Luis Buñuel was born in 1900 in Spain and started his director career in his late 20's in 1929 with one of his most recognizable film " Un Chien Andalou".
Luis Buñuel won 36 awards and was seen by many as one of the greatest Auteur directors in history.
His early work was seen as surrealist, which can be seen in his work on Un Chien Andalou. He has some incredibly strange scenes in that film, include a scene where the eye is cut with a razor and also scenes with a dead donkey. It is really a horrible film to watch, but it it shows his use of surrealism. It stood out because not many people of that generation where going to that length to prove a point and he was.
I find one of the strange things about this film is the scene with the moon being pierced by the moon. It would normally be seen as a metaphor of the eye being cut without us actually seeing it. However we see this metaphor and then we see it actually happen, which makes it incredibly uncomfortable for the viewers.
As a director who is obsessed with exploring radical concepts he always wanted to show us something different on our screens in comparison to what would have been normal at the time.
He also had a agenda of social criticism and a strong belief in breaking the traditional representation of people and places. This means that a lot of people may not agree with what he portrays but at least he is speaking his mind and not following a trend.
In his film "Land without bread" his interesting use of film language actually mocks the audience so that they get provoked. It seems that one of Luis Buñuel tactics in film making is to disturb the audience so that then they will talk about it with other people.
After looking into more about how he got some of his shots I was surprised to find that for one of his films he actually shot a goat to get his desired effect for a film, something that would be unacceptable today. However this did surprise me that he was willing to go to such lengths to show the story in a correct way, even though it is very inhumane.
From researching into Luis Buñuel I see that he is a director that really likes to be different, he isn't scared to do something crazy just to get the right show and he isn't worried about upsetting people, because 's what he wants. He want's as many people to talk about his as possible. His strange storylines are also another reason why I see his as an Auteur because a lot of people nowadays would not want to do anything that risky.
I see his style as one that likes to tell a story in a very un-linear way, and he was not worried about juxtaposing the real and the surreal. He is seen as a surrealist director who really doesn't care if the film has any logic to it, as long as it told the audience something they could talk about.
Just a quick rundown of how I plan my shoot days to pan out:
Wednesday 15th (Purple timetable):
10am: Arrive at the location and scout out possible shots.
11am: Jessica Arrive Film opening shots on the station
11:55am: Film on the train
1pm: Stop for lunch break (30mins?)
2.30pm: Film shots getting off train
2.45pm: Film more shots from station platform
4pm: Finish
Thursday 16th (Yellow Timetable):
10am: Arrive at location (cafe) talk to them about my ideas
11am: Jessica Arrive - Arrive at train station to film any extra shots that may be needed or re shot OR film scene where Sarah is running from station.
I would do 3 scenes (Station, Bar and apartment scene)
I would need 3 locations booked - Station, Cafe and an apartment
I would need two actors, 1 male 1 female to play Felix and Sarah
I would have more close up camera shots that the original scene to convey emotion more
I was planning to use my drone for some shots
I was planning to use the Sony EX camera for my project
I was planning to film handheld
What I have changed
1) I am now planning to only do the first two scenes on the station and the bar turned cafe scene. This was for a few reasons. Firstly because out scene was only suppose to be around 6 minutes, with the apartment scene it extended over eight minutes. Secondly because it would not have really added anything to the scene, It would have been a good chance to use my drone but the scene is not necessary. Finally because apartment cost was incredibly high and even then they would not let you film there.
2) I might take my drone, incase I feel a very good shot could be taken, but in reality I probably won't be using it. I feel that it is a lot of hassle for a shot that would look very different because of the quality of the drone camera. Whilst it has a higher resolution, it can't really capture the colours as well as the Sony EX camera.
3) I was never planning to use a dolly in my scene but after using it for the first time in a DSLR workshop a few weeks ago I thought it created a very good look so I would like to use them. I did email Feg but unfortunately It was booked, but none the less it was an idea I had not thought of before.
