DTC 491 Advanced Digital Cinema
Washington State University Vancouver
Hello everyone, hope you’re all doing good.
Here is a hyperlink to my project: Hypercinema491
I struggled quite a bit with this project as I kept changing my ideas about what to do. My narrative isn’t as strong as I’d like for it to be, so I may change this project in the future.
Hi class,
Here is my AI cinema project.
I apologize for the non 16:9 format, I realized much too late that you can change the format of the videos in RunwayML.
Please don’t be mad.
Caleb
AI Movie Clip Prompt: “Harmony of Time”
The scene opens on a serene, otherworldly landscape under a twilight sky. The horizon is adorned with floating islands, each hosting its own unique ecosystem. A river, shimmering with hues of gold and azure, flows gently through the air, weaving between the islands without gravity’s constraint. The camera follows the river’s course, revealing clocks and hourglasses seamlessly integrated into the natural environment. Trees with leaves shaped like watch hands rustle in the wind, and flowers bloom in fast-forward, their petals opening and closing with the rhythm of seconds.
As we delve deeper into this dreamscape, the river leads us to a grand, crystalline clock standing majestically in the center of a floating meadow. The clock is unlike any other; its gears and hands flow like liquid, changing shape and form, symbolizing the fluidity of time in this realm. The meadow around the clock pulses with a soft, ethereal light, casting long, dancing shadows that play along the ground.
Suddenly, the clock begins to chime, its sound resonating through the landscape like a harmonious melody. With each chime, the scenery transforms: day turns to night, then back to day; seasons change within moments, showcasing the beauty of spring blossoms, the warmth of summer sun, the golden hues of autumn leaves, and the serene stillness of winter snow, all coexisting in a beautiful, ever-changing cycle.
The camera pans up to the sky, where constellations of stars move swiftly, tracing patterns of ancient timepieces across the cosmos. A shooting star crosses the sky, leaving a trail of sparkling light that forms the silhouette of an hourglass before fading away.
As the clip nears its end, the view zooms out, showing the Timekeeper standing atop the highest floating island, watching over the harmonious flow of time in this dreamlike realm. A sense of peace and understanding reflects in his eyes, as if he’s found the key to balancing time’s relentless march with the timeless beauty of the moment.
The scene fades to black, leaving viewers with a sense of wonder and a longing for a world where time flows in harmony with life itself.
Look or Style of Film:
Visual Effects:
Visual Quality & Film Stock: The clip should be rendered to mimic the quality of high-resolution 70mm film stock, known for its rich detail, depth of color, and dynamic range. This choice will give the landscapes and time elements a tactile, immersive feel, with a fine grain texture that adds to the dreamlike atmosphere.
Cameras & Lenses: Utilize digital simulation of vintage anamorphic lenses to capture the wide, panoramic views of the floating islands and the dreamlike landscapes. These lenses will contribute to the surreal quality of the scenes by creating characteristic lens flares and a slightly distorted, yet beautiful wide field of view, emphasizing the vastness and the ethereal nature of the environments.
Lighting: Employ soft, naturalistic lighting with a golden hour glow for daytime scenes, enhancing the dreamlike quality with warm tones and soft shadows. For night scenes, use cooler, moonlit tones with strategic low-light conditions to highlight the mystical elements of the landscape, such as the shimmering river and the glowing crystalline clock. Lighting should be dynamic, subtly changing to reflect the passage of time and the transformations within the dream world.
Color Scheme: The clip should feature a vibrant, yet slightly desaturated color palette, emphasizing pastels and muted tones to create a sense of otherworldliness. This palette will make the transitions between seasons and times of day appear seamless and magical, while still providing a visually rich and engaging experience.
Production Design, Sets, & Costumes: The production design should be intricate and detailed, with each element of the dream world carefully crafted to reflect the theme of fluid time. Sets like the floating islands and the crystalline clock should combine organic and fantastical elements, using materials that appear both natural and ethereal. Costumes for the Timekeeper and any other characters should be timeless, blending elements from different eras and cultures in a way that transcends specific time periods. Fabrics should flow and change, reflecting the mutable nature of time, with subtle, intricate patterns that hint at the complexity of the timekeeper’s realm.
General Aesthetic: The overall aesthetic should draw inspiration from classic surrealist films and paintings, with a modern twist that incorporates advances in visual effects and animation. The goal is to create a visually stunning piece that feels both timeless and innovative, inviting the viewer into a world where time is not a constraint but a canvas for beauty and exploration.
