CGI or ‘Computer Generated Imagery’ is a technique used by film makers to digitally add elements to films which would not be possible in real life or would be too hard to shoot. While on the surface CGI seems like a great leap forward for film and a truly positive example of the move into a new technological landscape for filmmakers, it is not always appreciated in films. CGI can be seen as tacky and is often overused to an extent that the film is no longer immersive and the technique has therefore been made redundant.

Use of ‘bad’ CGI can be found at both ends of the filmmaking spectrum. Blockbusters like “The Planet of The Apes” find CGI a quintessential part of their process and rely heavily on the use of CGI. This can remove audiences from a film as the augmentation of CGI and real life is difficult to get perfect and therefore little mistakes can ruin of CGI have an overall more damaging effect on the enjoyment of a film.

On the other hand, low end films’ use of CGI can be a bad decision for a director as professionally executed CGI is expensive and films with smaller budgets simply can’t afford it. Unlike the faults of CGI in higher budget films, the failing of CGI in indie films is a lot less subtle and has a much more devastating effect. When CGI is poorly done, a film loses all credibility and immersion and therefore filmmakers with less of a budget should think very carefully about whether or not CGI is necessary or beneficial to their story.

Despite this, CGI is a useful tool for filmmakers that would not have had such easy access too and therefore filmmakers should use the most of it. Before that however, they must ask themselves whether it is going to achieve it’s desired effect or merely ruin the immersion of a film.

Film sets can be volatile and sometimes dangerous places for actors and crews, especially in big blockbusters.There are numerous lists online of tragic fatalities on film sets. It is for this reason that safety is such a priority in film. However, accidents can happen in film which are not dangerous for cast and crew but can have an impact on the creative process of shooting a film, it is imperative that directors use these to their advantage instead of letting it inhibit their films.

One example of this could be an actor forgetting their lines and going off script or merely choosing to ad-lib lines instead of following the script. While it is very easy for a director to call ‘cut’ and re-shoot the scene with the correct dialogue, this can be detrimental to the feeling of a scene and it is often the actor who has prepared hard to get into a role who knows what a scene needs best. Improvised lines such as the famous “You talkin’ to me?” in Taxi Driver can make up the most memorable and influential lines in a film and it is therefore the role of the director to delineate the creative freedom of an actor and embrace the unplanned, accidental moments in film. However, discretion is obviously essential and that is where there is a grey area: just because a line is improvised, it is not automatically profound and just because a line is not in the script, it doesn’t mean it won’t aid the scene. To use these unplanned gems and filter the mistakes of actors is the job of the director, if they are planned or not. What must be remembered however, is that the one line an audience may have remembered from a film may not have even been in the script and could merely be an ‘accident’.

To what extent has Chris Bracanto impacted longform television  in recent years? 

Chris Bracanto is an American screenwriter and producer having worked on a number of popular TV series’ in the last couple of decades such as “X Files” and “The Godfather of Harlem”, it is however his work on the TV series “Narcos” that I believe has had a significant impact on longform television and especially drama in this era of streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. I also believe his interesting take on historical “period pieces” and mixture of archive and reconstruction will define the genre for years to come. 

Modern day television has had a drastic shift in the last ten years as a result of the explosion of streaming services like Netflix, needing to be more palatable to the masses to “binge” on. Writers and producers like Chris Bracanto have noticed this shift and have tailored their projects accordingly and I believe that “Narcos” is a mark of this shift and is a sign to other writers and directors on how it should be done as the hour long episodes play out as if they were short films with one overriding plot. This technique is engaging audience on a higher level than any film and this engagement is leading viewers to commit themselves to ten-episode series’. One of the main ways this audience engagement is derived is through the unique use of archive footage alongside the true story the show is based on. Archive footage is a powerful tool to remind the viewer of the gravitas of the situations the characters find themselves in as they are often gory 

Skimask the Slump God’s “Catch Me Outside” music video and why it was so effective 

The music video for rapper Skimask the Slump God’s song “Catch Me Outside” has nearly 90 million views on Youtube and the reason for this is the abstract approach taken by the rapper and the Director: “Cole Bennet”. Bennet took great influence from a video released by Chance the Rapper for his song “Juice” which was completely filmed in Times Square. The video relies heavily on computer generated visual effects all done in post-production. Many of these effects Bennet had used before such as his method of combining stock CG footage over real life film, giving the video a surreal effect, which captivates viewers throughout the video. Bennet refers to this process as “Lavalizing” and this experimentation shows why he is one of the pioneers of new wave music videos. 

