Research
FMP
2
Adapting a True Story to Screen
Ensuring that I faithfully adapt a true story to screen is something which I have prioritized in this project as the director. There are many different varieties in adaptation, the way you approach the concept could change depending on what your source material is. You could adapt from: a stage play, a dramatized biography, novel, poem, news article, court case, song, fairy tale, an IP, or even real life (this instance). You can adapt from an existing IP or a story which you heard yourself, and there are different processes to complete them well.
Over the decades, adaptations have not been excluded from the cinematic appeal, they boast success in most decades which is why they are still very popular today (more and more so it seems). In this graph below, you can see differences in original stories, sequel stories, and adapted stories in terms of success at US gross. In 2011, you could argue that most of the labelled sequels are also adaptations since they are directly inspired by an original source material. I found this graph interesting because it presents evidence that audiences are still interested in adapted stories today. But what I'm most interested in, is how accurate those 'adapted' stories were to the source material and is it the accuracy that generates success or is it the inaccuracy?
Failure in Adaptation
A film popular for its failure is the live action adaptation of the popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Originally, the show is a work of fiction targeted towards children and generated massive success upon its initial air in 2005 among a diverse range of audiences; once the show had finished in 2008, Nickelodeon green-lit a live action adaption of the series, which was put into production with M. Night Shyamalan as the project's lead. The film flopped on release in 2010 as it begrudgingly upset and greatly disappointed all the audiences that this film desired to please. It left the fans of the original show betrayed and unwilling to see their favourite show being adapted once again. In February 2024 the next adaptation of A:TLA is set to release, and because of the film's lack of respect, this attempt is already being tested. This series is proof that adaptation can be received poorly, whilst it was technically a financial success making 320 million at the box office; both audiences and critics gave this film one of the lowest ratings in cinema history. This forced Nickelodeon to drop the planned franchise of films, understanding that Shyamalan's interpretation of the show didn't meet the expectations of the already popular story.
DIANA - ANALYSIS
There have been many interpretations of the Princess of Wales' story, her infamous popularity has been adapted into hundreds of books and many media developments. Diana (2013) was the first film to bravely take the responsibility of representing the Princess's life leading up to the tragic car accident. Later, Spencer (2021) had another chance at telling her story, but this time earlier in her life, after the 2013 adaptation was received poorly. Whilst the comparison of the two would benefit this project and teach me certain successes and failure's in adaptation, because the films cover different parts of her life, they can hardly be compared fairly. The Crown (2016-2023) was a series depicting the tribulating scandals and hardships that the British Monarchy faced once the late Queen Elizabeth succeeded the throne. The show spans many decades, and in the most recent seasons, the show has told the story of Diana Spencer.
I will compare and analyse Diana (2013)'s poorly received interpretation of the story (according to exceedingly low audience and critic scores) to The Crown's adaptation, in an attempt to understand how to adapt a true story faithfully.
I've taken a scene from Netflix's The Crown and Diana; the scene is when Diana meets Dr Khan. At this point in her life, she had been split from her husband, Prince Charles, for some time; because she was still married, her relationship with Khan was kept quite hidden. The 2013 film covers this relationship in Diana's life from beginning to end, in fact, the film was directly adapted from Kate Snell's Her Last Love uncovering the true story of the relationship through an acclaimed interpretation - seemingly an ideal set-up to the film's production.
I started by watching Naomi's Watt's Diana (film) and studied her acting. Her likeness, in my opinion, isn't at all close to the real Princess of Wales. Her accent didn't come through, her mannerisms weren't as recognizable and generally she doesn't resemble Diana at all. The casting had already felt like a slight betrayal to the original story. Whilst this doesn't hugely effect the success of the adaptation, I still feel that the more loyal you are to the original story, the more credibility the final product can have. Compared to The Crown, Diana felt so much more genuine in her performance; the mannerisms were exaggerated, and the accent was strong, which I don't think bruised the portrayal but, rather, strengthened it. Watt's performance loses a lot of the famous 'Diana' everybody is quite familiar with, whilst Debicki's performance deliberately allowed the mannerisms to be pushed toward the centre of the character in the show.
Contextually, The Crown masterfully places Diana in the position to meet Khan. In both adaptations, Diana meets Khan while at the hospital with her acupuncturist when her husband is undergoing an operation. And both scenes are set up by a scene constructing Diana and the acupuncturist's relationship while in a session. However, Diana (2013) fails here because of why they use this scene as contextual set-up: The Acupuncturist talks to Diana about deserving 'love', Diana talks to her about a dream she's having where somebody is pushing her causing her to fall, and keep falling. The acupuncturist infers that Diana is looking for love, so she should find it. Firstly, this weakens Diana as a protagonist, she doesn't actively discover what she's missing, she has to be told, which makes the later interaction with Khan feel overshadowed by an obligation rather than by a genuine connection. Secondly, it leaves the audience asking more questions: What dream? How does love relate? Why does Diana have a deep connection to the acupuncturist? These question's aren't good for an audience to be left asking as this scene is supposed to set-up the following scene.
This is avoided in The Crown's adaptation. The scene involving Diana and her acupuncturist, shows Diana talking about her son William leaving for school. She quickly moves on and asks about her acupuncturist's husband and his upcoming operation, she insists she come with her to support her. Surrounding this scene (in season 5, episode 7), Martin Bashir is organizing the interview with Diana for the BBC while undercover. This works for two reasons: Firstly, Diana isn't looking for love, as she's more concerned about being a mother, this makes Khan's impact on her more of a surprise which builds on the relationship in a positive way; comparing this to the 2013 adaption, the film portrays her love for Khan in a much less authentic way, shoving a Hollywood 'Want and Need' into a character, who's story is in no way related to such narrative parallels. Secondly, the scene simultaneously sets up it's own factual downfall, the Press. Diana's publicity eventually lead to Khan's clash's with the Press, causing the couple to mutually split.
This is a prime example of how Diana (2013) failed to adapt a true story; they gave Diana a 'Want', which isn't how reality works. The audience loses faith in the fidelity of the film. From these observations I've learnt that as an adaptation, you shouldn't break your trust with the audience, don't give your character a blatant Need or Desire, because an audience can see right through it.
DIANA ANALYSIS - Applying Context
For my project, I will keep this in mind for contextual set-up. For example, when establishing Dr Woodlet and Nick/Emma's relationship in scene 3, I won't blatantly describe that Nick and Emma are looking for Noah to be healed from this disease. Instead, I will simultaneously set up their inevitable flaws that eventually clash with their desires. I will do this by subtly revealing Emma's faith (in which Nick is also absent from, at this time) and also showing Nick's lack of awareness and mental capacity to process such devastating news - advertently establishing his reckless parenting decisions early on the film. Technically, I could do this by using a 'push in' on the camera, by moving the camera subtly towards Nick (or use zoom) as his eyes wander aimlessly in the scene when receiving the news about Perthe's Disease. This will establish his lack of focus on the things around him, setting up this character flaw without directly telling the audience that that is what's going on. To hint at Emma's faith in Nick and/or religion, for this scene, I could have the actress close her eyes at a timed moment, or hold Nick's hand to show her empathy and understanding of Nick's situation.
DIANA RESEARCH - Analysis of Development
I didn't expect to learn what I did from this research section. I went in wanting to learn more about adaptation; how to find success and avoid failure. But instead, I came away with considerably equal valuable information and knowledge that will help me direct this film both technically and creatively. I'm very glad I completed this research; I now have a more cohesive understanding of context in film and how it can be done poorly when setting up characters, conclusions or other story beats. I now know the importance of contextually setting up characters in a subtle way so that the audience don't lose faith in the material. I mainly want to apply this research to scene 3 of Mascot, as it's a perfect opportunity to set up context for each of the leading characters. Unfortunately, this research doesn't directly relate to adapting true stories, it did teach me how true stories apply context but it didn't cover enough about adaptation so that I feel confident to tell Noah's story. So, I will need find a new source and conduct more research in this area.
