Filming Diary Full Day 3: Oxford City and Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk

Oxford City Centre, 12:30PM-14:00PM

The weather predictions for the Sunday 26th had been rough, but we we decided to brave the elements anyway. After organizing friends (Emma and Fintan) to help us shoot, we planned to meet at 12:30 at the Carfax Tower in the centre of town. We had planned to film the first scene of the video, the "break up" between Hamlet and Ophelia, with Fintan acting as the man Hamlet leaves her for. Unfortunately, Fintan was a no-show, but we didn't want to waste the day. After some confused discussions and a few unthrilling shots in the Covered Market, we headed outside into the torrential rain to film a puddle sequence, as well a few shots under the famous Bridge of Sighs, both of which turned out rather well. Subsequently, the three of us moved to Turl Street and St. Michael's to re-film some footage that had previously been shot without a tripod and turned out wobbly. Some camera-friendly students naturally felt inclined to participate, but we managed to shoot some useful footage. By now it was 14:00, leading us to scavenge for food. Turns out we didn't have any money, so we all shared a bag of cookies for £1. After "lunch" we moved on to our second major location, Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk.

Christ Church's Dead Man's Walk, 14:20-16:00
The grounds officially belong to the college, but pretty much anyone can access the Walk by the river. It was here that we decided to film Ophelia's death scene, the river was had flooded the banks and the sun provided perfect light. However, the ground was saturated with water, making it muddy, posing the issue of ruining the white dress. There had been debate as to how we were to film the death scene, as it would be difficult to actually film in water. The bank was quite steep, so it was decided that we would film on the sediment of an old dock. My white dress (costume) had been only partially ruined, so we kept going. Although 'good', the shot didn't feel right, so we concluded to film again in a different location. Further along the path, a gate blockage had been set up with ripped 'crime scene' tape. Along this bank, the lighting was perfect, so we decided to trespass for a few minutes. I attempted to lie down on the quite steep bank, The ditch on the other side of the path had filled up with perfectly clear water, reflecting the light of the sun beautifully. A dark, ominous cloud was approaching so we had to film fairly quickly. About 10 minutes later, the storm hit. Wind and rain hit with extreme ferocity, the rain turning to hail that ripped new holes in my tights. The camera was still screwed on to the tripod, which tipped over in the wind, but not before capturing a long video of the rain and Emma's battle to control the umbrella.
   

Cityscape/Architecture Analysis: In Bruges

Title: In Bruges
Director: Martin McDonagh
Year: 2008
Genre: Black Comedy
Country of Origin: Britain/Ireland

I have chosen to analyze architecture McDonagh's Golden Globe and BAFTA winning masterpiece"In Bruges": the city's architecture and history is similar to that of Oxford, both being prominent cities in the Middle Ages. Both Oxford and Bruges have history dating back to the 11th Century, with Bruges being a prime centre of trade for Belgium merchants, Bruges being the leading port of Northwestern Europe. It is sometimes referred to as the 'Venice of the North'. Architecture wise,  it retains much of it's Medieval buildings with gorgeous Gothic cathedrals littered around. In turn, Oxford's architecture offers examples of every English architectural period, from Gothic to Stuart.




Here, the camera technique is in the 'point of view' style. This allows the viewer to see the architecture themselves, while also showing how the character sees it, while also giving the impression of the building towering over Ray and Ken. In the context of the film, it also shows the 'cultural sites', that Ken loves and Ray hates, providing most of the comedy of the film. The fast pan from the top of the building gives us a full view of the beautiful building
while also setting the scene. (Click GIF to the right to play)

As demonstrated by these two GIFs, quick shots of the architecture also convey its importance and stature in a quick and easy way. Quick shots allow the transmission of a large amount of information in a short period of time. What one should note is that these shots have been taken at night and have thus needed specialist lighting. With these two examples, light and shadow have been used tremendously well. In terms of our music video, we had planned to film some footage at night, but with time and budget restrictions, we decided against it. Nonetheless, architecture will play a pivotal role in Hamlet's scenes shot in Oxford. However, I do not think we will be using it as a primary focus through these showcased shots.





The camera technique we will be using to include architecture will most likely be panning. Here, the pan moves down and to the left, offering a wide scope of the Church's interior. In our video, we use a similar pan- we follow Hamlet striding down a street, before pulling the camera up to the top of the building revealing an ominous Anthony Gormley statue 'watching' him.


'In Bruges' 2008 Trailer:

Filming Diary (Half- Day) 1: St. Michaels, Cornmarket Street, Ship Street and Turl Street 10/01/2014

St. Michael's Street, 8:30AM
On our first day of filming, we decided to focus solely on Hamlet's scenes.  Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring a tripod, so we tried to do without. We decided to film our scenes chronologically and started with our opening shot- Hamlet strolling along the pavement, the camera panning/following him from across the street. This we managed to do fairly successfully, the pan was pretty smooth and Conall's acting was superb, However, some over-confident, cocky students decided to ruin the shot by striking poses and making faces while the camera was rolling, ruining our shot. We re-took the scene a few times to similar, if not worse effect. St. Michaels is a wonderful, symmetrical hidden street in Oxford, with a small, attractive church at it's end, providing a wonderful background and perfect framing. Our next shot depicted Conall walking calmly toward the camera (making me back-track) away from the church, framed by the glass fronted shops. Although a sound idea, it was difficult to create a smooth hand-held dolly shot without a tripod, and having busy people bumping into you. There were some salvageable shots (it is possible to adjust stabilization in the post-production stage via iMovie) so we decided to move on.

