Bloody Square Law Week: 13th April - 19th April

So, this bloody inverse square law is doing my head in! Every time I think I am close to working it out, I find something that makes me go back to the beginning to try and understand what it all means!!!! It's starting to drive me batty! It probably has not helped that we have been filming on location this week for our group project and I am absolutely knackered!

Anyways, I have found some more information about the inverse square law. If a light is say for example 1 metre away from the subject then we work out the lighting ratio and percentage like this: 1 metre squared  = 1x1=1 which makes the lighting ratio (fraction) 1/1, therefore, the light intensity is 100%. If you move the light back, however, it does not halve the light intensity but quarters it because 2 metres squared = 2x2=4 which makes the lighting ratio (fraction) 1/4 = 25%.

Here's a few links to videos on the inverse law and its application to cinematography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GasmmsK6k84

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saJSCGk7C_g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3aa-CJYhGU

It has been really hard to find a video or even photos that show the difference in light intensity over distance without the shutter speed or the aperture of the camera being changed. I managed to find two examples of images that show the difference in light intensity over distance out of everything that I have found during my research.

Examples of images showing the change in light intensity

Well, I really hope I am going down the right path with this topic and I hope I can teach my class mates something when I present all of my information to them.

Non-dialogue Week: 6th April - 12th April

As I have already stated in two of my other posts, I am super busy with the group project - Beast of Fawkes. I have done a tiny bit of work on my non-dialogue script. I have just been working out the details and the sequence of events that will happen in my film. I am finding writing this particular script easy to write because in the past when I was studying animation, all of my short films were non-dialogue. I am just hoping that I have taken in all the things I have learned in class about big print and applied that to my own piece.

I will hopefully find some time to work on my script next week and see if my story works, is coherent and well written. Only a couple weeks and the finished script is due! Eeeeekkkk!!!!!!

Scene 1

Inverse What? Week: 6th April - 12th April

I am sooooo busy with the group project at the moment that i have not had much time to do anything to do with cinematography. However, I have managed to do some more research on the inverse square law. As I have said previously, this topic is mind boggling but I think I am slowly coming to terms with it - I mean SLOWWWWLLLLYYYY!!!!!

The definition that I have found to describe the inverse square law and it's application to cinematography is: "The intensity of illumination is proportional to the inverse square of the distance from the light source."
The inverse square law applies to cinematography in relation to lighting and I have deciphered the above statement to mean that the inverse square law is a formula for the intensity of light over distance. This means that light becomes less intense the further away it is moved from the subject. That's as far as I have researched about it so far, although I have peeked at the next bit of research which is something to do with lighting ratios, so I guess that will have to be next week's mission. For now the inverse square law will have to wait while I go and be a producer, caterer, runner or whatever other position may need filled on set for our group project!

Light intensity

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Chaotic Madness Week: 6th April - 12th April

Well, what a week this has been! I have had many really late nights this week but I hopefully have everything sorted now (fingers crossed). I have been busy doing all the things that I put in my last blog that I needed to sort this week.

I finally got our Pledge Me project completed with rewards and information for submission to the Pledge Me co-ordinators. They will look through it and make sure that everything is in order, approve it and then I will be able to make the campaign go live after adding a few extra things to it! So, in a few days, I should be able to put up our crowd funding campaign and fingers crossed we reach our target.

I also created a website for Small Colossus Media. I used wix.com to create the site. It is a free website making site and is so simple to use. I used concept art from the project for the website.
Check it out at: http://smallcolossusmedia.wix.com/smallcolossusmedia

I have sorted out the catering menu and Tony, Iris and I will be sorting out the food and unit stuff for every day of the shoot. We have been given permission to use the Speed Boat Club rooms as unit base, where we can cook food and go back to eat under cover out of the weather. Food is such an expensive thing to buy, although we have come in under budget for the catering budget, so that's a bonus!

We have had the film crew out this week doing some test shoots and they have worked out how to film a few things. Oh, I forgot to mention that all of our crew is back after their internships!