Overall, this was a complex welcome into the research unit, which I'm grateful for. It immediately kicked me into gear readying myself for the next level of FMP (compared to last year's FMP, which I'm told was much easier compared to this year's). This research really tested my critical thinking skills, which I typically consider to be a strength of mine. I'm glad that I already feel tested, it's helping me prepare for what's to come.
ADAPTATION MASTERCLASS
When writing my proposal I came across a Masterclass held by The Story Department which covers adaptation. It's a short course breaking down what goes into adapting films from different sources, it goes into detail on the important considerations to include when adapting your story and the popular theories surrounding it. I will watch this video and analyse how much it correlates with my work and possibly apply its practices to this film to ensure I adapt the story faithfully and appropriately. One of the first things that stood out to me from this class was Michael Hauge's theory; The 4 Rules of Adaptation:
- Cinematic Concepts
This is the first filter you want to push your story through before engaging your story in anything else. Does the story your telling have a naturally cinematic hook? If not, the time taken to construct the existing concept into a worth while story, is better spent creating your own narrative anyway. Karel Seger (the course lecturer) says you need to have keen eye which can spot the stories destined for the screen. Thankfully, Mascot is a cinematic concept, it resembles popular bio-pics such as The Blind Side.
- Allegiance to the Movie
Hauge says when adapting a story, you allegiance is to the movie, not the story. This confused me at first, for this project, I've made it my priority to ensure that the film reflects the real life story as faithful as I can make it. Seger doesn't go into much detail on this rule so I'm led to reflect on what it means, and how it applies to this project, by myself. If I were to hypothetically apply my allegiance to the movie over the original material, I imagine it will allow for much greater creative freedom in the production stages. But I feel this rule carries more significance surrounding novel adaptations or such similar media types, apposed to bio pics. Book's are structured differently to a film, in that context, I believe ensuring the book translates in to a cinematic format should be where your allegiance lies. I don't disagree with this rule , but I'm unsure as to how it applies to an adaptation of a real life, considering there is a rule relating to this later in Hauge's theory.
- Avoid Condensing Bios to become 'Serialized'
This rule specifies how tricky adapting someone's life can be, you can fall into traps of trying to pack too much into one film. Covering somebody's life in one film is an immense task, and there are probably many events worth covering within the story. Because this film is only 15 minutes in length, I arguably have to be more careful that I don't over-step and cram too much into the story. I've wanted to include a story beat in Mascot which Nick discussed with me last year; Nick was good friends with Dr. Woodlet and could request frequent appointments compared to other patients, this allowed Noah to receive more X-Ray appointments to track his progress. Nick kept insisting on X-Ray appointments to attest for Noah's progress; nearing the end of Noah's Perthey's journey there was a risk that he could develop radiation poisoning due to the excess number of X-Ray's he was receiving for a child his age. I've considered using this as a sub-plot to thread underneath the central story, to show Nick's persistence but also his guilt in pushing his son too far. Whilst it could make for a compelling internal conflict, I think I would be over-cramming the story and cause it to feel unfocused. After considering Hauge's theory, I've decided against using this plot point as I could condense too much of Noah's life into a short space of time, throwing off the pacing. If the film was written in a feature length format, I imagine this beat would fit into the story quite nicely but because of the restrictions I have and the advice of the theory, I will discard the plot line.
- Don't Adapt Your Own Work
Whether it's a novel you've written or a event you've experienced, Hauge makes it clear that you should avoid adapting your own work into film. The central belief or feelings you may wish to replicate could get lost in the translation process. I'd compare it to proof reading your own writing, you'll miss your own mistakes, and won't see the optimal way around the changes that would, in this case, be necessary for the adaptation to succeed.
Fidelity is a term used in Seger's terms of low and high fidelity when adapting a story. Neither end of the continuum is an incorrect form of adaptation, Seger explained that every adaptation you find will fall somewhere along this spectrum. High fidelity films stick very closely to the source material and adapt the characters and events almost exactly how they happened in reality e.g. Ron Howard's The Da Vinci Code (2006) or James Ivory's A Room With a View (1985). Low fidelity films still keep the 4 rules but aren't strictly faithful to the source material; these films aren't always well received because of its lack of fidelity (I call back to The Last Airbender), but some can be highly praised by audiences e.g. Stanely Kubrick's The Shining (1980).
Before seeing this spectrum, I had mentioned many times throughout my proposal and research that I want to remain the most faithful I can be when adapting Noah's story to screen. This theory has developed my understanding of where my project lies and has corrected my approach in developing the narrative further. I know not to cram too much into the story but instead pick a journey and direct all focus onto it. Even though Mascot follows two protagonists, they are both on the same journey, which is what both Hauge and Seger advised to prioritize in their theories - one story, I want to show how a father and son go through the same journey together. I will keep this in mind when directing my film: I'm telling one story between two characters.
I mentioned the Fidelity scale, which Seger introduced in this masterclass, it's a scale that every adapted film has a place on and should be used for any project involving the medium. In my proposal, I said that I want to remain completely faithful to actual story and try not to fabricate any events or characters for my own liking, instead, I want to use the events that actually took place and weave a story through them therefore remaining faithful to the story and the people involved. Because I'm choosing to stay so close to the source material, Mascot would place itself on the faithful end of the fidelity scale. And since Mascot is so committed to the Fidelity scale, I can use this masterclass's lessons and theories and apply them strictly to my work strongly; compared to if Mascot wasn't as applied to the fidelity spectrum. In this way, I can rely on this theory more. For example, to avoid 'serialization' I will avoid jumping ahead in time and keep focused a strict part of Noah's journey when he is eight years old. Originally, I wanted to jump ahead to when Noah was 12 and see him become the Mascot for the world cup, but thanks to this research, I will keep this film contained to one year of his life and see the growth there - not in the final step of the journey.
Push In - Non Zoom (On a Track)
Push In - With Zoom (Still Cam)
I prefer the With Zoom push in (right) as it's more subtle compared to the Non Zoom push in. Zoom feels more controlled rather than panicked, which Nick wouldn't be in this scene, he's composed on the exterior but worried in his eyes. The zoom will slowly help the audience realize this; I feel that the track's unstable nature will make it too obvious (directly going against what I've learnt from this research).
Ensuring Accuracy - The Source Material
QUESTION'S
These are some of the questions and notes I had prepared before the meeting with my Aunt and Uncle where we'd discuss the story and project's scope.
Explain the story that you have:
Noah has been aged up two years - because of accessibility to actors.
Will be working with CADS production company - will have a cast and crew. Will hold auditions and screen tests.
Will be filming in end of March and April.
Narratively...
I wanted to incooperate Christianity into the film, now no longer restricted to 5 minutes so we are making a 15 minute film short film.
Can we enter this film into any film festivals or should wait on that decision?
How much would you guys like to be involved in the casting process?
Would you like to be involved in any production stages, such as: directing actors? Narrative consulting?
I will send over the script for you guys to read, I'd appreciate any feedback and/or changes that you think need to be made.
Permission for photos.
Interviewing Emma and Nick
I did record the interview, which I won't publicly show, but will write the brief contents of what was said.
I began the interview breaking down the narrative of the film and how it correlates to Noah's story.
Am - "I want to start this pitch by clarifying: The narrative this film is inspired by the events of Noah's story and not an exact retelling of what actually happened. I've just sent over a copy of the running draft so whenever you have the time I'd really appreciate you guys looking through the script and sending over some feedback on changes that may need to be made."
Nick - "Of course, I (Nick) am away this week but I'm sure Em will be able to look over the script and send something over." - Em - "Yes, I'd love to do that."
Am - "Thank you. I'd like to also mention that this project has been taken on by CADS, a production company who have been really generous and supportive of the project. I will work alongside them to produce this film which is really encouraging. This allows us to hold auditions and even use industry standard technology and hardware. Which does lead me to my next question. Would either of you like to be involved in the casting process? If you'd like, you can make leading decisions on who is better suited for different roles."
