Below is a draft copy of the screenplay for our 5-10 minute short film.
Thursday 29 November 2012
Wednesday 28 November 2012
A great example of a non naturalistic lighting change in mainstream cinema. The fade of light coinciding with the slowing of the visuals and the introduction of music is a subtle way of telling the audience everything they need to know about whats to come. The colour of the light helps to create a warm, protective feeling and despite seconds earlier having seen a gun and knowing the probable outcome, from the moment the lights dim and the music comes up, there seems to be an overwhelming sense of peace. I believe this effect was desired because it sets up an opportunity for Gosling to show both extreme's of his previously reserved personality. The intense kiss highlights his ability to be compassionate and protective and his violent capabilities, emphasised as a result the tranquil sequence just before.
Saturday 10 November 2012
Below is a story boarded scene that involves both a long take and elements of P.O.V. Ideally this scene would be done with a track and dolly as it offers much more stability for what will be quite challenging focus pulls. Perhaps playing with pans while moving will help get away from the obvious look of a straight track.
Here is the second set of storyboards I drew up, the idea that during the sequence when the killer is looking for the stalker he enters a number of room and flicks the light on, revealing empty room after empty room. I took inspiration for this from looking at Roger Deakin's work in The Shawshank Redemption. As I've shown in my initial research, I really like the way in which light flooding a room can have the effect of seeming almost brutal. An attribute I'd try to mimic.
 |
| POV of killer. |
 |
| shot, reverse shot conversation sequence |
 |
| POV track of killer following woman |
 |
| Camera stops tracking. Killer walks past camera, into frame - no longer POV |
 |
| The murdur takes place. Camera starts to track away from the scene, starts panning to the left |
 |
| Pan rests on the face of the stalker |
Tuesday 6 November 2012
Track Practice
After deliberating as to what to do for a track we found out we could get hold of an actual track and dolly from stores. We quickly booked one out and did a few tests. Below are the results.
After seeing the kind of footage we could achieve by using the track, the possibility of producing the kind of long take we hope for seems closer within our grasp. Though the amount of track in one kit wont be long enough, we have the option of using a number of kits to attain a much longer rail.
Saturday 3 November 2012
A Run Down
The premise for our ten minuet film is that of a serial killer who unbeknownst to him is the target of a second female murderer. The film will employ the use of P.O.V and long uncut takes to achieve a sense that the characters being stalked.
The films begins with a scene in the woods (Grindleford) when the audience witnesses the male disposing of a body and is then seen leaving the location. Shot with the intention that it feels as if he's being watched.
Cut to a city street/alley. The male is in the act of pursuing a prostitute. After successfully picking one up he takes her to a shady area where he continues to kill her. This is seen by a third character, the female killer, who watches the act but does nothing.
Cut to the male's home. The man is relaxing in his house being watched by the witness from the previous scene, partially hidden from view, spying on the killer.
Cut to street/alley location. The Female voyeur from the previous scenes lures the man to her by posing as a prostitute. Once both hidden from view she steals his weapon, informing him that she knows what he's been doing and a fight to the death breaks out. End.
This basic plot allows for some interesting uses of both light and colour. The dark subject matter itself goes hand in hand with strong colours i.e. reds and the fact that a lot of the film will be set during the evening/night lets us play with light in a more noticeable way. The fact that the film is largely about being stalked is due to the fact we have to include P.O.V shots, through using such a technique it'll be easy to get this theme across to the audience. The long take we have to include has been suggested to take place during the killing of the prostitute, due to there being three characters in the same space at the same time we saw this as an opportunity to have fun with a long track back, focusing first on the stalk, then on the murder itself and lastly as it tracks back even further the reaction of the witness.
RESEARCH
For this brief there are four attributes that need to be considered and included within the ten minuet film: colour, lighting, P.O.V & a single long take. Below are extracts from work I deem to be useful in both inspiring my work and explaining techniques I plan to use.
Long Take:
I'm looking at Oldboy, directed by Chan-Wook Park, specifically at a scene that uses a long, uncut fight sequence.
