lighting and motion (Glen)

This was shot as the lighting exercise that Gale and I helped Sam with since he was away. these were shots that were taken with a dolly and track so we could follow our targets and to see how lighting would change if we were to move the camera.

The fist shot is a dolly shot were we start from Sams left side and go past a lamp and a light that is to the left of the camera. The blue lighting comes from the projector in the room that was on, it gives a cool effect to the left of Sams face, it also blends with the lamp to give off a violet light as you get further from the projector and the lamp.

The next Clip is the two point lighting system where we track Gale as she moves and we can see the shadows become intensified when she moves toward the light and the lighting on Sams face get brighter as we get closer with the camera. this shows how the movement of the camera can slightly change the lighting on someones face.

 The next two shots are tracking shots, they are more about the look that you get when the camera moves at the same speed as the subject, I noticed that as we got closer to the light at the sane time as the camera the changes in lighting are much more obvious than small with the previoys shot.

interview (Glen)

The raw clips for this video were all either under and over exposed, I had to lower the reds lines in the RBG curves so that the subject didn't look like they were under interrogation or look like they had an intense spray tanning accident and so that they looked more natural, The cut away shots were under exposed so you couldn't see anything in some of the shots, I had to play with the luminosity and white graph in the RBG curves.



Matching the tones were difficult but after a while I got used to seeing what part of the curve changes what, by changing the middle of the white graph I was able to raise the mid tones without tearing the image. Matching the tones off set some of the shadows in the cut away shots so they come off as slightly bland looking when they could have looked better but the changing of tones without a reason would give a colorist a fit but more importantly it dose not look as good.

 Before

After 

Lowering the reds so the subject has natural skin tone, the hard tungsten light pointed at his face. The whites have also been lowered to lessen the light reflecting off the subjects cheeks and forehead, the white fades out instead of stopping at the subjects cheek bones.

 Before

After 

Increasing the mid tones brings up the colour without messing with the heavier shadows but the light shadows lessen or disappear all together, as seen in the above screen shot the shadow at the top of the plastic box lessen. 

 Before

After

The change in this clip was quite large due to the lighting to be very low. This shot tore slightly along the back left wall because of how large the mid tones and low tones where changed, the luminosity on the light was also effected but the tone matches and the cutaway shot wont be up for that long.

This was all shot in about 1 hour, this was due to the fact that I couldn't book out the camera on times when I was free, I chose not to re shoot this because it is a good exercise for matching tones and how to make any lighting situation into natural looking lighting, I chose not to edit this too heavily because the content is quite simple and I didn't have much footage to work with but for the amount of mistakes I was able to fix almost all of them. I f i could change one thing I would get rid of some more dialogue so you would get information in bursts so it would hold your attention.

I chose The Mastermind XS song because it seemed to fit the tone of the video better than most of the music I had found on free music archive, some EDM or base techno would have fit it slightly better but I beleive this job also dose the trick, it just starts to pull away near the end.

lighting colour (Glen)

This video shows the three point lighting technique and how it is constructed. First I take out the left side fill light to add definition and shadows to the left side of my face. This light is soft compared to the direct light on the right hand side so it add a small amount of light  that lights up my left eye, when it is off the shadow covers my left eye, when it is turned back on you can see my left eye and my left cheek. The fill light is used to remove shadows from unwanted areas and it also helps to separate people from the background.

Next I turn off the right side fill light, that dose not have a drastic effect on my face but I blend into the wall a little more and my shirt is less defined.

Then I turn off both the fill lights so it is just myself in the frame with a single light source, I blend into the background more and I have hard shadows on my face, this make me look harsh and projects my shadow to make me look slightly ominous.

 Next I left the right hand fill light on and turned the rest of the lights off, this gives off the feeling that I am a dark possibly terrible person who may have mental issues, this is due to the fact that most of my face is covered by shadows (people fear the unknown), the fill light is concentrated on my cheek so that you get a gradient of light that stops just before my eye and my beard cuts off the light heading for the bottom of my face. The left side of the frame fades to darkness except for the white frame and the edge of the couch cover that frames the end of the video and lighten up the image over all and gives it a bit more of a somber tone that lowers the over all creepiness of the shot.

After that I turn on the hard light in the opposite position from the camera and I diffuse it slightly with some baking paper. The light is focused on the centre of my face so you can see without the other hard light or a fill light the right side of my face is in total shadow just before my cheekbone where my face contours. This lighting makes the person seem to be a powerful presence because you are focused on their face. this also causes the shadow in the shot to belong since the light is directly on you, much like when the sun is towards your face at 8 or 9 in the morning.

breakdown 8 (Glen)

CHILLR from Adam Neustadter on Vimeo.