4) Actors have changed slightly in appearance but it will not effect my film, as I went through casting call pro I was selecting people that looked similar so that you could still recognise who they are suppose to be, but for instance Jamie (Playing Felix) has slightly lighter hair than he does in the actual scene.
5) I was planning to film completely handheld however I now think I will take a tripod as backup incase. This would be especially for the scene at the cafe which could probably work well, but maybe might make the scene a little boring, but it will be good to have the option.
Martin Scorsese is one of the most famous movie directors and I wanted to do more research into him because of his incredible use of colour.
A quick look through his Filmography shows his depth of knowledge and skill in the film industry. The now 74 year old has directed and produced many award winning films. The wolf of wall street, Goodfellas, Taxi Driver and Shutter Island to name a few. He has a very interesting use of colour in his films and we can see that in the first few pictures a lot of his films use the colour red. It is tough to decide what exactly the red resembles, is it love, death or even hatred? Or possibly a mix of them and many more? I wanted to research further because whilst red is prominently used in his films so are other styles.
As we talked about Taxi Driver in a lecture I wanted to do some further research into possibly what Martin himself said about the use of red so prominently in his films.
He uses red in his films to show to show the emotional feelings and danger that revolve around his characters. The use of red as a colour because it can symobolise a warning, showing heightened emotions of the people we are seeing on our screens. It can also show the relationships between the characters we are watching, a red tint however could mean one of two things, pure love or possibly the opposite that it will end in death.
Here are two GIFS from taxi driver. The first shows the main character at the start of the film and the second is at the end. It could be seen as foreshadowing, that we are told right at the start that this story will only go one way, towards a blood bath.
In particular the first GIF shows that the main character is not happy and with the red tint it gives him power, and that shows us that something will now inevitably happen.
I found a great videos showing the majority of the uses of the colour red in his films. I did not create the video but have re-uploaded it to my channel to make sure I have it here.
It shows in a large array of genres his use of the colour red, as either a tint or on a character or prop. Red is a very powerful colour because it can display a large variety of emotions.
I found a great quote whilst I was researching into the colour red "red is associated with passion and violence, blue with coolness and melancholy"
Scorsese's love of the colour started with "The Red Shoes (1948)". He said the colour was not realistic but gave the characters in the film extra emphasis. He also goes on to say that the use of Red in "The Red Shoes" exhibits sexual power and artistic passion. This is interesting because in a lot of Scorsese's films the colour red does mean death and violence but his initial inspiration for using the colour was for the near opposite reason in love.
Whilst it was very interesting to look into the colour red I wanted to balance it out by looking at the
colour pallets from some of his other films that red might not have been so prominent and to establish if he had any other colours that seemed to repeat themselves, or possibly if the majority of his films used are bright or softer, darker colours.
I have found a few colour pallets from some of his other films which show that, at least in these particular scenes darker and subtle colours are often used.
The Aviator
Blue is most prominent here, but red is also used in the darker areas. But this out of all the pallets I found stuck out as it is mostly blue which is unlike most his films.
Goodfellas
High contrast colours used, Bright greeny/yellow car, bright red tree and rich green grass.
Week Mean Streets, 1973
This does use a lot of darker colours but red is still most prominent.
Wolf on Wall Street
Quite natural but the colour of the dress lets the viewer know she is the love subject of the main character.
Taxi Driver
I wanted to include this because even though red was used a lot in this film this colour pallet shows that in this scene in particular it doesn't make an appearance. These colours give you a real 60's vibe.
Overall you can see that Scorsese does generally like to use darker colours in his film, but of course with a few exceptions. The dark colours do generally reflect the characters he has in his films, they are normally bad people and the darker colours make them feel more sinister, even though it's only really lighting or colour that is making the difference. However it does really effect the light we see the colours in (Good/Bad)
I really enjoyed researching further into Scorsese as he shows that lighting and colour shows how the characters we are looking at on screen are perceived. I have already got to work with the actors to make sure they are wearing the right clothes for the shoot (Dark/Gothic) because if they wore everyday clothes it would make us see the characters very differently. I am also still debating on whether to use natural or artificially enhanced lighting for my shoot because it would make a difference once again. I think this will have to be a quick decision I make on the day after testing a few shots in the real locations.
