Colour grading research

Colour grading is something that is used in almost every piece of professional digital video and film work. Colour grading can take the form of simple colour correction such as correcting the overall tone, or can be used to give a particular look, for instance making a scene look warm or cold.

Wikipedia defines colour grading as

“Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of a motion picture or television image, either electronically, photo-chemically or digitally”. 

These days almost all colour grading is done digitally using various programs on different computers. Colour grading can consist of one or all of the following: changing brightness; changing contrast; adjusting white point; adding or removing red, green and blue; or applying filters.
Colour grading in it’s most basic form is usually used to either correct shots, like matching one shot with the next one, but can also be used to give a piece a look, or, for example, to make the sky more blue or someones skin look more flesh coloured.
Most video editing software contains some form of tool that’ll help the user to program colour correction and grading.These are some of the most common ones:

Final Cut Pro 

Final cut pro contains some good colour correction tools; not the most extensive or the best sometimes, but it’ll certainly do the job alot of the time! 

Color 

If your serious about colour correction and intend to do alot of it, Color is part of Final Cut Studio and is very good at colour grading providing lots of tools for correcting problems or giving a scene a look. It can also send sequences between its Final Cut Studio brother ‘Final Cut Pro’.

After Effects

After Effects is another program that has some great inbuilt colour grading tools, there are also a number of plug-ins available to extend it’s capabilities such as Red Giant’s Colourista II, this plug-in is also available for Final Cut too.

Premiere Pro

Premiere pro has a similar toolset for colour grading to Final Cut, not the best but certainly more than capable for most jobs.

Avid 

Avid is another video editing programme that can be used to colour grade, with a very robust set of tools. 

In terms of my film, I intend to use Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Studio’s Color to really add a certain feel to my film. The good thing about both of these products being Final Cut is that they are integrated with each other, so a sequence I create in Final Cut can be export to Color in a few clicks. If I need to learn more about how to actually colour grade, then I will look on the Vimeo Video School to look at some tutorials, but for now I know what to do.

Editing research

When researching into editing techniques that I could use on my film I came across an interesting article written by Oliver Peters, an independent film editor and colourist, who explains his top twelve tips for film editing. This article is huge and really well written, so I shall post a link to it below, whilst quote a few tips that I feel that I will use the most.

http://digitalfilms.wordpress.com/2008/12/16/12-tips-for-better-film-editing/

“Moving camera shots – Moving the camera around is a staple of action sequences. This might be a camera on a dolly, crane, Steadicam or just handheld. In an action scene, this is designed to create a level of tension. When I cut these shots together, I prefer to cut on movement, so that the camera is in constant motion from one shot to the next. Many directors and DP will disagree, preferring instead to start and stop each camera move before making the cut. Both approaches work under the right situations, but my tendency is to cut tighter and not let the audience’s eye rest on the set or a shot or a scene for too long, unless there is a reason to do so.”

This technique is something that I have decided to storyboard into my storyboard mainly for the woods scene when the action is mainly following the child playing in the woods and discovering the dead rabbit. From this, I have also decided to use short and sharp cuts on the childs hands and expression in the lead up to discovering the rabbit, with eventually a long slow zoom into the dead animal.

“Pull the air out of actors’ performances – Going back to Item 1 – I like to cut tight. Recognize that many actors will overact. They will milk a scene for more than is appropriate. They will accentuate pauses, add more stumbles and stammers (where scripted) and give lengthy glances. Sometimes this works, but your job as the editor is to dial these back as you cut. Take these pauses out by cutting away and then back. Cut out redundant actions and line deliveries. Make it real, so it doesn’t feel like ACTING.”

This is undoubtedly something that I will have to do as an editor for this film, as when I first auditioned the cast for my film I could evidently tell that they over acted. I knew this would be something I would get with any actor, as the screenplay is very dramatic, even myself as an actor would struggle to give a convincing screen performance.

 

Existing production company logos

Before creating my production company company logo, I thought it was only right to look at some existing logos from the British film industry. This will hopefully give me some inspiration into how I intend to create my production company logo and what it will look like. As David Bentley said "The making of the new and re-arranging of the old" (1997) and although these existing logos aren't exactly old, I can see them, take inspiration from them, and through taking companies that are similar to mine, I can therefore create a market successful product, or logo in this case.

This is for Warp Films, and it is very simple and when it somes up on screen it doesn't move. I like the simple graphics in black and white but I don't know if a title like this would fit my genre. This logo is particularly good because the fact that it is static means that is could go onto a film poster, therefore the viewer would tie a connection between the logo and the film, as logos are more simple to recognise then text is. The black and white could connote the films that they make, and therefore the viewer could associate warp films with old films in B&W too.

