as a back light and the red head with blue gel as a filler.

Character Development

All stories are all essentially in three parts of character development, known in most cases as Acts. These Acts give writers a familiar framework that the audience will recognise but at the same time give them the freedom to experiment with different plot devices within the Acts

Act I is the Departure and Separation
> World of Common Day - A normal ordinary day for the character that will be changed
> Call to Adventure - The character gets called to the adventure
> Refusal to Call - Possible chance for the character to at first refuse the call to adventure
> Supernatural Aid - The character gets help from some supernatural source such as magic or paranormal devices
> Crossing the Threshold - The first step towards the adventure that the character takes
> Belly of the Whale - The first bad situation which the character is involved in

Act II is the Descent, Initiation and Penetration
> Road of Trails - The many problems the character must face on the journey to the conclusion
> Meeting with a Goddess - An event where the character meets someone wise and can help with their quest
> Woman as Temptress Atonement - A woman or man uses seduction to take the character off track
> With the Father - Loss of father figure or other major figure
> Apotheosis - The moment of climax or action in the plot
> The Ultimate Boon - The reward gained from the apotheosis

Act III is the Return
> Refusal of the Return - A situation in which the character would not want to return to his original state
> The Magic Flight - The character returning home through some shorter magical journey
> Rescue from Within - The characters realising they are morally good
> Crossing the Threshold - Returning back into the threshold from the beginning
> Master of the Two Worlds - The character becomes the moral centre of both his world and the other
> Freedom to Live - The character is released from previous restraints and allowed to live

Report subject

For my report I decided to study the topic of Cinematography so, for my research I am sourcing websites that include cinematography articles, guilds and unions.

http://www.britishcinematographer.co.uk/articles.html
- Articles about cinematography

https://www.cameraguild.com/Awards/academy.aspx
- Winners of major Cinematography awards

http://www.gbct.org/
http://www.gbct.org/whoweare_whatwedo.html
- Guild for cinematographers and camera technicians

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/cinematographer3.htm
- Guide to the role of a cinematographer and how to get that role

My Roles

For the recreation projects my role is Lighting and Camera.
This will entail me being in charge of deciding the type of lights and positioning of the lights in the location that we use. I will also be the one who sets up the lights on set. I will be doing research into how to properly light a set and have look in detail at the original to ensure I can light it accurately.
As camera operator I will decide what type of camera to use and will operate the camera set, I will also be in charge of setting up the tripod and any other equipment we might need such as a slider. I will also soon be completing an annotated version of the storyboard.

3rd Production Meeting

	Action	Name
1.	Needs to find a way to get the sound effects for the footage	Mike
2.	Abby needs to write out the different things we will for filming	Abby
3.	Have a quick run through of shooting in the seminar room to see if we can use this as a location	Everyone
4.	Discuss with Rebecca on what she is doing and she if she needs any help	Tori & Drew
5.	Talk to Di or Mike to see if its possibly to smoking on set for our filming	Tori & Drew

My tasks from this meeting are to complete a list of equipment needed for our run through and eventually for our final shoot and attend the run through we arranged.

Camera Choice

I have decided to use the Panasonic AG-DVX100B for filming for several reason, firstly it runs off it own battery, not phantom power, meaning that I will not have to worry about setting up extra equipment attached the camera I will only have to ensure that I have access to multiple batteries. 

2nd Production Meeting

	Action	Name
1.	Test sound of tv and record different effects.	mike
2.	See where you can purchase a copy of the song we need.	tori
3.	Put out other applications onto other websites for actors	all
4.	Ask di about costume department and dying clothes.	Dan & Abby
5.	Ring tony and get in touch to have a look into a location	Drew
6.	Practising editing on the message.	dan

From this meeting I have to put applications for actresses around age 25-30 who have slightly sharper faces on acting websites to try and find a suitable actress for the role of Sarah Connor, I will also check the colleges database again. I also need to go see Diane about getting in touch with the costume department to dye some clothing if we cannot find the correct colour scrubs for our actress.

