Footage:
In film-making and video production, footage is the raw,
unedited material as it had been originally filmed by movie camera or recorded
by a video camera which usually must be edited to create a motion picture,
video clip, television show or similar completed work. More loosely, footage
can also refer to all NSK sequences used in film and video editing, such as
special effects and archive material.
Establishing shot
An establishing shot in film-making and television production
sets up, or establishes the context for a scene by showing the relationship
between its important figures and objects. It is generally a long- or
extreme-long shot at the beginning of a scene indicating where, and sometimes
when, the remainder of the scene takes place.
Establishing shots were more common during the classical era
of film-making than they are now. Today's filmmakers tend to skip the
establishing shot in order to move the scene along more quickly. In addition,
scenes in mysteries and the like often wish to obscure the setting and its
participants and thus avoid clarifying them with an establishing shot.
The use of establishing shots are as follows:
Indicate location: Establishing shots may use famous
landmarks to indicate the city where the action is taking place or has moved
to, such as the Empire State building or the Statue of Liberty to identify New
York, the London Eye or Big Ben to identify London, the Sydney Opera House to
identify Sydney, the Eiffel Tower to identify Paris, or the Las Vegas Strip to
identify Las Vegas.
Time: Sometimes the viewer is guided in his understanding of
the action. For example, an exterior shot of a building at night followed by an
interior shot of people talking implies that the conversation is taking place
at night inside that building; the conversation may in fact have been filmed on
a studio set far from the apparent location, because of budget, permits or time
limitations.
Relationship: An establishing shot might be a long shot of a
room that shows all the characters from a particular scene. For example, a
scene about a murder in a college lecture hall might begin with a shot that
shows the entire room, including the lecturing professor and the students
taking notes. A close-up shot can also be used at the beginning of a scene to
establish the setting (such as, for the lecture hall scene, a shot of a pencil
writing notes).
Establish a concept: An establishing shot may also establish
a concept, rather than a location. For example, opening with a martial arts drill
visually establishes the theme of martial arts. A shot of rain falling could be
an establishing shot, followed by more and more detailed look at the rain,
culminating with individual raindrops falling. A film maker is colluding with
his audience to provide a short hand learned through a common cinematic
cultural background.
A good example of an establishing shot is in Shawshank Redemption when (below) here you see the whole prison, so you know now where the film will be taking place right before you see the main character (Andy) roll in on a bus.
B-roll
B-roll is the supplemental or alternate footage inter-cut
with the main shot in an interview or documentary. The term "B-roll"
is now limited to secondary footage that adds meaning to a sequence or
disguises the elimination of unwanted content. This technique of using the
cutaway is common to hide zooms in documentary films: the visuals may cut away
to B roll footage of what the person is talking about while the A camera zooms
in, and then cut back after the zoom is complete. The cutaway to B roll footage
can also be used to hide verbal or physical tics that the editor and/or
director finds distracting: with the audio separate from the video, the
filmmakers are free to excise "uh"s, sniffs, coughs, and so forth.
Similarly, a contextually irrelevant part of a sentence or anecdote can be
removed to construct a more effective, succinct delivery. This can also be used
to change the meaning of the speaker to fit the view of the producer. In
fiction film, the technique can be used to indicate simultaneous action or
flashbacks, usually increasing tension or revealing information.
"B roll" also refers to footage provided free of
charge to broadcast news organizations as a means of gaining free publicity.
For example, an automobile maker might shoot a video of its assembly line,
hoping that segments will be used in stories about the new model year. "B
roll" sometimes makes its way into stock footage libraries.
Visual effects:
Many movies are made from books, but the plot line and
characters are often changed to make it into a more "movie worthy"
story. Watch the trailer below, the flashes of black and white contrasting with
slices of colour emphasize the graphic nature of the film and the medium in
which it was originally created.
Miller chose to colour only certain items in each scene,
emphasizing the "feel" of the scene. Colour draws the eye, so each coloured
item holds significant importance. For example, the character "The Yellow
Bastard" is always coloured in the scene because the yellow is both
disturbing and an eye catcher. The red dress of the woman who is murdered
emphasizes her sexuality and her importance. The appearance of random colour is
unsettling, another definite intention of Miller.
