Post 11. Advanced Production Skills Workshop 1

Style

Creating a style for our shot film is very important as it gives a specific meaning or value to the piece. It can include all aspects in making a film- sound, mise-en-scene, dialogue, cinematography, or attitude. But another way of creating this is through lighting.

For example there are certain styles or film which use a style rather than genre such as Film noir.

"Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_noir

Facts...
- Style not genre
- Created by Nino Frank in 1946
- Double Identity- artificial lighting, dark
- Reflect American trends crime and detective films. Contrast to Optimistic Musicals and Comedy.
- Mood/ P of E/ tone
- Narrators often used
- Story contained a cynical, half heated, disillusioned male character who encounters a beautiful promiscuous, a moral double dealing and seductive femme fatale. (Female brings male down but usually looses out and is destroyed too).
- 1940’s women began to be more independent and were heard, yet in contrast, in films they were to suffer.

What makes up lighting?

Josef von Sternberg, one of the cinema's masters of film lighting said: "The proper use of light can embellish and dramatize every object."

Shadows: Highlights.
Cast- Putting something in the way of light (e.g. Venetian blinds)
Attached- Relate to the shape and size of object

Scale of Importance: The one with the most light is the most important.

A good way of showing the power of light is how it creates shape and texture. For example using a lemon on a black background moving a torch around it slowly in different directions to create a more interesting visual.

This is shown in this video
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Our interpretation
We then experimented with light using the same technique as the lemon video, but using a skull instead. This is what we created...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNQefCdWxnY