This video blog post is a brief production break down of how i went about doing my video, from make up and clothing, to location scouting, lighting, colour pallet, equipment used and also post production techniques, how i went about editing the footage and audio plus colour correcting and grading.
Where i have this project already created in my head, i pretty much already know the scene locations that i'm looking to use. The reason i've chosen these specific scene locations, is because of the way how the practical lighting is set up, giving the footage the look that i'm aiming for, being that i'm going to be using a selection of fast lenses to help achieve this look within the chosen scene locations.
Front room
Front room/hallway
Set design for front room ideas, i want to try and have a similar set design,
Example of trashed front room
Bathroom
Set design idea for bathroom
Example of trashed bathroom
Basement
Meet location
Driving scene locations
Most of these still pictures were taken on my 50mm f1.8 filming at f1.8 48fps with 1600-2500 iso. The ones in the bathroom was taken on my 17-85mm f4-5.6 lens at f4 iso 1600, however i'm looking to film that scene using a 16-35mm f1.8 lens, and also use the same lens to get wide shots in the front room.
I’ve been doing some further research into style & Mise en scène to
grasp a better understanding of it, and I’ve came across a really good/valuable article on this website (http://filmschoolthrucommentaries.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/color-and-the-look-of-a-film-visual-analysis/) that has been very informative, and has opened my eyes a lot in regards
to visually analysing a films colour palette in regards to: the way how its
lit, framed and also designed so that it all looks visually in sync and easy on
the eyes, and also subconsciously plus emotionally connoting an idea about the
scene whether it be love, vengeance, or realism.
Because of my lecture on style & Mise en scène, this helped me a lot to further understand this article even more, and ensure me that i was researching into the correct information and not just random websites.
The opening paragraph pretty much grabbed my attention.
Color and the look of a film – Visual Analysis
Have you ever wondered or noticed why certain films look a certain way
tonally? It is not just a simple matter of colour grading an image in
post-production. A director works closely with a director of photography,
production designer and costume designers to create a colour palette that fits
the story of the film. The colour of the film is controlled on a set. Each story
itself can be told in a plethora of ways – meaning, depending on what that
story is about, and what is the thematic underpinning of it – the look of the
film will often be based on those factors. For instance it may depend on the
setting and the world within which the story takes place; time period, location
of it. Therefore the colour palette of the film will largely be dictated by
these elements. So let’s start looking at some examples..
In a scene from The Usual Suspects below… look at this image, and try to
see why it’s visually appealing as well as, in a sense, homogeneous.
See it?
How about…
It’s pretty cold isn’t it? Now imagine if Spacey was wearing an orange suit — wait, how about if all of them wore t-shirts of different vibrant colours. The image wouldn’t look correct, because it wouldn’t match the background, the walls. This is carefully selected, so it’s visually “in sync” so to speak with the environment. If you take it a step further, why these suits were chosen also fit what the scene is about. If you can recall it, it’s an infiltration so they have to blend by acting like service people. The backgrounds are carefully chosen however so that visually everything you see is appealing to the eye, so you don’t question its validity.
Taken from http://filmschoolthrucommentaries.wordpress.com/2012/12/30/color-and-the-look-of-a-film-visual-analysis/
After reading this article, i looked over a few films and programs that i liked/discovered, to use as influence/ideas towards my projects colour palette.
Offenders
Director: Ron Scalpello
Writer: Paul Van Carter
What i like about this colour pallet is that the contrasty warm/vibrant red/orange colour tone in the intro for the film connotes the idea that the actor is angry, possibly lonely, and has a lot of hate in his heart. The warm, contrasty colour palette helps to convey this idea, and the fact that the actor is angry, and also also wearing black, beside the selection of clothing being common amongst london urban fashion, the colour of his clothing could also represent the hatred and anger within him. This films colour palette however, visually blends together nicely, and the selection of colours makes sense in regards to the scenes that they're in, and also set a mood for those scenes i.e. angry (contrasty red, black), action/fighting (contrasty red, black white), harmony/tranquil (saturate soft red, blue, yellow).
This was interesting research, the colour palette for Top boy was graded by a London based company called www.thelooklondon.com
In an interview taken from an article posted by quantel (http://www.quantel.com/repository/files/casestudies_The_Look_d11.pdf) , which was the hardware/software used to grade top boy, the owner and senior colourist Thomas Urbye said.
