Studio Shoot - Day 1

Day one of the studio shoot was a very special day for everyone in group A. There had been a lot of planning that had gone into this production so it seemed that everyone involved was keen to do the best they could. We had an early start for the day as there was a lot to do in our 48 hour time frame. The day started at 8.30am and filming was scheduled to start at 9.30am, this gave the lighting team time to set up the appropriate lights for the scene and also gave me a chance as 1st AD to go around and make sure that everyone was calm and happy with how everything was going. The first two hours of filming went really well and we were ahead of schedule. The studio we were in was quite small having 13 people all in one space as well as this there were powerful lights that were constantly on throughout the shoot which radiated lots of heat. Because of these reasons it was important that we took regular breaks throughout the day which gave the lighting and camera teams a chance to change over their equipment without being bombarded with other crew members around them. We continued on with the shooting after the break and everything seemed to be going very well, where we'd lose a bit of time in some scenes we'd make up for in others. There were points throughout the day where some crew members didn't see eye to eye but all was resolved and no shooting time was lost over it. After a long day of shooting in the studio for hours it was clear that everyone including the actors was very tired. We cut for the day and managed to get exactly what we planned to film as the director liked it. 

Set Building - Directing Role

In the studio set building project, I have taken on the role as director which is arguably the most important role, meaning there is a lot of responsibility on my part. My team and I have chosen a photograph called 'Basement' by Gregory Crewdson. We played on multiple ideas as to how we could approach this picture and after a while of throwing ideas back and fourth we managed to settle on the idea of going through the five stages of grief. After deciding this we asked our tutors for feedback on the idea and they came back saying that it had a lot of potential but needed improving in places. We took these comments on board and proceeded the brainstorm about the narrative of the film. Several group meeting took place and we have now settled on the idea of a brother and sister feud. The film is going to take place a few days after the siblings have just committed a crime. The sister is going to have a much more laid back type approach to the whole situation whereas the brother is going to be a lot more jittery and uptight. The film is going to revolve around the siblings playing a game of chess and with every move they make in the game, something alters slightly in their reality be it a change of clothes or a piece of furniture in the room. 

When thinking about the look of my film, I have taken into consideration a lot of things from the mood I want to portray to the message I want to send. I have looked at a lot of feature films and short films to get an idea of how I would like the set designers to dress the set. My main inspiration for the film is going to be of similar aesthetic to '10 Cloverfield Lane'. Visually this is an extremely close representation of what I want to convey in the look of this shoot. The film follows the style of a early 90's and the bunker in which the majority of the film is set in has a very dainty and intricate look about it so much so that it gives off a slightly unnerving vibe to the film as the set doesn't correspond with the genre of the film; I'd really like to deliver the same feeling of viewer uncertainty in our film. I have also given the set designers the 1975 Somebody Else music video to look at. I like the look of this set in particular because there isn't actually a lot in the frame but because of the low lighting, it makes the apartment look quite grungy and run down which is the look I'd like in the shoot. I also feel like showing this same clip to the sound department of the shoot as this short is very reliant on audio seeing as there is no camera movement throughout the whole thing. 

  

Creative and Technical Skills

In the past, I have had a reasonable amount of experience, especially in framing shots as I started my career in film as a cinematographer. This has helped me massively when moving over to my now preferred role as director as I have a great knowledge of another persons role which is an extremely important role. Our plan is to try and experiment with mediums that we haven't had the chance to use before (projectors).

Equipment wise we are going to be using a Nikon D7200 with a 18-200 3.4 and also an iPhone 7 camera. We also have a 50mm lens which we will bring with us to see if it can improve any shots with the increased depth of field.

My work partner Jacob also has had a history in photography meaning that he too also has a good eye for what shots work well and what shots don't. Jacob also colour corrects his own photos from scratch meaning that he has a talent for post production colour grading too. 

