Progression of Time - Sky

 Due to my film being set over a long period of time, I want to visually show this to my audience in a visual way.

With the cloud scene, I will set up the film camera within my garden and leave it to film for a couple of hour.

Once it has been filmed and uploaded to the computer, I will then speed up the clip. This then means that the speed of the clouds was visible and visually effective.

Ideally, I would have liked to have shown the progression of time through the use of a sunset or sun rise. However, this could be too problematic to film, especially with the safety of the camera. 

Overall,  I believe that using the visual movement of clouds to represent the progression of time will be effective. It will also adhere to the artistic nature and content of short films.

Symbolism - Burning Paper

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Symbolism - Burning Paper

I have decided to go with the the idea of having stop motion pictures of pieces of paper with specific words written on them, to burn. This is because I feel that this will have both symbolic, but also have a sense of literal meaning also.

Following on from the lighting results which I got from the stop motion pictures of the flower, I decided to use artificial lighting for the images. Thus meant that I could then eliminate extraneous variables from the the environment which could cause variation within the lighting of each picture.

The specific words which I decided to include and use to be burnt were;

•  Happiness
• Hope
• Life

These will be used to represent the characters emotions and are designed to represent how they have lost their, happiness and hope. Also the use of life will be used at the end to show the audience that their life has been destroyed and that they have killed themselves.
These are the images which will be burnt. 

The use of the typeface will be intended to appear hand written. But they are also designed to represent that character's vulnerability through the use of the the very thin font.


 

Symbolism - Candle

This is then end effect of the stop motion picture scene of the candle burning. 

In the end, this frame was not used. The reason for this was it was not effective as I had originally hoped. Although it was artistic, I did not feel that it contained the dramatic, thought provoking connotations and symbolism compared to other stop motion pictures scenes which I had captured.

Symbolism - Candle

 NEEDS TO BE ALTERED

For the burning candle I also initially had difficulty setting up the shots and framing the scene effectively.

These two images above were the orginal set up of the frame. They were not used due to the position and lighting of the candle within the frame.

Instead, this shot and frame type was used. This was because, the lighting made it look more professional (the use of artificial light through the use of a lamp). Additionally, the main focus of the shot was in the top 3rd of the frame. By having this it made the transition of the candle burning seem even more effective and dramatic though the stop motion picture. 

The candle was designed to represent the burning out of the character. The original intention was to have the wax dripping off of the candle, which was designed to have a more artisitc but also sinister and gritty effect. however, due to the type of candle used, there was not excess waste produced. 

The shot still looked effective, but it could almost appear that the camera was moving, rather than the candle melting. It is only through the dent on the candle stick that it is evident that this is not the case. 

Symbolism - Flower

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This is the finished effect of my scene, consisting of <number> stop motion images.

Symbolism - Flower

PLAN 

My plan was to include the images of a wilting flower.  It showed the way in which a flower dies when it has no water, and as a result starts to wilt.

I placed a flower within a waterless vase and set up the camera so that the flower was central within the frame. I then manually set up the focus of the lens so that the flower is in focus. 

To start with, I took a picture of the flower every 30 minutes as the flower still had a supply of water stored within its stem.  When the flower started to lose it original shape, I then altered the time within shots and shortened it to every 10 minutes. Finally, when dramatic differences started to occur I started to take pictures every 4 minutes. The overall process of obtaining this scene took the duration of 15 hours. 

Originally, I had a natural lighting for the scene, however the result of the shot was not effective as I had originally hoped, I then set up a lampshade which was directed at the flower. With this I also ensured that the flash of the camera was turned off. As a result it made the shot much more effective and professional. To control the extraneous variables of the lighting further, I closed the curtains. This then meant that I had complete control of the lighting, meaning that the artificial lighting I created was constant throughout all of the shots. 

This was the original set up for the shot. It used natural lighting and was not zoomed in.

This was the second set up for the shot. The camera had been zoomed in, but the overall effect of the shot was not effective.

This was the next set up for the shot, it had artificial lighting, but the flash on the camera was on. It still did not create my desired effect. 

This was the final set up for the shot, the camera had been zoomed in so that the petals of the flower were in the top third of the frame. It also had artificial lighting without the cameras flash. It achieved the effective and professional appearance which I wanted.