This is for DNA films which almost has a kind of scifi/horror theme to it with interesting graphics of close up cells or hair particles it looks like. This logo has decided to stay for warm red and oranges in terms of colour. It's also worth noting that this doesn't have 'films' or 'productions' written after it. There is a transition in this logo as the logo burns away. The red/orange within the colour scheme connotes anger, passion or blood, which may pass very emotive feelings to the viewer, although the warm colours sit well with the overall scientific feel.

This is the logo for Deadbeat Films, and I really love it because it's simple, sticks to good shades of black and white and has a good use of interesting graphics. I believe that this logo has movement on it as the man walks into the shot and then burns away. The white in this logo could connote heaven and purity, so a white theme could go really well for my production company logo because it would reflect the genre and themes from my film. The image of the person could also refer to the title and be a 'deadbeat', a lowlife or lazy person, only exaggerated by the way that they are standing and the dull shades of colour.

Personally, I think I should create a moving logo to really give my film a professional feel. I think that I should also make sure that my logo sticks to a simple colour scheme and a good font that fits with the film that I will make. After looking at these, I have decided to call my production company 'Hal Smith Productions' with this being written on screen in the sequence. I think that I will add a burning effect to the text, so it'll grow towards the screen and then burn away into the background. I plan to do this in After Effects with the skills that I have learnt in that program. I think that it is important to have the background black, because it's the start to a film and the start of a film is always black, so I think the beginning will flow a lot better.

Lighting research

The Three Point Lighting Technique is a standard method used in film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a simple system that forms the basis of most lighting. I hope to understand this technique to help to create atmosphere and a professional quality to my film.
The technique uses three lights called the key light, fill light and back light:


Key Light
This is the main light. It is usually the strongest and casts the most light on the scene. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that this side is well lit and the other side has some shadow.








Fill Light
This is the secondary light and is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key. The fill will usually be softer and less bright than the key. To achieve this, I would intend to place some white sheeting over my light to diffuse it and soften the brightness.





Back Light
The backlight is placed behind the subject and lights it from the rear. Rather than providing direct lighting (like the key and fill), its purpose is to provide definition and subtle highlights around the subject. This set up would not be suited to my film because there would be too many cameras so I couldn’t create any movement with the camera. However, for still photography I think that this technique will become very useful.


So, for my filming, I intend to use either the key and fill light together to fully light my scene and actors. Lighting in film is only really necessary when using a 35mm camera to get the right exposure, but in digital film cameras such as DSLRs, this doesn’t matter, but low light shooting can produce a very grainy effect that could be suited to my film. For some of my scenes, such as when the Elder passes away could be done with just the key light to really cast shadows and create dramatic effect. In terms of photography I intend to use the backlight aswell as the key and fill light as to produce a full three-dimensional effect that is really effective and interesting. These images of my characters could in turn be used on my poster or magazine double page review.

Multi-camera research

A film shoot requires the use of a camera to record the film's shots, scenes, and sequences. Shot are the building block of cinema. During editing, these shots are arranged in a creative progression to tell a story.   A scene is composed of a series of continuous shots related to one another's basic action or situation. These continuous shots are regarded to have a particular impression that involves the same set of characters and setting. Meanwhile, a sequence is made up of scenes situated in the same location and plotpoint in the story. It follows a specific order in which a related topic and specific events and actions follow each other in a logical progression. There are many ways of going about filming scene like this. The two main ones are:

A one camera shoot

This set-up is typically used in narrative films, mobile shoots, and documentaries. Since only one camera records the shot, the camera operator has more ability to move the camera around with less limitations caused by having to avoid seeing another camera simultaneously recording on frame. However, the main disadvantage of a one-camera set-up is how more time-consuming it is as covering all camera shots and angles would mean having to repeat shots more than a multi-camera set-up would require.

Having only one camera in a shoot can present a challenge with the film's continuity, especially when shooting very movement based scenes involving many characters and situations. For instance, a scene inside a classroom, a market, or any other relatively dynamic setting would mean having to exactly copy the initial reactions of the characters and replicating difficult to repeat shots like stunts and anything action related.

Multi-camera Shoot

Using two or more cameras is primarily used in talk shows, news programs, and other live programs that are set-up in a studio or any other controlled location. Yet, it can also be used in TV dramas and films set in varying locations, especially those that find it more practical to shoot certain shots in different angles and shot distances without having to frequently repeat the entire set-up. This allows two or more cameras to shoot the footage with perfect continuity coming from the cameras' simultaneous recording.

A multi-camera shoot can also be referred to as a two-camera or three-camera shoot. These two are typically used in many productions. Scenes that are heavily dialogue based, such as Scene 3 in my film could also be shot using a multicamera setup so that the actors can just run through the scene without having to stop and start.

A multicamera shoot can be a lot less time consuming depending on what kind of scene you're filming. For instance, I think that all of my hospital and 'limbo' scenes will be shot with more than one camera going at one time, to help let the acting flow better, whilst also saving time and creating a smooth continuity. The only issue with using more than one camera, is the editing process and having to match up audio to many different video clips. Although a little time consuming, I feel that this will really pay off.