Last but not least, Sarah and I worked together and worked out movement orders and logistical issues. We are pretty much ready to go film a movie! So, fingers crossed we have sorted everything and haven't forgotten anything! Let's make a movie!!!!!

Diffusing the Scene Week: 30th March - 5th April

This week in cinematography we did a class exercise in diffusion. We experimented with a small diffuse screen and then a large diffuse screen set up on the butterfly frame. We used a Rifa light as a backing light and a Fren-L as the key light. 

We started off with the small diffuse screen and had it an even distance between the subject and the key light. We did a take with the diffuse screen closer to the key light and then one closer to the subject. The further the diffuse screen was from the subject, the darker the footage appeared. We then pulled the key light closer and did the same experiments with the diffuse screen - putting the diffuse screen at an even distance between the key light and subject, then moving the diffuse closer to the light and then closer to the subject. Again the footage became darker when the diffuse screen was moved closer to the light. When the diffusion screen was closer, it acted as another light source because it became a medium  for transferring the original light source.

We took the small diffuse screen and put the large diffuse screen into position. We did the same experiments with the large diffuse as we did with the small diffuse.. When the light was at a further distance and the diffuse screen was closer to the light, the shadows were softer but when the diffuse was closer to the subject than the key light, the light was more intense but focused more in one spot. The diffuse in these experiments needed to be moved back from the subject to spread the light source and make the light softer. This makes the subject look more flattering. Here is an example (below) that I found on the internet, that shows the difference between harsh and soft light and how much more flattering soft light is compared to harsh light.

Example of harsh versus soft light

Here is the link to a YouTube video that I found that talks about diffusion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4z5Py1GHU9c 

I have been researching the inverse square law and it is frying my brain. It is such a confusing topic but I am determined to understand it and put the information into a presentation that is coherent for everybody to understand!

Big Print Week: 30th March - 5th April

BIG PRINT! So, this doesn't mean that the text needs to be a huge size instead it is the name we give the descriptive, action stuff that is written in a script. There are some rules that should be followed when writing 'Big Print'.

Big Print Rules:

- Remove anything that is implied back story and only write what the audience can actually see on screen.

- Describe all the specific action as you would see the shots play out in your own mind and don't gloss over whole sequences that are actually quite elaborate.The details of important moments are especially important.

- Write for good pacing. Make sure the script has the right pace the whole time - not too slow or too fast.

- Optimise the spacing and page layout and also fragment sentences for dramatic effect, where it is necessary.

- NO CAMERA DIRECTIONS!!!!!

We have our non-dialogue scripts due very soon, so learning these rules about big print has been helpful. My script has changed slightly in the last week or so - instead of the rat trying to steal the boy's ipod, the rat will be stealing the boy's poem that he has to read at the funeral. I plan on applying the 'Big Print' rules to my script and hopefully it will come out really good! Fingers crossed!

Oh Here it Goes! Week: 30th March - 5th April

This week has been an intense time. I have pulled in our 1st AD, Sarah to help me on the production team until our 2IC comes back. So, I guess I will write about my progress on the project so far.

I have sorted out getting two vans booked for us to use over the next two weeks, organised camera, lighting and vfx gear, got the key for the greenscreen studio for us to use as gear storage, had our budget finalised, confirmed and sorted out permission for our filming locations. I got our Production Assistant, Iris to put the logo on all our social media and do some other odd jobs for me - mainly administrative stuff. Iris has been amazing at carrying out any tasks I have given her.

We have filmed our Pledge Me video and it has been edited by the talented Corey Fuimaono. It is now my job to come up with rewards and put together our Pledge me campaign and finally put it live online! we also managed to put together a production pamphlet to give to people to explain our project to them. This came in handy when we went on material sourcing missions. I stayed at the tin shed (our home base) while different groups went to different areas of town sourcing materials. All the teams did a great job and we sourced a lot of utilisable materials.

So from here on in........ I have test shooting to organise for next week, a website to create, a catering menu to come up with, shopping and more shopping and logistical organisation to consider for our shoot week. Slowly but surely we will get there and I can't wait until the rest of our crew comes back!!!!!

THUMBS UP!