Below you can see my final video. Overall I'm very proud of it, I feel the music together with the moving works extremely well, I have explored the good and the bad sides of love as well as developing my own individual editing technique.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Quote & Title
As well as the video, I also wanted to include a quote at the start of the video, to almost explain the ideology behind it, yet I still wanted it to come across more like a fact which I am stating. I wanted to get across how love from afar and love which turns into obsession is in fact no love at all and that extreme love can very quickly develop into hate.
The quote reads like this...
Our love for those from afar can hurt both the loving and the loved.
Because in fact remote love is no love at all and in just the quickest flash adoration can invoke despair.
I also chose the title The Affliction of Love, as I wanted to show how afflicting love can be and how love and turn from the traditional meaning of the word.
The quote reads like this...
Our love for those from afar can hurt both the loving and the loved.
Because in fact remote love is no love at all and in just the quickest flash adoration can invoke despair.
I also chose the title The Affliction of Love, as I wanted to show how afflicting love can be and how love and turn from the traditional meaning of the word.
Extra Footage & Animation
As well as the filming I had already done, I still wanted to included a small portion of animation as I'd enjoyed it on the last project, this gave the video a different dynamic and bridged certain moments of the film together. As well as providing more of a contextual response to love, through the use of the symbol of the heart.
Below you can see the thumbnails for the shoot for the animation. I wanted to keep them very simple with literally just the face and reaction shot showing. The face shows at the start some very over the top ecstatic expressions before she buries her head in her arms as if taking pictures of her has become too much for her to bear. Below those images you can see the ones that I took of the love heart sweets as well as the pigs heart.
I shot all these images in Raw, giving me more opportunity to edit the images to the exact strong striking style that I wanted my work to have.
Below you can see the thumbnails for the shoot for the animation. I wanted to keep them very simple with literally just the face and reaction shot showing. The face shows at the start some very over the top ecstatic expressions before she buries her head in her arms as if taking pictures of her has become too much for her to bear. Below those images you can see the ones that I took of the love heart sweets as well as the pigs heart.
I shot all these images in Raw, giving me more opportunity to edit the images to the exact strong striking style that I wanted my work to have.
Editing The Video
Similar to my last project I once again used the video editing software Sony Vegas. This time editing was a much longer length process, as I editing the last video was just a series of line up images to the music, this time I was chopping and changing between shots every second or so trying to tell the story through the use of different and interesting camera angles and techniques. Similar to the style of editing that director Chris Cunningham used in his work.
Below you can see a screen capture of this process and what I was doing in Sony Vegas.
I also applied various visual effects to the footage, in particularly by increasing the brightness/contrast of the clips as well as adding image filters and effects to my work. I also used a spotlight effect to subtly highlight key moments and objects in the video, such as the moment where she opens the box to discover the pig's heart.
Below you can see a screen capture of this process and what I was doing in Sony Vegas.
I also applied various visual effects to the footage, in particularly by increasing the brightness/contrast of the clips as well as adding image filters and effects to my work. I also used a spotlight effect to subtly highlight key moments and objects in the video, such as the moment where she opens the box to discover the pig's heart.
Shoot Feeback
Overall the I feel the shoot went extremely well, I think we followed the narrative and the use of the handheld camera similar to the direction in that of Black Swan was extremely effective. What I found most interesting was how good Queens Square looked in the video, the old fashioned feel that that area of Bristol I feel will create a strong atmosphere for my video, when I've edited the footage together. Now I will also use photography to capture a series of still images which will be the animation side of my project.
Shoot & Prop Plan
For the shoot I will need to make sure that I have also the things I need to bring alive my draft treatment, I will buy the pigs heart from the butchers as well as the love heart sweets. As well as this I also need to print of the ton of fan mail or hate mail which plays a huge part in telling the story of the video.
My plan is to film the majority of the film inside a large empty house. However to add some dynamic to the video I will also film outside during the night. The best place I managed to find which had enough lighting was Queen's Square in Bristol, the old fashioned street lamps as well as the traditional houses surrounding the square I help create a stronger mood for my video.
Initial Draft & Run Through
Below is the original draft treatment for the plan of the narrative which is going to feature in my video.
The shot opens with the image of a door, all of a sudden paper messages start to fly at a sped up pace through the letterbox. The camera cuts to the words on these paper messages which read all sorts of things like LOVE YOU, HATE YOU, OBSESSED WITH YOU and LOVE ME. These messages are supposed to be fanmail and as the camera pans we see that we are left with a large pile of these letters on the floor.
