More from the River

Here are some more images from the River Tame project,  starting to become fascinated by the subterranean parts of the river and wondering if i could do a whole project on the underground river!

Documenting the River Tame

Here are some of my images from the documentary I am doing on the River Tame, my dog Troy got a look in as well.

One Day Brief - Birmingham Landmark Surface Details

And we're off, started the one day bries today, Birmingham Landmark Surface Details. Had 5 designate landmarks, which we had to photograph an abstract style. I found Selfridges the most challenging,  I wanted to avoid the obviousness of the smarties, but in my attempts to do so, i think i missed out on the texture of the building!

 I enjoyed taking the images, but fulfilling the brief requirements for the processing and contact sheets took much longer than I expected! I used Lightroom for sorting the images, got a feeling Bridge will be quicker and easer, will get a copy and try it out.

ITAP 3 Moving IMage

ITAP Moving Image 3

The Work of Director Chris Cunningham, Portishead video – Only You & Bjork – All is full of love. Then Making All is full of love featuring interviews with Bjork and Chris Cunningham

1.    How did Bjork and Chris collaborate on the All is full of love video?

Bjork had the basis of an idea wanting to show the transition of love in her sterile style. Chris, having once been very interested in robotics offered this as a medium to portray the narrative. He worked up the idea, Bjork, who is awe of his talents, was greatly impressed and they moved onto production. Once the filming was completed she left him to it, waiting till the completion till she viewed the finish product.

It was a happy mix of circumstances, as the video wasn’t part of an album release, there wasn’t the normal time pressure, so Bjork was laid back about the release date. As fait would have it, that was exactly what Chris needed, as he went into meltdown after seeing all the rushes, full of self-doubt about his abilities to pull off the endeavor, but having the time he needed to work it through, he found the direction he wanted and pulled off it to everyone’s satisfaction.

           

2.    What techniques were used on the Portishead video to create the unusual slow motion effects? Research this.

I have researched this without effect, cant find anything anywhere on the Internet about the making of the video. It appears that he has obviously submerge the cast in water and transposed their images into the scene, what techniques he used is a mystery, but seeing how Cunningham works, there will be a devilish amount of post production work.    

3.    What other music video directors have gone on to direct feature films? Name two and the feature films they have made.

It appears to me that the premise to this question is wrong as it implies that Cunningham has made a feature film, and although, I doubted my research abilities in the previous question, I am more confident to state such in this question.

By omitting “other” from the question, I would offer Gore Verbinski. He was a guitarist in a punk rock band, but sold his instrument for a camera. His first professional directing jobs were music videos for L7, Bad Religion, and Monster Magnet. He went onto a critically acclaimed advertising career directing commercials, most noticeably Budweiser campaign with the croaking toads.   

Verbinski directed his first film in 1997,Mousehunt, then his third in 2002, The Ring, was a box office success grossing $23m, then scaled it up a bit with his forth, Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003. He then went on to direct the next two films in series.

My second offering would be Spike Jonze. He started out as a BMX rider and photographer and very much part of the creative flare behind Dirt Magazine, which he became editor. He went on to prolific number of music videos, to critical acclaim and getting and MTV award for his contribution to the medium, his most popular video being Sabotage by the Beasty Boys in 1994.

He has directed short art and documentary films, and still is active within the music industry, as well as turning his hand to producing, writing, and acting.  His first feature film he directed was Being John Malkovich in 1999, for which he received a shedload of awards including be nominated for an Academy Award for best director. It cost $13 m and grossed $23m. In 2002 he directed Adaption, which did well but wasn’t as well received by the industry, had a smaller return on an increased budget. The trend continued with his next film, Where The Wild Things Lived, which had a much bigger budget but only just broke even on the $100m investment.

4.    Which famous sci-fi film did Chris Cunningham’s work on before he became a director?

Cunningham was sort out by Stanley Kubrick, who had been impressed by his video work, getting Cunningham to work on the robotics effects in AI, which in the end was directed by Steven Spielberg. Cunningham worked well on the project, but left before the films completion. Is feature film debut as a director has been long awaited, but he seems content to let people wait.

5.    What makes his work different or original compared to other similar directors?

Cunningham seems to be happiest working within the music industry and creating art films, which he has installed and exhibition at the Tate amongst others. His work seems fairly anarchic and dark, while his editing can be as fierce as his music. This is demonstrated in one of his latest works Come to Daddy, which seemed to owe a debt to Max Headroom, from 1988, for the location and TV concept.

Looking back at his earlier work, Madonna’s 1998 Frozen, demonstrates a trend towards this. Frozen, implies the obvious white and cold, but Cunningham goes black in a desert, which has a brilliant effect of underlining the narrative of the song. For the video, the golden girl of pop’s look is transformed into darkness, with obscured close ups, getting her face down in the dirt, brave man, I suspect this might not have been the typical way to shoot Madonna.    

