Veins Stop Motion Test

After I had discussed the previous video with Jen and Dan we decided to test it out to see if it would be smooth enough and if we could make it appear more realistically under the skin.

We liked the results of our test but we decided that we would add more branches on the veins and while we were testing it out, we decided to make the veins thicker and then pool into the hand. That's why in this test, the veins thicken midway through, we plan to make it come from the very beginning of the veins up until the end. We also want to make smaller marks when we do this for the project because the finished product is very fast and less realistic as a spreading of ink.

We plan to use a dedo to light the arm up only so that everything else will be in darkness and this will highlight what is happening to him.

Stop Motion Test

To check that our concept for stop motion would work, we did a brief test. As well as wanting to see if it would work, we wanted to see which style of drawing or paper would work best. We tried three techniques to decide which was smoothest, looked best and was easiest when actually doing it. The first idea we had was to use scrunched pieces of tissue paper to create the lines coming across the wall, but then we also liked the idea of using drawn on lines or dots to create the lines of colour.

When we tested this, we liked the look of the paper most, the smoothest we thought were the dots and the easiest were also the dots. We decided that these would be best to do and we also thought it would tie in with the spheres of colour that appear around our objects and protagonist.

Weightless

Weightless by Erika Janunger describes itself as a short dance/architectural movie about defying gravity. It's simplicity is it's strong point.

Essentially the film features two characters in two rooms whose movements should not necessarily be possible with gravity in play. However, as we watch, the character's move gracefully and with control, they look strongly into the camera and in this way the film is self aware. The women are the only movement in the shots, the backgrounds are sparse and not warmly lit which echoes the song playing in the background.

The film displays the impossible but the characters are so certain of themselves that the viewer can't help but believe that there is no gravity in their situations. The action starts out slowly but begins to speed up as the dancers explore movement in this environment.

In terms of cinematography, the camera is static throughout and this only makes the movements of the two characters more noticeable.

I think this film is well rounded as a dance exploration of defying gravity and is very simplistic to it's advantage.

Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren's Meshes of the Afternoon was also shown during our seminar but this particular film caught my attention. The film utilises circular narrative but changes aspects with each new cycle. The film has various motifs including a hooded figure - possibly symbolising death, with a mirror for a face, a flower on the ground, a knife, a key, etc.

I particularly liked the use of stop tricks between the key and the knife in the sequence with multiple protagonists at a table. This concept of multiple protagonists from different times in the piece is something I'd like to explore through my own film - however, I will only use two protagonists to show the differing sides to the protagonist's mind.

Meshes will be very influential to our piece because we want to use similar stop tricks between objects and watching it had given us more ideas on what kind of thing we could do for our piece.

Ballet Mechanique

In today's session, amongst other experimental films, we watched Ballet Mechanique. I was intrigued to watch it because of the discussion that I'd read in Bordwell's article we'd been given and so I felt that I could read more into the film than I perhaps would have if I had not read the article before hand.

The film juxtaposes human behaviours with images of machines and objects but it observes rhythm throughout the piece - from reading Bordwell's article, I began to see the parallels the filmmakers were drawing between mechanical rhythms and human behaviours through repetitions such as the woman on the swing at the very beginning and the woman on the steps, whose motions become more mechanical after being repeated and being juxtaposed with the imagery of pistons.

There is clear use of cubism, especially in the animated imagery of Charlie Chaplin featured in the beginning and end segments of the film. Cubism can also be related to the shots of objects seen through a prism which are used throughout the film.

I think to begin to comprehend more of the film, I'd need to continue with more reading and re watch the film a few more times.

Veins Stop Motion

This is a very short video, "Stop Motion Test", that I found after searching for stop motion examples, I wanted to see if I could get some examples of smooth stop motion so I could find out how many frames per second other people had used.

This video is not particularly smooth however I really liked the premise of ink spreading throughout a character's body - immediately I thought of colour being integrated into the character after it had started appearing on the walls and had begun to snake towards him. Initially I wanted the colour to pool near him and a physical object, such as a colour ball, come from that which would then roll up the protagonist and become assimilated into his skin when it reached his hand. We could then use this video as a basis for creating the spread up through the protagonist's body.

I am keen to try this out so when we begin filming, I am going to suggest we do a test run to see how smooth we can get it and if we can make the veins appear more under the surface and less obviously drawn on.

Wind Chimes

In terms of sound design, I'd really like to use the sound of wind chimes. I have found some interesting examples of the basic sounds of wind chimes and also some ideas for manipulation of them. From this research, I have found that recordings of wind chimes can be quite diverse, there are a large range of effects that can be gained from the use of wind chimes, I think the manipulation of the sound will make it much more eerie.

The first recording I found is very light and tinkling, in it's own way it creates a mysterious atmosphere, more otherworldly than I was hoping to get though.

The second recording I found has more ochre sounds, using wooden chimes allows for a more earthy atmosphere but I wanted an eerie atmosphere and I think that metal chimes would be better for this.

The third recording I found is very brief but uses the metal chimes. I think this sound is much more playful than I am wanting so I will be sure to try to record a slow tinkling sound that can be manipulated.

Finally, I found a half-speed manipulated wind chimes sound which I really like but I think it'd benefit from further manipulation or a different effect. The same sound artist has manipulated the same track in two further ways, 1000% time stretch and spectral freeze. I prefer the spectral freeze soundtrack, I think this is possibly the closest to the kind of sound that I want to produce as an underlying track for the piece.

Georges Méliès

Georges Méliès is an interesting cinematographer because his life as an illusionist influenced his film making. He accidentally discovered the 'stop-trick' which is a technique that allows the filmmaker to replace or remove an object during the a pause in recording and continue recording once you have amended the scene. This makes an object appear to change, disappear or reappear on camera.

This method is very interesting in terms of our project because we are already using stop motion and want to feature repeated objects in the piece; the use of stop tricks could potentially increase the effectiveness of this repetition by allowing us to interchange the objects in the same setting - I think this would create a more abstract feel and give the audience a basic understanding of the protagonist's confused mind.

Initial Ideas

Our initial idea is to combine a black and white scene with stop motion colour coming out by the end of the film. The set itself will be black and white and the protagonist will also be black and white by the use of costume make up. The introduction of colour will be gradual and will be along the walls, culminating in a physical colour object that will interact with the protagonist. The main theme is the protagonist's constant questioning of why in his psychological state - the word why will appear in various shots on canvas behind the protagonist and during the colour changes. We want to combine this with close up images of the protagonist's face to create a sense of being trapped.

Blackfield

Blackfield by Zadok Ben David is an installation art that I saw a picture of and wanted to read more about so I found out more in this article.

What intrigues me most about the piece is the revealing of colour as the viewer continues around the field. I like that the flowers are deceptive and show two different sides and therefore are meaningful in a multitude of ways for each side.

I would really like to use colour coming out from black and white in the experimental film and if anything, this installation art has inspired me to think about this further.