Evaluation

Over the summer I had a lot of time to think about what approach I wanted to take when it came to my Minor Project. From the very beginning I had decided I wanted to work on camera, so I could explore and improve my camera skills overall. I was pleased when I found out that our project would be more experimental based because I knew it would give me the opportunity to develop my skills. One thing which I was unsure of though, was what form this would take from a marking standpoint. At first I thought it would be interesting to look into some of the most well known camera rules and techniques and then try and flip them on their head. I pitched this by describing a short simple scene using the 180 degree rule and then another, where it is ignored to see their effect. 

When I came to the planning stage I instantly hit a road block, I just couldn’t seem to get my head round a scene where I would be able to break the rule effectively. I pondered on this, until I decided to just take the camera out and have a mess around, maybe that would get me thinking. I hadn’t decided which camera I was going to use, but I thought if the Black Magic was available I would take that. I was surprised to find no one was really using the Black Magic to my knowledge. I found this bizarre as this was an experimental module, so it is a perfect opportunity to get to know a new camera. Lee explained to me that I would need a Tech Demo on the Black Magic before I would be able to rent it. Luckily for me, Lee wasn't busy and offered to give me one then. 

Once I had the Tech demo, I took the camera out the very next day. At first like I said earlier I wasn't 100% sure what to do with it. I set up a few simple shots and did a little bit of recording, I went walking up Carlton Bank and got some nice stuff with the camera, but nothing I could really use as a test. I felt myself being dragged away from the 180 degree idea because I felt I already knew the answer to the questions I had and the research I did only backed that up. Overall, my first weekend with the camera was a bit of a bust, but now that I look back upon it, I realise that the time I spent that weekend was vital in getting me familiar with the Black Magic and that helped me ten fold when I rented the equipment for a second time. 

I returned the equipment on a Monday morning and got to talking to Lee about different types of Lenses. He mentioned the Anamorphic look, with lens flares and distortion creating that thin Hollywood look. 

Over the next week, I studied up on Anamorphic Lens and there effects. I soon realised that it would be way out of my price range to try and get my hands on one of these, with an anamorphic Lens going anywhere from £200+. So I shifted my focus towards Anamorphic Filters, they're usually in the price range of around £80, still a lot of money but they give you many of the similar effects or a true anamorphic lens, apart from the lack of true widescreen format. When researching the filter I felt the basic design was fairly simple and I had seen online forums discussing making your own for less than £5. This seemed more in my price range. 

The filter itself was fairly easy to make, with the most difficult element being cutting out the oval from the centre of the filter. I found it hard to make sure the oval was in the centre and enough space was being left either side of the oval but yet not too much that it would cover the lens. This was a lot of trial and error, which led to an uneven cut line, but once I had the shape down, I could recreate the filter as many times as I needed. When shooting with the Filter, there was very few set backs really. I felt the image the filter gave you was vastly improved and added a real sense of depth to the image, which to me was very important when shooting. I found that it was easy to manipulate the direction of the flares by simply turning the orientation of the fishing wire. 

The major criticism of the filter would be that it only really works with 35mm lenses and above, because when testing with the 18mm I realised that the lens wasn't powerful enough to see past the filter so you were able to see the outline of the oval over the Lens. Obviously as well covering around 60% of the lens left the image a little darker than it would have been otherwise. However saying that I think that the filter gives the image a more cinematic wash picking up on some of the more subtle details. 

With a module this small it is hard to not wish for more time, after I had finished my Presentation, John had asked me about multiple wires on the front of the lenses. In an Ideal world if I had more time I would have experimented with these things a little more and instead of just touching the surface, I would have pushed the boundaries a little more, by added more wire to the filter and seeing its effects, or by manipulating the shape of the filter to try and see what effect that has on an image. Overall, I am very happy with the work I have done on Minor, instead of answering a question which had already been answered, I feel like I have genuinely learnt a new skill which I will 100% implement within my Final Major Project. 

Presentation

Today we had our group presentations. I was a little nervous about the whole idea of a thirty minute presentation, however I decided to tackle it as a discussion rather than a formal presentation. Luckily for me I felt like I was on the right track as Mike told us it was an opportunity to share our knowledge, which I feel was exactly what I had planned.
Another trope that I know I'm not a fan of when watching a presentation is when people just dump information on the screen. I wanted to take it into another direction which was to either have the screen filled with brief bullet point for me to then expand onto or to just fill the screen with an image for us to discuss. I feel I did this successfully and hope my presentation was informative but yet still remotely entertaining.
One thing which I felt I could have expanded on would have been the link to my Major, I wish I had some ideas for shots which would take advantage of the Anamorphic format. However, overall I feel my presentation went very well and, I just hope that others that were in attendance learnt something along the way also.

