Shutter Speed

This first example was shot at 30 Shutter Speed, F.8 and ISO 400. Due to the shutter speed being set quite low, the motion is not very smooth.

However this example has been shot with the Shutter Speed at 100, F.8 and ISO 800. The motion is much smoother and there is no blur. Although due to the Shutter Speed being set higher I had to raise the ISO and this slightly decreased the quality of the shot.

 How effective were your videos?

The shots I took show the difference in shutter speed, and therefore the difference in the motion and how smooth the videos are. 

What were your strengths? 

I was able to shoot two shots which enabled me to view the difference in shutter speed 1/30 and 1/100. This therefore enabled me to highlight how motion and smoothness is affected as I changed the shutter speed. 

What were your areas of weakness?

To further emphasise the difference in shutter speed, i feel like I should've shot a faster moving image, perhaps a car would definitely have shown has a low shutter speed can produce lots of motion blur, compared to a high shutter speed which stops the motion blur and produces a much smoother shot.

 Recommendations 

Next time I would re-shoot but this time the subject in my shot which be something faster so that I could capture more motion blur at a low shutter speed and then show how raising the shutter speed produces a smoother image. 

Tirez Sur De La Pianiste - Truffaut

Plot

A washed-up classical pianist, Charlie Kohler/Edouard Saroyan (Charles Aznavour), bottoms out after his wife's suicide — stroking the keys in a Parisian dive bar. The waitress, Lena (Marie Dubois), is falling in love with Charlie, who it turns out is not who he says he is. When his brothers get in trouble with gangsters, Charlie inadvertently gets dragged into the chaos and is forced to rejoin the family he once fled.

Truffaut

While maintaining the dark and dramatic atmosphere of the book, Truffaut plays free and loose with genre conventions, consistently undermining our expectations and abruptly changing pace and tone without warning. In the opening sequence we see Chico running for his life through the city streets at night. Shots flash by in a rapid blur in near darkness or the glare of harsh street lighting. Then, abruptly the mood changes, a passer-by helps the dazed Chico to his feet. A long continuous tracking shot follows as they walk along the street discussing the benefits of love and marriage. This playful approach continues through the rest of the picture. The iconography of the musical, western, romance and melodrama genres feature briefly, interrupting the conventional crime story narrative. Abundant comic touches in particular distinguish the film from its source material and other films of the same genre. The hoodlums are portrayed more like the Marx brothers than real tough guys, endlessly discussing and arguing about subjects such as women’s secret desires. In one famous scene one of the gangsters proclaims “May my mother drop dead if I tell a lie” which is immediately followed by a shot of an old woman clutching her heart and collapsing.

The film's script changed constantly during shooting. Truffaut said that "In Shoot the Piano Player I wanted to break with the linear narrative and make a film where all the scenes would please me. I shot without any criteria." Truffaut's stylized and self-reflexive melodrama employs the hallmarks of French New Wave cinema: extended voice-overs, out-of-sequence shots, and sudden jump cuts. The film's cinematography by Raoul Coutard was often grainy and kinetic, reflecting the emotional state of the characters, such as the scene in which Charlie hesitates before ringing a doorbell.

French New Wave

Using light-weight portable equipment, hand-held cameras and requiring little or no set up time, the New Wave way of film-making presented a documentary style. The films exhibited direct sounds on film stock that required less light. Filming techniques included fragmented, freeze-frames, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of objective realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end.

http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/shoot-the-piano-player.shtml

http://www.classicartfilms.com/shoot-the-piano-player-1960

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_the_Piano_Player

Vivre Sa Vie - Godard

Plot 

Nana (Anna Karina), a beautiful Parisian in her early twenties, leaves her husband and infant son hoping to become an actress. Without money, beyond what she earns as a shopgirl, and unable to enter acting, she elects to earn better money as a prostitute. Soon she has a pimp, Raoul, who after an unspecified period agrees to sell Nana to another pimp. During the exchange the pimps argue and in a gun battle Nana is killed. Nana's short life on film is told in 12 brief episodes each preceded by a written resume. Godard introduces other idiosyncrasies to focus the viewer's attention.

Godard 

Raoul Coutard, the cinematographer who worked side-by-side with Godard during this period, has his camera track back and forth, first behind Nana's head, then Paul's, their faces glimpsed in the mirror. "The film was made by sort of a second presence," Godard said; the camera is not just a recording device but a looking device, that by its movements makes us aware that it sees her, wonders about her, glances first here and then there, exploring the space she occupies, speculating.

