Second Idea, Lighting, and Tonal Palette

My first idea pertained to ambiguous space involving textures and patterns found in Columbus, while I still like this idea, I feel it could be problematic and lackluster in creativity. I have decided for a second idea to attempt a Menagerie piece. It will be based on three characters and inspired by Phantom of The Opera. The characters will be related in purpose as they are caught in a love triangle. One of the men will capture the woman and attempt to force her into love with him through his piano playing. She will be clearly uncomfortable and looking to escape. The second man will resolve drama with brute force and rescue the woman. It will be a short 1 – 2 minute piece. This is an idea that I can create in a controlled environment which will allow me to utilize lighting techniques and creative camera placement. Below is rough (and I mean ROUGH) storyboard.

One thought I initially had with this project is to play with the lighting of each scene. Lighting plays a crucial role in every aspect of art. Good lighting can give a scene full range of tones, depth and dimension, mood, texture, and much more. There is a particular technique I am eager to try called “carrying the lamp”. Essentially what this means is use the lighting that you would naturally find in a scene such as a desk lamp, a lantern, or a lightbulb, however, Instead of exposing your shot for the subject or the light source in the frame; use extra lighting off camera in the same direction as the light source in the frame to properly light the scene. This will give the appearance that the light bulb shown in the scene is the main light source. By doing this the viewer assumes they know where the lighting is coming from in the scene and allows it to feel more natural. Here are a few examples I found in a book called Cinematography: Theory and Practice at the Packard Library:

In addition to lighting, I mentioned in my previous post that I will be using a high contrast, black and white look. Below is an image I took of myself (pardon the mess in the background) while I was experimenting with in camera monochrome settings to achieve the black and white look I want and also an example of the type of lighting I would like to use in addition to “carrying the lamp”. I feel that the use of monochrome and dramatic lighting will evoking emotion into the viewer and leave a greater impact.

Ambiguous Columbus

Over the course of project I, I will be creating a short video containing a series of images that are ambiguous in structure and completely inspired and found in the city of Columbus. I will use a slew of video composition techniques including but not limited to: obscure framing, time-lapse, hyper lapse, static and slider shots, and a variety of wide, medium, close up, and extreme close up shots. This ambiguous video will be completed in high contrast, detailed black and white. The video will be driven by an original and beautiful music track by a band call Trouper, an indie/ambient band from my home town of Mansfield, Ohio. While I will be heavily inspired by the city of Columbus and Trouper’s music track, as far as a visual reference of inspiration, I will be referring to a short video created by my favorite filmmaker, Philip Bloom. This video is called Dungeness and is an older piece created by Mr. Bloom roughly 7 years ago, however, the imagery is quite beautiful and he also used the black and white look I aim to achieve in this short ambiguous video. Take a look!