This video has an interesting use of lighting, the highlights in the shot are all green tinted and the shadows are blue tinted, this makes the subjects look creepy and sickly, this matches the narrative because when you meet someone from social media the stereotype for them is creepy so this tells us that the social media they used was dodgy which goes against what an advertisement is meant to do. They use allot of ambient sound to muffle the audio, they do this to make it harder for you o hear so you have to concentrate on their dialogue, the ambient sound dose not stop until they stop talking, the reason the director didn't use a song for ambient noise is because apart from the dialogue their isn't much going on in the shots so the music would dominate the attention of the viewer because its such an audio based video so the car sounds force you to listen to the conversation more thoroughly. The video makes you think something dodgy is going on in the video until the 40 second mark due to their dialogue being suggestive, their conversation turns into a weird argument  that has raised voices to add tension so your attention is kept, if the dialogue stayed with the same tone then attention would have been lost due to its repetitiveness.

The same camera angle is used for John for most of his screen time, this shows that he gave his dialogue was recorded in one take, and same for Mark in his conversation shots. The shadow across Johns face lightens as they get to know each other and the lighting softens on Mark face near the end where they relate to each other, the green ting still makes them seem creepy but the shadows aren't as harsh so the mood becomes less abrasive. The blue shadows make the end screen seem to be part of the colour pallet, if they didn't change the shadows the blue wouldn't flow with the rest of the clip.
The only time they have a long shot it is to show reluctance to do something, the distance on the screen is something that we relate to emotional distance, since it is about bonding and being on the same chill wave length as the other person it would make sense that their characters get the same types of shots, because we view similarities as connections

Creepy and dodgy looking due to the body language and the green and blue tinge  plus distance to show their reluctence

The blue shadow on the left of his face and the roots of his hair are green plus more definition on the face means a hard light is being used and rule of thirds.

Harsh shadows and distance

Blue shadow on the right of the face and rule of thirds.

 The blue shadow is gone, this symbolizes the loss of animosity 

The blue shadow is gone, this symbolizes the loss of animosity 

breakdown 7(Glen)

Michael Robbins Furniture from Element Media Santa Fe on Vimeo.

This video uses dialogue without an ambient track, this is due to the fact that it is focused on the tranquility and raw nature of the subjects version of carpentry. This changes at the minute mark where a ambient track is added but you can hardly hear it, this is due to the fact that the subject starts to talk about their creative process. This video is about how the subjects photography practice has impacted his carpentry, this is supplemented by the shots at the start where the subject is positioning their chair and taking photos of it previously, this gives the hint that the rest of the shots are positioned in such a way but it is mostly about the process of making the chair and what it means to him. The pace of this video is slow and it remains that way during the entire video, this brings the focus of the viewer on to the process of him making the chair to say that making the chair is what drives him, not the finished result.

Applies photography to carpentry

Distance and lighting suggests a tranquil enviroment

Framed on purpose, mark of a photographer to reinforce that ideal

Shows the outside world that is framed off by the door to suggest he is in his own world

Composed shot that has been thought out to give the effect that he has his chairs and is contpmpt with them.

lighting grey scale (Glen)

This was taken late at night so I would have no natural lighting with 3 Lights and the camera was set to monochrome so I could tell how the image would look without needing to put it into a computer first. The first shot is taken with just a fill light, you can hardly make out my silhouette since it is such a soft light. The next scene has a light focused on my face as well as the right fill light to get rid of the shadows on the right side of my face and my shoulder so the left side of my face looks more defined. The shadows frame my face and since I have black hair I stand out from the wall and my beard adds a deep shadow to my neck. The light also keep brining my face in and out of vision while the grey scale aspect highlights the focus of light on my cheeks and makes it stand out.

colour (Glen)

This is a situation where I used a room that was orange because is a complementary colour to the green uniform. I didn't want the shot to have too much orange in it because it would seem to be too obvious so I added grey chairs to break up the shot a little. The wood panelling and table give off an orange hue due to the fact that the light was reflecting off the walls. The saturated colours help bring out the skin tones of the subject but are different enough for him to stand out. The papers in the background help fill out the space but the yellow paper breaks he image by a small amount.

colour control (Glen)

These two clips have shades of green and white and black present in them. There are hints of orange yellow and red to offset the amount of green in the shot to make the shot seem more natural. There are green and white objects filling up the back ground space so the colour dominance is green. The lighting in the shot comes off in a greenish blue tinge due to the light reflecting off the green surroundings. The effect this has on the clip is giving the feeling of tranquility when the two subjects are together, it also gives an offset feeling of warmth between two desolate figures, one is blended in with the environment while the other dose not fit in with the rest of the colour scheme until the next scene where he fits in more but still is a bit distant that is shown by his red neck tie.