ITAP Moving Image 2

ITAP Moving Image 2

CINEMATOGRAPHY

1)    What is the role of the cinematographer in film making?

The cinematographer concentrates on the imagery within a film to focus mood, feeling and visual interpretation. This would be worked on as an artistic theme that would be agreed in advance of production with the director and built into the story boarding and scheduling so that the appropriate light can be captured for the various scenes, natural light etc. It can also include the selection of camera mounting, i.e. handheld, dolly, jib, crane, aerial etc. all of which have distinct qualities as well as frame composition, shot type, panning and zooming.        

From what we saw in the film, the amount of involvement or direction the cinematographer brings to bear, depends on the relationship they have with the director and the reason they got the assignment in the first place.

While a lot of the production styling is programed, it seems important to have the ability to adapt and enhance scenes in real-time, break conventions to offer a fresh dimension to the production.

2)    Why did director Roman Polanski insist on using hand held camera in the film Chinatown?

Polanski wanted to use handheld cameras to generate intimacy and authenticity. Having a smaller camera would allow to use a real environment, instead of a set. Handheld cameras offer more fluidity and a natural dynamic of human movement, which helps the audience to immerse themselves into the film, as well as having the advantage of eliciting a response from the actors from the close proximity of the camera.

3)    Name two films which use colour in a very symbolic way, and describe what they suggest.

The Last Emperor used colour in a very prescriptive symbolic style. It was explained that red represented birth, orange family and safety, yellow the identity of the emperor, and green education.

The film Doing The Right Thing, 1989, used colour symbolism in a much simpler way, well at least I understood this one. The film was based on the hottest day of summer in Brooklyn. To symbolize this they used the appropriate props, clothing, and makeup, as you would expect, but the detail to there colour and that of the environment, which they painted, gave the audience a sense of the searing heat. In one scene a regular brick wall is painted dark red, that gives off a reflection, while 3 characters sit in front of it, 2 of them hiding in the shadow of a parasol, as a passerby walks across the set, the scene just oozes heat.   

4)    In the film Raging Bull why was the fight scene filmed at different speeds?

They wanted to try and emulate the imagery from Life Magazine of the period the film was set in, early 1940’s, running at 48 frames helped to evoke those memories and set a contrast for the 24 frames which seemed quick by comparison, again a bit like the filming of the day. The technique also offered detail of power shots and emotive pauses within the action. The basic rule that they adopted was the engagements, fighting, would be shown in real time and the breathing time would be in slow-motion, this also helped pace the action and theme in the narrative.  

The film strove for authenticity, hence being in black and white, realistic fight chorography, all of which resonated with the audience of a vintage to remember the 1940’s and received critical acclaim. However, coming as it did, 3 years after the first Rocky film, it was lost on the younger generation, as it looked a bit old and naff and subsequently, as its just the later age group that are the mainstay of the cinema goers, it bombed, grossing $23m against a cost of $18m but it did received 2 Academy Awards, while Rocky grossed over $225m, in its first year, at a cost of under $1m, its initial reviews were mixed, but went on to obtained 3 Academy Awards.

5)    Who is the cinematographer for the film Apocalypse Now, and what is his philosophy? See “Visions Of Light, The Art Of Cinematography”

Arnold Glassman was the cinematographer on Apocalypse Now, his philosophy is that photography is an “individuals art, like a painting, like music, like writing, and that cinematographer is an art of a commune that can not be expressed by an individual”. That individuals have roles that let them contribute their artistry to the production, actors, writers, cinematographer, the editor, they could all take divergent ideas, someone needs needs to be responsible and take control. Presumably that would be the director. 

ITAP 1 Moving Image

ITAP Moving Image 1

The Work Of Sam Taylor Wood

1)    List two specific key relationships between Sam Taylor Wood's photography and film work?

Sam Taylor Wood's endeavors to make either medium, film or photography, convey more than the platform is known to support, using split screens for film, or sound and multiple images for her photography, to convey the narrative of her pieces. They have an intense intellectual narrative that can be challenging, presuming you have the will to follow them.

2)    How does the use of multi-screen installation in her work reflect narrative?

        It delineates personal boundaries and reflects individuality, in positive and negative        

        ways, while making statements about relativity from one person’s world to another’s. 

3)    What other photographers use film as an integral part of their work. List two with examples?

     Sam O’hare and Eija-Liisa Ahtila. O’hare is a photographer who has found more success     

     with film. He uses miniaturization effects and post production techniques, to producing    

     interesting films, Sandpit, which illustrate human behaviour in a different way from 

     convention. 

    Eija-Liisa Ahtila has a similar background to Taylor-Wood, studying sculpture at art   

    school, then moved onto photography and film. She also use multiple screens with moving 

    image and has directed a film Where is Where. Her work is also very intellectual, but does 

    seem to have aesthetic appeal.