This is relevant to our film as one idea for the long take includes a brawl between two characters. What i like about this example is that it looks as if the choreography hasn't been meticulously planned, it's messy, an aspect that gives it a better sense of reality. The camera movement too isn't meticulously planned either, it jerks back and forth as it follows the action. If we were to take one long take of our fight scene I would hope for this kind of result, while in film making planning is essential, for this type of action it can sometimes leave the result looking static and faked if you don't know what your doing with choreography. Being that we as film makers have little or no experience in staging fight scenes, by telling the actors to just 'go for it,' it may be possible to achieve more realistic results. This style of fighting will also be better suited to the fact in our film the characters they are meant to be mindless killers, rather than trained professionals, employing no particular fighting style but rather just trying to beat their opponent by any means.
An aspect other than the filming techniques that stand out in this scene is the use of lighting (or lack of it). It looks as if its been light very simply from above and this does three things. Firstly, the darkness creates great mood and its interesting from a cinematic sense to see the actors moving in and out of the light. Secondly, the fact that the mood dictates darkness allows the 'free for all' fighting style to be believable, what i mean by this is that if the whole scene was well lit there would be a bigger margin for error in relation to the choreography and chances are the audience would be able to spot the fake hits, kicks and stabs of the actors. Lastly, by having all the light coming from above the shot is kept simple in regard to shadows. When a camera has movement it can be easy to get in the way of lighting and momentarily prevent spill from falling into frame, since this has all been lit from the ceiling it gives the actors more freedom to move as they please and lets the camera move with them without any problems.
Taking from this, it would seem like a good idea to use low levels of light when conducting our fight sequence. We'll be able to create a sense of dread and grittiness while in a practical sense be able to get away with using untrained actors in a non-choreographed fighting scene.
The second opportunity for a long take would be the part in the film where the male character leads a prostitute away in order to kill her but is witnessed doing so by a second, female serial killer. Ideally this idea could also incorporate an element of P.O.V. The shot would start with a P.O.V from the man's perspective approaching then subsequently leading the prostitute away, once both characters are part way down the alley way the camera would stop, allowing the male character to move into shot as if the camera passed over his shoulder. The camera would remain stationary as the characters walked further down the alley, becoming softer in focus the further they went. During the actual murder the camera would slowly track backwards revealing a witness peering around the corner, watching the scene unfold. While this would take a high degree of rehearsal and planning, I don't believe its beyond us, the main factor to consider would be the focus. As we would be using either a DSLR or Sony Z1, in each case there is no easy method of pulling focus while the camera is moving. Another limitation is the lack of a quality steadicam, it would be possible to use a track for this shot however making sure it was never in shot may limit us in regard to framing. The scene above gets around it by moving only from side to side, the scene we wish to create involves moving back and forth. Perhaps the use of close ups may get around this, however, that will then take away from the cinematic quality I would hope for.
The clip below is from Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson - 1999) and does a great job of following more than one character in one consecutive take.
This kind of shot is only possible through the use of a steadicam and more importantly a good steadicam operator, two things our crew lacks. When it comes to the shooting of our scene the best way may be to come prepared to use a track but also shoot it using a glidecam or even a hand held tripod, using two of the three legs as counter weights and balance the camera. The main issue I can foresee in regard to going with the hand held option is controlling the focus, while on a track it won't be easy, at least it provides a more steady base for the camera when having to touch it to pull focus. A way around this would be to forget focus pulling and use a small aperture in order to create a large depth of field, the problem with this is that we'd need a lot of light to prevent under exposing the images. From watching the clip above its obvious they had to be meticulous with planning the focus pulls, the best example of this comes at around 22 seconds where there's a pull from the man and the young boy to the woman who is walking quickly towards them, from here the focus is pulled back, maintained on the approaching woman until she is next to at which time the focus resumes its previous position.
Below is a clip From Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Tarantino - 2003) and below that is a clip from Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón - 2006), both have pushed the boundaries in how audiences are led through a scene. While these scene's inspire me, its unrealistic to think we'd be able to achieve something of this degree given time, money and equipment restraints.