The influence of graphic writing is not merely seen in the
reflection of colour, but also in the movement of the screen. Certain scenes
are blocked to convey the feel of the graphic novel script. It is even believed
that Rodriquez and Miller planned each shot according to the panels from the
original graphic novel.
The film's similarity to the comic series is due to the
involvement of the author. The film was written, produced and directed by Frank
Miller and Robert Rodriguez. Miller's influence is undeniable as the images
from the comic and random colours he chooses directly mirror those in the
movie.
Even down to the detail of the outfits, Miller made sure the
movie reflected the comic. The colours in the movie are specifically placed.
The flashing of police lights, the red dress, the yellow skin. The colours are
intense, and even more so when against a background of black and white.
“Transformers” is a very commercial but very successful
action movie. This movie is the result of another series of comics, television
series, and children's toys finally culminating in two action packed 2007/2009
films.
The ability to film explosions, car crashes, etc. is
challenging because of the nature of the material. An explosion may not have
the colours or height the director wants, and a car may not crash in a dramatic
way, but these techniques are common in action movies and continue to be
improved upon. To me, the most impressive visuals occur in the appearance of
the robots themselves.
Part of what has been both challenging and thrilling in
movies through the generations is the technical ability to make
"aliens" seem real. This challenge proved to be particularly
difficult with the robot/car transformation.
The director Michael Bay had specific ideas on the design and action of the Transformers. The models were so specific that the motion of a wrist required 17 visible parts. This complexity and attention to detail is what made the Transformers look life-like. Bay reported, "The visual effects were so complex it took a staggering 38 hours for Industrial Light and Magic to render just one frame of movement".
In the movie "300" Post-production was handled by Montreal's Meteor Studios and
Hybride Technologies filled in the bluescreen footage with more than 1,500
visual effects shots. Visual effects supervisor, Chris Watts, and production
designer, Jim Bissell, created a process dubbed "The Crush”, which allowed
the Meteor artists to manipulate the colors by increasing the contrast of light
and dark. Certain sequences were desaturated and tinted to establish different
moods. Ghislain St-Pierre, who led the team of artists, described the effect:
"Everything looks realistic, but it has a kind of a gritty illustrative
feel." Various computer programs, including Maya, RenderMan and RealFlow,
were used to create the "spraying blood." The post-production lasted
for a year and was handled by a total of ten special effects companies.
Movie Titles:
Have you ever thought of what makes you remember a certain
movie or TV show? Of course, it’s the story being told, you’ll say, but what
about movies such as Goldfinger, Seven and Snatch? What’s the first thing that
comes to mind? We are pretty sure their opening title sequences stick out for
many of you.
Film titles can be great fun. In them we see the bond
between the art of film-making and graphic design and perhaps visual culture as
a whole. They have always served a greater purpose than themselves: to move the
overarching story forward.
Breakthrough ideas in titling, such as timing the typography
to interact with metaphorical imagery or to create its own world, were largely
innovations that came from outsiders to the Hollywood studio system. Figures
such as Saul Bass, Pablo Ferro, Maurice Binder and Richard Williams arrived on
the scene in the 1950s, at a time when the studios were starting to flounder in
their fight with TV. At that time, independent filmmakers made commercial
headway by doing things differently, spreading utterly fresh ideas about the
possibilities of title sequences. This is the era in which the discipline of
film title sequence design was actually born.
Maurice Binder worked on the title designs of 14 films about
Agent 007, including the first episode, “Dr. No” (1962). Binder created the
famous gun-barrel sequence, which became a signature for the Bond series
Experimentation on the fringes, where title sequences really
thrive, have led to all kinds of innovation in what a title can be and how it
can serve the story and the director’s intent. Perceptive directors like Otto
Preminger, Alfred Hitchcock, Blake Edwards and Stanley Donen embraced these
innovators and gave them the reign to surprise audiences from the opening
shots. The Bond films, the Pink Panther series, Barbarella: the sequences for
such films became enticing and often sexy popular amusements. By the mid-1960s
the top title designers were celebrities in their own right, people who could
be relied on to deal with the messy business of credits with playful panache.