Maps & Networking - Our Shoot

Jacob and I recently filmed how our shoot went by having a friend of our bathe in a bath of pink liquid. Originally the plan was to have our model submerge themselves in paint but after considering the risks and wellbeing of our model we realised that dunking our model in paint would be far too dangerous. We began to brainstorm what we could use in the bath to substitute instead of the paints so I came up with the idea of filling the bath with milk and food colouring. After doing some calculations we realised that it would cost quite a lot of money to fill an entire bath with milk so we decided to go 50/50 with milk and water. To our surprise the liquid in the bath turned out exactly how we wanted; it was safe enough for our model to bathe in but was also thick enough from the milk to look cloudy. Considering we had limited light resources (we only used natural lighting), I think our clips came out quite well. We made sure that our model was comfortable at all times by making sure a warm towel was close the entire time and making sure that the temperature of the water wasn't too cold. We also told him he can shower off and take his time properly bathing after the shoot finished. 

The idea of this shoot was to be very symbolic. By this I mean that the bath is meant to represent the right side of the brain itself and the pink water is supposed to represent the actual creativeness of the brain itself as though to say how when you think creatively we are literally submerged in our thoughts and ideas. This is why we had our model pose in different positions in the bathtub to represent thought processes; the shots where he is sat upright are supposed to show how he in the early stages of thinking creatively whereas there are also shots of him sunk into the pink liquid to show that his thoughts are quite literally swallowing him whole.

Seeing Music in Colours - Melissa McCracken

26 year old Melissa McCracken is a painter with a rare neurological phenomenon called Synesthesia which affects approximately 4% of her home state of Missouri. Melissa's form of her Synesthesia is called Chromesthesia meaning she spontaneously and involuntarily sees colours when she listens to music. Melissa found out about her condition when she was just 16 years old. She tells a story of how she was with her friend and wanted to change her ringtone and how she had a blue phone and she wanted an "orange" ringtone to match because they are complimentary colours. She said that after she'd said that her friend seemed very confused which caught her by surprise. McCracken stated that it was then when she realised that she was different from others.

When asked about how she came to start painting her favourite songs, Melissa stated "Colour seemed like the most natural thing for me to paint because I've always loved it, so I wanted to go down an abstract route. I started painting memories from notable times in my life and thinking of the specific songs that related to them. People seemed interested in my synesthesia so it became my core subject". There are certain music genres that Melissa actually finds prettier than others. For example she finds that funk music is a lot more colourful as it includes lots of different instruments and melodies and rhythms creating a highly saturated effect. 

As an experiment, McCracken met with another person who has synesthesia to listen to the same song and see how their paintings differed from each other. She said that they both painted "Little Wings" by Jimi Hendrix and that both their pieces looked really different, proving how subjective synesthesia is. 

I think that after researching into Melissa's work I now have a much richer understanding of a particular way in which the senses can work with art. Finding her work has really helped influence me to broaden my horizons when looking at the senses side of art. Although I have already done an experiment similar to what Melissa does, I think that possibly trying it again but maybe with an extra party added so we can compare how we perceived the feeling of the same song.

David Bowie, "Life on Mars."

Prince, "Joy in Reception."

Plan For Research

We've begun to think about what things we can research for our projection pieces and what came to mind first was abstract films that portray a particular thought provoking mood. By this we mean films that stimulate intense emotion, allowing us to perceive the film more passionately and be more open minded and free with our interpretations of them. Instantly work by the likes of Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch & even Martin Scorsese came to mind. These are filmmakers who've had a past of visually manipulating their audiences by and keep them on the edge of their seats. Aesthetically, we like the idea of making a piece that looks like 'Eraserhead' (1977) as we like the minute colour and lighting that is used in it but then like the idea of implementing something similar that was used in 'Sin City' (2005) where the film is predominantly black and white but every now and then have intense bursts of colour that we feel would represent the creativity spilling out of us from the dull-set tones of 'rest of the mind'. 