P.O.V:
"He (Hitchcock) was very critical of point of view shots that called attention to themselves, for instance, in the kind of experimental film that substitutes a camera entirely for someone's view and consciousness, replete with their arms waving into the corner of the screen and that sort of thing." (Fawell, 2004)
I think this is a valid point, while there are occasion, such as in experimental films where this type of POV shot works, to include it in 'pure cinema' takes away from what power the shot can hold.
"Hitchcock emphasised that successful subjective filming was the result of an interplay between first person voyeuristic shots and objective reaction shots." (Fawell, 2004)
When dealing with the theme of stalking or voyeurism, as Hitchcock often does, I feel it important not to labor the point of any given shot being a POV. It gives the shot greater uncertainty and therefore an added uneasy quality, something that when dealing with these themes is often an intention.
Kubrick is a great example of a director who uses lots of unassuming point of view shots in The shining (1980) in order to create the feeling of another, unseen character, in the case of this film to highlight the theme of the supernatural. He uses a lot of high angle shots when shooting scenes with the character Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) to suggest a presence that can only be felt by him. This is added to through the way Kubrick implemented a very small amount of camera shake, not enough to be noticed first time around, yet sufficient to subconsciously suggest an invisible inhabitant of the hotel. The famous steadicam shots too also connote a point of view quality. While on the one hand its a simple cinematic technique of showing the audience the vast open, emptiness of the hotel, it also gives way to the sensation of being chased, as if the camera is a silent tormentor, always just out of view. Further more, Kubrick's use of track is subjective to which character he's tracking. Danny, for example, is always filmed from behind, emphasising a voyeuristic quality which keeps the audience feeling uncomfortable when he's on screen.
This use of point of view can be described as a false perspective as in the reality of the film the camera angle isn't reflective of any particular character, only made to look as if it is. The Shining for example, as I've mentioned, suggests but never confirms the presence of Danny's spectator. Hitchcock too was a pioneer of this method, used to confuse the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. In Vertigo (1958) during the famous 'restaurant' scene, he uses a point of view shot that is presumed to be that of John 'Scottie' Ferguson (Stewart) however as Madeleine Elster (Novak) walks over to him and stands directly in front of his supposed view, the angle cuts, revealing that he is actually looking away, avoiding eye contact. The result is a scene that includes no dialogue, but through clever use of point of view framing puts the audience on the spot and forces them to be a spectator of an awkward, yet defining and highly emotive moment neither of the two characters actually experience.
The use of colour Hitchcock implements into this scene is well worth discussing. The rich red that covers the walls is symbolic of the passion, danger, obsession and love that all act as themes of the film. The green dress and matching green necklace Madeleine is wearing is also a clear nod to the theme of jealousy and envy within the narrative.
Below is a music video for Cinnamon Chaser's song Luv Delux. While it has little to do with anything I wish to produce for this particular brief, I thought while on the topic of P.O.V it was an interesting film to bring to light. Similar to the Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up music video, this film is an interesting example of what can be achieved when ignoring Hitchcock's approach.
Lighting & Colour
Roger Deakin's is a British cinematographer who's most famous films include The Shawshank Redemption, (1994) The Big Lebowski (1998) & No Country for Old Men (2007). His work is interesting as its his preference is to work with as simplistic lighting set up's as possible.
Below is a scene from The Shawshank Redemption and I've chosen it because it highlights the fact you don't need a complex set up to achieve a powerful and meaning full lighting change.
*Ignore the langage - Watch from 2.00 on wards.
The overall use of light throughout the film is interesting given the themes of the narrative, this scene in particular suggests that in opposition to convention, submitting to the darkness both figuratively and physically is a far easier and safer solution than striving for the 'light'. It also inspires me to try something similar, there's ample opportunity in the screenplay to adopt a scene like this one. Something as simple as turning on a light on set to reveal a character, as we have seen, can be a great way to shock an audience and catch them off guard.
Again, Deakins has employed a simple, yet very effective lighting set up. Without any prior knowledge of the film or plot, the second you see Bardem's character you know what he is and what he has planned. By highlighting important elements of a scene, in this case the hands of a murderer, the use of light can be as informative as the actions of the actors or any dialogue they may say. This goes back to The Shawshank Redemption scene, Hadley doesn't open his mouth but despite this, the fact that amoungst the dark its his face illuminated, the audience knows whats coming.
