Post Card Version 1

I took this still from the footage I got during day two of filming where Briana was holding up the necklace and then proceeded to color correct it by evening out skin tones, boosting highlights in the eyes (as well as the rest of the skin), and increasing contrast within the skin. Additionally I added a slight grain to give the appearance of a more "film" look.

"Moniqa"

Shooting Day 2

Going into our second day of shooting we were now filming all the scenes between the mother and daughter that took place at the home. Though this was indoors we were able to use lights, thus allowing us to better light the scenes - something that was impossible when shooting in the museum. 

When I arrived at Briana's house to film I set up my camera as well as my two Godox SL150w III lights. Though the lights kept the scene well lit and the adjustable brightness aided in varying scenes I was unable to change the lights temperature, which meant the light's temperature did not match the scene itself. For example, when lighting the scene in the bedroom I wanted to match my lights to the overhead lights. The overhead lights in the bedroom were about 4200K whereas mine were stuck at 5600K. This issue pervaded throughout all of filming since we couldn't change my light's kelvin at any point.

The other primary change I made during the second day of filming was the usage of manual focus. This allowed for far more visually compelling shots, as well as allowing me to have more control over what was going on in each of my shots.

Though the day was successful, allowing us to capture all we needed it took extremely long - nearly 6 hours. This is partially due to a lack of organization on my part as I did not have a shot list. I took the same approach I did during the first day of filming which was look at the script and feel out the shots I wanted to get. Despite this allowing me to spontaneously come up with some shots that I loved, it decreased efficiency and caused us to shoot far more than we needed. A shot list is definitely a necessity.

Shooting Day 1 Review: Auto-Focus Messing it Up

It is generally considered common-knowledge that when shooting a film you should use manual focus in order to ensure the focus is correct at all times - additionally it gives you more creative freedom. When shooting I chose to use auto focus though as it was what I was comfortable with. Unfortunately this made much of our footage unusable. In many of our tracking shots as I walk behind the subject my camera is constantly focusing and then-refocusing. Though auto-focus is good in some high-speed/action situations such as sports - which I'm accustomed to filming - it is not good for shooting things like this. 

This issue is also in part due to my camera's poor low-light capabilities. Since the camera couldn't recognize the subject within the image it couldn't properly focus on it - thus producing the constantly refocusing footage we ended up with. 

As you can see from these two stills the camera's constant focus and refocus ruins the image. Unfocused footage can be good, but only when done intentionally and the constant switching conveys to the viewer that this was not done intentionally. Additionally, it simply renders the footage unusable. On a go forward I will be using manual focus to ensure footage is usable and we get the look from the footage we want - selective focus gives us a lot of power in what we're able to convey to audiences.

Shooting Day 1 - Inside

After shooting the initial scene outside by the fountain we entered the museum to film all the scenes in there. As mentioned in prior posts about my camera and my lens, we had difficulty in many areas of the museum capturing properly exposed footage due to the low/poor lighting conditions in various areas. In order to account for the poor lighting I had to raise the ISO on my camera to between 1000 and 2000 - which had a major impact on the quality of the footage. 

Thankfully, multiple parts of the museum were near windows and had very good natural lighting. Recognizing this I made a concerted effort to focus more on filming in the areas of the museum which had this natural light. Upon doing so we were able to capture properly exposed footage while simultaneously keeping the ISO relatively normal/low - typically 640. 

When filming I did not have a shot list, but we did bring the script so what I did instead of using a shot list was looking over the script and shooting a scene multiple times for various angles, thus allowing Karina - our editor - more flexibility in filming when choosing which shots are best to work with.

You can clearly see the difference in lighting when comparing a shot from an area with no natural light and low overhead lights, compared to an area with large windows and multiple bright, overhead lights. As I had suggested in the posts about my camera's poor low light capabilities, it is important I adapt what we shoot to be in more well lit areas to ensure we produce properly exposed footage that isn't noisy.

Shooting Day 1 - Outside

Following the completion of our revised story we went to film at Mizner Park at the Boca Art Museum. Where we'd film the dream sequence where she dreams about her graduation, all the flashbacks of the Mom and daughter, and the scene where the daughter went to visit the museum following her Mother's death. 

The sequence which we shot was the dream sequence about her graduation, then all the scenes inside the museum, concluding with the scene of the daughter exiting the car/entering the museum.

When filming this first scene outside I put a small UV filter onto my lens (at approximately 35mm in focal length) in order to balance out the exposure on the subjects. I had the aperture at f/4.5, the ISO at 200 (the lowest it can go on my camera), and the shutter speed at 1/1000. Though the high shutter speed allowed for proper exposure of the subjects in the image, the motion blur does not appear natural in the video itself, creating an odd contrast between the footage inside and outside. 

After filming inside, I hadn't adjusted the exposure settings on my camera in order to account for the lighting coming from the outside. Because of this, when I was shooting the scene of Briana leaving the museum it went from the proper exposure inside to being entirely over-exposed as she walks out.

When we shot the scene inside the car, Briana's character and her cousin were properly exposed, however, the outside was completely overexposed - causing an odd look when the camera looks out of the windshield and the windows.

