(The following entry is from my previous university blog and is a direct transfer to my new website for future reference.)
I came across this tutorial after watching it on YouTube whilst looking for a viable design to base my own on. This design in my opinion would be a very good example of which to base my own off of because it is very secure looking and has been intentionally designed for use with a DSLR.
This example of a Snorricam construction is made by a internet based company Indy Mogul who often make DIY constructions of film making equipment. The design seems easy to make however from the video tutorial it doesn't appear as endurable as the design above. With me owning a Canon 7d I wouldn't want to risk making a design that could give way and possibly damage either my camera or lenses.
(The following entry is from my previous university blog and is a direct transfer to my new website for future reference.)
I've recently been looking into making a Snorricam for use in my final year film and before doing so I thought it would be a good idea to look at some examples of its use in contemporary cinema. My aim for this being to examine the use of the device in context with the scene it was used in. Also I would like to deconstruct how the device influences the mise-en-scene of a scene and in particular what message this sends to the audience.
The first example I have chosen is from the 1973 Martin Scorsese film Mean Streets. In this scene, Charlie, played by a young Harvey Keitel has been heavily drinking with the effects of which beginning to show. However Scorsese doesn't opt for showing Charlie in a wider shot, instead he stays in close up in the characters personnel space. Also in playing close attention to the performance you notice that Harvey Keitel isn't trying to over play the fact that his character is drunk, in fact he is underplaying this as someone who was really drunk would.
Michael Kane addresses this idea in an interview I watched recently:
In this clip he discusses coming into a role as a young actor to play a drunk man where he began his performance in which he was slurring his words. He was then stopped when one of the producers asked what he was doing? He replied by saying he was acting drunk to which the producer retorted that he was an actor trying to walk crocked and speak slurred, whereas a drunk is a man trying to walk straight and talk properly. Scorsese realizes this and instead uses the Snorricam to highlight how Keitel's character is really feeling inside as opposed to the way he is trying to appear on the outside. By using the Snorricam for this sequence Scorsese is able to manipulate the mise-en-scene, and with the use of the song Rubber Biscuit by The Chips he fever extenuates the feeling of unease in the characters mind.
In this second clip from Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream, Marion played by Jennifer Connelly has just had sex for money in order to feed her heroin addiction. After this she feels very uncomfortable and is uneasy to her surroundings. Marion has also not had her regular fix that in itself would cause paranoia. In the use of close up and a very wide angle lens Aronofsky has created a large depth of field, which gives the appearance of there being never ending hallways. Although they still appear to be rather narrow it gives a really strong felling of claustrophobia throughout the sequence. This only heightens as she enters an elevator already occupied by two men, giving the viewer an uncomfortable feeling as though these men surround us to. With the Snorricam in use being intercut from both in front and from behind. We are forced as an audience to engage with both the closed confinement of the lift doors and the disparaging stares from the men behind her. We are relieved as the doors open, with Marion anxiously rushing out of the doors and exiting the building. It is as though all of her emotions are suddenly coming to a front, as though they are about to explode. To which as she turns to leave the building she is unable to retain her emotions and shame culminating in her vomiting.
Lastly is a more lighthearted example of the Snorricam in use. The following is a short comic film directed by Patrick Eggert in what starts out in a dream like desert landscape. A young man is lay there alone as he slowly wakes in a Snorricam shot. Standing dazed he slowly begins to look around. But as he walks forward we see the surreal sight of a gorilla swinging a golf club around in the distance as though it were on a driving range. The music continues with an air of eastern mysticism, until the still dazed man spots the Gorilla in the background. As he does so the music stops, as though the orchestra saw what was happening and like the actor did a double take. Its at this moment the man runs away which causes the music to change to a banjo playing what can only be described as redneck getaway music.
With this example we see a more postmodern surreal take on the Snorricam. Through previous examples we have seen how the device is often used in dramas to bring the audience into the emotions of a character in a time of strain. The film begins by playing on this pre-known information of the Snorricam and gradually progresses into the complete opposite of the stylized realism of the previous examples. Instead it suddenly transforms into a surreal comedy.
Concluding I must note that one of the key components that repeatedly cropped up in the following examples was the use of emotional presentation. By using a Snorricam shot the director can bring the audience into the face of an actor and unlike a tripod close up we are able to travel with the actor though out different stages of an actors movement. Whereas the tripod close-up can capture a section or a part of a static sequence the Snorricam allows the audience to travel with a character thorough out a moment even to the extent as to which the audience feels as though they are in that moment themselves.
In Mean Streets we feel the atmosphere, the mise-en-scene of Charlie drunkenly maneuvering through the bar. In Requiem for a Dream we feel the self-conscious anxieties and paranoia of the long overdrawn corridors. We feel the nausea, we feel the sickness, we feel as the character feels and that I believe is the true reason of use for a Snorricam. As it allows the director to manipulate an audience into a position of anxiousness similar to that of the character portrayed on screen.
(Just a general note here, the following entry is from my previous university blog and is a direct transfer to my new website for future reference.)
About a year ago, I made a purchase of a Canon 7D DSRL for the specific use of filmmaking. Having never previously studied stills photography; some of the settings and uses of the cameras were slightly alien to me. Now, from this point on I could have purchased a photography book and began to work my way through different exercises in order to accommodate myself with the new equipment - however I decided instead to use more specific video tutorials (as I have previously done in making a Snorricam) as a guide.
As I began searching through different instructions and tutorials I came across a video series on YouTube produced by Canon Australia, created for the specific use for those new to the DSLR. What the series does is provide a basic introduction to both the photography and videography capabilities of the Canon DSLR's. Now, months latter, I have decided to list and annotate a few of the videos below which I found particularly helpful.