“Top Boy needs to attract a different audience
compared to the other dramas we’ve worked on. We have to
make it look ‘cool’ to appeal to a younger audience; therefore
we decided to make the grade even more dynamic. We chose
a highly saturated but carefully crafted look for the series; it’s a
style that young people are familiar with, like and relate to.”
"DP Chris Ross had worked colour in beautifully with his
lighting, but we had to take each exterior shot one at a time, and depending on the location and the feel of the scene, grade it
accordingly. This meant there was deliberately no consistency
with the colour palettes across the series; it completely
depended on the concept of the shot, the scene, and the
emotion it was purveying."
“In some scenes, especially those taken outdoors on the
housing estates, we had to create colour when sometimes it
wasn’t immediately obvious it was there, bringing out certain
colours so they stood out against the bleak background. Pablo’s
S-curve and keying tools gave me precision for tasks like this."
In an interview by the broadcast now show (http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/techfacils/top-boy/5034428.article) Urbye says
“The note from the first camera tests was to be bold with colour and contrast, and never to show London as cold and desaturated, as it so often is in UK drama,” says Urbye.
“We even felt that the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone, which is so popular now, was a good reference. We loved the feel of reversal stock, but we could push it further, skewing hues and adding windows, which all meant this gripping story could also be told through its use of colour.”
Conclusion
This segment of research into style & Mise en scène has definitely opened up my mind, helping me visually analyse the colour palette and production design of a scene, and the connotations of what it could represent if done correctly. Hopefully this research should help me when choosing my scene locations and set design, plus costume design.
Even though i have an understanding of colour and what it could represent, i still have further researching to do so that i can explain exactly what it is that i see to other people, because if i'm working in a group, its no good me knowing what i want, and not being able to explain/express it to those whom i'm working with.
Brain stormed through a few idea and these are what i came up with
Out for revenge – Crime Drama
Charlie, a 25yr old
drug dealer, got robbed last night. Caught entering his
apartment after a night out celebrating new years eve, they beat him up, and
ransacked his apartment looking for cash and drugs. Out for revenge he contacts
his ‘connect’ to purchase a firearm and get his payback.
Bring back the Stash C*nt! - Crime Drama
Charlie, 27yr old top
member of his crime syndicate, one of his workers got robbed. The person whom
robbed his worker, his managed to find out whom it is and demands the gold bars
back. It is agreed so long as he pays some money as the job has been done and
the people did not know it belonged to Charlie. The briefcase is returned but in
a busy environment leaving Charlie unable to check it as there is police
nearby. When Charlie gets home and opens it he finds there is nothing there
with a note reading “jog on mate”
Homeless guy looking to get paid - Crime Drama
Robert, 32yr old
homeless guy, lives under empty shop doorway fed up with life, manages to make
enough money from begging to be able to buy a gun with hopes of using it to
make a profit by any means necessary.
Two different football firms’ bosses meet to
exchange - Crime Drama
Terry who is one of
the bosses of the Gillingham FC football firm also sells coke for a living; one
of his customers Blake is the head of his rival football team Dover FC. Angry 24/7, the only time Charlie is
happy is if his fighting, making money or getting laid. After beating his
rivals recently in football firm riot, delusional, he goes to do business with
his rival again. Confidant that business would go smooth, not realising that
Blake has gotten a new connect and has other plans for him, Blake gives Terry
counterfeit money and snidely mocks him in the process. Terry finds out when he
gets back indoors when he opens the bag to count the money and flips out.
Clumsy angry office guy – Comedy drama
Charles, a 25yr old
computer programmer; has ordered a computer hardware part off of Amazon. Due to
the bad delivery service, he has to go and collect his parcel from the delivery
depot. Once he returns home and opens the package he notices it is not the
correct item he ordered and morphs out (gets really pissed off)
Angry Rasta man who orders sandwich but turns
out to be pork – Comedy drama
Leeroy, 25yr old angry
Rasta man gets his daily morning sandwich from a café, they phone him early in
the morning to let him know his sandwich is ready, so that he can collect it
and eat it at his house before he leaves for work. Recently, due to new
management they messed up his order on their first day dealing with him. Leeroy
woke up like normal in the morning and collected his sandwich, and when he
returned home and opened up the sandwich; he notices it’s a pork sandwich.