The video then cuts to a shot of a blonde girl (seen in previous projects) in a floaty dress, bursting through the kitchen door discovering fan mail on the floor she stops, picks up the mail rolling around in it and throwing it up in the hair, seemingly ecstatic with the fact that everyone seems to love she goes outside in the darkness for a walk. Where she discovers a giant LOVE YOU teddy bear, she plays with it innocently as before running around in the streetlight full of joy. She also finds a rose on the floor, she picks it up before running off with it.
As the music changes she once again comes bursting through the door however this time, she's dressed in black, looks harder and more dramatic. She turns on the light in the kitchen and this time there is hate mail scattered all over the floor with phrases such as HATE YOU and DIE. Obviously distressed by this the female character looks horrified. As she wanders around the house desperate trying to piece together what's going on, she notices a box at the front door. The box is clearly labeled I GIVE YOU MY HEART, she bends down cautiously before opening, where the camera pans to reveal that there is a real beating heart inside of the box. She instantly drops the box looking horrified as the video ends.
The shot opens with the image of a door, all of a sudden paper messages start to fly at a sped up pace through the letterbox. The camera cuts to the words on these paper messages which read all sorts of things like LOVE YOU, HATE YOU, OBSESSED WITH YOU and LOVE ME. These messages are supposed to be fanmail and as the camera pans we see that we are left with a large pile of these letters on the floor.
The video then cuts to a shot of a blonde girl (seen in previous projects) in a floaty dress, bursting through the kitchen door discovering fan mail on the floor she stops, picks up the mail rolling around in it and throwing it up in the hair, seemingly ecstatic with the fact that everyone seems to love she goes outside in the darkness for a walk. Where she discovers a giant LOVE YOU teddy bear, she plays with it innocently as before running around in the streetlight full of joy. She also finds a rose on the floor, she picks it up before running off with it.
As the music changes she once again comes bursting through the door however this time, she's dressed in black, looks harder and more dramatic. She turns on the light in the kitchen and this time there is hate mail scattered all over the floor with phrases such as HATE YOU and DIE. Obviously distressed by this the female character looks horrified. As she wanders around the house desperate trying to piece together what's going on, she notices a box at the front door. The box is clearly labeled I GIVE YOU MY HEART, she bends down cautiously before opening, where the camera pans to reveal that there is a real beating heart inside of the box. She instantly drops the box looking horrified as the video ends.
Contextual View on Love
For this project we have also had to include some more understanding of context. I plan on having a contextual view on love through looking at the symbols of love in society and in culture.
One of the most common universally recognizable symbols of love is that of the heart. Going back through ancient times it was thought that the organ of the heart actually had spiritual and divine attributes. These beliefs were also in the bible, many also believed the heart was the seat of the soul. As hundreds of years has passed the shape of a heart i.e. a perfect symmetrical heart has almost become a second way of spelling love. Therefore I'm going to include the symbol of a heart in my work as contextual reference point.
My first idea was to use love hearts, the sweets take photos of them and animate them into the video, as animation is something which I would like to continue throughout my next projects. As the video goes from portraying good positive love to negative, obsessive love, I will show the loveheart sweets broken and cracked a metaphoric reference for a broken heart. I also like the way they have small messages written on them simple phrases which also give the video a more personal touch.
As well as using love hearts, I also plan on getting showing what would appear to be a real heart in the video. With it being such a recognizable symbol, I think it would be very interesting to show what a real heart looks like up close and to distort the viewer's perception on this symbol of love. Therefore I will obtain a pigs heart and incorporate it into the narrative of the video.
One of the most common universally recognizable symbols of love is that of the heart. Going back through ancient times it was thought that the organ of the heart actually had spiritual and divine attributes. These beliefs were also in the bible, many also believed the heart was the seat of the soul. As hundreds of years has passed the shape of a heart i.e. a perfect symmetrical heart has almost become a second way of spelling love. Therefore I'm going to include the symbol of a heart in my work as contextual reference point.
My first idea was to use love hearts, the sweets take photos of them and animate them into the video, as animation is something which I would like to continue throughout my next projects. As the video goes from portraying good positive love to negative, obsessive love, I will show the loveheart sweets broken and cracked a metaphoric reference for a broken heart. I also like the way they have small messages written on them simple phrases which also give the video a more personal touch.
As well as using love hearts, I also plan on getting showing what would appear to be a real heart in the video. With it being such a recognizable symbol, I think it would be very interesting to show what a real heart looks like up close and to distort the viewer's perception on this symbol of love. Therefore I will obtain a pigs heart and incorporate it into the narrative of the video.
