Nighthawks and a composed alienation

Nighthawks and Alienation:

Edward Hopper with film theorists, Baudry and MacCabe (Connection with film and John Martins work, Manfred and the Alpine Witch

Hopper’s paintings can be interpreted to take the aesthetics of storyboards or comic panels through the structure of the composition, especially through the use of the perspective and colour. As Hopper was a realist, he devoted his works to capturing the interior of everyday life to depict the truth of the human condition, making the figures in his paintings seem alienated.  In his piece Nighthawks [Fig 1], the audience perceive a diner with barely any customers and the corresponding street behind fading into the darkness of the night. The use of the vertical beams in the window matched with the horizontal path of the street behind it draws the attention of the viewer to peer into the café’s window. Once again the viewer has become the foreground, through the use of the bright artificial light and the size of the window panes; it makes the spectator feel as if they are watching the people in the café from outside.  However this time the sense of perspective differs to that of Martin’s. This perspective is closer, making the composition more personal and instead of the audience feeling pity for the characters, the audience begin to feel emotions for themselves. It is the spectator that senses this form of isolation and questions why they aren’t in the warmth of the diner.  The level of framing is level to that of an eye line further implying that the spectator is part of the painting. This is something that Martin’s painting has lost; the level of framing was on a higher scale, giving the spectator a sense of judgement on the spectator. This does work for Martin’s painting as it allows the spectator to decide whether they should feel pity or disgust for Manfred’s plead in forgiveness.  Martin allows the audience to have the right to condemn their own sense of judgment on Manfred.

Hopper wanted to paint the truth and for the spectator to see the truth. This sense of truth and reality differs to that of Baudry’s thesis, even though this can still be argued to be a representation of reality, Hopper wants the spectator to perceive the truth for themselves.  Compared to Baudry, MacCabe argues that reality is what you perceive; the audience form the truth through the contents of the image and the spectator can only piece together the truth from the information given to them.

“The unquestioned nature of the narrative discourse entails that the only problem that reality poses is to go and look and see what things are. The relationship between the reading subject and the real is placed as one of pure specularity. The real is not articulated- it is.” (MacCabe. Rushton, R & Bettinson, G (2010) P.57)

Therefore MacCabe interprets the image to be the reality whereas Baudry argues that the information given is a mere representation of what is reality. Baudry believes that the spectator’s situation resembles that of a dream like experience; we engage with the piece and believe the impression of reality that is woven into the composition. In this dream like state the spectator cannot do anything but absorb the information given, the only awareness that we have is what is in front of the audience.  MacCabe perceives the truth of the painting alone, the form of the characters, the narrative discourse and the structure of the environment to tell this truth; this form of truth is what Hopper paints. (Rushton, R & Bettinson, G (2010) P.57 -58)

The whole composition seems to be masking something from the untrained eye, something that is being veiled by the people in the café. This attraction to the café with the use of perspective and light stops the spectator from seeing what is truly in this painting; the possible truth. If we gaze into the darkness of the street behind this café, we perceive a sense of alienation, the form of being desolate and alone, purely from the shapes used such as the dark elongated windows.  It can be suggested that the street is a representation of the mundane routine, almost a sense of Deja Vu as the people in the café continue the same routine.  This sense of emptiness can be regarded towards the use of Deep Space in which the composition uses space to emphasise the distance between objects and characters and any possible obstacles that are between the relationship of the painting and the spectator. The space in Hopper’s piece is separated, the left side being desolate and void of life with the right containing light and people conversing inside the diner.  This sense of space makes the figures seem detached; they are unaware of the world outside as they are too engrossed within their own personal worlds.

Without the use of the reflection on the windows the painting seems to absorb a sense of interference. It makes the outside world daunting and foreboding with the use of the darkness waiting patiently on the other side of the glass pane. If the reflection had been included the use of the dark theme of a shady occurrence in the background would be lost. This can be interpreted that this is exactly why Hopper has not included the reflections, to create this odd sense of perception.

[Fig 1] Nighthawks Edward Hopper 1942

COP3 Story 101 mini workshop

Through this workshop I was refreshed with the structure of a story and archetypes that go along with them. We first went through the main classical story structures such as the Aristotelian Dramatic Arc and the Freytay Pyramid. I learnt alot about the 3 act structure, when I was researching myself I came across the The Neurotic's Road Trip, it didn't really click for me about dividing the structure up into three main parts. I already knew quite abit on the Hero's journey however I hadn't come across the Hero's inner journey or Carl Jung's Archetypes. Both of these concepts are more concerned about the psychological traits of the character as well as the ego. I found these concepts interesting and will be applying them to my character designs, using these as a basis will allow me to create characters that will feel more fulfilled, a strong character. In order to inform my practical work, I needed to know whether I had to make a script or a premise would be enough. As my story line didn't involve any dialogue the use of a script seemed irrelevant compared to a premise. Having a premise would allow me to be descriptive and aid my storyboarding work. At the end of this workshop I was able to be confident with my decision of only having a premise.