In terms of colour, we hope to link specific colours to moments in the film, just as in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and The Village. He uses the colour red is used as a symbolic identifier for when something bad is going to happen, one can argue that this isn't the most original use of colour in a film however it does add a degree of depth and allows the audience to be subconsciously suggested too.
A way in which we plan to include meaningful colour is through filming the scenes in the woods relatively soon, while there is some reds and oranges to whats an otherwise very green area. Costumes too is a controllable aspect in which we can add meaningful colour. For example the girl who gets killed off, or the killer himself could be wearing red. "In psychoanalysis, every colour represents something specific in an emotional sense." (Schaefer 1984: P225) Storaro talks about how he uses colour due to the subconscious effects it has on an audience, for example using yellow to produce an energy and using blue to relax or to reduce an energy.
This approach can be seen in Kubrick's The Shining, though there is much debate on the meaning behind it, the changing pastel colours within the hotel are certainly deliberate. One such theory is that it represents the levels of sanity, or lack of, of Nicholson's character as he succumb to the hotels infectious madness. The sickly green interior of the room 237 bathroom is no 'happy accident', any number of emotions that this shade connotes be it greed, sickness, envy, all fit the tone of the scene. If it was painted a blood red for instance the audience would presume danger. As it is, Kubrick, as he often does, has chosen to be ambiguous.
Lighting Change:
The use of a lighting change is one of the four criteria for our ten minuet film, I've looked to a number of films/directors for inspiration and to find out how and why it can be used.
Tarantino is a example of a director that uses light in ways that may seem unusual. Unusual in the sense that often the change is very noticeable and done almost in a gimmicky way, rather than for naturalistic reasons. In Pulp Fiction, two light changes occur in a short space of time, the first being when Vincent opens a brief case, letting an unexplained, golden light pour out. The effect of this is to bring greater attention to the would-be uninteresting object and get audiences asking themselves what importance the light could hold. The second instance is when both Vince and Jules murder a character by repeatedly shooting him. During the shooting, Tarantino has chosen to apply flashes of light, presumably in post production, to once again better over dramatize the action. It could also be a nod to the biblical reference Jules quotes before the killing; "And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." The flashes could be interpreted as a sort of divine intervention, a theme thats raised almost immediately after.
From this, it would seem that lighting change need not be naturalistic and can be more than a visual stimulant for the audience, alerting them to some importance within the shot. With this in mind it would seem appropriate to include the lighting change at a point in the film where the audiences attention should be focused on a particular object, in the case of Our film, perhaps the murder weapon.
Bibliography:
Oldboy, 2003 [Film] Directed by Chan-Wook Park. South Korea: Show East
Magnolia, 1999 [Film] Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. USA: New Line Cinema
Kill Bill Vol. 1, 2003 [Film] Directed by Quentin Tarantino. USA: Miramax Films
Children of Men, 2006 [Film] Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. UK/USA: Universal Pictures
Vertigo, 1958 [Film] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: Paramount Pictures
Cinnamon Chaser - Luv Delux, 2009 [Music Video] Directed by Saman Keshavarz. USA: Koch Entertainment
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 [Film] Directed by Frank Darabont. USA: Castle Rock Entertainment
No County for Old Men, 2007 [Film] Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen. USA: Paramount Vantage
The Sixth Sense, 1999 [Film] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. USA: Barry Mendal Productions
The Village, 2004 [Film] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. USA: Touchstone Pictures
Fawell, J. (2004). Hitchcock's rear window: The well made film. (2nd ed., p. 41). Illinois: SIU
Press.
Schaefer, D. (1984). Masters of light: Conversations with contemporary cinematographers . (reprint ed., p. 225). USA: University of California Press
Pulp Fiction, 1994 [Film] Directed by Quentin Tarintino. USA: A Band Apart
Long Take:
I'm looking at Oldboy, directed by Chan-Wook Park, specifically at a scene that uses a long, uncut fight sequence.
