The TV programmes and films that I am going to lightly talk about have had some impact upon myself at the point of viewing, and have acted as a resource for me to refer back to at some point during this project.
All of them reflect on the media side of this project and have helped me structure a visualisation of the narrative I am trying to create.
Most of what I will refer to use the form of filming from a first person perspective making the viewer feel as though they are seeing through the eyes of the character. It is my intention for all my media content to be filmed in the same way to reflect the concept of seeing your life flash before your eyes. I want the viewer to have this feeling of seeing from the character's perspective, but also there being a possibility that the user's connection with what they are seeing transcends to a becoming a much more personal experience. As though they begin to feel like they are seeing through their own eyes, the memories they are viewing are their memories.
The camera shot/angle is an important element in accomplishing this goal, but the action within the shot is just as important to creating the illusion of the characters eyes being the cameras. For the shot to fully influence the user into thinking that they are seeing through a set of eyes there must be some use of the characters hands to show that they are not holding a camera. These two elements combined together create a continuity between the intent and the narrative.
Even though I want the memories that will be displayed to reflect every day life, I still find it hard to carry out something that looks natural. If the performance looks too forced throughout the story then connection between the visuals and the users becomes frayed and loses the audience's attention/engagement.
Most of the stories in these TV prorammes/Films reflect that of every day life and have given me the know how of what to do and what not to do when carrying out the filming of my media content.
Having no dialogue in my videos should help drastically as well because if the dialogue is not written or spoken well it can come across poorly and then impact the effectiveness of visual content.
Black Mirror - The Entire History of You (2011)
Black Mirror is a TV series written by Charlie Brooker with each episode being set in a different time and place, with there being no connection between any of them.
When asked what the drama series was about Charlie Brooker was quoted as saying "they're all about the way we live now – and the way we might be living in 10 minutes' time if we're clumsy".
Black Mirror has been compared to other popular TV classics of the same genre such as The Twilight Zone and Tales of the Unexpected as it takes the viewer on a short journey of uneasiness, giving us an insight into the possible world we could be living in one day.
My favourite episode of the first series of Black Mirror is called "The Entire History of You", a story about the future of technology and how a certain device called "The Grain", a chip that is implanted on a hard drive within the brain allows us to record every single thing that our eyes see making it playable at our discretion.
.jpg)
The Tree of Life (2011)
Directed by Terrence Malick and Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life revolves around the origins and meaning of life as depicted through the childhood memories of a middle-aged man.
Through his memories we get to see his younger years and what his life was like growing up in a 1956 Waco Texas. We begin to witnesses the man reflect back on how he lost his innocence and coped with the struggles of his parents' conflicting philosophies.
The first 10-15 minutes of this film is purely built up of black screens bursting with subtle explosions and blends of colour that are elegant and stunning to view. These visuals are an abstract representation of the birth of the universe, "The Big Bang Theory".
These scenes gave me the idea that I could possibly take a more abstract approach with some of the visual ideas I want to create for the memories. I could blend mundane reflective experiences of life with ambient and tranquil sets of colours that set off emotions or feelings with the viewer.
The Final Cut (2004)
This film is written and directed by Omar Naim that looks into the concepts of subjectivity, memory and history.
Set in the near future in a world were memory implants can be purchased and implanted into babies when they are born so that their entire lives can be recorded, Robin Williams plays a cutter, someone with the power of final edit over people's recorded histories.
The job of the cutter is to edit people's memories into a feature film length piece once they die so that it may be viewed by their loved ones.
Peepshow (2003- )
A renowned British sitcom broad casted in the UK on Channel 4, Peep Show follows the lives of two roommates, Mark and Jez, who have nothing in common except for the fact that their lives are anything but normal.
One of my favourtie comedy series, Peep Show uses great use of the visual technique of viewing from the character's perspective. The entire show is shot so that the viewer sees exactly what each character is seeing, therefore it is a particularly good source of media to research into.
No comments:
Post a Comment