COP3 Silent Crit - Show and Tell Practical

This crit was quite different compared to the previous ones where we would stand up and present our work. I quite liked how informal it was and it actually gave people time to absorb and give feedback on the work that we had done. I would like to do more of these crits as personally I felt I got alot more good feedback compared to the presentation crits.

My feedback was very informative, for example showing the different boards in comparison with each shot would be a fantastic way to show the differences between each method used. I believe this will work better when experimenting with media as well; an easier form of visual analysis. Another piece of feedback suggest to look into theory that surrounds cartoons driven by storyboards, much like Adventure Time. However I think this would be a good topic to research further in PPP module as this slightly goes off topic towards my dissertation.

Unfortunately, the main problem was that the storyboards were quite small, I did make each page A3 but with it being on a small screen, it was small. I wanted a little bit of text on the same page of the storyboard just to note what I am doing. For example 'I am creating a perspective board', I didn't want to have to describe each row of shots as visually my storyboards should portray this.

COP3 Practical - Storytelling through post it notes - Consideration of perspective

Using the content of my Premise, I began to sketch out the main key points of the story line on post it notes. I used post it notes as a quick form of storytelling, I wanted to focus on creating a coherent and engaging 'storyboard' rather than focusing on the visuals and perspective straight from the first step.  I quite enjoyed sketching quick visuals and moving the post it notes around to create a refined piece of storytelling for both of the main perspectives that I wanted to make for my practical outcome; flat perspective and perspective, to then be merged into one refined perspective.

With the first set of post it notes I focused only on the key frames of the story, it was actually quite difficult narrowing this down as I could visualise so many parts of the story and automatically drew these down; even in this early stage I was already subtracting parts of the story to get to the basic core of the storytelling [Fig 1]. I first drew only two post it notes, the beginning and the ending, the setting and the reward. Doing this allowed me to add key frames inbetween which helped me to narrow down the story to its core.

From this storyboard I began adding perspective to enhance the storytelling, giving the story that anticipation. [Fig 2] I found this quite difficult, I had keep referring to the premise and slightly changing it visually to absorb the anticipation that I wanted the storytelling to have. I added basic power angles and canted shots to create that tension of this shack that the characters enter, being unknown to both the spectator and the characters. I want the spectators to learn about the surroundings as the characters do therefore I can begin to add theories that I have researched in my dissertation into my practical. A prime theory to add throughout is Narrative Retardation, the process of purposely refusing the spectator information on what is happening in the scene, the spectator has to piece this information together themselves. Although this might be more suitable for an older audience, I want to add this theory into one of the boards, most likely the perspective board as it will enhance the theory, as it gives the piece more anticipation and tension. The only part of this board that I wasn't entirely comfortable with was the birds eye perspective of the Shadow character moving through both sides of the aisles. I liked this inclusion but I didn't think it was suitable for the perspective board, it was better suited for the flat perspective with the framing of the shot being so linear.

Fig 1. The Main Key Points - A focus on storytelling

Fig 2. Adding perspective to enhance the storytelling

The flat perspective board was the most difficult one for me to create, it took me awhile considering what shots would make the storytelling interesting even though the shots would be flat [Fig 3]. I watched a few examples of flat perspectives in cartoons, Teen Titans GO! and Be Cool Scooby Doo! which helped me to generate ideas to make the storytelling more visually appealing. Even though both of these shows add quite alot of medium shots of the characters talking, I can still use this as an influence towards my work. I decided not to add the linear framing post it notes from the previous board, as I felt that this scene held too much content and took away from the anticipation/main point of the story. I did however add an extra scene into this board compared to the previous ones. Once the characters reach the chest at the end of the aisle, the Hero goes to open the chest but with a thunderous cry, lightening strikes and a close up of a figures face fills the screen - from this the Hero jumps into the Shadows arms, but with the Shadow being a shadow, the Hero falls through the Shadows body. The figure then slams the chest shut and points to his left, the characters follow the direction to see a counter in the background - as they turn back to look at the figure, they notice that the figure has disappeared. They decide to towards the counter to see what the figure wanted them to see. I quite liked this inclusion, it gave a bit of tension and mystery to the plot with the use of a fake chest and a hooded figure that appears and disappears before the screen.

