On Tuesday 17th November I had my second, and hopefully final, shoot with actors. For this shoot I only had Charlie, playing Arbogast, as the few shots in which Norma Bates is present there was no need to reshoot.
Before we started filming Charlie and I reviewed the footage so far, with Charlie having some valuable pointers, such as the way that he fell down the stairs not looking good enough, and so we made plans on how to change this.
We began with the exterior shots, when Arbogast walks up to the house, which we thought was going to be tricky at first as it was raining slightly and so we thought that this would ruin the shot, however when we tested the shot we found that the image was fine. Due to the sun going down quite early we did not have to wait long for darkness to fall.
What was good about it being so dark was the lights from the lamp posts on the street as this added to the noir feeling, as the yellow light from the streetlights gives the shot a shadowy and melancholy feel. This also gave it a very low-key lighting look.
These exterior shots were easy to complete and were completed by the time the rain really started to hammer down. So we moved on to re-shooting some of the interior shots, such as the point at which Arbogast falls down the stairs. We changed this by having the camera, operated by myself, running down towards Charlie as he fell backwards, this is a slightly modernised version of the way the original fall happened, with the camera staying at the same distance from Arbogast as they travel down the stairs, however for this the camera has a much more jerky feel to it, and a lot faster (as after looking at the original fall we believe it is too slow to realistically be a man falling down a flight of stairs) and in my eyes almost gives the audience a feeling of being inside "Norma" Bates head as she attacks the detective.
All in all this has concluded the production stage of the scene, meaning that I can move on to getting everything completed in post-production, including colour grading and timeline editing. I am happy with the footage that was both captured on this shoot and previous filming sessions and will be able to complete the project very soon, there is a chance that within the post-production stage I find there to be something wrong, such as a continuity error which I should be able to overcome through various editing software processes, for example if the lighting changes from one shot to the next colour grading should be able to fix such a problem.
Wednesday, 18 December 2013
Thursday, 12 December 2013
Technical Analysis Conclusion
For my technical analyses I have looked at two other Hitchcock films, Rear Window (1954) and The Birds (1963), and Disturbia (Caruso, 2007) and found that there are many correlations between the two, however they vary also.
I chose Rear Window and The Birds because Psycho was directed by Hitchcock in between these two, and so this allowed me to see how Hitchcock's filming changed during the creation of the three films, and whilst much of the camera techniques changed between the release dates of Rear Window and The Birds there is still a lot of the individuality that Hitchcock brings in to his films in all three. For example Hitchcock's films work off of characters reactions, all of which are apparent within all of the films, as every shot could be argued as a shot-reverse-shot, in which we see something from the character's point-of-view (POV) followed by a shot of their reaction to this, such as the camera looking as a car speeds towards "the audience", followed by Tippi Hedren backing off as much as possible as the car carries on towards her, then we go back to a shot of the vehicle, and so on.
This is also shown in Rear Window as James Stewart's shots are back and forth from him to the surrounding area of the flat.
The use of shot-reverse-shot also becomes apparent within Caruso's Disturbia, as for a lot of the shots within the scene, "Caught in the Act," the audience are positioned in a POV through the camcorder lens, which will then be followed by a shot of Shia LaBeouf's character reacting to what the audience have just witnessed. This carries on for much of the scene, so that the audience can understand, and feel, the same amount of fear and angst that LaBeouf shows.
One thing that I have also noticed in the works of Hitchcock is his use of "basic" shots, by which I mean the camera stays fairly static throughout and stays eye level and straight, instead of using techniques such as the Dutch tilt. This is extremely effective in all of his films as it doesn't explicitly tell the audience that something bad will happen, and it keeps the movie quite human and so the audience feels like they are a part of the film and action, rather than feeling that they are watching through the eyes of the camera because they're positioned through a bird's eye view.
As for music, which is an important of aspect of film as a whole, it is very much more than a simple gimmick with Hitchcock's and Caruso's films, in a sense it is another character more likely to be on the antagonist's side than the heroes, as the use of it as a "jump scare" for audiences adds to the feeling of being inside the movie, as before a character is being attacked the tension builds through the use of an eerie silence or a much lighter and fainter piece of music, which suddenly erupts into a crescendo when the evil character presents themselves, either appearing from a place they could not previously have been seen from or, more scarily, when they get grabbed from behind. This shows why the music is so important for horror films as it really connects with the audience and enhances the enjoyment with a sense of camaraderie with the viewer, as my previous experience of cinema going has shown when going to see a Paranormal Activity films in which after each jump scare deployed on the viewer caused everyone to look around to each other as the laughs begin to fill the cinema as everyone suddenly feels they have been through the same terrifying ordeal together.
I chose Rear Window and The Birds because Psycho was directed by Hitchcock in between these two, and so this allowed me to see how Hitchcock's filming changed during the creation of the three films, and whilst much of the camera techniques changed between the release dates of Rear Window and The Birds there is still a lot of the individuality that Hitchcock brings in to his films in all three. For example Hitchcock's films work off of characters reactions, all of which are apparent within all of the films, as every shot could be argued as a shot-reverse-shot, in which we see something from the character's point-of-view (POV) followed by a shot of their reaction to this, such as the camera looking as a car speeds towards "the audience", followed by Tippi Hedren backing off as much as possible as the car carries on towards her, then we go back to a shot of the vehicle, and so on.
This is also shown in Rear Window as James Stewart's shots are back and forth from him to the surrounding area of the flat.
The use of shot-reverse-shot also becomes apparent within Caruso's Disturbia, as for a lot of the shots within the scene, "Caught in the Act," the audience are positioned in a POV through the camcorder lens, which will then be followed by a shot of Shia LaBeouf's character reacting to what the audience have just witnessed. This carries on for much of the scene, so that the audience can understand, and feel, the same amount of fear and angst that LaBeouf shows.