breakdown 6 (Glen)

AUGUST from Mark Mazur on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/104969324

This video has a slow pace that is determined by the shot length and the song choice, The bright colours and defined images relate to the feeling of youth passing through, most of the lighting seemed like natural light that had been edited to bee the same colour all the way through. The shot length was quite large at the start, the first shot was 15 secs long, to give off a feeling of being a memory and the images were quite defined giving them a surreal look to relate to the fact that we remember things better than they were originally. the two shots of the hand moving through the water and the hand drawing with chalk work well together because the hands are moving in the same direction at the same pace, this video is more about juxtaposition rather than narrative or music based, it gives off the feeling of being like a trip down memory lane and the post editing has most to do with that, with the colour correction and ambient track.

The mid tones have been brightened and the shadows reduced, this is done to bring out the colours more, the evidence of colour manipulation can be seen by skin tones definition and the feathering of light. The reason this is so heavily edited is due to the point of the video being about the colours of autumn, some of the clips have been sharpened to make the colours pop out more but this also makes shadows pop out as well, this not a problem for most of the shots because the lighting is on the subject with reflections covering other parts and it adds a defined effect to the hands.

The music is an instrumental that is put in so their is sound in between the ambient sounds such as the crown cheering and the bird call, the song is not overbearing and adds a slight sad tone to the video, this was chosen because it fits the sequence better than any other genre and it also invokes the feeling of memory.

Long shot at the start with vibrant shades of white and brown

The hand transition showing two things that are so different but so similar. vibrant colours

Vibrant blue against saturated and vibrant brown and skin tone

breakdown 5(Glen)

Labrinth - Let It Be from Us on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/78451097

This video is well edited, it is hard to tell when the camera is cut, and where it starts again and it seems like it is all shot in one take but that is impossible since it is the same person it every cutaway. the final shot shows that is the same person since the version of him on the guitar is wearing glasses, this shows that it was done by pausing the camera in the transitions and having a stand in that is then replaced by the person.

The lighting is a large aspect of this video, the lighting creates a stage like effect o the person and adds definition and contours to the image, the spots of light help fill up the emptiness of the room and help to mask the places where the camera stopped so the next scene could be set up. Most of the transitions have a frame where nothing is in the shot and that is where most of the cuts happen and others have a person who is a similar build but their faces are shadowed by the light. The transitions are cut to the music since this is a music driven clip rather than a narrative driven video and it helps with the over all flow. The tone of the lighting is a slight dark brown to go with the brown surroundings, this is an example of colour control, this is done because it invokes the same feelings as the song dose, it amplifies the song.

Shot of the three versions of the subject,m on closer inspection they are all different people due to their build and face, the is covering two of the faces in shadow, the man on the couch has a shadow on his right side even tho the lamp should be working as a fill light in that instance, this is because the light was controlled so it wouldn't light up the mans face, the man with the glasses is obviously different but it is reduced by the fact the shadow is being blended with the glasses

The use if shadow here is to add definition to the shot and to also shadow the face so we wont be able to use it to notice the different faces in the up coming shots and the fact that it is a different person in the ending shot

Shadows used to hide the face and the slightly out of focus man at the computer 

audio mixing (Glen)

This is my version of the audio mixing exercise. I used the cutaway shots at the start of the video because it went well with the start of the music. I saved the end of the cutaway shot for the transition between the first and last part of the interview. I took what we learned in class with the key frames on the audio track to raise the voice of the subject and to create dips in the music when the subject is speaking. I tried to tone the music after a high note so that it dose not randomly drop down in the middle of the beat. I had a problem where some of the video had corrupted and I couldn't fix it so I cut off the part of the video and just had the subjects voice with the cutaway playing, this turned out to give it a personal effect that works well with the music, the video bellow shows how I initially had it.

breakdown 4(Glen)

"The Questions We Ask" - Bruce Kirkby in a Kalum Ko film from Kalum Ko on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/78451097

The opening shots of this video are all long shots to set a kind of mystery about the content of the video and to set a distanced tone along with the music to make it seem like this is a far off place, the shots off the wave invoke the idea of distance and emptiness since that is what people associate with the ocean. The figures in the ocean are off center to show the fact that they are also distanced from reality and its like they are stuck in time. At the minute mark it starts to become close ups to bring in the human factor so the previous shots seem more realistic and the are cut faster to bring the viewer in and the music picks up pace to show that the distant places aren't so distant anymore. The human factor is brought in more and more but with the same shots off faraway places so that it seems more possible and entices the feeling that the distant places out there aren't that far away at all.

