D.O.P STATEMENT
As i’m the D.O.P for
this hypothetical pre-production package, there are a lot of elements that need
to be taken into account, such as lighting, framing/composition, camera movements
& the colour/tone of the piece. Each of these elements play a pivotal role
in how any D.O.P would want their work to be interpreted, and how they would
want to display their work, aesthetically & psychologically. I know that my
own style needs to come through and i just have to demonstrate that through my
use of shots on my storyboards, in the shot list and through test shoots that
were completed. Having your own signature style is key for a cinematographer,
as i keep on finding with deeper research.
LIGHTING
Lighting is significant
for how each scene in a film/composition is brought to life/or not brought to
life, as it creates & realistically sets the tone for how the piece will be
tied together. Also Lighting is pivotal in the
production of film because cameras aren’t responsive to lights in the way that
the human eye’s do. The acute detail and lighting juxtapositions a human eye
can see are extremely developed, and cameras can’t pick up on this as well.
Additional lighting is necessary to make the definition of a video or film’s
definition of a comparable quality to what the human eye sees naturally. The
correct lighting can determine the mood of the scene and can evoke a more
dramatic or subtle palette for the film, which makes the decision key in what
kind of lighting we use and how well lit/not well lit a scene is. Although at
times, the planning and implementation involved in video or film production can
seem unnecessarily long and complicated, it is beneficial in the long run. The
more time spent ensuring the lighting is right first time around will mean less
time in the editing room. The quality of shot and overall appearance of my
video or film can be implicated if the lighting is not right, or does not
compare to the other elements of the finished product. On a set, lighting can
be the most time consuming, and at times, frustrating element, but it is worth
giving it the suitable consideration as i’ve experienced myself as – making
changes during filming will always be easier than in post-production, with
limited changes possible. I’ve been reading a few D.Ps books, and came across a
very insightful one, called ‘Painting with Light’, by John Alton, with a
relevant quote.
“Lighting
strives to bring out the following values:
· Orientation – to enable the
audience to see where the story is taking place.
· Mood or feeling (season of year
and time of day)
· Pictorial beauty, aesthetic
pleasure.
· Depth, perspective, third
dimensional illusion.”
So, for this particular piece that is nearing
completion, lighting has been thought about heavily due to how significant a
part it plays. Since further research has really pushed me to fathom & get
to grips with, in more detail of how influential lighting truly is. Seeing as
the composition is theoretically a period drama, with more of a originality to
it, the lighting for this piece will be similar to period dramas that are shown
in the present day, like Foyles War, Rillingtons Place and The Crown.
There are also films that have the same lighting aesthetic as we desire, for
instance Fight Club, Blue Ruin and Seven. I would want the lighting to be as
natural as possible, as this would add to the authenticity of the piece, also
contributing to the relatability & validity of the project when the
audience would be viewing it. It would be bleak, and quite lowly lit, as i
would want there to be little saturation & colour amongst the shots to
bring out the dark tones & elements of our episode. This would tye in with
our themes & the topics that we would be covering throughout the series.
Each episode would have similar lighting & would be shot in a matching
style to have clear cohesion & continuity. The reasoning behind the low key
lighting and general minimalist approach is that i’d want it to have the most
organic feel to episode. It’s also covering topics that are pretty intense
& hard hitting, and i feel the minimalist approach would support &
reinforce the themes that the episode is covering. So this would be done by
creating a set that requires a lot of artificial lights within it (that we
could place in as props), so that i would not have to use as many
tungsten/studio lights, as i feel a studio lit sequence would not have the same
organic effect that a naturally lit set would have. Coloured gels would be used
to create the desired aesthetic we need, the gel colours would include dark
navy, black, grey, spanish grey, & a pasty white. Gels would be used
frequently throughout the filming process to hopefully convey & portray the
desired look.
FRAMING/COMPOSITION
The framing/composition is another significant
element of the D.O.Ps skillset, for to understand and demonstrate a clear level
of comprehension on the skill, is going to have a positive outcome on the
project. Composition is how the shot is framed, and everything that goes on
within it, so that will include lighting, the angle, & the movement. The
composition can have many indications & interpretations to each individual
and that’s why there has to be clarity with the cinematographers usage of it.