One thing that I have also noticed in the works of Hitchcock is his use of "basic" shots, by which I mean the camera stays fairly static throughout and stays eye level and straight, instead of using techniques such as the Dutch tilt. This is extremely effective in all of his films as it doesn't explicitly tell the audience that something bad will happen, and it keeps the movie quite human and so the audience feels like they are a part of the film and action, rather than feeling that they are watching through the eyes of the camera because they're positioned through a bird's eye view.
As for music, which is an important of aspect of film as a whole, it is very much more than a simple gimmick with Hitchcock's and Caruso's films, in a sense it is another character more likely to be on the antagonist's side than the heroes, as the use of it as a "jump scare" for audiences adds to the feeling of being inside the movie, as before a character is being attacked the tension builds through the use of an eerie silence or a much lighter and fainter piece of music, which suddenly erupts into a crescendo when the evil character presents themselves, either appearing from a place they could not previously have been seen from or, more scarily, when they get grabbed from behind. This shows why the music is so important for horror films as it really connects with the audience and enhances the enjoyment with a sense of camaraderie with the viewer, as my previous experience of cinema going has shown when going to see a Paranormal Activity films in which after each jump scare deployed on the viewer caused everyone to look around to each other as the laughs begin to fill the cinema as everyone suddenly feels they have been through the same terrifying ordeal together.
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Rough Edit of Int. Actor Shots
These are the main shots of Arbogast when he is inside the house and is attacked. Much like in the original the camera is mainly static and this is seen within this rough edit.
A couple of the shots were hard to film and this is apparent, for example the birds eye view shot of the attack, as to get the shot I was stood on a stool out of shot holding a leg of a fully extended tripod, which was extremely difficult to keep steady. This is likely to be reshot.
When Arbogast falls down the stairs it is easy to see that Arbogast seems to be walking back down the stairs as opposed to falling down them.
Technical Analysis: Disturbia (Caruso, 2007) Caught in the Act
(0:00 - 1:37)
Duration: 8seconds
Technique: LaBeouf is shown sat on his chair in long shot. As a scream is heard he stands up and walks just to the right of the camera, as he does so the camera crabs up and right in order to keep LaBeouf in the middle of the shot.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: An extreme long shot, most likely from the POV of LaBeouf looks out to his neighbours house where, in the distance, we can see woman running through the house.
Duration: 6secs
Technique: LaBeouf, in mid-shot, picks up his camcorder. The camera keeps LaBeouf to the centre of the shot in a mix of smooth and jerky movements.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A quick look at the house through the eyes of the camcorder, it is jerky, showing the adrenaline running through LaBeouf's character.
Duration: 1 second
Technique: This close up shows the determination on LaBeouf's face as he tries to get a good view of the house.
Duration: 5secs
Technique: The camcorder zooms in on the girl who is bashing against the window, as this happens the shriek music gets louder and closer to a crescendo. The camera then suddenly zooms back out.
Duration: 2.5secs
Technique: Another close-up of LaBeouf working the camcorder.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: Another camcorder shot, in long-shot, showing more action from the woman inside the house.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: LaBeouf with the camcorder again.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: The camcorder shows a close-up of the girl. The music suddenly picks up again as a figure appears behind her. This is done in a jump scare fashion which is much like the violins from Psycho.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: Another shot of LaBeouf shot in the same style as previously shown, however this time we see him reach for something out of shot.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A more shaky shot through the camcorder in which we see the woman being dragged away by the man.
Duration: Half a second
Technique: A close up of LaBeouf as he stands up. He accidentally presses the flash on the camera, in which an effect is used to make the screen go white with the flash.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: A mid-shot of LaBeouf post-flash where he ducks for cover. The camera is far more shaky here, to emphasise how scared the character is and how frantic the scene has got.
Duration: 4secs
Technique: The shot begins in mid-shot directly in front of LaBeouf as he settles himself, the camera tracks into his face until close-up. As LaBeouf reaches for something on his right, the camera whips left to follow him, a monitor in the background shows the action from the perspective of the fallen camcorder, allowing the audience to feel more involved with the scene.
Duration: 20secs
Technique: In this long duration shot, the camera is in mid-shot, showing LaBeouf remove the camera from the tripod. The camera tracks LaBeouf's face so that whilst the audience sees what he is doing they can also get a feeling of the terror in the characters face as he uses his cunning to use the camcorder to his advantage.
Duration: 5secs
Technique: A shaky shot from the camcorder reveals a man in the opposite house walking around his house, the woman is not present.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: This mid-shot shows the desktop as LaBeouf's head appears in shot as he attempts to stabilise the camera. The audience can almost begin to feel at this point that something bad is going to happen or be seen.
Duration: 4secs
Technique: Another camcorder shot pans, shakily, over the house in which the man cannot be seen.
Duration: 5secs
Technique: In mid-shot LaBeouf trades the camcorder for a pair of binoculars. This can be seen as a nod to the original theatre poster for Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954) in which James Stewart is shown peering out his window with a very similar pair of binoculars.
Duration: 5secs
Technique: This short is much like the camcorder shots, however it is more zoomed in and clearer through the binoculars. It is very shaky as the camera sweeps over the house, the binoculars whip past a window, then whips back and suddenly we see the next door neighbour staring directly at "the audience" in the POV shot. The music once again screeches in a classic jump scare fashion.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A mid shot shows LaBeouf pull his face away from the binoculars as the wind leaves him when he realises he has been caught. He drops out of shot.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A close-up of LaBeouf's face as he drops to his knees in shock.
Thursday, 28 November 2013
Technical Analysis: The Birds (Hitchcock, 1963) Trapped in a Phone Booth
(0:00 - 0:33)
Duration: 4secs
Technique: Long shot (LS) of people retreating from the diner as Tippi Hedren moves to the phone booth. We see the reaction of four other characters as the birds attack them.
