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 .