Aperture Practice:

I shot these three videos to investigate the use of aperture in filming and to experiment with the effect it has. This first video shows my experimentation at shooting with an aperture of 2.8ff. The use of shallow focus draws the viewers attention to the object/person that is in focus, meaning that it is a good device for narrative story telling in films and other moving image texts. To gain this low aperture, I chose to use the following camera settings: ISO 200, shutter speed 1/60, 25fps, and aperture 2.8ff. This video was also shot on a 50mm lens  meaning that the aperture was able to go lower than most normal/wide angle lenses. To make sure that I got the correct exposure, I decided to change the ISO so that the aperture and shutter speed could remain the same and the overall quality of the video was not affected. 

When shooting this video at aperture 2.8, I found that it was difficult to find an area/place that would allow me to explore the full use of such a shallow depth of field. I do feel as though my choice to shoot the clips using an old plant pot on the corner meant that the desired effect of a low aperture was shown clearly. 

In this video, I shot at an aperture of 8ff meaning that there was a larger field of focus than there was at 2.8. This type of aperture is usually used when there is more to focus on in a scene, but it isn't necessary to be aware of the background. To achieve this depth of field, I used the settings: ISO 400, shutter speed 1/60, 25fps, and aperture 8ff. This video was shot on a standard/wide angle lens, meaning that the aperture could go down as far. Like the previous video, to try and gain the correct exposure for this clip I chose to alter the ISO and leave the aperture and shutter speed as they were.

Although the video is clear, in post-shoot editing I realised that the exposure is incorrect/the ISO was too high and has resulted in the footage being slightly over-exposed. This means that the overall quality of the clip isn't as good as the top video and appears to be foggy and possibly focused wrong. In the future I am going to make sure I check the footage before finishing a shoot so that I don't end up with videos that are over exposed again.

This final video, I shot at aperture 16ff meaning that there was a wider depth of field and a greater amount of the footage was in focus. This aperture is often used when the director of a text has encoded a variety of subjects in the mise-en-scene that the audience should take notice of or there is no particular object that the viewer needs to focus on. To achieve this effect, I chose to use the following camera settings: ISO 400, shutter speed 1/60, 25fps, and aperture 16ff. I shot this video on a standard camera lens, meaning that the aperture couldn't go as high and I had to shoot at an aperture of 16. 

The exposure of this video, much like that of the video above, is not correct/too bright meaning that the appearance of the footage isn't clear and appears almost foggy. If I had to reshoot this video I would make sure that I reviewed the quality of the footage before finishing the shoot, this would mean that the exposure could have been corrected before it came to editing and that the visual quality and appeal of the video would have been better.

Investigating Different Types of New Wave:

Vera Chytilova - Daisies

Although each new wave style has the same goals and concept, there are slight differences between them - this was due to them all being strongly influenced by the society of the country in that time period. In Czechoslovakian New wave, the main influence was the political liberation that was introduced in the 1960s giving film makers and other artist the freedom to create work with a more controversial twist and about taboo topics. This new freedom lead to the Czech new wave film makers being a great deal more creative and making very obscure, and often indecipherable texts. The Czech new wave movement lasted from 1962 through to the early 1970s meaning that a large amount of film texts were created and produced during this time. 

As Tears Go By - Wong Car-Wai

The Hong Kong new wave movement happened a little later than the new waves from places like France and America, taking place in the late 1970s to well into the 80s. The greatest influence for this new wave style was the western influence that the Chinese directors had and the western-style education given to them through their lives. This lead to Hong Kong new wave film makers creating texts that chose to be stylistically incoherent - meaning that there was a clear distinction between the new filmmakers of the era and the older ones. 

French new wave was the spark that egnited an explosion of new, creative styles of film making. Taking place from the late 1950s through to the early 70s, the french new wave movement produced a very large number of films which were influenced by the directors and their personal lives/experiences. Due to the french new wave being the first of its kind and sparking such a massive and memorable change, films like Breathless (1960) and The 400 Blows (1959) have been remembered for all their new, creative and interesting was of film making. 

Breathless - Jean-Luc Godard

New Wave Cinema:

The new wave style of film making was created in the 1960s as an answer to the repetitive and formulaic structure to Hollywood films. New wave cinema, pioneered by directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Francois Truffaut, was designed and created to break the rules and create something completely different and a new experience, which audiences loved. New wave film making is recognised as freeing the way that films were made - it is profound for the use of natural footage out on the streets as opposed to using studios or fixed sets and is enduring, much like cubism and surrealism. 

