TCF 312 Reflection

When we first began this class, I was overwhelmed to say the least. So many new concepts and technical aspects of film were presented to me, and I honestly didn't know if this was the right field for me.

But once everyone started getting in their groove and we went to the studio to play with the equipment, I suddenly had a new motivation. I've always had fun making movies with my friends, and we have done it on a consistent basis, but I never cared to be meticulous in my work...until now. The things we learned in this class have had an incredible effect on my work, among other things.

I was a tad skeptical when I first came to the class and found out we had to keep a blog. It just seemed like busy work and Dr. Raimist was some sort of sadist who derived pleasure from our suffering. Up until the last day of class I was still a little unsure until she talked about it and articulated her reasoning behind it. Doing the research we did and writing our thoughts all paid off in the end. It clearly shows our growth as filmmakers and helps us express our visions in a way we otherwise wouldn’t be able to do. Words can’t describe how thankful I am for that.

One of the things that has probably helped more than anything is the relaxed nature of everything. I didn't feel intimated like I did at the beginning when we first started working with all the equipment. Instead, I became friends with many people in the class and I wasn’t afraid to test out new equipment.

I can't stress enough how beneficial this class was for me. What used to be a hobby has now become an obsession. I can't go five minutes without coming up with a new idea for something to shoot. Just thinking back on things I learned this semester, it's pretty obvious this class has had a bigger impact on me as a videographer , heck, even as a person, then any other class I've taken thus far. I'm beyond grateful to be in TCF 444 now after experiencing this.

DP Reel from Clifton Lewis on Vimeo.

My greatest goal in life is for my art to touch people in a way that is unique and fresh. I've been constantly driven, this year in particular, to show my work to people and elicit some sort of reaction. Usually, my intention is to make people laugh at least a little bit because that's how I view things and everyone could definitely use a few more laughs.

Through my vision, I feel as if I can definitely elicit those reactions, whether it be comedic relief, dramatic, or even horror. I feel as if I've developed a very acute eye for certain things and can deliver that to my audience each and every time I film a movie.

Scene Assignment

Three Guys. No Girl. And A Pizza At A Place. from Clifton Lewis on Vimeo.

Examples of A Money Shot

Short Film

In “A Good Shot,” the flow of the film is impeccable. Each transition seems so smooth and you really get caught up in the video which is a hard feat to achieve considering it’s only six minutes long. The decision to use low key light throughout the film was definitely a smart decision.

I absolutely love the back-and-forth shots of the two men around the two minutes mark, switching flawlessly from green-heavy lighting and blue-lit shots.

The lighting as a whole is what really gets me in this film. It’d be hard to judge if this is a short film or an excerpt from a motion picture if you watched a scene from this film.

Camera Movement

When I think of camera movement, one music video immediately comes to mind: “The Denial Twist” by The White Stripes.

This is the personification of camera movement...cleverly telling a story by moving in and out with the camera to show the viewer what is necessary to look at it in order to tell their story.

Another music video with incredible camera movement that I just watched recently is “This Too Shall Pass” by OK Go.

The camera fluidly moves throughout the building, zooming in on particular objects as we see the story unfold. Without the camera moving moving and zooming consistently, the video wouldn’t have the same effect as it does.

Prepping for the Scripted Scene

In prepping for my scripted scene, I first picked out the script that closely resembled something that I would enjoy filming. I finally came up with a scene from "Swingers."

After that was settled, and after e-mailing Lindsey the script, I went to a few of my friends houses to find out which one would be best suited for the scene, which required three guys to be playing video games on a couch, so first I had to find a big enough couch. Second, I had to look for a room with a door in close proximity to the couch. Luckily, I just recently got a crappy couch from my parent's house and the front door at my place leads into the den.

After that, I wrote down the shot list of everything we would need to film this scene in order to gain complete coverage. Once that was done, I e-mailed it to Lindsey so we could start prepping.

I then had to pin down three of my friends (literally) and force them to be in my movie. Due to my brute strength, I had managed to corral three friends and we were ready to go.

Nothing special for this scene in terms of props. Just a pizza box and a few dollar bills were sufficient. That really cut down on the prep time beforehand.

Shot-by-Shot Analysis

Title: Michael Clayton (2007)

Director: Tony Gilroy

Director of Photography: Robert Elswit

Michael Clayton is a movie about a man who works for a law firm "fixing" cases. One case, in particular, has Michael stepping in after a high-powered attorney has a nervous breakdown, nearly ruining a multi-billion dollar case.

The lighting of the shot is the most dominant aspect of this scene. Each scene is shot with very dull and dark colors, brown and black being the two vital colors. In this first scene, Michael enters the restaurant, but the camera is set up away from the door, with a man in between it and Michael. This was obviously to convey the distance Michael has created between him and other people, and, combined with the dark colors, tells you that this is all a mystery and eerie, in a sense. You still don't know who is trying to kill Michael, so the dark lighting helps tell you that.

The depth of field is also interesting. Not until he passes the man at the bar does Michael come in focus, which is an interesting, but necessary, choice in composing this shot.

Also, as Michael walks towards the camera, you see his face moving in and out of the light, almost symbolizing how he operates...staying behind the scenes and "fixing" things.

Next, you see Karen (played by Tilda Swinton) away from the camera, yet she's the one in focus. Michael, in the foreground, is completely out of focus, continuing with the mystery that makes up Michael.

The lights surrounding Karen are all dimly lit, also adding to the continuity of these particular scenes. Anything shot in bright light would distract the viewer and take away from the graveness of the subject matter.

