assignment 2 - feedback and reflections

I have received the feedback from my tutor, Robert Enoch, on assignment 2. In summary:

Well done:

• confident use of lighting and composition - This is a good improvement from the feedback received in assignment 1 about the use of lighting. 
• Scene 2 - well edited transition scene. Good use of dark and lit sides of the images. 
• Good use of 'absence of diegetic noise' when needed by the story.
• Under the sheets shot - Illness really can be isolating and makes one feel overly ‘in the body’ and this shot expresses this well. Good use of your imagination here. And the fade out works well to suggest a time has passed. 
• Last scene - excellent use of light as a symbol of health

To work on:

• story rhythm - The film is again, as it happened in assignment 1, a bit slow. I must keep on working on length of shots to generate the adequate rhythm of the story. 
•  The beginning is way too slow and empty 
• narrative - The film starts somewhat strangely in an empty kitchen - away from the main story of the sick man in bed. And that disrupts your use of a ‘narrative of light’ because you needed to begin the story in the dark room and then progressively bring the light in. 
• about the scene of the tea - Is this really meaningful? - No, actually it isn't. I thought it would be interesting to have an introductory shot, but, as also Robert comments, the kitchen is too 'domestic'. He's got a point, as this breaks the hospital environment I wanted to create. 
• acting - it's nice that Robert has appreciated the acting in both assignments. This is mainly thanks to Juan, main actor. Well done Juanito! and many thanks for your help!
• mise-en-scene - I could have improved the first scene if I had given more importance to the pills, which are in the scene but don't get prominence.
• camera viewpoint in scene 3 - should have been modified when she takes the thermometer and when she leans forward, to keep the focus on the sick person. Keep your audience in the privileged position of zoning in on all the key actions unless is a deliberate reason to obscure it. 
• Increase content in your Research section - so true. I should report much more my work.  

If you want to contract time in a scene, you can use either:
a) Jump cuts: cutting only the most pertinent and telling actions together.
b) Cutaways: cut away from your scene of making tea to a shot of something related, like a clock ticking. When you cut back to the scene, you have shifted the action further along: she’s finished the tea.  

Suggested reading and viewing

Mood and atmosphere is very strong in Ridley Scott's movies. He was one of the first directors to make excessive use of light and often smoke (it makes light 'visible'). 

To work on this proposal I've watched two Ridley Scott movies (the two ones available on my online TV subscription), paying special attention to the creation of atmosphere and use of light: Thelma & Louise & A Good Year.

Use of elements to "show" light
We can see some examples below of how Riddley Scott uses the elements (dust in the air, or water, or smoke) to depict the light. The result is kind of magical and not obvious if you are not looking for its effects.
Curiously see how even when he wants to film in rain, he is using rain as a way of showing the sunlight.

Edit 29/11/15 to attach copy of my tutor's report:

assignment 2 - creating atmosphere

For this assignment you’ll create a scene with a strong sense of atmosphere

The idea:

The objective is to film a scene where a person is ill and feeling bad, even a bit despaired. There’s someone else taking care of him. She is worried. Finally, when he begins to recover, both would show hope and happiness. The scenes would be lighted to suit the different moods, mainly the despair of the sick person and the peace of the final shots.

The light would be warm for all shots, but scarce sometimes. The colours would be based on whites as much as possible, to resemble a hospital and therefore the feelings associated with it.  Focus will be used to express not only depth, but also mood.

The storyboard:

Shoot 1: Someone prepares a tea. There's some pills close to the cup. 

I want this shot to be neutral and not to give away many things from the story. 

The mise-en-scène is pretty simple, the light is natural, clear from a sunny day. When the person who's making the coffee appears, she'll be wearing something white. The mug is also white. The only sound you hear is that from the kettle. 

Shoot 2: The person takes the tea and pills into a room which seems dark. 

The arrangement of elements is simple and straight forward this time, the viewer will see the door, the person wearing white getting into the room, into a poor lit room. There will be a change of light in this scene. All begins to become a bit gloomier. In this scene you'll hear only "silence" and the door opening. 

Shoot 3: In the room, there's a person in bed. By now the viewer would probably assume he's ill. 

The room light is very dim, natural light from the sunny day, entering through the cracks from the blackout blind. The bed cover is also white, as well as the tea mug and the "carer" clothing.

