Directing:
1. Silences and Ambience
I have a strong passion and appreciation towards sound design
and editing that stemmed from the first time I watched the infamous gun fight
in Michael Mann’s Heat. Since then I
have always thought considerably about the use of sound in my films and how powerful
they can. I learned that no dialogue is just as important and informational as
using it and I have since adopted that into my repertoire.
My interest in silence and ambience came from when I first
heard the song ‘An Ending’ by Brian Eno: a very relaxing and peaceful piece of music and it soon became my favourite song. This song got
me interested in minimalistic music and ambient pieces as well as post-rock, ambience
and minimalism artists such as Sigur Ros’ ‘Varoeldur' and 'Ekki Múkk'.
My love for these types of music mixed into my film ideas
and incorporated itself into what I’ve taken to calling ‘Silent 5’s’. A silent
5 is self-explanatory in that it’s simply 5 seconds of silence. It’s not
restricted to just 5 seconds though: it can be any length of time as long as
the number changes respectively. There can be silent 3’s; silent 9’s; silent
20’s, any amount of time. I use this to make writing easier and to read easier.
I also like to use silence to emphasise a scenario or after
a major event to make the impact that more immense. I intentionally avoid using
soundtracks as much as possible as I believe that if the scene is written and
performed good enough, you don’t need music to assist in the impact. I’ve seen it
on so many occasions in particular films where a big scene happens and then
some forced, sad violin or piano music plays. I feel these sometimes take you
out of the moment. It was sad enough already and the music can kill that hard
work that’s been achieved.
2. Long Takes
My interest in long takes came about when I was about 14/15, when at the time, I was quite an avid gamer. When playing a game you're never separated from the character you play as unless it's in a cut-scene or for the sake of the story. This means the 'action' is never broken by a cut or edit and can then be considered a very, very long take.
This bled into my envisioning of film ideas I was creating at the time and got me thinking of how I could tell a story with as few breaks or cuts as possible. This then moulded into an interest in using long takes.
This level of interest stayed until I read an article years ago about films that used long takes: of these films mentioned, Alfonso Cuaron's 'Children of Men' stood out. It features many long takes that keep you in the moment and really gives an impact to the story.
As I noticed more and more long takes in films I watched, my interest grew and developed. Now I always try to use a long take when possible as I believe a long take keeps the audience in the film longer. A cut momentarily breaks your immersion as you suddenly readjust to the new shot.
My first attempt at a long take wasn't until 2013 when I made a 'short' (is 39 minutes considered short?) film with a couple of friends during my gap year. This featured a couple of 3-5 minute long takes. However these were unscripted and completely improvised instead of being pre-planned. Before we filmed I said where the conversation should go in general but the content wasn't stated. I don't really consider these 'official' long takes due to the lack of planning but they were my first attempt at them.
My next attempt at a long take wasn't until the Directions unit during my first year at university when I shot a 80-second long take consisting of the protagonist walking down a path, up a set of stairs before the camera rotates around her and finishing with the protagonist walking away whilst the camera stays stationary: following her instead with a pan.
This shot was pre-planned with a storyboard but wasn't rehearsed until the actual filming date. The shot included in the blog was the final attempt: number 3. The first had an error in and the second ended abruptly when the battery ran out. There's still mistakes in this take granted, such as the crew's footsteps; the object briefly visible at the start and the sheer length of the shot. Looking back at this shot I'm glad there was a time restraint as otherwise I would have included the entire shot and it would have made the film too slow despite it's loneliness theme.
Despite that: this shot is very close to my combined style of silence, ambience and long takes: using the natural diegetic sounds to emphasise the emotions and themes I wanted.
The next and most recent time I used a long take was for the trailer for our Studio Production Unit's TV show: What You Sayin' where I was DOP for the trailer. Although it doesn't feature the use of silence it does consist of only 4 shots: each one around 20 seconds long. I thoroughly enjoyed this project as it allowed me to test: A) my ability to direct varying long takes and B) to pre-plan said takes. I feel these shots were successful but not without fault such as the occasional out-of-focus moment. Regardless this was a great learning opportunity for me in terms of long takes.
Children of Men - every shot 45 seconds or longer from Refocused Media on Vimeo.
This bled into my envisioning of film ideas I was creating at the time and got me thinking of how I could tell a story with as few breaks or cuts as possible. This then moulded into an interest in using long takes.
This level of interest stayed until I read an article years ago about films that used long takes: of these films mentioned, Alfonso Cuaron's 'Children of Men' stood out. It features many long takes that keep you in the moment and really gives an impact to the story.
As I noticed more and more long takes in films I watched, my interest grew and developed. Now I always try to use a long take when possible as I believe a long take keeps the audience in the film longer. A cut momentarily breaks your immersion as you suddenly readjust to the new shot.
My first attempt at a long take wasn't until 2013 when I made a 'short' (is 39 minutes considered short?) film with a couple of friends during my gap year. This featured a couple of 3-5 minute long takes. However these were unscripted and completely improvised instead of being pre-planned. Before we filmed I said where the conversation should go in general but the content wasn't stated. I don't really consider these 'official' long takes due to the lack of planning but they were my first attempt at them.
My next attempt at a long take wasn't until the Directions unit during my first year at university when I shot a 80-second long take consisting of the protagonist walking down a path, up a set of stairs before the camera rotates around her and finishing with the protagonist walking away whilst the camera stays stationary: following her instead with a pan.
This shot was pre-planned with a storyboard but wasn't rehearsed until the actual filming date. The shot included in the blog was the final attempt: number 3. The first had an error in and the second ended abruptly when the battery ran out. There's still mistakes in this take granted, such as the crew's footsteps; the object briefly visible at the start and the sheer length of the shot. Looking back at this shot I'm glad there was a time restraint as otherwise I would have included the entire shot and it would have made the film too slow despite it's loneliness theme.
Despite that: this shot is very close to my combined style of silence, ambience and long takes: using the natural diegetic sounds to emphasise the emotions and themes I wanted.
The next and most recent time I used a long take was for the trailer for our Studio Production Unit's TV show: What You Sayin' where I was DOP for the trailer. Although it doesn't feature the use of silence it does consist of only 4 shots: each one around 20 seconds long. I thoroughly enjoyed this project as it allowed me to test: A) my ability to direct varying long takes and B) to pre-plan said takes. I feel these shots were successful but not without fault such as the occasional out-of-focus moment. Regardless this was a great learning opportunity for me in terms of long takes.
Children of Men - every shot 45 seconds or longer from Refocused Media on Vimeo.
3. Wide Shots
I don't know what exactly influenced me when it came to liking wide shots: possibly due to my interest in focusing on the emotional and psychological aspects of a character but I like to use them as a wide shot exposes the character to their surroundings and makes them appear smaller; this gives an effect of isolation or feeling vulnerable. Perfect for my thematic style.
There are a couple of minor examples in my first year Directions Unit project 'A Journey Through Loneliness'. There are also examples of varying degree in my gap year film: 'Running Out' which contains a wide shot but also smaller framed shots that still leave lots of space around the protagonist.
I like wide shots also because of how provoking they can be. For example a person stood alone looking across a destroyed city leaves a strong impact and provokes you to react to such a scene. Good examples are in Heat and The Walking Dead
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| Still from Heat [Mann, 1995] |
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| Still from The Walking Dead [2010] |
Same as for my writing style: I feel it's unique enough to stand out but not beg for attention or try too hard to get it.
Both the writing and directing styles have been a slow development over the last 6/7 years and have reached a point where I'm comfortable with them and feel natural to myself and how I work.
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