Focus Puller

Another thing I looked into when doing my research was Focus Pullers. They give you the ability to set multiple focus points within and scene and then allow you to flick between each one with ease. It gives you a much more professional effect in comparison to ding it free hand. 

I bought this Jar Opener online on Amazon for little under £5. Its terrible for opening jars but I hoped I could find another use for it. A make shift focus puller, as the groves within the Jar opener fit very well onto the dial for the focus.

Another benefit of the jar opener is that you can write straight onto it and remove it easily. So I could mark multiple different focus points onto the opener. I have three set in the picture above, but you could have as few or as many as the scene requires.
One of the disadvantages of the Jar opener is that because of the way in which it has been designed you have to keep a tight grip of it, or it will become loose, which isn't good as it means the opener can shift making any of the focus points you have set inaccurate. However with a steady hand it could be a very useful tool for a shoot.

Anamorphic Filter Tests

Once I had crafted my Anamorphic filter it was time to put it through a series of tests, to see there effectiveness. To begin I just laid out a very simple test, with a BB8 figure I had in focus then I used my flash light into the lens of the camera to see the effects. I first shot the scene with no filter on the camera so I has a control test to compare.

I then did the exact same thing again but only this time the filter was added to the front of the camera.   You can see from the screen grabs that there is a noticeable difference between this one and the control test. Obviously the most recognisable goes to the lens flare across the screen, I didn't think the tests would have this noticeable of an effect from the get go. I thought there would have been a lot more trial and error than there was. I also feel like when comparing the model of BB8 there is a difference, the second image seems to have a wash over the image which I think improves the image in my mind, a more cinematic look if you will. 

Next I experimented with the structure of the lens flares. I wanted to see if the direction of the flares could be changed depending on the angle of the filter and what other effects this would have with the image. You can see in the image below that the lens flares are running horizontally, just like the initial test.

In the image below however, you can see that I have alters the flares direction, so that they run vertically rather than horizontal. This effect was simply achieved by changing the orientation of the filter from running the wire vertically to running it horizontal across the lens. The opposite to how you would first think the flares would respond to the filter.

Finally, I tried to highlight the distortion that the filter was bringing to the image, because the changes are so subtle I was finding it difficult to pinpoint an example of this. I had read online about 'Bokeh' which is basically the part of your image which is out of focus and in the background. So I shot with the Black Magic from outside my bedroom window towards a street lamp pulling the focus from its peak to then an in focus image. Again I did this twice, once without the filter and another with.

It wasn't until I came to view the footage back on the Black Magic and I could compare between the two that I realised the significant difference. You can see that the oval shape of the filter has distorted the shapes of the light. As the focus is pulled, you can see more of the Vignetting forms all around the street lamp.

I also did a few experiement's outside, trying to capture a landscape type shot with the lens. I felt the shots looked nice but it may have been a little too dark when I finally got outside and ready to shoot. However I felt the detail you got with the filter on the tree closest to the camera was really special. The filter is supposed to give you a more cinematic depth of field meaning a lower depth of field and I felt you definitely felt that when using them here. 

Creating an Anamorphic Lens

Today, I finally gave it a go to create my own Anamorphic Filter. I had seen a short tutorial online of how to create one of these filters for under five pounds. I started off by buying some plain black card from Wilkinson and some cheap fishing wire from Hobby Craft. First, I placed the 85mm lens on the black card, I started with the 85mm because I had heard the larger the lens the better the outcome with the anamorphic filter.

I drew around each of the different lenses to make at least six Anamorphic filters. I did six because I figured I would at least make a mistake on some of the filters.

Next, I measured the diameter of the lens to get a good understanding of how big the oval in the centre of the filter would be. I had seen that the oval had to be not quite as long as the diameter of the lens and had to allow for some room at either side of the oval.

Once I was happy with the shape of the oval I stuck it to some of the spare card to give the oval some sort of thickness so I was able to draw around it. I drew around it with a pencil, trying slightly different versions on each one.

I used a Stanley knife to cut out each of the ovals for the lenses. I tried to be as neatly as possible, but the knife I had was a little blunt so it made the cuts a little rough, but I cleaned these up once I had got the oval out of the card.

Finally, I cut the full circles out using just simple old scissors to cut the full lens filter. Then labeled each of the filters to there appropriate lenses.

