Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Post #1 "Notes on the Cinematographer" (Due 1/14/15)
Please read the Introduction (found in this link) and the entirety on Robert Bresson's "Notes on the Cinematographer" (better pdf for the full text here.) I recommend breaking it up over a few days. It's not a lot to read, but it's a lot to process. Please select 3 of Bresson's entries that speak to you and/or change your perception of what filmmaking is and comment on them. Please include the log entries before your comments.
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1. "It is in its pure form that an art hits hard." When art imitates life, is when it is most relate-able. A man kissing his mother goodbye as she lies on her death bed: That's the raw emotion that connects us all. That's when an art is pure; when the chords of the heart are struck.
ReplyDelete2. "The noises must become music." Dialogue isn't always a necessity. Sounds can act as the main driving factor behind a scene; especially in animated films such as Wall-E. From recreating freezing water by crumbling paper to dragging a punching bag across the floor for gusting winds, "noises" are just as important as visuals. They are music. They are art.
3. "Metteur-en-scene, director. The point is not to direct someone, but to direct
oneself." Much like when you are trying to solve a problem, it is best to not only look at your side, but the other perspective as well. Look at yourself for change and see if the problem can be resolved by making adjustments to you and not the other party. Once you've done that, you've realized that you have done your job and it is up to the others to do theirs. Once you figure yourself out, you can lead others.
1. "Catch instants. Spontaneity, freshness." It is so easy to get carried away in film making, with crazy schedules, time limits, and whatever else there might be. In order to have a film be successful, you can't rush through it with your only concern being the shot list in your back pocket, you have to take time and let the story take control away from you for a bit while you capture it.
ReplyDelete2."images, like the words in a dictionary, have no power and value except through their position and relation." Don't simply shoot something because it has a relation to the outline of a story you're telling. Show how it relates, why it's important, put weight and meaning behind it other wise the images won't be able to help you tell your story.
3. "Cinematography: new way of writing, therefore of feeling." Reading books used to be the main way for people to escape life for a bit, and feel something that felt real but wasn't based on fact. Once cinema grew and evolved it took writing's place. This now means that the cinematographer takes the writer's job of creating an escape that people will believe in.
1. "Ideas gathered from reading will always be bookish ideas. Go to the persons and objects directly." On set experience has aided me immensely so far in my career. I have found that going out and learning has been the best way too learn.
ReplyDelete2. "Cinematography films: emotional, not representational." This is something I have always tried to achieve in making a film. Getting a emotion out, and not just trying to show the audience something. I feel as though a camera has the power of drawing emotion without any words being spoken.
3. "Choose your models well, so they lead you where you want to go." Here we are limited on talent at school, so it has always been a struggle to find someone who will do this for a film. But it is always what we are striving to accomplish.
'Shooting: Put oneself into a state of intense ignorance and curiosity, and yet see things in advance. Sometimes when you are concentrating so hard on a particular shot or incorporating a certain theme is is easy to get tunnel vision and it is harder to see the big picture. When you enter this state of ignorance it is like stepping back and looking at the project with new eyes- curious eyes and you can see things in ways you weren't capable of before. Always be anticipating the next move - but give chance a chance.
ReplyDelete"To create is not to deform or invent persons and things. It is to tie new relationships between persons and things which are, and as they are. " He talks a lot of about actors only playing role and the models becoming the role. To create a believable atmosphere on screen the actors can't simply be trying to invent a whole new person- they must take attributes they already and use those things to create this model and make it personable and believable.
"Expression through compression. To put into an image what a writer would spin out over ten pages. " With a camera as your artistic medium you are able to show the details in a room or on the face of your actors - instead of having to explain in detail to your readers and having them imagine for themselves what the characters look like- you have the ability to completely submerse them into atmosphere surrounding your characters.
1."When you do not know what you are doing and what you are doing is the best - that is inspiration." I feel like I can really relate to this. It seems like most of the time I have no idea what I'm doing but what ever it is I am doing becomes something unexpected and wonderful.
ReplyDelete2."Cinema draws on a common fund. The cinematographer is making a voyage of discovery on a unknown planet." I like this. Not every film is exactly the same. there are always new discoveries. They may not be new in general but they are new to the film maker.
