In Light Is Waiting, the very first thing we notice is how dated the footage looks — this is accomplished with digital effects (presumably). On cathode ray televisions, the picture was formed by an electron gun that traced lines across the television screen faster than the human eye can see. This causes small lines to appear on the screen when there is a lot of motion, which can be approximated with a digital raster effect (this is what we see here.)

A more extreme version of this, with a flickering effect, is then scene when the TV is dropped in the next scene.

From here, we see a quick succession of extreme digital effects applied to give the impression of a dreamlike, hallucinatory sequence. A man jumping from the top of a waterfall is shown in a mirror effect, with the screen reflected across the center.

Two scenes, one with the opacity lowered, are superimposed on one another, giving the impression of ghostly trees hovering out of view.

Red, blue, and green (these are the component colors of a CRT television’s picture) tints are applied to some scenes, flipping back and forth rapidly.

In total, the digital effects used here serve the overarching feel of the short, summoning the nostalgia inherent to the VHS/CRT era and infusing it with a psychedelic, unsettling undertone.

In the assigned scene, we watch the Gallagher family discuss plans around the breakfast table, while learning about their socioeconomic standing and unique family dynamics.

Mylod, the director for this sequence, shifts between tracking his subjects with pans and cutting between them. Throughout, we maintain a clear sense of space. For example, at the start of the scene, we track motion from the bedrooms to the kitchen in a single cut; however, we maintain focus on the same character.

Following that, we track the gallon of milk, which moves from the refrigerator to the table, to connect the two locations. Given the chaotic nature of the scene, it’s important that Mylod gives us a clear sense of space that allows us to focus on the dynamics of the family (arguably the most important part of the scene).

The digital effects of this work are heavily based on greenscreen, with greenscreen and the backgrounds edited in through that taking up the bulk of the video, creating fake backgrounds and false screen projections, among other things. It seems to go for a more vaguely surrealist approach with visuals that are somewhat strange and repetitive. The typical realism of cinema seems to be subverted in this work, rather than strictly followed for that reason, although it does still try to follow some logic, having hand motions interact with the text sometimes as an example.

I picked ‘Light is Waiting’ for my analysis.

There is a lot of layering done in Light is Waiting by Michael Robinson. Light is Waiting uses this trick and even layers audio with video that doesn’t really match but the effect is still clear. I enjoyed that it started like an old show with an audience off screen in order to have said audience laughing in the background after someone does something stupid.

The voice editing with the ‘broken record’ like sound is very interesting in a way where you can still tell what the person is saying but the extra noise is almost distracting in such a way in which you could miss the words but that may not be the point. In the start the world feels very normal, two kids sitting down to do homework and wanting to have fun at the same time but unlike current times they couldn’t just put some videos on their phones and have that going while they watch the news.

They were working with the limitations of the time the world was set in but after the crash of the TV that reality shattered into something coherent and yet far away. The scene changes from siblings doing something foolish to landscapes and then to mirrored scenes and then to overlaid video that is set so that each frame is a few frames apart giving the appearance that there is a kind of blurred state of being going on.

The mirrored videos are back along with having the blur of overlapping frames and all this is interrupted by the error screen that shows up when signal is down or a screen breaks and has the rainbow lines to indicate so. The ‘error’ is accompanied by the classic sound that goes with it, the ear splitting screech of an incessant beeping that refuses to stop no matter what.

Looking at things like this just makes me realize that the people who do this kind of stuff for a living are really talented in what they do because I don’t think I have the raw talent for things like this but I can give it my best shot and learn where I’m supposed to be.

Here is a montage from a doc project I’ve been working on about a larger project I’ve been invested in. The beginning may be a little out of context but (even more to the point of this assignment) the montage will still serve its purpose.

Hello class,
This prompt is tricky – how to tell the story of a nurse during Covid without the visual representation of her workplace. I suppose the first thing that needs to be done is finding a story. Because film is a visual medium we need to rely on visual evidence to express our story. Of course, the straightforward version of the story would be: As COVID patients flood through the doors of the hospital, a nurse (or nurses) struggles to maintain her health and mental sanity amidst an abundance of dying patients and a chaotic workplace. However, in this story, one of the major characters becomes the hospital itself and without that location, the story doesn’t work. So we must adapt the story.
I lean towards telling a more personal story, in which the nurse’s personal life is a major feature. Her personal life is manifest on screen by her interactions with her husband, and children. And it takes place in the home. We perhaps begin with life before the pandemic. Showing a happy, bright home that is full of life: children running around, good food cooking in the chicken, close contact between the family members, and maybe a movie night. Of course, all of this is with the nurse as our subject (relative to her point of view). This visual evidence sets up the audience’s expectations for a happy domestic lifestyle.
But now we need conflict. Hampe gives us a good example of how to do this in his essay. He tells us to imagine how to visually show a smart boy crossing the street in one shot. His conclusion is, “You can’t. You need to scenes in sequence”. Using an adapted version of this principle we can introduce conflict by breaking down the expectations we set up earlier by juxtaposing the previous sequence with one that depicts a sad and neglected domestic situation. Lingering shots of silent rooms, the kids lounging rather than running around, the family wearing masks and distancing from each other (in case their mother brings back the virus), on the stove is a pot of ramen which one of the children stirs unenthusiastically,  the mother is there only briefly before she rushes through the door to go to work.