Fig 3. Adding a flat perspective to enhance the storytelling

 Merging both of the perspective boards was quite fun, I enjoyed picking the best of the best from each board and calculating which perspective would work with which. Additionally I included new post it notes to make the storytelling flow smoother. When I took a step back from this board, I found that something didn't work, the story was too long. This was mainly in the ending segment of the board, I felt there were too many shots of the main characters and the revealing of the chest took too long, it lost that anticipation.

Fig 4. Merging both flat perspective and perspective Part 1

Fig 5. Merging both flat perspective and perspective Part 2

The refined merged storyboard took me the longest to complete, I added quite a few more post it notes that replaced almost a row of previous post it notes. I wanted the story to be simple and the inclusion of the characters walking all the way round the aisles took too long to get to the main story. I wanted the refined merged board of perspectives to hold the main storytelling, so when I go back to the singular perspectives I have reference for the best storytelling. Personally it does feel that doing this method feels almost a backwards way of tackling the outcomes but through consideration I found that this process will eliminate the majority of problems; such as the storytelling being the same outcome, the audience and what perspectives are needed where.

Fig 6. Refining merged perspectives Part 1

Fig 7. Refining merged perspectives Part 2

COP3 Tutorial 11/11/15 notes

Notes:

After submitting the first draft of the dissertation this tutorial focused on the structure and examples in my work so far. 

Look at Vermeer iconic painting, Girl with the Pearl Earring - consider how this can help you with your analysis or an artist who has the same approach to composition. The composition in Vermeer's piece is simple yet effective, a portraiture of a woman at a medium/full close shot, with deep shades in the colour palette being attacked with black. See if there are other examples that would help you with more depths of space - Look into the Pre-Raphaelite era for inspiration?

Vermeer, Girl with the Pearl Earring (1665)

Chapter 1 - Giving the reader a grounding of what you are exploring in first paragraph, so a mini intro paragraph, 'in this chapter the analysis of.....' etc. Also have a concluding paragraph at the end of each chapter, good practice. Summarising and concluding. 

Pudovkin - Sequential Art - how does his experiment connect? this can aid the storyboard examples. 

The book Art and Illusion will help with ideas on tackling the impossible lens and generate more ideas on examining examples.

Chapter structure:

Make sure your introduction states the theorist, artists and key texts that have influenced you throughout the methodology. 

Move the Editing chapter from being second to first, this is to make the flow of the text more simple and easy to read, giving examples of theories to then apply to following chapters. Link storyboard examples to second chapter, how the painters influence the storyboard composition. 

Move synthesis to conclusion chapter, Synthesis is concluding what you have taken from your research and how you have applied it. 

Practical: 

Can you reference paintings you have researching into your panels? absorb the structure of the primary planes and awareness of space. 

Ensure that the thumbnails are redrawn. 

COP3 Dissertation: Composition with Rembrandt, and contemporary theorists MacCabe and Baudry

The Renaissance era was a revolution for the art discipline, especially the painting aspects and pioneering techniques that followed.  Within the Renaissance era, Rembrandt was a key figure with his expressive and innovative approach to paintings and other processes. The composition in his pieces leads the spectator’s eye through the painting to the main subject within the art.  This form of manipulation towards the eye’s perception can be depicted through the Mise-en-Scène of the composition. Mise-en-Scene is normally used within film, a term portraying how a shot is composed, however the same composition values can apply to other disciplines; it is all about how the scene is woven. Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee (1633) [fig.1] depicts a sail boat ravaged by bursts of waves, the crew clinging onto the sails and boat to avoid going overboard. The blinding wisps of the waves draw the attention of the viewer to gaze at the crew almost being swept away by the sheer power of the water. From this perception we see what Rembrandt wants the viewer to see.  He wants the spectator to see how ferocious nature is, how cruel the waves can be. As the spectator glances towards the darker part of the ship, the rest of the crew appear to be less affected by this crash of the wave and we can see one crew member looking towards the audience. This use of Off Screen Space feeds the spectator information relating to something outside of the painted range of the composition. It can even be interpreted that this figure is aware of the spectator and the painter.  Off Screen Space is a creative way to convey information to the spectator and this awareness connects strongly to Baudry’s Screen Mirror theory, where the image provides a representation of reality rather than reality itself. With this representation the image creates real conditions of reality within an imaginary portrayal. This interpretation of perception can suggest that the composition that Rembrandt has created is a story he has twisted into his own version of reality. The actual components within the painting conclude that the painter was not present when this moment in time occurred. Logically it would be psychically impossible for Rembrandt to have painted this scene, unless it was a scene that he painted from a story.

