TMA 285 Film: "The Shoot", One Shot of an Event

This is my one-take documented event, that of my friend Jessica's entry-level film shoot at the Richards Building swimming pool.


The Shoot - One-Shot of an Event from Spencer Plewe on Vimeo.

TMA 285: Photos, Week 9: Rhythm

 Wednesday

 I took this shot in one of the Fine Arts Center halls and thought about the endless amount of lockers on campus, even in the deepest halls in the lowest levels of the buildings. The repetition off the sides and above helps build the illusion of the lockers extending off, even when we don't literally see down the hall. I wish I got more lockers in the frame so that the illusion would be clearer.

Friday

The rhythm in this shot is slightly intense because of the diagonal line created by the lights, as well as the dim decorations in front of them. It also has an empty space around them in darkness, helping the center stay accented. The repetition feels restricted, since the line of lights clearly stops at four.

Friday

This intense rhythm of jumbled lines contrasts with the elegant curves and straights behind them. It's like a precious edifice draped in fog or a curtain (this was a Halloween party in an LDS stake center). I could see a lot of things going on in this shot, and I think it's composited very well.

TMA 285: Photos: Week 8: Movement

Friday

This was taken at the RB pool, and I thought the horizontal lines created by the swimmers made a clear impression on their movement in the water. Their heads also show which direction they're swimming. With them in a variably blue deep pool, I wish I caught it during a moment when their swimming caused more prominent ripples in the water, which would have also been a good clue.

 Tuesday

I took this at an angle which suggested the man was walking downhill, thus adding velocity to his brisk pace. I felt like the composition worked well too, with him standing out from the deep green background, and the red curb drawing our attention to the sidewalk, letting us know what it is.

 Tuesday

I can look at this instance and guess the dark thin tree on the truck is being rotated upright by the men at its base, or it could be falling in the opposite direction. The curious thing is that you don't see trees being stood up in a truck bed every day, so the outcome could be anything. I do wish I caught this in time to put the tree against the sky, making it easier to see.

TMA 285: One Shot of an Event - Director's Statement of Intent

1.      What is the story of this scene in two or three sentences? In other words, what happens in the scene?

A young woman is filming a short film at an indoor swimming pool. She films a female swim team as they swim in a staged race in the pool. She will handle cameras by/in the water and direct the swimmers, which may lead to easy difficulties in her film shoot.

2.      What is purpose of this scene in the larger story? (Or, if there is not a larger story, invent the purpose of this scene.)

This is part of the woman’s short film which is a step in the Media Arts Major application at BYU. She desires to go into directing, but this is virtually her first time doing it for real. She is an experienced swimmer and designed her own water-proof camera jib, which shows her commitment to this film. This will either encourage her or frustrate her as she puts this preparation to the test.

3.      What is the emotion I want to communicate?

Uneasiness yet confidence that the young woman will direct the shoot well.

4.      Why is this scene personal to me? What previous personal experiences does it remind me of? Why do I need to make this scene?

My entry film for this major was also my first time directing something on a serious, artistic scale. I remember feeling nervous to lead, pressured by my superiors, and anxious for a successful result. I need to see someone of a younger generation than me take on this same task to help me judge myself of whether I’ve been overthinking these feelings or rightly justified with them.

5.      What, specifically, must the audience understand narratively and feel at the end of this scene? How do you intend to make sure this will happen?

The audience must know that this woman is making efforts to not only achieve her artistic vision, but make this film she’s making one that matters to her. I’ll make this happen by watching my camera angles at which I see her interact with people, to reflect potential uneasiness, or otherwise straight confidence.

6.      What two visual elements (line, shape, space, tone, color, rhythm, movement) will you use to help communicate the emotion of the scene?

Line: diagonals will be key as she becomes puzzled or frustrated, and straight horizontals will show her handling the situation well.

Space: Deep space will be used when the woman is in transit from place to place, and deep space will be used as she concentrates on one person, or task.