One of Vivre Sa Vie's major themes that Godard seems to explore is the subject of verbal and non-verbal communication between people within real life and also within the cinema. In one of the greatest sequences in the film the character of Nana spends the last money she has on the viewing of Carl Dreyer's silent masterpiece The Passion of Joan of Arc. The audience witnesses Nana weep as she identifies with Joan, the teary eyed martyr on the movie screen, as Godard brilliantly captures and iconized the tragic art of the cinema, in a heartbreaking sequence without the use of words.

http://www.classicartfilms.com/vivre-sa-vie-1962

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-vivre-sa-vie--my-life-to-live-1963

Aperture F2.8, F.8, F.16

This example was shot in Aperture F2.8, 1/80 Shutter Speed an ISO 800. Due to the F2.8 shot which was captured on a 50mm lens, has an extremely shallow depth of field; This means the object in close proximity to the camera will be in focus, anything past that object will be out of focus.

This example was shot in Aperture f.8, 1/160 SS, 1600 ISO. As you can tell, compare to the last example, the depth of field has been extended, however parts of the background are still out of focus.

This example was shot in Aperture f.16, 80ss, 1600 ISO. This example allows large amounts of the shot to be in focus due to the deep depth of field and narrow opening. 

 How effective were your videos?

My shots allowed me to view the difference in aperture, and therefore I learnt about difference in focus and the range and also how it affects the lighting.What were your strengths? Why?

What were your areas of weakness? Why?

Unfortunately I didn't use a tripod so my shot is sometimes unsteady, a tripod could have made a difference to my shot. 

 Recommendations

I would improve my videos next time by shooting all the shots in the same setting, therefore you could see the gradual change in focus as the aperture changes. 

A Bout De Souffle - Godard

Plot

Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is a youthful criminal who is intrigued with the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest Patricia (Jean Seberg), a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the New York Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. At one point, Patricia says she is pregnant with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street and, after a prolonged death run, he dies “à bout de souffle” (out of breath).

Godard 

Filming took place over the summer of 1959. Behind the camera was Raoul Coutard, originally a documentary cameraman for the French army’s information service in Indochina during the war. Coutard’s background suited Godard who wanted the film to be shot, as much as possible, like a documentary, with a handheld camera and the minimum of lighting. This decision was taken for both aesthetic reasons – making the film look like a newsreel – and practical reasons – saving the time setting up lights and tripod.

Flexibility was very important to Godard, who wanted the freedom to improvise and shoot whenever and wherever he wanted without too many technical constraints. He and Coutard devised ways – such as using a wheelchair for tracking shots and shooting with specialist lowlight filmstock for nighttime scenes – to make this possible.

Godard’s unorthodox methods continued in the editing suite. His first cut of À bout de souffle was two-and-a-half hours long but Beauregard had required he deliver a ninety-minute film. Rather than cutting out whole scenes, he decided to cut within scenes, even within shots. This use of deliberate jump cuts was unheard of in professional filmmaking where edits were designed to be as seamless as possible. He also cut between shots from intentionally disorienting angles that broke all the traditional rules of continuity. By deliberately appearing amateurish Godard drew attention to the conventions of classic cinema, revealing them for what they were, merely conventions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breathless_(1960_film)

http://www.newwavefilm.com/french-new-wave-encyclopedia/breathless.shtml

Jules Et Jim - Truffaut

Plot


In the years leading up to World War I, Jules and Jim are inseparable friends. Living in Paris gives them ample opportunities to expand their horizons as they discuss politics, the arts and life in general. Jim is something of a ladies man but Jules isn't so lucky. They soon meet Catherine, a free spirit and the three of them enjoy life together. She soon agrees to marry Jules but with the arrival of the war Jules, a German, return to his home country to serve in the army. Jim serves in the French army and both survive the war. It is a happy day when the two friends are reunited but Jules admits that his marriage has been less than successful and that Catherine has taken many lovers over the years. He loves her very much however and will go to any lengths to keep her with him. Jim and Catherine soon become lovers, with Jules' tacit approval, but Catherine's own needs and desires lead to tragedy.

Truffaut

Truffaut filmed his movie with help of cinematographer Raoul Coutard. Coutard was one of the most prominent cinematographers of the New Wave movement, lensing classics like À Bout de souffle (1960), Une Femme est une Femme (1961) Pierrot le Fou (1965) & Alphaville (1965) for Jean-Luc Godard (the other famous director of the movement) and several others also for Truffaut.

Coutard, who basically started filming when he started working with Godard, will be known mostly for his New Wave style of filming using hand-held cameras and natural lightning mostly, giving his work an unpolished, documentary feel.

The French New Wave and its Conventions

Many usually site Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless as the most influential film that started the French New Wave, but Jules and Jim was the most audacious and lovable incorporating such New Wave aesthetics as newsreel footage, photographic stills, freeze frames, panning shots, wipes, masking, dolly shots, and voice-over narration.