Em - "No, I don't feel that's necessary for us to be involved in casting. To be honest, we don't quite understand that whole process you're talking about! We may slow the project down if we get too involved. I'd be comfortable in letting you lead those decisions."
Nick - "Me as well. I do have a question though: Who will be watching this once it's made?"
Am - "Good question. I'd like to submit this film in one or two film festivals around the country if we manage to finish it in time. We won't make any revenue off of this film since this film won't be an official release anywhere. Technically no audiences will be watching unless we submit the film into festivals. The target audience for this film, however, would be *I read the Target Audience tab from my proposal*."
Am - "Now, the film does need some photographs from that time if that's okay?
Nick and Em - "Yeah I'm sure that will be fine. It depends on what photo's you'd like because we don't know what we have, or what we're allowed to give to you."
Am - "Well, I'd like to have a look at Noah's X-Ray results, both before and after his healing. I don't know if you'll have those in document format however."
Nick - "I imagine we do have those picture somewhere, but you're right, they will only be photo's taken from our phone and not the authentic documents we took the photo of. I could contact the hospital and ask if we could use the documents but I don't know what they could say to that."
Em - " Yeah, we could act as a consultant though, if you do need to confirm accuracy in those areas we'd be more than willing to confirm what you use or make yourself."
Am - "Thank you, that would be helpful. What about photo's from the Wales-Georgia game? I understand that Land Rover/ITV would own those photos but do you have anything that we could use? Do you think we could get in contact with Land Rover and ask for our use of them?"
Nick - "Hmm, that one will be trickier, as you said, Land Rover took the pictures. The last time we asked to get our hands on them, they turned us away, I'm not sure they'll allow that I'm afraid. Even the interview that Noah did is strictly there's."
Am - "Right. No worries then, I'll look into what we can use, and copyright issues surrounding that."
Am - "Back to the narrative of the film. I'd like to mention that in the latest revision of the story, I've wanted to keep your Christian faith present throughout the story. I feel it's crucial part of the story which can't be ignored and should be shown as you wish to represent it."
Em - "Thank you."
Nick - "Wow, thank you that means a lot to us. We believe Noah was completely healed through prayer and faith; that can translate well to the 'determination' you're going for in this film. Thank you."
Am - "Are there any questions you guys would like to add?"
Nick - "When will you be filming the project, and at what point do you think it will be finished?"
Am - "We're planning to film at the end of March and throughout April as it will be a long shoot. We hope to finish the film by the 17th of May which is pushing things to feel quite tight but I think we can do it."
Nick - "Right, thank you. We'll make sure to send over feedback for you to review soon."
Am - "Thanks very much. Thank you for speaking with me today, we'll speak soon, I can keep you updated if you'd like?"
Nick and Em - "Yes thank you, meet soon."
///
I feel the interview has reengaged me to the project as it was quite inspiring to listen to my aunt and uncle's support and excitement for the project. I think they feel comfortable with me pursuing this film and are grateful that I'm trying to stay as faithful to the story as I can. We agreed in the interview that they would send over feedback that they have on the story. I plan to edit this script over the half term using the notes they give me. This is my priority for the film, but I am worried that it may interfere with the baseline narrative I'm running with currently. What if I need to completely remove a character? Or a story beat? How would I work around it considering we've already planned the shoot via story board? I don't suspect there will be many changes I'll need to make but I will keep prepared. I've edited my weekly plan to accommodate for any changes that may need to be made.
Feedback:
Aspect Ratios
This is a research section which Tommy led in our efforts to experiment with aspect ratios and what styles they can give to a film.
*DISCLAIMER* - Screenshots from Tommy's blog page
DIRECTING SCENE ANALYSIS – SUITS – EPISODE 1 – Harvey Specter interviews Mike Ross
Dialogue driven scenes are deceptively controlled by the director more than the writer. In my opinion, dialogue can never drive a scene on its own, whilst it’s still a useful, easy way to tell a story. Typically, dialogue coincides with the relations between the characters, in writing, story is driven by conflict and conflict is found between two character’s contrasting belief’s; with this in mind, director’s prioritise establishing relationships just as much as (if not more than) any dialogue related representation. Here, I’m talking about the way the camera is positioned in a scene, how characters interact with the camera in a specific moment of the story, lighting, audio, reaction shots etc. Everything needs to be thought of when filming a scene that’s telling a story (every scene).
This scene is specifically dialogue driven, but the story is cleverly told through the blocking of the characters, and the shots used to listen in on this conversation. Context: Harvey Specter has just been promoted as Senior Partner in one of New York’s best Law Firms, but with this promotion, self-absorbed Harvey must hire a Harvard Law School graduate as his associate attorney. Mike Ross stumbles into an interview with Harvey himself who soon learns that Mike is just as arrogant, self-absorbed, and genius as he is.
The context has built this moment up to be more of a confrontation, we already know that Mike is more than capable of having this job, he thinks he’s just as good as Harvey, the only thing Mike needs to do is change Harvey’s naïve perception. Harvey is powerful, he owns every room he’s in, the use of low angle shots help keep Harvey standing tall above anyone that tries to go against him. I’ve found through watching this show, the levelling/balance of the camera helps the character either feel directly equal or dominantly powerful. Very few low angles are used in this show when presenting a character (especially any Lawyer). No Lawyer in this show is represented in a low angle shot because the message is: all Lawyers have power, how they use it is what makes them better. For this scene, Harvey begins with his default assumption that nothing good comes from Harvard Law School but humours Mike because of his delightful entrance: escaping from the cops after being busted in a drug deal.
So, the scene begins. Mike sits impatiently in front of Harvey reeling off the whole story, while Mike is surrounded by a room he’s not supposed to be in, tight shots kept on Harvey’s face show the amount of intense pressure Mike is under at this moment. With this look we can see Harvey thinks he's figured this 'dropout' out but Mike still sits freely, equally.
Harvey has had enough at this point and dismisses Mike, it's a 'this was fun' moment, the blunt look on his face says everything. The tight shot pulls out as Harvey attempts to push Mike away. Harvey doesn't feel challenged yet, neither does Mike so the camera is kept equally angled between the two characters.
At this moment, Mike shows to Harvey that he has what it takes, he shows him how arrogant he is. Harvey doesn't expect this, the two are now matched, the tight shots now mirror each other like they're at logger heads. Harvey's met his match.
Harvey now needs to retake the room, he's almost lost control. He forces Mike and him to switch seats and have him test him on his own impressive knowledge. This gives motion to the scene, when everything was still, now they move. We cut to a Long Shot of the room which we started on as if the scene is resetting from the beginning.
When they intend to switch seats, Harvey doesn't sit. He's now determined to prove this 'nobody' wrong, best him. He overshadows Mike whose sat in his seat, Harvey will now always be in low angel shots for the rest of the scene. But despite Harvey's attempt to overshadow Mike, Mike is never shown to weaken, even though Harvey 'owns' the room, Mike continues to stay on equal grounds. Tight shots are used in this scene whenever the character is shown to be pressuring against another character, whenever we, the audience, see a tight CU, we know we're seeing a confident character rather than a weak one.
And then as Harvey tries to shut Mike down Mike retorts and stands to Harvey's level, mirroring each other. They are now both on the same level, same angle; Harvey offers Mike the job which he takes with just as much arrogance as Harvey would've done years ago. And so the mentorship begins.
This scene is an example of how to tell a story through the placement of the camera in a dialogue driven scene, arguably it's just as important as any spoken words that the characters are saying. The scene shows how the characters see themselves, the relationship between them and how that changes throughout the scene; which is the best way to direct any scene: tell the story between the lines. For my film, I will use these techniques to show the relationship between my characters. I will play with the levels of eye lines and where my characters are framed in the shot. For example, when Nick in sat in the stands watching Noah play rugby by himself, they are both alone; and I want the cinematography to amplify this feeling. I will open the scene with two single, wide shots of both the characters leaving a vast amount of empty space to fill the frame while they are both centered. This emptiness will give the effect of them feeling lost and alone. When directing the audience's eye line for this scene, I will keep them both in the same position of the frame. This unites the two characters and establishes a key relationship and support in this instance. Whilst simultaneously, ironically entangling their lives, forcing them to be alone - together.