Shoot 4: The viewer listens a sound. It happens to be the thermometer that has the person in bed. 

Shoot 5: The focus is on the thermometer, so the viewer can see the sick person's fever. 

I'll use focus to show depth in this shot. You can see the unfocussed person behind the thermometer. The shot is an over the shoulder camera view. Colour is generally white (with the exception of the thermometer, that unless I buy a new one, mine is yellow with a Winnie the Poo sticker...)

Shoot 6: The person in bed doesn't feel good, therefore he covers himself with the duvet. These shot shows the person below the duvet. He'll look at the camera. I want to show his despair here. The kind of despair you feel when you are feverous and bored and tired. The light is obviously poor here. I'm thinking of lighting from outside the duvet with a warm light just over the scene, we'll see how that works. Hopefully light is diffuse but clear enough. Again the main colour in the scene is white, from the sheets, the person's shirt, etc. 

Shoot 7: The carer gets in the room. Her clothes are not white anymore, and she opens the window letting the light in. 

Shoot 8: She feels the person in bed forehead, smiles. The sensations are much happier now, just with the change of light. 

Shoot 9: She helps the now recovered man to wake from the bed. Sound needs to be more active. Probably the seagulls cries that from outside our flat. 

Evaluation 

While planning and filming the assignment 2, I have considered all the studied techniques to achieve creating atmosphere. See below a summarised analysis and some examples of the used techniques:

Colour: The main shade in the shoot is the colour white. The idea is to identify it with a hospital environment. Some colours, in certain contexts, would generate a mood. In this manner, something white in a natural lighted scene can express brightness and a light mood, but in a poor lit scene, with someone in bed, white can be associated with the, sometimes depressing and hopeless, mood of old hospitals (thankfully architects are conscious nowadays of the impact of their design in the ill person and modern hospitals move away from dimness and plainness). 

Light: The idea of depression and hopelessness would move mainly around the light. Even when it seems that it is a beautiful day outside, the feelings within the room are pessimistic and dark. Nonetheless, once the sick feels better, the natural light gets into the room, filling it with warmth. 

While he is ill, the light is coming only from one side, creating textures and shadows, increasing the sensation of uneasiness. Once the blind is open, the reflected light eliminates most of the shadows and the scene, creating an atmosphere of tranquillity. 

Balance: The rule of thumb has been generally followed for the shots, i.e. in the image where the viewer can see the thermometer, this is situated in the lower left grid point.  

Diegetic sound: I have re-recorded some of the sounds to eliminate disturbances and improve sound quality. I have also increased the sound of some elements, as the thermometer beep. In this case, the viewer would not know what is the sound until she takes the thermometer, but I have hopefully already grab the attention of the viewer to it. 

I have also used some very obvious sound effects in the last scene to increase the sensation of calmness, where you can hear some birds singing (my idea was for the birds to be outside, but some colleague has commented that it seems that the birds are in the room… I might have solved that opening the window, perhaps).

The result is, I think, only partially successful, not because the inefficiency or the bad use of the different techniques – I think they work quite effectively – but because of the atmosphere I wanted to create (despair, preoccupation, then move to tranquillity) is quite complicated. It would have been easier I think to show threat.

The first scene is neutral, introductory. The second scene, when she opens the door into the dark room, is effective in my opinion, as you can see her entering into the dim space.

The scenes within the room while he is ill might have worked better cancelling completely the natural light and using artificial, cold light, like a fluorescent.

The scene below the duvet I think that works quite well, thanks to the light colour, the dimness below the bed cover and the (very good acting) of Juan. For this scene I have also re-recorded the sight, to cancel every other background noise.

Finally, as mentioned before, the last scene is quite obvious: good warm, natural light, morning birds singing, equal tranquillity and peace. It would have been useful to insert some other colour into the scene to break with the white that was implying sickness, but I couldn’t think of a “natural” way of doing it. Perhaps a jumper that she could have left over the bed for him might have worked out. I changed the scene from the planned one in the story board, as this seemed a more normal action than getting up so suddenly from an illness. 

