Final Film

My final film is a development from my film experiments with jars, water, netting and ink. While previously I filmed things happening inside the jar from the outside, I wanted the scale to be bigger this time so I put the camera in the jar, and the water was in the bath so I had more space to move around in, and more dpth.

What I liked about he jar was the distortion it created, so I found a jar that made a lot of distortion. It has 3D grapes on the side that create a pattern and make the film seem quite abstract.

I put the camera in the jar, then put the net in the water and got my boyfriend to move the jar around in the water as I moved and added different netting to get different colour combinations, and then added the ink.

I really like the film, but I wish I could improve it. I don't have any editing software, and because the film is a .mov I can't edit it in the default software on my computer. This is a shame, I wish I could get rid of the start and end so you couldn't see me putting the jar in the water and taking it out. I think it takes some of the mystery out of the film. I would also improve it by somehow connecting the camera to my phone or computer so I could see what was being filmed. Because the camera was inside the jar it was impossible to properly tell what the film looked like until I took it out. If I could see the footage as it happened I could make sure that things didn't stay the same for too long (sometimes it did in the film), and make sure I had the best angles.

I really like the film, previously when doing films I felt they were a bit pointless to my study but to me this film shows that I could use film within my work. I could very easily take screenshots from this film and use them as prints, a lot of the film is very abstractly beautiful. I could also project it into white textured textiles or garments. I could also possibly try out using e-paper and show the film on that, while using the e-paper as fabric for a garment.

Even though at first I found the film class hard, I'm glad I tried it and could make something interesting out of it. I think I will try to do this technique again with other fabrics, inks, textured bits and interestingly shaped jars. I didn't ever think of using film within my practice before but it can create some really unique imagery and forces me to think in a different way and that is extremely important and can only help me become a better designer.

I will use this film as prints in my next project, I love these screenshots, they have a look that I've never been able to create before. I want to distort them further and print them onto knits. I will update the blog if/when I do this.

Final Film Ideas

For my final film I have a couple of different options. I want to make one related to the film experiments I have tried in the past few weeks, but hopefully a bit more upscaled. Because I'm using a normal CANON camera, I can't edit my films as they are all .mov files. This is a bit limiting, I would be able to do a lot more if I could edit the film and have it be more than one continuous shot but I don't have anything else good enough to film with.

• Looking at the ceiling - This film wasn't particularly interesting, but if I went to somewhere with a good ceiling like a cathedral  it could be lovely. However I'm not sure if I'm allowed to film in those places. I probably won't do this one.

• Knitting machine film - I think this one will be hard to do more of because it would be best to have a series of shots edited together, I could make some music by editing together the different crunchy noises of the knitting machine. I would do this one if I had the ability to edit my films, but I don't so I'll have to do something else.

• Movement with a Monopod - when I first did this I thought it had potential but the film didn't come out looking as good as I thought it would. I think this film would work a lot better at night in a place filled with lights of different colours and shapes and strengths that could blur together. The whiteness of the sky is what makes the film not very good, so the darkness of the sky would fix that problem.

I did another short film where the camera was by my feet and upside down. I like this idea, where you get a different viewpoint of the world. However, I'm not sure how to make it a bit more interesting. Really this would work best when walking a dog on the beach or in a scenic area. I could do a walk around town but I don't want the camera to get nicked. I don't think it would be as visually interesting and colourful as I would like my final film to be.

• Colour behind glass - Out of these I preferred the ones uses netting and ink. I think I could upscale this using a bath filled with water, then adding netting of many colours and ink. If my camera is sealed in a jar it would add the distortion and i could move it about safely getting an interesting effect. The camera could also possibility spin around on it's own to get some movement.

Colour behind Glass

My current main textiles project right now is the colour project where I've done a lot of knitting in bright patterns and used really lurid netting. I wanted to try to convey this colour in a film that was abstract. I decided to use a glass jar to distort the image, and sometimes added ink to see how that would affect the image.

I wanted to edit some of these videos to be upside down as I think that would give them a more surreal feel but they are .mov files that I can't edit with the software I have.

I put my samples up against the jar and moved them around with my hands to try to get a surreal vaguely creepy exaggerated movement.






I then tried adding ink to the jar filled with water to see how that would affect it. It didn't go so well as my sample background feel down halfway through and I had to add a different one.




Lastly I tried out putting different coloured netting in the jar, then adding ink. These would work best if tehy were upside down I think.



 I like these experiments as I think they could be useful to my work. Screengrabs of these would make interesting subjects to draw for my projects. Since I study textiles one of the things I have been struggling with is how making these films is relevant to my work so seeing that it could be good for research makes it seem more complete and relevant.

Movement with a Monopod

For these films I wanted to try some interesting movement. I have a nice garden so I thought I'd film there. I attached the camera to a monopod and swung it around in different ways to create varied kinds of movements and designs. Because the sky is almost white the film didn't work as well because it bleached out the films. I like the idea for the movement and the way that everything blurs together sometimes but it doesn't look very nice or interesting. I think if I try these again at night at uni or near the river where the lighting is quit colourful and the sky is very dark it would look much more effective.