RESEARCH - EDITING ACTION AND DIALOGUE
When I say editing 'action' I don't mean explosions or gun fights, rather I'm referring to the base movement and 'action' seen when watching a film. The editor has control over what the audience see and how long they see it for, they virtually have complete control over pace, effect and story, just by the way they can manipulate the use of shots and dialogue. For this specific research segment, I'd like to look in depth at editing action - the movement in a scene; why cut to any shot at all? What purpose does this shot bring to the scene at this moment? Why do we cut away from a character at this moment? etc. All of this needs to be thought of when editing a film because it can change the way the audience perceive most elements in the final product.
For this analysis, I will look at a clip from the David Fincher film The Social Network. Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall were the acclaimed editors of this film and their work really shines in this clip here:
Editing technique is really shown off in this clip. In an article by StudioBinder (in https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/how-to-edit-a-dialogue-scene/), they make a point of saying awkwardness and bad editing comes from unmotivated cuts, if the edit cuts to a shot of a character with no impact on the story in that moment or if the edit cuts to a shot that gives us the audience no new information then it is considered unmotivated. Reaction shots are important but not for every line of dialogue, you could consider that reaction shots carry the same amount of significance as dialogue driven shots, whist this can be the case in most scenarios, for this scene it's not. The Social Network as a whole is very dialogue heavy, but for this scene the edit is motivated by action, or, more specifically, the relations shown between the characters.
It's made clear to us at the beginning of this scene that Eduardo feels upstaged by Sean (a seemingly 'better' businessman), this relationship is played throughout the scene through editing techniques which are quite clever: The most notable cuts are the conversations between Sean and Eduardo, the scene is overshadowed by the deposition going on through the film making this diner sequence a 'flashback'.
Eduardo recounts this story. We begin the scene on a mid of Sean, he's speaking with authority over the group who are positioned across the table from him, they appear cramped. We cut to a mid 3-shot of Eduardo, Christy and and Mark, Eduardo is out of focus but Mark sits attentively in-focus just like he's listening attentively focusing on Sean. Because of Mark's visible eye-line we the audience keep listening to what Sean is saying. The edit slowly cuts between the the 3 and then Sean giving time for the us get a feel for the scene; the music is fast as well as the dialogue but the edits are smooth and seamless like Sean in this particular moment.
Sean continues to dazzle the others in his recounts but Eduardo quickly stops him and corrects him, now Sean and Eduardo lock in conversation, as Ed sits forward there is a cut, making his advance feel more energetic. Now the editors use an over-shoulder from Eduardo to keep this conversation directed between the two like a face off. Sometimes characters talk over each other, when they do we make sure that the audience are only looking at the most important speaker. These sorts of techniques happen quite a few times throughout this scene, every cut needs to be motivated by something or else it will feel quite jarring. For most of this scene, Sean lectures the characters on his idea of a business plan, but we see just as much of Eduardo than we do Sean, Ed's reactions are just as important as what Sean is saying. But a reaction isn't just a facial expression, it can be a movement, a change in the shot we were just looking at. Eduardo tends to fidget throughout the scene which helps transition the cuts quite seamlessly. That's what good editing looks like, 'seamless' is a good word to describe it, you don't want the audience thinking about the strange cuts or weird eye-lines, the story can be told just as well through editing.
The main highlight of the scene, which I can't skip out on, is the famous line 'A million dollars isn't cool, you know what's cool?... You?... A--billion dollars.' This line is shown in 3 cuts, but cleverly done so. Sean begins the line then Ed finishes it... seamlessly. The reason why it can be considered to be cut at the perfect moment is because it's cut as the action happens, not before and not after.
In my film, I will keep in mind what I've learnt from this analysis; I need to make sure very cut is motivated by character or story so that no cut is wasted or leaves the audience quite jarred by the strange cut. Editing is key part of telling the story and creating the feeling you want your audience to feel.
Rehearsal
Above is a segment audio recording from the two hour rehearsal I had with Jim and Patrick, two of the actors from the film. From my analysis of The Social Network scene, I applied the dialogue direction to this rehearsal - focusing more on how the lines need to be said, not what the actors are necessarily doing like blocking, or head/hand movements etc. I felt, because of this research, that I could allow the way the lines were spoken to direct the visual elements of the performances and this strategy to directing proved to work by the end of the rehearsal. The rehearsal itself went well, we went on for two hours discussing the scene and breaking down each line individually, understanding what they meant, why they're saying them, and how to say them. I kept expressing which parts of the sentence needed stressing over the other, to get the right meaning across. Sometimes, the actors wouldn't understand so I asked them to try and say the same line, stressing each individual word differently each repetition. This practice worked, and the actors gained an understanding from this exercise that left them satisfied by the end of the rehearsal. Personally, I felt quite nervous going into the rehearsal, as I was directing semi-professional actors for this project. But once we got started, those nerves completely vanished and I got into a flow of directing, I felt like I could talk to Jim and Patrick genuinely about this film and because of that, I didn't hold anything back. In future rehearsals, I will apply these strategies to my directing, that way I will gain a confidence, which I can hold on to for the remainder of the each project.
How to Film a Rugby Game
I rarely see a rugby game filmed 'cinematically', the live coverage of all games are always a series of wide shots overlooking the pitch. In film, I've struggled to find examples. This has been one of my longest running concerns for the project beside finding a young actor; I don't want the rugby sequences to look cheap or a bit naff. As this is a student film, I feel avoiding the bad quality is harder than I expect. Last year, my film had a scene involving a car accident; through effective research, I learnt how to film such a scene without it looking bad but actually believable and compelling. This year, I think I can do the same if I use my experience from the last FMP: practice the shots, reflect on failures, improve in principle photography. This way, I can be the most prepared before filming the scene on the day with an rugby club.
Tommy and I contacted the Long Road sports coach to ask whether we'd be able to film a test sequence with the college rugby team. He took a while to respond, which delayed the process by a week, but we managed to arrange a date with the team for today, 06/03. We've just spoken to Matt, the sports coach, he told us that we have 50 minutes with the team on the field this afternoon, there we can talk to the external Cambridge rugby coach's about what shots we'd like to get and how we're going to get them.
I want the scene to feel alive, chaotic but controlled, I want to give the audience a taste of what rugby truly is. Considering my target audience, they are familiar with the energy of rugby as they play/watch it casually, so I need to match the feel of the game if I want to successfully appease that part of my audience. With this in mind, I want to leave them struggling to keep up with the pacing of the game, as this is what they know. The sequence will jump between different points in the rugby game, which will naturally make the scene feel jumpy, but combined with the shakey-cam and the energy of the players, we should get the right feel before filming.
I was recommended Invictus (2009), a rugby film which tells a story through the eyes a rugby player. I watched this clip from the film, one of the final scenes. I found that the rugby wasn't as intense as what I'd like Mascot to have, the camera isn't very chaotic in movement, there aren't that many cuts to show kinetisism and the music overlaying it is more somber - fitting the context of the scene. I watched this in comparison to a Land Rover advert which played during the 2019 Japan World Cup.
This film perfectly captures the style of rugby I'm looking for, and it's as close a reference as I can get. The advert itself is only 1 minute in length, and I noticed a key detail about all the different sequences that play out throughout the film: the length of each shot. No shot is longer than 2 seconds, they range between half a second to one and a half seconds. The advert never gives the audience a chance to rest, it's constantly jumping between the action and giving us something new to look at keeping the energy of the game flowing. This says quite a lot in relation to my research, keep the action quick and snappy by making the sequence as chaotic as possible, make sure the audience understand what's going on without really seeing it in front of them, let their imaginations piece together all the blanks surrounding the shot. Don't let a shot begin an action, cut into the middle of the action to keep it running - sound design is key for this sequence as well.
