ccavisualstory

Friday, February 15, 2013

Finding tone in your drawings

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2010/09/quick-primer-on-values.html

http://sevencamels.blogspot.com/2012/01/tones-values-and-using-them-and-your.html

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2794

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2789

http://evanerichards.com/2012/2736

Monday, February 11, 2013

Film clips

Ways to safely cross 180:

Camera crosses the line
Actor crosses the line
New actor enters the scene and establishes new line

Creating and re-establishing new 180 lines:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTIc6y5mojw&feature=share&list=PL8F3444EC493C0C85

180 degree triangle:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFgCZDRkacU&feature=share&list=PL8F3444EC493C0C85

180 degree rule CAN be broken intentionally...

The Matrix subway fight (0:00 - 1:50)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMx-Az5Da4M

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Line and Shape

edge, contour, closure, intersection of planes, imita- tion through distance, axis, and track.

Edge - edge of a 2d surface creates the line. Only visible if there is tonal or color contrast to pop it out.

examples: sheet of white paper against black, shadows cast on wall

Contour - the apparent line around the border of a 3d object

Closure - connect the dots, etc. Viewers create lines through connecting dots on screen

Intersection of planes - When two planes meet, they appear to form a line

Imitation through distance - complex objects recede into lines at a distance

Axis - invisible axis that runs through people, objects, etc

Track - the path an object makes as it moves across the screen

Linear motif - any pic can be reduced to simple lines. A pic's linear motif can be circular, straight, horiz, vert, or diagonal, or any combination of.

Horizontal - calming, least intense of all line motifs

Verticial - authoritarian, more intense

Diagonal - dynamic, most intense of all line motifs

Straight lines:

direct

aggressive

bland

honest

industrial

ordered

strong

unnatural

adult

rigid

Curved lines:

indirect

passive

natural

childlike

romantic

soft

organic

safe

flexible

Actors - when reduced to silhouette, what are the basic shapes?

Scenery

Set dressing - furniture, etc

Simplify

Shapes:

2D:

3 basic shapes - circle, square, equilateral triangle

3D:

3 basic shapes - sphere, cube, 3 sided pyramid

All objects/shapes can be reduced to these basic shapes

Circle - benign, innocent, cute

Square - less cute than circle, rigid

Triangle - most dynamic of the shapes, because:

1. contains diagonal

2. Can be used to POINT in a direction - it's an arrow!

triangles often are described as bold, aggressive, dynamic, angry, menacing, scary, chaotic, disorienting, and unorganized

Contrast and affinity - circle and triangle have maximum contrast

Creating a linear motif storyboard to help discover/plan contrast/affinity in your shots

Monday, February 4, 2013

Space

SPACE

Deep

offers illusion of 3d depth on a 2d screen
no real depth in screen space, illusion is conveyed through depth cues

perspective - 1, 2, and 3 point (draw buildings)

perspective creates VANISHING POINTS and LONGITUDINAL PLANES
Audience's eye will be usually drawn to and on-screen vanishing point (

draw railroad tracks)
draw two vanishing planes, with actor on outside, then actor on inside, at VP. Compare the two.

size difference

separating objects/actors into FG, MG and BG helps create depth

movement

moving parallel to the picture plane:

objects further away will appear to move slower across screen
objects closer will appear to move faster
draw track runners to demonstrate

moving perpendicular to picture plane

objects appear to move faster the closer they are to the camera

camera movement

dolly in/out = moving camera closer or farther from the subject
draw scene with FG actor and two BG actors, then dolly in
FG actor will get larger faster
tracking shot - camera dollies left/right
with one FG and three BG actors, FG actor appears to move faster horizontally in screen space.
crane shot - camera is moved vertically up or down.
same FG/BG actor combo - FG actor will drop out of frame faster than BG guys

Textural diffusion

objects that are closer to the camera will have more visible texture

Arial diffusion

fog
must have objects affected and unaffected in both the same shot in order to be an effective depth cue

Tonal separation

light objects generally appear closer, dark objects generally recede
can also be reverse, depending on lighting and arial diffusion

Color seperation

warm colors generally appear to be closer
cool colors generally appear to be further away

Up/Down position

objects lower in the frame appear to be closer than objects higher in the frame (maybe because they appear more accessible?)