There are various different types of new wave cinema, due to it being a wide spread film making style across various countries. Some of these include: French New Wave, American New Wave, Hong Kong New Wave and Czech New Wave. Some of the notable conventions for new wave cinema are the following:
 - They included mistakes in the final film
 - Handheld camera
 - Hidden cameras in natural environments (e.g. streets and buildings - meaning that the reactions of people are genuine)
 - Breaking the forth wall and director having cameos in their own films
 - Syncopated editing
 - Jump cuts (often moving from one scene to another with no explanation)
 - Long takes with static/mobile or lateral tracking
 - Interior monologues and random comments
 - Sound doesn't always match the video, due to the sound being added post filming

ISO Practice:

These are two short videos showing my exploration of ISO and its affect on the footage/footage quality. For these videos, I chose to use ISO 100 to shoot outside and ISO 1600 to shoot inside. The difference in quality that ISO makes is very evident in these videos, the first video (ISO 100) being a very smooth image although a little dark, and the second video (ISO 1600) is a great deal grainier although the footage is brighter. I feel as though these videos are really effective when it comes to showing the effect that ISO can have on the quality of footage. 

To investigate the effect of ISO on video quality, I chose to set my camera to 24fps, shutter speed 1/50, and an aperture of 5.6ff. As I wanted to explore the full effect of ISO, I decided to keep the exposure as it came out. While shooting this I had some trouble as it was raining and the camera lens kept getting clouded by water landing on it. 

Pull Focus practice:

This is a short video I made to practice the technique of 'pull focus', this is when the focal point of the frame is changed by pulling the focus from one part of the image to another. Pull focus can be used to great effect when conveying to the audience a different point of interest in the scene or where they should focus. 

To achieve this effect, I used to following camera settings: 24fps, 1/50 shutter speed, 5.6ff aperture. As I wanted to maintain some quality in the video capture, I had to keep changing the ISO to try to gain the correct exposure.

Although I managed to try out and practice this technique, I experienced a great deal of problems due to my hands shaking and there not being a tripod for me to use - this lead to there being some footage that I was unable to use. In addition, I had some instances of footage where the exposure is wrong and the clips have come out too dark/under exposed (this is shown in the coat hangers clip included in the video). 

Lighting Equipment and Set-up for scenarios:

A small documentary where portability is paramount:

1 - LED torch. This is a lighting method for better lighting and the ability to shoot footage during the night if so desired. It is also easily portable as LED lights/lighting rigs can come in a variety of sizes.

2 - Reflector. This will allow the director to bring more light onto subjects close to the frame if necessary. Reflectors are also fairly cheap and fold down to make them very easily portable.

The pros and cons of this type of lighting set-up are that the subject/subject matter of the image will be well lit, however, the amount of light may be too much and the footage could end up being over exposed.

‘Talking Head’ style interview:

1 - Soft box. The use of a soft box creates a more natural lighting of the face and allows the subject to be see clearly (it can also give the footage a softer appearance).

2 - Reflector. This will allow more light to be bought into the image without over exposing the footage.

The pros and cons of this type of lighting set-up are that the director will be able to use a shallow depth of field for the footage, however, the use of natural lighting for the interview could be more effective.

A ‘night time’ shoot:

1 - Spot light/LED torch. This will provide the lighting for the image (if no other natural or environmental source is on hand) as well as being used to highlight certain parts of the scene.

2 - Additional light source. The use of an additional light source could be necessary to create desired effects.

The pros and cons of this lighting set-up are that there will be a good/large amount of light going into the image, however, it could create an unwanted amount of contrast/shadow in the footage or image.

How and Why lighting affects camera:

Lighting is a very important technique when it comes to shooting photography and moving image as it can effect both the quality and atmosphere of the scene. The three main components to consider when using a camera are the ISO, aperture and shutter speed. To gain the best quality and correct exposure, each of these settings must be in balance – if not the image/footage will be under exposed (too dark) or over exposed (too bright). In addition, using creative lighting set ups can give an image more dimension and a different appeal all together.

Under Exposed / Correctly Exposed / Over Exposed

There are a variety of different lighting styles to consider when planning a shoot, for example: using low-key lighting style adds more contrast and a darker appearance to an image, whereas using high-key lighting means there is less contrast but a brighter appearance to the image. In addition to this there are the choices to use hard light or soft light, which give the image a sharper look (hard light) or a softer look (soft light). In moving image texts, the villainous character is usually lit with a hard light – occasionally with low-key lighting as well, however it is more common for these two to be combined to light horror films. Low-key lighting and hard lighting can be achieved/created by using a smaller, dimmer light source and a darker room or area, soft lighting and high-key lighting being created in the opposite way (a larger, brighter light source in a more well lit room/area. Where lighting is usually used for visibility and to show the scene to the audience, it can also be used a more stylistic way which tends to be different for each person.

The manipulation and construction of a lighting set-up can vastly alter the look of an image/scene, and allows a person to create and encode meaning and emotion into their product. It also means that the colours, saturation and legibility of the text can be altered – creating a warmer appearance with more orangey hues or a colder and under saturated look.

Bibliography:

Earnest, A (2013) 'Lighting for Production Photography'. Buffalo: Amherst Media.

Lawrence, J (2012) 'Photographing Shadow and Lights'. Amphoto Books.