Within the sound design, the hits and impacts are amplified. I noticed how each tackle impact or fall to the floor is much louder than the footsteps and the screams on the pitch. This amplifies the energy and strength of the players - even though they're kids, you can feel their strength because of the sound design. For my film, I'll need to think about recording live audio, whilst also trying Foley design. Although, I don't know how much time I'll have for that sort of post-production work, so the sequence may need to use all the audio recorded on the day.
The Rugby Test
I'm just about to go out and film with the college team. My plan is to work with Tommy to direct the players in their training session, filming their tackles, scrums, rucks, tries, whatever we can within the 50 minutes that we have. We are using this storyboard we put together as our reference for shots, but we still want to get more than what's listed now that I know to get as many shots as possible to cut between, thanks to my research.
I'll put together a rough cut with some simple SFX, and use the camera/lenses that we'll be using for the final film, which will be good practice for Tommy.
HOW TO FILM A RUGBY GAME PRACTICALLY
One similarity which I'm carrying over from last year's project is a high-intensity action sequence. In the film of my last FMP, I had to film a car accident practically, it taught me the importance of safety while working on a set with a production team, and how useful Risk Assessments were. For this production, we have a similar scene involving high-intensity action which could result in someone getting seriously injured. We are filming on a rugby pitch, and filming a rugby game; the game is quite violent, and can get quite messy at times. I understand that we won't be filming a competitive game but, regardless, a cameraman, director, audio producer, and actors are being put into the middle of a chaotic sport and their safety is my concern. Making sure the film looks right is one thing, but the methods you take to get there can come a completely different cost. My priority for this scene is to make sure it looks good, and it captures the essence of a rugby game, but ensuring the safety of everyone involved in the making of this scene is just as important and I will make an effort to secure the safety of those involved in a professional and mature manor. I will do this by completing thorough Risk Assessment's prior to filming the rugby scenes, by reflecting on what I took away from the practice sequence, and highlight all the potential hazards that could come from such an intense sequence.
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The college rugby team were super collaborative with Tommy and myself; the minute we got out there, they wanted to help us get the shots we wanted. We put together this shooting script before going out so that we knew exactly what to get and what to ask of the team as to not waste any time. In the end, it ended up helping us the way we intended it to.
I felt obligated to quickly take charge over Tommy and mine's presence in the training session, we didn't want to be seen as two photographers who wanted to hang around for a bit, the team needed to know exactly what we were doing and how we were going to do it. I asked the coaches of the team if I could give a quick brief before they started so that everyone was aware of what we were intending on doing. This cleared up a lot of confusion up from within the players. We asked if everyone was okay with being shown on camera, and everyone agreed. All together, it was a quick and positive start to the session.
The first struggle we ran into during this test was trying to get the camera close enough to the players. I want the audience to feel as if they're in the game, I want to give them a taste of rugby. We started by filming the players competing in a 5v5 touch rugby game; at first we thought this was a good chance to get some competitive footage but we could only find space on the side of the pitch. This meant the shots weren't as interactive as I had liked them to be. It felt like the audience were watching the game rather than being in it. The long pans were the cause of this, technically, the camera was shaky and the energy was high, but we weren't close enough.
The team moved onto running drills quickly after the short game, this gave us a chance to get closer. Unfortunately, we still couldn't get close enough. When reviewing the footage, it still felt that we were working around the players rather than with them, this translated from actuality to the footage. In the final edit from this test, I only used two shots from the drill's, because we were still too far away.
As the lesson came to a close, the rugby coaches gave us a chance to ask the players to do whatever we need them to do and get the camera where we needed it. We were short on time but we had to use everything we were given. This was where we got some brilliant footage; we started by filming shot 3. One of the players volunteered being the subject of the sequence, Hugo, (I knew beforehand that whoever we used may not have great camera awareness so briefed Tommy, telling him that he would need to work around this problem as best he could on the fly). The players understood the shots well and executed them flawlessly. This was where we could get the camera into the chaos and action of the tackles and rucks. A player nearly hit the camera out of Tommy's hand at one point, which could've been a concern. Because we're borrowing the camera off of someone else, we need to be extra careful with it. Before filming, we should probably insure the camera and all of our equipment we'll be using, this will pay for any damages that may be unavoidable on the day. I will specify this in my risk assessment to cover this.
When filming these specific shots, Tommy was running into the action as best he could and getting some good shots, however, I couldn't see the monitor and understand what notes to give to improve the shots. Between shots we needed to stop and look over the footage for me to give notes to actors and Tommy. This wasted time, I didn't know how else to work around it in the moment. Looking back, during the reset of the same shot Tommy and I could have looked over the previously captured shot, this means: by the time we finished, the players are ready to film again, not wasting as much time. There is the option of using a secondary monitor, externally; but firstly, we don't have direct access to one, secondly, the camera doesn't have a blue tooth setting so the monitor would need to be wired in. A wired connection could trip people up while filming these scenes so it may not be an option. For now, we will continue with the review/reset method as this is the most time efficient process.
In the storyboard above, shot 5 is notably the most technical shot in the whole sequence. It's a fixed tracking shot, acting as a POV from the character Nick's perspective. I believe the shot uses what's called a 'snorri cam' to capture the effect. This shot is quite significant for the film as it center's Nick as the leading character within the chaos of rugby, it then acts as the transition into the next shot as it 'match cuts' into the hospital - carrying the same energy from the pitch, into Nick's personal life. With all this in mind, I don't want this shot to simply be cut from the film because of the amount of preparation and significance this shot has. So the first thought that comes to mind is: How do we make a snorri cam without owning the detailed rig? Another consideration is: How safe is this make shift rig that we might create, what precautions do we need to consider? We don't want to be adding more hazards to the rugby shoot. I found this video on YouTube, a really simple tutorial that's easy to follow that only involves two belts and a camera. I will test this later in my project to see if it's a viable solution to this problem.
My practice for this sequence has led me to a few conclusions: To capture the desired feeling of being in the game, we need to get the camera as close to the action as we can. When directing Tommy I said to let the footage be as shaky as possible for that kinetic feel, because he was using a Z-Grip this wasn't a problem, but at times, I felt that the film is too chaotic and needs to have the hand held motion leveled more. I brought this note to Tommy and he said that there isn't much he can do to limit it, so, I'd like to look at maybe using a stabilizing gimbal and then add shake in post - this needs to be tested. I didn't really get a chance to think about audio during this test, I believe we can capture most of the raw audio with someone who's willing to run around with Tommy to capture the audio - minimizing the need for Foley. Finally, I think there are many more hazards to consider when completing a risk assessment than I had anticipated. Safety of cast and crew is very important and must be reflected on and accounted for before principle photography. Overall, this test was incredibly useful and I now feel much more prepared to film with the Royston rugby club. Once I've got the noted elements tested, I think the final sequence will turn out really well, and to the standard of professionalism I'm after, and achieve the feeling of a real rugby game.
EDITED SEQUENCE:
The Snorricam
This specialized rig is one of the only two ways to get the desired shot that I'd like in the final film. The shot is critical to the film as it demonstrates how Nick's rugby life has translated to his personal life. I want the high energy to be carried over into the next sequence through a clever match cut, and this can only be done by using a snorricam.
Traditionally, a snorricam is used to visually imply that a character is intoxicated. The shot naturally makes the world spin around the subject, which resembles the familiar feeling of being light headed - most people can connect this to being drunk. The rig was popularized by Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream (2000) through a series of famous shots featuring Jennifer Connelly's character stumbling around her apartment complex. The effect is quite off-putting. It, personally, reminds me of a fish-eye/bowl lens, but infused with a reversed POV. Ironically, the shot is typically used to signify someone lacking the ability to focus on the world around them but perfectly shows a focus on the character themselves. I tried a similar effect in my last FMP, the head stabilization effect, popularized by David Fincher and then later reinvented by the Beats by Dre advertisements. That effect could be considered as the digitalised interpretation of the snorricam as it has less limitations than the rig. But as I mentioned previously, the wideness of the lens can't be digitally created with the stabilization effect (unless the entire shot is computer generated), which means that the fish-eye look would be missing. I also think that the digital effect would be harder to film as the camera is connected to the actor physically, which could result in the shot looking worse than if we used a faulty rig.