It has been a very enjoyable assignment, not at all easy, though. I find that I lack of some lighting equipment and, also, certain willingness to turn my little flat upside down and in that way create different stories with the adequate mise-en-scene. I have some ideas already… perhaps for the next assignment.

exercise: atmosphere

Record two very short scenes (either a single shot or a maximum of four shots that edit together). Invent your own or pick from the list.
• A romantic dinner for two
• A depressed person alone at home
• Oh what a beautiful morning
• A stalker arrives
• A child takes its first steps

• Another mundane day at the office

Before you start, clearly define the atmosphere you intend to create. Think about how
you can use lighting, shade and colour to achieve this.
• Find a suitable location. Think carefully about available light and colour.
• Test how the light looks through your camera.
• Use additional materials to create desired colour and texture within the scene.
• Use reflectors and additional lights if they are available.
• Record your image(s) and edit them.

Well, this is not my most successful project. Should I have had some more time I would have tried harder, but I feel under the pressure of time, as I should already be doing assignment 2, so I have not waited to the proper light of set up the scenes properly. Below are the results for A Romantic Dinner for Two and Oh What a Beautiful Morning. 

A Romantic Dinner for Two




I tried to rely on the light of the candle to create the whole atmosphere, and it is not really successful, as we can see. Takes from above to the table, and during the dinner, would have possibly helped. 

Oh What a Beautiful Morning



In this case, it was almost necessary to have a sunny day. With more time I would have shot some takes at the park, with the sun through the trees, or having a coffee in a terrace.  
So, in summary, light is ESSENTIAL to create the atmosphere, and while editing the images I didn't stopped thinking that sound would also give a huge boost to the videos above, so lets move on to Project 10, Sound.

exercise: reflected light

In this exercise we test different reflectors. I tested different white textures, such as a paper and a white cloth. The white cloth reflector gives a very soft and faded reflection that is almost not captured by the camera. The major differences have been recorded in this short clip, changing different coloured hard surfaces and the white paper.
With different colour reflectors we can give the tonal colour we want to the scene, even when the main source is the same.

exercise: images with depth

Thinking specifically about the sense of depth within the image, try to produce three
images that each represent one of the following atmospheres:
• Dynamic/exciting /adventurous
• Oppressive/dull/stifling
• Complicated/confusing/uncomfortable
• Refined/mature/reasonable

Complicated/Confusing/Uncomfortable 


I first took this video thinking of dullness, and was trying to get an image plain in colour, and compare it with the second shot, where I have included a tone of blue. Then I realised that the dull image needed not only to be dull, but also stifling and oppressive, which this is not... So I decided to use it to express a more deep emotional, wordiness, complicated feeling.
I think that, in context, this could be use to express this. Would really work well a hard light, creating deep shadows.
In terms of depth, the first image looks plainer than the second one, and yet the blue works OK with the mood in the image, as everything is grey/blue.

Dynamic/Exciting/Adventurous


I chose these three shots for the dynamic/exciting/adventurous subject. I thought that the sunset light would work really good with this theme, with its warm colour and soft quality, creating very soft shadings, and I think it has worked OK.
To create depth I have positioned the camera behind some people who was closer in the first two shots, so I am creating obvious depth with big elements in the foreground. I have also increased the focal length, so the distant objects are unfocused.
Wandering around with the bicycle then I found this kayaking competition. The sun was already pretty low, so the lighting of the scene is pretty poor, and I don't think this works OK with the theme, but in terms of depth it had a good use, as the warmer colour of the foreground light created depth with the shadowed area in the foreground. Depth is also created by the created perspective of the landscape and people (people in the front, and in the background building).
Action and dynamism, though, is mainly created by the subject matter and not by the shoot.

Oppressive/Dull/Stifling


My first go with this video was a shot of myself with a pile of clothes on the couch, and the light set up very low, lighting me from one side at 90deg.
The problem with that shot was that due to the light coming from the opposite side than the pile of clothes, it was difficult to see the pile, therefore you couldn't appreciate any oppressiveness. Also the depth was not very significant. On a second try of this approach, I shot from behind a bookshelf, so the same subject was framed by the furniture, giving the idea of a more closed and stifling space, and including the (required) element of depth into the equation. This didn't work either as you could not really see the messiness from the angle I shot.
Finally, I decided to go for the video above, where Juan is giving a kind of speech (he was actually moaning about having to help me with my homework). The depth has been created with illumination, as I have illuminated the shelves behind from above, in a dark space. The oppressive feeling has been created with the lighting on the actor - from below, and generating hard shadows - and also with the low camera angle.

exercise: creating depth with lighting

Create a series of images with varying depth.
• Move objects around in the room, experimenting with perspective and lighting. Consider how you can use the lighting to create layers.
• Try adjusting the zoom on your lens. Place some items close to the lens and some further away. Start with a wide lens (zoomed all the way out) and then zoom-in in steps. 

