Flip The Script: My Experience in Front of The Camera

Two weeks ago, I sat down and filmed myself as part of a job application. It took me a million tries, and I even ended up explaining that I am a lot better behind the camera than I am in front of it. I feel safe behind the camera, I feel way more in control. Being in front of it, however, is a whole different situation. When I finished filming that application (and editing it to make my thoughts sound 10 times more coherent), I vowed to stay away from the front of the camera in the future.

Flash forward two weeks, and somehow I ended up in front of the camera again. Yesterday, someone from ICTV emailed me asking me to do an interview for their women in media episode on News Watch. I know how stressful it can be finding interview subjects, so, despite my two-week-old vow, I happily obliged.

This was unlike anything I had ever experienced before: the script was completely switched. Instead of conducting an interview, I was the interviewee. It was like my mind went blank as soon as the camera started rolling, yet at the same time thousands of thoughts were running around like crazy. How should I answer this question? What answer is he looking for? Am I talking in circles? How is he going to edit this together? What is the final product going to look like? Am I even answering a question right now?

Maybe other people don't think that much about an interview while they're participating in one. Maybe I was just hyper-aware because I'm so used to being on the other side of the camera. Regardless, I think it was helpful being in the hot seat for once. Now that I've been in front of the camera, I have a better understanding toward how my subjects may feel. It's easy to have expectations as an interviewer, but I think that understanding what it is like being an interviewee is important in order to make those expectations a reality.

Maybe, in order to be even better behind the camera, we should spend more time in front of it as well.

The Looooonnnnnnggggg Take

Long takes are a directors best weapon in the fight against boring scenes. This is not to say that they are easy but when planned correctly, they are extremely effective and immensely entertaining. The flow and pace of the scene is carefully thought out and every single move matters in the end. One of the best long takes (in my humble opinion) is the car scene in Children of Men.

The car the used for this scene had a camera that hung down from the "roof" and could rotate 360 degrees. What resulted was an extremely complicated and highly emotional death of a main character all capture with little to no edits. 

Another impressive long take which I think beats out Children of Men, due to the level of complexity required from every actor on screen, is from a Hong Kong film called Hard Boiled. I put the clip in the post and its definitely worth the 3 minute watch because the choreography between the camera man and the actors is pure genius. Plus all the fake guns going off and squibs to match must have been a difficult time for the special effects team because we see people getting "shot" at very unflattering angles. 

I'm jealous of the one takes I'm going to be honest. The best one takes are usually the ones you don't notice are happening. Like most things in cinema, this is the goal to make it look as natural as possible. 

I included a compilation of impressive long takes. They don't include the entire take but definitely capture the essence and scope of each one.

 http://dfcovideo.com/film/12-best-long-takes-in-film-history/

Camera Angles and Movements

     When setting up a shot and shooting something the camera operator or DP always has to be aware of what is in the shot and how the shot will be perceived. Using different camera angles and camera movements will have a wide range of psychological affects on the audience. First lets compare the difference between a zoom in and a dolly.

Zoom:
     Zooming in on a camera is the act of changing the focal length of the camera lens during a shot. Going from a wide shot to a close up of a character creates a dramatic feel. The zoom makes the object in the shot appear to grow in size and look as if it is coming towards the audience. Another affect the zoom has is that it will simply crop out other objects and people in the shoots. With a zoom in shot the positions of objects and people also do not change relative to the movement. These two effects, objects getting cut from the frame, and objects positions not changing relative to the camera "movement", create a very artificial feel.

Dolly:

     A dolly in or out is similar to a zoom in or out in the sense that by the end of the shot the subject will be closer or farther from the screen. However the action behind dollying the and zooming the camera are different and create a different feel for the audience. Where the zoom shot adjusts the lens to change the focal length a dolly shot physically moves the camera. This is a much more dynamic shot for the viewer because it is the actual feel of what it is naturally like for peoples vision. The dolly gives the audience the feeling of moving toward the subject instead of the subject moving to the audience. The objects in a dolly shot don't feel as though they are getting cropped out of frame, but rather that the viewer is moving past them. A dolly shot also creates a better feeling of having dimension on the z-axis as background objects do not just appear to get larger with the foreground, but rather move in perspective to the subject.

Video Comparing Zoom In and Dolly In

Some Camera Angles:

     Shooting Upward/Downward At Subject:

          A very basic trick that is used in movies and television is angling the camera upward or downward to make the audience perceive a character one way or another. Shooting from a low angle and looking upward at the character makes the character appear to be larger than life and seem very powerful and dominate.

Low Angle Shot

          And obviously a high angle shot where the camera is pointed down at the subject does the opposite by making the subject appear week and insignificant.