Duration: 4secs
Technique: Mid-shot of Hedren as she is attacked by a bird and shuts herself in the booth. She covers her face with her arms.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: Mid-shot inside the booth, Hedren is on the left side whilst the phone is positioned on the right. Visuals of birds attacking can be seen in between them, representing the distance between people and communication.
Duration: 1.5secs
Technique: This static LS shows the gas station of the village on fire, as people with hoses attempt to douse the flames. The visuals are partially obstructed by the birds.
Duration: 1second
Technique: A reaction shot as Hendren looks out of the booth, unable to help the people.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A mid shot of the people attempting to stop the fire. The audience can see a car on fire and a lit stream of petrol running across the road.
Duration: 1second
Technique: Back to a reaction shot of Hedren as she backs off from the window.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: A bird's eye view shot of Hedren as she comes to terms that the booth is surrounded by birds.
Duration: 1second
Technique: Back to the static mid shot as Hedren turns back to look out towards the gas station.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: POV shot, as Hedren in the booth, of the road in which we see a car hurtling towards "us" as people also run in front of it as they fight off the birds.
Duration: 1second
Technique: A close-up of Hedren as she turns in horror as she believes she is about to be crushed by the car.
Duration: 1second
Technique: A static mid shot looks across fire as the car comes into shot, a man inside the vehicle has a seagull attacking the back of his neck.
Duration: Half a second
Technique: A quick close-up reaction shot of Hedren as she looks back round to see where the car has gone.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: Back to the mid shot of the car in which the man is still being attacked by birds, he drives off, the camera stays static.
Duration: 1second
Technique: Hedren quickly looks round to the other side of the booth.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: LS of the bay as the car hurtles down the road and spins, knocking into another car that is on fire. Once again the shot is partly obstructed by birds flying at the booth.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: A reaction shot of Hedren as she brings her hand to her mouth in shock of the crash.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: LS again of the crashed car, the driver manages to open his door and escape the vehicle, still being attacked by the bird.
Duration: 1second
Technique: The final close-up of Hedren in the booth. She begins to turn around, as if to exit the booth.
Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Shot-by-Shot Technical Analysis: Rear Window (Hitchcock, 1954) Up The Stairs
(0:00 - 2:37)
Duration: 48secs
Technique: A tense shot in which for the whole duration James Stewart's face is framed in close-up, the camera zooms in slightly. After a crash disrupts the peaceful sound of cars driving Stewart slowly turns his head, as the whole of his face obscures the camera cuts to the nest shot.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: A static POV shot from Stewart's perspective of the dark room. The only light source we see is the light coming in from under the door.
Duration: 19secs
Technique: Back to Stewart with a mid-shot of his character, L.B. Jefferies, looking over his should. The camera stays static whilst Stewart spins his wheelchair towards the door.
Duration: 1 second
Technique: The same POV shot looking at the door.
Duration: 17secs
Technique: The shot begins with a long-shot of Stewart on his wheelchair as he attempts to find somewhere to hide. As he moves forward the camera pans left as well as pedding up smoothly, this gives the audience a clear view of the crammed apartment.
Duration: 8secs
Technique: Mid-shot head on with Stewart as he moves his wheelchair back, the camera follows his movements extremely subtly with a tiny pan left, as he begins to climb out of his wheelchair the camera tracks his movement.
Duration: 7secs
Technique: Mid-shot of Stewart as he stands, his face is obscured by a shadow, allowing the audience to only view his torso. As he sits back down in his chair the camera tracks
Duration: 2secs
Technique: POV looking at the bottom of the door. The bright light suddenly cuts out.
Duration: 22secs
Technique: Back to the mid-shot of Stewart as he starts backing away from the door. The camera pans slowly with Stewart.
Duration: 3secs
Technique: A close-up of the camera flash Stewart found laying on his lap as he grabs a pack of light bulbs.
Duration: 11secs
Technique: Back to the mid-shot as Stewart backs his wheelchair further away, camera still tracking, into the dark area of his apartment by the window.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: Another POV looking towards the door, however we cannot see the door as the light source has now been turned off.
Duration: 2secs
Technique: Mid-shot of Stewart looking concerned and helpless.
Duration: 11secs
Technique: The whole screen is black until the door starts opening, Thorwald walks through the door in mid-shot, he is in silhouette until he walks into the light, which only illuminates his eyes.
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Semiotics and Motifs in Psycho: "Media Semiotics - An Introduction" (Bignell, 2002)
In Jonathan Bignell's "Media Semiotics - An Introduction" Bignell gives small, yet useful pieces of information about how motifs and semiotics work within film, such as "a shot from behind the shoulder of one person, followed by a similar shot from behind the shoulder of another person, is the conventional means for representing a conversation and is called 'shot-reverse-shot,'" which is something that I had been taught about from the early years of my media studies classes, however I did not see the shot-reverse-shot as something that represents a convention in everyday life, I had just simply understood it as the norm for a conversation within a media text.
It is the little things that Bignell has written, including the shot-reverse-shot, that has opened my eyes to how every shot literally will include something that connotes to another meaning which after watching "Arbogast Meets Mother" again has made me see so much more than before.
Take Arbogast climbing the stairs, previously I would have seen it as someone simply walking up them, however when thinking about semiotics this could be seen as walking into uncertainty, especially in the way that the camera is focussed on Arbogast as he walks towards the camera, and so the audience is forced also unto this uncertainty as we cannot see what is behind us. Therefore we, the viewers, are denied the opportunity of dramatic irony except for the creepy shot of the door slowly opening, but still we have no idea what is to come from this doorway, maybe Norman who will confront Arbogast on why he is intruding on the house even when told not to, or will it be knife-wielding Norma, which is what makes this scene so intense, especially in comparison to the shower scene, as even though we are unclear as to who killed Marion, we are still shown the attacker through the shower curtain pre-stabbing.
