Camera Testing 1st Outing:Location Evaluation

For our first attempt at camera testing we decided to use a location situated in the local area, which we would be easily accessible for he short period of time that we had, so it was decided upon that we use a small park outside of the Abbey Theatre, Nuneaton. This location seemed appropriate for us to test out some initial camera techniques and we had access to available actors, overall the location seemed to work as it had areas that could provide realism to whatever shots we took also various objects in the environment made for interesting footage. The location provided areas where we could obtain some interesting footage such as a small park where we placed a camera on a merry go round to capture images as it was spun, and a small basketball court and car park where we used actors to test camera movements and to get an idea of how we would film the subjects in the future.  In summary the location we chose was a good initial start up location where we could get some camera technique experience and some idea of how to film our subjects using whoever was available to act, we were able to gain some insight into a few interesting camera movements and techniques we could use at a later date when we decide to film again.

New Wave Editing Techniques - Jump Cut

During the French New Wave (La Nouvelle Vague) in the 1950's French film makers began to experiment with film form, using new and different ways of editing, which matched the filmmakers youthful energy and visual style as they experimented with different techniques and ways of filmmaking. These techniques were used as a means of changing the expectation of cinema as the films would often involve existential themes that would be filled with irony and sarcasm.

Breathless(1960) - Jean-Luc Godard


One such technique is the use of the jump cut where the shot would suddenly jump to a shot further in time or a different shot entirely, this would jar the audience as the film would unexpectedly jump to a further point of a characters conversation, this is evident in Jean-Luc Godard's 1960 film "Breathless" (A bout de souffle) during a shot where the male character is driving and having conversation with a woman and his speech suddenly jumps into another topic and the scenery around them with quickly change as the cuts are moving the conversation forward at a faster pace that would seem jarring to the audience as they would not be expecting it.

Camera Tech: Aperture

Aperture-definition

Within a camera Aperture is the diameter of an opening within the lens which controls the amount of light that enters the camera, it is a measure of how much light enters the camera lens and how exposed the film and image sensor will be to that light. Aperture is contained within the lens and can be manually adjusted to be either wider or narrower, and this has an effect on how exposed the film is to light. Aperture is controlled by a device called a diaphragm which functions like the iris of the human eye and controls the diameter of the lens opening, increasing the aperture will make the opening smaller which in turn reduce the depth of field which limits how in focus an object or subject in the foreground is but puts the background in clearer focus, whereas reducing the aperture increases the depth of field so a subject far away will be in clear focus.

Aperture-Measurements

Aperture is measured in a ratio of focal length to effective aperture diameter, a lens usually has a set of f-stops which measures the diameter of the aperture. A higher f-stop number will usually mean a lower aperture diameter so the depth of field will be further, whereas a lower f-stop number will mean a larger aperture diameter and decrease the depth of field. The greater the f-stop number the lesser the light is exposed to the camera and vice versa.  

Aperture Scale Diagram

Camera Testing 1st Outing: Audio Problems

Loss of Audio

Once we had completed the camera testing in our location once we had uploaded all of the footage and reviewed it a different kind of problem arose. What had happened was that during filming one of the cameras we were using didn't record any audio for the footage that was shot, this seemed like a small problem which wouldn't affect the overall quality of the footage however. Since our initial idea was to place a voice over onto our footage the loss of some of the audio didn't quite seem to matter however it is a problem which could have negative effects during actual filming.

Initially it is believed that the audio files for the footage were simply not uploaded which could of been resolved by simply uploading the audio files from the camera, however we found that the camera actually hadn't recorded any audio at all which was unusual, so the problem seemed to occur from the cameras settings which must have been adjusted wrongly. The way we could stop this from occurring again would be to ensure that before commencing any type of filming, the cameras settings are properly adjusted and tested beforehand to stop anything like this from happening in future shoots. And while the loss of the audio files were not so much  problem during this test outage if the problem occurred again it would require time to be taken to adjust the settings and reshoot which is time consuming and would waste memory storage on the cameras SD card, so ensuring the cameras settings prior to filming would be the best solution to the audio problems we faced.