As people have come to see the same cliches throughout a majority of hip hop and pop music videos, Bennet’s choice to throw convention out of the window with his “Catch Me Outside” and other similar videos such as “Juice Wrld’s” Lucid dreams video have taken off. 

How Amine’s “BlackJack” music video is an homage to “School of Rock” and why his music videos compliment his songs so well 

Portland Rapper “Amine” has reached great acclaim through his array of impressive and eye-catching music videos. His string, quirky aesthetic can be seen throughout his songs and is well replicated in his videos, to the enjoyment of his fans and praise of his peers. The music video for his song “BlackJack” is no different as this video pays respect to one of his favourite films: “School of Rock”. The video shows Amine and an array of dancers in an American high school, affectionately named “School of Rap”, as he dances around the school in peculiar fashion we are able to see a strong sense of his humour while retaining a strong impression for his inspiration. 

One scene in the video stands out as it shows an auditorium full of different versions of himself. This was done through a visual effect known as “digital composition”, whereby various images are compiled together to make one shot that would ultimately impossible to make in real life. 

The great effort put into this video shows it as a passionate project for Amine and this did not go unnoticed as it was shared virally and was even commended by Jack Black himself, making the music video: “A great success”. Much like the work of director “Cole Bennet” Amine’s music videos are colorful and have a strong reliance on visual effects, a trend that seems to make such videos stand out and recieve praise from their audiences

The Kuleshov effect is a hypothesis from Soviet filmmaker, 

Lev Kuleshov that derive more meaning from two shots in  

sequence than one alone; this means that the editing of a  

film can be more effective in influencing an audiences  

perspective than the shots themselves.  

The use of montage 

to this effect is common in Soviet cinema but more famously  

was used by Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock describes the Kuleshov  

effect by contrasting two similar scenarios: First we see a shot 

of a man smiling followed by a shot of a mother and baby.  

Hitchcock explains that as an audience we would deduce that the 

man is caring and loving and would generally have a positive 

reaction to his character. However, with the same first shot 

of the smiling man and the second shot of a woman in a bikini 

we have a different perception of this man as he is now viewed as 

predatory and a pervert. In both sequences the same man is smiling 

but the audience has an opposing view of him. This is an example 

of the Kuleshov effect in action as we see the editing of a sequence 

have more of an influence than  the individual shots themselves. 

The same effect can be used through the juxtopostion of video and 

audio. Because video and audio both have such a large effect of the 

general perception of a piece, giving contrasting  the two can  

conflict the audience, making sad shots seem happy or vice versa. 

This can also be used for comedic effect as can be seen in the film 

“Spiderman 3”; the climax of the film contains a fight taking place in 

a library, in the foreground of the shot we see an old man reading a  

book with headphones on and in the background the fight between  

Spiderman and his nemesis is taking place. The afformentioned old  

man is wearing headphones and therefore the digetic sounds from the 

fight are replaced with the classical music. The violence of the  

fight contrasts with the calmness of the music and this conflict 

is inherently funny.  

The Kuleshov effect is therefore a powerful tool for directors to 

manipulate audiences in their perception of characters and stories 

in the way that they would like, whether its building love or disdain 

towards a certain character or merely making the audience laugh. 

The struggles of shooting a purely observational documentary 

While writing this I have spent the last month shooting a documentary about Stoke-born, boxer and Grime artist: Jamal Le Doux. Through this project I have learnt a great appreciation for non-fiction filmmakers, the passion and hard work that goes into their projects and as I prepare to sit down and edit this film, I have especially appreciated the work that goes on in post-production as the film goes from raw footage to having a fully-fledged narrative on the big screen. 

