Workshop films
The workshops that I completed for Fiction Adaptation, as well as the further research that workshops influenced, heavily impacted my project. I was able to discover new, and exciting creative ways of expressing tone and messages to an audience through use of lighting, camera movement, colour effects, and montaging. This blog will discuss my learning during workshops, as well as my successes and failures, and finally how each workshop has impacted my work for Fiction Adaptation. The workshops for this unit inspired me to take the most risks that I have ever taken when creating a film in order to create a great impact and make it as experimental as possible in order to reflect the key themes that I would like to portray, as well as making it visually captivating and interesting. As Mike Nicholas said "The only safe thing to do is take a chance," which is definitely the approach that I took with this unit.
SOVIET MONTAGE WORKSHOP
The first workshop that we completed was learning about styles of montaging, and in particular Soviet Montage. Before completing this workshop I did not have much of an understanding of montage and why it is used, however now I know that "a series of shots related by theme"(Brown, 2016:32) can be used to create a films ultimate meaning and can cause influence on an audience, due to showing them a large collection of linked shots to form a strong, and powerful story to create a successful adaptation (Hutcheon, 2012:10).
In 1917 Russia the new political movement of the "Bolshevik" taking power led to film being used as a tool for social and political influence. All film production companies in Russia were taken over by the government to create a single state owned company. Russia did not have the capacity to create new film stock, and as the new government had imports stopped, film makers had to get creative. Film makers took apart multiple films and questioned the reasoning behind choices made, such as shot length, angles used, and why it had been edited together in that way. They then tried placing the shots in different sequences to see if they created a different effect for an audience, which in turn, created a new cinematic philosophy. (Crash course, 2017)
Intellectual montage
When researching, I discovered that intellectual montage is using many different shots and editing them together to create a metaphor, they are linked through intellectual meaning. (Industrial Scripts, 2020) Intellectual montage is a great way of showing a theme or particular message to an audience subtlety (Hutcheon, 2012:43) therefore it is definitely something that I will in my adaptation as there are multiple metaphors that I wish to exhibit. A good example of Intellectual Montage is Eisenstein's 'Strike', in which we see a montage of video clips which cuts between a large group of striking employees and a bull being slaughtered. This clever use of montage creates the metaphor that the employees are viewed as cattle and nothing more to their employers. (Renee, 2015) Using montage in this way is very effective and is something that I would like to use in my adaptation. My whole film revolves around the protagonists insecurities therefore I would like to use intellectual montage to frequently remind the audience that she is uncomfortable with her appearance. Researching Intellectual montage has inspired me to have multiple shots of running water throughout the film to create the metaphor that her she cannot switch off her negative thoughts about her appearance. Using this method will hopefully show me audience that she can't escape her thoughts without telling them are portraying it in a direct way, which is key when using montage. (Hutcheon, 2012:43)
The Kuleshov effect is also a great example of Intellectual montage. Lev Kuleshov, along with his students at the National Film School in Russia explored editing and how having different length of time, a different cut between the protagonist and what they are looking at, and using shots repetitively in montage can all guide the viewer through the film and allow them to interpret the edit in a particular way. (Crash course, 2017) The use of a shot with the protagonist with a blank expression, which is the cut with a bowl of soup leads the audience to believe that the character is hungry. However the same shot of the face is then cut with a coffin which this time reflects sadness. (Heckmann, 2020) The last cut is the protagonist with a woman and this reflects desire. By showing two shots together it leaves the audience to believe something by just using montage. Learning about the Kuleshov effect was very beneficial as it made me realise that there is so much more to montaging than just placing clips together. Futhermore I realised that I can use this cinematic philosophy as a powerful tool in my film to show the protagonists struggles (Crash course, 2017). There are multiple sequences where she will be looking in the mirror and instead of showing her just looking at herself and the areas of her appearance that make her anxious, I can use the Kuleshov effect as a powerful tool to show her blank expression in the mirror, and then cut to something that is causing her distress, such as a plate of food or an acne face wash. This will help me immensely with my adaptation again with showing the story without any direct storytelling involved. (Hutcheon, 2012:43)
Alfred Hitchcock discussed the Kuleshov effect and described it as "pure cinematics" and describes how you can change the order of shots to create a different idea (Hitchcock, 1964) This again reinforces that if I think strategically about montaging I can be experimental and use shots to project multiple ideas, which is what I will attempt to do successfully.