In terms of securing the lens, that is where the fishing wire comes in. I laid the fishing wire along my make shift lenses. To secure the filter I used an elastic band to wrap around the actual lens, then put the wishing wire underneath the elastic band.

Here is the finished Anamorphic Filter attached to the 35mm lens.

Blade Runner

The more I began looking into Anamorphic lenses, I soon became aware that one of my favourite films Blade Runner was shot using Anamorphic. It turns out that Ridley Scott shoots the majority of his films in this format. However Blade Runner to me, is the film that utilised this tool in the best ways possible. 

Blade Runner hit cinemas in the summer of 1982 and received mixed reviews upon its release. I however love the film, I feel just from a filmmaking standpoint the movie is beautiful to look at. I feel like the story is compelling but takes the back seat in comparison to the production design and overall  gorgeous aesthetic of the film. A big part of that to me is the anamorphic format. I feel it gives depth to the film and with all the neon within in the film, it only highlights those design choices. The scene in which Deckard, Harrison Ford character, is chasing the first replicant he finds through the city is a perfect combination of everything which makes a great film. Sound design, Production Design, Direction, Lighting, Cinematography and score. Any of the flying car scenes are a visceral experience, similar to that of Stanley Kubrick's work in 2001. 

One of the things I admire about Blade Runner over everything else, is the score. The science fiction elements within that score are so subtle and a film score is at its best when you can't listen to it without thinking of the images. I feel with Blade Runner, there is a perfect marriage between the score and cinematography. 

However, I am not the biggest fan of Ridley Scotts Library of work but, with this 1982 classic, it calls to me in ways I can't explain. I am hoping to pitch a science fiction style film for my Major project so I will be taking inspiration from this film. 

Anamorphic Lens

Recently Lee had mentioned to me about Anamorphic lens and the look they create. This peaked my interest so I began looking into them. The definition of Anamorphic is: producing, relating to, or marked by intentional distortion. These lenses utilise all of the image, stretching the image into a full format, so that the when you transfer the image into a full widescreen format, the image returns to scale, with the added benefit of giving the image more detail. Another advantage of the Anamorphic lens is the lens flare. The lenses have a thin wire incorporated within the lens which then reflects the light onto your image, giving you these lens flare effects. 
A full Anamorphic lens will go for anything from £300-£2000 plus depending on which one you go for. Obviously I don't have the budget for to go out and purchase an Anamorphic Lens. So I began looking into a cheaper alternative and a way to recreate these types of effects with a low budget. I quickly found that you could purchase a Anamorphic filter for around £80 pounds. The filters give you some of the same effects but not them all. They distort the image somewhat and give you a the lens flares, they do not however give you the true widescreen format compared to the lenses themselves. 
Finally I found it was possible to create an Anamorphic Filter for less than £5 with just a piece of black card and a fishing wire. I'm hoping to get the Black Magic out again some time this week, so I can make some of the filters for the Black Magic lenses. 

Weekend with the Black Magic

This weekend I got my hands on the black magic. After the tech dem with Lee, I was excited to get out and use it. This weekend was really a chance for me to get used to the camera so I could begin to plan out some of my techniques and camera tests for the following week.
I tested the camera in my home, with a few focus pulling tests. One thing I really enjoy about the black magic is how the camera has a low depth of field, meaning you can pull focus between things in the shot which was very difficult to achieve with the P2 or the AVC. The P2 had a very flat image but the black magic allows much more depth to the image, instantly making it a more interesting shot.
I also took the camera with me when I went out walking around Captain Cooks monument. The shots you were able to achieve with a beautiful scenery and subject within the frame was great. I really enjoyed the quality of the image. However, I did go out on quite a dull day, so things were looking grey to begin with, but like many digital cameras the black magic seems to drop colour within the image, giving it a bit of a grey wash over the image. You can see this even when you go from viewing the live image in camera to then viewing the material you have recorded. This is nothing you probably couldn't fix with a good colour grade, but I probably won't have time for that, so it is one of the disadvantages I noticed.
Overall, I'm a big fan of the black magic as a camera. It has much more depth to its shots, which for me is perfect, as when looking at any sort of professional material, whether that's film or tv, they always have depth in there image.