The lighting in this is all made to seem natural due to the fact that the video is about outdoor exploration the lighting needs to illuminate everything but also leave the shadows for definition, the reason the lighting wasn't edited for effect was due to the fact that the video wants to highlight the raw beauty of the world, a few lighting techniques such as focus and diffusion were used but not drastically.

.
The music starts off soft to set the tone for the dialogue to get our attention but it starts to pick up as the dialogue starts to move faster and the shots match this pace, it becomes lower again to reset the tone then it increases as more of the human element is added to the clip then it stops for the final question at the end so it stays with you. the ambient track is mostly just to add to the dialogue, it changes as the tone and pace of the narrator dose.

Setting the mysterious and distant tone for the start of the video

Shows the boat detached from everything else, its just the boat and the empty sea, this is done so the feeling of the boat being in its own world can be felt because in this frame it is in its own world with nothing around

A distant human, something we dont reach in our everyday lives, it is enjoying the tranquility of being on its own world far out of the viewers reach

First instance of a human, first sequence of close ups are the shots of the human, this brings the viewer into the distant figure world, its not so distant after all, the rule of thirds is used

Rising human element, you are close to the figure, this invokes the feeling of being able t join their world by getting closer with the world they chose to live in

memoy 2 (Glen)

The idea with this video was that I would use the reading of a book as a catalyst for memory recording and memory play back, then after book closes the memory is over. I think that this result was alright since it was shot with random footage that I had been taking at the time. The end result could have looked more polished, since it was an experiment I believe that this level of detail is acceptable, this has no title since it is not a finished work but a experiment. The lighting in the first and last shot could be improved and the video dose not portray what it is correctly due to how short it is. The idea to only make it a minute and a half was due to the fact that there wasn't a lot of footage at hand.

I could remedy this by taking more shots so I have more footage to work with; using transitions to show the fact that it is a memory; changing the lighting so the shot dose not look as dark and fixing the pace of the shots so they flow better. time was a large constraint during the production of this and caused it too come out not as refined as I would have liked but it is decent enough to be a good experiment that I have learned from.

This video dose not have allot of heavy editing like the previous one due to the fact that it didn't need it, it was confusing but its simpleness enhances it rather than takes away from it, a change in the music and this may have turned out better, I will keep that in mind next time

memory 1 (Glen)

The idea behind this experiment was to create a memory loop of a person walking through a hall way getting closer and closer to the exit or door. this was all shot one after another, the only thing I changed was the way I was holding the camera, the iso, the white balance and aperture. I didn't use colour correction too see what type of image I would get then I added additional effects to the video to make it seem like a memory. The idea of distorting the video came from the idea that memories aren't exactly as we remember them so i played around with opacity, layering, colour correction, reverse speed and sharpness.

The lighting is key in this video because that is how we tell the passage of time, since this colour change was done iso and aperture you are able to tell what happens in real time but it leaves less room for editing post filming. The effects were something that I played around with until it was something that reminded me of what a memory loop looks like from my personal experience, the one that I fiddled the most with was the colour correction because I didn't know how drastically it would change the footage.

The effect that I had the most fun with was the reverse motion with the video and the music track, find the right time in the video for that which also was at a declining part of the beat was something that I enjoyed fiddling with but the one effect that didn't do much was the sharpness setting on premier, this might be because the video wasn't very distorted since it was shot with a DSLR  camera but it did cause the video to skip frames so it all worked out.

breakdown 3 (Glen)

Tone from Trent Jaklitsch on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/102266784

This video is music based rather than narrative based, this is due to the fact that it is short clips that are cut to the beat of the music rather than the process of painting itself. It follows the chronological order of a painting being formed, starting form the mixing of the paint to the blending of tones. The director made a creative choice not to show the painting at the end, I think this adds to the video because it makes it more about the colours add less about the end result. The first shots are long and fit with the music and the rest of the shots are smaller to match the cuts, these short clips are more like a insight into the colours blending and textures of the painting and less about the aesthetic that the colours bring to the image. You see many different textures and clolours that you would notice from the finished work so it is almost like a look into the part of painting that people don't normally see because they are focused on the end result.