How this research will effect my film:
Costume design was always going to be important in my scene but I have emailed my actors and they have been very kind in looking through their clothes and sending me pictures of what they thought would be suitable. As I don't have clothes like this myself it was incredibly helpful that Jessica (Who will be playing Sarah and Beth) was able to do this for me and these are the clothes she has picked out for the characters. As the same actor will play two characters Jessica has sent through one set for Sarah and one for Beth and they are visually exactly what I was looking for. And Jamie (Who plays Felix) will be sending me his costume design in the next few days.I
I was unsure if not to use natural lighting or artificial in my shoot but I think it would be good to have the options. I have booked out the LED Lights incase. I think it is much more likely I will be using the lights on the second day as the light will fade on the end of the shoot so I might make sure there is light throughout and edit the lighting in the editing process so it can all look right.
Scorsese will also influence how I make my film look, will it be a darker scene with less colour and emotion, or will I make it high contrast like in the Goodfella's screenshot. I think personally I will make my scenes more dark than the ones in the actual scene. I will make sure that no bright colours are used as it would seen out of place and strange. To be fair in the actual scene we don't see many vibrant colours but it's something I'm going to have to be very particular about when I am filming, just to keep continuity in colours from shot to shot.
Today was our first shoot day and I helped George film his recreation of Hitchcock's vertigo. I was the camera operator for all but 1 shot but most of the pictures show George on camera as it was the last shot of the day and he wanted to get one shot he had visualised.
It was a good experience and we worked really well as a team, George directed and Connor on sound meant we all knew our roles and we got the scenes done in good time.
George had really planned out his scene well with a big shot list, something I haven't done but might do now because it really helped. I have storyboards but I think shot lists might help even more.
Unfortunately I cannot help on the 2nd day of filming but it looks like it will be a very good piece of work, which I am happy to have been a part of.
I wanted to research into what people thought made a good director in comparison to someone who was not very good for my research outside the lessons.
First up most people thought that a good director is someone that recruits his staff properly and effectively. Making sure that the people you hire are up for the job and are passionate about the project, if they are only there to make up the numbers then there is no point. Even on a small scale project you need to make sure that the people you hire are the right people. Even on
a 2-3 man crew you need to make sure they will improve your project. This is not something I would have first thought of when I thought of a good director but when you analyse the best films and
tv shows the best directors are always supported by the best crew.
Making sure you are decisive is important as a director otherwise you will not get anything done. Part of this will mean having proper planning otherwise you will not know even what options you have for a scene, and you will be totally lost. However when you have two very plausible options in front of you for a particular shot or scene you need to make a decision on which is better as quickly as possible because questioning it will just waste a lot of time and you will be delayed. This is surely something that every director will come across even on short film like ours, so we will have to make those choices very wisely to make sure that the day runs smoothly.
Demonstrating confidence and being motivational in the right way is something a lot of people see in the best directors. You can tell the best directors in the business are ones who can get their staff up for every moment. It will show in the film because undoubtedly some days are easier than others and making the bad days look as good as the best will be down to the director making sure everyone is committed and up for every shot. It will show over a whole film, because once scene can ruin a great film so making sure you keep your "helpers" motivated and excited about the shoot is vital to making sure the film is great throughout.
Not taking things personally is something a lot of people like in a top director. of course they will have the majority of shots already planned out but if someone has a suggestion which is excellent you should try it instead of just saying no because you're the leader. Just because someone has an idea doesn't mean your idea was bad in the first place so not taking that personally is vital to come out at the end with a good shot. Another example of this would be if actors say they don't want to be in the film. That could be because they don't think it's good or because you won't pay enough, but making sure you don't let it get to you will be important to proving them wrong.