Crack head out for a fix and gets sold polo
mints – Comedy drama
Roger, a 23yr old
angry crack fiend, is up early to get his fix of crack from a new dealer he met
the night before. He meets the dealer and thinks his getting a deal for crack,
when he gets home and opens up the wraps he realises it’s polo mints and not
crack!
The idea i'm going to go ahead with is the first one "Out for revenge – Crime Drama"
So that I could
clearly understand and interpret this script, I decided to break it down so
that when I create my story from the script; I have a clear understanding of
whom is in the script, what it is about; what’s happening, where it’s happening;
and why it’s happening, resulting in the resolve from this scripts series of
events. This will also help identify each of the individual elements that is in
this script, which I could use to help convey the ideology of my stories genre/theme;
such as character design, set design; location selection, props and so forth.
This breakdown is
going to act as a basic blue print for me to build up off of.
Script
breakdown
Characters
·Main character
·Second main character
·Side character/ bystander
Scene locations
·Home
oFront room
(scene 1)
oBathroom
(scene 2)
oEntrance
of the house (scene 3)
·Route 1 (scene 4)
·Route 2 (scene 5) – side character passes by
·Route 3 (scene 6)
·Route 4 (scene 7)
·Route 5 (further up the road from route 4) (scene
8)(meet location)
·Location 6/5 new characters location towards
the meet point (scene 9)
·Meet location 5 (scene 8)
·Home (scene 1)
Props
·Bed/couch (home)
·Mobile phone
·Clothes to get dressed i.e. coat/jacket, hat,
trainers (home)
·Mirror (home)
·Tooth brush (spit blood in the sink) (home)
·Sink (home)
·Women pushing pram (Route 2 props)
·Guy talking on his phone (Route 2 props)
·Guy walking dog making ‘Main’ want to watch
cautious (Route 2 props)
·Watch, or time on the phone
·Push bike? (Route 6/5props)
·Car (Route 6/5props)
·Motorbike (Route 6/5props)
·Jacket
·Undefined Package
Story overview:
Main
character wakes up from a deep sleep at its home location. While at the
home location a phone rings, the main
character answers this phone and exchanges a few words: presumably
confirming a meet location. The main character
gets ready (brushes teeth, washes face and so forth) and leaves its home
location to go to the meet point.
On route to the meet
location a passer by catches the
attention of the main character,
however, this does not throw the main
character off from its course as it continues to the meet location.
At scene location 7,
the main character checks the time
to make sure that they’re on schedule; advancing further up the road to scene
location 8. Once the main character
reaches the meet location, the main
character pulls out its phone and dials a number: confirming to the person
on the other end of the line that they’ve reached, and asking where they
(second main character) before ending the conversation.
At scene location 9 we
see the feet of the second main
character, travelling towards the meet location. Meanwhile at scene
location 8 the main character is
fiddling with the thread on its coat, waiting for the second main character. An unidentified sound alerts the main character: turning around the main
character notices the second main
character approaching carrying an “undefined package”.
They have a brief
conversation as the second main
character hands over the “package” to the main character. The second
main character then turns to walk away: leaving the main character behind.
Back at the main characters home location, the main character is sat down in the
trappings of their lifestyle: viewing the content of the “undefined package”,
which clearly influences the mood and atmosphere of the main character.
Conclusion
Once i've thought of an idea for this script, I shall use this breakdown as a basic building block to work from: so that it saves me time and hassle allowing me to focus more on the story where i've already broken down the main parts of this script.
(also a video at the bottom of the page might start automatically)
This post is sort of a
brain map post of my analysis of angry within media from what I’ve experienced over the years and with knowledge gained from the course so far.
So what is Anger?
A dictionary
definition states that angry is “someone feeling or
showing strong annoyance, displeasure, or hostility; full of anger.
For this project we’re
to interpret the script in any way we see feasible, to help portray the idea of
an angry character. Somebody whom is angry could be for a number of possible
reasons. They could be a genuinely miserable person who’s pissed of with life,
the job their working in, their family and so forth, or they could be a protagonist
whom is out for revenge over the killing/abduction of their loved ones using
violence as a means to question those involved. Or even an antagonist trapped
in a protagonist’s body displaying a sort of bi polar split personality with
the protagonist being a polite kind person, but could switch into an angry
violent abusive personality at any given moment.
So to piece together
my own personal experience of seeing how angry characters are represented in
different genres, here are some examples of angry characters to help get an
idea of how they’re portrayed in the roles they’re playing as either the
antagonist or protagonist.