The paint looks like caramel and the texture is smooth and runny to go with the slow part of the beat, the texture and action of dripping is just like the music 

This texture and the paint coming through the stitching works well with the slow music and follows the same premise of the screenshot above but in a different way

The long stroke that goes with the relaxation of the beat and also shows hat the process is moving foreword, the shot is successful because it lasts for the right amount of time and is a shot that also symbolises the first stroke while the music is calming down, much like the calm before a storm

This is one of the many shots that is brief because it is cut to the beat, the cutting is done skillfully so it dose not disrupt the flow of the song

This is a shot that shows another type of texture that you normally wouldn't pay attention to, showing the beauty in what the artist misses because they are focused on the big picture, this shot changes on a high hat, another example of cutting to the beat.

Part of a quick section of shots that are cut to the fast part of the beat, this shows another texture that you dont normally see on a painting because it only happen during production and will change when the work dries out

Close up of brush to remind the viewer that they are experiencing the painting close up and pesonal

Part of the large pan at the end that fits with the rising beat, as the camera moves so dose the music, getting stronger as it goes on

breakdown 2 (Glen)

Flying Solo: A Transgender Widow Fights Discrimination from Lambda Legal on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/84779440

This video takes a slow pace so that the viewer is able to form a connection with the person in the clip. There are many cutaway shots that show pictures of the past to reinforce the fact that this is a part of history and also to show the persons deep connections to their memories/ roots. The other cutaway shots show the fact that the person lives a normal life and this is shown by the camera tracking speed and the yellowish lighting. When the person starts talking the music cuts out so that we fully get the impact of the story and that helps immerse us in the video. The long shots of the plane in the distance mirrors the shot at the end of the clip, showing that the days of the person flying are long gone and in the distance life the plane in view. The opening sequence presents the person as a female by putting the painting of them dressed like a female to form that connection in our mind, later when the person talks about having once been a man it is hard to envision them as one because the director hasn't put any inkling of what they looked like so the audience can only relate to the person as a female because it has been reinforced by the many images of the person as a female, the director makes the creative choice not to show the subject as a man because that would break up the image in the mind of the viewer slightly and take away some of the emotion that had been built up.

The lighting and tone of this video dose not seem to change throughout the entire video, the lighting is a natural looking light that is a tinge of yellow to give the feeling of warmth when looking at the video, this is done to help quickly create an attachment to the subject so the audience is able to understand the subjects feelings on a closer level and this helps sway the viewers emotions more than it would without the connection and the feeling of outrage wouldn't be transmitted as easily.

The music is light at the start and the tone isn't as sad an later on were the feelings are being conveyed and it is the strongest when the subject is explaining their troubles, this is done to show the level of emotion is rising and the add the sad tone at the right time, this causes the feelings to be conveyed in a stronger way.

 Opening shot

Presented as female

Warm lighting to show a connection to the subject

mirror ending sequence

breakdown 1 (Glen)

Blind Guy from BRIGADE on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/99585787

This video takes a slow pace that is determined by the music and shot length. The first shot lasts 39 seconds. It starts with a sorrowful tone to give the idea of ambiguity so you don't know that the person is blind. The director likes to show things that require sight to enjoy like the fact that he could be listening to the T.V or the fact that he has paintings in his house to show that his lack of sight dose not effect him. This pacing fits with the type of character the director is showing, its slow and mindful and not too direct so it leaves room for your own interpretation of the subjects ideals and actions. The director chooses to cut for their transitions, most of the shots of the subject are different distances from them and are focused in a single spot to show that he lives in his own kind of world that isn't effected by others views and his disability but is who he is as a person.

The colour pallet is mostly saturated brown to give off an aged look that fits in well with the over all theme of the video and ties back to the kind of lifestyle the man leads and gives the impression that he is worn out because that is the colour most people associate with brown, but his dialogue contrasts this to show that first impressions are deceiving with the person. The lighting comes across as natural with the shadows dulling the background slightly so the subject is the focus of attention. The lighting is done in this way so that we notice the subjects body language that dosent suggest the subject is different from a regular person because the subject still uses hand gestures in their conversation.

The music changes four times during this, at first it is a melancholy almost sad tone to suggest that something sad or mind blowing is going to happen so the audience gets ready for a shocking reveal bu then you are greated in the subjects round about way, this is something that would suit what the character would do. The music changes to an older style of music that is quite jovial, this shows the subject is dated and a positive person. The music changes again during the title sequence, this is quite a suddent cut of music that is a mellow tone to set up the rest of the interview so that it flows with the dialogue. The music changes to a old blues song that is also ironic to round off the video.

Colour pallet and opening shot of mystery, shot that implies the subject is watching TV

 Direct camera and colour pallet plus natural lighting wiith shadowed background to bring the subject out

Colour pallet and the irony of a blind man having a statue for decoration