Research Portfolio

Textual Analysis

For my film I am choosing to shot it in black and white however I do want to have some colour to add to the film’s look and to help it stand out a bit more. An example of this effect can be found in Schindler’s List. Schindler’s List is a Thriller which is shot in black and white with only one piece of colour. The way that that the black and white is done and the single colour that is made to stand out is shown as the colour is red and pops out from the background. This draws the attention to the red jacket and because its on a child the effect on the viewer is more powerful. The film’s black and white aesthetic also means that the film has a feel of sadness and a darker tone to the films design and emotion. The story is also well complimented by the black and white with the single colour as the single colour with the emotion of the film and the way that the colour pops and the way the colour is shown in the scenes which grabs the attention.

Through out my film one of the main characters motivations is loss which can be seen and understood in the film Faster which uses various ways to show loss and makes them easy for the audience to understand. Faster is a Action film where the main character is motivate to kill by loss. The lost in this film is his brother which cause him want get revenge on everyone who was involved with his brothers death and goes about doing this with ruthlessness and quick killings. The main character’s anger and vengeance mean that he doesn’t say much and just does what he has to do giving the audience a glimpse of his mindset and how angry with all of the people involved he doesn’t show his emotions in his face but shows it with his actions.

The film has underlying  psychological aspect which is show more obviously in The Silence of the Lambs and this is something that would allow the audience to emphasise with the main character and feel his pain. The Silence of the Lambs is a Psychological Thriller which use the psychological aspect to the thriller and shows how it can be used to heavily influence the audiences emotion and perception of the film and the way it works with the characters interactions with others. It also shows that the psychological aspect means that the way that the people also view  the way the main character conducts themselves and the way that the has body language can show their emotions and their thought process that they go through to get to where they are.

How to edit Drama?

For my research I will look into the best way to edit drama and create suspense through  out the film which will help me to make my film have the dramatic feel that i’m looking to achieve. When researching this I will use multiple online sources to make the editing and the best effects and techniques for drama.  These will portray the emotion and hit the audience hard with emotion at the right times and in the right way. One of the editing techniques I will use is the use of a single colour along with the black and white similar to that used in Schindler’s List and Sin City. This effect is best used to highlight a certain moment for example the red coat in Schindler’s List which is used to show a horrific aspect of the film and story that it follows. When looking in to this I found a website that talks about the best way to do this. The article by ROBERTSON, 2013 titled “How to Create the Sin City Effect in Adobe Premiere” he discusses the best way to create the effect and how to apply in to the film. This effect can be used to the characters way of looking into his thoughts and feelings by showing something that is a constant reminder of his past.

To test some of the ideas and techniques I have researched I am going to produce a test of these. The main technique that i’ll test is the effect from Schindler’s List and Sin City with the single exposed colour. To do this i’ll take short clips for the experiment and expose as single colour of each clip for to show which colours are the best to do this with and the way the effect works properly. This effect is easy to crate and simple to make to make the film have the eye catching feature that I was looking for through out the film to make it the best film that I can and to make the best looking scenes. The colour that I am going to use is blue as the blue still fits with the film and works well with the effect and doesn’t glitch and have darker areas that loose colour and look off which means that the area of the film is poorly made. However overall the effect is usable with care and to make the film look good and unique.

The cuts used in the film are also important to show the drama of the film. There are multiple different types of cuts that could work to increase the drama and tension. One of the ways that a cut could show and build tension is through slow cuts between close shots around the same scene showing something we couldn’t see prior to the shot cutting and this the increases the suspense through out the scene to show more the characters emotion and the setting. The films drama would also benefit from the use of cutaway shots that would let the film use flashbacks to build the suspense and provide the backstory and motivation of the main character. The slow fade between the cutaway also allows the audience to take on the characters feelings and mental state to increase the audience’s perception of the characters emotional state. A smash cut would also fit into the drama well as it is a completely opposite scene from the one that is cut from to the one that is cut from. The flashbacks the character is experiencing are violent so a smash cut would show how violent these events are and makes the audience understand his past why he is so traumatized by it. These personal touches that show the character is very distressed makes the audience feel the same pain as the character and have empathy towards him and help them understand him completely. These personal touches also make the character seem like you know him and give him the aspect of being a real person. These effects and techniques will help me to make my film and the edit will also be higher quality and will make the film much more dramatic and give me the best edit possible.