3. "One single mystery of persons and objects." I would like to think this means that everything has a little bit of an enigma. This kind of goes along with my second quote. Discovery and mystery go hand in hand. With the curiosity of mystery you discover.
“Where not everything is present, but each word, each look, each movement has things underlying.”
ReplyDeleteI love this one because it goes back to the old saying that everything on film is on purpose. Every little action or object that is seen means something or contributes to what the film is trying to convey. The more a filmmaker can use those tools to convey emotion or a sign to the audience without having to say something is a vital skill. It adds to the story without taking away from it’s complexity.
“Cinematography: new way of writing, therefore of feeling.”
I always describe cinematography and what I love doing as “painting with light”, but Robert Bresson describes it as writing. I can’t argue with it because either way you are telling a story with something other than words or lines. Light has this amazing effect of making you feel warm and comforted if its around, and lonely and bleak when it is absent. I feel like cinematography translates directly into emotion.
“Not beautiful photography, not beautiful images, but necessary images, and photography.”
I loved this quote because far too often do I catch myself getting a shot that is gorgeous, but I don’t think with the story first. Instead I get selfish and think of how pretty something looks without considering if what I have pushes the story in the way it needs to. As a filmmaker I need to realize that the only thing I need is what keeps the story continuous and not distracted.
"Cinematographic film, where the images, like
ReplyDeletethe words in a dictionary, have no power and
value except through their position and relation."
This particular segment jumped out at me because of the way Breson describes image juxtaposition. This is a good reminder for me because I usually find myself trying to make each shot an aesthetically pleasing composition or painting within the frame. Sometimes is it more important to simply set up the shot in relation to the shot that precedes it and the shot that follows it.
"CINEMA draws on a common fund. The
cinematographer is making a voyage of discovery
on an unknown planet. "
Though slightly contradicting my previous statement, sometimes it is good to set up as shot as if you must show the best part of a location to an audience who has never been there, and you have to communicate the feeling and aesthetic of said location in one shot. Set up every shot as if it is the only one you are permitted to set up.
"Of lighting.
Things made more visible not by more light,
but by the fresh angle at which I see them."
It is certainly all about perspective. What can be illuminated without creating synthetic illumination? Sometimes moving the actor/model towards a light source works better than moving a light towards the actor/model. Mirrors and reflecting surfaces open up an entirely new world of possibilities.
1. "It is useless and silly to work specially for a public. I cannot try what I am making, at the moment of making it, except on myself. Besides, all that matters is to make well."
ReplyDeleteDon't make a film JUST to please the audience. Make a film that you will enjoy and that speaks to you as well.
2. "The things we bring off by chance - what power they have!"
To me, this is talking about an unexpected thing that happens in a scene or something that happens perfectly by accident when you're editing. It's not something that was planned, but in the final edit, it works perfectly for the film.
3. "From the clash and sequence of images and sounds, a harmony of relationships must be born."
Everything in a film must come together perfectly to make the final product a success.
1."Not have the soul of an executant (of my own projects). Find, for each shot, a new pungency over and above what I had imagined. Invention (re-invention) on the spot." When on the shoot (and during all of production really), this really speaks to not feeling tied down to any one idea.
ReplyDelete2. "A too-expected image (cliche) will never seem right, even if it is."
Trust yourself when it comes to choosing shots. You have to be good before you can be different. Clichés can be valuable when used properly.
3. "Don't let your backgrounds (avenues, squares, public gardens, subway) absorb the faces you are applying to them"
W're dealing with such an interesting place, its important not to let the environment overshadow the actors (or "models" according to Breton)
1) “Cinematography is a writing with images in movement and with sounds.”
ReplyDeleteI started writing before I started filmmaking, so this relates film to something I’ve been doing and practicing for years. The concept is the same- tell a good story. It’s only the way you’re writing the story that’s different.
2) “Forms that resemble ideas. Treat them as actual ideas.”
Don’t neglect a concept just because it isn’t detailed enough yet. Even a scrap of an idea can become your best work. Feel free to experiment with them.
3) “Practice the precept: find without seeking.”
It is totally possible to find the shot you need by accident. Watch all takes and pay attention to them. Don’t write off mistakes as wrong or unusable.