Location

Like many social realist dramas, my film is going to be entirely shot on location as opposed to the hospital scene being set up in a studio. This isn’t necessarily due to lack of budget, but my choice as a director to create a very real film, with dialogue being recorded on set too.

As Mike Figgis sums up in ‘A guide to digital film making’ (2004), ‘When looking for a location you need to consider many things, the obvious ones being ‘Is this the place that would suit your film best?’ ‘Does it look cinematically good?’ But you also need to consider questions such as ‘Will your crew fit into the space?’ ‘Where can your actors wait when they’re not being filmed?’ and ‘Is there anything that’ll compromise the period your film is set in and give away that sense of verisimilitude?’ Mike Figgis’s point is a very valid one, and consequently when I have been looking for locations for my film, all of these things have been taken into account, not only for the practicality of filming, but the way it looks on screen too.

To start at the beginning, scene 1 in my film is split into two locations. The first being the hospital to which the third scene is also set and the second is the empty scene which is meant to be set in limbo, this is the same as scene 4. I had to find a place that I could make look like a hospital or a room that was very clinical. Back in my AS Photography, I did a photo shoot in the hair and beauty section of the school, up at an industrial estate called Woods Browning. I did it to explore the issue of asthma and how I had been hospitalised by it in the past. The room that I used was a hair and beauty treatment room, which looked like a hospital in a very clinical way, so I went and asked if the people who run the vocational courses if I could film in it, and they were very co-operative and gave me dates when I could film there.

For the second half of scene 1 and all of scene 4, I needed to find a empty, bleak space that would symbolise limbo/heaven/a dream-like state before death. My initial thoughts were to book out the drama studio on the school site, set up a bed in the studio space and kindly ask one of the technicians to set up one powerful spotlight on the bed, giving the illusion that the bed is the only thing masked in light, surrounded by the dark. I went to talk to the head of the drama department about when I could book out the studio, and she told me that there would be a big delay because of the sheer amount of productions and classes that would be going on in that room. With this in mind, by photography teacher told me of a really old bleak worn out industrial unit up at Woods Browning that I could film or take photos at. He had the key, so I decided to go and have a look. The location was a large room that let in a lot of light, but it was very dilapidated, dusty and worn out. In my mind, I thought that I could bleach bypass the footage that I get in there to make it seem really bright and set up a light to help create mood and atmosphere.

Moving onto scene 2, I knew that this was the only scene that I would be filming outside and with this in mind, I know I have to be careful of the weather. I went looking through various locations, such as Delphi Bridge on Bodmin Moor, but I decided that it was too open with a road that was near by possibly causing audio disruption. I had a think, and decided to travel to Respryn Woods and have a walk around to find somewhere that was suitable. There is a photo of the place I have chosen on the right. With a river near by, I knew that this location would be more suited to the script than Delphi Bridge.

Costume

Costume

For my costume I wanted to keep it all relatively low key. Although some scenes would technically be set a long time ago, I knew that if I kept the costumes very basic, then the question of time periods wouldn’t arise. If I had an extended budget, I would probably try and afford costumes that would have been worn in the 1960’s or 50’s to help create a better verisimilitude, but I think that with plain costumes this won’t be an issue.

After bearing in mind the costumes from other existing similar media projects, you can see that all the cast tend to have plain costumes due to their social realist nature, it’s focused heavily on the acting, not necessarily the way the actors look. A great example of this is Tyrannosaur by Paddy Considine, which consists of really two main characters whose costumes are so socially real that you don’t even remember what they were wearing due to their powerful performances.

From this I have written a costume list of what I will expect my actors to wear:

The Child (Scene 1 and 4):

Plain white T-shirt

Black trousers

Any shoes

The Child (Scene 2):

A plain coloured t-shirt.

Jeans

Wellies

The Child (Scene 3):

A plain coloured t-shirt.

Jeans

Any shoes

The Elder (Scene 1, 2 and 4):

A white shirt

White golfing trousers

Any shoes.

The Brother (Scene 3):

White T-Shirt

Jeans

White socks

For a majority of these characters, I knew that what shoes or trousers that they wore wouldn’t matter when filming, because the camera wouldn’t see them in shot. For instance, the Elder’s shoes in Scene 2 or the Brother’s jeans in Scene 3.

The colour white plays a huge part in my production as it signifies heaven and innocence. The use of the elder wearing white in scene 2, is to symbolise the fact that he isn’t actually there, he is a ghost, merely observing. I wanted both the child and elder to be wearing white in scene 1 and 4 because I knew that I would be completely washing out the scene and making it bright and their costumes would fit in the whole theme of limbo and a dream-like space that I am trying to create.