For the next two pictures I placed the foot lamp in two different locations. When the lighting sources overlap, even when they apart, they don't seem to create depth (photo 1). 

1

2                                                                                               .  

The zoom creates the sensation that objects are closer between each other, an idea of flatness, as we could test in the previous exercise.  The sets of images below (3&4 and 5&6) show this, but the light spots help to create depth, focusing your attention on objects that, due to its size, are obviously closer than others (image 7 and the plant, compared with the person behind).

You would also think that the room used in 4 is smaller than the room used in image 3, though the space and camera position is the same. 

3

4

5

6

Finally, images 7 and 8 would seem to be done in a more cluttered space, but this would only be because we can see more of the objects in the image. 

7

8

All of the images would give a feeling of secrecy, mysteriousness, except probably image 8. This is because the light used is hard, i.e. creates sharp shadows in objects and people. 

exercise: depth

In this exercise we are asked to experiment with the depth of field in the camera, zooming in and out the same framing, where two objects are separated at different distances from the lens.
With the zoom out, or open, this is a short focal distance (18mm in the image below), the depth of field is big. The distant object can then be within the focus zone - although this didn't happen in my examples below - and the distance between the two objects seems larger. The best way of seeing this in the examples below is noticing the difference between the far side of the box in the 18mm and the 58mm images:

When you zoom in, increasing focal distance (and move away from the objects to have a similar frame) the objects seem closer between each other, and the distant object is blurrier as the depth decreases. Images are flatter with larger focal distances. 

The image below shows graphically how the focal distance affects the depth of field:

In the examples below the distance object seems always out of focus. This is because the distance to the objects also affects the depth of field, and I was taking the images close to the lenses. 

 
All graphics from http://www.blogdivvy.com/photog/depth-of-field.htm

exercise: spaces

Capture four shots that have the following feel about them:

• An oppressive, cluttered space
• An open, honest, simple space containing one intriguing item
• A stark, empty hostile space
• A warm, friendly, cosy space

how they feel? what meanings  are implied?

An oppressive, cluttered space

For an oppressive cluttered space I've taken this picture of my utilities cupboard. It is an small, poorly lighted and full of stuff place, so I thought it could do the job quite nicely. The photo does not feel very oppressive though, possibly because, although I took it in a low angle, trying to get as many things "falling" over the lenses, the door was open, and the things somehow organised.
Probably a space with more things, like an old library bookcase, or this similar photo but from the inside of the wardrobe, would have worked better.
I also think that the viewer does not get the idea of a small space, as they can only see one corner, it could give the wrong impression of a more open and bigger room.

An open, honest, simple space containing one intriguing item

Since the moment I read the task I thought about an empty room, with one chair, and a bra on it. Don't ask me why because I don't know, I think the idea must come from some advert or movie... anyway, I thought that the photo could be nice with a well lit room and the result shown below is not too bad. 

On the one side, the room is nice and the tones of green of walls and chair make a nice effect. As the bra is the only black element in the room it could be thought that it would draw the attention, but on the other side, the picture has too many aliments, the windows are nice and the bright floor starves the attention from the chair and the allegedly intriguing element. I think the exercise would have worked better in a more simpler, emptier space.
The image, to me, feels more cosy and inviting than intriguing and interesting.

As the photo is taken in a room, what would there be of intriguing about a bra on a chair? what if I had took the chair to the outside... that would have been better, definitely. Then both the chair and the bra would have been quite out of place. 

A stark, empty hostile space

The picture below is a construction site being prepared. Because the light is rather nice, just before dusk, the place doesn't look too hostile, but the idea of leaving the background unfocused with the focused fence in the foreground gives a hint of hostility, prohibition and inaccessibility. The puddles from the recent storm also invoque starkness. 
I think that the desired feelings would have been better achieved if no signs of humanity, other than the fence, where shown, and if the day was less clear and no plants have been included.  