The idea of The French New Wave film was that it should seem personal and freewheeling, where the directors often chose to shoot on location, using natural lighting and often using hand-held cameras which added to the experimental feel of the films. Key themes explored in the French New Wave include breaking the distinguishing boundaries of realism, and the idea of exploring the relationships between men and women.

http://www.classicartfilms.com/jules-jim-1962

https://refractionsfilm.wordpress.com/2013/01/20/jules-et-jim-1962/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055032/

ISO 100 & 1600

This is an example of a shot in ISO 100. As you can see the shot is very clear. I used the 'Pull-focus' technique to capture this shot.

This is an example of a shot in ISO 1600. The shot is quite grainy and this is because the higher the ISO was, I had to lower the aperture and shutter speed to bring the lighting in the shot back to how it should've looked.

        How effective were your videos?

My shots allowed me to gain an understanding on ISO and raising the ISO decreases the quality in the shot.

What were your strengths?

I was able to create a good quality video highlighting how altering the ISO changes the lighting and quality of the shots. I also showed that due to the natural lighting being bright enough, the aperture and shutter speed in the second shot had to be altered. 

What were your areas of weakness?

I didn't use a tripod so my shots are unsteady.

 Recommendations

I would improve next time's shots by using a tripod to create a steadier and more professional shot. Also to show a variety of change in the ISO, I would re-shoot the shots indoor to highlight how the ISO changes indoors.

Music Video

This is an example of me labelling my work; By labelling all my videos it allows me to keep my workspace organised. 

                           

For my music video I have tried to keep in time with the beat of the song. The song has a very slow beat and is quite repetitive. The videos I have used have come from both Vimeo and Youtube, the majority being Free Stock Videos. In order to give my video a unique approach I have layered multiple videos at once. This allowed be to make an extremely abstract visual experience for the viewer. I wanted to make this video a lot longer however I found myself spending too much time specifically following the beat of the song with my editing. The challenge itself was difficult for me as it was one of my first experiences on Premier Pro. However this has helped me gain more of an understanding in Premier for when I am editing. In the example above there are four videos layered together. The shot I am most pleased with in this music video is the eye. With the eye it seems as though it is following the main point of the action within the shot, in this example, the eye is following the gunshot. 

                               

I then decided to add a Kaleidoscope onto the top layer of the videos, making the visual experience even more abstract and confusing for the viewer. 

FULL VIDEO

4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqJE1xpmOL4   

French New Wave research

In this scene from Breathless, directed by Godard, a few topics are discussed that before the time this movie was made, these topics would not have been acceptable. For example, he refers to the police force as "The Pigs", which of course his an extremely negative connotation, even in today's society. He also kills a police officer, again today any murder is unacceptable, however it would have been some what shocking to see that a police officer was killed on screen around the time this film was made.

This scene from Jules Et Jim, directed by Truffaut, the majority is captured via handheld camerawork, a feature that is common throughout the French New Wave scene and is one feature that had an impact on the film industry due to how vastly used it is today throughout film.

This scene from Vivre Sa Vie directed by Godard, uses a shot which was extremely unique at the time it was made. This shot is now frequently used in today's film industry. The shot reverse shot in this scene takes place behind the heads of the two participants in conversation. However what is unique about this particular shot is that you rarely see their faces, even in the mirror they are facing.

 

This scene from Tirez sur le Pianiste directed by Truffaut, uses the technique of layering footage, an example of which can be found at 00:40. This piece of editing is something that has become common throughout film now, however during the time this film was made, it was not so common. At 01:25, the scene where the couple are in bed shows the use of multiple jump cuts that fade into one another. This was a more common technique used throughout directors during this time, especially within Godard and Truffaut's films.  

The French New Wave- 1960-1965 Paying particular attention to Godard and Truffaut

I will be studying the French New Wave for my contextual research. I will be focusing mainly on both Godard and Truffaut. I am paying particular attention to these directors due to the drastic effect they had on the film industry at that time, but also the effect they would have on young directors just starting to come into the industry. I am going to be researching into four films, two from both of the directors. Truffaut's films 'Jules Et Jim' (1962) and 'Tirez Sur Le Pianiste' (1960), and Godard's films 'A Bout De Souffle' (1960) and 'Vivre Sa Vie' (1962), were all very popular films during the time they were made, however they are also four films that have had a massive impact on the film industry today.