This is relevant to our film as one idea for the long take includes a brawl between two characters. What i like about this example is that it looks as if the choreography hasn't been meticulously planned, it's messy, an aspect that gives it a better sense of reality. The camera movement too isn't meticulously planned either, it jerks back and forth as it follows the action. If we were to take one long take of our fight scene I would hope for this kind of result, while in film making planning is essential, for this type of action it can sometimes leave the result looking static and faked if you don't know what your doing with choreography. Being that we as film makers have little or no experience in staging fight scenes, by telling the actors to just 'go for it,' it may be possible to achieve more realistic results. This style of fighting will also be better suited to the fact in our film the characters they are meant to be mindless killers, rather than trained professionals, employing no particular fighting style but rather just trying to beat their opponent by any means.
An aspect other than the filming techniques that stand out in this scene is the use of lighting (or lack of it). It looks as if its been light very simply from above and this does three things. Firstly, the darkness creates great mood and its interesting from a cinematic sense to see the actors moving in and out of the light. Secondly, the fact that the mood dictates darkness allows the 'free for all' fighting style to be believable, what i mean by this is that if the whole scene was well lit there would be a bigger margin for error in relation to the choreography and chances are the audience would be able to spot the fake hits, kicks and stabs of the actors. Lastly, by having all the light coming from above the shot is kept simple in regard to shadows. When a camera has movement it can be easy to get in the way of lighting and momentarily prevent spill from falling into frame, since this has all been lit from the ceiling it gives the actors more freedom to move as they please and lets the camera move with them without any problems.
Taking from this, it would seem like a good idea to use low levels of light when conducting our fight sequence. We'll be able to create a sense of dread and grittiness while in a practical sense be able to get away with using untrained actors in a non-choreographed fighting scene.
The second opportunity for a long take would be the part in the film where the male character leads a prostitute away in order to kill her but is witnessed doing so by a second, female serial killer. Ideally this idea could also incorporate an element of P.O.V. The shot would start with a P.O.V from the man's perspective approaching then subsequently leading the prostitute away, once both characters are part way down the alley way the camera would stop, allowing the male character to move into shot as if the camera passed over his shoulder. The camera would remain stationary as the characters walked further down the alley, becoming softer in focus the further they went. During the actual murder the camera would slowly track backwards revealing a witness peering around the corner, watching the scene unfold. While this would take a high degree of rehearsal and planning, I don't believe its beyond us, the main factor to consider would be the focus. As we would be using either a DSLR or Sony Z1, in each case there is no easy method of pulling focus while the camera is moving. Another limitation is the lack of a quality steadicam, it would be possible to use a track for this shot however making sure it was never in shot may limit us in regard to framing. The scene above gets around it by moving only from side to side, the scene we wish to create involves moving back and forth. Perhaps the use of close ups may get around this, however, that will then take away from the cinematic quality I would hope for.
The clip below is from Magnolia (Paul Thomas Anderson - 1999) and does a great job of following more than one character in one consecutive take.
This kind of shot is only possible through the use of a steadicam and more importantly a good steadicam operator, two things our crew lacks. When it comes to the shooting of our scene the best way may be to come prepared to use a track but also shoot it using a glidecam or even a hand held tripod, using two of the three legs as counter weights and balance the camera. The main issue I can foresee in regard to going with the hand held option is controlling the focus, while on a track it won't be easy, at least it provides a more steady base for the camera when having to touch it to pull focus. A way around this would be to forget focus pulling and use a small aperture in order to create a large depth of field, the problem with this is that we'd need a lot of light to prevent under exposing the images. From watching the clip above its obvious they had to be meticulous with planning the focus pulls, the best example of this comes at around 22 seconds where there's a pull from the man and the young boy to the woman who is walking quickly towards them, from here the focus is pulled back, maintained on the approaching woman until she is next to at which time the focus resumes its previous position.
Below is a clip From Kill Bill Vol. 1 (Tarantino - 2003) and below that is a clip from Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón - 2006), both have pushed the boundaries in how audiences are led through a scene. While these scene's inspire me, its unrealistic to think we'd be able to achieve something of this degree given time, money and equipment restraints.
