Ideas Coming Together

Today Ive spent a lot of time research and planning possible ideas for my moving image piece titled "Hope; Fear; Desire".  I've thought of a few possible ideas that I can use for my piece.

Firstly, I want to start with Hope.  If it is possbile to do so, I want to shoot my moving image in a catherdral or church, if I can gain permission, if not then I will have find somewhere else to do so, although a church would be prefered due to the contents of the film which I will explain.  I had an idea of a character sat on a pew in church, I will use close up shots of the character to show emotions, especially facial emotions as this I feel will be key for the audience to convey how the character is feeling emotionally.  The character will pull a necklace out from his t-shirt and kiss it.  The necklace will be a cross, which is why I feel that it is vital that I film in a church or catherdral.  When the character kisses the cross, they'll close their eyes and it will fade-out.  For me this covers theme of hope, becuase it shows that the character is praying and hoping for something, but at the same time the facial emotions on the cahracters face could show fear, depending on how I want the character to act.  I watched a video of a band doing a session in a catherdral, which has given me some inspiration to how the film could be shot.

I'm ignoring the fact that the film is a music video and just looking at the different techniques used to creat it.  I like the fact that the director has chosen to use a track with a lot of the camera shots, which is someting that I would look at doing if I can film in a church.  I would definalty experiment with the focus if I chose to do this, pulling focusses between the foreground and the background.  I had a vision that I could pull focuses from the character to a cross that could be in the background of a shot.  I also think that I would use majority static shots in the film, put this is an idea that I will have to develop and explain later into my production if I decided to go ahead with this idea.

As I mentioned before, the character would close their eyes and the film would fade out to black, this is where I would change the theme of the film to fear.  As I have stated a few times in this blog I want to use candles in a darkly lit studio, and the same character from the previous scene would blow out the candles signifying no hope, or fear which is what I want to show.  I will use the same filming techniques as the previous scene, for example; pulling between focuses and using a static and tracking shots.

My plan for tomorrow is to carry on developing my ideas, and write a potential shotlist, storyboard, screenplay as well as coming up with ideas for the final theme, Desire.

Fear

Like my idea for hope, Ive had a similar idea for fear, again with candles.  Instead of lighting candles I want to blow the candles out, this could represent no hope, fear of no hope.  If I decided to go with this then I doubt I will use candles for hope because it could confuse the audience with what its suppose to representing.  As I start to develop more ideas I can imagine them all coming together which could mean I could put them all together into one piece of moving image.

Hope

Since I received the brief I have been thinking of ideas for my moving image piece.  I've already had the idea of splitting up the three different aspects of the brief into three different films, but Ive been thinking what my piece can be about.  I've had an idea for Hope, but I am not too sure if it will be fusible or not.  I want to shoot in a darkly lit studio, and shoot somebody lighting candles as a sign of hope.  The obvious risk is the fire from the candles which makes me not think it will be fusible because the candles will have to be lit in the studio, which could set of the fire alarm off.  This is something that I will have to discuss with my tutors.

I also had another idea of shooting in a cathedral or church as part of hope.  This is still an idea that needs developing as I haven't decided on the concept of the film, just where it will be set. 

Another idea I have is to get people to write something onto a balloon something that they hope will happen, and I will film it, in the style of a fly on the wall documentary but at the same time this will also be a form of confessional art, which I have already done work for.  Obviously the ideas that I have at the moment are simple and basic, and I plan on developing the concept and ideas fro my moving image.  Over the next few days I aim to come up with several ideas that I can use.  I am setting my self a deadline of up to two weeks planning and researching, leaving me with around four weeks of production and post-production.

Hope; Fear; Desire

Firstly, when I received the brief I decided that I would split the different words into three different columns.  I wrote words under each title, that could have a reference to the title, for example under desire I wrote; Wealth, Health, Love, Passion and words that could give me inspiration for my final piece of moving image.

Le Nouvelle Vague

Ive decided that reach my learner outcomes for my current brief I need to research other types and styles of film that I am not familiar with, so firstly I am looking at Le Nouvelle Vague (French New Wave Cinema), a type of film that was established in the 1950's and 1960's.  There were several key directors that assosicated themselves with Nouvelle Vague, such as;Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, Louis Malle, Alain Resnais, Agnes Varda and Jacques Demy. (http://www.newwavefilm.com/new-wave-cinema-guide/nouvelle-vague-where-to-start.shtml)

French New Wave Cinema was an artistic movement whose influence on film has been as successfully moving as surrealism or cubism on painting.  Many of the directors knew little about production of film but had a key understanding of the theory and history behind film.  In the early days of French New Wave cinema the majority of the directors worked on low budgets. This meant that they could improvise the schedules and kinds of materials that they wanted to use in there films, which I feel is reminiscent to independent film today.  From this came a number of key codes and conventions that were used in the majority of French New Wave Films, The conventions are as followed:

Jump cuts: a non-naturalistic edit, usually a section of a continuous shot that is removed unexpectedly, illogically

Shooting on location

Natural lighting

Improvised dialogue and plotting

Direct sound recording

Long takes

(http://www.greencine.com/static/primers/fnwave1.jsp)

At the time these conventions were unheard of, compared to nowerdays where they are used a lot in cinema, but in the 1950's they were groundbraking ways of creating films.