It could be argued that typography lost importance in this
era of title design. The imagery behind the credits received a lot more
attention. Still, the interplay of typography and images was by no means
ignored. Popular trends of the 1950's were using three-dimensional lettering and
embedding type in physical artifacts such as embroidery and signage. In
contrast, Saul Bass often approached the lettering of a main title as he would
a logo, making it function as the core element in a full marketing campaign.
While the variety of solutions increased considerably, their anchor was always
the relationship of on-screen typography to the movie itself.
The power of minimalism is shown in the opening sequence for
Ridley Scott’s “Alien” (1979). Credit for this design goes to Richard
Greenberg, with creative direction from Stephen Frankfurt
Every sphere of contemporary life, and especially the film
business, has been affected by computers. For designers, creating film titles
meant participating in the apprenticeship tradition learning by doing, on the
job; that continued unabated into the mid-1990s. At that time, dynamic openers
by Kyle Cooper and others showed what the next generation of design-educated,
film-literate, tech-savvy creative could do. That apprenticeship tradition has
largely been overshadowed by the rise of popular technology, the
Internet-enabled archiving of everything and the plethora of schools that
propagate countless design disciplines. Most significantly, we see designers
working like filmmakers and filmmakers working like designers.
The revolutionary title sequence for “Se7en” (1995) by Kyle
Cooper was named by New York Times Magazine as “one of the most important
design innovations of the 1990s”:
Throughout the history of cinema, film titles have evolved with
the film industry, as well as with social trends and fashion movements. But the
measure of a title design’s quality is the same now as it was in the silent
era. Whatever function they perform, titles remain an essential part of film.
Granted, in recent years the business of film titling has
been terribly strained by the control of producers over commissions and their
persistence in demanding speculative work as the price of admission. Creatively
speaking, though, as film-making consolidates into the most powerful
international cultural phenomenon of the 21st century, ingenuity in titling is
a certainty. As designers have always known, the opening moments can make a
deeply satisfying contribution to any film.
Logo's:
What attracts customers? Obviously the quality of a product
does, but visual images contribute a great deal. It is not only the image
provided by the packaging that counts but the whole corporate identity of the
company.
There are now many products and services on the market which
are similar in content though produced by different companies. It is vital,
therefore, for a company to distinguish itself from its competitors by having a
strong company image which is immediately recognisable.
Logos are part of this image. They are symbols which often
include a name or initials to identify a company. The logo establishes a visual
identity for the company, just as different groups of young people express
their identity through hairstyles and clothes. All groups from all cultures and
throughout the ages have used colours and symbols to show their identity.
In different cultures, different colours carry different
meanings. Some colours may be connected with coldness in one culture and with
warmth in another; some colours represent life in one culture but death in another.
International companies have, therefore, to make sure that their logos will not be misunderstood or
misinterpreted in different countries.
The logos of large international companies are instantly
recognisable throughout the world. One of the most famous logos is that of Coca
Cola. The design of the words "Coca Cola" has not changed since 1886,
although the surrounding design has been changed from time to time.
Many companies have, over the years, renewed their logos to
fit in with contemporary design and to present more powerful images. Company
logos can be emotive and can inspire loyalty by influencing the subconscious.
Some logos incorporate an idea of the product; the steering wheel in the
Mercedes logo, for example, and the aeroplane tail of Alitalia.
Logos are used on letterheads, packaging and brochures as
well as on the product itself. They may also appear in newspapers or on
television as part of an advertising campaign.
Companies need to have a strong corporate identity. The logo
helps to promote this image and to fix it in the minds of the consumers. Logos,
therefore, need to be original and to have impact and style.
The film production industry is a highly professional and
creative industry. It is also an iconic industry rich with symbolism. When
creating logo designs for film-related businesses, there are numerous
immediately recognizable and simple film-related symbols that designers can
draw on directly such as film reels, camera lenses, director’s chairs and tripod
stands. Whether the business is a large scale production company working the
Hollywood scene or a corporate film production company or a freelance producer
working on small scale events and functions, most will want a design that is
both professional and creative.
