Transitions: Research into Sean Price Williams

It is my desire, after i finish this course to pursue camera operating in some form or shape, so for this unit i wanted to take up the role of DOP, and further develop, focus and critique my skills associated with the role. 

So i decided to do some exploration and research into certain cinematographers that i feel have a distinctive style, technical competence and an aesthetic that i really enjoy to watch. One of the cinematographers that i have chosen to explore further & take inspiration from is the super talented, Sean Price Williams. 

 (Sean Price Williams) 

His work on his latest film, Good Time, was an electrifying and exceptional piece, shot on 2-perforated 35mm kodak, giving that eclectic & visually powerful aesthetic.

“I have an abiding love for film and love watching films shot on film. It’s a flexible, versatile recording medium that you can use to create very nostalgic or naturalistic aesthetics. But I also like to electrify the filmed image and colors, especially strong colors, look great on film. Combined with its grain structure, film is made for a stimulating picture that is easier to create on set and more interesting to watch than a digital interpretation. Film sees what is in front of you on set; it’s alive.” 

Sean Price Williams - May 22nd 2017

The film Good Time is shot so beautifully, with its colours popping out, high saturation, and grain to give it that film texture feel, every shot had it's own narrative and that's why i found it so special and engaging to watch.

 (Good Time)

 With the films use of low light being heavily utilised, to create such powerful visual imagery, it puts focus on the characters and the chaos surrounding them. It also puts great emphasis on the psychology perspective of each character, as each character has different lighting staged behind them, evidently conveying a clear indication to the mind of the character at play. 
                                                                                                                                                               

       These two single shots, are actually both of these characters having a frantic conversation about what there plan of action is in regards to the plot. (How to get Robert Pattinson's brother out of hospital) - Pictured left, is Robert Pattinson, pictured right, Buddy Duress, both characters are in totally different psychological states and that is beautifully captured by the lighting within this sequence. Robert is in a state of panic, desperation and rage, whereas Buddy is in a state of hopelessness, shock & confusion as this is at the point in the narrative where he has just been mistakenly taken out of hospital as Robert thought that he was his brother. (That was a major spoiler so to whoever is reading this, i am deeply apologetic). These images put into simple terms how effective lighting can be for a scene and how they can be pivotal to the narrative plot, adding a deeper layer of structure and meaning that couldn't necessarily be captured by other ways so subtly. 

“It’s a pretty crazy movie, and we made it in our normal gonzo style – no marks for the actors, dark and difficult exposures, always chasing the action around. Essentially, we make production as hard as possible. And the immediacy of this punk style of filmmaking translates into an unmistakeable on-screen energy.”

Sean Price Williams - May 22nd 2017

I've always been super keen on shooting with film, be it super 8, or 16mm, but its always been the issue of money & how expensive it is to buy and then get developed. I love the textures that you can achieve and the overall aesthetic, something which you can't really capture on digital, unless you have some super kit, and lots of post-production effects. I think potentially in the summer i'll invest in a 16mm, or go for the Panasonic GH5s, as it's low light performance is that of similar ilk to the Sony a7s ii, but again money is always an issue!

All in all, it's been an interesting read up on this guy, and i'm sure his work in the future will be even more mind-bending and visually compelling just like his work has been up until this point. A lot has been taken away from his work, like his interpretation of how to manipulate low light situations, to the hand-held anarchic character led sequences, he is a very talented individual to say the least. 

- https://www.kodak.com/GB/en/motion/Blog/Blog_Post/?contentId=4295002297

(Link for quotes)

Transitions: Research into Emmanuel Lubezki

Another cinematographer i've decided to research for this unit to give me a better understanding of the discipline, is Emmanuel Lubezki. 

Lubezki began his career in Mexican film and television productions in the late 1980s. His first international production was the 1993 independent film Twenty Bucks (1993), which followed the journey of a single twenty-dollar bill. 

Lubezki is a frequent collaborator with fellow Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón. The two have been friends since they were teenagers and attended the same film school at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Together they have worked on six motion pictures: Sólo con tu pareja (1991), A Little Princess (1995), Great Expectations (1998), Y Tu Mamá También (2001), Children of Men (2006), and Gravity (2013). 