For this research I’ve
categorised each character into sections such as:
Protagonist
Antagonist
Protagonist & Antagonist
This could be a character whom has conflicting personalities
On a path trying to find themselves but is filled with anger hate and revenge
Could be evil but then changed into a good person, but still have their angry personality
Protagonist characters
Happy Gilmore
In this film, Adam Sandler portrays an agngry character that doesn't have a pleasing attitude towards things that cause him problems leading him to use violence as a means to overcome it.
Karen Hill in Goodfellas
Karen Hill, wife to Henry Hill, played by Lorraine Bracco is a character whom is initially troubled by Henry's criminal activities, but is soon seduced by his glamorous lifestyle. They start the film off as love birds, but throughout the film you can see the stress and anger getting to her as she's fed up with Henrys absence in the house and the affairs his having. Her role in the film, is a brilliant example of the journey through anger.
King Leonidas in 300
King Leonidas Played by Gerard Butler in the film 300 shows his anger through passion for his cause to refute the idea that the spartans will surrender to the Persians
Goku Dragonball Z
Goku is known for his cheerful, energetic personality and his love of competition (specifically sport fighting and eating). He has remarkable intuition at seeing the good in others in spite of their actions, though his capacity for forgiving his enemies has occasionally been criticized as excessive; Goku, for the most part, only fights to win, and spares his enemies after defeating them only for them to attack him when his back is turned. Goku can feel incredible anger in cases of extreme turmoil, such as the death of a close friend/relative, or when someone murders many innocents needlessly(taken from wiki)
"I am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things that cry out for peace. I am protector of the innocent. I am the light in the darkness. I am truth. Ally to good! Nightmare to you!" — Goku as a Super Saiyan toward Frieza in "Explosion of Anger"
Antagonist Characters Joe Pesci
One of my favourite actors of all times, whenever theres a role for an angry mobster short guy, Joe Pesci is the man, he always plays his roles perfectly!!
Casino
In this film Joe Pesci is playing the role of an angry mob man called Nicky Santoro
Goodfellas
Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction
Jules Winnfield played by Samuel L Jackson in Pulp Fiction
This character has also been used outside the of the Pulp Fiction film to be Hockey coach, still portraying the same angry characteristics
Sully Top Boy
Sully, played by Kane Robson (KANO) in the Channel 4 series Top Boy based in London, is an aggressive, angry, modern 'road man' thug that you would find in everyday life in and around london.
Unfortunately i couldnt find many good clips on the web of him showing this but in these episode you can get a rough idea of his character
Protagonist & Antagonist
Tyler
DurdenFilm in Fight Club
Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt in Fightclub, has conflicting ideologies which happen throughout the film, kind of like a split personality. One half of him represents the normal everyday working office guy and the other half of represents an oppressed beast waiting to be let loose fuelled with rage, anger, violence and other primal aggressive needs.
“You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of you wallet. You're not your f**king khakis. You're the all-singing, all- dancing crap of the world.” quote from the film
Vegeta aka Prince Vegeta Dragonball Z
On introduction to the DBZ series he was an evil character and slowly as the series progressed towards the end he became a good guy. However, in the series he is portrayed as a arrogant, angry, power hungry, and because of his hunger for power this is what makes him more angry as he bares a grudge against Goku whom is stronger than him, to which Vegeta having lost to Goku before wants to prove his strength and beat him
Vegeta is extremely aggressive and cold-blooded. Since his childhood, Vegeta has proven himself a ruthless killer, merciless like most Saiyans.
Vegetas Grudge against Goku is what makes him a very angry person.
other characters i've seen whom fit in this category but i'm not going to expand to much on are also Uma Thurman in Kill Bill (2003) whom changed from an Antagonist to a Protagonist and for doing so her husband to be got killed by 'Bill', which made her go on a rampant anger fuelled revenge
Jugo from Naruto An outcast, Jūgo's rage made him a danger to anyone around him, as they stood little chance of survival should he lose his temper. At one point, he became so angry that he destroyed a village and all of its inhabitants. This has caused others to label him as the "Scales", where anything could tip the balance.
Conclusion
Even though this is a
journey through anger, as we can see from this research, anger can be portrayed
in many different ways. I could have an emotional good or evil character; whom
could get angry at any given moment for a number of reasons, or could be angry
24/7. Hopefully this research will help me towards building a better character
that conveys the idea that their angry.
