Exercise: Abstract image sequence

-

Project 13 Non-diegetic sound

Research

Examples of the following:

- Intentional confusion of diegetic and non-diegetic sound
Mulholland Drive: The Silence theatre scene, the singer sings a song, we are sure her is singing and in the middle of the song she fell on the stage but the voice is still singing. Intention: everything is an illusion. As I am thinking about it it is diegetic sound because the characters in the film can hear it.
PulpFiction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYe3HqzMPxA

some examples from youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydBkU_2GjGM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb45tJhzmcI

- Sound that is hard to identify as either diegetic or non-diegetic

- Music (non-diegetic) used to identify social and cultural references

- Music and other non-diegetic sound used to create, for example, atmosphere, tension and emotion
Jaws: a signal that the sharks are nearby. (another example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae1Z_fWDZ7s)
Psycho: the bathroom scene.

- Non-diegetic sound that sets the pace of s scene

- Non-diegetic sound that gives clues or cues to action


some links: http://voices.yahoo.com/understanding-using-diegetic-non-diegetic-601295.html

Exercise: Repeating the Mosjukhin experiment

After Stuart's comment I changed the position of the "thoughts" in the first attempt.

I agree that the last "meditation" shot was inserted too early and a thought should have been inserted before it. My original intention was that the writer become famous and will have a problem with drinking. I think there is a need to show more thoughts. Some idea: the first thought should be a simple shot of the typewriter, second he is writing, third he receives his first published book, the fourth he receives a price - a shot of price, fifth: there could be a shot of a shelf with prices, sixth: the drinking scene, seventh: he has not the drinking under control (homeless), eight: he changes his life (mediation).

I was surprised how Stuart was very close with interpretations of the sequences, even the second was abstract one. There was missing information at the end of the first attempt - there is a writer who received his first published book. The second sequence was about man who is looking for a love but he never receive it.

If I compare sequences from student fellows I think that shots of thoughts where is not the character are most impressive. For example: those shots of things let you think how the character is connected to them, it allows you to imagine a story on your experience, our mind analyses it and tries to explain it somehow. On the other hand, when there was the character in "thoughts" I had a feeling that we are looking on a past, something which already happened. Just my thoughts.

(Just an idea crossed my mind: the sequence could be shorter and explain his current state about his laziness e.g.: he want to write a book (typewriter) but he could not resist to play games (shot of a game machine, drinking scene etc.)).

Exercise: Repeating the Mosjukhin experiment

-

-

-

Exercise: Two people communicating

Exercise: Two people communicating

After a while I have started with storyboard on that exercise.

Exercise: new soundtrack

I removed the original audio track and replace them by new recorded sounds. As the background I used a noise of a washing machine and clock ticking. I put there a breathing to enhance a presence of a person who is looking for something. In total I made five layers.

I really like the background noises, It makes the video more real, even in the original track the washing machine was not there. I was playing with the sound when the bottle is opening and I could not match precisely the hand moving with the sound, but finally I found a position for the sound which is good.

Great experience with adding sounds in post production. I like it more than original because it builds the atmosphere better.

Here is a printscreen of the layers.

Exercise listening

I love those items which produce steadily continuing sound like washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, heating system, boiler etc. It is not easy record the sounds separately because the recorder Zoom is so sensitive that any sounds which are produced nearby is recorded. You need quiet place to get clean sound but what can you do when the items are installed in kitchen next to living room where wife is watching  TV and dogs want to know what are you doing  :-).

I load here some sounds which I like. When I listened them many times the imagination come to me and  every time I can imagine something different. Here are my notes about the sounds:

Dishwasher4: http://youtu.be/rdw3eYzXTgQ

repeating rhythm, it reminds me washing machine, blue colour, a beach

Dishwasher5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA1pEsmLWkU&feature=youtu.bea 

black space, coldness, it could be a plant where machines are working, no man

Microwave1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAiFYWe71sQ 

a cooling thing, a ventilator, it is hot, it is a place at the back of building where air conditions are placed.

The imagination is endless. The sounds can be used as source of another items, they are interchangeable. We always connect what we see with what we hear but what we hear in film could not be real it can be illusion and it is the great power of sound in film. The heating sound (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAGAaAfJOcY) can produce very great atmosphere - dark, tension, mystery, loneliness etc. (I remember sounds in Lynch's film EraserHead)

I have to collect another sounds of those items in future and learn more about sounds and music. 

Atmosphere: A thief

I thought that the trial of "somebody is looking" was somehow  empty in story and I wanted to add some action here. The first thing was that somebody is alone in work and suddenly a sound attract his attention, he stands up and sees somebody running away with a briefcase.

I used the three point lighting (I recently bought a set of ReadHead Lamps (2400W)) and I am satisfied with the results. I played more with lighting in a shot where the figure is running away. I wanted to produce here some figure shadows projected on floor and walls. The sound when the man is shouting to the "thief" was recorded separately. I played with color of the shots to be more blue because the original tone was a little bit more orange.





I also learnt that the PC monitor produce enough light to be used as fill or modeling light for the figure within the scene.

Atmosphere: Somebody is looking

I wanted to produce an atmosphere of tension. A feeling that somebody is hiding and watching another man. I love the three point lighting, it really works and looks great. I like the sound of paper here. I think I could add a sound which attracted the attention of the reader and maybe he can could say "is anybody there?". Also, a point of view of the reader towards the hiding man should enhance the feel of space.