(Emmanuel Lubezki)

I decided to research Lubezki, due to some of the shots created within our project as i felt they were of similar essence to him. Also, one other major reason i decided to delve into his work is because i find it so aesthetically captivating and pleasing to the eye. His distinctive style within close vicinity, capturing pure emotion so close to the characters, it's a very interesting way to capture such pure authenticity. 

(Children Of Men)

His work on the film Children Of Men will always be remembered for breaking the boundaries of camera work, especially the infamous car sequence which was taken in one shot with a few magic edits. This in my mind was some sort of reasoning to justify to try and pull off our one shot sequence, it was an audacious shot but if it was convincingly shot then it would seriously pay off.
Link - 

(Car sequence)

You feel as if you're there, within the confines of the car, next to all of the characters, unable to escape the terror that unfolds around them. It puts emphasis on the action, increasing that intensity of the world that they're trapped in. It's such a distinctive style and i've never watched anything so captivating visually in comparison to that sequence since.  

(Revenant) 

His cinematography work regarding Revenant was in some respect very similar, it gets close and intimate with characters, allowing the audience to feel as if you're sharing this experience with them. It allows you to kind of imagine what the character is going through and how hard they're suffering throughout the gruelling narrative. Its use of wide angle lenses allows for that, as you can get in seriously close, which sometimes throughout the film would have the audience be able to see the breath coming out from Leo's mouth. It's a very immersive way of filming which i find extremely intriguing & beautiful to watch. It uses a lot of immense handheld footage, throwing you right into the action again allowing for that immersive experience, i.e when he is being chased by the native american group, it adds greater emphasis on the intensity, location and aesthetic. 

All in all, researching this guy was a lot of fun, from a few interviews he seems like a really down to earth character, with a vast amount of knowledge on cinematography and film in general. His work will always be remembered for sure, having won 3 Oscars, i think it's safe to say he has been cemented in the history of cinematography & film forever. 

Transitions: Shoot day

On the day of the shoot, which was postponed originally and moved to the date of 8th May, we met up at the shooting location which was my house.

Callum and Aimee had picked up a few of the actors, whilst the other member of the cast made her own way to the filming location. We had set the time of initial shooting to be for 9am. We roughly started shooting at about 9:30am due to traffic delays etc, but as we had already blocked out the majority of the script on our shoot day, we were extremely efficient as a team and only really were waiting on the actors/actresses to be comfortable with the script. 

(Shoot day)

As the blocking had been done, it was just down to how the actresses/actors were delivering the script and their general performance that needed to work now. We'd run through shots, i'd recommend some spontaneous shots that i felt may work, trying to capture the rawness of the tone we were going for. Overall the shots up until the scene where we come back from outside, (when will has just been taken hostage), i felt i had done relatively well, listening to the director and capturing what was asked of me, and giving my own creative input too. It came to most definitely the defining moment of the day, in where Oliver (director) wanted a whole one shot sequence, but to capture it, i had to swivel/pan the camera on the tripod several times, i struggled immensely trying to get this shot as the movement was technically very challenging. It took us about 7-8 takes, and if it wasn't me who had messed up, it was one of the actors, and if it wasn't them, it was the lighting. 

(Attempt 1000 of pan movement)

After eventually capturing the pan shot, which was the main shot of the sequence, we then moved onto wrapping up the rest of the shots which was pretty straight forward as they were just MCUs, CUs, singles and doubles. With this script being quite a heavy dialogue based script i knew that i had to liaise with Oliver to get the best out of the scenes, creativity wise, so we could make it as engaging and aesthetically pleasing as possibly. I felt with the team that we had, we all contributed massively on the shoot day and it went pleasantly well. There may of been a few disagreements with certain shots but that is to be expected when we all have different visual interpretations of the script and how it should be fitted together. 