P.O.V:
"He (Hitchcock) was very critical of point of view shots that called attention to themselves, for instance, in the kind of experimental film that substitutes a camera entirely for someone's view and consciousness, replete with their arms waving into the corner of the screen and that sort of thing." (Fawell, 2004)
I think this is a valid point, while there are occasion, such as in experimental films where this type of POV shot works, to include it in 'pure cinema' takes away from what power the shot can hold.
"Hitchcock emphasised that successful subjective filming was the result of an interplay between first person voyeuristic shots and objective reaction shots." (Fawell, 2004)
When dealing with the theme of stalking or voyeurism, as Hitchcock often does, I feel it important not to labor the point of any given shot being a POV. It gives the shot greater uncertainty and therefore an added uneasy quality, something that when dealing with these themes is often an intention.
Kubrick is a great example of a director who uses lots of unassuming point of view shots in The shining (1980) in order to create the feeling of another, unseen character, in the case of this film to highlight the theme of the supernatural. He uses a lot of high angle shots when shooting scenes with the character Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) to suggest a presence that can only be felt by him. This is added to through the way Kubrick implemented a very small amount of camera shake, not enough to be noticed first time around, yet sufficient to subconsciously suggest an invisible inhabitant of the hotel. The famous steadicam shots too also connote a point of view quality. While on the one hand its a simple cinematic technique of showing the audience the vast open, emptiness of the hotel, it also gives way to the sensation of being chased, as if the camera is a silent tormentor, always just out of view. Further more, Kubrick's use of track is subjective to which character he's tracking. Danny, for example, is always filmed from behind, emphasising a voyeuristic quality which keeps the audience feeling uncomfortable when he's on screen.
This use of point of view can be described as a false perspective as in the reality of the film the camera angle isn't reflective of any particular character, only made to look as if it is. The Shining for example, as I've mentioned, suggests but never confirms the presence of Danny's spectator. Hitchcock too was a pioneer of this method, used to confuse the audience and make them feel uncomfortable. In Vertigo (1958) during the famous 'restaurant' scene, he uses a point of view shot that is presumed to be that of John 'Scottie' Ferguson (Stewart) however as Madeleine Elster (Novak) walks over to him and stands directly in front of his supposed view, the angle cuts, revealing that he is actually looking away, avoiding eye contact. The result is a scene that includes no dialogue, but through clever use of point of view framing puts the audience on the spot and forces them to be a spectator of an awkward, yet defining and highly emotive moment neither of the two characters actually experience.
The use of colour Hitchcock implements into this scene is well worth discussing. The rich red that covers the walls is symbolic of the passion, danger, obsession and love that all act as themes of the film. The green dress and matching green necklace Madeleine is wearing is also a clear nod to the theme of jealousy and envy within the narrative.
Below is a music video for Cinnamon Chaser's song Luv Delux. While it has little to do with anything I wish to produce for this particular brief, I thought while on the topic of P.O.V it was an interesting film to bring to light. Similar to the Prodigy's Smack My Bitch Up music video, this film is an interesting example of what can be achieved when ignoring Hitchcock's approach.
Lighting & Colour
Roger Deakin's is a British cinematographer who's most famous films include The Shawshank Redemption, (1994) The Big Lebowski (1998) & No Country for Old Men (2007). His work is interesting as its his preference is to work with as simplistic lighting set up's as possible.
Below is a scene from The Shawshank Redemption and I've chosen it because it highlights the fact you don't need a complex set up to achieve a powerful and meaning full lighting change.
*Ignore the langage - Watch from 2.00 on wards.
The overall use of light throughout the film is interesting given the themes of the narrative, this scene in particular suggests that in opposition to convention, submitting to the darkness both figuratively and physically is a far easier and safer solution than striving for the 'light'. It also inspires me to try something similar, there's ample opportunity in the screenplay to adopt a scene like this one. Something as simple as turning on a light on set to reveal a character, as we have seen, can be a great way to shock an audience and catch them off guard.