Movie Company Logo's
A production logo is a special form of a logo used by movie
studios and television production companies to brand what they produce.
Production logos are usually seen at the beginning of a theatrical movie (an
opening logo), or at the end of a television program or TV movie (a closing
logo). Several production logos have become famous over the years, such as the
20th Century Fox Tower, MGM's Leo the Lion, and Columbia's Torch Lady. Logos
for smaller companies are sometimes called vanity logos.
Above is an example of a production movie logo, every time a movie has been produced by 20th century fox this short clip will play revealing their logo/name or even a TV show like The Simpsons for example this logo will be shown at the end. In 1935, Twentieth Century Pictures and Fox Film Company
(back then mainly a theatre-chain company) merged to create Twentieth
Century-Fox Film Corporation.
The original Twentieth Century Pictures logo was created in
1933 by famed landscape artist Emil Kosa, Jr.
After the merger, Kosa simply
replaced "Pictures, Inc." with "Fox" to make the current
logo. Besides this logo, Kosa was also famous for his matte painting of the
Statue of Liberty ruin at the end of the Planet of the Apes (1968) movie, and
others. Perhaps just as famous as the logo is the "20th Century
Fanfare", composed by Alfred Newman, then musical director for United
Artists.
At first glance, the whole logo looks like a superior one,
with them using a low camera angle so that we are made to look up to it. This
could be a technique employed to make them look better than their competition
such as DreamWorks. The colour gold is dominant in this logo which again
connotes royalty, emphasizing again the idea of them being the best. The stairs
leading up to the text also gives the idea that it is a temple and should be worshiped almost as one of the top film companies. In the animated version of
the logo as well they have the blue flood lights moving around it, as if they
are protecting it because it is so precious. All of these features make it look
impressive to the audience and of important stature. The clouds also appear and move at a fast speed near the end this could signify haste and a movement that the company is making and sends a positive message to the audience and not forgetting the music that is played when the logo starts to appear, the music is powerful as it uses a number of drums and horn instruments all of them loud and graceful. The music hits you straight away and creates excitement for what is about to be played.
Dream Works Animation have a history of making 3D films such
as Shrek, and more recent ones such as Kung Fu Panda. The first thing you
notice about their logo is the colour they have included in it. When shown at
the beginning of each movie trailer the audience of ages 4 to 15 are more
likely to be attracted to it. The young boy silhouette sat on the edge of the moon
with a fishing line again appeals to the younger audience as well, and the fact
that he's shown fishing in the clouds suggests that he is going to be
discovering people's dreams up there and creating them into a film. This gives
the company a positive image to the audience, implying that they are going to
be creating amazing films and giving the audience what they want. The text is
also in the centre of the screen, making it bold and attention seeking for the
viewers. The blue sky shown behind it also connotes freedom, and gives the
overall logo a care free , relaxed atmosphere.
In 1994, director Steven Spielberg, Disney studio chairman
Jeffrey Katzenberg, and record producer David got together to found a new
studio called DreamWorks.
Spielberg wanted the logo for DreamWorks to be reminiscent
of Hollywood's golden age. The logo was to be a computer generated image of a
man on the moon, fishing, but Visual Effects Supervisor Dennis Muren of Industrial
Light and Magic, who has worked on many of Spielberg's films, suggested that a
hand-painted logo might look better. Muren asked his friend, artist Robert Hunt
to paint it.
Hunt also sent along an alternative version of the logo,
which included a young boy on a crescent moon, fishing. Spielberg liked this
version better, and the rest is history. Oh, and that boy? It was Hunt's son,
William.
The DreamWorks logo that you see in the movies was made at
ILM from paintings by Robert Hunt, in collaboration with Kaleidoscope Films,
Dave Carson (director), and Clint Goldman (producer) at ILM.
Fake Logo's in Movies:
We all know there is a great deal of effort when it comes to
creating movies and games but one of the more challenging aspects is making
things look believable and by that I mean replicate reality. Among those
aspects are the logos which are designed corresponding to the time and style of
the movie.
