Loneliness In Images

In order to gain a sense of how loneliness is created through media I had to do some research into the subject. I aimed to look into multiple different forms of media; not singularly film and television, and so I was required to look into other artforms, such as photogrphay and painting.

 

NightHawks by Edward Hooper

 

The first interesting image I found was "Nighthawks" by Edward Hooper:

 

 

This picture is a brilliant example of how a shot can be composed to create loneliness. The image singles out and alienates the man sat at the bar. To start; the character is positioned in the centre of a frame within and frame, and then is equally centred in the image as a whole. By placing the character in the centre of the frame, this draws your eye to him immediately and then as your eye moves from the centre of the image you notice the empty space around him:

 

The other people in the image are then placed on the other side of the bar to make it obvious that they are not sitting with the central man, however they are placed in such a way that there is a perfect line from his eyeline through both of theirs, and likewise there is a line from where the bartender is looking back to the man. The overall placement of the characters then creates a triangle, which aids in escorting the eye around the main features of the image:

 

Lighting wise, the use of bright light or even the look of overexposure has been used to single out the central man from the other characters. This has been done by making the "happier" people in the image much brighter then the lonely man, who has been made to seem gloomier and somewhat depressed from loneliness.

 

 

John Crosley

John Crosley is a well known photographer who focuses his work on everyday life, with his black and white photo albums and galleries full of images showing real life situations as they present themselves to him. Whilst browsing through him albums I came across two images that represent loneliness very well: they are simple, to the point and easy to read:

 

The first image is entitled "Loneliness" and is an unbelievably simple, yet powerful shot of a woman sat alone on a staircase. He has composed the shot with the right in the centre of the frame, and the sheer amount of empty space around her emphasises the point very well. She also creates a section of high contrast between her black coat and the white staircase which aids in keeping your eye fixed on the woman.

 

 

The second image is "Alone", where you can see and old lady sat in the middle of the pavement with nobody around. It looks as if she has possibly fallen down and that there is nobody there to help her, creating a sense of fear ontop of the loneliness, and desperation for her to find someone to help. Just like the shot above, the character has been placed in the centre of the shot and is in a contrasting colour to the background.

 

 

Alternative Method

All of the images seen so far follow the simple idea of composing an image so that the figure of loneliness is always in the centre of the image: But this isn't the only way of creating this illusion. An alternative method of composing an image to create this theme is to use balance, or to unbalance as the case may be. When an image feels whole and is satisfying it is almost always balanced: for example a large focal point in the background would be balanced with a smaller object in the foreground. When an artist wants to create the feeling of loneliness and the feeling that there is something missing; they can unbalance this image, as done below by an amateur photographer called Goh Wenxian Victor. Also, you can see again the recurring theme of contrast being heavily used, this time with a silhouette:

 

 

 



Theme Exploration

 

When I started thinking about the overall film that I wanted to create, I decided that I couldn't proceed in looking at compositions and lighting etc. until I had an idea of the theme I wanted to be present throughout. This led me to creating two moodboards into possible theme routes for me to go down:

After looking over the different themes I have decided upon the theme of 'loneliness'. I decided on this theme over the others due to the amount of potential it contains: I feel like there are so many different things that can be done with regards to cinematography that would allow me to convey a sense of loneliness; the desperate desire for companionship, the possibility of a lossed loved one and their insecurity and fear of having nobody by their side.

Naturalistic vs Stylised

The visual aspect of films all fall into place on what can be described as a spectrum: between naturalistic and stylised.

Naturalistic:

A naturalistic film aims to create realism and provides the false illusion of reality, as if the contents of the film were genuinely taking place somewhere in the world, for example television dramas and war films.
A beautiful example of the naturalistic look is Kareem Mortimer's 'Children of God':

This film is a brilliant example on the use of natural light to keep shots looking realistic. Throughout the trailer you can see a variety of different environments, both indoors and outdoors, even under water and in caves: but no matter where the location, the shot always looks realistic, believable and beautiful. This form of naturalistic video is designed to be slightly dreamlike, the soft fall-off of shadows and the warm glow around the characters emphasise emotion and a warm, loving relationship which the film is all about.