Roger Deakins on 'Sicario'

When thinking about Cinematographers, the first that come to my mind is the great Roger Deakins. He has shot such films as No Country for Old Men, Shawshank Redemption and a films I love Sicario.
I found this interview with Deakins back in Nov. 2015, discussing Sicario. Sicario was one of those films that when I first left the theatre, I left with a sense of disappointment. However, the film leaves you thinking and they are some of the best films, I felt the more I thought over what I had seen, the more I fell in love with the storytelling in play in the film. Some of the scenes are breathtaking, I am a big fan of the director, Denis Velleneuve. His film Prisoners was similar in the sense that it left you feeling slightly unsatisfied and the film on a whole was very thought provoking. So the marriage of this Director with this Cinematographer is a beautiful one, the suspense that the create together in Sicario is astonishing. I would highly recommend the picture for those who have not seen it.
Anyways, I found the interview incredibly interesting, I found it incredibly refreshing to see a 67 year old man who didn't spend the entire time bashing Digital filmmaking. He saw the medium very much as I see it, as a tool. He described Digital and Film as tools, the same as which make of camera you use, to him it depends on the film and the senses you are trying to provoke. One thing Deakins touched on as well, is how with digital he enjoys the benefit of seeing what you have captured and knowing you are able to move on. He made it very aware that even at his calibre of Cinematographer the nights he spends awake worrying about how the film stock will turn out are nights he can do without. I felt we as students who have worked with film can relate to this as we have spent many weeks with the back of our mind always thinking about what the film will look like once it is developed.
Another interesting aspect of the interview was when Deakins was asked about the Night raid scene in Sicario. If you haven't seen the film, its the scene at the climax of the movie where our protagonists perform a raid in the middle of the night against the Mexican cartel. Within the scene the special operatives all wear night vision googles. Deakins explains that he spent a lot of time trying to think how to light the scene, as he felt it would be cheating if he lit the scene well enough that the audience could see the characters, then what is the characters motivations for wearing night vision. I found this to be enlightening, because Deakins lays it out that everything he does as a cinematographer is always underlaid with the thought of how does this effect the characters. I think this shows the next level of cinematographer that Roger Deakins is, because he isn't just prioritising a pretty image, He wants to know how it effects the story.
I am looking forward to Deakins work in the future and very much the pairing of Deakins and Velleneuve of the highly anticipated sequel to Blade Runner.

Heres the Link to the Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfYeS_20dXo

Black Magic Tech Dem

When I first came up with the concept for my Minor project, I hadn't thought a great deal about the equipment I would use to develop me skills. I had hoped to use the Black Magic as I was a fan of that camera, but was unsure if it would be available to us. 

I came in Uni to ask Lee what the deal with using the Black Magic was, I was very aware that there was only 2 Black Magic cameras, so availability may have been tough. However, no one had booked to use the Black Magic, Lee did mention that a tech demo on the camera would be necessary if I wanted to use it for my Minor. Luckily for me, Lee wasn't very busy and could give me a Tech Demo there and then. I was very surprised the Black Magic wasn't in higher demand, for an experemental module, I would have thought people would have favoured the Black Magic as we have not used it before so it is a true opportunity for experimentation. Anyway we went into the studio and Lee introduced me to the camera.

Here are some of the Notes I took while in with Lee: 

Camera is Ready to film once 'Ready' appears in the top left. 

172.8 Degrees is a good starting point. 

Percentage bar only reads in 100/75/50/25/10, so be aware. 

Settings

ISO set to 400-800 to start. 

3400 for a room. 

5600 for outside.

Formats:

DMXHD - 8 BIT

2.5K RAW - 12 BIT

PROO RES 422 DEFAULT 

Get a total of 3 hours on 240gb. 

Video Latitude 8.

Set to Film for best quality. 

25 fps is standard set up. 

Display

Dynamic Range: Video

For Human Skin white balance set to: 

80% (for white skin)

75% (for black skin) 

90% (to be safe) 

When formatting card, HFS+ is for mac. exFAT is compatible with both Mac and PC. 

exFAT for AVID. 