Camera Testing 1st Outing: White Balance

White Balance

Another problem we faced whilst filming was the matter of the one of the cameras White Balance setting, which whilst filming gave all of the footage a light blue tint. At first the problem seemed to occur from just the setting being wrong however the camera was set on the correct White Balance setting for the weather and light conditions we were in which meant that the actual problem was with the cameras software instead, meaning that the camera was set at the right white balance setting but couldn't read it correctly, something which we had no knowledge of until after filming so it was something we couldn't change during the time.

These shots show how although the correct white balance setting was used the cameras internal reader couldn't accept it so the shots came out with a pale blue tint throughout the filming. This problem only occurred on one camera however so only a small amount of footage was affected by it although it demonstrates how using the wrong setting can alter how the image will appear. For future tests this will need to be avoided so the consideration of checking the cameras settings beforehand would seem appropriate, in order to ensure that the cameras white balance settings aren't incorrect again.

Camera Testing 1st Outing: Focus/Depth of Field

Depth of Field

During our first outing to test camera techniques we encountered a variety of problems with both the environment and the equipment. One such problem that occur frequently was the focus and depth of field on our camera was not at the right setting making our footage look either blurry or the depth of field was wrong. For instance whilst attempting to perform a reverse dolly shot while the camera was moving backwards and zooming in, since the camera was set to Manual Focus it was difficult to adjust the cameras depth of field while at the same time reversing it away from the subject, this made some of the footage come out blurred and out of focus.

Depth of Field Problem no.1

These images are screenshots from footage taken during the reverse dolly shot which show the problem we had with changing the depth of field as the camera was moving. The shot became blurred and out of focus which ruined the shot as the camera was moving.

Depth of Field Problem no.2

These shots show the problems  with using a camera where the depth of field and focus has to be manually changed whilst the camera is moving, it became a problem as while one person was moving the camera the one needed to adjust the focus. I think that to fix this problem in future consideration for perhaps using either a different camera which has no adjustable focus or perhaps a different method of filming and planning such as marking out start/end points for where the camera will move and exactly how much the cameras focus will need to be tuned by the time the camera reaches the end point e.g. tuning the cameras focus from 35mm to 55mm within a stretch of 2 metres whilst reversing on a dolly.

One advantage of using the 600D camera that we used however is that the focus can be altered manually as on other cameras it either does it automatically or you cannot alter it at all so being able to change the focus manually can be useful even if it does cause problems as it needs to be finely tuned if the camera is moving. For a future test the use of a different camera could make a difference to how well the focus is affected whilst filming.

Contextual Study - Japanese New Wave

I decided that as part of my contextual study for a "New Wave" of cinema I would focus on the Japanese new wave of cinema, during the 1960's. Also known as "Nuberu Bagu" this was a crucial point for Japanese cinema as many directors were breaking off from studios and turning into independent filmmakers and most almost always either had a political or social point to make within their films.  At this point in time the French new wave was also beginning to take form, so both of these new waves occurred simultaneously and many Japanese new wave directors took influence from their French counterparts, directors like Renoir, Goddard and Trauffant were just a few of the auteurs that influenced   the directors of the Japanese new wave such as Hiroshi Teshigahara, Nagisa Oshima and Shohei Imamura.

One director in particular which I intend to analyse and study greatly contributed to the Japanese new wave during the 1960's is Nagisa Oshima whose films have earned him the comparison as the "Goddard of the East". He saw films as a form of activism and often embedded social or political statements within his films, Oshima's films were sometimes controversial and aimed to disrupt the status quo as he wasn't interested in classic forms of cinema. Oshima's films would often focus on themes and characters that were almost never explored in classic Japanese cinema such as outcasts, murderers, rapists, sexual deviants and the politically marginalised.

What I'm going to focus my contextual study on is the films of Nagisa Oshima during the 1960's as part of the Japanese new wave as it can also draw comparisons and similarities to the French new wave in terms of stylistic features and social influence. The Japanese new wave he's been accused of simply imitating the French new wave, however it does in fact have its own cultural significance in its development although reasoning for the movement may seem similar to its French equivalent, and its this reasoning and the overall development of the movement which sets it apart from the French new wave.