Images That Move (Moving Billboards)
Initial idea
After meeting Ellie on our first day back, we studied example videos of "Moving Images" that she presented to the class. From these videos I have greatly taken reference particularly from "Xavier Corbero” by Albert Moya. Xavier Corbero invited director Albert Moya into his labyrinthine, post-industrial home in Barcelona. The genre/style clearly displayed themes of contemporary and cinematic style of videography which was shot in natural lighting. Albert displayed moving images of compositional shots of architecture, water rippling, tree branches sway in the wind whilst playing with light and shadows.
This video has inspired me to create my own moving images of contemporary and cinematic style and to take references of Alberts work into my own.
short analysation of Albert's work;
- cinematice style
- contemporary genre
- composition still clips
- shot in natural daylight
- play of light and shadows
Below are screen shot images of “Xavier Corbero” by Albert Moya from YouTube
Tik tok Exercise
Later, after lunch we were given an exercise to create a Tik Tok with our chosen groups. I paired with Kristina, Evelyn, Tom, Bailey, James and Cerys. Together we brain stormed ideas of what our Tik Tok could be about such as ASMR, Comedic skit etc. We came to the conclusion to film a skit, together we improvised our video and edited our video in post. I believe this exericise allowed us to familiarise us with how to shoot video and even edit a short clip.
We shared our tik toks with the class and also discussed our experiences on what each person worked on and how we were able to create and produce and idea into a short video.
If you would like to view the tik tok my group created click here
Photographers that shoot moving images;
Park Jongha
Park Jongha is a korean photographer who has done many works within fashion and editorial magazines such as Bazaar,Vogue,GQ,Elle and many more. He has also worked with famous Korean actresses and Singers. In one of Jongha recent work he utilised moving images for Bazaar magazine with K-idol Kim Yeri from girl group Red velvet.
Similarly, to Albert, Jongha implemented still framed shots whilst a certain object/subject moves during the scene. What I enjoyed about this moving image was the low lighting, composition and warm tones of the video. the scene I enjoyed most was of Yeri by the window seal and the red lights seeping through the blinds, creating a beautiful play of lighting and shadows. I assume Jongha may have used red gel over a v-mount to create a sunset like feel during this scene. This also created a cinematic atmosphere to the images as well as the use of composition. I was instantly enticed. Each scene was fast paced, around 1-3 seconds long. This was interesting to see as this allowed the audience to stay connected throughout the whole video. In every scene something is happening such as the subject or an object moving. This also allowed me to stay connected and not loose interest immediately.
If you wish to view the video click here
In our next session we met Fran who studied Film at The Brit school and is now a professional videographer. Fran taught us how to edit small clips into premier pro such as being able to snip clips, stabilise them and also add sound into our video.
During this session we created our own videos using the 20 second clips that we were tasked to do as homework whilst utilise what we learnt from Fran . This was my first time working with premier pro however, to my surprise I was able to pick up the work very quickly and created a small 10 second video from the clips I captured over the weekend.
Task 3 - Greenscreen
For the third exercise we were given the task to shoot an interview in class using a green screen as the backdrop. We also had to collect footage of what we want to put in the green screen. Upon brain storming with my group we decided to interview Tom as if he was the actor that played Spiderman and create it into a comedic skit.
Roles for this task:
Najiyah - director
Kristina - camera women
Evelin - sound women
Tom - interviewie
Bayley - side character
James - side character
I chose the role to be the director and so I had the task to create questions for Tom who was playing the role of the actor that played Spiderman. When brain storming questions I also added in questions to catch Tom off guard and comedic.
if you'd like to see the finale video click here. When film we had to retake our interview a couple of times before getting the finale cut. I think what I struggled most during this was keeping my composure when shooting and trying not to break character. When filming I enjoyed brain storming ideas and then seeing it finally come together when shooting.
promotional video planning
Initially I wanted to create a short film/narrative for my video. One of the inspirations and references I took note of was Taylor Swift "all too well" short film.
All too well - Taylor Swift
In the short film directed and written by Taylor Swift is about Taylor Swift brief interpretation/ of her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010. We can see that there are a lot of warm tones such as yellows, orange and blues being used as well as low lit lighting being a key factor to the film as it creates the mood and atmosphere of the film. A lot of the shots are dark/ shot in low lighting but unclose ups help break up format. We can also see clothing being a key factor to the storyline as it allows us to understand what time of year the story is taking place and also allows us to understand what era of Taylor Swift career this took place. Such as the black turtle neck and red lipstick being a famous look that Taylor Swift constantly would wear during 2010 into her career. I When watching the short film I notice that Taylor captured a lot of still shots.