It is the shot of the door opening that also connotes that horrid feeling of uncertainty for the character, but Hitchcock plays with this through the use of lighting, as the light coming from the room is a golden, almost comforting and inviting, and so as freaky as it may be there is still that hint of hope that Hitchcock will twist the story and it is good news. And yet as soon as the music rises to the famous Psycho screeches and we see the old woman exit her room to claim a new victim, yet again utilising camera angles to disguise who is really dressed in the old woman's gown.
So what I can gain from Bignell's work on film signs and codes is that everything that is seen and heard within a shot all adds up to one great meaning, it is not just the action of a knife repeatedly coming down that represents a brutal killing, but the screeches of violins and the angle that does not show the body that adds to the feeling of unease of the senseless act.
It is the little things that Bignell has written, including the shot-reverse-shot, that has opened my eyes to how every shot literally will include something that connotes to another meaning which after watching "Arbogast Meets Mother" again has made me see so much more than before.
Take Arbogast climbing the stairs, previously I would have seen it as someone simply walking up them, however when thinking about semiotics this could be seen as walking into uncertainty, especially in the way that the camera is focussed on Arbogast as he walks towards the camera, and so the audience is forced also unto this uncertainty as we cannot see what is behind us. Therefore we, the viewers, are denied the opportunity of dramatic irony except for the creepy shot of the door slowly opening, but still we have no idea what is to come from this doorway, maybe Norman who will confront Arbogast on why he is intruding on the house even when told not to, or will it be knife-wielding Norma, which is what makes this scene so intense, especially in comparison to the shower scene, as even though we are unclear as to who killed Marion, we are still shown the attacker through the shower curtain pre-stabbing.
It is the shot of the door opening that also connotes that horrid feeling of uncertainty for the character, but Hitchcock plays with this through the use of lighting, as the light coming from the room is a golden, almost comforting and inviting, and so as freaky as it may be there is still that hint of hope that Hitchcock will twist the story and it is good news. And yet as soon as the music rises to the famous Psycho screeches and we see the old woman exit her room to claim a new victim, yet again utilising camera angles to disguise who is really dressed in the old woman's gown.
So what I can gain from Bignell's work on film signs and codes is that everything that is seen and heard within a shot all adds up to one great meaning, it is not just the action of a knife repeatedly coming down that represents a brutal killing, but the screeches of violins and the angle that does not show the body that adds to the feeling of unease of the senseless act.
Project Update: 19/11/13
After reviewing much of the footage I have begun shaping a template/rough cut to be used for the rest of the project, so that I can get on with color grading and then completing the editing on PowerDirector. However I have found that there will be need for a reshoot not only for exterior shots but also for various shots inside, such as the hand reaching for the door. I will have to schedule this, with the only problem in the way being the production of my music video in media studies, which also needs a lot of time put in for the deadline in the lesson.
There have also been problems with the color grading software, which I have had trouble with as even though it is a free, small file, it still makes the computer very slow whilst in use, making it extremely difficult to get anything done.
At the moment the project has begun to slow down at a massive rate, however with extra time management precautions I will be giving myself I hope that the project will get back on track as soon as possible and I will be proud of my piece of work.
There have also been problems with the color grading software, which I have had trouble with as even though it is a free, small file, it still makes the computer very slow whilst in use, making it extremely difficult to get anything done.
At the moment the project has begun to slow down at a massive rate, however with extra time management precautions I will be giving myself I hope that the project will get back on track as soon as possible and I will be proud of my piece of work.
Thursday, 14 November 2013
Filming Update 12/11/13
On Friday 8th of November my actors and I set out to get as much of the filming done as possible, and it is safe to say that it went fairly successfully. After reviewing the footage I feel confident that the end product will look good, with enough of the original "Psycho" included and some fresh ideas also in place.
The actors (Charlie Taylor and Max Lamb) were optimistic about filming which created good morale over the project and so after reviewing the storyboard and the original scene from the 1960 film we were happy to get under way, fortunately both were fairly sound in knowledge of the scene beforehand and so not a lot of actor preparation was needed.
We ran into a couple of problems immediately, such as we did not have a wig for Max's character (Norma Bates) to conceal that he is a man, however we overcame this by covering Max's head with a scarf instead which in turn gave the look of an older woman.
Another problem was that as we began filming it began to rain, which meant that we could not film external shots, such as Arbogast approaching the house, as it became extremely dark outside and the visibility was low meaning that the shots that we would have filmed would not have looked very good at all. This means that we will need to conduct a reshoot to get these shots.
The interior shots with actors went well, with the actors getting very much into character. From previous media and filming projects I have found that some people get impatient with having to reshoot sections over and over until correct, however Charlie and Max were happy to do so, and in many cases this was necessary, for example when Arbogast opens the door to enter the house we did not take into account the fact that a key must be used to open the door, so we had to be careful to keep the key out of the shot each time as it had to potential to ruin the scene. The weather also caused some problems with this shot as the weather conditions lead to the wind coming fast down the alleyway to the door which would either make it difficult to close or , in the most extreme case, would cause the door to slam.
The shots in which Norma Bates attacks Arbogast turned out to be more trickier than first thought, as the birds eye view shot as Norma exits her room needs a high ceiling in order to show both characters, and the distance between the two, prior to the murder. This proved a problem as the ceiling in the house used would not allow such a high shot, whereas Hitchcock had a specially built set that allowed a camera to be pulled up higher, and so I already feel that the shot (though good) is not as effective as less distance is shown between Arbogast and Norma in my work before the stabbing occurs.