It was interesting to read into what people on the internet thought the traits of a good director where, I know every opinion is different and a good director could possibly be the opposite of all of these, but it is likely most will follow at least a few of these. What I really took from my research is that you need to keep motivated even if something goes wrong, make the best out of it. I also know already that the people in my film group will have interesting ideas that may counter my shots whilst filming, Whilst I will have to have the final say I really welcome any ideas because at the end of the day one of these shots could make the film and I know my group are very good at creative input.
In our last DSLR workshop we had the chance to try out some new equipment that we may have not used before. I have always wanted to create a shot using a dolly and today I had the chance to. I doubt I will use it in my film as the outside locations I have will mean this is hard to do, however I am still considering it. The video below shows my attempt at a dolly shot, I wanted to include a short stop in the middle to emphasize the point. It's a really cool bit of equipment that I will hopefully use in the future as it create great shots.
Sarah: The main character is dressed in a gothic style. This will consist of a black coat, black makeup and most likely will have black trousers and probably some black gloves and messy hair.
Beth: The clone of the main character will look more formal in work clothes, whether that will be a suit or a smart dress, I think that will depend on what the actor has. Apart from that she will look formal and would look like they where coming home from work.
Felix: Similar to Sarah he would be slightly gothic, and dressed smart. Probably a formal shirt with a big coat over the top.
In terms of comparisons to the actual scene in this instance I don't want to change the costume from what it already is. I don't think it is necessary to change everything just for the point of saying I changed something. I think the costume is well done for the characters we see, so I see no point in changing it.
Props:
I will need a few props to make my scene feel right. I will need a mobile phone for the conversations to take place on. For that I will use mine or the actors if they are alright with that. I will also need a handbag for Sarah and beth to use. For this I hope the actor is alright with letting us use hers for the scene. I will also need the use of a train for my scene, which I have got the right to use for my scene on the Spa Valley Railway in Tunbridge Wells. I will also use the train as a set, I hoping there will be an empty carriage to film in, however i doubt that will be possible so I will just ask any other passengers if they are alright with it.
Lighting:
For both of my scenes I plan to use natural light, as I feel artificial lights outside, one would be hard to properly set up due to extension cable limitations and also due to it probably not looking correct. However I may take some lights to the second day of the shoot as there is a possibility it could be set inside if it is raining for example or possibly if the cafe owner changes her mind and does not want us to be outside the shop.
Edit: Here are some pictures sent from Jessica who plays the main characters, and the costume design was exactly what I was looking for.
Left hand side is Sarah's clothes whilst on the right hand side is Beth's.
Production Hierarchy: Executive Producer - Financial control but may have creative input particularly in editing and post production stages. Producer - Supervises logistics, budget with the director, may originate the project. Usually hires writers and directors. Director - Primarily responsible for creative vision and collaboration with the creative team. Writer - Responsible for authoring the original script or adapting a existing piece.
Changing face of creative control:
CINEMA
Silent era: 1900-1927 The director
Studio era: 1930-1960's The producer
New wave 1960-1980's Directors and director writers
TELEVISION
Golden age 1950-1960's Producers and writers
New wave 1960-1970's Producers and directors
Writers era 1980's-Present Producer writers and showrunners
Origins of the Auteur Theory
Reaction against bland commercial cinema where the director largely regarded as chief technician who just shot the script. Truffaut and fellow critics wanted instead a cinema d'auteurs: directors who expressed an individualistic world view and use of mise en scene. The auteur cinema expressed in ground breaking French New wave films of the late 50's and early 60's.
Three criteria that define an auteur:
1) Technical competence of the director
2) The distinguishable personality of the director
3) Interior meaning
Issues with Auteur Theory:
Does not recognise collaborative nature of film and television and contributions of writers and technicians
What directors were attempting to portray was secondary to the actual visualisation on screen
Only a few rare directors have a final cut
Genre theory as alternative to auteur theory
Stephen Poliakoff: Since 1988 he has written and directed over a dozen features, TV movies and mini series mostly at the BBC.