A benefit of using the snorricam over the digital effect, is the freedom the actor has on all the dimensional axis'. The actor is free to rotate, scale, run, walk, without needing a cameraman to keep up with there motion perfectly. The amplifies that motion and captures the effect I'm experimenting with: complete focus.
I mentioned before that the snorricam is often used to make the subject appear intoxicated. To contrast this popular example, I'm going to instead use the rig to show a character's focus. Contextually, I'm using this shot in the middle of a rugby game, I believe using this shot on Nick will perfectly demonstrate his focus within the spinning chaos around him. It will also allow the audience to understand that Nick is the central character, they can assume that we will follow Nick and his story.
I started my research by finding the right tutorial which examples how to make your own snorricam rig while on a low budget. I found this tutorial from 2016, where they go into the right amount of detail to create the rig with only two belts and a tripod. You have to wear a belt normally, then spread the legs of the tripod so that one tucks into your waist and is held tightly by your belt. Then, wrap another belt around your torso tying the other two legs of the tripod to your side. This is the majority of the set up - you also need to position and stabilize the camera appropriately to frame your shot.
When applying this to our own research, Tommy wanted to be the subject of the shot, which gave me the responsibility of working the rig. When first trying to wrap the belts around Tommy, we found that the belt was too short to accommodate for the abnormally large tripod. I had to find another belt and tie the two together to make an extra long belt; this lead to the rig becoming unstable, whilst the two belts did hold the tripod together, it wasn't a firm enough grip which led the rig to shake more than we'd have liked. In future, we could use a longer belt that can wrap securely round the tripod, this will keep the rig more secure on the actor. Another problem we faced was how much pain Tommy was in because of the tripod. The leg resting on his belt was pushing into him, which made walking quite uncomfortable, let alone running. Tommy couldn't move as freely as he had hoped, which limited the amount of freedom the shot can have. To fix this, I tried holding the weight of the tripod in my hand and walked with Tommy as he moved around. This worked, however, it didn't work while he was running with the camera as I couldn't balance the weight without it looking hand held, it ended up losing the desired effect. To work around this problem before filming: we've decided to pad the tripod leg as best we can so it doesn't push into the actor and cause as much pain. Unfortunately, when running, Tommy needed to hold the snorricam up slightly otherwise it would've fallen. This led to the shot losing the snorricam effect by a small margin - something which I'll have to compromise with for now as I can't think of another way to work around this.
When editing the footage, we realised that the frame was too tight on Tommy's face in places. So when we applied the aspect ratio, we cut some quintessential parts of the frame. I think this was because of the camera's natural positioning compared to Tommy; because of the rig, the camera is naturally quite close to the subject's face. This is a simple fix, when filming with this rig in principle photography, we need to remember to widen the frame slightly to accommodate for the aspect ratios, this can be done with an 18mm lens.
Despite these problems, I think the effect turned out surprisingly well. When reviewing the footage, I was quite surprised to see how similar it looked to the professional standard. Overall, the effect was successful and the actual completion of the effect is quite simple - making me feel confident enough to be able to do this effect when filming my project. In future, I will use a longer belt to keep the tripod more secure on the actor, and also pad the legs to lessen any pain the actor might experience. I also will remember to widen the shot using a smaller lens to accommodate for the aspect ratios, to avoid losing the actor's head and shoulders in the final cut. I feel ready to move on to more research.
EDITED SEQUENCES:
The Gimbal Tests
Upon reflecting on the rugby team test, I thought the footage was too shaky at times in the edit. I do want the footage to look and feel chaotic, and natural camera shake is the best way to give this effect, but at times, you couldn't make out what was going on in the frame, so much so, that it became distracting. Because of this complication, we have considered using the Ronin DJI, a gimbal which the college has offered to let us use off-site, which opens up our options in many different avenues of this production. Having access to a stabilizing gimbal, off-site, will allow us to get certain shots which would've been harder to catch with just a dolly, or shoulder-mount. There is the potential that we could utilize the gimbal's capabilities elsewhere in the production, in other sequences involving a mobile camera.
I have used this rig before, in my last FMP, I tested its handling, uses, and types of shots I was thinking of getting for my film. The one drawback, which led me against using the gimbal, was its inaccessibility to me off-site. As a year one student, I wasn't allowed to take the rig off-site; but with that limitation gone, the technician has given the green-light to let me take the rig off-site. Considering everything, I'm open to begin tests with the DJI again, and plan potential scenes with the gimbal in mind. My main curiosity with the DJI is where its stabilizing limits lie. I want to test its strengths and weaknesses and how we can utilize the former and avoid the latter.
Tommy and I took the gimbal outside to test its stabilizing capabilities and filmed me doing some running in multiple different ways. We started by getting a half, mid shot of me sprinting down the pitch, with Tommy tracking next to me. This is one of the shots we got from the test rugby sequence, so thought we'd compare the two in post to see direct improvements. We then tried getting a tracking shot, from behind, of me running straight ahead; we did this test both axis of Tommy running sideways, and then forward with the camera. In review, we found that you couldn't tell the difference between Tommy running sideways or forwards, other than the fact that he was fast enough to keep up with me going side ways. To counter this, we'll ask the subject to slow down, to match the speed of the camera, that way, it won't look like they're overtaking, or Tommy is running too slowly.
We also got a similar shot to the tracking shot from behind, rather this time, we wanted to test the camera's ability to track a subject who's weaving outside of a straight line. This is where the gimbal struggled; when I was swerving, I was even telling Tommy which direction I was about to go, and the gimbal still took a long time to reframe me. And the motion was also suddenly noticeably robotic. This was a cause for concern for us, we knew from this shot, that we can't track a wildly moving target.
When editing the footage, I didn't like how smooth the shots were. In our efforts to remove too much shake, we ended up completely removing it and it didn't end up having that kinetic feel I wanted. So I looked into artificial camera shake, and how to complete that sort of effect in premier pro. Unfortunately, there is no direct method to create artificial camera shake in existing footage. I had an idea to warp the footage slightly to make it looks more shaky, so I studied this YouTube tutorial to learn the different ways you could add warp.
The video was really helpful in giving lots of different options for me to use to warp footage. I thought I could use turbulent displacement and slightly adjust the 'twist' settings to create a 'shaky' look. This worked really well in the final effect so went with it for final cut of the test sequence. I liked the differences between the two versions. The edit with turbulent displacement was clearly better than the original footage. Whilst it doesn't exactly make you think you're watching a hand-held camera, the effect captures that kinetic feel, which is what I'm after. I did notice that the quality of the footage dropped when adding the warp, you can notice the resolution slightly more. To work around this for the actual effect, I either try to increase the resolution on the camera. Or, slightly mis-calibrate the gimbal so that it isn't as smooth and appears more shaky.
Overall, I was really happy with this effect, but after completing it, I learnt some disappointing news. The college wouldn't let us use their gimbal off-site if we were putting it in a dangerous situation (like the rugby sequence). Because of this, they denied our access to the college gimbal and told us we had to figure out another way to capture that footage. However, from these tests, I didn't want to waste any of the research, so I took to my local Facebook reporting page and asked if anyone had a gimbal which they could spare for a few filming days in April. Luckily, a freelance photographer, Joseph, wasn't using his DJI RS3 gimbal over the course of April and offered it to us for the entire month. This was outstanding news, and we took Joseph's offer.
