For task 2 on VFX cultures, I had to talk about cinematography and compositional elements. I did this by doing research and evaluations. Furthermore, this is based on my interpretations with the assistance of research.
The process into creating the video
Having opened up Adobe Premiere Pro. I grabbed all of my movies clips and recordings that were needed to create the sequence. I muted the A-1 channel in which you could hear the movie clips. For screengrabs, I grabbed a single frame of video and created the techniques that I mentioned in the essay.
Without further ado, here is the video!
If the video player doesn't work try the YouTube link instead.
Update: I made another version of this video. The reason why I decided to go back to this task is that I wanted to get merit and it just so turns out when I received the submission, I was one mark away from meeting the criteria to get to merit in Unit 17. So I came back to this task, added the communitive responses in the script, recorded the script once again, edited the video, and then re-uploaded that video to YouTube.
Here is the final version of the video:
The Script of the video:
There are many possibilities to film the same scene in cinematography with compositional elements. The decisions are based on the directors’ experience based on what the director wants the audience to see. Knowing what shot composition is and how to utilize the shots are key to visual storytelling. Shot composition is more than organizing scene elements in a single camera frame. It is an art that fuses elements together to advance the story, reveal character, and creating emotion around the frame.
Acknowledging rules of shot composition, cinematography, and compositional elements are key requirements to present visuals and video footage.
Before we start off, I will go over the definition of cinematography and compositional elements.
Cinematography
Definition of cinematography: An extract taken from dictionary.com cinematography defines “the art or technique of video photography, traditionally used in movies, but also in the production of TV shows and other video content:” furthermore, it comes down to the immersion, atmosphere and feel of video production. In other words, “the artistic vision, tone, look, and feel of a video production:” (Definition of cinematography | Dictionary.com, 2012)
Compositional elements
Definition of compositional elements: Composition gathers elements and combines them altogether into one composition. In cinematography context, this means elements such as lighting, rule of thirds and balance and symmetry use focus, emotion, atmosphere to grab the audience’s attention in a scene.
The process for composition
The first question you should always take into consideration is by asking yourself, "what am I attempting to envision these images in my head?”
Rules of composition
“The first question you should always take into consideration is by asking yourself, “what am I attempting to envision these images in my head?”
What feeling, theme, messages or experience will I need to produce to make my point genuine and beneficial?
“Once we have gathered the essential contexts, we can utilize shot composition to arrange all of the scene elements we’ve created in the greatest possible way to drive our intentions towards home.” (Maio, n.d.)
In shot compositions, you need to present these ideas and grab the audience’s attention by using composition elements by grabbing the audience’s attention by giving a sense of immersion, the mood, character and atmosphere of the shot. For example, if the scene is at night, the shots lighting would be natural, dark. Creating this scene is often unnerving or maybe it could be a calming emotion. It may cause anxiety and tension within a scene at night. The mood and atmosphere can represent and reflect the character and shot of the scene.
Although (in some situations) the lasting engagement can be difficult when a film deals with distant and unsympathetic characters (Complicated protagonists such as anti-heroes) need framing and composition techniques and elements to try and be relatable to a satisfactory degree that the audience sticks around.
When trying to create an ideal piece of shot composition for your work, a camera person needs to take in compositing elements. Rule of thirds is useful for balance, symmetry responds to humans effectively, symmetry is ideal for focus enhancements, leading lines uses focus and certain lines in shots grabs the viewers’ attention, sometimes, certain objects in frame can shift the audiences focus somewhere else rather than the director's intentional focus so it’s best to avoid that scenario.
The communication intentions used for this scene is to create a sense of tension to the viewer by keeping them at the edge of their seat. (no pun intended). In car chase scenes, they tend to keep the viewers focus by maintaining the intensity. Specifically, police car chase scenes, they cause anxiety. The overall intentions for car chase scenes are to grab the viewers’ attention whilst maintaining the tensions within the shot for the use of cinematography. Tracking shots are important in cinematography for car chase scenes.
Baby Driver has shots that consist of rule of thirds, film blocking, balance and symmetry, eye-level framing (close-up shots showing the character's eyes), tracking (following the car movements on camera).
Conclusion
Overall compositing elements of cinematography helps create the scene you are envisioning when producing shots. Furthermore, compositing elements can help strengthen the shots of the scene itself. Baby Driver utilises the compositing elements towards the immersion, character, charm and tensions of the scenes, engaging the audience.
Update: I wanted to achieve the merit mark. I was one merit mark away from this unit. I wanted to keep my intentions in place by making sure I get merit on every unit this year.
Bibliography
Maio, A., n.d. Empathizing An Anti-Hero With Shot Composition. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: <https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/rules-of-shot-composition-in-film/#1-the-rules-of-shot-composition> [Accessed 10 November 2020].
www.dictionary.com. 2012. Definition Of Cinematography | Dictionary.Com. [online] Available at: <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cinematography> [Accessed 6 November 2020].
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