The arrangement of the
objects and actors in a frame can add to the storytelling by emphasizing some
and de-emphasizing others.
“Framing and editing determine the eye path of
the viewer. It might not be too much to say that what a film director really
directs is his audience’s attention.” – Alexander Mackendrick
RULE
OF THIRDS
It’s
the fundamental rule of composition. Divide the screen into thirds with four
lines — like a tic-tac-toe game — your objects of interest should fall at the
intersection of two of these lines. Some cinematographers are more rigid about
it than others, but it’s very possible to find a movie whose every shot does
not deviate from this. We mentioned before that people are vertical and movie
screens are horizontal — this means that to get a person in a frame you need to
either make them very small, or crop them. Both of these are perfectly
acceptable.
Unlike in the real world, in
cinematic and photographic composition, you can chop the top of someone’s head
off with impunity. This is not true of people’s chins — chins need to stay in
the frame unless you crop an equal portion of the top of the head.
The framing for this project
would be clean, sleek & electrifying, as I would want it to be as engaging
as possible for the viewer. I’m also taking into consideration the fact that
this episode & the series will be screened on small mediums, thus having to
think carefully about the framing of each shot. There would be a lot of close
ups, as demonstrated throughout my storyboard, as i feel through the small
screen of a tablet or phone, you’d want to be able to see what the main focus
of the narrative is. As well, throughout the majority of the episode, handheld
would be used heavily, as from watching various things created from Paul
Greengrass, i know it creates intensity. The use of handheld heightens tension
and gives realism to anything that it's utilised on. I feel this camera
movement matches the overriding tone of our piece and it would effectively
convey the narrative in a riveting manner.
COLOUR/TONE
Colour
is an essential element to any production, as it sets the overriding tone &
gives more of a understanding to situations when there is a deeper
interpretation. You’re able to depict a story with more exposure and detail,
manipulating audience moods and emotions simply through the usage of
experimenting with colour. Immediate examples of utilising a colour palette for
a desired effect can be seen in Schindler’s List - isolating all colours apart
from the little girl’s red coat which is significant in evoking an emotional
response from the audience. The varied colour concoctions presented in the film
take all differing size, shapes shades and sharpness, and each palette manages
to increase the cinematic experience in their own unique way. Colour can simplify
complex narratives, this can be achieved by using different colour tones that
help the audience follow the narratives that jumped between characters and
their environment. For example, In intolerance (1916), D.W. Griffith had
organised & selected a unique tint for each of his four storylines to
signal that they took place in different eras.
Colour
can make the audience feel & evoke deeper emotions, Danielle Feinberg,
D.O.P at Pixar, states that “Lighting and colour are part of the backbone of
emotion”. A scene that she states perfectly sums this point up, is in The
Incredibles (2004), Where Mr.Incredible job is set at insurcare - the
colours are desaturated and grey, to really convey a sense of depression
So
relating all of this relevant depiction back, and comparing it to my own
project in terms of the colour & tone we were trying to set. The colours
that we want to establish within the piece would be that of quite dark &
gritty colours that you normally would associate with a crime/thriller, as it
fits the general tone of the episode due to it’s topics that lay at the heart
of it. Colours such as grey, spanish grey, blue, maroon, ash grey, flashing
red, all are symbolic for similar reasons, in that they give off a menacing
& hostile aesthetic. We want our colour to be matching the aesthetic of
each other element, i.e the set design, costume design, location, lighting,
etc, so that each component can feed in to one another, and communicate clearly
the aesthetic that we are trying to capture.
CONCLUSION
To
summarise, for this hypothetical project the shooting for this would have to be
cohesive and consistent throughout each of the main elements, or else the
aesthetic would not be able to break through on to the screen. The lighting has
to be low key and organic, the framing has to be handheld & free, and the
colour which sets the tone of the piece has to match up with the other two
elements to forge a unique bond which will then hopefully marry the elements
together & create the desired aesthetic we hope for. This is due to the
subject matter of the project & we feel it would be conveyed best with
these particular styles & techniques.
No comments:
Post a Comment