I also held the camera upside down on the bottom of the monopod to get a low-down upside-down view of me walking around. I quite like this one because it works with the surroundings and the noise is really nice and evocative.



After trying these I feel a bit rubbish at this, when I look at other people's films during class they look a lot more interesting, but I can't seem to wrap my brain around how to make a really interesting film with a new idea. I'm finding this class really challenging.

Breaking Bad Cinematography

I watched all of Breaking Bad this summer 2 weeks before the final episode. It was amazing, and one of the reasons I think it worked so well was the dynamic camera work and unsual angles used to either add to the surreal feeling, or utterly real feel of a scene. It especially shines at poignant moments that are made all the more effective by the use of interesting angles and movement. I haven't seen a tv show that uses cinematography to this effect and degree and it is one of the reasons that BrBa is such an amazing show.

From here on out there will be spoilers so don't read or watch the films or look at the pictures of you haven't seen the whole series.

Knitting Machine Perspectives

I wanted to do some short videos looking at different perspectives while I knitted on the knitting machine. It's nice to see what's actually happening up close and taking it's size out of context. This is a intimate and abstract look at my knitting machine, and how things often go wrong (sorry about the swearing). The videos are very short, I was just trying to work out what works so that I could maybe do a longer version for my final video project.

1. Trying out a direct perspective of what I see when I look down.



2. Me trying to then fix the knitting with a close-up of my hands while I do it.



3. Quickly panning over the needles in a close-up



4. From the perspective of the far-end of the knitting machine going forward. I like the extreme size of the end needles. I might try to do this one again but do it for longer.



5. From a lower perspective focusing on the knitting and the oncoming carriage.



6. This is my favourite. A long inside the carriage as it knits. Sadly my boyfriend who was filming while I knitted (which is a two-hand job) dropped the camera. I like this perspective, I will try it again.

Kill Bill Cinematography

Kill Bill is one of my favourite films, partly due to the amazing cinematography and interesting camera work and shorts. Lots of extremes are used to convey the story in an anime style. Part of the film is anime, and it doesn't seem out of place in a film that has taken it's odd angles and poignant subject placement. The most emotional parts of the film are all filmed at least partly from two extreme angles: cinematic birds-eye view with extreme barrel-distortion, and extremely low down at floor level with no effects.

The cinematic birds-eye view with extreme barrel-distortion creates a beautiful image that tells a lot of story very quickly. This top-down scene allows for some interesting placement and easy symbolism, with the bodies looking in mid-movement, their shadows and bloodsplatters like wings. The bride, with her white dress seems especially angelic. It is like the painting of heaven in the ceiling of a church with angels, only instead everyone has been murdered.
The wide-angle lense used adds to this as it gives the scene a dreamlike unreal quality, as does the use of the birds-eye angle as the distortion is not how we see things naturally, and the birds-eye view, when inside is reminiscent of how we see in dreams, and the idea that when we die we float up and look down.
 

This contrasts with the foot-level shots of the scene as the policemen walk around the bodies. While this is also a rare shot to see in a film, it is shot simply and has a quiet realism to it. You can only see a very small amount, it is not gratuitous like the shot about, nor cinematic. It is a frank shot of what these policemen have to see and the crimes that have been done.

When the bride is incapacitated throughout the film this is signified by the use of low shots angled to look up at the characters, as though you are the bride.

However, once the bridge is awake and fighting the camera angles change, she is always at the same level and angle as her peers, never looking up at anyone. There are also wide-angle theatre-like scenes used as the stage for her murdering sprees

The low shots angled to look up at the characters who are stronger than you are reversed as the film goes on, the bride is now looked upon by her victims as she once looked upon them.

The way cinematography is used to tell the story of the Bride in Kill Bill is fantastic, it elevates the film completely. Tarantino is one of my favourite directors because he uses cinematography and interesting unusual shots to tell the story in a dynamic way. Obviously I cannot do anything like what he does in my short films but I would like to try to be as creative and think of different effective ways to tell a story.

First Film - My Ceiling

I wanted to start making films and liked the perspective of just looking up, so I walked around my house with the camera held up. I'm not used to making experimental videos like this so I wanted to get my first one out of the way so I'm not anxious about it.

Sorry about the creepy breathing I am ill :(

Experimental Film Class

My tops class is film, where we make interesting experimental films and try to look at things from different perspectives and angles. For this class I have made this blog. It's a bit late cause I've been really ill (sorry!!). In this blog I'm going to post up some of my favourite experimental camera work in films and tv that I love and try to make a few short ones of my own.

During the first class I attended we made "rigs" which were essentially bits of metal where you attached a camera to part of it and waved it about or put it somewhere where you can't get to so you can see thing from another angle. My group attached ours to another person's motorbike and they rode around for a minute. I don't think it was as interesting as it could be, it would have been better to do something a bit more experimental.

Over this course we have to make more films, I'd like to try to take some underwater somehow, or record the way I work on the knitting machines in an interesting way. I'm not quite sure how yet though!