My main criticism of Friday's shoot is something that I should be able to change as I feel that the colour of the shot is quite orange, as for lighting we simply used the house lights. I should be able to correct this using the free DaVinci Resolve Lite software that will allow me to manipulate the reds, greens and blues (RGB) of the shot in order to get a darker shot, or even completely change the composition to a fully black and white piece.
In conclusion I am very happy with the shots I have filmed so far, even though I am highly critical of them, and believe that the shots will lead to a great looking piece. From now on it is a matter of arranging a reshoot day, thankfully the shots featuring Norma were fine and so only one actor is needed, and getting editing under way, beginning with Color Grading.
The actors (Charlie Taylor and Max Lamb) were optimistic about filming which created good morale over the project and so after reviewing the storyboard and the original scene from the 1960 film we were happy to get under way, fortunately both were fairly sound in knowledge of the scene beforehand and so not a lot of actor preparation was needed.
We ran into a couple of problems immediately, such as we did not have a wig for Max's character (Norma Bates) to conceal that he is a man, however we overcame this by covering Max's head with a scarf instead which in turn gave the look of an older woman.
Another problem was that as we began filming it began to rain, which meant that we could not film external shots, such as Arbogast approaching the house, as it became extremely dark outside and the visibility was low meaning that the shots that we would have filmed would not have looked very good at all. This means that we will need to conduct a reshoot to get these shots.
The interior shots with actors went well, with the actors getting very much into character. From previous media and filming projects I have found that some people get impatient with having to reshoot sections over and over until correct, however Charlie and Max were happy to do so, and in many cases this was necessary, for example when Arbogast opens the door to enter the house we did not take into account the fact that a key must be used to open the door, so we had to be careful to keep the key out of the shot each time as it had to potential to ruin the scene. The weather also caused some problems with this shot as the weather conditions lead to the wind coming fast down the alleyway to the door which would either make it difficult to close or , in the most extreme case, would cause the door to slam.
The shots in which Norma Bates attacks Arbogast turned out to be more trickier than first thought, as the birds eye view shot as Norma exits her room needs a high ceiling in order to show both characters, and the distance between the two, prior to the murder. This proved a problem as the ceiling in the house used would not allow such a high shot, whereas Hitchcock had a specially built set that allowed a camera to be pulled up higher, and so I already feel that the shot (though good) is not as effective as less distance is shown between Arbogast and Norma in my work before the stabbing occurs.
My main criticism of Friday's shoot is something that I should be able to change as I feel that the colour of the shot is quite orange, as for lighting we simply used the house lights. I should be able to correct this using the free DaVinci Resolve Lite software that will allow me to manipulate the reds, greens and blues (RGB) of the shot in order to get a darker shot, or even completely change the composition to a fully black and white piece.
In conclusion I am very happy with the shots I have filmed so far, even though I am highly critical of them, and believe that the shots will lead to a great looking piece. From now on it is a matter of arranging a reshoot day, thankfully the shots featuring Norma were fine and so only one actor is needed, and getting editing under way, beginning with Color Grading.
Work Experience: Technicolor Post-Production Services, Soho
During the October half term (28th Oct- 1st Nov) I managed to get myself a work experience week in the Technicolor Post-Production House in Soho, London. During the week most of my time was spent as a runner, in which I had to cater for business clients every needs, however on one of the days I was given the chance to shadow one of the senior colorists to see what they did and what color grading involves.
The work of a colorist involves the manipulation of the reds, greens and blues (RGB) in order to change the colours within the shot. The reason for a client using a colorist could be that after reviewing the footage they have realised that there one shot is too bright in comparison to all of the others and so either the one shot can be darkened or the rest of the shots can be made as bright as the single shot. Another reason for a colorists use could be that a whole scene needs to have its tone changed completely, for example if a comedy duo are filming a sketch about two awful cops that is filmed in a cross between the styles of a late night Turkish drama and Starsky and Hutch they might film it at night, but this still may not look right, and so a colorist would use various tools, such as lowering the gamma, gain or lift, in order to bring the colours down to the blacker part of the RGB spectrum, which would give the scene a much darker and grittier feel. I was able to see all of these processes occur on various future television projects, as well as sit in on client meetings with directors who are more famous in the broadcasting world.
It's fair to say that this experience completely changed the way I see film and television production because when you sit there watching a show many will think that all of the colours in the shot, including lighting, are natural to when the project was being filmed. However my time proved this to be wrong, as during the day I was shown how to turn a shot that was filmed on a bright summers day into a convincing frosty winter morning. This made me realise just how important post-production is when creating moving image as various processes can be used in order to give the shot a darker feel, or to completely change the tone of the work.
The week at Technicolor has made me want to make the post-production side of my project just as important as the filming in order to get a more solid feeling that the scene is part of a noir thriller instead of a more basic thriller. This means that in my project I will use DaVinci Resolve Lite in order to color grade my work to give it the classic noir look.
The work of a colorist involves the manipulation of the reds, greens and blues (RGB) in order to change the colours within the shot. The reason for a client using a colorist could be that after reviewing the footage they have realised that there one shot is too bright in comparison to all of the others and so either the one shot can be darkened or the rest of the shots can be made as bright as the single shot. Another reason for a colorists use could be that a whole scene needs to have its tone changed completely, for example if a comedy duo are filming a sketch about two awful cops that is filmed in a cross between the styles of a late night Turkish drama and Starsky and Hutch they might film it at night, but this still may not look right, and so a colorist would use various tools, such as lowering the gamma, gain or lift, in order to bring the colours down to the blacker part of the RGB spectrum, which would give the scene a much darker and grittier feel. I was able to see all of these processes occur on various future television projects, as well as sit in on client meetings with directors who are more famous in the broadcasting world.