“The unquestioned nature of the narrative discourse entails that the only problem that reality poses is to go and look and see what things are. The relationship between the reading subject and the real is placed as one of pure specularity. The real is not articulated- it is.” (Rushton, R & Bettinson, G (2010) P.57)

MacCabe argues that reality is what you perceive; the audience form the truth through the contents of the image. The spectator can only piece together the truth from the information given to them. Therefore MacCabe interprets this to be the reality whereas Baudry argues that the information given is a mere representation of what is reality. Both Theorist are contemporary theorist’s whom dwell within Film Theory however the analysis of the scene, the image with in the shot applies to other disciplines as well; paintings are but one image, they are motionless but could just as easily be transferred to motion.

[Fig 1] The Storm of Galilee

COP3 Practical - Final Premise and/or a Script?

In order to write my script/premise I looked at the previous developments that I had made to refine further. I wanted to make a script however as my story had no dialogue, I found it difficult considering how to change the format of the script to work for my own plot. I researched into two writers that both had different outlooks on writing a premise and a script. Kieron Gillen is a comic writer for Marvel known for his work on Young Avengers and The Wicked + The Divine, even though he writes for comics and not for film/animation, I found his format of writing to be quite inspiring. He uses a key format for each page of panels has its own code for the composition structure. For example:

X = A panel
O = Panel merged with the one next to it
Number = the number of the panel

XX
OO } would be a six panel grid with the last 2 rows being merged
OO

XX
22   } would be a six panel grid with the second row having their own individual panels
OO

I quite liked his format of writing as he noted both the dialogue, the cinematography and the mise - en - scene of the panels. I felt that this format would be quite helpful for my storyboards as it would describe the shot in each frame well, becoming more beneficial than a regular script which depends on dialogue. However comparing Mike Dimartino's, writer from Legend of Korra and Avatar: Legend of Aang, I quite liked how he wrote the premise for the episodes, almost writing them as if it is a chapter from a book. I thought that this would be a more logical approach to creating a form of script for my storyboards as it would apply to both of the boards that I want to create. I also think going to much into cinematography into a script/premise wouldn't be ideal through how the development of the post it notes to thumbnails to beat boards and a rough storyboards, the composition could change and wouldn't work with the premise/script. I want the premise or script to be able to describe the main plot with the characters and the surroundings rather than the look of the frames at this early stage of the process.

Example of  how Gillen writes a script

Dimartino Premise Example

Final Premise (Perspective)

Plot Line:
The Hero and Shadow travel to obtain a rare item from a merchant in a desolate location (shack).
CHARACTERS: Hero, Shadow and Merchant.

Summary:

The clouds crumble as lightning strikes behind a shack surrounded in trees.  Canted angle of the shack as the lightning casts the shack in temporary darkness, the light from the window being the only light source differentiating the shack and its shadow.  Long shot of the shack as the sky lights up, showing the top of the Hero’s and Shadows head.  High angle shot as the Hero and Shadow walk towards the shack, a crow lands on the roof.  Characters look up as the crow caws; zoom into the crow’s eye as lightning strikes again.

BAM

Canted shot as Hero pushes open the heavy oak doors, being silhouettes at first as the lightning strikes behind them. Long shot as Hero and Shadow peer in and look around before stepping foot into the building.  The shack is old and creaky, vintage and aged items are placed everywhere on rows and rows of cabinets. Rain leaks from the roof, the only light source coming from candles and torches on the walls. Med shot as they peer down each aisle of cabinets, they both notice a chest at the end of one of the rows, light emitting from it draws their attention. Med shot as Hero walks past a shelf full of various vials and beakers, as the Hero walks past these his face is distorted slightly. Shadow follows path pulling various faces as he passes the vials.  Cut to a bird’s eye view of the aisle they are walking down, Shadow fazes through both sides of the aisle and floats towards the viewer with a skull on his face (close up).

KRAAAK

Lightning strikes again as they reach the chest that grabbed their attention. The Hero slowly opens the chest; more light is emitted from the chest as the lid is opened. As they are about to peer into the chest again, lightning strikes and a hooded face appears before them. Close up of Hero’s and shadows face as they scream, look at each other and zoom out to a long shot as the Hero falls through the shadow onto the floor. Cut back to the hooded figure, the merchant, med shot as he closes the chest and points to his right. Hero and Shadow follow the direction and look back to see the hooded figure has disappeared.

They walk in the direction that the figure had pointed to, to see a counter with the hooded man standing behind it. As they approach the counter the hooded man points to a chest on a glass cabinet. Hero’s wait in anticipation as the chest is lowered and placed in front of them. Merchant opens the chest slowly, cut between Hero’s faces and a closer shot of the chest multiple times until the chest is opened, cut to an extreme close up of the contents of the chest – Rubber Duck – QUACK – reaction shots of the Hero and Shadow, both flabbergasted.  Shadow laughs and plays with the duck before eating it, whilst Hero looks distraught. 

