Major Project TERM III - Project Ideas and Plan

Art Portfolio
Project Ideas & Plan 

Natalia Goncharova, Peasants Picking Apples, 1911, oil on canvas, 104.5 x 98 cm (Tretyakov State Gallery).

Name: Nikodem Trzcinowicz
Major Project Title: A Long Night
Progression Route: Photography & Video BA


Describe your major project objective using the SMART acronym:

For this cinematography project, I will be exploring every aspect of shooting a film, from pre- to post-production. This project will be created in theme of 'Ultimate Black' and will follow the story of a man having sleeping problems in his adventures during a night walk around the city. I will create this short film as a replacement for traditional for this term four 2D outcomes and one 3D, since my continuation route is Photography and Video. During this process I will be further developing my cinematography skills as well as I will be trying my strengths in script writing, directing, acting, and editing. While some of the mentioned skills I already been developing during my previous project, doing it all at once, by myself, in the same project will be something new and challenging for me.

The above mentioned film will be shot mostly at night, on location and will be kept in style of comedy-horror genre. 

The entire process, ranging from research, through production to post production will take me around seven weeks, and will be presented in a form of youtube video available on my website.

Why have you chosen to do this project?

Cinematography was my main fascination for a long time and I would like to come back to it. Creating the entire film by myself without any other crew is something that excites me, and the creation of film almost entirely at night overlaps with the genre of photography that brought me to this in the first place.

Who are you researching for this project? Please list at least three artists and/or designers and your additional research on your concept.

As for now I have in plan researching painter Edward Hopper, director and writer Jordan Peele and individual sequences from films created by Christopher Nolan, Satoshi Kon and Ingmar Bergman. I will also have to look into more advanced editing techniques since I am not fluent in this types of software.

What techniques/skills are you developing/learning for this project?

Besides further expanding my knowledge and skills about cinematography, I will be developing my skills in editing, writing, and sound design and colour grading.

What do you expect the final outcome of the project to be?

For the final outcome I expect to produce high quality in storytelling and visual aspect short film.

What have you completed so far for this project?

I have drawn first storyboards of the scenes I want to portray, and shot test footage in order to set the visual direction of my project. I have also done an early look into artists I want to research during the following weeks.

What do you think will be the issues/drawbacks to the project?

Shooting in limited lighting conditions is very difficult, so that will be a definitely something I will have to take into account. Another problem might be writing. I am not used to writing scripts, especially of that nature, therefore storytelling in this project might be off. Last thing I worry about is editing. While I have edited many films in the past, they were often more of an artistic nature. Editing a film with an actual story and script will be something new for me.

What is your time scale considering that this has to be completed by week ten?

Week 3: 

Edward Hopper research, and writing a script

Week 4:

Finish writing a script, Gregory Crewdson research

Week 5:

Research into ways of portraying dream sequences in films (Christopher Nolan, Satoshi Kon, Ingmar Bergman), and create storyboards.

Week 6:

Location scouting and shooting.

Week 7:

Continue shooting (if not finished in week 6), and start postproduction

Week 8:

Finish post production.

Week 9:

Adding everything on the website, and writing reflections about entire project.

What resources or materials will you need for this project?

Sony alpha a7RII (with 16-55mm F2.8, and 50mm F1.8)
Tripod
DaVinci Resolve 

Draw a picture/Write a sentence/sketch a story/write a dialogue that captures the essence of your project.

A logline for the film: 'Unable to sleep, decides to go out. During the walk he encounters the unusual threats'. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Major Project TERM III - Dream sequences in film Research

Image
In the last part of my research connected to this term's major project I will be looking closely into different dream sequences in cinema. I will analyse how different filmmakers are visualizing them in their own visual style. I will be looking at four films in which we can either see a dream sequence or the majority of the film is a dream. The four films being, ' Spellbound ' (1945) directed by Alfred Hitchcock, ' Inception ' (2010) made by Christopher Nolan, ' Anima ' (2019) created by Paul Thomas Anderson, and finally ' Wild Strawberries ' (1957) directed by Ingmar Bergman. Spellbound (1945) Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Spellbound (1945) dream sequence Probably the most recognizable dream sequence in film history, and for good reason. The scenography created for this sequence was done by Salvador Dalí, Spanish surrealist artist whose one of a kind visual style can be easily recognized in every frame of this scene.  While the style does not appeal...
Read more

Sequential Photography - research, study, and final artwork

Image
You could say that the origin of sequential photography, as important by itself, is also the origin of cinema. Not the Lumière brothers, but Eadweard Muybridge can be recognized as a pioneer of film. Edweard Muybridge was an English photographer. His fame started when in 1868 Eadweard photographed Yosemite Valley in California, but today he is famous for initiating a new photography trend which is our today's topic. Sequential Photography 1 Sequential imagery is a photographic technique of taking many following pictures in a short period of time. It can be used for a variety of reasons, ranging from showing movement of someone or something to telling a compelling story. An actual origin story of the pictures above is interesting in itself. Eadweard Muybridge wanted to prove his friend that horses during gallop are pulling or their legs at the same time. Because of this trivial bet we now can enjoy films and TV series. Sequential photography 2 First set of my sequential photos I too...
Read more

Major Project TERM III - Production and Post-production PART I

Image
As of now I completed three days of shooting, and shot around 30%-35% of the needed footage. It takes more time than I anticipated but I think I will finish everything on time. I cannot really shoot outside during the weekend since there is a lot of people on the streets at night during these days, so I have to go out during the weekdays. It slows the production a bit since now I have most of the interior shots done, so the only things I need to shoot are outside. I also understood quickly that making everything by myself is far more difficult and complicated than I anticipated. There are some shots which I imagined in my mind that are not looking as good when I shoot it. Nevertheless, focusing on the positive I have finished shooting and editing first page of the script. The entire editing process with the actual edited part of the film at the end. You can view it here. This part ranges from the beginning of the script to the first scene on the second page. Shooting around one to thre...
Read more