It's fair to say that this experience completely changed the way I see film and television production because when you sit there watching a show many will think that all of the colours in the shot, including lighting, are natural to when the project was being filmed. However my time proved this to be wrong, as during the day I was shown how to turn a shot that was filmed on a bright summers day into a convincing frosty winter morning. This made me realise just how important post-production is when creating moving image as various processes can be used in order to give the shot a darker feel, or to completely change the tone of the work.
The week at Technicolor has made me want to make the post-production side of my project just as important as the filming in order to get a more solid feeling that the scene is part of a noir thriller instead of a more basic thriller. This means that in my project I will use DaVinci Resolve Lite in order to color grade my work to give it the classic noir look.
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Filming Update 06/11/13
After getting the interior shots done I have become more motivated to get the project done, and so have planned to film the shots with the use of actors on Friday 8th November, which will allow me to have all of the footage ready to be edited.
I have downloaded a colour grading software, DaVinci Resolve Lite, which will allow me to alter the colours if I feel that something is not quite right or a certain part of a shot needs to be either darker or lighter, or to give a whole different tone to the film. I will then use PowerDirector to edit the rest of the sequence.
I have downloaded a colour grading software, DaVinci Resolve Lite, which will allow me to alter the colours if I feel that something is not quite right or a certain part of a shot needs to be either darker or lighter, or to give a whole different tone to the film. I will then use PowerDirector to edit the rest of the sequence.
Monday, 4 November 2013
Interior Scene Shots
During the half term period I have managed to get a majority of the interior shots completed, which I have edited into a short that includes notes for how the final piece will look.
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Mise-En-Scene: Props and Costume
Props:
Knife - The simple kitchen knife became a complete nightmare thanks to Psycho's shower scene and has forever been used in other films as a pastiche of the film, such as in Scream (Craven, 1996), and so is a must for this scene. One, like the knife shown below, is the ideal style of knife that I will use, as it is large and so will be the focal point of the shot in which the knife is brought up during each stab.
Costume:
Norma Bates: Norma Bates is designed to be the classic over-protective mother, although we later find out she is dead, and this is reflected in her costume. Even during the shower scene the audience are never allowed to see a great deal of Norma, mainly to avoid the huge final spoiler, however when we reach the finale of the film we see much more, with the shot of Anthony Perkins' Norman Bates in full costume wielding the knife in the cellar scene. However for my production of "Arbogast Meets Mother" the costume will be different from the old night gown and the grey fraying wig, as in modern films older women do not tend to wear clothing in the same style that was seen in the original Psycho, and so the costume will more likely be some form of baggy t-shirt and jeans, with a wig that is less grey.
Milton Arbogast: Arbogast is, as Hitchcock said, "smug, glib, tenacious, slightly dull" (Rebello, 1998) and this needs to be emulated within his costume, and a suit fits this perfectly, as it is a sign of authority yet still has a hint of the everyman too.
Plans for October Half Term
Getting an actor:
I have had quite a few people offer their services to play the part of Arbogast, and so now I need to decide who will do it. To narrow this down I have decided it will need to be someone who is also at my school, as to have the effect of the projected background I may need to use a school projector system and so it will be easier to have someone from my school to do so.
Primary shots:
During this period I am planning on getting a majority of the shots done. One shot I am concerned with is the dolly zoom, as from the previous test shots I have taken I have found it to be an extremely difficult effect to do with a DSLR camera due to have to walk back with the camera whilst simultaneously zooming in, which is much harder as the zoom on a DSLR is manual and difficult to rotate in a smooth way.
I have had quite a few people offer their services to play the part of Arbogast, and so now I need to decide who will do it. To narrow this down I have decided it will need to be someone who is also at my school, as to have the effect of the projected background I may need to use a school projector system and so it will be easier to have someone from my school to do so.
Primary shots:
During this period I am planning on getting a majority of the shots done. One shot I am concerned with is the dolly zoom, as from the previous test shots I have taken I have found it to be an extremely difficult effect to do with a DSLR camera due to have to walk back with the camera whilst simultaneously zooming in, which is much harder as the zoom on a DSLR is manual and difficult to rotate in a smooth way.
Test Footage of Effects
Dolly Zoom
This is my first attempt at the dolly zoom, after quickly viewing a "How To" crash guide on YouTube, and though it is extremely shaky I am not unhappy with it. This is because in my naivety I did not use my tripod to help balance, and had not even thought about how difficult it would be to zoom in at the same time as moving, which is the reason why the footage is so shaky.
When I showed the footage to one of my friends they gave me some advice that to get a smooth zooming effect, which is to wrap a broken rubber band around the zoom ring and pull, which will then start winding the zoom making it a solid zoom rather than when someone has to keep turning their hand which leaves the jerky look as it zooms.
Progress So Far: 23/10/13
So far in this project I have focussed on learning the way in which the original scene in the film was produced, and attempting to incorporate this into my own piece, which has been a struggle as I had preconditioned beliefs on how Psycho had been made, and after reading the section of "Arbogast Meets Mother" in Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho (Rebello, 1998) I was surprised to find out how different the process actually was, as I was sure that Martin Balsam was filmed simply walking backwards down the stairs, so when I found out that it was a projected screen I gained a greater awareness of the difficulties I may face during my own production.
I have also began to work out the location for the shoot and how I will have to rearrange certain aspects of the house to make it look more suspicious with a lack of items around. So far I have taken some shots for a location recce as well as test footage of certain effects, such as the dolly zoom (which will be uploaded in a later fully titled post).
I have also began to work out the location for the shoot and how I will have to rearrange certain aspects of the house to make it look more suspicious with a lack of items around. So far I have taken some shots for a location recce as well as test footage of certain effects, such as the dolly zoom (which will be uploaded in a later fully titled post).