I really like the beginning of this shot, how Karen's hair covers part of her face, as if the D.P. is attempting another way to show the viewer that these are mysterious characters, but without recycling the same "out of focus, moving in and out of the shadows" technique.

Finally they show Michael approaching Karen without the shadows covering his face. This is a very dominant theme throughout the scene, not to mention the entire movie, and this is certainly a shot that breaks from this consistent theme. Everything in the background is out of focus, unlike the previous scene where everything was in focus other than Michael.

This shot-reverse shot is necessary to help show where they are in relation to each other, and once again Michael is still in focus, while everything else remains blurred. This helps show the viewer that you need to be concentrating on Michael's character and everything he has to say. In this shot, he is getting ready to say something, so this helps show the viewer that you need to be ready for when he begins to talk.

Just like the shots of Michael, every shot of Karen talking shows everything in the background out of focus. This was obviously a decision the D.P. made to tell the viewer that they need to pay attention to what these characters have to say, as this is an integral part of the movie and is a miniature climax.

Just like the other scenes, everything is dark, from her hair to her coat, to the shoulder and hair of Michael.

Beautiful Images

I'm fairly partial to a run-of-the-mill landscape shot, and this one, in my opinion, is absolutely beautiful. What makes this beautiful to me is how it gradually gets lighter, from the top to the bottom, and then all of a sudden it goes straight to black. The unexpectedness of that really catches my attention, and I love it.

This is also a shot that I like. Even though we know the water is moving, the picture captures it as if the water is in a standstill. We also know that its falling down at a massive speed, the serenity of the water at the very bottom offers a pleasant contrast.

Portrait of a Place

Portrait Of A Place from Clifton Lewis on Vimeo.

So my "Portrait of a Place" was my parent's backyard. The video shows the enormity of things in comparison to the dog.

Portrait Of A Place

For my portrait of a place, I have decided to film in the backyard of my parent's house. The significance behind filming here isn't clear at first.

When I think of my parent's backyard, I think about something that is consistent...a place that will always have our three yorkies running around and chasing tennis balls, a place where I can always chill out on the hammock if I want to forget about stuff, a place where my grandmother can look from her window and spy on our next-door neighbors...

The deliberation on the type of shots for this was simple. I want wide shots to help establish the scene, then close ups of the many goings-on such as the dogs playing and the hammock swaying to show the serenity and calmness of the backyard. I have pre-visualized most of the shots, but I'm sure other shots will come to me while filming this.

What I Learned This Week

This week we were presented with a very interesting in-class project; the "run & gun" style of shooting.

I certainly went from being excited about being the sole director to nervous on many levels. This seemed like a lot of pressure, and with only ten minutes of prep time, it seemed near impossible to pull off anything that I'd actually be proud of submitting.

But I think this is what the project was intended for. Without someone giving you that extra push and saying "don't worry, everyone else is in the exact same position as you," you'll never be be confident enough to take that leadership role.

Aside from showing me a few things about directing, like how to explain myself to the other people to get the particular shot I want, I also learned a little bit about my style of shooting. I particularly enjoy close ups, which in my opinion help convey emotion much better than other shots.

To go along with that, I like wide shots of actors, which helps create tension and makes it easier for the audience to realize that.

My Goals

In terms of filmmaking, I have a number of goals. First and foremost I’d like to eventually get to the point where I’m working on a television show or even a movie set and obviously my main goal is to continue to love what I’m doing and not get stuck on some set performing remedial tasks and doing the same mundane chores over and over. As long as I do what I love, I couldn’t care less what the pay is or anything like that, and with filmmaking being my greatest passion, I’ll be happy in almost any atmosphere where I’m creating film.

Before I decided to take this class, I heard from many of my friends how helpful this class is and how much hands-on experience you receive. As soon as I heard that, I had made up my mind that I’d be signing up for this class this Spring.

The thing that was missing from my 201 class was obviously the hands-on experience. Sure, we made a few movies and filmed some stuff, but I dare anyone to tell me they felt like they could confidently enter the filmmaking industry with the knowledge they obtained in that class.

That’s why I’m so excited about this class. With all this interaction, whether it be through these blogs or getting into the studios and learning the ins and outs of the camera, I feel reassured that this will be the class that helps give me that little push I need to gain the confidence I need to where I feel like I can enter the filmmaking industry and, for the most part, know what I’m doing.

While working on this blog, I started off by searching some of my favorite movies and checking out the cinematographer in those. One DP that kept popping up was John Mathieson.

Mathieson was DP of Gladiator, along with Matchstick Men and a few other great movies.

To me, Gladiator is one of the most beautifully shot films to date. Regardless of whether you like the movie or not, it’s hard to disagree that each scene can be considered epic. Looking through a few screen captures of the movie, it became harder and harder to pick just one that was more monumental than the other. I ended up tossing a coin, but alas, any screen shot would have been worthy of my first true blog post.

Another cinematographer that I thoroughly enjoy is Éric Gautier. He was the DP behind the greatest movie of all time (a fact), Into the Wild. This is the definition of a masterfully shot film. To me, each shot is presented as realistically as possible. That’s to say that it emits this sense of watching a documentary, which is certainly one of the main intentions in making this movie, considering it’s based on a true story.

Scouring the internet for another picture that made me stop and examine it for at least a few minutes was this one. The simplicity of it is pleasing to me, as I don’t prefer to have a lot going on in pictures. This one also focuses on the extremeness of the color of the guitar. The blue just pops out at you and begs you to stare at it, which I have no problem with.

Top 10 TV Shows

1. Dexter

2. Friday Night Lights

3. In Treatment

4. The Office

5. Rescue Me

6. Lost

7. Modern Family

8. True Blood

9. The League

10. Burn Notice