After using the park near college as a setting for sample shots, I decided that the setting would be suitable in connoting a sense of inner piece and contentment of the main character. This setting will be used for the introduction and 'Acceptance' scenes of the film, as they act as a present day anchor from which the story can be told. This form of non-linear storytelling was inspired by the use of a divisive non-linear narrative in the HBO show 'Westworld', in which story twists and character revelations were slowly given to the audience through jumping back and fourth between three different timelines in the story.
After seeing cut ins, extreme close ups of characters' body parts in Sergio Leone's films and the attention to detail that it creates, I wanted to capture an opening shot that would establish a more intimate perspective of the camera in relation to the character. After finding that close up shots in the research are effective at applying emphasis on a single subject, The choice to make the entire film more close and intimate was made, as this form of cinematography allows the story to feel more personal and grounded. This intimate form of storytelling allows the audience to relate to the struggles of the character more easily and therefore the positive and negative tones of the story can be conveyed more effectively. This low angle, close up shot of the character's feet walking past the frame and walking up to the frame was captured by placing the Canon camera on the ground. The intended effect here was to establish the grounded, personal tone from the beginning. By using a low angle extreme close up of the feet walking past, the audience themselves will feel grounded and also vulnerable to an extent, due to the low angle making the audience feel small. This connotation of vulnerability links back to the anxiety part of grief, which will be explored fully later in the project. Filming on the camera on the ground offered some problems, as the ground had an uneven surface, so most of the takes here were at a canted angle. There is also the obvious increased rick of the camera being damaged by the public passing by.
After seeing cut ins, extreme close ups of characters' body parts in Sergio Leone's films and the attention to detail that it creates, I wanted to capture an opening shot that would establish a more intimate perspective of the camera in relation to the character. After finding that close up shots in the research are effective at applying emphasis on a single subject, The choice to make the entire film more close and intimate was made, as this form of cinematography allows the story to feel more personal and grounded. This intimate form of storytelling allows the audience to relate to the struggles of the character more easily and therefore the positive and negative tones of the story can be conveyed more effectively. This low angle, close up shot of the character's feet walking past the frame and walking up to the frame was captured by placing the Canon camera on the ground. The intended effect here was to establish the grounded, personal tone from the beginning. By using a low angle extreme close up of the feet walking past, the audience themselves will feel grounded and also vulnerable to an extent, due to the low angle making the audience feel small. This connotation of vulnerability links back to the anxiety part of grief, which will be explored fully later in the project. Filming on the camera on the ground offered some problems, as the ground had an uneven surface, so most of the takes here were at a canted angle. There is also the obvious increased rick of the camera being damaged by the public passing by.
This low angle, upfront, extreme close up shot of the feet was originally fro a different perspective of the previous side shot of the shoes. However, the two could both be used, as this would show some form of continuity editing that connects the action in a scene. The shot is also able to capture that sense of vulnerability and feeling grounded but the limitation with not being behind the camera and having it on an un-level, is that it is difficult to know if the feet are fully in frame or not.
The following long, medium and close up shots of me sitting at a bench were meant to represent the idea of loneliness, which is a common negative trait that occurs in the grieving process. The long shots were shot to establish the character in the setting and to also connote the idea of loneliness by using a mostly sparse setting.
The medium shots are meant to familiarise the audience with the character and to also gain a sort of emotional response from the main character. In this case, the audience are made to feel that character is feeling sombre. The non-linear narrative will change the audience's reaction to this scene, after it cuts back to it near the end of film, where the character is seen in a more positive light. After looking at the vlogs by Casey Niestat, I wanted to use this direct mode of address with the character looking directly into the camera. Casey's intent with this direct mode of address in his video is to address the camera, as if the audience are there in the scene. With the purpose of a vlog being to tell a personal story, Casey is able to convey his daily life through the direct mode of address, as this high lights that Casey is the story teller. A direct mode of address also allows the audience to relate to character more due to the eye contact feeling almost like a real conversation. This aspect of Casey's video is echoed here, with the main character looking directly into the camera.
A series of takes for a close up shot were captured for full emphasis on the character's eyes, as this scene is meant to trick the audience into thinking that the character is still in a negative place. I attempted to film this shot both with the eyes in centre frame and with the eyes being left off centre. The left of frame extreme close up allows the background to continue to connote the idea of loneliness, but I found that the centre frame shot is much more effective at expressing emotional tone, due to more of the face being in frame, which captures more facial expression that that of the left of centre frame.
This filming block has come straight off the early samples shots previously. This means that I am still addressing the problem that I have with filming and also being in the film. Future filming blocks will feature experimentation to get around this problem.
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