Having a strong, compelling narrative is obviously vital to the effectiveness and success of a film but finding this structure can often be difficult, even more so when working with observational documentary. While an expository documentary uses the aid of either an off-screen or on-screen narrator, observational documentary does not have this crutch to fall back on and must tell the story of the film purely through visual imagery and the use of interview. To further burden the editing process, we decided to shoot this film without use of “Talking Heads” (a documentary technique which has the contributors sit and answer questions directly to the camera) without this technique we had to get enough coverage to be able to portray different aspects of our contributors life in a cohesive story with an introduction, a conflict, a climax and a conclusion. 

The practicality of editing an observational documentary 

As mentioned in my earlier post: “The struggles of shooting a purely observational documentary” I am in the process of assembling an edit for a documentary about a Stoke boxer and the struggles of deriving a story for a non-fiction film with no narrator or  “Talking Head” interviews but merely footage of training, sparring and fighting. It is because of this that we decided as a crew to give a focus to Jamal’s domestic life. Filming Jamal at home or in the areas he grew up in gave a new, personal element to the film, developing the story, while building the backdrop to the contributor of the film. Our aim when setting out to make this film was to show Jamal not just as an alpha male, aggressive boxer but also show the funny, compassionate side to him as that would not only contrast the preconceptions of an audience but also give justice to his strong character. 

To show a personal side to Jamal we got him to give us a walking tour of his home town and the places he grew up. We interviewed Jamal as he took us to his former primary and secondary school before taking us to the house he grew up in. Through this shoot we were able to develop a personal understanding of his circumstances leading up to the current situation while establishing this to the audience in the film. This will be a great help for editing purposes as it gives a break from the violence and action of the film and also gives us a deeper understanding of the contributor in it. Therefore, even without “Talking Heads” or a narrator we will be able to produce a cohesive, in depth story that will hopefully be captivating and thought provoking for potential audiences. 

Making “Shotgun”, what I learnt shooting a chase sequence 

As part of our Craft Skills module we were tasked with making a short chase sequence. With the example given of the chase scene in “Point Break” we had to shoot a chase sequence that would incorporate a story of two characters with one chasing the other, involving a variety of shots to build tension.  The basic premise of our film showed two characters racing from a flat to a multi-story carpark with the conflict being derived from the competition of trying to be there first. 

The establishing shot of the film showed the two characters together in a flat, the scene was set with a wide shot of the environment and the close proximity of the characters to one another not only showed their close relationship but also heightened their sense of competition. Ultra close-ups of the characters eyes were used before the chase started to elevate the severity of the scene and portray the intense motivation of both characters.  

As the scene continued and the chase started mids and wide shots were used to give a better understanding of the characters environment, the distance they were travelling and the obstacles along their way. Through these mid shots we were able to witness the area that they were running through, ultimately giving context to the events that happened, such as the protagonist having to jump over a railing to get into the lead. Alongside this, the position of the characters was made clearer in wider shots as they were able to give a perspective of the distance between the characters and who was in  the lead. 

How Edgar Wright shoots dialogue 

As part of our Craft Skills module we were tasked with recreating a dialogue sequence from any film. As big fans of Edgar Wright’s work and in particular the cult-classic “Cornetto Trilogy” our crew decided to recreate a scene from “Hot Fuzz”. As a “shot, reverse shot” scene we thought this would be easy enough, however we were very mistaken and frankly astounded by the variation of shots in this supposedly simple scene.  

This 3-minute scene took three separate shoot days to complete as we tried our hardest to replicate every intricate shot in the scene and eventually go on together to edit the copious amount of takes and shots together into the right order. It was through this that I was able to appreciate the amount of thought that goes into what I’d originally presumed to be a simple scene. Wright uses more than shot-reverse shot as “Over the shoulders” from both sides of the frame are incorporated. Along with this the height of the camera in relation to certain character is an integral part of the shot composition as it is able to give the audience an effect of who is in control as well as the relationship of the characters involved; the camera often looks up to the Chief Inspector as he is respected and in control, however Nicholas Angel is virtually powerless in the scene and this is portrayed by shots from higher up looking down on him. This technique can be seen throughout Hot Fuzz and Wrights wider portfolio and is a useful asset when shooting dialogue to shoot more than just two characters having a conversation but to show their relationship visually.