As we filmed chunks of the script, getting through it segment by segment, the SD card would be passed to Aimee who would then quickly put it on her laptop to begin the edit immediately, this was due to time constraints and to maximise our length of time we had on the post-production side of things. I'd then get the SD card back, format it and continue with the shoot. 

(Cast)

Some of the issues that we had on the shoot day were not having one individual specifically monitoring sound, so looking back on the footage, we've discovered that there is a relatively low humming noise coming from an unknown source. This is evidently a big issue but thankfully we'll be able to rectify our mistakes in the post-production side of things, however i know it shouldn't of happened in the first place. Also sorting out the white balance in such a terribly lit room is such a pain, that took a good 10-15 minutes to get to adjusted to an acceptable tone. However again we will have to colour correct it in post as it was slightly off on the skin tones, creeping more towards the yellow side of things, this became an issue as we needed to go outside to shoot a piece of the sequence that forced us to, so readjusting the white balance to outdoors, seemed to work pretty well, but then going back in was a nightmare to readjust and that took for what felt like 20 mins. 

I've learnt that you've got to get to grips with the white balance sooner and have an overall better understanding with it and colours/tones, as it'll be evident to everyone when your piece of work is finished. Lighting is also a element that needs serious attention, care and concentration on to really maximise your creative output and the aesthetic that you wish to capture. Finally, nailing my camera movements, that will only come with constant practice, determination and competence. I'm pleased with how the shoot went, but there are some shots within the sequence that i wish i could re-shoot, but that's the nature of the beast and ultimately why you have to get it done to the best of your ability the first time round, no second chances. 

Transitions: Research for Role

So as my designated role for this project is to be the camera operator, i decided to do some researching into what really i should be focusing my attributes towards and where i should be looking for some wisdom & overall advice. 

I know that to be a camera operator you do need some essential characteristics and traits if you want to succeed, these are a few too bear in mind:

• have good working knowledge of all camera systems, lenses, support equipment and accessories
• provide creative input
• have artistic ability
• be patient
• have a good sense of visual composition, perspective and movement
• have physical co-ordination and strength
• combine creativity with technical skills
• pay precise attention to detail
• communicate effectively
• be able to collaborate and work as part of a team
• be diplomatic and sensitive when working with artists and crew
• know about health and safety legislation and procedures

This list is a quick mock up of quintessentially what it takes to be a professional camera operator. It offers the attributes, characteristics and general mind set of what a camera operator should have, and it's so important to take everything on that list into consideration.  

I know for this collaborative project that I had to bring my own creative element to the table, and with myself and Oliver already discussing the general aesthetic to be of similar ilk to that of films such like Good Time & Neon Demon, in terms of a visual comparison, I had to begin researching the DOPs of those films and ones synonymous to them. 

 (Good Time - DOP - Sean Price Williams) 

Transitions: Pre-production for Shoot day

Our group had been very organised running up towards our shoot day, working within a document on google docs, and conversing over facebook with the latest updates regarding cast, equipment and call times. Callum had created a call sheet for the shoot day, finished scripts had been passed over to the cast, and a shot list had been curated by myself. 

(Shot list)

Me and Oliver worked very closely coordinating the blocking and camera movements/angles on the test shoot day so that when we came to the official shoot day, it would be a smooth transition and we'd be able to hit the ground running.

Overall i was pleased with the level of competence and commitment shown to the pre-production side of things as it gave us confidence & insight going into the real shoot date. However if there was something to improve on, maybe it would of been to use the lights in the test shoot and to see how they would benefit us. 

Transitions: Test-shoot day

So on the Tuesday 24th April, we had planned this day to be the official shoot day for our project. However, due to one or two actors dropping out, we had to completely scrap the shoot date and find new actors & a new date to film on. All was not lost though, as we then decided to use this day as a test shoot and lay out in person our vision, so Oliver being the director, began to block out scene by scene using ourselves as stand ins. 

Having a shot list already made for this official shoot day, we then decided to go off key, and explore a bit more with the camera shots and how it would actually be filmed. Also as the script was not fully finished by this point it was just about getting a rough concept about how the shots were going to be pieced together. Furthermore we still used the bones of the script to block out each scene, so that when the official day of shooting did commence we were going to be able to hit the ground running, and hopefully the new set of actresses/actors knew their lines accordingly.

