Film journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Film journal - Essay Example After a period Miranda begins to feel a degree of unfairness in her life; as a response she begins to act in distorted ways. She drinks whiskey and instigates a major argument with Jessica. Finally, Miranda receives a call about being hired for a job. Still, she can’t restore her broken relationship with Jessica. Working as a director of photography: My role in this film was as director of photography (DOP). Going into the project I was aware that the director of photography, or the cinematographer, is largely responsible for the artistic photography within the film. Meaning ‘writing with motion’, â€Å"...cinematography is more than the mere act of photography. It is the process of taking ideas, actions, emotional subtext, tone and all other forms of non-verbal communication and rendering them in visual terms† (Brown, 2002, p. ix). Within this context of understanding, much can be learned from the theories and practices employed by seminal directors of pho tography. One such consideration is the techniques used by cinematographers in the black and white era. Studio lighting from this era has oftentimes been implemented to create an authentic or naturalistic effect in contemporary cinematic production. In my own research I thoroughly explored texts on lighting, as well as participated in observational examination of the work of specific cinematographers. In interrogating cinematography in this specific work I analyzed mood, and the characters and subtext that the director wanted to create. The director indicated that he wanted to create a naturalistic atmosphere. Ultimately, we decided to use lighting as a means of storytelling and explicating internal character emotional states. After an extensive conversation with the director, we established that the primary function of the lighting should be as a means of indicating the main character’s dramatic changes. As Miranda struggles to find a job and her relationship with her daught er deteriorates the film lighting progressively grows darker. The narrative occurs over a period of four days; we recognized that the days should demonstrate differences in lighting, with the second and third progressively darker, but the bright forth day of hope. This style of lighting was established in the first scene and foreshadowed later narrative developments. The first scene consists of three shots. In the first show, Miranda is shown by the window; in the second shot she is a degree farther away from the window; in the third shot she is even father away. The intention was to make her face bright in the first shot as she is close to the window, so the light on her face was over-exposed. In the second shot, as she moves away from window, which was a source of light, the light on her face get darker. Finally, in the third shot, as she is sitting alone behind the table and her face is a bit dark, I made the light on her face under-exposed. Another prominent consideration was da ytime lighting. The director and I agreed to use soft light for the daytime, as it can be used as overcast weather. Notably, the director didn’t want to use any practical lighting during the day. I also decided to use soft and strong ambient lighting for the whole room. As a means of implementing this approach I divided the natural lighting coming from the window, as well as the artificial light that was pretending to come from the window. In