A similar issue occurred when shooting the scene where Briana exits the car, due to the outside being entirely overexposed once she exited the car the shot was completely blown out. In order to fix this, I raised the shutter speed to 1/2000, but didn't put on my UV filter. Due to raising the shutter speed so much, the exposure was good but once again there is a lack of "natural" looking motion blur. 

In order to account for how bright it was outside I should've bought and used a variable ND filter which would've allowed me to properly expose the shot without having to continually raise and lower my shutter speed (thus creating inconsistent motion blur in each shot). It would've been especially helpful for the shot of Briana walking out of the museum as I could've had the filter set to 0 as she was inside the museum, and then raised the ND filter as she walked out, thus creating a shot that isn't blown out.

First Draft of Story

Going into the year our group's director Briana had the idea for a film

Character Names: 

Daughter: Elena Alvarez

Mother: Valentina Alvarez 

• A young 17-year-old girl who lost her mom to cancer 

• The film is going to show her going to a museum for the first time since her mom got sick and alone

• The museum holds significance because it was a place where Elena and Valentina spent a lot of their time together 

• She carries a diary with her that her mom gave to her before she entered her senior year of high school

• She has written her accomplishments/milestones and her thoughts down in this diary. 

• The 2nd half of the film would consist of her writing down how she felt returning to the museum and how different things are now. 

• Also within this entry, she writes a thank you note to her mom 

• As she gets up to look at the sunset the wind blows, causing her pages to flap open and have a piece of paper fall out

• The paper is a letter that Valentina wrote to Elena before she died, telling her she is proud of her. And to never give up and to always look for the light in the darkness situations

• Elena happens to wear a sweater and necklace that her mom used to wear

I love this idea overall. At the same time, upon discussion as a group we decided that the story was full of cliches and that we wanted to usurp some expectations, thus creating a more "interesting story." The idea that I had was making the Mother and alcoholic and that she got liver cancer (which killed her). My reasoning for this was that it created an internal conflict for the character - balancing grief/forgiveness toward her mother as well as the anger/resentment she feels towards her.

This conflict makes the story an overall more interesting and engaging storyline - and even one that some people can relate to, due to the complexity and juxtaposition of emotions associated with grieving a family member.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is how fast the shutter of the camera opens and closes - thus allowing more or less light in. The quicker the shutter opens and closes the less light is let in, and the less motion blur there is. The typical rule is that when you're filming something your shutter speed should be 1/two times your frame rate. Since I will be shooting my film at 30 fps I will make my shutter speed 1/60 so that the motion blur of the video looks natural. 

As you can see in the example above, when the man jumps there is motion blur in the photo on the right. Though this may not be good for photos, you typically want a natural looking motion blur in your video as it make it look more realistic. When trying to properly expose the video later its important I take this into account to ensure that the video I capture looks natural.

My Lens - Sony kit 3.5-5.6/18mm-135mm

The lens I use is the 18mm to 135mm kit lens that comes with the Sony a6400. Though and overall solid lens, much the same as my Sony a6400 it does present one main issue - poor performance in low light settings. The lowest aperture that it can achieve is f/3.5, which is a fine aperture for inside - however, my lens has to be at the shortest focal length possible in order to achieve this aperture. Shooting at 24mm to 35mm, the aperture will be somewhere between f/4 and f/4.5 - a seemingly small change in the aperture, despite it making a huge difference in image quality. 

In order to account for this poor performance in lower light settings I must use additional lighting in order to properly expose the scene. 

My Camera - Sony a6400

The camera I will be using to film is my Sony a6400. Overall the camera works extremely well, as I'm able to shoot in 4k at up to 30 fps - perfect for a melodrama. However, two of the main limiting factors are that the camera only possesses 8-bit-color and it only has an ASP-C sensor. I will briefly delve into how these two issues will impact the overall visual quality of my film. 

As previously mentioned, the a6400 has an ASP-C sensor - common for the size of the camera. Because of this smaller sensor, scenes with dimmer lighting will be difficult to film without having higher noise, thus degrading the image quality. In order to ensure adequate lighting conditions we must have external lighting.

The other issue I will have is that the camera only possesses 8-bit-color. This means that the look of my film will be degraded due to the limited range of colors that my camera can capture. 

Though not can much be done about a smaller range of colors, I can still do my best to control the lighting within a scene. This will likely be difficult in a public indoor setting - the museum - but not if we are outside (due to plenty of light) or inside someone's home as I can bring my lights there. The more control I can have over lighting the better.

Exposure Triangle

The "exposure triangle" is the name for the group of three primary settings which control how much light is let into the camera - i.e. the amount of light "exposure" within your photo or video. The three settings that make up the exposure triangle are the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture.

ISO is the camera's sensitivity to light - a lower ISO (ex: 100) is going to allow less light in than a higher ISO (ex: 6400). The tradeoff however is the higher ISO you have, the more grain or "noise" your image will contain, thus degrading the details and quality of it.

Shutter speed is how quickly the shutter of the camera closes. Higher shutter speed lets in less light but creates less motion blur, whereas lower shutter speed allows in more light but creates more motion blur.