Final Soundtrack
Below you can hear the finished version of the music for the project. I think it will be an interesting challenge for me to edit my footage to the track as it's quick to move from one section to the other as well as unpredictable as to where the melody is going to go.
Music Mixing
I felt it was important to make the music before I did anything else in relation to the project. As I wanted the video to be the best it could possibly be, I did not want to try and include a script or feature any dialogue as I didn't have the right microphone equipment to do so. Therefore I really had to put more effort into the music.
I wanted the music itself to be industrial sounding, menacing and unpredictable and from the opening first synth phrase I think it does that, using chromatic melodies as well as eerie synths. I managed to loop together existing synth lines accompanied by a beat that I created together to create the track which runs for three minutes.
I used a programme called Mixcraft to create the piece below you can see a screencap.
I wanted the music itself to be industrial sounding, menacing and unpredictable and from the opening first synth phrase I think it does that, using chromatic melodies as well as eerie synths. I managed to loop together existing synth lines accompanied by a beat that I created together to create the track which runs for three minutes.
I used a programme called Mixcraft to create the piece below you can see a screencap.
Video Research & Ideas
Many different artists and film makers influence with this project as this is my first project as moving image film piece. My initial idea is to focus on the dark side of love for example love from afar, obsession and fandom. I want to focus on how love can turn into hate and show just how close the two emotions are to each other.
I looked at several films which explored the theme of obsession and stalker films where love is presented in a a darker more sinister way. One of the first films that I was told about and to watch was Fatal Attraction the 1987 film which was based around the story of a man (with a family man) who spends the night with a woman, the woman then becomes increasingly obsessed escalating into violence. I feel the film has a really strong atmosphere to it, which is evident through the trailer. One scene in particular which I really find effective is the scene on the roller coaster, which I think works so well because of the facial expression of the female character. With focus on just the expression of her, as I only plan on featuring one character in the film focusing on the performance of one character.
Black Swan the latest release from Darren Aronofsky is a psychological thriller about a young ballet dance breaking down and losing her mind whilst finding a darker side to her when she lands the role of the Black Swan in the Swan Lake. The narrative doesn't bare much to relation to my plans for this video but something that struck me when watching the film was the way Aronofsky's direction on simple scenes like a character walking down the street. The handheld camera as well as the desaturated cold feel that the film has works in it's favour and creates an eerie atmosphere for the entire film.
The David Fincher film Se7en is based around the crimes of a man who is carrying out the 7 deadly sins. What I find most interesting in this film is the level of uncertainty and the reference to the 7 deadly sins which act as a basis for the entire narrative of the film. What we see as the film reaches it's dramatic climax is the characters at breaking point, looking at the victim in that sense is also more appropriate to what I'm going to do. As the character in my film is going to be harassed through letters and objects which also have references to love.
Another short film maker that I took inspiration from is the work of Chris Cunningham unlike the others, I'm looking at his work as I feel his style of editing, the trippy nature of the video and the confusing plot is something that I want to be able to achieve through the editing of my film.
Other people's work I have looked at are several of Hitchcock's films which dive deep into the themes of love and obsession. For example Vertigo and Rear Window.
Initial Ideas & Past Projects
For the previous project, I feel I established quite a strong visual and style which I could take further throughout the course of the year. I like the way my last project featured just one person and the fact the video is solely focused on them, also adding a bit of mystery and suspense by never really understanding what's going on. I feel this is a theme which I can take further, especially with this project being based on Love. Below is the previous project which I will aim to produce a sequential moving image piece for.
This time however, I will have the moving image piece to be more concentrated on film rather than animation as I feel I can tell a stronger story and narrative. Below are some of the pictures from the photoshoot I did to accompany the last project which will also work as a starting point for this next project.
The dark atmosphere and strong dramatic visual style of these photos is something that I want to translate over into actual film. With not so many strong image editing tools as there is with photography, this may be a challenge but I think it's important to keep to an ongoing visual theme which is familiar and in keeping with the rest of my work.
Tuesday, 7 June 2011
Introduction LOVE
For our next project we simply have been given the word LOVE! As we progress into the exploratory stage of the course, we should dive deeper into a more personal response to each task we have been set, for this project we have been told to dive deeper into a cultural study of the word love. From just the single word alone, I am already interested in doing the last sort thing a viewer might expect when heard with word love and the darker connotations and meanings that the word love can have.
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