Three Ending Styles
After looking into three ways of filming the ending to the short (dolly zoom, rapid editing and projected background) I have decided that I will film all three of these, as well as my own original way of ending. All of the versions will play out with the exact same beginning, but will change when Arbogast reaches the top of the stairs.
These are how the endings will work:
1. The Dolly Zoom
In this version Arbogast gets slashed across the face and falls to the bottom of the stairs, as he reaches the floor he stays on his feet, where I will use a dolly zoom effect in which the background zooms in to show the sense of death and realisation of what has just happened creeping up on Arbogast. The scene will then end with the classic shot of Norma Bates slashing Arbogast's fallen body.
2. Rapid Editing
Within this scene Arbogast is slashed across the face and as he falls the camera rapidly cuts from a matter of all different angles, as shown in the shower scene in Psycho. As well as making the scene more exciting and modern I believe this will make it an easier process to film, as I have had fears over the safety of the actor playing Arbogast if he genuinely has to go down the stairs backwards, and so filming little pieces of this each time and later editing them together will mean that the actor will be safe and when edited it will look like one take with many different angles.
3. The Projected Background
This is the version that is most likely a shot-by-shot copy of the original as I will record the footage of the stairs as if there were someone falling, and later use a screen projector at school to have my Arbogast actor stood in front of this, as he flails around pretending he has fallen.
4. My Original - The POV Shot
In my own version of how the ending should play out I believe that audiences should be given a look into the psychopaths eyes as he takes his prey, and so this shot would occur after Arbogast has first been slashed across the face and he begins to fall. I would film this by having the camera in one hand and a knife in the other, and as the actor makes his way down the stairs I will follow, occasionally thrashing the knife in front of the camera as if trying to still stab him as he falls.
These are how the endings will work:
1. The Dolly Zoom
In this version Arbogast gets slashed across the face and falls to the bottom of the stairs, as he reaches the floor he stays on his feet, where I will use a dolly zoom effect in which the background zooms in to show the sense of death and realisation of what has just happened creeping up on Arbogast. The scene will then end with the classic shot of Norma Bates slashing Arbogast's fallen body.
2. Rapid Editing
Within this scene Arbogast is slashed across the face and as he falls the camera rapidly cuts from a matter of all different angles, as shown in the shower scene in Psycho. As well as making the scene more exciting and modern I believe this will make it an easier process to film, as I have had fears over the safety of the actor playing Arbogast if he genuinely has to go down the stairs backwards, and so filming little pieces of this each time and later editing them together will mean that the actor will be safe and when edited it will look like one take with many different angles.
3. The Projected Background
This is the version that is most likely a shot-by-shot copy of the original as I will record the footage of the stairs as if there were someone falling, and later use a screen projector at school to have my Arbogast actor stood in front of this, as he flails around pretending he has fallen.
4. My Original - The POV Shot
In my own version of how the ending should play out I believe that audiences should be given a look into the psychopaths eyes as he takes his prey, and so this shot would occur after Arbogast has first been slashed across the face and he begins to fall. I would film this by having the camera in one hand and a knife in the other, and as the actor makes his way down the stairs I will follow, occasionally thrashing the knife in front of the camera as if trying to still stab him as he falls.
Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Hitchcock Filming Techniques
Dolly zoom
The film effect used in Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958) is one that has many names, such as the dolly zoom, the Vertigo zoom and the Jaws zoom among others, as it is an effect that, although great when done correctly, is hard to do and also somewhat nauseating. The effect was first used in Vertigo to give audiences an insight into what James Stewart's character, John Ferguson, feels like upon reaching great heights and so we may feel just as ill. The effect has later been used in the likes of Jaws (Spielberg, 1975) and Goodfellas (Scorcese, 1990) to show the audience how the character is feeling, such as the use on Jaws shows that Brody's worst fears have dawned on him when a boy is attacked, and in Goodfellas when Henry Hill suddenly becomes worried that he may be known by the other gangsters that he's ratted people out to the police.
Rapid Cutting Rate
The use of rapid cutting within Psycho during the shower scene turned out to be one of the most memorable pieces of cinema history ever. Within the shower scene only two medium shots are used, at the beginning and at the end, and the rest of the shots are extreme close-ups (with 50 cuts in all). Many people believed this scene to be too violent when the film was first released, however it was pointed out to critics of the scene that at no point do we actually see the knife hit the flesh of Marion Crane, and it avoids the use of nudity. The effect works well because of this, as the montage from different angles gives the shot a more disturbing feel as we view the murder of someone from every different viewpoint possible.
Projected background
This effect is not one that was solely used by Hitchcock himself, but was used by most film studios of the time, such as MGM. However the use of a projected background is something that would have been used primarily for shots of characters in vehicles, as they did not have the technology or skill to the same shots on an actual road. Therefore the easiest thing to do was to take the footage of driving down a road, without any actors or vehicles, and then project this film onto a large screen with the actors now in front of the footage. Hitchcock then used this for the scene in which Arbogast is murdered by having a cinematographer film whilst walking down the stairs and then projecting this onto a screen, and having Martin Balsam sat in front of the screen, flailing his arms around whilst the camera also moved to make it look as if he were falling more violently.
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho (Rebello, 1990) Useful Quotes
"He should be going up like nothing's going to happen. You know, you don't just get killed for walking up the stairs." - Alfred Hitchcock
"The [shower murder] was done purely for shock, but Arbogast's killing was a piece of dramatics, almost a storyline that had to be very carefully followed." - Marshal Schlom
"we had Marty, sitting in a gimbal, flailing in front of a standard rear-projection screen" - Schlom
"The [shower murder] was done purely for shock, but Arbogast's killing was a piece of dramatics, almost a storyline that had to be very carefully followed." - Marshal Schlom
"we had Marty, sitting in a gimbal, flailing in front of a standard rear-projection screen" - Schlom
Monday, 9 September 2013
Modern films based on the work of Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho (Van Sant, 1998)
Gus Van Sant's 1998 remake of Alfred Hithcock's Psycho is a film that not many people know is out there on video store shelves, mainly because it received most negative views from critics for what critics say is an awful directorial for Van Sant. However this remake of Psycho could actually be seen as more of a shot-by-shot update for the movie, which is simultaneously clever and quite awful.