What truly directs the decisions behind the films everyone is watching today, is the production studio's consideration of their market. I completed a short essay last year, researching the causes of today's unoriginal market, on whether audiences are still interested in original ideas or if they actually are only interested in sequels and remakes. I concluded that audiences are eager for original stories over something they've seen before, but executive's are now starting to redirect their vision to meet this standard. My film is an original concept based off of a true story, one of the main marketing features of this film will be it's fidelity and core beginnings. Audiences, these days, naturally gravitate toward 'true stories', you can see success in films like The Social Network (2010), or more recent successes such as Oppenheimer (2023) or Napoleon (2023); all films inspired by true stories, and all films that financially thrived. I think the fact that this story is true is enough credit that producers would admire to begin marketing the film. But I don't want to stop here, I want to find a nicher audience to establish a deeper connection with certain types of people; to really drive home a message and a theme that will resonate with people and get them thinking.
Pen Portrait
A perfect audience member for this film would be an adult 35 year old male, on the cusp of fatherhood. They would be a Christian, white, middle class Welshman living in suburban Cardiff who is an avid fan of the the Six Nations and the Rugby World Cup, supporting Wales and part of the local club. He's just discovered that his pregnant, 37 year old wife, of five years, is having a son, this would be his first child. He isn't too sure how he feels about becoming a father, none of his friends or siblings (two brothers) are father's so he's never had experience as an uncle. He would also attend, and be heavily involved, in his city church, where he shares mutual friendships among the congregation of roughly five hundred. The majority of his core friend group, however, are non-Christians from his work as a successful physiotherapist. He would be someone who doesn't feel completely ready to welcome a son into the world but wants to make sure they do it right. Fatherhood is one of the central themes that this film will follow, it shows the importance of being daring but also the necessity for responsibility even when it seems unfair. The film also revolves around the pursuit of a rugby career. This audience member would arguably be similar to this as well, he would need to also relate to Noah, as well as Nick, in terms of who this man wanted to be when he was a child, at Noah's age.
Primary Target Audience
The audience I want this film to appeal to the most is fathers. Specifically, fathers with young children. The film's leading protagonist matches this description, which is why I think the audience that will relate to the film the most will be that character type. Philosophically, the narrative of this film focuses on family, and parenting themes to be more specific. Throughout the film, Nick is constantly faced with the decision to give his son his dream or face his son with reality, a choice that a lot of parents can relate with. Often, those two pathways don't walk hand in hand, the typically contrast each other, as they do in this film. The real life Emma and Nick certainly related to this when discussing with me about the story before this project had even begun. A father with a young child will certainly relate to this choice, especially if they fall closer to the circumstance represented.
Secondary Target Audience
Noah has Perthey's disease. This is a disease which is most commonly found in children, that does its damage to the person from a young age which then slowly progresses positively into adulthood; the only downside however, is that it has already stalled development since childhood, leaving behind nasty repercussions in later life. But since the disease is at its worse when between the ages of 6 and 12, the parent is the only one mentally exposed to the disease's effects. I say this, because when talking with my cousin, Noah, he said that he doesn't remember much of his time with Perthey's and, personally, he doesn't feel as impacted by the story compared to his parents. Since he was miraculously healed from such a young age, he never really had to deal with the traditional 'aftermath' that comes with the disease. Which is why when I'm considering my primary audience, I'm conscious of the sensitivities surrounding parenting a child with a disability. The parent is sometimes arguably just as affected by the condition as the child, purely due to the mental pressures and responsibilities they must be going through. By considering this, I will need to be sensitive and accurate in how I represent Nick and Emma's struggle as parents, because they aren't just parenting a normal kid. I need to consider Emma and Nick's actual experiences as well as how that would resonate with this specific target audience.
Generally, parents that have children will watch this film as it will speak to them the most. Not the children, but the parents. When researching targeting parents as a primary audience in film, I learnt something quite interesting which led me to settle on my secondary audience.
Stephen Follows published a short research article (https://stephenfollows.com/what-older-cinemagoers-are-watching/) in 2016, which gathered box office numbers and compared the age demographics that made up the total figures proportionally. In his findings, was a clear indicator to what parents suggestively watch - whatever their kids are watching. Every film outside of the 35-44 bracket seemed predictable accept this one outlier. Comparing it to the 7-14 bracket and seeing how they both share an animated film, I've concluded that parents are forced to watch whatever their kids are watching at the time. This research caused me to consider my secondary target audience.
If I'm going to appeal to parents then I must ensure that the film is suitable for children as they will be watching it too. Not only will they be watching it, but to get the parents in the seats of the theater, I'd need the children to be able to relate to it on some level as well. I can't use expertly complex dialogue, bad language, I can't show violence or immediate threat, these are things which I now need to consider knowing that if I'm targeting parents as my primary audience, I must also accommodate for their children - appealing to them.
Tertiary Target Audience
The next bracket down from my central audience will generally appeal to those who have a keen interest in short form content, as well as an interest in the coming-of-age, sport drama genre. For this section of my research, I will look into age demographics and explore which ages are more likely to watch these types of films. When looking into different ages at the cinema, categorized by genre (https://stephenfollows.com/do-older-audiences-want-to-watch-older-actors/), I was surprised to see that the sports genre is evenly covered by almost all ages.
Target Audience
Seeing these statistics has led me to a few conclusions when considering my target audience on a wider scale. It must be marketable to large age range, particularly 20-35 years. This isn't my intended age bracket within my primary target audience, however, when considering the themes of my film involving family and faith (conventions not typically found in sport's dramas), I could lean more towards calling this film a 'family' film. When analyzing this graph as well as combining these findings to my film's genre convention's, I can see that the 'family' genre would be more fitting to appropriately classify this film; therefore, my tertiary audience would branch out to parents and kids rather than individual groups between 18-29.
https://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/normal-attention-span-expectations-by-age. In this study by Brain Balance, I was interested to learn that children between the ages of 6 and 10, on average, tend to have an attention span of 18 minutes. This perfectly aligns with the length of film I making for this other part of my audience - 17 pages = 17 minutes of screen time. Short form content is seemingly a positive medium for kids to keep interested in as it doesn't go on for hours at a time. The products are short, and the interest is compact.
With all of this in mind, I can confidently say that my initial thoughts for my wider target audience has changed. The film I intend to make will heavily involve the conventions of a family film whilst also incorporating stereotypical conventions found from sports drama's as well as coming-of-age stories (arguably coming-of-age is more a narrative trope rather a genre). This will ensure that my primary audience will get the most enjoyment out of core material, and their kids will also keep their attention on the film enabling their enjoyment, thanks to its short form format and relatable 'family' conventions. And finally, my tertiary audience has now been fully realized thanks to these studies; this film will appeal to avid viewers of short form content and family genre films
COLORING RESEARCH
I started by talking Tommy, who volunteers as a photographer and edits using premier pro; he also worked as the cinematographer for the summer project. We decided to look at the film and do some basic colour correction on an adjustment layer with Tommy walking me through the process.
The first thing that stuck out to me was how small the changes you make need to be, or else the image will end up looking over blown. Tommy, as a guide, was really helpful, he was very simple in his instructions and explained to me why I needed to do certain things. He suggested I played around with all the dials to get familiar with what they do; this suggestion helped me in exactly the way he thought it would.
Tommy explained clearly that CONTRAST is key when starting a coloring composition. Contrast gives a visual layer the vibrancy that traditional films typically use.
This was the second video I looked at when beginning my research, it was incredibly helpful. It talked, in enough detail, about the fundamentals of colour theory and how they could apply to photography or videography. Although the creator didn't describe every element in complete depth, I still came away from the video having developed enough understanding to begin a practical test in Premier Pro.
I intend to use a shot from my short film with a naturally high, dynamic contrast, and apply the different fundamental levels of colour theory and assess how they change the feel of the shot. I then will have developed a familiarity with the tools and characteristics of the program to begin a colour correction process on the short film project.
