MILLIE DAVIS
a2 media studies
Upon waiting for my train to leave Bristol station back to London, a rundown empty building caught my eye.
I thought that the isolated atmosphere of the building would be a perfect environment to film the scenes involving me lip syncing to the lyrics. This is because it is almost as if this character has become isolated from the rest of the world by being in this relationship, which is reflected by the emptiness of this location. Although I wish I would be able to film in this location, I believe access to the site will be prohibited, and travelling to Bristol from London is time consuming, expensive and inconvenient, due to equipment purposes. Therefore, I need to start researching places in London that have a similar setting and that are preferably open to the public. An example of a setting like this could be a car park.
Below shows a live video of me presenting my pitch of my music video to the rest of the class. This allowed me to get some feedback on my ideas, and also has allowed me to think of some changes from me talking about it out loud.
One aspect of music videos that I am especially keen in is slow motion. Taking inspiration from the music video “Unconditional Rebel – Siska” I think that music videos can look extremely beautiful when the movements made by characters are fluid and smooth.
The video was shot at 1000 fps with a Phantom Flex 4K, by a speeding car travelling at 50 km/h as they passed by 80 actors strategically situated across 80 meters of road. Although I am not planning on filming at this frame rate, I admire the effort that has gone into the creation of this product.
I have researched various short films online that people have created using the Canon 700D, the camera that I have, who have filmed in 50 fps. In this short film created by Mark Naumann, he demonstrates how filming something so simple such as playing with his dog can look extremely beautiful.
Mark also explains to a viewer in the comments section just how to be able to shoot in 50 fps, which is useful for me as I now also know how to do this.
At first I was skeptical about filming in 60 fps rather than the normal 30 fps because the quality of the shots are reduced, however looking at this video below, it is obvious that shooting in 60 fps and reducing the speed by 50% is a lot smoother than shooting in 30 fps and reducing the speed by 50%, as the clips are a lot more blurry and choppy.
One area that I am particularly interested in filming in is Haggerston, because I have found some of the places in the area I think will be interesting to film in through location scouting. One place in particular that I think would be great to film in are on top of a set of garages. I have a shot in mind of the two characters walking along the top of the garages together, and the girl jumping down from the garages into the boy's arms. Another area that I want to shoot in in this area is Regent’s Canal: Haggerston Bridge. I think that just underneath the arch will be a nice location to film in, as the lighting coming from the outside can look very aesthetically pleasing. The location may also be nice to get some long shots of the two characters walking out from underneath the arch. As the location is quite far away from where I live, planning is crucial. I am aiming to shoot at this location on Sunday 8th November, and so looked up the route to get to Haggerston station using the app ‘Citymapper’. *UPDATE*
After researching this into more detail, I decided that I was not going to shoot in this location, as there are garages that are fairly similar near my house in London, therefore making it easier for both my actors and I. A post that was published on the website Buzzfeed shows 129 of the most beautiful shots in history, ranging from ‘Skyfall’ to ‘Finding Nemo’. I have taken inspiration from 5 of these shots, and I want to try and replicate them in my music video. This first shot comes from the film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (2005). What first caught my eye in this shot is the framing of the character, and her shadow. Having the character stand centre frame with a tile floor surrounding her makes the shot very symmetrical. The fact that the shot is also birds eye view, makes the shot seem very empty, however this is what makes it effective. As the fact that she seems to be wearing ragged clothing, also demonstrates her loneliness. It is the positioning of the characters and the colour grading of this shot from Requiem for a Dream (2000) that captures my attention. With their heads being side by side and them both looking up into the ceiling it symbolises unity exceptionally well. The objects in the room are perfectly scattered around the characters, framing their bodies, which illustrates that it is just them two together in that moment. The dark colours portray the sadness that the characters could be feeling, as they seem to both have glum facial expressions. This close up shot in Fight Club (1999) is very ambiguous. The character is presented as almost anonymous as the sunglasses and hat she is wearing hides her face. The smoke coming out of her mouth from the cigarette also adds to this, as it is covering the right side of her face as well. The dark colours create an unwelcoming atmosphere, however the yellow light in the background contrasts to this, as the yellow colour presents warmth. The fact that the character is slightly off centre also adds to this idea of a mystic character. What attracted me to this shot was the colouring. It is without a doubt that warm colours, specifically red, symbolise love. The fact that this colour is being naturally created by a sunset in The Princess Bride (1987) and is being reflected around the characters to create a silhouette, creates a calm and content atmosphere. The characters are centre frame and the sun peeps through just between the characters, which creates an aesthetically pleasing shot. Lastly, this beautiful shot comes from the film Memories of Murder (2003). With most of the tunnel being completely dark, the slight light that is created from the end of the tunnel on the tracks is very effective. With the characters also being silhouettes, this whole shot is very gloomy and almost unsettling. The contrast between the darkness of the tunnel and the almost white light outside of the tunnel also reiterates this. Furthermore, the curving of the tracks leading to the characters which are in line centre frame is very unusual, however powerful.
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