Cornmarket Street, 9:00AM
Cornmarket was busy with people going to work and we felt that their urgency and mundane-ness would fit in well with our video. On a brainwave, we decided to set the camera on the ground and film the different feet of the passersby, imagining that we could speed up the footage to make for an interesting, if unoriginal, sequence for our opening titles. After a few minutes, and having our camera kicked over by a woman's pointy high heels, we moved on. The shots filmed here would later be discarded at the advice of our media teacher.

Ship Street, 9:20 AM
We moved on to the calmer, less frequented Ship Street and decided to continue to experiment with the the 'camera-on-the-floor' technique, even though it wasn't in our storyboard. After a small discussion, we decided to have Hamlet walk towards the camera and step-over it, like an obstacle,  resulting in our of our favourite shots.We repeated this shot several times, all resulting in stable, attractive sequences.  A cigarette butt lay in front of the camera, cementing our theme of Hamlet being associated with the urban metropolis, contrasting to Ophelia in the rural greenworld.

Turl Street/Broad Street, 9:40AM
The Oxford Art and Poster Shop on the corner of Turl Street is one of my favourite places in Oxford, not only because it sells fantastic prints, but also because an Anthony Gormley statue is situated on the roof. It can look quite creepy at times, playing the role of a silent observer, and I thought it perfect for our video. The shot required Conall to walk along Turl Street and then round the corner onto Broad Street, disappearing as the camera panned up to focus on the statue. This shot was not only difficult to accomplish without a tripod, but also due to Broad Street being a very busy street with pedestrian and cyclist traffic. The shot had to be filmed multiple times due to cyclists inadvertently riding into shot and obscuring Conall, and Conall bumping into people around the corner, but we eventually got the shot we wanted.

In conclusion, forgetting the tripod was an amateurish mistake, and we paid for it with mostly shaky,  shots. Nonetheless, it was possible to retrieve some sequences via shot stabilization in the editing suite. We also learned that going to film early in the day is the best time to film, and we caught the end of this and the beginning of peak-time, resulting in some ruined shots from unaware passersby.

Natural World Analysis: Ondine

As Ophelia is often considered a mystical figure connected with nature and we needed to be able to convey this in our music video, I set out to search for films/videos that had dealt with this concept before. The independent Irish film Ondine(directed by Neil Jordan) is a perfect example of this.



A common concept of mysticism appears to be
nature. Throughout the film, various shots detail huge, rich landscapes, making humans seem small and insignificant. This may be a referral back to the original concept of mysticism which relates to religion and the divine- in these beautiful landscapes we are meant to see the ethereal, heaven.   As a theme, this would seem to fit the film, which explores whether or not the woman a fisherman caught in his net is the mythological "Selkie" (akin to mermaid) creature.
In terms of our music video, I think that nature will also feature heavily. Ophelia is associated with flowers and drowns in a stream. What we will have to make sure is that, as in Ondine, the colours that the colour compliment each other. Cinematographer Christopher Doyle chose naturally dark colours, such as green, blue and brown among others.

Abandonment and isolation are also common features. The wrecked ship looks strangely biological, almost like a beached whale or a skeleton of some kind. It creates a sad, depressive atmosphere, particularly through the dark red colour of the rust. The second image is of a similar nature. The presence of the seagulls suggests that "Ondine" has been sat there for a long time, and the direction of her gaze (outwards to the open sea) suggests perhaps entrapment or a willingness to leave. Isolation is emphasised by the lack of other humans and the vast expanse of water. Our music video, although not primarily concerned with isolation, certainly does feature it. Hamlet essentially abandons Ophelia when he realizes he does not love her, thus making her isolate herself from all other human contact. Hamlet is also isolated in that he is defined through Ophelia's death, and that after the termination of their relationship remains alone.

Lighting is, in any visual art, very important. "Ondine" makes use of natural light, the scene captured in the image to the left is one of the few instances in which artificial light has been used. The scene uses light selectively for maximum dramatic impact (the girl has kidney failure and is in dialysis), while making her appear more innocent and childlike. The second image is a stunning example of the use of natural light. 

As our budget is limited, we we also be filming                                                                                         using natural light. We had considered filming

some footage at night using several torches, but decided against it. Here, the light creates an almost dream/heaven like atmosphere. I like the use of a natural sunset, but in the constantly dreary Oxford, this may be difficult to achieve. What would be nice is a dark red dramatic sunset to allude to the end of Ophelia's life, and the beginning of Hamlet's new life. Also, the colours break the chromaticity patterns from beforehand. 

Screencaptures and GIFs made from videos below.

Location Shots From Germany

While on visiting my family in Germany over the Christmas holidays, I decided to take some photos of the forest and naturescapes surrounding the village. I didn't want to waste valuable media-work time, so I decided that these would work well as further locations for our music videos.

This is the driveway around the entire property. I love the change from the evergreen trees to the bare birches.  The birches create a sad, depressive atmosphere with their tilted angles and leafless-ness. I think this would have been a perfect place to film parts of our music video, specifically the Ophelia sections.