Considered pre-eminent BBC writer-director and allowed final cut a lot of times.
Not a formally trained visual director , he is widely considered to have evolved a degree of technical competence. That is seen as Framing, Camera movement and editing in order to convey narrative.
His personal style is:
Long tracking shots
Deep focus
Clash between modernity and traditional
Slow pace.
Interior meaning:
History, memory, ghosts of the past.
Secrets
Social Class
Themes of power and control.
Television:
A director that I have enjoyed researching into is Euros Lyn, he has worked on many big shows including Bafta winning show Happy Valley which is the reason that I know him.
A quick look at Euros rise through the ranks reveals that he started making films for S4C (Channel 4 Wales) in 1999-2000 but quickly started making some of the BBC's biggest shows. This was in 2002 when he started to direct some episodes of Casualty and 2005, one of the biggest shows on British TV Doctor Who. After directing many more shows on BBC/C4/ITV and stopping directing Doctor who in 2010 he has since worked on Daredevil which was his first venture into something not on mainstream TV.
'He has currently won 36 awards (According to his website) for his work I think shows his quality as a director. he will only settle for the best and probably won't attempt a project if it hasn't been given the necessary thought or funding.
Before doing any research what I remember from him as a director is that he really captures the emotion of each scene very well. I remember that he used a lot of close ups in important scenes to convey emotions and whilst this scene is not perfect to show this but it does show that he likes to keep in close in the conversation and won't go to a wide shot but stay right up with what the characters are saying and I feel this gives each scene a unique look and it gives the viewer a strong emotion which is also thanks to the great casting which helps convey the emotions Euros would have wanted from each scene.
In another of his shows "Damilola, Our Loved Boy" he credited his great casting director for getting the cast just right for the role which i think shows he is dedicated to making the best show possible, not just in the job for the money but a good crew around him is very important to make sure the show with his name on it is a success.
In that same interview he said that in that show he wanted to find a filming style that was poetic because he felt that gave the best approach to the story. I like this about him that he doesn't have a set idea before looking at what he has got, cast, locations etc so that when he has gone through it all logically he can make up a decision on what style he wanted to use in his show.
How this research will effect my film:
Euros Lyn will influence my work by his incredible ways that he captures emotion. In my scene I will need to capture the anger of the main character Sarah, and the emotion of her then seeing someone getting hit by a train. Lots of different emotions will be shown in one short scene in my work so the way Euros manages complex emotions will be important. Of course he has the use of a lot of money and time and professional actors so there will of course be a quality difference but his work will definitely be an inspiration to hopefully making my work better than it would have been before researching him.
It has also influenced my decisions when hiring actors. I have had multiple people asking to be a part of my project, for both characters. However I narrowed it down simply, by who was most keep to be a part of the project. Some would take weeks to respond whilst others would get back to me as quickly as possible. The people that got back to me quickly also where the most helpful so it was an easy evolution to narrow it down to 4 people for Sarah's character. Whilst it was tough to choose my eventual actor I did she has wanted to be apart of the project a little more than the rest, as for acting ability they were all very good. As for Felix's character I had less replies so it was tougher to judge who wanted it more but I have narrowed it down and I now think I have 2 very good actors who really want to be apart of my project which is motivating because I'm sure that means they will give it their all.
His early work was seen as surrealist, which can be seen in his work on Un Chien Andalou. He has some incredibly strange scenes in that film, include a scene where the eye is cut with a razor and also scenes with a dead donkey. It is really a horrible film to watch, but it it shows his use of surrealism. It stood out because not many people of that generation where going to that length to prove a point and he was. 
As a director who is obsessed with exploring radical concepts he always wanted to show us something different on our screens in comparison to what would have been normal at the time. 
