assignment 3 - creating meaning

For this assignment you will create a short sequence that tells a basic story and conveys implied meaning. 

From the suggested stories I've chosen Somebody makes a cup of tea - They are suicidal. 

Story board

1 

You'll see a close up of a tap, the tube is full and overflowing. Some red water appears into the frame.
Soundtrack - diegetic sound.

2

Then we suddenly change the scene, we can see a living room and the phone is ringing. A girl appears in scene and picks up the phone. She listens and seems shocked with the news.
Soundtrack -  diegetic sound. When it is obvious that she has received some bad news we'll begin to hear the noise of a TV with no signal.

3

Then we see what might be the image of whatever the news are... I want this to be quite abstract. We'll see first the close up of the sun (she is oblivious of what is happening) and then hear a crash, she turns her head and runs.
Soundtrack - still the no signal TV noise plus the crash noise

4

Running, camera is moving. Abstract, feeling of anxiety.       

Soundtrack - no signal TV noise

5

She makes a cup of tea. She is visibly sad. She has not much interest in the tea... it's like she is just preparing the tea cause she finds nothing else to do.
You see the kitchen, which is white. The kitchen light is fluorescent type, very white and dull. Camera pans from the kettle to her.
Sountrack - sad music.

6

You see the phone, not properly hanged. Semi-close up. 

Soundtrack - sad music.

7

You see the kettle, she didn't make the tea.  Close up traveling. 

Soundtrack - sad music.

Filming

Music by Alex Mackie, No Easy Way.

Evaluation

The aim of this assignment and section of the course was very interesting. Creating meaning with the images, with the sequences, what you show and you don’t. The specific subject I have chosen was not my cup of tea – someone suicidal – but roughly I think I have conveyed some sadness and anguish. Lets analyse scene by scene.

Scene 1

We see the shower open from above. I moved away slightly from the script, cause I’m back in Spain and water is very valuable, so I did not fill the tub.

Framing and composition - The camera is tilted and gives a sense of unbalance and instability.

Lighting - The light is artificial which suits the scene.

Sound - You hear the noise of the water running and suddenly the noise of a phone ringing comes in.

Meaning – in the shower you cannot see anybody (well, you can if you look at the reflection in the tap, but that is a beginners error), you only see the red water trickling into the frame, which is quite an obvious signal of somebody committing suicide.  But why? The intention of this scene right at the beginning is to give sense to the rest of the short sequence.

Next we see is a title frame indicating that what we have just seen has happened in the future, and the phone was ringing in the past. “…earlier that day…”

Scene 2

We see a woman picking up the phone and being shocked for whatever she listens in the other end.

Framing and composition – The frame is wide so you see the whole living room. There is no need, but this gives her a nice location in the frame (one of the thirds to call your attention), and we can see her movements clearly.

Lighting – Natural light comes from the background window and silhouettes her out.

Sound – Sound is diegetic sound, but when you see that she is shocked by the news, you begin to hear a beeeeep, like the one from an old analogue TV with no signal.

Meaning – most of the meaning in this scene is coming from the acting and non-diegetic sound., which gives a very strong sense of uneasiness. 

Scene 3

We see a close up of the sun, and then the camera changes and the viewer (subjective PoV) is running and falls.

Framing and composition – Framing and composition is not critical for me in this scene, as I try to convey a subjective PoV. The only important thing was that the sun needed to be isolated and quite in close up. Then the camera zooms out to show how the viewer is running.

Lighting – the light comes from the dazzling sun, which was quite high in the sky in a very clear and bright day..

Sound – TV with no signal to link this with the previous scene (see meaning). The plan was to include the sound of a car crash, which would have given a bit more sense to the scene, but I tested this and didn’t help much to the meaning of the scene and the result was a bit odd.

Meaning – This was a quite risky and abstract scene. The idea was to show how she was kind of oblivious (dazzled by the sun) to what was happening and then she wants to run away, literally, in anguish and frustration. I expected that the sound would help to give this meaning, this sense of being “inside” her head.

Scene 4

We see a close up of the kettle being set for a tea, then the camera moves and we see the woman seated, looking sad, playing around with the cup and the tea bag.  Then she stands up and leaves, not making the cup of tea.

Framing and composition – The close up works nicely and well in this scene. It allows you to see just what you need, you guess from the context she is in the kitchen.

Lighting – I planed I would use the artificial and bright, white light of my kitchen. When tested, I liked it better with the dim natural light coming from the terrace. She is in the shadows, the light does not lit her directly but rather from behind. It gives a nice look of sadness to the shot.

Sound – The beep ends and a sad music begins. Music is by Alex Mackie, No Easy Way.

Meaning – The music is sad and it gives sense to the scene. The acting, framing and light help to convey meaning. She is sad, she is helpless, she leaves.

Scene 5

We see the phone, nobody has bothered to hang it up. Then we see a picture of the woman and a man.

