Cinematography
The act of making a film
What is cinematography?
Is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema it is closely related to the art of still photography. Many additional issues arise when both the camera and elements of the scene may be in motion, though this also greatly increases the possibilities at the same time.
Chris Doyle
From watching the Chris Doyle master class I learned various things about cinematography, I realised how lighting and camera work can change the atmosphere so much: you can create ‘space by light’ he also says that you should always be trying to ‘explain a story in your specific space’. Locations can form stories; you can use something in a location to add or to tell your story for example he described to us how he used a location in the film ‘mood of love’ he used a ageing wall which was dull and basically in an alley-like area, this tells the story to some people. The camera plays a big part of the production. ‘Why this story happens is because it happens here’ – that’s how you should create your film, it shouldn’t be a situation where you can create the same film somewhere else, your location should be the home of the film.
Krzysztof Kieslowski like Doyle indicates the significance of the camera in production also.
Film research
The main character from home alone is very similar to our main character 'Rodney'. Like him, he feels he needs to defeat the evil 'grown ups' in a lovable comical way. He shares characteristics such as feeling left out and alone and is overlooked and often ignored. By the end of the story he develops into a more mature, independent character. We can use the idea of home alones character setting traps for the adults as this creates comedy which is one of our stories main themes. In the clip I have added the little boy saying ' I will defeat them' which is a very similar line used in our story where Rodney vows to defeat the teachers.
I also looked at 'Van helsing' as I believe the film shares the same theme of Gothicism as my story.
Similarly it involves vampires, which is useful: as we are able to get advice and tips on vampires and how they are portrayed in the film industry. Another film which shares one of our themes is 'Queen of the damned'. Sharing the same theme of fantasy we are able to observe techniques including camera and music which may help to emphasise 'fantasy'. The film also revolves around vampires similar to 'Rodney who cried vampire'.
I also decided to use a popular children’s TV series to gain tips from this as I think it contains similar elements to our own story. 'Mona the vampire' is about a young girl and her friends who believe there are monsters, vampires, ghosts causing havoc in their town and make it their mission to defeat them. This hugely relates to our story as this is just what Rodney, our main character does. He believes his teacher is a vampire and must defeat him. We can use the storyline ideas to help us with our story and script. I also chose 'kenan and Kel' as it shares the theme of comedy which links in with our story.
THE GOONIES (1985)
SON OF Rambow
MONA THE VAMPIRE
KENAN AND KEL
QUEEN OF THE DAMNED
VAN HELSING
HOME ALONE