Again, Deakins has employed a simple, yet very effective lighting set up. Without any prior knowledge of the film or plot, the second you see Bardem's character you know what he is and what he has planned. By highlighting important elements of a scene, in this case the hands of a murderer, the use of light can be as informative as the actions of the actors or any dialogue they may say. This goes back to The Shawshank Redemption scene, Hadley doesn't open his mouth but despite this, the fact that amoungst the dark its his face illuminated, the audience knows whats coming.
In terms of colour, we hope to link specific colours to moments in the film, just as in M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense and The Village. He uses the colour red is used as a symbolic identifier for when something bad is going to happen, one can argue that this isn't the most original use of colour in a film however it does add a degree of depth and allows the audience to be subconsciously suggested too.
A way in which we plan to include meaningful colour is through filming the scenes in the woods relatively soon, while there is some reds and oranges to whats an otherwise very green area. Costumes too is a controllable aspect in which we can add meaningful colour. For example the girl who gets killed off, or the killer himself could be wearing red. "In psychoanalysis, every colour represents something specific in an emotional sense." (Schaefer 1984: P225) Storaro talks about how he uses colour due to the subconscious effects it has on an audience, for example using yellow to produce an energy and using blue to relax or to reduce an energy.
This approach can be seen in Kubrick's The Shining, though there is much debate on the meaning behind it, the changing pastel colours within the hotel are certainly deliberate. One such theory is that it represents the levels of sanity, or lack of, of Nicholson's character as he succumb to the hotels infectious madness. The sickly green interior of the room 237 bathroom is no 'happy accident', any number of emotions that this shade connotes be it greed, sickness, envy, all fit the tone of the scene. If it was painted a blood red for instance the audience would presume danger. As it is, Kubrick, as he often does, has chosen to be ambiguous.
Lighting Change:
The use of a lighting change is one of the four criteria for our ten minuet film, I've looked to a number of films/directors for inspiration and to find out how and why it can be used.
Tarantino is a example of a director that uses light in ways that may seem unusual. Unusual in the sense that often the change is very noticeable and done almost in a gimmicky way, rather than for naturalistic reasons. In Pulp Fiction, two light changes occur in a short space of time, the first being when Vincent opens a brief case, letting an unexplained, golden light pour out. The effect of this is to bring greater attention to the would-be uninteresting object and get audiences asking themselves what importance the light could hold. The second instance is when both Vince and Jules murder a character by repeatedly shooting him. During the shooting, Tarantino has chosen to apply flashes of light, presumably in post production, to once again better over dramatize the action. It could also be a nod to the biblical reference Jules quotes before the killing; "And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon thee." The flashes could be interpreted as a sort of divine intervention, a theme thats raised almost immediately after.
From this, it would seem that lighting change need not be naturalistic and can be more than a visual stimulant for the audience, alerting them to some importance within the shot. With this in mind it would seem appropriate to include the lighting change at a point in the film where the audiences attention should be focused on a particular object, in the case of Our film, perhaps the murder weapon.
Bibliography:
Oldboy, 2003 [Film] Directed by Chan-Wook Park. South Korea: Show East
Magnolia, 1999 [Film] Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. USA: New Line Cinema
Kill Bill Vol. 1, 2003 [Film] Directed by Quentin Tarantino. USA: Miramax Films
Children of Men, 2006 [Film] Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. UK/USA: Universal Pictures
Vertigo, 1958 [Film] Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. USA: Paramount Pictures
Cinnamon Chaser - Luv Delux, 2009 [Music Video] Directed by Saman Keshavarz. USA: Koch Entertainment
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994 [Film] Directed by Frank Darabont. USA: Castle Rock Entertainment
No County for Old Men, 2007 [Film] Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen. USA: Paramount Vantage
The Sixth Sense, 1999 [Film] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. USA: Barry Mendal Productions
The Village, 2004 [Film] Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. USA: Touchstone Pictures
Fawell, J. (2004). Hitchcock's rear window: The well made film. (2nd ed., p. 41). Illinois: SIU
Press.
Schaefer, D. (1984). Masters of light: Conversations with contemporary cinematographers . (reprint ed., p. 225). USA: University of California Press
Pulp Fiction, 1994 [Film] Directed by Quentin Tarintino. USA: A Band Apart
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