7.      What are some potential obstacles to creating a successful scene? How can you be prepared to overcome these?

Since this will take place at an indoor swimming pool, distance will need to be kept from the water with the camera. In order to make sure I can still focus on the woman as she works, I’ll check out a lighter camera with a zoom lens which I can adjust any time I need to go narrow or wide.

TMA 285: Shot-for-Shot - Director's Reflection

Overall response (2-3 paragraphs):

In 2-3 paragraphs, write an overall response to your film: Were you successful at achieving what you set out to achieve? What are you proud of? What would you do differently if you could remake this piece? What did you learn? 

My shot-for-shot is an honestly trying attempt to duplicate an original scene from “Hugo”, but a lot of hang-ups keep it from achieving the same affect, and they mainly have to do with cinematography, sound and lighting. What makes Martin Scorsese’s film work is the unique way we look at the characters, and all the sets were lit in very controlled ways that made it all easy to see. My scene tried hard to match those shots, but it showed not only lights coming in from the wrong angle, but some details were completely lost in the process. If I could remake this scene, I would definitely have exercised more control over the light positions to make sure enough was lit. I would also redo the middle shot where Hugo runs down the corridor, with a microphone attached so I could get the authentic footsteps from the actor’s run, and a smoother hand-held rig to carry the camera.

I am very pleased with my cast though. Ashley was my first choice early on, as I saw her as both a good actress and similar in appearance to Chloe Grace Moretz from the original movie. The male actors were tough to find though; I had an adult actor lined up to play Georges, but he dropped out the day before. Hugo was the hardest to cast for, since no one responded to my requests for that role. I gave both the male roles to my little brother and my father, who both have no acting experience, but I learned how incredibly versatile they can be if they know exactly what to do and if they were directed to do the exact actions. I feel like all the actors knew their blocking as far as they were directed, and they showed that with impressive dedication.

Briefly answer the following:

What, specifically, did you want to communicate? Were you successful? Why? Why not?

I wanted to show Hugo’s emotional transition of innocence into despair at the loss of his notebook. I pictured losing old personal possessions when I was younger, and tried to streamline that into the shots of him opening the rag which reveals the ashes. I think I succeeded, because the exact motions and views of Hugo in the scene were carried over to my brother, because of camera and his acting.

How, specifically, did you try to say this? What visual elements, techniques, etc. did you use?

I am most pleased with the slow-motion shot where me and Howie decided on an 85mm lens, filming at 60fps, and placing the camera at a very low angle yet far enough away from my brother to not have any ash fall on the camera. The rest of the scene was of various focal lengths, but another shot which I think also carried Hugo’s emotion very well was his run away from Georges after throwing the rag on the ground, which was filmed with the camera on a glidecam rig. The shakiness enhances Hugo’s sudden descent into despair.

What did you learn about storytelling:

A lot of the storytelling in a professional movie doesn’t become clear until the edit comes together in post. I felt a lot more relieved when I started piecing the random shots we filmed together and the flow of the story became clear. I think this is because as film-makers, our actual telling of a story to an audience doesn’t begin until the film is edited, then the telling becomes coherent.

Working with actors and getting performance:

I was most afraid of my brother and father cracking up during their performances, because neither had actual acting experience. I prepared them with the thoughts they were to have as their characters, and I think that helped them keep it together. Plus, they had seen the movie several times, so I think that helped them focus.

Blocking — camera and actors:

I actually don’t think I gave enough blocking directions to my actors, as their movements were a bit less than that in the clip. There were also a couple of shots (Georges giving Hugo the rag and Isabelle wiping Hugo’s tears) where I think they moved a bit too much, which I should have toned down with additional takes.

Visuals — composition, framing, visual elements:

I learned that “close enough” with composing frames doesn’t cut it, and that I still could have made them closer to the original frames; meaning with placement of actors, light angles, and brightness levels of objects.