Take for instance, the show “LOST”, they can’t just take
existing airlines and create a conspiracy out of it, instead they make a
fictional company with a logo that compliments it. Same goes to the wonderful
movie “UP” where the little boy earns a badge saying “Wilderness Explorer.
A popular Logo in a movie is the Ghost-buster logo, having this image appear on the car and the suits of the Ghost-busters helps you familiarize it with them so every time you see that logo you will think of the ghost-busters. whether it be in the film on merchandise or just on the streets.
The logo also appears on the appears on movie title "Ghost-busters" but instead of an "O" it is replaced with the logo as it is a circular shape and can be represented as an "O".
Another fake logo that has been used in movies and even branded itself popular on clothing is the superman symbol of the "S" on his chest. The Superman logo, also informally known as the S shield, is the iconic emblem for the fictional DC Comics superhero Superman. As a representation of the first superhero, it served as a template for character design decades after Superman's first appearance. The tradition of wearing a representative symbol on the chest was mimicked by many subsequent superheroes, including Batman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Green Lantern, the Flash, and many others.
Still Images:
A still image in drama is where a cast is preforming and you
pause in a dramatic scene for a few seconds then carry on with the performance. Still images and freeze frames are both a form of tableau.
With freeze-frame, the action in a play or scene is frozen, as in a photograph
or video frame. Still images, on the other hand, require individuals or groups
to invent body-shapes or postures, rather than freeze existing action.
While not usually a problem for fiction films (unless it’s a
stylistic choice), most documentaries find the only visual media available for
some parts of the film are still photos. The most common method that comes to
mind to add movement to still photos is the Ken Burns effect.
The Ken Burns effect is a type of panning and zooming effect
used in video production from still imagery.
The name derives from extensive use of the technique by
American documentarian Ken Burns. The technique predates his use of it, but his
name has become associated with the effect in much the same way as Alfred
Hitchcock is associated with the Hitchcock zoom.
The feature enables a widely used technique of embedding
still photographs in motion pictures, displayed with slow zooming and panning
effects, and fading transitions between frames.
The effect can be used as a transition between clips as
well. For example, to segue from one person in the story to another, a clip
might open with a close-up of one person in a photo, and then zoom out so that
another person in the photo becomes visible. The zooming and panning across
photographs gives the feeling of motion, and keeps the viewer visually
entertained.
While the Ken Burns effect is obviously effective and the
staple of many PBS films, with the advent of After Effects and other tools,
there are many more ways to dynamically include stills in movies.
THE 2.5TH DIMENSION
Using Photoshop and After Effects, you can achieve amazing
results by removing elements from still photos and compositing them in a 3D
space. These moves can be as simple as a pan or dolly with a little depth, to
full blown camera fly-throughs of entire composited scenes. Here are 2 examples of how this is used.
STILLS WITH SOUND DESIGN
Through interviews and/or really good sound design of the
scene in the photo, you can add life to the stills. This is a technique that
would work really well if you have access to a bunch of raw negatives. Or you
could even shoot a film in this style with a still camera and audio recorder.
The entire Stories from the Gulf series were done this way. For Marwencol, the
images themselves are a part of the story told in the film.
THE CONTACT SHEET
Back before digital, when you developed a roll of film you’d
lay out all the negatives on an 8×10 piece of photo paper and create a contact
sheet to figure out what negatives to print more of. I think contact sheets are
beautiful in themselves, and Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison incorporates them
into this film about Cash’s prison concert in a very effective way.
STILLS IN THE SCENE
American Greed and some of those other true-crime shows on american TV do a great job of using stills and documents from the story and creating
a dramatically lit scene with them, which they then shoot the crap out of and
get tons of b-roll. They’ll put pictures in frames or tape them to the wall and
constantly go back to them for people they couldn't get on camera.
FAST CUT TRANSITION. KEN BURNS ON STEROIDS
Who says you have to hold on a still for a few seconds? Got
tons? Throw them all in, 1 frame each. The film below uses them to act as
transitions and inter-cut with archival footage, giving it a really dynamic
feel. We can process images a lot faster than we think.
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