COP3 Practical - Premises for a story

Through the use of the mind-map I created to brainstorm different ideas for a simple and short plot, it helped me to decide what type of story I would be going with. I had to ensure that the story would be suitable for the target audience that the extended concept would be aimed for, a older child audience much like Over the Garden Wall and Ben 10. Whilst ensuring that each of the mind-map points would be suitable for this audience, I was able to note what fight scenes, how 'dark' and how 'happy' each idea could contain. From this mind map I deduced that I would only use the two main characters to ensure that I didn't focus on a dialogue based script and storyboard, the main reward of the story line being a rare item/treasure, and the inclusion of one other character to either be the merchant or/and the villain.

From these points, I came up with three main plot synopsis's;

+ Going to get an item from a merchant: travel to a desolate looking location, cave, island, shack, or a lighthouse - merchant would be creepy and old - go to collect a rare item that is hidden in a chest - the ending could be - merchant turns out to be a monster instead and the reward is that they collect his bounty - the chest is empty or an item that is silly, such as a rubber duck, or the chest does contain a rare item but it is booby trapped and they have to escape the location Indiana Jones style.
+ Going to get an item to sell from a bounty - Start with the two main characters reading a wanted poster - travel to location, could be a dungeon or a cave, somewhere that is ominous - As they enter this location they see a colossal and terrifying shadow - turns out to be a tiny and cute monster.
+ Going to get an item to sell from treasure hunting/ a villain - Travel to a new town/village - the village has been taken over by a villain who has hoarded all the treasure - Hero takes it upon himself to save the villagers... as well as keep a souvenir - fights the villain - Hero soon deducts that the villain is too powerful for him to defeat, so sets up traps to weaken him - sets an explosive, grabs rare items and jumps out of the window - "That went well" entire castle blows up - villagers cheer.

I then began to quickly write out these ideas with more refined concepts and inclusion of shots. I really enjoyed writing these points down and using different shots and methods of lighting to change the atmosphere of the scene. With the first premise I wrote, From a Merchant, I wrote in bullet points describing the scene, shot and characters, whereas the rest of the premises I both bullet pointed and wrote more refined descriptions with the dialogue. I found that I preferred the first story premise that I wrote, this premise didn't rely on dialogue compared to the rest of them, as well as the location and the use of characters worked more successfully than the rest of the story lines. I did however like the treasure hunting premise, I enjoyed thinking of different situations that the characters could have found themselves in, however in order to create something substantial with the character interaction, I added the other two companions which would have made it dialogue heavy. 

From a Merchant

From Treasure hunting

From treasure hunting part 2

From a villain

COP3 Practical - Using the concept from extended

After discussing my Practical Outcome with Annabeth in the latest tutorial, I changed my practical dramatically, as briefly noted in the More Refinements Blog Post.

Practical Concept:

Using the characters and backgrounds from my Extended Project, I would be creating a new episodic premise that the two main characters would undertake. With this story I would be creating two main storyboards that differ in composition, mainly perspective and media, alongside with tons of development work.

Development work and Action Plan list:

• Creating a Premise and Script
• Create an extremely rough storyboard using post it notes to get the storytelling correct
• Using different scenes from different films, screenshot different cinematography used in scenes and draw over. 
• From the post it notes creating one set of thumbnails using cinematography and the other being more flat and linear
• Create a model of the exterior and interior backgrounds, from this take photography of the cinematography that I want in the storyboards
• Beat-boards using refined cinematography and the other using flat perspective
• Another set of beat boards using different media
• Another set of beat boards that use influences from gestalt and narrative retardation
• Another set of beat boards that use influences from 'screen mirror' and formalist views - think of the story from a unique perspective, the use of the impossible lens?
• From the best use of media and theories, create both sets of final storyboards
• From these storyboards create an animatic with the most impression on the viewer

So far I have visualised this for both sets of boards and for the previs:

Storyboard 1: This storyboard would contain power angles, dynamic perspectives, interesting cinematography - deep focus, shallow focus etc - use of the golden spiral, etc

Storyboard 2: This storyboard would contain flat perspectives, linear composure of the scene, gestalt views.

Previs: Using the first storyboard set with the most perspective, I would create a animatic that will show the use of cinematography in action. I would be adding some animation to it to show the general movement of the scenes as well as some colour or grey tones to add depth to the frames.

Brief Description of Extended Project ( Main characters and Backgrounds):

Main character, the Hero, is a traveling merchant that sells and collects wares from bounties and other merchants. One day he buys an item from a merchant, an eerie looking pendant, that the Hero believes will be worth a lot of money. Unbeknownst to him the merchant was a spirit from the otherside, selling him a cursed pendant that he can never get rid of... and to make matters worse the pendant has a spirit attached to it, bringing him worse luck. This attached spirit takes the form of a shadow and can shapeshift, disappear and possess but only with certain people, this shadow can never possess the main character. The shadow and the Hero are stuck together until they can find a way to get rid of the curse. 

