Five Minute Film Ideas Generation –
I have to admit that working out what I wanted to do for my five minute film has not been easy. I had a number of ideas whirring around in my head. These included:
- A simple narrative of my practice and how it has evolved
- A showcase of my work without any narrative
- A narrative about what I would do if someone took away my camera
- A narrative about my mobile and how it has evolved
- An ‘arty’ film full of visual metaphors
- An animated film
- A five minute promo for my mobile with a commercial slant to it
For a number of weeks I have been wrestling with all of these concepts trying to work out which one to pursue. I ran through a number of the films created last year. I particularly admire the films by Lauryna Narkeviciute and George Harvey. I found George’s work incredibly powerful and moving. Lauryna’s cool black aesthetic also fascianted me. I think with George’s work it was his professionalism, creativity and meticulous attention to detail that I found most inspiring. Unfortunately I had never really taken my photographic skills into film making. I do have access to many film making professionals at work, who I feel sure would have advised me had I asked. However, this was a creative journey that for better or worse I wanted to take on my own.
I actively decided last year that I needed to significantly broaden my horizons as the relentless march of AI was already impinging on my creative photography practice. Therefore, I made the decision that there was no time like the present to learn more about film making.
Each year I am tasked with producing our Art Department film. I’ve found it pretty easy in the past as I used Adobe Character Animator to produce an animated narrator. Then I ran a series of clips of student work together to form a humorous narrative. All of the clips were assembled using an app on my phone. I could add various effects through my iPhone app and I could also export in 4k. There was very little to think about really as my iPhone app pretty much took care of everything for me. I just needed to come up with the clips and the ideas.
I do not feel this is nearly enough for my end of year film, I want to improve on both concept and quality. Earlier in the year we made three minute videos. I felt that my concept was ‘okayish’ but the sound quality was appalling. This is something that I certainly need to address. Previously I have tried to steer away from audio because I knew so little about it. This absolutely needs attention. I think it may be a steep learning curve but if I can begin to understand Touch Designer and Blender I feel sure that I can at least give it a go.
Narrative Ideas
In terms of a narrative for the five minute film I considered something that I had done just before joining the course. On one particularly rainy day I wanted to go out with my camera to take some photos. I was bored with not being able to go out due to the weather, so I decided to stay in and make a short film about boredom. While doing this I stumbled across a music track called ‘Take My Body’ and I likened its lyrics to someone taking my camera body. If I didn’t have my camera body I couldn’t take photos and thus I would be lost as I love photography so much. Fast forward to today and in some respects I do feel that my camera body has been metaphorically stolen from me by the advent of AI art. Therefore I wondered if the narrative for my film could revolve around my camera body being removed either physically or metaphorically. The advent of AI art has certainly made me reconsider where I want to take my practice therefore it would be a good starting point. Below is the original rough cut video that I threw together in a couple of hours when I was bored one rainy day.
Video – Take my (Camera) Body
I really like this particular sound track. The words have meaning and there is a strong beat that can be matched to an edit. I do think that I could possibly put together a video of my feelings if my camera body was taken and how I might address this.
Video – First Looks (Balance of Power Mobile)
I did think that perhaps some form of visual exploration of my mobile might work. I shot the following video using the same music from the video above. The quality on the following video is very poor. This is because I edited the video on my iPhone which has run out of storage. As a result I could only export the image with the lowest quality that I could get to export. The motion of the mobile in real life is very beautiful. I do not feel that this video has really done it any justice at all. The mobile is very tall and this means that it isn’t really (landscape) screen friendly. I know that I will have a lot of work to do to shoot my mobile to best advantage. I don’t think that where it is housed lends itself very well to shooting it. There are too many plug sockets and items in the way. However, I do love the slow kinetic movement of the mobile and I would like to incorporate it into my film in some form. Below is the very first video that I shot of the completed mobile.
Video – (Balance of Power Mobile) Revealing the Hidden Augmented Reality
Given that there are a number of powerful messages by a number of artists hidden in the surface design of the mobile – I felt that any video I made incorporating the movement of the video should show the surface patterns augmenting. I did try to incorporate this into the video above, but as I was shooting on my own, I could not show the patterns augmenting on a phone as they should. I feel that if I am to shoot the mobile and make it the main feature of my video then a number of things need to happen including:
- The mobile should be housed in a larger space so that filming is easier with more room to manoeuvre.
- The mobile needs to be lit in natural daylight but could also benefit from studio lighting
- Someone needs to be on-hand to hold a mobile phone over the patterned elements so that the augmentation can be filmed
- A way to shoot the mobile needs to be identified, so that it fits a landscape orientation, this would be beneficial
Below is my first video that I amended to incorporate some stills and also to show the augmented reality in some form. Ideally I need to shoot with another person holding a phone showing how the augmentation takes place. However I do feel that there is some merit in the video below now that it has some stills incorporated into it.
More Artistic Look and Feel
I still wasn’t entirely sure about the videos and my initial ideas above so I decided to experiment further and I produced another two video concepts. I actually produced four of these concepts but unfortunately I ran out of resources and I was unable to save them. This was a shame because one of them was a particularly good edit. However, below are two edits that managed to survive. The second edit is my favourite and I might decide to use this in my forthcoming five minute video.
I felt that the light in the sun room was particularly beautiful and some of the shadows cast by the mobile were possibly more interesting than the mobile itself. However, it was specifically designed to be that way. The mobile was created as a physical entity in its own right, but it was also designed to throw shadows and glints of light around the room. I deliberately added small mosaic decorations so that as well as shadows light reflections are also cast on the walls. The mirror mosaics also serve another purpose. Any mobile element bearing a mosaic has not been augmented, so the viewer instantly knows whether or not to try out the augmented reality on that element.
Unfortunately, the angle of the sun did not cause the mosaics to reflect and this could be a consideration with any forthcoming shoots. I am hoping that by varying my depth of field on the camera I have created a sense of mystery? I really want my mobile to have an air of mystery about it. I would like to leave the viewer wanting to see more and maybe even want to come and see it in real life. I think that the following two experimental videos do that to some degree and I definitely think that the second one is the better of the two. I much prefer my choice of music with the second video.
Experimental Video #1
This was my first more artistic video. Although I do like some of the clips, I am much less sure about the music.
Experimental Video #2
This was my second more artistic and experimental video and it’s also my favourite out of the two. I much prefer the clips and I also prefer the music. I like the tone of the woman’s voice. It made me wonder if I should do a voice over in French. I studied French and it would be a great way to disguise my accent. I think a French voice would add to the mystery of it all. It puts me I the mind of the soundtrack to the Steve Strange (of Vissage Fame) video ‘Fade to Grey’. I think the lady speaking French in this video really does add an air of mystery to it.
Conclusion
I think that I’ve now generated a number of potential ideas and angles that I could further explore. I do like the more experimental approach. I also particularly like the black and white aesthetic. I think that this might work well as a stark contrast to a variety of hidden and very colourful digital pieces. These pieces would be accessed via augmented reality.