(Test-shoot day)

Overall it was a very productive day, we got through 3/4's of the script with blocking and camera work all agreed on. There were a few scenes where we thought we wouldn't necessarily need massive amounts of blocking as we wanted it to be captured as natural and fluid as possible. It was kind of a blessing in disguise, managing to take advantage of a day in which we had all thought was that of a bad one.

Live production: Critical analysis

I can't believe another unit is over and second year is almost completely done too! To think, i thought this unit was going to be the easiest, how i got that so wrong i don't know! In all honesty, i know i probably say this but i feel like i'll take away from this unit the most, working under those kind of pressures, gives me confidence for the future an working in other projects where there won't be those kind of constraints, as it'll make me appreciate what i have and the time i have on those location shoots now. 


Pre-production
From my role, being camera, i just had to liaise with my producers and directors regarding what days i'm shooting and the style of the shoot. I was very pleased with how we all dealt with shooting the VTs, there was no hassle or issues with anyone and we all got on with the job at hand. We had permission granted in all of our locations, it's stuff like the weather that you can't really plan around, but fortunately it wasn't too difficult when we were out on location filming! If there were any downsides to the pre-production side of things in terms of improving for next time, it would be the VTs being slightly tweaked? I know we were restricted in terms of creativity as it may not of fit the tone/themes we were going for. However I would of liked a bit more creativity in that respect.  

(The live show)

Production
I was pretty satisfied with how the VTs were shot and the way in which it was done, as i was also happy with shooting of the Live production performance. If i could choose one that i was more proud of shooting it would probably be the Live production. I know your creative mark isn't left as a footprint within it, however i feel you're part of a bigger picture & to have an input in something like that is special. I think me & George got left with the bad apple in terms of the camera we were using for the Live production, (Sony PMW) so that was a pain getting it to match up with the other cameras that had different sized sensors that ours. 
We had a few technical issues regarding shooting our fashion fails online VT as the lighting was just pretty low and we knew it was going to be a post edit job. I've learnt now to take out my lights than always needed, as if we had that extra LED, we would of had a perfectly exposed face. 

Post-production
Having not yet seen the 'As Live' production, it's hard for me to critic myself in regards to that, however my VTs i can do so. Looking back on the final editing version, there are some things i'd change, like the lighting, and tighten up some camera shots. On the other hand, i'm pleased with the overall feel and aesthetic of the two VTs that i had a hand in creating. Possibly next time I would like to have more involvement in the edit process so i can contribute to some degree on that creative aspect.





What have i learnt 
I think this unit has taught me that communication is pivotal, you can have a group of fantastic talented people but if they aren't mature enough & professional to put aside any differences they have to come together and produce a piece of work, then they'll fail. I think that's what we did well as a year group, and i think we should be proud of that fact. I feel to some degree i know what it would feel like on a smaller scale to work on a studio set, and it's gave me that buzz to go hunting for more. It's a rush like nothing else and i loved every minute of it. Another big thing this time round is that i'm beginning to slowly but surely, enjoy researching relevant roles & people, obviously being interested in cameras, working camera operator, i've been tasked to research about them! I know how rich a lot of sources are for seriously useful information so i just need to keep digging and researching. 

What have i still to improve
I've got many skills that need major improvement but one that i felt i was majorly slacking was my camera ability! I felt i struggled with some of the movement shots within the live production, and trying to focus on that PMW was insanely difficult, so i seriously need to just crack on with way more research and take out the Panasonic's for little test shoots! I've been looking into colour grading more, and potentially shooting on V-Log, so realistically i need to take out the DVXs and have a play.


Conclusion
To conclude this unit, i think it's fair to say everyone did a great job at the specific role. I'm happy with how my role was carried out and in the manner it was too. there are certain things that looking back on i'd liked to of had a second chance or to add my creative input, but there things now i can take me with forwards to the future productions i'll be working on. I feel positive an confident in the direction that i'm going.