Why has Le Nouvelle Vague been so important to modern day cinema?  Without French New Wave cinema it would be very clear that we wouldnt have the great directors such as Martin Scorsese, or we would, but they wouldnt have gone on to directed such great films as they do.  It was the groundbraking techniques used to created new ways of telling stories, that allowed the direcotrs to convey complex ideas, but at the same time still keep the films emotionally enagaging.  The direcors part of the movement didnt need mainstream studios or high end budgets.  By emphasizing the personal and artistic vision of film over its worth as a commercial product, the Nouvelle Vague set an example that inspired others across the world to follow.  In every sense they were classed as the first independant film directors.

Although it is not offical, the following film is amongst the earliest Nouvelle Vague films. Le beau Serge (1958) directed by Claude Chabrol.

15 Second Film Festival Idea

A couple of days ago I found myself looking at a film festivals on the internet when I came across the 15 second film festival http://www.15secondfilmfestival.com/.  I found this festival interesting and thought of the challenges faced to create a film lasting 15 seconds.  When I was browsing the website looking at past winners and runners up the phone rang, it was a call centre offering some form of insurance.  This gave me an idea to create a 15 second film based around this.  I had an idea of a dark studio with  a black table in it, placed on the table there would be a lamp, and a telephone.  At the table there would be a character, preferably a middle aged man wearing a suit waiting for a phone call.  A had an image of close up shots of facial features and fingers taping to create the effect as if the man is impatient and waiting for something, and important phone call.  The phone will ring, and the character will be expecting the important phone call, but When he answers it it will be a call centre offering something that he doesn't want.  He will then slam the phone down and shout something in anger at the fact that he thought the phone call was for him.

I am thinking about creating a few shortlists and storyboards for this film, even if I don't create it.

Hope; Fear; Desire

Although I do not have any conceptual ideas yet, I have decided that I might create three different pieces of moving image, one for each Hope, Fear and Desire, not exactly with a link to each but I will try and make a link between the three different aspects of the films.  I would like to create just one piece of moving image that includes all three aspects of hope, fear and desire but I will defiantly have to find a link between the three so that the film makes sense and has meaning.  This is something that I am going to work on other the next couple of days, along with intense research.

Finished Experimental Film

Colour Blind from Daniel Earnshaw on Vimeo.

Laurence and the Slab Boys

Laurence and the Slab Boys from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Trev Meaney

Trev Meaney from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Seamus Mcloughlin

Seamus Mcloughlin Session from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Bad Cardigan

Bad Cardigan - 3 Songs from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Silver Apples Part 3

Silver Apples-The Key of Yellow Part 3 from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Silver Apples Part 2

Silver Apples-The Key of Yellow Part 2 from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Silver Apples Part 1

Silver Apples-The Key of Yellow Part 1 from Media Centre on Vimeo.

Finished Experimental Audio Piece

Experimental Audio (Radiophonic) by Daniel Earnshaw

Proposal

Yesterday I received my next brief, titled Hope; Fear; Desire.  The aim of the brief is to create a piece of practical work of my own interest, which is moving image.  There are several outcomes that I want to achieve on my way to creating my piece of moving image.  Firstly, I want to be able  identify, select and use appropriate skills and processes for my creative production.  I also want to interpret different perspectives and approaches within moving image by researching and evaluating relevant information and ideas in order to develop creative solutions towards my piece of moving image.  On the way I will need to solve problems through the application of art or design practical and theoretic understandings.  Finally, when my piece of moving is complete I will use evaluative skills in order to take reseponsibility for own learning and development.

As I have decided to do my work around moving image I am going to do some research into directors that I am not fully aware of.  Not only am I going to research experimental film directors, I am going to research narrative film directors because I want to create my moving image with a narrative theme, but at the same time I would like to include experimental aspects such as the aesthetics of my film.  Although my desired area of media is film, I feel that it is important to research different areas of media, such as sound, photography and art.  This will allow me to broaden my understanding and will also help develop ideas that I can use for my moving image piece.

There are several elements that I want to use in my piece of moving image, for example, contrast, texture and colour, which I feel will contribute to aesthetic of my final piece of moving image.

Along the way there are several elements of my work that I want to document.  Firstly, I aim to take photographs and screenshots of my work to use as evidence.  This will also help explain how I did the work and how I got to the final piece of moving image.  I am also going to keep and bibliography along the way where I can include all my research notes, which again I can link to my work at the end of the brief.  As I document my work I can start to build up a body of work that I can use for my final evaluation when the work is complete.