The first video posted above is an introduction to basic photographic camera settings. With an exploration of the likes of ISO that defining how sensitive the camera is to light, to shutter speed, which when placed highly will give a smother look and in photography stills can be used to freeze motion. And finally aperture, defining how much light is let into the camera; which in-turn controls the images depth of field.
In this second video you can begin to learn how these elements can be put to use together; how they compliment each other and how to use to use them to their full potential. A lot of the same subjects as in the previous video are revised again but with slightly more information for practical application.
Into the third video the subject changes to that of depth of field. Depth of field is controlled by how wide or closed the aperture is set on the camera. A small aperture gives the image a shallow depth of field and can be used to highlight and draw attention to a particular subject in frame. But when the aperture is closed or made smaller, this creates what is known in photography and filmmaking as deep depth of field. As apposed to shallow depth of field, deep depth of field gives the impression that all subjects within the frame are in focus. This can be used to show wide glistening landscapes or to show the equal importance of all the subjects within the frame.
Overall the series is mostly aimed at photographers, but thats not to say that their isn't any benefit to filmmakers and videographers alike. There are many tips in these videos which cross over into filmmaking as well, but overall the series became much more photography centric as it went on.
Although cinema across the world has developed and expanded through many different ages, film criticism itself has remained reasonably conservative in its construction. Looking at the works of definitive critics such as Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert or even British contemporaries like Mark Kermode the style of criticism hasn't really developed in a truly new form of progression.
Instead it wasn't until the advent of the Internet that a new wave of criticism came about. That’s not to say that these foundations were not previously set in our culture. It is generally accepted that the rise of this 'new criticism' was inspired by the American television series Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (1988-1999),which itself was inspired by the nineteen eighties film It Came From Beyond Midnight (1982).
For those who are unfamiliar with this new criticism, it is structured in a much less formal way than their previous contemporaries. Like Mystery Science Theatre, it often takes a bias comedic approach to films. Instead of trying to structurally define themes and artistic precision, the new criticism tends to define itself from the critics own previous preferable standpoints. What I mean here is that, they tend to focus on the story development and overall narrative from a more personal perspective. There is also a noticeable bias to these works as the critics address their audiences in the first person perspective and reflect upon their own opinion as well as from a more traditional aesthetic based stand point.
This gives consumers the ability to annotate the emotive language that the films may address without having to know (like with other contemporary critics) the language and technical terms of cinema. Particularly prominent internet critics who use this new wave style to form the basis of their reviews include: Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic), James Rolfe (The Angry Video Game Nerd), Noah Antwiler (Spoony) and the collective group of reviewers at Spill.com headed by the websites founder Corey Coleman.
Anyway, this post isn't about this form of criticism. Well, it is to some point, however this review in particular relates more progressively to the antithesis of the styles effectiveness. And so back on point, I actually came across this review around the time of the films release. After watching the film myself I found it to be an interesting watch. The film itself worked well upon the way that it defined its flawed characters and embraced the youth culture it aimed to present.
However watching the video Noah Antwiler gives an extremely in-depth deconstruction of the movie to likes of which I haven't seen in either print (newspapers, film magazines) or any other form of medium of a current film in quite some time.
(Just another note here, the following entry is from my previous university blog and is a direct transfer to my new website for future reference.) This video suggests a basic cheaper alternative to buying an expensive monitor for filming with a Canon DSLR. It involves the use of a Laptop, MacBook or a desktop computer even, as a Monitor whilst shooting video. The software required to do this comes free with a Canon camera so price wise it is free. The main positive of this comes with the ability to look over the shoot from a larger monitor. However you will have a less accurate view of the true light and colour being recorded from your camera than you would with a professional video monitor. Also you would be at a disadvantage if you were filming outside with battery power and the sun putting you at a disadvantage.
Yet the main positive for this method for me still remains to be the ability to focus your camera on a much larger and more accurate screen. In fact, in this case it has a much larger advantage over most professional video monitors. But still the real question to consider here is do you want a monitor which provides a better means to focus or a monitor which gives you a more accurate color feedback? In my own experience colors tend not to come out how you want them in the raw footage anyway. It is only really in postproduction color correction process that colors are truly defined. And as long as you don’t overexpose / underexpose your footage to badly you tend to be fine.
So although this may not be the popular consensus I think that for me this may be a viable idea to look into, or at least it is worth a try.
(Just a general note here, the following entry is from my previous university blog and is a direct transfer to my new website for future reference.)
The following are examples of DIY shoulder rigs or shoulder mounts for DSLR cameras. The main use of these devices is to steady the camera when filming handheld. As I have looked at manufacturer designs with prices ranging anywhere from £80-£1000 I have decided to look at alternate designs and try and make my own.
This first example made from mostly PVC looks like a good design with affordable components. The addition of the tripod head is also a nice feature but the main problem I have with this comes with its ability to be packed away for a quick and easy setup. With the use of PVC piping there is usually the need from some kind of solvent to keep the pieces together, which would be a hindrance for on the go travelling. Other than that though this is overall a very interesting design.
This second design is again very interesting, however for my own design I would like to construct something more simplistic and easy to pack away for travel purposes. While I’m sure that this design would be extremely sturdy the negative remains its large size for travelling.
This third design is again very interesting and by the looks of the construction and the use of bolts to secure the framing it would be more practical for travel purposes. However to construct a DIY shoulder rig of this sort I believe it would take much more knowledge and expertise on a variety of materials which I believe would take more time than I can afford give to this construction alone.
This last design however does intrigue me. It has a simple construction with a neck and back supports which if I were construct a design like this of my own I could make adjustable for the person who is using it. The design could also be adapted in a way that if each of the poles is attached to one another by nuts and bolts the shoulder rig could be packed for travel to later be reassembled on location. Also with the back support you could let the camera drop in-between takes to rest you arms without having to put the camera down.