Using the Extended project concept, I made a mind map considering simple episodic plot lines that would not require alot or no dialogue. I wanted the storyboards to visually talk for themselves, this would make me depend on the composition to tell the story to the spectator. I quite liked the idea of either, fighting a villain, treasure hunting or visiting a merchant to buy a rare item. These themes would work well without any dialogue or with the use of a few sentences; don't want the storyboards to be dialogue heavy. I need to take these ideas further into a draft premise to be able to decide which would be the best to use for my practical outcome. 

COP3 Triangulation of Theories

Write 500 words towards your Triangulation of Theories

Dissertation Title (place holder): Manipulating the Scene: Creating a calculated impression for the audience through cinematography and editing in storyboards. 

A key role in the manipulation of the frame is the movement of the camera. Through Cinematography we can identify which shot to use to create a certain atmosphere. For example a canted shot would be used to show danger and would most likely be used to tell the viewer that an action is about to happen. Cinematography is further emphasised through the use of Mise – en – scène, the staging of the scene. The backgrounds and costumes of the actors visually tell the audience, where the story is set, through both location and time period. The use of the costume gives a first impression to the viewer with the personality and the location emphasises this fact further. Expanding on the previous example, if the foreground contained a knife gripped in a characters hand, and the character in the background centre of the canted shot was slightly out of focus, lighting directly behind, the audience know an action will occur; the audience automatically piece together the interaction that will happen between the two characters in the frame. The use of the background lighting creates an impression of innocence to the unsuspecting background character and the use of the foreground characters appearance being cut down to their hand, manipulates the viewer to perceive a murderous intent. (Van Sijll, J. (2005) Cinematic Storytelling: The 100 Most Powerful Film Conventions Every Filmmaker Must Know. Seattle: Michael Wiese Productions) (collegefilmandmediastudies.com) This use of cinematography and Mise – en – scène connects with Narrative Retardation, the use of only allowing the audience to absorb so much information. This can be further combined with Meir Sternberg’s suspense theory. Sternberg goes on to describe how when information is withheld from the viewer, the audience think back to past actions to make sense with the action that is happening in the current scene. This sets a sense of foreboding for the audience once past actions begin to link with current ones. (Bordwell, D. (1985) Narration in the Fiction Film. London and New York: Routledge)

The use of editing significantly aids the persuasion of the shot, it is interpreted that some atmospheres can only be portrayed through precise timing of cuts and inclusion of shots that entwine with a completely different scene. V.I Pudovkin created an experiment that involved a still shot of an actor with a neutral expression sliced in between shots of three different items, a bowl of soup, a coffin containing a dead woman and a little girl playing with a toy. This experiment was used to see what perception that the audience would have created from this montage, what emotion they feel from the actor; whether this neutral atmosphere would transfer back to the viewer or change entirely. Interesting the feedback from the audience found the shot with the bowl of soup to rely the message of hunger, the coffin to show a sad man and the third to show a joyful adult. This experiment shows exactly how the power of the composition can manipulate the audience to create a certain impression, how our mind connects certain traits between the items and the actor shown. (Dancyger, K. (2006) The Technique of Film and Video Editing: History, Theory and Practice. 4th Ed. Oxford: Focal Press.) 

An example of precise cuts can be seen in Hitchcock’s Psycho storyboards. The iconic shower scene shows cuts from the intruder to Marion Crane as the knife lowers down. The use of Narrative Retardation aids the visual storytelling of the scene as the close up shots of both characters engage the viewer, it makes the viewer feel part of that moment through being so up close with the victim. It can be interpreted that the use of Realism and Classicism can be seen through the positioning of the camera and the storytelling that takes place. Hitchcock creates this story using characters and locations that are purposely made to seem realistic, all for the purpose of visually communicating to the audience that the murders have actually taken place. Classicism is shown through the amount of close up shots that the audience perceive through the shower scene, as the knife draws closer and the cuts grow more rapid to Marion, the audience feel the panic and sheer terror that she does, it makes the audience empathetic towards her.  (http://ehhsfilmhistory.blogspot.co.uk/p/realism-formalism-and-classicism.html) (Halligan, F. (2013) The Art of Movie Storyboards: Visualising the Action of the World's Greatest Films. Film Craft, Lewes: Ilex)

Jean Mitry, a film theorist, used realist and formalist arguments to create a sense of cinema. He used realism to differentiate cinema from other forms of artistic disciplines and used formalism to prove that film was more than just a recording; it could engage with the audience. Umberto Eco challenges this thesis through cinema presentation, he theorized that cinema is a form of language like paintings and morse code, but it would never be able to engage directly with reality. Eco’s argument leans to categorize cinema as a discipline of semiotics, disbanding any sense of reality that Mitry’s thesis argues for; Mitry argues that the use of perception can inform reality to the audience, the camera can capture that sense of truth. 