A warm, friendly, cosy space

Ah, as the name of this (b)log invokes, warmer than here...
This photo in a mediterranean beach, with the people doted in the horizon, evokes the feeling of feet buried in the very hot sand, the refreshing feeling of the water coming to you in tiny waves, and the warmth of the sun in the skin.
This is in my opinion the image that better achieves the objective of the exercise, but that is probably perhaps because I'm longing too much...

movies in colour

Checking out my course mate Helen Rosemier blog I have found a reference she makes to this web page. I love the extract of the colours and the very nice palettes that you obtain with some of the chosen scenes:

http://moviesincolor.com/tagged/john-hughes

exercise: mise-en-scéne - viewing

Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix) is falling asleep while he observes the master (Philip Seymour Hoffman) singing and dancing, surrounded by his family and friends. They are allocated in a way that they create an scenario, open to Phoenix, who is the spectator and Hoffman, the actor. This is created by the mise-en-scène of all the elements. As Phoenix falls asleep he "sees" (or more accurately he imagines) all the women in the scene naked. The spectator knows this is in the imagination of Joaquin Phoenix thanks to the lighting, and the sequence, as we've seen everybody dressed, we've seen Freddie accommodated in the shadows, falling asleep, and then the imagined scene with nude people, which looks clearly unreal. 

The lighting in the scene of Freddie in the shadows also depicts him in a different, obscurer world, closer to insanity.

All the elements of the mise-en-scène - i.e. settings, costumes and make up, lighting and staging - help creating this scene. 

The Third Man makes a extensive use of shadows (and dutch angles, but that would be part of the framing side studied in the previous part of the course) to evoque suspense and anguish. 

Scene 1 above shows a little child who is the greatest menace to the main character at this point of the film, as the boy accuses him of killing his father and a bunch of people is following him, after the kid, through the streets of Vienna. To show this perilous situation we can see the kid, but also the light has been positioned so he has a big, dark and defined shadow, which is definitely more threatening that the actual boy. 

Scene 2 not only uses the shadow on the building, but also the neat reflection on the wet floor, therefore the menacing shadow seems twice as big in this scene. We can also see in the foreground two statues, depicting two men probably fighting, that adds tension to the scene and have intentionally been incorporated in the mise-en-scène.

Scene 3 makes use of a dark corner (all we can see in the first instance) to hide the police men, who we only see when they step forward. 

Scene 4 shows a dutch angle of a room, which is initially in darkness. When the protagonist, who is being chased, turns the light, the image depicted above is what he can see. It is at the some time awkward and disturbing, and this has been created not only by the unbalanced camera angle, but also by the elements shown - a parrot, which is shrieking, the curtains, a kind or gown on a hanger... 

Finally, the last shot in the film, when all has been solved and cleared, depicts a wide path, well lighted, in a very symmetrical image (scene 5 above).  

It has been more easy to identify the lighting of the scenes in the two films above, the use of shadows and clear areas or darker and clearer scenes, than the position of elements to generate moods or feelings. Some of the images above from The Third Man convey a feeling just with the mise-en-scène, and it would not be needed to follow the plot to know that what is going on is rather unquieting. 

The exercise asks now to go back to Project 2 and analyse if the mise-en-scène had an (involuntary) impact on creating a mood. Definitely the third part of the exercise includes elements that create a kind of tension that would be needed for understanding the scene, mainly the black cat and the broken vase. I did not draw using shadows and lights, but I should definitely try to do that for the next sketch.   

Mise-en-Scene

Definition

"...the term (is used) to signify the director's control over what appears in  the film frame. As you would expect, mise-en-scene includes those aspects  of film that overlap  with the art  of the theatre: setting,  lighting, costume, and the behaviour  of the figures.  In controlling the mise-en-scene, the director stages the event  for the camera."

Bordwell, D. , Thompson, K. (2008), Film Art: An Introduction. 8th ed.McGraw-Hill

The mise-en-scene-en-scene does not always need to be planned, the authors clarify. Unpredicted events or actors improvisations have their own impact on the shot (natural light may be used and is unpredictable, an ocasional storm that could be used for the scene, etc.). 

The first director to use mise-en-scene-en-scene was George Méliès, who created fantasy worlds, customs, sketched every detail of the shot and edited his films in the very early 1900's. The video above is for his Le Voyage dans la Lune (The Trip to the Moon), 1902.
Within mise-en-scene we can control

• setting
• costumes and make-up
• lighting
• staging