Michael Wesely

 

Hiroshi Sugimoto

 

 

References

 

En.wikipedia.org <http://en.wikipedia.org>. (2017). Hiroshi Sugimoto. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroshi_Sugimoto [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017].

 

Guggenheim.org <http://guggenheim.org>. (2017). [online] Available at: https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/artist/Hiroshi-Sugimoto [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017].

 

Hiroshi Sugimoto. (2017). home. [online] Available at: https://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/ [Accessed 6 Aug. 2017].

 

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Eadweard Muybridge, AM Worthington and Harold Edgerston - photography speed developments

 

 

 

assignment 2 - collecting

Alcorcón is the football team of a neighbourhood in the outskirts of Madrid with the same name. They are in the second division, and their colours are blue and yellow. It is a very humble club, but well known for beating Real Madrid in 2009 in a cup tie by 4-0!

I went to photograph the first game of the season against Huesca football team, hoping to get some crowd images. 

Unfortunately the scorching summer weather, and the different times in which people like to get to the stadium, made it difficult to get many people together. However, this allowed to achieve some detail photos and some images inspired in my research and the photographers studied in this section of the course.

1

Some people gathered before the match, had a drink and a chat before getting into the stadium, excited about the new season.
The photo is composed so the focused branches of the tree in the foreground are framed by the clear sky. The unfocused background does not allow to see the people, but once you realise the colour theme is yellow you can link the photo with the others.
The photography reflects the style shown by Kim Kirkpatrick or Gianluca Cosci, where shallow depth of field focuses the viewer's attention in the, initially, less relevant foreground, while the background is still part of the composition.

2

The lads from the junior squad wont miss a match. They go all equipped with their training kit. Here they are by the stadium shop window.
We don't have this information when we see the image, but it is critical for the series, as the tattoo in one of the boy's calf is the first reference to football, linking theme of the pictures.
The photography is again inspired partially in my research for the assignment, see image by Elliot Erwitt.

3

We are now in the stadium, and the match has begun. This image uses again shallow depth of field to focus in the spectators, which was my main interest.
In terms of composition, it is to notice that the subject has been framed following the rule of thirds.

4

The camera man is framed with the tier roof as background. Camera, roof lines and subject attention are all focused to the same line, which gives the image a sense of equilibrium.
In the distance we can see the junior squad, standing on the upper tier.

 5

It is half time, and some supporters stretch their limbs.
A deeper depth of field allows to see even a player in the field with his son.

6

In the second half tension builds up in the match and some supporters stand up. I find interesting in this image the repeated action by several spectators. This would somewhat remind to some of Lisa Larsen's images of crowds, where we can appreciate how crowds use very similar body language. This has been photographed many other times, and in football probably the best example would be the epic Premier League photo of the last decade by Phil Noble.

7

The match is over. Alcorcón has lost the match by 2-3. The young team leafs the stadium with their heads down. 

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills

The assignment has been shot in colour, landscape format. Colour is important for this sequence as it is acting as a link throughout the photos. 

I used my 18-105 lenses so I had some focus length versatility and could take both wide and close ups.

The sequence begins and ends with unfocussed background images, which supports the narrative of the series.

Although I have realised during the assignment submittal preparation that I shot in ISO 250, generally the photos are well balanced. I have done some post-processing of curve editing with Lightroom software to avoid areas too dark (i.e. image 5, if I would have balanced the exposure in the foreground, the background would be completely blown out, as for example happens in image 6). For Image 5 I studied the possibility of leaving the people as silhouettes and did some tests before making a decision.

Quality of outcome

The sequence is well presented and, within the available information achieved in the day of the shot, the narrative is correct.

I have also tried to use different techniques studied in the course to add to the narrative (as mentioned before, the sequence begins and ends with soft focussed backgrounds).

The research carried out previous to the shootings has proven to be very useful, as it has helped to try to find other perspectives and points of view.

Demonstration of Creativity

In this area I may have scored less, as research has really influenced my images. I had some previous ideas, but I think they have been strongly influenced by the studied photographers.

Context

I have prepared for the assignment doing online and reading research. The topic chosen though has proven to be a very difficult subject to photograph and the results differ from my previous expectations. On this regard, I had in mind more images of different protagonists mingled in the crowd, probably looking at the camera.

Overall, I am satisfied with the results, although as mentioned before, disappointed with the outcome, as my expectations were different. I understand you would need many hours of shooting to get a really good quality set, linked together in meaning (hours which unfortunately I do not have for the assignment). It was challenging to choose between the two days of shooting I did (see assignment planning), but finally I decided this set was better in terms of completeness, narrative and meaning.

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:

amazing images by Jeremy Cowart

I follow Jeremy Cowart in facebook, and he does not always shares his profesional work as much as his experiences and feelings/thoughts, but from time to time, he shows us freaking good images like the ones in this post. He has edited them with some colour. You can see the movement, the elegance, and the colours are really powerful. 

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.