‘Cinema is just such a human means of representation, despite the adage that “the camera never lies”.’

Theories:

Formalism, Classicism and Realism

Cinematography, Mise – en – scène and Film Editing

Narrative Retardation and Curiosity Hypothesis

Semiotics and Structuralism 

I really enjoyed this exercise, it made me consider and pull together research that I had acquired over the past summer holiday and month. Writing these words made me feel more confident about beginning to write the dissertation. 

COP3 Tutorial 28/10/15

With this tutorial we discussed more about the layout of the composition with the golden spiral and inverse s; how the structure of the shot leads the spectators eyes through the scene, much like the use of a linear or triangular composure. The use of the linear shot, makes the scene daunting, foreboding and the use of a rectangular shot makes it dramatic matched with the use of dark lighting, it can change the atmosphere from something that seemed to be light-hearted into something that is tainted into a dark narrative. Consider the use of my own photography to create the shots I want within my practical as well as find examples of cinematography from different films and drawing over them, to gain a better understanding of the composition. The use of my own photography will help with research as it will be quicker and easier to take a shot than redraw the same shot until I get the shot right.

Research into Joanna Quinn, her animations use the impossible lens, something that animation can do that film cannot. I quite like this idea with the impossible lens, I want to research into more animations that take this further. Research into graphic design pieces to find their sense of balance within compositions, how does this differ etc.

Britannia Joanna Quinn

Golden Spiral = Leading the eye through the composition.

Inverse S = An aesthetic to the shot, uses the cultural reading left to right to lead the spectator through the screen. Link this to semiotics and gestalt.

Rule of Thirds = A basic guideline when filming.

COP3 Practical - considering a story

My initial thoughts on a practical was to make a set of storyboards, each one containing a different theme that would hold different media and perspectives. To link these storyboards together I wanted to use the same story for each of the boards; creating a different atmosphere for the story through the genres, a different perception. I wanted to ensure that I used an original idea, I didn't want to use an existing one as it wouldn't be as beneficial to my work. The main themes I wanted to work with were, Film Noir, Romance and Action. These three themes contrast well against each other with the use of cinematography and style of media, the Film Noir being soaked in black ink, Romance holding soft and pastel tones, and Action full of canted shots and exaggerated perspectives.

Through the original stories that I considered, I felt that the 'Job Interview' idea would be the most suitable through how it could work with each of the themes. It would work with the Film Noir appeal through the use of the office like room, dramatic lighting and use of two characters, could be hiring to get rid of a target etc - work with Romance with the use of the soft light, the use of two characters, love at first sight etc - work with Action through the use of the office room, the use of two characters, could realise that the boss is his arch nemesis and jumps out window to escape etc. Each theme would start with the premise, have the same characters and same dialogue however the only change would be the ending in which each would follow the theme.

My Theme for COP3 - More refinement notes

After my tutorial with Annabeth, I critically went over my proposal for my theme and changed a few parts, giving more influence from storyboards into my essay with more interdisciplinary themes; all about composition.

Instead of beginning with the silent era I will be starting with historical artifacts through interdisciplinary mediums, Camera Obscura, painters within the Renaissance era, Rembrandt, John Martin and John Everett Millais, Photographers within world war 2, Henri Cartier-Bresson with his iconic stairs photograph, Modern painters, Edward Hopper. From this I would then discuss the early stages of film and editing with Pudovkin, Disney being pioneers in storyboarding, Glen Keane, Hitchock storyboards, Psycho and The Birds, Alien storyboards, Spielberg. Theories ranging from, Gestalt, Semiotics, Structuralism, Formalism, Classicism, Realism, Narrative Retardation, 'Screen Mirror', Visual Perception. Also looking into debates from, Mitry, Mitz, Baudry, Eco and MacCabe.
When looking into modern storyboards, talking about industry with influence from the ones that I have visited recently, Arcus and Kilogramme. Look at storyboards as a sequential art leading to the role of a Layout Artist and Previs. This will link well with synthesis chapter. Looking into storyboards that were made into a film/animation - Jodorowsky’s Dune and The Sandman Comic.

My Practical has changed dramatically with the theme, I will still be making storyboards but losing the genre side and focusing on cinematography and editing of the composition. Using my extended practice premise and characters to build from, I will be making a episodic premise and script as the main short plot to the storyboards. There will be two main storyboards:

+ Perspective
+ Flat Perspective

Leading up to these storyboards will be developments using different media, and approaches to perspective, photography of the shots that I want to take using cinematography, creating a model of the exterior and interior of the backgrounds - then taking pictures of this to figure out the best modes of perspective; ultimately how this will influence the audience.