That’s my take on the story and how to show it visually.

-Luca Wagner

For a documentary about local nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, I want to focus on their emotional and physical struggles while keeping it real. Since I can’t film inside a hospital, I’ll rely on interviews, personal footage, news clips, and photos as “visual evidence” to share their stories. Instead of capturing them in a clinical setting, I’ll show nurses at home after long shifts or connecting with family remotely, which really highlights the isolation they faced.

As noted in the reading, “behavior is visual evidence,” and “making documentaries… means filming the behavior of people.” I’ll get into how these nurses coped with their experiences and the toll the pandemic took on them. Their personal narratives will drive the film, giving a genuine look at their challenges and triumphs.

I also plan to incorporate symbolic visuals like empty streets and discarded protective gear to further illustrate the pandemic’s impact. By showcasing the human side of this crisis, I hope to convey the resilience and dedication of nurses during such an unprecedented time.

Visual evidence is tricky to acquire without access to the actual thing your documentary is about. As the reading itself says: “Making a documentary with visual evidence requires the filmmaker to go out and find something happening in front of the camera that that tells the story to the audience far better than any interview with an expert.” That said, it’s hardly an impossible obstacle to overcome. If I were in the position of having to do so for a documentary about COVID Nurses, I’d probably try to include a variety of approaches for the sake of minimize the need to reuse clips and ensure there’s enough visual variety as to not distract the viewers. I’d include not only actors to re-enact certain scenarios being described in the documentary, but also things such as b-roll footage of various tasks being performed or panning over locations. Perhaps footage could even be taken in other locations where vaguely similar things to the nurse duties and covid infection could be taking place. It would all have to be incidental, and I’d have to react quickly to them, but if it could capture those moments I’m looking for, then that would go a long way to helping out the documentary.

Continuity Video Project

Shameless Blog Post – Framing

The short opening scene for the TV show Shameless we watched in class was a great example of framing shots and continuity editing.

The story being told, mainly through visuals and little dialog was done great by the way shots were framed and edited together. Such as the main scene when the family begins to sit down together for breakfast, right after the Mom of the family notices that a bill is due that day. It is what holds the scene and story together, as its the main plot of the scene. With all characters being introduced have some sort of role in it context of it and it flows between each character well.

The scene starts with the mom seeing the bill reminder while getting the milk out of the fridge for cereal/breakfast. As the milk gets passed around so does a box to collect money from the family for the bill. Both were framed as important items to keep track of and as they are both passed around in unisene, it follows a line. Where they are mostly cut on action points of the item(s) being passed to the next person, a sort of introduction to a new character. As well as a mention of a possible new plot point and or character trait. Such as some being bad with time management or being stressed about other life issues. With some mentioning they can work more in the day to help cover the bill when it gets to them, as they only can fork in a smaller amount of money compared to others. Same for the kids of the family, as they too work to help.

Compositing, Effects, and AI Cinema Blog Post

Star Wars Wars – All Star Wars at Once

Out of all of the given videos or projects, I went with the more so simple or basic of edits. That being the Star Wars Wars website, where it is a s very simple concept of having all of the 6 main Star Wars movies layered on top of each other.

All that it seemed was that each movie was put onto separate layers and the opacity was changed so they could all be seen at once. Or that there was certain masks placed to allow more from one scene to pop through compared to the other.

I simply found it incredibly interesting, how some scenes or shots would pop or show more than others. Mainly that of scenes taken on bright or high contrast colors, such as the scenes on Tatooine or other sandy planets.

These scenes are much more visible than those when in space. It’s an interesting way to really think of the use of color or composition in shots. It just really stood out to me, how the movie is shot and composed can really make a movie stand out. Those shots stood out so much that you could immediately identify which movie it was from.

Montage Assignment

Here’s my ‘window’.