Explaining the ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture Video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8T94sdiNjc

ISO, Aperture, Shutter Speed, Frames Per Second Research

ISO

ISO measures the sensitivity of the image sensor. The same principles apply as in film photography – the lower the number the less sensitive your camera is to light and the finer the grain.
Higher ISO settings are generally used in darker situations to get faster shutter speeds. For example an indoor sports event when you want to freeze the action in lower light. However the higher the ISO you choose the noisier shots you will get.

100 ISO is generally accepted as ‘normal’ and will give you lovely crisp shots (little noise/grain).

When you do override your camera and choose a specific ISO you’ll notice that it impacts the aperture and shutter speed needed for a well exposed shot. For example – if you bumped your ISO up from 100 to 400 you’ll notice that you can shoot at higher shutter speeds and/or smaller apertures.

If there is plenty of light, I want little grain, I’m using a tripod and my subject is stationary I will generally use a pretty low ISO rating.
If it’s dark, I purposely want grain, I don’t have a tripod and/or my subject is moving I might consider increasing the ISO as it will enable me to shoot with a faster shutter speed and still expose the shot well.
Of course the trade off of this increase in ISO will be noisier shots.

Aperture

Aperture is ‘the opening in the lens.’

When you hit the shutter release button of your camera a hole opens up that allows your cameras image sensor to catch a glimpse of the scene you’re wanting to capture. The aperture that you set impacts the size of that hole. The larger the hole the more light that gets in – the smaller the hole the less light.

Aperture is measured in ‘f-stops’.

Moving from one f-stop to the next doubles or halves the size of the amount of opening in your lens (and the amount of light getting through). Keep in mind that a change in shutter speed from one stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light that gets in also – this means if you increase one and decrease the other you let the same amount of light in – very handy to keep in mind).

One thing that causes a lot of new photographers confusion is that large apertures (where lots of light gets through) are given f/stop smaller numbers and smaller apertures (where less light gets through) have larger f-stop numbers. So f/2.8 is in fact a much larger aperture than f/22. It seems the wrong way around when you first hear it but you’ll get the hang of it.

Depth of Field (DOF) is that amount of your shot that will be in focus. Large depth of field means that most of your image will be in focus whether it’s close to your camera or far away.

Small (or shallow) depth of field means that only part of the image will be in focus and the rest will be fuzzy.

f1.8 aperture will be used for shallow depth of field.

Higher apertures such as f16 will allow the depth of field to be large meaning almost everything in your shot will be in focus.

Shutter Speed

In film photography it was the length of time that the film was exposed to the scene you’re photographing and similarly in digital photography shutter speed is the length of time that your image sensor ‘sees’ the scene you’re attempting to capture.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds – or in most cases fractions of seconds. The bigger the denominator the faster the speed (ie 1/1000 is much faster than 1/30).

In most cases you’ll probably be using shutter speeds of 1/60th of a second or faster. This is because anything slower than this is very difficult to use without getting camera shake. Camera shake is when your camera is moving while the shutter is open and results in blur in your photos.

If you’re using a slow shutter speed (anything slower than 1/60) you will need to either use a tripod or some some type of image stabilization (more and more cameras are coming with this built in).

The surfing shot below had a shutter speed of 1/4000th of a second capturing even the splashing drops of water sharply.

Remember that thinking about Shutter Speed in isolation from the other two elements of the Exposure Triangle (aperture and ISO) is not really a good idea. As you change shutter speed you’ll need to change one or both of the other elements to compensate for it.
For example if you speed up your shutter speed one stop (for example from 1/125th to 1/250th) you’re effectively letting half as much light into your camera. To compensate for this you’ll probably need to increase your aperture one stop (for example from f16 to f11). The other alternative would be to choose a faster ISO rating (you might want to move from ISO 100 to ISO 400 for example).

Frames Per Second

Frame rate, also known as frame frequency, is the frequency (rate) at which an imaging device displays consecutive images called frames.

Advantages of a higher frame rate

Even though about 15 fps is needed to initiate the illusion of continuous motion, the effect by no means stops there. Visual studies have shown that even if one cannot distinguish discrete images, a frame rate all the way up to 60-80 fps makes footage appear more lifelike by enhancing clarity and smoothness.

HFR also minimizes the appearance of motion artifacts — especially when viewed in a theater. Moving objects may strobe or have a “picket fence” appearance as they traverse a large screen. At 24 fps, a 50 foot screen shows an object as jumping in 2 foot increments if that object takes one second to traverse the screen. This can appear as “judder” with fast panning and other types of camera movements.

Everything else being equal, one can also extract sharper and more precisely positioned stills with HFR. This is particularly helpful when a fashion video will also be used as a stills photo shoot, or when movie frames need to be pulled for print advertising. If HFR output isn’t needed, at 48 fps one can always use frame skipping for backward compatibility with 24 fps.