My Theme for COP3 - Proposal form revisited

After researching into my research project in more depth, I realised that my previous premise for my COP3 theme did not leave me much room to talk about composition in storyboards, which was the main part of the module that I wanted to focus on. It was too film based. I focused on restructuring what I would be researching with the knowledge I had gained from researching into film theory I was able to apply a more refined approached to my theme.

For my dissertation I want to expand from my Level 5 essay by narrowing the depth of field down to the persuasion of the shot, how it influences and feeds the viewer an impression of the scene and the characters. This will look into mise en scene, editing and cinematography. I want to start the essay with a very quick summary of how the silent era pioneered film, how without the use of any sound, the manipulation of the shot was undertaken; then looking into the invention of storyboards, pioneered by Walt Disney Studios.

Research into old Disney Storyboards, such as Snow White and The Black Cauldron. Looking into film storyboards, mainly Hitchcock with his iconic work Psycho and possibly The Birds, Indiana Jones and others. I want to apply film theory to storyboards, looking into Formalism, Classicism, Realism and Structuralism, as well as looking into suspense hypothesis. I then want to research into modern animation storyboards, Iron Giant, Over the Garden Wall, Glen Keane's work and Big Hero 6.

With these examples talk about the process, how the boom of technology has aided the development of storyboards, possibly go into animatics and layout artists, talk about the software that is available for storyboard artists. (ToonBoom Storyboard Pro and TV Paint). Also talk about studios that I would have visited for primary sources, looking into the storyboards that they have made, how they persuade the audience with mise en scene, editing, cinematography etc.

For my practical I will be creating 3 sets of storyboards each tainted with a different theme but with the same story. I have narrowed down the themes to, Film Noir, Action and Comedy.

For the storyboards I want to use different media as to effect the composition of the shot, to further emphasise the theme. For example, black ink with a brush and dip pen would work well for the Film Noir theme. I will need to make tests of media before making the storyboards to ensure the media will work with the theme. Rather than use someone else's story for my storyboards, such as Aesop's fables or a nursery rhyme, I want to create something original. I will need to mind map and refine my ideas for a short story further.

Taking the storyboards further, I want to apply these shots to film or an animatic. I am considering an animatic rather than film as it would be more beneficial for my portfolio. For this practical I will need, Character Designs, Beat Boards, Storyboards and an animatic. I would like to use the characters from my Extended Project if possible.

Iron Giant Storyboard example

Over the Garden Wall Storyboard example

My Theme for COP3 - Proposal Form

For my dissertation I want to expand from my Level 5 essay by narrowing the depth of field down to the persuasion of the shot, how it influences and feeds the viewer an impression of the scene and the characters. Looking into cuts, montages the position of the characters, the position of objects in the shot, the angle and perspective. Possibly look further into this with linking some narrative terms like narrative retardation, where information is purposefully kept from the audience ­ how does the use of cuts and perspective of the shot aid this effect?

In order to inform my initial basis for the dissertation, I want to start with the pioneers of both film and animated features, key figures such as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Georges Melies and Winsor Mccay, researching how they made a iconic scene iconic; what techniques they used and how they could be applied to my Practical. Possibly research into the films of Charlie Chaplin as he was quite a pioneer with the use of using the camera for entertainment purposes during the first and second World War.

I not only want to analyse films but animated features as well. This would help me to inform my practice and my knowledge within the dissertation as to how these shots differ from film when applied into animation. Are some of this shots exaggerated with the change of medium? Does the fact that the medium being set in an animated tone change the shot? With researching into animated features as well, I can look into how the advancement of technology has affected this medium as well as film, research into budget ­ how only recently British Animation has been given a bigger budget for production.

For my Practical I want to create a series of storyboards that show the same scene but each with a different genre/theme and shot to change the narration dramatically. In order to inform my practice I will need to use different types of dry and wet media, such as charcoal and ink, or even something tactile to help enhance the narrative visually with the atmosphere of the scene. The main aim is to ensure that the perspective and angle of each frame works with the set genre/theme of the storyboards, using the media to enhance this effect with the use of shadow and lighting will help to emphasise this to the viewer. For example one of the set of storyboards could be themed around Film Noir in which I could use bold lines and fills of black ink to emphasise this effect further. Possibly adding a singular hue, for example red, that would highlight objects in the visuals, drawing the viewers attention. This would link well to some of the sources of Film that I could analyse, for example the film Sin City/The Spirit uses this Film Noir appeal with the use of the colour red being the only hue within the visuals.

Georges Melies A Trip to the Moon 1902

The Spirit