1st Production Meeting

	Action	Name
1.	Work on storyboards make sure done soon	Tori
2.	Hartlepool Hospital to see if we can film there	Drew
3.	£25 per person for Budget	All
4.	Look into different actors	Tori + Drew
5.	Talk to Rebecca about the documentary when next in	Drew
6.	Look at sites for different place for our costumes	Drew + Tori
7.	Danny said he will look for an old TV	Danny

From this meeting I have no specific jobs other than to hand in my budget money but I will assist my few where ever necessary to ensure our work is completed.

Pitching a Recreation

Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)

Watch the clip - 0:39 - 1:39

I decided to pitch this clip because I thought the location and costume would be quite easy to acquire. For the case of the costume this was in fact the case, Shaun wearing a simple white shirt with a red tie and trousers, Ed wearing navy jogging pants and a t shirt now available on the internet and Mary wearing a denim jacket with a pink skirt and floral shirt. However the location was actually more difficult to get than I first thought. The bay window and french doors would have to be in the exact place to mirror he house in the scene as they are both clearly seen in several shots. The location dressing is also very heavy, shelves lined with records and walls covered in posters that are all in full view throughout the scene.
Another thing I thought was that it would be relatively easy to find actors to fill the parts as I would simply need two males and one female in their mid 30's.

My pitch was not accepted because of the location issue and problems with length and I have instead been assigned to Terminator 2 on Camera and Lighting.

How to Start Shooting a Scene

1st. Director shouts "Quiet on set!"

2nd. Director shouts "Roll sound"

3rd. Sound Operator shouts "Sound rolling!"

4th. Director shouts "Roll camera!"

5th. Camera Operator shouts "Camera Speed!"

6th. Director shouts "Marker!"

7th. Marker shouts "Take 'No..."!" 

8th. Director shouts "Action!"

Mise-en-Scene, Visual Style & Iconography

In scriptwriting it is essential that the mise-en-scene, visual style & iconography all come across in your story, characters and writing style or the director, actors and cinematographer may struggle to recreate your creative vision. 

> Firstly, 'mise-en-scene' means 'within the frame' referring to all elements in the frame that influence the mood or tone of the scene including set, costume, props, make up & hair, performance etc. 

 > Other things like lens, filters, the type of film stock, transitions, focus, screen size and off screen space should also be considered when setting a mood or tone however are not included under muse-en-scene as they are not themselves seen within the frame.

> The camera shot and movement itself can also effect the audiences feelings towards the scene, for example a low angle shot of a subject can make the audience feel more powerful whereas a high angle can make the audience feel weaker or mere vulnerable. 

Deciding the genre of your piece and including conventions from that specific genre can help the audience easily identify more with the plot and characters as they will recognise certain relatable aspects. 

> Genres are built from a repetition of visual language through iconography, building a clear connection with objects or traits and that genre. Meaning things like lasers and aliens are associated with Science Fiction, whereas ponchos and saloons fit into the Western genre.

> Due to the evolving nature of cinema there are now multiple hybrid genres such as Rom/Coms, Action Adventure or Space (Sci - Fi) Westerns. This is to combat audiences getting bored of films that simply repeat the same formula.

> Genres are shaped by the time they are in as social, cultural and economic factors all effect what people can and want to watch. For example, Film Noir developed in the late 30's and powered through til about the early 50's. It has a anti - classical style, unbalanced composition and draws attention to the style purposefully. This is all related to the genres heavy moods and sex or death related story lines which at the time were written to make a point of the politics of gender by using an excess of erotic and threatening imagery. Not only this but it was around this time that the economy was struggling and Film Noir was cheap and easy to produce, using studios in the night.

Introduction to My Blog

Hello all! My name is Abby and I'm a Creative Film & Moving Image Production student at Cleveland College of Art & Design in Hartlepool. My course combines a range of skills including the range of practical skills for camera, lighting and script- writing with things such as professional studies and visual culture journals to ensure we not only learn our craft but also learn the ins and outs of our industry. I will use this blog as a way to log my work from all corners of my programme.