Eraser head (1977)

Shutter Island (2010)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Sin City (2005)

Sin City (2005)

Planning For Our Shoot

Because our project is based around the idea of the left and right side of the brain, we felt it was necessary to research more into the actual ins and outs of the two sides and try to understand which sides produce which individual thoughts, emotions and behaviour. We came across an article on the internet which gave a brief list of things that are typically attributes to each side. We found that the right side of the brain is a lot more creative. It's what's responsible for our imagination, how we respond to music and how we perceive artistic awareness, however, the left side is the opposite to these things. The left side is responsible for your analytic thinking, it's the side that we use when we try to break down puzzles and problems. It's also the side we use for maths, science, logic and language. These are all very helpful traits to know as we can now dissect the brain more in depth and really pick out the genre of clips we will be using in our two different videos. Our plan is to have one side show all of the things and places around use that can stimulate creative thoughts and show a network of thoughts intertwining and linking with one another. On the other side we plan to show how when the left side brain takes charge, we all of a sudden see things in a different way. We start picking away at things strategically instead of diving in head first which is what a lot of people tend to do when thinking creatively. About three quarters of the way through the video we wanted to have the two brains go into 'meltdown mode' and by this we mean that we want to show how the two sides can think very well independently but without each other, the brain cannot cope, it needs both sides to function to its full capability. We plan to do this by turning the videos into what a computer screen would lookalike as if it was rebooting, thus symbolising the brain being unable to cope and trying to start again. This is where we plan to loop the video, making it seem as though the two sides have 'reboot' themselves and everything is now fine again when in reality it just goes back to the beginning, ready for another 'meltdown'.

Synopsis

Synopsis

We are going to be experimenting in projection art by producing two different projection installation pieces. The plan is to use two different videos to portray the left and right side of the brain, also known as the creative side and academic side of the brain. We want to show how your brain is almost like a network of thoughts, feelings and ideas and how tiny bits of corruption can destroy or unsettle the brain. The piece would start off with shots of rubix cubes, puzzles and high level maths being completed on the left side and on the other would be things to do with being creative – video games, films, painting, mixed art, filled with colourful, eye catching clips. After a minute of this, the screen would start to glitch, showing the same clips over and over again until the screen freezes and everything would stop and start to change colour/ come up with warning signs… until it turns off. Then resets itself. We want it to represent the changing on your brain and how sometimes you can get mental block from all the technology we use in everyday life. 

Treatment

Narrative

We are going to be experimenting in projection art by producing two different projection installation pieces. The plan is to use two different videos to portray the left and right side of the brain, also known as the creative side and academic side of the brain. We want to show how your brain is almost like a network of thoughts, feelings and ideas and how tiny bits of corruption can destroy or unsettle the brain. The piece would start off with shots of rubix cubes, puzzles and high level maths being completed on the left side and on the other would be things to do with being creative – video games, films, painting, mixed art, filled with colourful, eye catching clips. After a minute of this, the screen would start to glitch, showing the same clips over and over again until the screen freezes and everything would stop and start to change colour/ come up with warning signs… until it turns off. Then resets itself.

Cast/featuring

The only cast member with be George pryer as we want his brain to be the one that we’re focusing on. All of the other footage will be from films/archive footage found online. As we feel this would work better than a lot of our own footage. We wanted to show how the corruption of your brain doesn’t just happen from your own accord but from the things around you that influence and create a network in your head.

Sound/Music

Music wise we would only be using it from the clips themselves as opposed to having a running theme throughout. The music would change towards the end when the corruption starts to happen so that there wouldn’t actually be any music, it would just be a blur of strange words and phrases to create the idea of it destroying itself.

Aesthetic

The aesthetics we’ll be going for is a mixture of media formats – it will mix found footage, hand held, super 8, VHS and normal, high resolution footage to create a video collage of different clips and sounds. Towards the end we’ll be creating our own effects/using overlays to create the corruption look for the film. The way it will be edited is quick, jumpy and uneven – the footage might not make sense one after enough but that is meant to represent your brain waves working to process everything you see/do everyday.