The Hollywood Reporter: The Cinematographers Roundtable

Today, I watched A Hollywood Reporter: The Cinematographers Roundtable. I have watched a few of theses before on Directors, Actors and Actresses, I like this format because of the collection of people they bring together and watching them chat amongst each other I feel leads to a more sophisticated conversation about the material. This one however is the first I have watched on Cinematographers.
I felt there was some very interesting concepts brought up within this roundtable. I had never heard of many of these cinematographers but I found it interesting when Matthew Libatique was discussing working with his long time collaborator Darren Aronofsky on films like PI, The Fountain and Black Swan. He discussed that in the beginning of there professional relationship, they would often come to disagreements because every idea they had was trying to be so big in scope. In the sense of being cinematic and with storytelling however, now there relationship has evolved and Libatique describes it as he now tries to have a lighter grip on everything, and tried to be more subtle in his storytelling which I found rather interesting. 
Another point of discussion was a cinematographers mention within film reviews. Now this was intriguing because most of the men at the table describe how it feels reading a one line synopsis of their work in most film reviews. Libatique describes reading a comment like "Stunning Cinematography" as more of an insult than no mention at all, because he sees that as someone who does not understand the cinematography, as 'stunning' is a very generic comment. However I feel Roger Deakins had the best outlook on this, he said that his cinematography is always about what is best for the film and creating the best pair between the two. So his theory is that if the cinematography is that good, it probably won't be mentioned as it highlights the film so well you can't see it as its own entity. 
Finally when discussing Film vs Digital, I was surprised to see that they all agreed on the fact that Film cameras still have a place within out industry but as we all know film projector is dying/dead and they all seemed okay with that. Dick Pope who shot the most recent Mike Leigh film Mr. Turner describes the unreliability of Film projection, and the differences with it from theatre to theatre. He also talks about seeing the film Inherent Vice at a film festival being projected on film, he describes the film as having a 'dirty' look to it, and he was unsure whether they was the effect they wanted or not. All of these men seem to have a positive attitude toward Digital projection because of its reliability and the fact they know that is how the film is supposed to look.
Overall I enjoyed this roundtable and would recommend it to anyone hoping to learn more about cinematography.

Here is the Link to the Roundtable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2Z4UvAdE7E

The 180 Degree Rule

I had planned to focus on the 180 degree rule as the centre of my Minor project but as time went on, I came to realise and Mike also mentioned that the idea of the 180 degree rule is a level 4 concept, but as I had planned I decided to look into it anyway and gain a good understanding of it.

As I did my research it became apparent how simple the idea of this concept was. The 180 degree rule sets up an invisible line in which the camera cannot cross to avoid disorientation the audience and by confusing characters eye lines. 

Like I've said before my initial idea was to create a simple scene where I used these rules and another where I had ignored there rules to compare the effect, but the more and more, I looked into this, I realised that the questions I had about this subject, had already been answered. 

Has the rule ever been broken before? 

Yes, it has, multiple times. Stanley Kubrick has broken the rule many times, including all other cinema rules for that matter. Most notably in The Shinning (1980) in a bathroom scene, where the camera does a full 180 flip to go from Jack Nicholson on the left to him then being on the right in relation to the other character. 

What effect does it have? 

Well in relation to The Shinning, it gives you a sense of unease. Its not too noticeable and I think it would go fully unnoticed to the average film fan, but yet I feel it effects you on a more of a personal level. 

After discussing all of these things above, I decided that I will shift my focus from this onto something a little bit more advanced. I am hoping to look into some lens altercations and some camera techniques that I will be able to work on. 

Pitching

Today, we pitched our ideas to the group, with our learning agreements. While pitching I noticed that the form in which my final piece would take, was still very much up for debate. It quickly became aware that maybe what I was suggesting was too broad of a subject. Threw my research I may have to focus in on something a bit more specific, as this is such a short turnaround module, I may not have time to shoot multiple variations on a scene, no matter how simple.
Also when speaking to Mike, he mentioned that things like the rule of thirds and the 180 degree rule, they're things we learn at level 4 and aren't as appropriate for level 6. I do aim to look a little deeper into these rules and their effects but it is something to think about when creating my piece.

Initial Concepts

Over the summer I had a lot of time to think about what approach I wanted to take when it came to my Minor Project. From the very beginning I had decided I wanted to work on camera, so I could explore and improve my camera skills overall. Initially I thought that Minor would just be a smaller production than our major and that I would be working on camera on someone else's project.

I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that our Minor would be more of an experimental piece. The idea of this excited me because it allows me to cover more than I would have been able if I was just a simple camera op on someone else's project. 

However I'm still unsure about what form my camera experiments will take. At first I just wanted to explore the ideas of framing, as on all of our other productions and with student films in general, the easiest way to get your audience invested in your film, is with nicely framed camera work. An audience will instantly be able to tell if the camera work is not up to the quality they're used to seeing.
I have a few ideas into looking into some new lens or filters for the Black Magic, a camera that I have been very interested in getting my hands on. I want to wrap my head around the 180 degree rule as well, as I feel I have a brief understanding of it, but I would like to understand the importance of it in effect and also the effects it has when the rule is ignored.
Overall, I'll be looking into various camera techniques and some DIY that I can do to add production values to my work.