However, naturalistic can also be incredibly realistic in not only the look of the scene, but in the way the camera moves: for example shakey camera work to give the sense of a handheld camera, which instantly makes an audience believe in what they are seeing. This use of camera movement and also the use of realistic colouring of a shot can be seen clearly in the film 'Dead Man's Shoes' by Shane Meadows:

This naturalistic look could also be taken the the extreme end of the spectrum whereby you are trying to make the audience believe that there was nothing added to the shot, and that the entire film was 100% real, as seen in found footage films such as 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Paranormal Activity'. These types of film are designed in such a way that they can almost be quite difficult to watch at times due to the camera being so shakey, and the level of realism is so extreme that 'The Blair Witch Project' sparked many conspiracies at the time as to whether the film was actually real. However the entire film features what are clearly well thought out compositions and well lit scenes that could only come from someone who is experienced in film making. You cannot go to this extreme without knowing exactly how and when to break the rules of lighting and composition:

 

Stylised:

At the other end of this visual spectrum you have stylised films. These are the films that are designed to fit a specific theme or follow a follow a narrative that is unrealistic: for example science fiction, and supernatural films, where the narrative needs to be amplified to make a point. This stylised nature (much like naturalistic) can be either quite subtle or very imposing, depending on how unnatural the concept in need of conveying is.

A good example of the use of stylistic filming is in 'Requiem for a Dream', which uses to stylistic approach to create quite a dark and disorientating look on the lives of drug users. The film almost makes the audience feel like they are experiencing some of the effects which the characters are and can be quite hard to watch at times due to way in which it is filmed. This is a very stylised film that also managed to contain elements of realism and you do managed to contain belief that the character could be real:

 

 

Towards the more unreal end of the spectrum you have films where it's obviously not real and there is no real attempt to make it so. These kind of films have an unrealistic colour scheme and feature elements that would not be possible or do not exist in the world at present. An example of this form of stylistic filming is Frank Miller's 'Sin City'. He uses a black and white colour scheme with only hints of colour where necessary to apmlify the narrative:

 

 

 

My Film:

After conducting my research into naturalistic vs stylised films, I have reached the conclusion that my film is to be somewhere along the middle of the spectrum, edging more closely towards naturalistic. I want my film to be quite realistic, with only hints of stylistic filming to emphasise points along the narrative. The colour scheme should be quite believable and follow the colours that would naturally occur in the scene, and the majority of my lighting should be natural, with practical elements to aid the storytelling.

Basic Thoughts and Ideas

When watching films or videos I always find myself in awe of the beauty of natural light: the way it reacts when hitting objects and how it affects the objects / characters in the scene.

A good example of this is the film "Tree of Life" from Terrence Malick. This particular film is shot very well with an excellent use of natural light: the glowing around a charater from a strong back light, the soft falloff of shadows, the use of lens flares, and also the way that a shot is set up, for example compositionally as well as the use of contrast; putting lighter toned faces onto darker backgrounds.

 

This has lead me into wanting to experiment with how to use natural light in different ways for example the different between using natural light in dark and light scenes: though I am very much aware of the capabilities of the cameras we have available to use and that minimal natural light in a dark scene is going to require a very high ISO, and this will cause a lot more grain than I would like. Due to this problem, I have decided that I am going to focus my piece on a combination of both natural and practical light: Using as few off camera lights as possible and only really relying on the use of relective boards to aid lighting.

The Task at Hand

 

The brief for this Cinematography Technology assignment is to create a short film; anywhere between three and twenty minutes long based around a single form of cinematography that is of interest to me. This blog is therefor to track to process of the piece as well as to document my research processes and thoughts on the work.

 

The piece must have a good sense on continuity and stick to the same themes and forms of cinematography throughout. These themes should show lighting, composition, focus and camera movement techniques, as well as conveying emotion, atmosphere and thought.

 

Throughout this blog I aim to show detailed and relevant research into the various techniques available to use as well as analysis of popular visual artforms. I will then test these techniques and come to a decision based on this research as to how I will carry out my final piece: Currently I am struggling to decided on how I would like my piece to look and hope to find inspiration soon.

 

Aims:

•  To create a 3-20 minute video piece that follows a set style of cinematography, a theme and contains a constant lighting method throughout.
• To create an online logbook or blog that documents all progress in the module with critial analysis and references throughtout.
   

Objectives:

•  To complete and document research into cinematography, including lighting, styles, composition and themes.
• To reach a conclusion on my final piece with regards to lighting, styles and composition.
• To organise equipment and arange filming dates with an actor/actress.
• To complete test footage to aid in creation of the final piece.
• To film to final piece to a high standard.
• To edit the final piece to a high standard.
• To ensure blogging and critical analysis take place throughout.