Overlap

overlapping objects in the frame create depth

Focus

blur vs sharp

Flat

emphasizes the 2d aspects of the screen space
flat cues:

frontal planes and NO LONGITUDINAL PLANES
size consistency
movement

movement parallel to picture plane = good

camera movement - pans, tilts and zooms

help emphasize flat space because the relative distance between/size of objects does not change in the shot.

textural affinity

same amount of textural detail

reduced tonal seperation
reduced color separation (affinity of color)
reduced overlapping shapes
inverted depth cues

inverting or reversing depth cues can help flatten deep space

tone: placing brighter obis in the BG and darker ones in the FG
color: warm BG, cool FG
textural diffusion: make BG obis have more texture and FG ones have less
size difference: place larger objs farther away, and small ones closer.

Limited

combo of deep and flat space cues

Ambiguous

occurs when viewer is unable to understand the actual size/spatial relationships between objects in the frame

lack of movement -
objects of unknown size or shape
tonal and textural camouflage
mirrors and reflections
disorienting camera angles

DEEP SPACE

dramatic
exciting
edgy
can be used to release tension

FLAT SPACE

calming
comedic
disarming
can be used to build tension/claustrophobia and awkwardness
wes anderson!

LIMITED

combo of both

AMBIGOUS

mysterious
disorienting
chaotic

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Film compositions #1

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Frame still sites

http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Hitchcock

http://mikegrost.com/zmath.htm

http://image-par-image.blogspirit.com/

http://evanerichards.com/

Sunday, January 27, 2013

movieclips youtube channel

Tons and tons and tons of viewable clips from amazing films....all on youtube!!!

http://www.youtube.com/movieclips

Sneakers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coDtzN6bXAM&feature=share&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2

This scene involves two characters having a conversation about changing the world. As the sequence begins, we realize that they are under surveillance. They move to a smaller room to continue the dialog.
First two shots are closeups of the actors, then we go to wide shots as the actors lead us into the "safe" area. The camera pulls back to a very wide shot, before cutting inside the room to a series of closeups and OTS shots.
The color scheme changes as the characters enter the "safe" area. Blue is used for the area where they can't talk out loud, red and neutral are used in the safe area.
The tone changes as well. Unsafe area = dark tones, safe area = bright tones.
The "safe" area is where Ben Kingsley's character explains his seemingly benevolent plan to Redford's character.

Cider House Rules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JES2fQLPoGU&feature=share&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2

This is a time-lapse sequence involving Toby M's character reading through a series of letters he has received/sent.
Fades are used to signify the passage of time between shots.
In addition, at the end of each shot, the focal element in the shot is framed in a way that it spacially overlaps the focal element in the NEXT shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzfQ2Bwhkcc&list=PL1E9342504260D7F2&index=116

This is a moment of discovery for the main character. He is about to discover a nautilus shell, which will inspire him to mathematically decode the stock market.
The first shots are super-high contrast in tone.
The shots are also ambiguous in their framing. We are in a disorienting, yet inspiring space with the character.
As the sequence continues, we are put into a more recognizable space, when the main character sees the treasure hunter inspecting the nautilus shell.
Note how the director chooses to SHOW the main character LOOKING at the hunter/nautilus shell, and then cross cuts to shots of what he is looking at.

Jurassic Park 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7tNqjsclhs&list=PLF4CD53B8ECA3BB87&index=1

Tons of deep space in this shot.
The camera work during the dino fight is made to feel as though a documentary filmmaker is there. Just enough camera movement to sell the presence of the camera, not so much to distract from the animation.
There are several shots where one element is in the shot (human running away), and they react to something off-screen (falling dino), which then enters the frame. Very cool!

The Shining

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMbI7DmLCNI

The flatness of the shot = super awkward.
Going from framing Danny far away to super closeup = awkward/jarring
Letting Danny lead the camera around the corner to reveal the girls heightens the audience's suspense.
Danny's sweater is one of the most color saturated elements in the scene - blood red
The close up non-moving camera on Danny's reaction to the girls heightens the horror - he is literally paralyzed with fear.