How to increase tension and suspense in Drama

To increase the tension and suspense in drama there a various different ways to do so. The reason I want to research this is to help me improve my FMP and make the drama more effective on the audience. This will also help me to improve the techniques I am going to use to increase the suspense and tension and make the story more believable and have more of an emotional impact. When researching this I used multiple websites to find the best techniques and ideas to get the best ways to do this. These sources are “A Simple Editing Trick to Inject Drama Into Your Films” (Hardy, n.d.) and “5 Tips for Building Better Cinematic Suspense” (Davis, 2016) which also discusses lenses which means that I can use “Digital Video Camerawork” (Ward, 2016) and “Digital Cinematography” (Stump, 2014) which are both books that discuss lenses which mean that I can back up the research sources which discuss lenses. In “A Simple Editing Trick to Inject Drama Into Your Films” (Hardy, n.d.) the author describes the way that the film can be manipulated through the editing the film to up the tension and suspense through out the film. The source also says  “They can decompress, or lengthen, certain periods of time in order to accentuate the emotionality and drama of any given moment.” which is a way that editing can impact through the film’s editing and the best way to do the increase the emotion. “5 Tips for Building Better Cinematic Suspense” (Davis, 2016) talks about the best ways to build the drama with cinematographic techniques that are the best for suspense in drama. These techniques include switching up the lens to help so the background of the shot more and help with the depth and look of the image. “As you transition from a wide angle 24mm to a 50mm, the difference will cause your audience to pay closer attention while giving them important surrounding detail.” This quote along with what I have learn’t from the books mean that I can use the lenses in my film more effectively to show the background and surroundings of the character more effectively. To test these I will use multiple different lenses on the shoot to produce the best mix of shots and to make the film have a more impact full  effect throughout.

How to give a Character a Convincing Back Story

For my film my character has to have a believable back story to help the audience to emphasise with him and feel his emotions. This empathy will make him a more believable character and have a story that the audience can follow through out. When researching this I looked at How to Write a Backstory (“How to Write a Backstory”, 2019) this has given me several vital ideas on how to make the characters backstory have a purpose which means that the backstory can been used by the audience to link up the story and make sense of the story. Another source that I looked at (www.nuvotech.co.uk, 2019) discussed that the best way to portray backstory is to make it believable and allow the audience to emphasise with the character. “It’s a great story. But what makes the character of Dorothy (Wizard of Oz) so memorable? In part, it’s because she has a compelling backstory, which allows us to sympathize and root for her from the get-go.” this example shows that the back story is also best used to get audience on the side of the main character which also the story to be more emotionally powerful and impact full. This means that I can now make the script and design of the film more impact full to the audience and make the film look more convincing and hit the audience emotionally.

Best way to create Weather in Films.

For my film I need to make the weather fit with the mood of the film give the emotion of the character a second way of being shown through out the film and make it the best it can be. When researching this I looked into how create the effect and how to make it look professional. The first site (Synder, 2019) that I looked a discussed how to make rain out and in doors and give information that means that the way to create the rain is a simple a using a hosepipe to make the rain effect in the area you want. This simple techniques means that the way that the rain is made is easy and could be done relatively easily. The second source (Maher, 2019) also describes the best way that to make rain is through the use of a hose pipe which can easily be done on location which means that I can use this effect to make the rain in my film. “Rain is the easiest type of weather to capture on film. With just a water and a hose, you are ready to create a light shower.” this quote gives me confidence that i can make the rain for my film.  These effects allow me to use the weather more effectively in my film to show more emotion as well as to make the film look the best. It also gives the film another level of depth thorough out.

Another experiment that I have done is to see which technique was the best for altering the weather. To test this I positioned my camera in 2 different locations and used a hose pipe to test what looked better. The first clip is placing my thumb over the end of the hose and limiting the flow of water to make a different result. The second clip is the same but decease the amount of water getting though the end of the hose to increase the spread of water but decrease the size of the rain droplets to make the rain seem lighter. However in this take water got on the lens which means that the footage is hard to evaluate. The third clip is similar but from a different angle which helped me to better capture the effect of the water and to see if it creates a convincing effect of rain that would work on my film. Overall the first shot of the experiment is the best and most convincing effect for the rain and would work the best for the film and allow me to make the shots involving the rain more convincing and make the film better overall.

Location Recce

For my film I require 3 main locations. One of these locations is a house for which I shall use mine. This means I have complete control over the location and means I can have it set up to be the best looking and suit the aesthetic of the film. The use of this location also means that I have more control over the films production and set design making it easier to manage and shoot.

The film also requires the use of a cemetery for the opening for this to match and provide another way for the audience to emphasise with the main character. An example of the kind of cemetery that I would like to use would be Wardsend Cemetery near to Hillsborough College. This cemetery is nearly derelict and would allow the use of empathy through a ruined environment and would be in stark contrast to the home which would be well maintained.

 

The third location would be either a factory or office. These are the locations which I am considering due to difficulty of access to an abandoned or derelict factory. These locations are often secured and have surveillance and security which would be a problem for filming. An office however is much simpler than using a factory but would have more rules than the use of an abandoned factory but would also have less safety problems. The best option would be the office at Fountain Precinct in Sheffield city centre. I have chosen to use this office as it has easy transport links and has the correct design and aesthetics that I am looking for.