HUE
Hue is arguably the most influential characteristic of the colour wheel. It's the selection of colour you want an object or visual asset to be. The hue, of a thing will typically refer to primary and secondary colours (Blue, Green, Yellow, Red, Orange and Purple) but can sometimes refer to the tertiary colours where neither colour is dominant. Hue is rarely manipulated in colouring a film since even slight changes can make a vast difference to the image.
I'll try moving the hue around in a shot to see what difference it makes, and maybe discover new look which I might move forward with.
No Hue
Blue Hue
What surprised me the most about this test was how usable the result was. I manipulated the overall whites of the image to a bluer hue, this surprisingly worked out. Both shots are backlit with the TV which makes the blue work. If I did this on a sunny shot, it wouldn't have worked as well. The right shot shows a colder scene, the contrast of the lamp brings the characters forward which is what I think makes this bizarre test work so well. If the lamp wasn't there, the shot would look over-blown. The skin tones also balanced well in this change, to improve the shot, I'd lower the highlights on his cheeks and forehead slightly. His shirt becomes a neon colour, which is my only problem with the change, it looks as if there's a blue light shining on his shirt; the TV is behind him so this shouldn't be as strong as it is. Maybe if I tone down the intensity of the other levels I'd find a more balanced shot.
From this test, I've learnt how much control hue has over the scene. It can completely rework the look and feel of a shot. I think if I used it to change any other colour other than white, the shot would look completely unbalanced.
Green Hue
This shot above is an example of what happened when I changed the hue of the blues to a greener scale. I'm surprised by how much the shot appears to be split in half; the left side of the shot is bluer and the right side of the shot is layered in green. Even though this is a subtle change, hue should really only be used if absolutely necessary, first, use the other levels on the spectrum.
SATURATION
Saturation is used to increase or decrease the vibrancy or intensity of a chosen colour or the overall image. Saturation is actually one of the only levels that can be used to completely remove any colour from a given image:
Low Saturation
I used this technique in my music video unit last year. It's strange how much of the colour your brain fills in during this process; in my eyes, the lamp still looks red. The effect really helped my music video to give it a style, however, without a basic layer of colour correction underneath, the image can come away feeling flat. If I am to film my FMP in black and white, I need to ensure I light the scene enough so that there is enough contrast to bring the actors forward in the frame.
High Saturation
A higher saturation brings up the natural look of the image, if the raw footage is naturally quite warm, a high saturation intensifies that look. In the shot below, the pale green becomes a lot more vibrant, the blue is much more noticeable in his shirt, and the cabinets around him are no longer white but instead yellow. I would use this tool to make a dull looking shot pop in the frame better. If I hadn't adjusted the camera settings correctly on the filming day, then I would use saturation to get the general vibrancy correct.
High Saturation
LUMINOSITY
Another term used to describe luminosity would be tint, it controls the brightness of a colour selected. In the the art world, a tinted set of colours could be classified as pastel; the natural paleness of the colours gave them their own colour wheel. Luminosity is generally controlled by how much white or black is used in a colour; the more white you use the lighter and less saturated the the colour becomes, and the more black you use, the darker and less saturated the colour becomes.
When researching luminosity, I came across a website designed for artists called BeachPainting.com, it talked a lot about colour theories and even the different forms of the colour spectrum. It mentioned that Luminosity is similar to saturation in that it can control the vibrancy of a specific colour. But the detail which makes Luminosity unique is how it's colour scale looks compared to saturation's.
Saturation Scale
Saturation's most intense colour is the farthest point to the right, the base colour's vibrancy can be increased by increasing the saturation.
Luminosity Scale
Luminosity cannot increase the base colour vibrancy in any way. The base colour on the scale is the highest vibrancy luminosity can reach for that colour.
Pale Luminosity
In my tests, I became curious as to how losing brightness could effect the image. The result gives a sickly look to everything in the frame; the main subject looks quite unwell, and the TV looks decades old. The shot generally feels older, it looks like it was filmed in a different time, decades before now.
Darker Luminosity
The frame looks warmer without feeling too over-blown, however, there isn't much contrast in the image. Because the blacks in all the colours have been intensified, the predominant colour in the image overrules all the others - that being: red. The lack of contrast makes the image feel too flat, the shadows in the original image have lost their impact because of the increase in blacks in the image.
TEMPERATURE
Temperature refers to how cold or warm an image looks; the more blue an image is, the colder it looks, and the more orange the image is, the warmer it looks. I tested the temperature dial on the same shot to see the differences. To my surprise, I think dampening the shot with the colder temperature improves the shot quite seamlessly. It brings out the natural contrast we had when filming whilst also still keeping quite warm; the TV is a little too blue for me but overall, I welcome change.
When increasing the richness in warmth, I knew it wouldn't work well considering the raw footage is already very warm because of the natural lighting composition. The whole shot feels unbalanced, the TV is unnaturally yellow, the actor's face is uncannily orange. Thanks to this temperature test, I've learnt that I'd only use the temperature dial to create contrast against the opposite end of the scale: if the the film is naturally cold, bump up the warmth, if naturally warm, the other way around.
SUBJECTIVITY AND COLOR HARMONY
Our perception of color is subjective and cannot strictly be determined by an algorithm or any advanced science. When we see a selection of colors, some will feel joy, inspiration, others could feel saddened or disheartened; it's impossible to target an exact feeling that any one selection could trigger. This is what subjectivity is. I noticed, from my earlier research, that temperature is determined by how orange or blue the image is. Tonally, blue can (generally) create a sad, lonely experience when viewed on screen; that could be because of how cold blue can make a scene look. This example proves that color can be used tonally for a general audience, but how far does this go?
In Kay's color theory video he suggested Adobe Colour as a free tool which can be used to define an infinite number of colour selections from the colour wheel which work cohesively. I don't know what I'd use this tool for exactly but I have tried using the wheel myself to see what groups of colours work in harmony. I find the program slightly useless in my current understanding of colour; but I'm sure once I develop my skills further in this medium, I'd be able to demonstrate a product which would perhaps utilise the applications the software has to offer (poster design, web design, physical art etc.)
RESEARCH REFLECTION
Based on this research, I feel I've gained a substantial understanding of colouring preparing me for my FMP and the media product I desire to make. From my helpful videos and peer reviews, I learnt of the importance of contrast, colour harmony, and how colour can change the feel of a scene. I aimed to complete a colour correction edit for the short film I made over the summer; I did this, using what I learnt from the research I've documented. I didn't run into issues because in this part of the process, there aren't really many issues you can run into. Colour correction is just trial and error; testing a look, asking: 'Does it work?', moving forward from the evaluated response, and then finishing with a style you're eventually happy with. The only issue I could think of that I did encounter was how my eyes grew tired from over exposure to the colour wheel. Due to the picture constantly changing, I found that the shot I was looking at started to feel less and less real, the colours started blending together. I decided to take a break from the project for a few hours then resume. I'm glad I did this, when I came back to the project, my judgement was clearer and I could appropriately analyse the state of the colour grade. I now know to take frequent breaks whilst colour grading so to not distort or compromise your accuracy in noticing crucial details that could affect your final product.
For my FMP, I know I need to decide on a rough look for the film before hand; if the set is naturally warm, cooling the shot in post with a bluer hue will add a simple but effective contrast. I'd like to create a base contrast for the film using drama genre stereotypes and conventions. This will immediately tell my audience exactly what film they're watching purely based off of colour spectrum alone.
To conclude, I met the task I set out to complete, I completed a base colour grade on the summer short film: Will Man, using the research completed here on this blog. I feel my understanding of colour, harmonies, subjectivity and the tools in Premier Pro have dramatically improved since beginning this task. My approach to colour grading has changed from a dreading skepticism, to a curious excitement. Even though the adjustments you make are only slight, there are still so many different visual possibilities that your film can take.
This shot here uses the typical conventions you'd find in a drama film. The dark, gloomy background, contrasting against brightly lit foreground. The illumination creates a sense of discovery in the midst of darkness surrounding the subject. The dark light is trying to wrap around the subject. The canvas almost looks like it's emitting the light itself.