Design & Art Direction:

I checked out plenty of props from the prop shop in an attempt to recreate the toy store in the beginning. As I shot that scene in my pre-meditated location, I discovered that the majority of the wall wasn’t dark, like in the movie, so my dad wouldn’t be so cast in a dim part of the frame, which was the intention of the set’s look. I also think that, although the geography of the location I picked was accurate enough, it also had major drawbacks, like the ledge for the toy shop being too high, and the intense light pouring out of the shop doors right in the middle of Hugo’s run.

The Production Process — collaboration with crew, the logistics of making this piece:

I learned not to show so much nervousness on the outside, because I feel like I pushed my DP a bit too much, and sounded lost to my actors. Getting the location was easy, getting the actors was a little harder, but actually filming this scene was really complicated, since not only were we matching shots on my iPad with our camera, but we had to direct casual citizens who were passing by to keep them from being held up.

                  

What was it like to watch your film with an audience? Did they understand it? Miss the point? Why did they respond the way they did?  

Watching the final scene with the class, I could tell many weren’t impressed by the aesthetic differences between the original and my version. Some thought the camera shots were spot-on, but others spoke against one or two of the actors. I do feel like they understood it all right, because the dialogue, general acting moments, and camera angles communicated the message clear.

TMA 285 Film: "Ashes", Shot-for-shot Scene Recreation

Here is my finished scene recreation from the movie "Hugo"


Ashes - Shot-For-Shot Scene Recreation from Hugo from Spencer Plewe on Vimeo.

TMA 285: Photos, Week 7: Color

 Tuesday

 I discovered a warm/cold contrast in my work area: the inside of our space is actually cold a lot of the time, being a very inward room in the building, but the colors are on the cold side of the spectrum too. The hallway outside is very warm-colored, and so is the door; it's like a portal to that warm spectrum.

Wednesday

 In the midst of construction, some shrubbery was torn down. A piece of the greenery is still visible in the dirt on the left, while a red wrapper, likely from a worker, is scene on the right. The green is in a relatively warm section of the picture, surrounded by sunlit-brown dirt and old sticks/leaves, while the wrapper is in a cold spot, in a shaded-dark section of ground overcast by a blue-ish excavator. I think this presents a good contrast of tone which shows the warmth and virtue of plants versus the bleak nature of human excavation.

 Friday

A soda cup, a party game, and a vegetable - three completely separate things that are of three very different colors: red, yellow, and green. These very different objects are displayed as if in museum, in a straight-on flat-space shot, which I think is very valuable for their random pairing.

TMA 285: Shot-for-Shot - Part 2: Pre-production

First, here's the original clip from "Hugo" that I will be recreating:

Here is my lined script from the shooting script of Hugo (publicly available):

Here's my floorplan of the scene and how the blocking of the actors and cameras will play out.

Finally, here are photos from a location I have chosen that can remotely resemble this set in the movie.

TMA 285: Photos, Week 6: Tone

Wednesday

This photo uses non-coincidence of tone to shroud the subjects in the bottom right corner in the shade of the tree, compared to the brightly sunlit architecture around them. I think it's amazing that with this camera's lighting, the people are the exact dark tone of the tree's shadow. I took this to show that people can easily blend in with the background, with nature. I wish I angled it a lot more straight on though, to make it more flat.

Thursday

I loved the towering sight of this pine tree against the sun, and I figured its silhouette could make a great subject on its own. If I didn't know that this tree was right on BYU campus, I would imagine it to be anywhere else where trees would naturally grow, in forests, parks, or other school campuses I guess. I think the cloud right behind it, brightened by the sun, really helps it pop out. I wish the cloud was bigger though, so it would have surrounded the whole shape of the tree.

  

Saturday

This simple instance of a window's light on my bed made me think of hinting at something hidden by only a piece of it. In other words, we see only a sliver of the pillow, mattress, box spring and frame being illuminated by the window while the rest of the bed is very dark. Despite all that darkness, we know the shape and depth of the bed by seeing a piece of it, and we can fill in the dimly lit portion with our imaginations.

TMA 285: Shot-for-Shot - Part 1: Analysis

This is my analysis of a scene from "Hugo" that I am planning to replicate for class.