Cinematography Technology from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
Friday 3 December 2010
Summary
My cinematography piece is now shot, edited, graded and complete. On reflection I am fairly pleased with the finished product, however there are flaws. One is that of the shadows of the crew visible in the background, which should have been, corrected using a backlight and possibly a key positioned a bit more towards the church doors.
The dolly shots are also quite bumpy, especially on the long tracking shot of the character walking down the aisle towards the altar, a steadier tripod could have been selected or the dolly movement could have been slower to reduce the bumps becoming visible on screen. The shot also loses focus slightly at the end of the take.
After reviewing the footage I regret using such a high ISO setting. Although I feel everything was exposed to what I desired I feel there is quite a bit of noise in some of the darker areas on the footage, this came apparent when I was editing the footage in colour.
In terms of composition, I am happy with the selection of shots I managed to get. There are similarities between the shots I got and the ones framed by Alcott. My main focus was to get shots with lines of parallel and the location In chose to film at, helped me do that.
I am also very pleased with the positioning of the lighting on certain shots, especially the tracking shot at the end where the actor was light from behind.
I also feel I captured the mood of some of the more darker, shadowy shots seen in Alcott’s work. Positioning the lights to only expose certain areas of the frame as well as creating a large contrast between background and foreground.
The settings on the camera also matched the exposure seen in stills taken from the Shining with the windows fully blown out to appear pure white. Although I couldn’t get the beams of light I sought for as the area and time I shot reduced the light coming through the windows.
Though I struggled to exactly replicate the window lighting I feel I used the red head lights to expose areas of the face and surrounding appropriately, not just to replicate a look but have meaning.
After watching the footage back a few times I would say the contrast of the images is a little too high, the images seen in Alcott films are a bit more de-saturated although this could be down to the age of the film’s.
In summary I am pleased with the outcome of my film, it has been a challenge as lighting which is often taken for granted in so many films when watched is actually an art itself; a tool for subliminal and metaphorical meaning .
Wednesday 1 December 2010
Colour Grading
With my footage shot and edited together the task of colour grading is an important one as it will help to enhance the aesthetics of the film to get a colour scheme that matches the palette of the Alcott look I wish to achieve.
Below are some examples of grading tried.
Cinematography Technology - Grading Tests from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
I’m looking for a colour scheme that matches that of the look film stock of Kodak, as described as well as conform to making over exposed areas intentionally quite bright as well as pale and darker areas littered with black shadows. I also want the colours to be rich but not so much it looks unrealistic.
Monday 29 November 2010
Lighting Plans
As I now know the location I am shooting at and I have researched into some of the lighting techniques I wish to use in my film I have drafted out some lighting plans for the shots in my film. These may change but it will be a good idea to start somewhere and develop the look during the shoot.
The first shot will be light in two places, the first light will light up across the door and create a dark area on the one side of the characters face whist his shadow will fall onto the other half of the door. The other light will be positioned in the corner to light the doorway the character walks to. A trait seen in some of Alcott's work.
The second lighting plan is for a doll shot that will follow the character to from the door at the back of location right up the altar where the light will be full on his face. The light near the altar, looking down the aisle will be the fill on the characters face while the reds on right hand side will be used as key lights and the natural light at the back will be the back light to add a bit of depth of field to the shot. This will be my example of three point lighting. And the inverse square rule shall be noted, the brightness will go from lighting a large area, background and foreground quite subtly then when he reaches the altar it shall be concentrated on his face.
The next setup will see the one red positioned to light across the pews of the church, Again using the inverse square rule I hope to make one side of the church light whilst the other dark, which will have subliminal and metaphorical meaning to its positioning.
The lighting positioning in this setup will be where I hope to get my darker more shadowy shots. By getting rid of the fill and just having a key which will light across the room I should be able to get some silhouette effects with very minimal light shining on the characters face.
The final diagram shows that only one light will again be used but this time it shall be used as a back light. The light will spill from the outline of the character walking towards the exit of the church. Again the inverse square rule will have to be noted as the area that it lights will get bigger as he walks further away from the light towards the camera.
Sunday 28 November 2010
Film Stock
With film stock being talked about in recent lectures I found it interesting that the two film stocks widely used, Fuji-film and Kodak have a different look to one another.
Kodak film is a much warmer looking film stock with much more prominent oranges, reds and yellows whilst Fuji-film has a cooler palette with a much more blue and green look to it.
With the program colour the look of film can be replicated and from looking at the technical features on the IMDB of the films Alcott worked on, he would always use Kodak.