Once I had completed an adequate amount of research on the Kuleshov Effect, I attempted me own version. I filmed a mid shot of George sitting down and directed him to have a blank expression. I then cut to a shot of a dog. I wanted to give the impression that George was interested by the dog and that he likes them. I feel that I mistake that I made with it was by not cutting back to George after the shot of the dog as at the moment it feels that two shots have just been placed next to each other rather than it being a sequence. I had another go and this time included a shot of a cupboard full of food sandwiched between the same shot of George with a blank expression. I believe that this experiment trying the Kuleshov effect was successful as I asked a family member to view the sequence and asked how they think George might be feeling. They described him as 'hungry' and this made me happy as it was the effect that I was trying to create. Practicing the Kuleshov Effect was a very good experience as it taught me that it is important to cut back to the first shot if it is necessary, as well as the length that the shot is held also being important. The skills that I have learnt from this workshop will be taken with me into the production stages.
Tonal Montage
Tonal montage is the practice of placing shots next to each other that carry a similar theme, this allows them to support each other as well as build the tone, hence the name tonal montage. (Heckmann, 2020) Placing shots together that share visual or aural similarities allows them to highlight emotional themes. (Industrial Scripts, 2020) I believe that it will be a good technique for me to use to captivate an audience in my adaptation due to placing it enabling an audience to build on an emotion by showing shots with the same tone together. The 2019 hit film 'Parasite' demonstrates tonal montage perfectly at the end of Act One. (Heckmann, 2020) The family are trying to hatch a plan to get rid of a housekeeper and they use multiple shots consecutively with a classical piece of music and slow motion linear movement which allows the montage to flow magnificently and create a balletic tone. Using these shots together creates an organised montage and allows the sequence to build on the theme of social inequality. (Heckmann, 2020) This perfectly represents the effect that using tonal montage can provide and it is definitely something that I will be using. I would like to use tonal montage to add to the emotional tone of my adaptation. I will be including a sequence of video clips of the character growing up with a piece of inspirational music. Placing the clips together that are similar in tone whilst the music is played with them will add to the emotional tone of the film. I will use the research that I have carried out on tonal montage to help me with this segment.
Metric Montage
Metric Montage is to do with creating a pace, by cutting shots per each frame to the pace of the music, regardless of what is happening visually in the shoot. (Heckmann, 2020) With Metric montaging the shots are cut to an exact length of time; which gives it a metric pace, hence the name metric montage. (Industrial Scripts, 2020) The short video below portrays metric montage and how clips can be cut to the music as well as being the same length which builds the pace of the sequence and successfully adds tension. I will be using metric montage when having a sequence to display the protagonists struggle with calorie control by having shots of the character running and then eating together to make the audience feel that the character is struggling and I will use the sound of breathing over all shots to make it feel continuous. Using metric montage will allow this section of my adaptation to feel very repetitive due to them all being the same length and having them cut to the pace of the sound of breath. This will project the protagonists struggle with exercise and eating to the audience.
Rhythmic Montage
Overtonal Montaging is the final style of montaging and it is an amalgamation of all montaging styles combined. (Heckmann, 2020) This therefore means that cuts are based on theming as well as pacing of shots. This enables the audience to form an emotional response. The very famous tear-jerking "Married Life" montage from Up is a prime example of overtonal montage, so much so that it could even function as its own short film. (Industrial Scripts, 2020) The montage uses a mirrored storyline as the Carl is stood in the church at the beginning and the end of the sequence. It uses classical music as well as the tone of each shot to pace the montage. These are just some of the qualities that the sequence in 'Up' carries to make it overtonal. At the end of my film, I would like to create an overtonal montage, as well as having some smaller ones throughout it. At the end of my adaptation, we will see the protagonist much happier, this will be reflected through the music tone as well as the colour of each shot. I will use rhythmic montage to pace the sequence and the ending would be able to function as its own film, hence making it overtonal. I hope this will be successful as I will aim to include all overtonal qualities that I have discovered throughout my research.
EDITING WORKSHOP
The second workshop that we had covered using colour grading and how to make a shot more visually appealing or meaningful by adjusting the colour by using the Lumetri effects. Because in "visual storytelling few elements are as effective and as powerful as using colour." (Brown, 2016:69) I used colour grading by inputing the look up table (LUT) which enables me to have more creative control by manipulating the image, and adding a blanket look to the film. As I was new to colour grading I wanted to experiment and I started by researching information about the colour wheel. I discovered that by using juxtaposing colours I will be able to create a contrasting look in my film, which will reflect different tones.
Strike Sergei Eisenstein (1925) [online video] At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLiNKaUp0AA (Accessed on 30/12/2020)
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