I say this because on one end of the spectrum it is something that has never been done before and will provide a financial boost for the original as people would be likely to revisit Hitchcock's work of art as the film opens the door up for people who did not know of such a film. Although the film is also awful due to the fact that a shot-by-shot remake is pointless and doesn't have much thought going into it, another reason is that due to the success of the original this version would never be in competition because the first was too good, which may have been why Van Sant ended up finding himself nominated for worst director at the Golden Raspberry awards.
Despite this I like the shot-by-shot way of recreating this film, as many people can be put off when they see a film is in black and white, and so these people may be inclined to watch an almost carbon (more update) copy of a film because of this. I feel that this film will be quite influential in making my artefact piece, as the original film itself could not be made any better, and so a shot-by-shot process may be worth doing.
Disturbia (Caruso, 2007)
In 2007 D.J. Caruso released Disturbia, a film about a teenage boy who assaults his teacher and to get out of a jail sentence agrees to have an electronic tag placed around his ankle to keep him in house arrest and one evening whilst casually filming a neighbour realises he filmed a woman being murdered by the neighbour. The film was inspired by another of Hitchcock's most famous films, 1954's Rear Window about a man with a broken leg who witnesses a murder.
Caruso's updating of such a clever story has always been one of my favourite films not only because of it's background inspiration, but due to it's contemporary story, as it's much more relatable to see a young man as the subject of the story, as well as a more modern day love story mixed with a darker horror story.
It would be good to mix the element of a contemporary Hitchcock film whilst also maintaining a shot-by-shot part of the story.
Stoker (Park, 2013)
Stoker is a film that when released by director Park in 2013 caused a lot of confusion as to whether this was a movie based on Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1954) especially after the trailer release revealed the main antagonist of the film to be a character named Uncle Charlie (the same name of the antagonist in SoaD) and the story revolved around the lead female attempting to work out whether her uncle was a serial killer.
The film, as much as it's inspiration is SoaD, takes a very different turn from a Hitchcock whilst also retaining techniques similar to that of the Master of Suspense.
As much as I find Stoker interesting when looking into a more modern take on one of Hitch's greatest films, I do not think taking on such a change to a classic film would work very well for a short artefact piece.
Technical Analysis of "Arbogast Meets Mother" from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho
Duration: 2 seconds
Camera Technique: Long shot of Norman Bates house.
Duration: 4 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot of Arbogast as he checks around the motel. He looks scared as he makes up his mind to visit the house.
Duration: 17 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium-long shot of Arbogast walking up the stairs to the house.
Duration: 17 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium-long shot from the front of the house as Arbogast walks up to the door. He checks to make sure the coast is clear.
Duration: 4 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot from behind the door, as it opens a concerned Arbogast enters.
Duration: 2 seconds
Camera Technique: Long shot of house interior shows a brightly lit corridor and staircase.
Duration: 10 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot of Arbogast closing the door, he is alarmed by the sound of him closing the door.
Duration: 3 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot shows Arbogast begin walking through house.
Duration: 1 second
Camera Technique: POV Medium shot of houses corridor.
Duration: 2 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot of Arbogast taking in what he sees in the house.
Duration: 1 second
Camera Technique: POV Medium shot looking up stairs.
Duration: 2 seconds:
Camera Technique: Back to medium shot of Arbogast.
Duration: 1 second
Camera Technique: Medium shot of closed door.
Duration: 6 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot of Arbogast as he walks towards the camera to the stairs.
Duration: 3 seconds
Camera Technique: Low close-up (CU) of legs as Arbogast begins to climb the stairs.
Duration: 9 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium-long shot of Arbogast climbing the stairs, he looks around in search for signs of anyone.
Duration: 8 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium angle CU of door as it slowly creaks open.
Duration: 2 seconds
Camera Technique: Back to Arbogast climbing the stairs.
Duration: 4 seconds
Camera Technique: Birds eye view of Arbogast reaches the top of the stairs, a tall "female" briskly walks through the open door with a knife in hand. The classic "Psycho" violin track starts playing.
Duration: 6 seconds
Camera Technique: CU of Arbogast's slashed face as he begins falling down stairs, he flails his arms around, trying to regain balance to stop falling.
Duration: 3 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium shot of Arbogast falling to the floor, the woman runs to him. The face of the attacker is masked by keeping her back to the camera.
Duration: 2 seconds
Camera Technique: Medium low angle shot looks up at part of the house interior, the shot is then partially blocked by the hand holding the knife as it comes up from the stabbing, Arbogast can be heard screaming.
Throughout the clip the camera is kept stationary, this is most likely due to 35mm cameras in 1960 were difficult to crank and move at the same time, however during two shots, Arbogast falling down the stairs and as he falls to the floor, the camera moves. In the first moving shot the camera moves down the stairs with Arbogast later edited in through green screen, and in the second shot the camera pans right to show Arbogast's whole body splayed on the floor.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Alfred Hitchcock Resources
The Cinema Book (Cook, 1985)
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho (Rebello, 1990)
A Long Hard Look at Psycho (Durgnat, 2002)
The Men Who Made the Movies (Schickel, 2001)
The Films of
Alfred Hitchcock – David Sterritt
Alfred
Hitchcock Papers
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho (Rebello, 1990)
A Long Hard Look at Psycho (Durgnat, 2002)
The Men Who Made the Movies (Schickel, 2001)
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