Fiction Adaptation - Mike Rymer Lecture

In a lecture with Mike Rymer, I got the opportunity to learn about new camera movements as well as develop on the camera skills I have already had the chance to learn. This included basic movements like panning and dollying to more complex shots such as the dolly zoom (also known as a 'zolly'). I was also given the opportunity to try out different camera apparatus, all that can help further enhance future projects as well as this one.

The first stage of the lecture was simply familiarising ourselves with the camera movements we already know. Though this did not require a practical session, it did help to learn what we already knew to recap before going onto newer, less familiar shot types. Before going into the practicals, we looked at how these techniques and movements such as the dolly zoom were implemented into productions such as the film Jaws and the TV series The Wire.

We were then put into groups of four to test out the equipment and see if we are able to replicate any of these shots. The equipment included a steadycam, a track and dolly, a jib and handheld. Examples of shot types to replicate included what's known as the 'Bay Shot' (after Michael Bay), the Dolly Zoom and the Crane Shot. We were also encouraged to create any other type of camera movement that we feel necessary.

Dolly Zoom

The dolly zoom, also known as a Zolly shot, is a technique where the camera is either dollies forwards, toward the subject, or backwards, away from the subject, while the camera zooms in the opposite direction. This is a very difficult technique to execute but when done correctly, the character in the frame will remain the same size while everything in the foreground and background either compresses or decompresses, depending on which direction the camera is traveling.

The technique was first used in the film Vertigo, (hence its other name, the Vertigo shot) where the character looks down a flight of stairs and sees the floor at the bottom seemingly grow further apart from himself, giving both the character and more importantly the audience a sense of vertigo. The example shown above is from a scene in Jaws. Here the shot is used to convey shock as apposed to fear. As Police Chief watches on as a shark attacks a young boy, the camera moves in while zooming out, giving the effect of shock.

The Bay Shot

The 360 shot, also known as the Bay shot, is typically used on the protagonist of a film or tv show. Here, a camera slowly spins around the character(s) as they come up from below the frame. This is a signature of Michael Bay films, probably even more so than explosions, fast-cuts and slow motion. The shot was originally used by Michael Bay in order to show both sides of the shootout without cutting away.

The Crane Shot

The crane shot is a technique in which a camera is placed on a crane like apparatus known as a jib and allows the camera to move all around, including up and down, reaching areas that no individual could manage in one motion. A crane's fluidity of movement and range of height can give an unusual omniscient perspective that is especially powerful if the audience knows something the character does not.

Fiction Adaptation - Montages

A montage is used to inform the audience rather than move them. In filmmaking, montages contain contrasting images and film in a single composition through juxtaposition in order to create new meaning. They can be used to both shorten and lengthen time, depending on what the montage is meant to convey.

Montage Editing

Continuity editing requires its relations to be fairly tightly defined. In order to move away from the standards of continuity editing, these relations can be played with and used to create many other possibilities. It may be the case now that we are so used to the formal standards of continuity editing, that the rules have to be broken in mainstream cinema for the audience to remain active viewers.



Graphic

Graphic relations are to do with editing and mise-en-scene. The whole look of objects in the frame tells us something about them, due to cues such as colour and size. If there is, due to editing, more than one frame, we can compare and contrast different objects in different frames.

For instance, a playoff can be achieved if two characters are in separate frames, wearing very spartan, grey or very lavish, colourful clothes. We can then be informed about such influences as lifestyle, income, class, level of self-confidence, and so on. Of course, this does not merely apply to human objects. The background can indicate as much graphic relation as the foreground and its inhabitants.

Spatial

The amount of space occupied in the frame by certain objects in certain frames. One cluttered frame, full of people, which then cuts to a sparse frame containing one person can indicate isolation or claustrophobia, depending on the point of view and which frame is 'favoured'. Consider also the angle of the camera. Or better say -- the changes in camera angles.

Temporal

The relations of objects and narrative in time. Editing is the most important method of controlling the allocation of time in film. As graphic relations are also to do with mise-en-scene, temporal relations share themselves with another part of film - in this case, narrative. Entities in the film are allocated time according to the following mechanisms:

1. Order
2. Frequency
3. Duration
4. Rhythm

Fiction Adaptation - My Idea

For our fiction adaptation assignment, we had to choose a poem to create an adapted video from out of a set of 20 or so poems. We would add our own thoughts and show our perspective of what our poem means to us as individuals. I chose the poem 100% by Michael James Parker.

The poem itself is about the unity of people and how despite our differences, we are all one. At first glance it became an obvious option to match words to pictures, there is a lot of imagery in the poem about people coming together and unifying as one. However I decided to go in the opposite direction and show the poem in a different light, look away from the 99% unifying together and look at the 1% that are still on their own.

The idea is to create a story through imagery about a young lad who seeks to be accepted into modern society despite his differences. I felt this was a good path to go down as it is an image that a lot of young people can relate to. Despite the character failing in his attempts to be accepted into other peoples friendship circles, the audience will empathise with the character and will wish to unify with him themselves.

Fiction Adaptation - Fine Cut

The fine cut went a lot better than the rough cut, however seeing as this is the final meeting before hand in, both Sam Creamer and Helen Curston had more to say, both positive and negative.

Visuals
Visually, they were both impressed. This was Helen's first time seeing my adaptation so she had a lot to say going forward. Once again the shots were noticeably well done. However it was the sequencing that needed a bit of a change, and if possible the addition of one or two new shots. There were moments in the pub scene that could have been rearranged without changing the shots and a view out to the sea needed adding in if possible in place of the short pause towards the end.

Sound
Again it was noticeable that some of the sound was not as good as it could have been, though not terrible. As for the archive sounds, Helen picked up on the differences in sound to image, at one point the old man is seen walking down the high street and in the background you can hear birds as well as other ambient sounds that you would expect to hear in a field or a garden, it didn't match up to the semi-urban location that was placed on the screen. Instead it was recommended that I change the sound to traffic and other ambient sounds from a typical town such as Sheerness

Fiction Adaptation - Rough Cut

The rough cut with Sam Creamer helped bring forward some tips and hints as to what I did well and where I could have/can still improve.

Visuals

Sam was impressed with the framing and liked the overall coordination of the shots. Each shot was white balanced and focused, everything was in the frame, the shots weren't too shaky, overall it was good. There were some issues however, there was a long pause towards the end where I wasn't sure what place in and some of the shots could have done with rearranging. These were all things I could change. Sam also mentioned that there were perhaps some shots that could have also gone in that I never did. For example revealing the card at the beginning so the audience has something to grasp onto and have a better understanding as to why he got a card out at the end.

Sound

This is where most of the issues were found. The sound was recorded on a shotgun mic which was not ideal in outside conditions and is generally only used for scratch sound to link things together the sound. At the end the difference in sound quality from the voice over and the sound from the shotgun mic were noticeably different. At this point some of the archive sounds were not added so I had to explain my ideas going forward as to what I will be including before we meet again in the fine cut.