Framing and composition – The frame is a close up, the camera set at the height of the subject.

Lighting – Natural light.

Sound – sad music.

Meaning – A travelling moves from the close up of the phone to the close up of the picture. It does mean something, the two images are linked, something has ended, something is wrong.

Conclusion

I had the idea of ending with the cup of tea, again unfinished, but thought that was then two closures and didn’t include it.

The camera movements and framing I think work well. The subjective PoV of the abstract scene achieves the uneasiness I was looking for, and the travelling in the last scene works quite nicely in my opinion (although the travelling equipment can do with some improvement so the image does not jump).

On the other hand, the narrative is quite confusing, as I have tested with some friends. They don’t get the idea; they think somebody else has committed suicide, not the girl. The abstract scene (scene 3) is not understood within the sequence unless I explain it… but they do get a feeling of sadness. Fairly enough, next chapter is about narrative; let’s see what I can learn there.


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

project 13: non-diegetic sound - abstract image sequence

For this exercise I've chosen a song by Marlango. You'll hear a trumpet, and no music. I'll say no more in here, but in the comments, as this is about the feelings that the music evokes on you, and the concordance with the images (or not).




Music Frozen Angora by Marlango

project 13: non-diegetic sound

Non-diegetic sound is the sound that does not belong to the scene in a natural way. It is not ambient, or speech. Sometimes is music or voice over, sometimes can be abstract sound to generate mood.

Try to find some examples of the following:

• Intentional confusion of diegetic and non-diegetic sound - In There's Something About Mary many of the scenes are introduced by what could be a musical narration, that is in reality two guys singing the songs, initially outside the frame, but then you see they're in the scene, in a tree branch or similar. 
• Sound that is hard to identify as either diegetic or non diegetic - In Chef, when Martin (John Leguizamo's character) is cooking for the first time in the van, there's what would seem like non-diegetic music, but then he's dancing at (what seems) the rhythm of the music. 
• Music (non-diegetic) used to identify social and cultural references - In Gandhi film initial scene, when they show Mahatma Gandhi's assassination, the music is indian. 

     

• Music and other non-diegetic sound used to create, for example, atmosphere, tension and emotion
• Non-diegetic sound that sets the pace of a scene
• Non-diegetic sound that give clues or cues to action

      A bit of cheating here... I'm going to use the same two scenes for the three examples above.

In these scenes of 2001 Space Odyssey, we can see how the weird futuristic sounds set the scene for tension and mystery (creates atmosphere) when the apes find out the out-of-the-way object, and the music gains in intensity to grow with the scene (sets the pace). 

In the last scene, when the ape "discovers" the tool, the music is giving the cues for action. Is the music (and the slow motion) that emphasises the uniqueness of the moment. This is, probably, the most obvious example that one can find!

project 12: connecting shots - The Kuleshov Effect

Doing some research about the Kuleshov effect I've found this funny video of the internet that not only explains the metrology effectively but also hilariously.
It is interesting how the meaning is conveyed not only by the acting but also by music and montage! Never thought that montage could have this strong effect.



The key is not only in this specific experiment, but in how you can "create and impression" of what the audience is watching. Another interesting example in this sense is one sequence form The Silence of the Lambs. During the sequence the viewer thinks that they are at the house of the serial killer, when in reality...

exercise: screen space

Lexercise - two people communicating

script for screen space production exercise

Sarah is seated alone. She is holding something (a book, mobile or other item) that has  her attention. She seems distracted, absorbed by what she holds. 
Dan is standing [50m] off across the [park]. He notices Sarah but looks away.
Sarah looks up for a moment and notices Dan. She reacts with [loathing]. 
Sarah continues to look at Dan.
Dan becomes aware that Sarah is looking at him. He looks up at her. 
Sarah smiles at Dan. 
Dan begins to walk towards Sarah. 

Plan a series of shots (each containing only one of the two characters). Sketch the frame and think about the size. Think about how the size of the frame you choose and the space you place around the characters affects the apperception of the off-screen space. 

Sketches:

In my sequence, Sarah is not very pleased to see Dan. He is not very interested in talking to her either, but it seems that her feelings might be a bit stronger, as she cannot stop staring at him. Once Dan notices she has seen him, he acts friendly. Sarah regrets glaring at him immediately, but tries to smile while he approximates. 

Filming:

This is getting difficult as my main actor is 1,226 miles away. Therefore I have filmed this by myself. It is not easy to organise things in the screen in this manner, but I've done my best. 

When the facial expression was important I've gone for closer shots, even different camera angles. The result is below:

I have requested some feedback and the comments have been:

- the story is difficult to follow. Only if you read the script it is understandable. 

- it is hard to identify that they are in the same space. I should have found more linking elements in the landscape, or make a clearer opposition angle between them. 

An example of a good exercise is in Richad's blog. The angles of the camera and the space are clear and simple. Some very good acting here also! 

http://rjdown-dfp-log.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Project%2011%20Screen%20Space