High Angle Shot

     Dutch Shot:

            This is a type of shot in which the camera is tilted to one side and makes it look diagonal. This shot displays an uneasy feeling and high tension of the subject in the shot.  

Dutch Angle

   

More Than Just a Silver Lining

Recently nominated for 8 Academy Awards, Silver Linings Playbook tells the story of an unlikely friendship between two people recovering from mental illnesses.  Going into the theatre I had my hopes up high after friends, parents and critics praising the film.  Surely I was not disappointed.  This touching, and emotional roller coaster allows the audience to see the frustrations and struggles of people living with these disorders.  Having only seen Bradley Cooper in movies like The Hangover, and Valentines Day, I was not expecting a strong, heavy hearted, leading male performance from him.  I was surely mistaken after Bradley carried the film impressing me with his acting and his on screen chemistry with all of the characters.  He played "Pat" a man living with bi-polar disorder who was recently released out of a mental health facility into the care of his parents Pat sr. (Robert DeNiro) and Dolores (Jacki Weaver) whom also gave wonderful performances in the show.

The film really picks up once Tiffany, a recovering sex addict played by Jennifer Lawrence, steps into the picture and befriends Pat.  Her performance was stunning and even won her the Golden Globe for a leading actress in a comedy or musical.  Both Lawrence, and Coopers ability to convey so much emotional depth within their facial features, especially their eyes and their necks, is unbelievable. I could not take my eyes off of either one, when either of them were on the screen.  I think both of them have reached new heights in their acting careers.  It's impressive to any actor who can steal the show away from Robert De Niro who still have a more than perfect performance.

The film is nominated for all 4 acting awards, best editing, best adapted screenplay, best director David O. Russell (nominated in 2010 for The Fighter) and best picture at the Academy Awards.  I think this film deserves all of these accolades.  The movie was a spectacular creation and beautiful tale of unlikely friends coming together.  After seeing the film I couldn't help but think if even a few things about the movie were different it could have been just another rom-com and not this beautiful work of art.  Don't get me wrong, I love rom-coms, but change Jenifer Lawrence with Katherine Heigel, have Gary Marshal direct instead, and it could have been a very different movie.

All in all, Silver Linings Playbook was a wonderful journey, and a stepping stone for film makers everywhere to show that even the most simple of plots can have the most lasting impact on audiences.

My Guilty Pleasure Film

Everyone has a guilty pleasure movie: a film that either has a horrible story or tons of technical errors, yet you can't peel your eyes away from the screen.

After giving it much thought, I'm a huge fan of the early 00's teen classic "Get Over It."

But this isn't just another poorly made movie. It had an all star teen cast at the time that included Shane West, star of such tear jerkers as "A Walk to Remember" and "Whatever It Takes", Kirsten Dunst, who was typed-cast as a high school upper classman for the better part of four years, Ben Foster, fresh off a breakthrough role in "Freaks and Geeks", and Mila Kunis, then-star of "That 70s show." Let's not forget Martin Short, a comedic staple in many 80s films.

Despite the star-studded cast and a director who previously created several critically acclaimed short films, the film was so bad it was good. Where do I begin?

The story of the film is loosely based on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, much like many other teen films at the time. Foster plays a high school basketball jok who get's dumped by his questionably attractive girlfriend for Shane West, who is sporting a horribly fake British/Australian accent, so bad that the producer decided to change his physical appearance so it was less transparent.

Kirsten Dunst plays a theater geek who has a thing for Foster, who continues to ignore her obvious advances in his comedic attempts to win back his girlfriend.

It was really hard for me to understand why a film with such a great slew of actors could be so horrible. Then it hit me: everyone is anti-cast.

Shane West is obviously not British. Ben Foster was too meek and quiet compared to his usual roles. Kirsten Dunst, who usually plays the popular-type girl with all the friends, unsuccessfully attempted to play someone enamored with the arts. Sisqo is a singer, I really don't know why he was in this movie. The worst had to be Mila Kunis. At the time, she was known as the pushy, bitchy girlfriend of Michael Kelso on that 70s show. In this movie, she actually came off as kind and compassionate, which was off-putting to say the least.

Overall, all of these failures make the movie so stupid, it's worth watching again and again. I highly recommend it.

M. Night Shyamalan Returns to Film School???

A new article surficed the other day over M. Night Shyamalan, and the fact that he should go back to film school, the article talks about him attending NYU. I know that there are mixed feelings over M. Night and his movies, some people love them, and others (a majority) don't but do people really have to go this far to get their point/opinion across? The article is actually really well written and explains a lot, so if interested the link to the article is in the title.