Exercise Listening

In the attic

- the clock ticking

- textile cracking (as I was moving)

- my breathing

- a sound of car outside in distance

- a radio in kitchen

Outside in garden

- singing birds

- continual noise of town

- barking dog in distance

- car tooted

- cat mewing

- acceleration sound of car

- sounds from neighborhoods (glass clinking)

- kids in distance

Exercise Atmosphere:

This week we had foggy weather here. I shot some dramatic atmosphere in the wood.

Alone in the wood

A walk with dogs

Exercise Atmosphere

After I saw Vertigo I have changed the atmosphere of one sequence I have already made.

Exercise Atmosphere

As second I wanted a romantically atmosphere. I was curious if I can build it only by candles. The main problem is the sensitiveness of my camera which is not good to record those dark scenes. Anyway the result was not bad even I think the sequence could be more light and full of more flashing lights from candles. I changed here a little bit the colouring adding a little bit of yellow.

As first I wanted to make an atmosphere of mystery. My intention was to use only one source of light. I put the scene close to wall to produce some shadows on the wall to support scariness. I did not record the sound and I think it is the missing element which is expected here and somehow the silence spoiled the sequence. I added here the green colour here to support the feeling of deprese.

-

Exercise: Reflected light

I have made a trial with a white sheet A4, perforated aluminised plate on grill, metal plate and a table from IKEA as reflectors of a side light. The white paper did not work well due to its size which was small. When I used the table the affect of reflected light was greater. The surface of table was 50x50 cm. The grill plate disappointed me, I thought it should have reflect interesting lightning but the light was too much distracted. The metal plate reflect more concentrated light and especially in combination with the ship it reminds me a flashy light reflected from water.  I changed the object because the reflected light on the black figure was absorbed and the impact less visible.

I have bought a small camera GOPRO HERO2 which is usually used to capture sport events by fitting it on a helmet, car, bicycle etc. It has options for 170° fish lens , 120° and third zoom mode. I wanted to make an experiment with it and I put it on a small cart (cart used below flowerpot) and make some trucking and moving.

The same as above I used my HDV Camera. In both examples I like the moving around the object. When the camera is close to the ship and is moving from left to right it looks like the ship is moving instead the camera. 

Exercise: Images with depth

I have photographed these pictures recently and I thought they are suitable for this exercise.

The first picture is taken at sunrise. The depth is build by shapes of trees and saturation of colours which both decrease with the distance. The foreground is framed by tree on both sides and the lightning at sunrises make the wood more plastic. All my pictures shot after a short time of sunrise were flat without the plasticity as is in this picture. The morning fog helps here to make the impression of aloneness, mystery, maybe wonderland but also danger and uncomfortable situation. All my tries to take pictures were too flat compared with this morning scenery. The morning sun lightning and fog turned "the flat" into image with depth by contrasts between shadows and lighting also.

The second image should have been a dynamic image taken from a truck. My friend invited me to take some pictures from new construction of highway tunnels. So I thought it could be good to make some great pictures. I made some images but it was noon so the sun light over our heads was too sharp and all pictures outside were flat. However, I have been taken some images in the tunnel and there the lightning was completely different.  The tunnel separates the sun lightning in foreground and background and by this is created the depth. The depth is make by the shape of the tunnel (the diminishing circles on its surface).  The blurred foreground supports the dynamic of the truck, I think.

The third picture. The depth here is mainly build with the perspective lines of pillars, lamps, widows. The wide lens here make the space much bigger than it is in reality.  

Exercise: Creating depth with lighting

I like these three pictures. I used three sources of light and not used all of them in these pictures. The first one I like because the space is lighted by all of the sources and we see all the space through  wide lens and the space look warm, friendly. I like the cleanliness within the space. There are few things we can read them very quickly. In the second picture I let on a light from back room to just lighting through a door open on half way. I like the dreamy to horror feeling. The depth is build by reflections of light on surfaces of the things in the room. In the third picture I zoomed and focused a sphere in foreground to create depth with blurred background. I like the mystery in the image, a sphere, a couchette, what will happen in future?

I like Margaret's photographs, I like the second picture http://oca-filmprod.blogspot.cz/2011/11/space-creating-space-by-layers-of.html Again the feeling of mystery and the composition is great. Some question crossing my mind, the curtain is hiding something?, who is sitting in these chairs? The depth of the room is nicely achieve by those lamps with interesting shapes. Hmmm. Also the reflection in the pictures hanging on wall are interesting. I really like it.

Other:

Exercise: spaces, my comments

I think it is easier to find an oppressive, cluttered space than an open space containing one intriguing item. When I have made the pictures in the wood I thought it is easy, but looking on them in computer I can see how flat they are and it was the reason I put there some photographs during  reconstruction of roof. They are much better and I think it is the light / composition which make the picture more interesting.  I had problems to isolate a thing and hence made a space with one intriguing item was hard.

I remember that I have read that filmmakers work in studios just for the reason they can control the mise-en-scene and this exercises is about a control of it.

Exercise: Spaces

An oppressive, cluttered space:

I took a walk with my dogs to my favorite place in a wood around my house.

and here are some choices from my photographs library:

An open, honest, simple space containing one intriguing item:

18.09.12: Today I walked  out and photographed open spaces. 

A stark, empty hostile space
I used my iPhone and photographed a celler

A warm, friendly, cosy space

An alcoholic - objective shots - changes

I made the changes which I mentioned. I changed the camera angle when the actor is looking on the bottle, I filmed new detail of the bottle where I focused on lower depth of field and new shot with unscrewing the bottle to replace the blink of eye from previous version. I noticed how the shots are different in brightness, contrast and saturation due to different light conditions yesterday and today. I had to corrected them to reach a similarity between the shots.  I think the sequence is enhanced now and I am much happy with it.