Promotional video; meeting Siobhan
For the promotional video I asked a close acquaintance of mine, Siobhan who I met through work and became a fan of their artistry. I messaged her through instagram about the project brief if I could use them and their music and create a promotional video. Siobhan was super excited about the proposal and agreed to working together.
We planned to meet later that week to discuss more about the video and collaborate our ideas. Upon collaborating Siobhan told me about one of her art work that she has been working on the past year which is a short animation that she wanted to include into the video as it holds significance to her music and her as a music artist. When brain storming I mentioned using a projector while singing in the video to showcase her animation. Since Siobhan ideas were completely different to my initial idea of creating a short teaser video I compromised doing an interview with her instead and from there on we brain stormed what we wanted to film.
brief plan of shooting;
- book studio to film
- book kit from studio ( mics, tripod and lights)
- film Siobhan singing whilst the projector is playing
- interview Siobhan, asking her simple questions such as her journey to becoming a musician and pursing music
Unfortunately the kit store as well as the studio was consistently booked out however I managed to book out the 23rd of February through Tiana to film. When booking for the kit I also struggled to find any equipment available during this time and expressed my concerns through Tiana and she allowed me to book kit from the studio for my shoot.
This was the set up for the studio. I made sure the backdrop was white so that when we use a projector it'd come out visible as possible. Initially I was gonna use the projector as the only light source however it was hard to make out Siobhan's face in the live view. So to counter this issue I added an overhead light to brighten the set and add more depth to the video.
once we were done shooting and after discussing with sable that I wanted to shoot more scenes of Siobhan in the studio singing and creating her music. I realised the approach I wanted to go for was an intimate documentary about a new upcoming artists making her break through into the music industry. I told Siobhan that I'd love to shoot some scenes of her in the studio and she was able to give me a date and time that she was ready to shoot. The next shoot took place on Friday 9th of February.
When discussing my idea about taking a documentary approach with my video I showcased her some of the few inspirations I was able to take from.
A short clip that was the spike of inspiration for my small documentary with Siobhan. In this scene Taylor is recording her title track ME from her album lover is was set to come out in 2020. When analysing i really enjoyed the close ups of Taylor Swift and the details shots of her placing the piano. It made me as an audience feel closer to her - created an intimate atmosphere. I also took notes of the far shots of Taylor with her producer. In these scenes we can see that we are given a full view of the studio. I think it gave it some space between the close up shots and allows process everything easier.
The colour grading in these scenes tends to be more on the warmer side. I don't think there was any additional lighting other then the light set up that's already in the studio. I think this gave a much more cosy mood to the scenes. I will be taking these small references into my own work and try to create a documentary with a more personal and intimate feeling to them.
Another documentary that also sparked my interest was Ariana Grande short recording of her latest title song positions. In the scenes we can see there is a lot of play of low lighting. I think this was Abel to give a cosy atmosphere to the video. We also see some close up shots of Ariana sinning into the mic which is something I want to include into my own work. This gives the audience an understanding where she maybe be and what is she doing.
I took note of all the shots I wanted to capture before I shoot in the studio such as
- detail shots of hands, the singer, the environment
- shots of the singer singing
- scenes of her completing an interview
- scenes of her with the producer
- scenes of her playing an instrument
I messaged Siobhan if she knew what kind of lighting the studio had or if she had any pictures. She was able to message me back with an image of the studio. The studio mainly had warm low lit lighting which is what I was hoping for to achieve the cosy atmosphere.
For my second shoot I made sure to prepare for questions to ask Siobhan and mentally noted on exact shots I wanted to shoot. I struggled with booking kit and lighting for this shoot and believed that the lighting in the studio would be enough to shoot with and ended up only taking my camera and lens with me. We can see in the image above that was taken on my iPhone. The room wasn't as dark in person however, my camera struggled to pick up the low lighting, So a few of the shots I captured were too dark nonetheless, I was able to fix this issue in post production using the colour wheel tool on effects. I also didn't bring my tripod as it was broken and the ones on kit store were booked out, unfortunately so I had to free hand everything however, I was able to make it work and was able to warp stabilise the shaking in post production.
Post production
After shooting everything I was able to meet Sabela one to one and presents everything I captured that week. She was able to give me some criticism about not taking equipment with me such as lighting, tripod, mic and extra lenses. I did let her know I wasn't able to book kit as it was too late at that point and as well as everything being unavailable. During this session we also realised the was an issue with the sound not being clear enough, with Sabela help I was help to fire this using effects and de noise to help aptitude the sound and create a much clearer crisp sound.