From knowing this I shall be able to emulate the look of Kodak film in colour when grading my film. I shall lean to making the warmer colours a lot more vivid and saturated in more warmth than the upgraded original.
Kodak film is a much warmer looking film stock with much more prominent oranges, reds and yellows whilst Fuji-film has a cooler palette with a much more blue and green look to it.
With the program colour the look of film can be replicated and from looking at the technical features on the IMDB of the films Alcott worked on, he would always use Kodak.
From knowing this I shall be able to emulate the look of Kodak film in colour when grading my film. I shall lean to making the warmer colours a lot more vivid and saturated in more warmth than the upgraded original.
550d Light Test's
To find the optimum settings for shooting my cinematography film it is useful to understand the how the shutter speed, aperture and ISO figures look in the location I shall be shooting in. The location itself is quite dark, even at the height of daylight, so the settings on the 550d, the camera I shall be shooting with will have to be pushed to get more light into the camera.
Alcott films on the whole are generally a little over exposed, especially window areas where beams of light can be seen coming through so the settings on the camera will need to be toggled to get this effect in the shoot.
Looking at the tests in natural light, shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/160 seem best matched with stills from Alcott films, especially the Shining, the walls are visible but not completely light whereas the windows are almost pure white, with little window frame detail. Below 1/80 the image seems quite grainy and image detail is lost and above 1/160 the images seems to be getting to dark and far to shadowy to replicate the look I want.
The aperture seems best set to 5.6 to 8.0. Aperture’s above 8.0 are again like a higher shutter speeds figure very dark and more suited to a much darker look whereas the aperture figures between 5.6 and 8.0 let in an amount of light which looks most suited for my piece.
Unlike the shutter speed and aperture, the tests looking at the ISO settings on the camera seems to have a much larger range of acceptable figures. Although it is said you should shoot with as low as ISO possible it images on the 550d with higher ISO figures don’t look to bad. Noise only seems to be visible above figures of 3200. On the other end of the scale, although the lowest ISO, 100, retains the most colour and picture detail, one the image is too dark and shadowy and two the image quality almost seems too good, even the lead and colour on the windows can be seen clearly. I found ISO’s of 800 to 1600 most in keeping with the look I wish to achieve.
Alcott films on the whole are generally a little over exposed, especially window areas where beams of light can be seen coming through so the settings on the camera will need to be toggled to get this effect in the shoot.
Cinematography Technology - Shutter Speeds Test Shoot from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
Looking at the tests in natural light, shutter speeds between 1/80 and 1/160 seem best matched with stills from Alcott films, especially the Shining, the walls are visible but not completely light whereas the windows are almost pure white, with little window frame detail. Below 1/80 the image seems quite grainy and image detail is lost and above 1/160 the images seems to be getting to dark and far to shadowy to replicate the look I want.
Cinematography Technology - Aperture Test Shoot from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
The aperture seems best set to 5.6 to 8.0. Aperture’s above 8.0 are again like a higher shutter speeds figure very dark and more suited to a much darker look whereas the aperture figures between 5.6 and 8.0 let in an amount of light which looks most suited for my piece.
Cinematography Technology - ISO Test Shoot from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
Unlike the shutter speed and aperture, the tests looking at the ISO settings on the camera seems to have a much larger range of acceptable figures. Although it is said you should shoot with as low as ISO possible it images on the 550d with higher ISO figures don’t look to bad. Noise only seems to be visible above figures of 3200. On the other end of the scale, although the lowest ISO, 100, retains the most colour and picture detail, one the image is too dark and shadowy and two the image quality almost seems too good, even the lead and colour on the windows can be seen clearly. I found ISO’s of 800 to 1600 most in keeping with the look I wish to achieve.
Location Shoot
In searching for a location to shoot at I have focused on area, which have a symmetrical composition with the ability to frame shots in parallels. I have looked hotel as well as supermarkets but the best location I have found is a church. The location has a long aisle’s, tall walls, pillars and big long windows. The location is perfectly symmetrical and prefect to replicate composition of stills seen in the work of John Alcott.
One concern is that of the amount of light inside the building. The church is surrounded by tree’s so much of the light hitting the windows is filtered. This means artificial light will be required to get the right exposure of light aimed at points of interest in the film.
Cinematography Technology Location Shoot from Daniel Edwards on Vimeo.
One concern is that of the amount of light inside the building. The church is surrounded by tree’s so much of the light hitting the windows is filtered. This means artificial light will be required to get the right exposure of light aimed at points of interest in the film.
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