Aperture is the amount of the light which the lens lets in. Lower aperture (larger) allows in more light and a higher aperture (smaller) allows in less light. Additionally, a larger apeture creates a more shallow depth of field and a smaller aperture creates a wider depth of field.

The key to creating a properly exposed image is balancing these three setting. Typically the aperture will be kept as low a possible in order to create a greater separation of the subject from the background (higher amounts of bokeh), the shutter speed will be approximately double the frame rate (if I'm shooting at 30 fps shutter speed will be 1/60), and ISO will be kept as low as possible in order to preserve image quality. 

All of these setting are dependent upon lighting conditions though - for example if I'm inside I may need to set my ISO to 2000 in order to see my subject properly, but if I'm outside where it's extremely bright then I'll likely have my ISO as low as it goes (100). If the image still remains too bright I would likely increase shutter speed, or employ the usage of a UV or ND filter.

The English Teacher (2020) Conventions, Tropes, Cliches

The English Teacher is a 2020, 12 minute and 14 second long, drama short film, directed by Blake Ridder. The story follows an English teacher who receives an email from a man who wants to be taught by him. As the story progresses, we see that the teacher seems to be dealing with some sort of loss or loneliness. It is revealed at the end that the man who he was teaching English to had killed his wife. 

Conventions:

• Close-ups for emphasis
• Dramatic/unconventional angles

Cliches:

• N/A

Tropes:

• Soft focus for for flashbacks/emotional moments
• Mirror reflection
• Glances to convey unspoken emotion

The cinematographer intentionally chose to not show the face of or reveal who is riding the bike, creating a sense of mystery and causing us to wonder who it is. 

Everything about this shot is done to demonstrate the isolation Robert (the English teacher) feels. This is shown not only though making him extremely small within the shot, but also placing him on the far side of the bench - rather than the center - to show that someone is missing.

(Shot 1)

(Shot 2). The combination of these two shots was extremely powerful as the combination of the shot showing one side of the bed empty then a shot of him looking sad/longinly at the area demonstrates he is sad about some one not being there. The composition of these shots create so much meaning, allowing a powerful message to be conveyed without the need for dialogue.

The scene from the opening was recycled to show its connection to the story as it's revealed to us that the woman from the beginning is Robert's wife who was killed by the man he has been teaching English to. This reveal not only allows us to connect the relationship of Robert's student to his actions, but helps us realize why Robert was shown to be so upset throughout the film. 

Like I said previously, part of what made this film's shots so powerful was the meaning they were able to convey without the use of dialogue. Melodramas as a genre rely on powerful emotions over dialogue so this helps fit the film more into the genre as well. The English Teacher is a wonderful example of how visual cues, framing, etc. can be used to create visually stunning and meaningful shots - something I aim to replicate within my shots.

Wallpaper (2023) Conventions, Tropes, and Cliches

Wallpaper is a 9 minute 53 second drama short film released in 2023 by Gabriel Jenkinson. The story follows a man who runs into his ex-girlfriend. Now seeing her with someone new at the party, he now must grapple with grieving their relationship and trying to forget it.

From a narrative perspective Wallpaper contained many of the the conventions, tropes, and cliches of a melodrama. The story was highly emotional but had a far more understandable storyline than Someone Else, as despite the writers not handing viewers all the answers immediately, they were not too vague either. There was a balance of dialogue and mise en sene employed to convey the messages of the film - much of this film's power came from the symbolism present on screen. 

Below are the different conventions, tropes, and cliches that were present in the film when looking through the lens of a cinematographer.

Conventions:

• Expressionistic lighting
• Close-ups for emphasis
• Dramatic/unconventional angles

Cliches:

• N/A

Tropes:

• Soft focus for for flashbacks/emotional moments
• Mirror reflection
• Glances to convey unspoken emotion

At the beginning of the film we're introduced to the main character standing in a dark room with extremely moody lighting, used to create a sense of mystery and dark mood. Having the room be almost empty, the main character toward the back and taking up very little of the screen creates a sense of isolation and loneliness as well - a theme frequently revisited throughout the film.

One of the things Wallpaper did best was visually distinguishing flashbacks from current events, and doing so in a way which I aim to emulate in my group's film. When showing a flashback there is a slight film grain, a softer focus, a yellow hue (warm color, demonstrates aging) as well as occasional lens flares. Though I typically consider lens flares a cliche, it was used as a transition rather than a demonstration of romantic feelings/affection.

The cinematographer did a good job of using diegetic lighting throughout the film in order to create moody lighting as well as a generally realistic look. As you can see above, the kelvin/direction of the light appears to be that of an overhead ceiling light. Part of why this works is due to the fact that the cinematographer was using a camera with a larger sensor as well as a lens with a larger aperture (likely somewhere between f/1.8-2.8 based on the bokeh of the lights in the background). If the cinematographer did not have these things, he'd likely struggle to capture such high quality video in low lighting.

Something else done well in this film was the sequence of shots with the character in the mirror. Not only did it convey various intense emotions, but it also demonstrated self-reflection by the character. Shots of characters in the mirror hold a lot of power, and it's something I aim to employ in my group's film.