This detailed approach aims to guide the AI in creating a short movie clip that not only tells a compelling story through its visuals but also achieves a specific, high-quality cinematic look and feel, making “Harmony of Time” a captivating and immersive experience.
-Quincy Harris
Hey everyone,
Here is my loop video, I included all three loops into one.
This was a tough project personally but a creatively expressive one nonetheless.
-Caleb
Hi class,
Here is my video for this week’s project.
Not quite sure how I feel about this work but I took some inspiration from Requiem for a Dream.
Thanks for taking a look!
-Caleb
Hey everyone,
I first came across McCloud’s work in DTC 354, Digital Storytelling. I couldn’t believe the level of depth contained within comics that McCloud discusses back then, and I’m still contemplating that information to this day.
Time and space are interchangeable within comics. Film, unlike comics, doesn’t typically display all their “frames” at any single moment. We as the viewer can practically experience the entire comic at our own pace, choosing when and where to place our eyes onto any given frame. However, the viewer doesn’t typically spend the same amount of time on each panel depending on its content, and in McCloud’s words, its shape as well. And as McCloud states,
“…the panel shape can make a difference in our perception of time. Even though this (referring to the page 101 with the extended panel in the middle) long panel has the same basic ‘meaning’ as its shorter versions, still it has the feeling of greater length!” (pg. 101).
Does film express its passage of time in the same ways comics do? I would place a yes/no/maybe-so to this question due to a few factors. Firstly, film is really a comic with each panel stacked on top of the other and then displayed one frame at a time on repeat until the last frame appears. In this case, time is passing automatically and the “gutters”, or frame gaps representing time, are absent. The viewer isn’t meant to pause a film just to experience the shot for a longer duration, but to rather experience the shot visually and for its intended duration.
A great example that is a near straight conversion of comic to film envisioning this idea is Sin City from 2005. This film is based on Frank Miller’s comic book series of the same name. The film takes some of the comics wider/longer panels and translates their durations into the film.
Another example of a film that passes time through unique cinematography is 1917. This film was shot with a particular method to appear as a “single take”. While there is a ton of methodology as to how this film was made, one factor remains that pertains to this discussion. 1917 used multiple shots of greater length to make the film appear as one whole piece. The transitions from shot to shot were edited carefully at moments of break, mere seconds in length, that would immediately return to the previous shot such as the camera passing a background element or when characters cross the frame of the camera (DeGuzman).
Film, much like comics, experiment with the perception of time in ways that fit their respective mediums. I will certainly be keeping an eye out in the future for moments like these.
Thanks for reading,
-Caleb
Works Cited:
DeGuzman, Kyle. “How Roger Deakins Shot ‘1917’ to Look like One Take.” StudioBinder, StudioBinder, 1 Feb. 2021, www.studiobinder.com/blog/1917-one-shot-cinematography/.
Scott McCloud’s visual essay made me think about the possibilities of time manipulation in digital cinema when he talked about the space between the panels being a “gutter”. From what I gathered from the comic is that the gutter is a moment where time is dictated by the reader. The gutter represents the moments after what we just saw, or in some cases could be guiding the flashback to a memory of the characters. 
Movies that I can think of that do a good job at showcasing a manipulation of time are Inception by Christopher Nolan. The movie plays with the idea of dreams happening within dreams. In each dream time moves slower and slower.
There was also Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction film. The film used a disjointed narrative structure. The film used a timeline to help tie together stories that made the whole movie’s story.
There is also movies that have been iconically referenced like the Matrix. Where Neo is dodging bullets in slow motion. The slow motion was to represent the movement of time.
-Quincy Harris
Hey everyone,
Here is my 55 second video about creating space.
I hope you enjoy and I’m stoked to see what you’ve all made for this assignment!
-Caleb
Hey Everyone, Here is my day in 30-seconds video. Although it’s actually just under a minute, I noticed that it could be between 30-60 sec so I hope this is okay.
I think I should have spent a little more time getting a sort of story and not so much random shots. I think it worked out okay however
Day in 30 Sec – Jackson Lester
Thank you, let me know what I could do to improve
-Jackson
Looping With Lola
Run Lola Run is one of the most fascinating films I’ve seen to date. From the cinematic imagery to camera positions, describing this film to someone who’s not seen it before may throw them for a loop. Describing the narrative momentum of Run Lola Run is the focus of this post however, so let’s dive into it.
How does this film manage to keep the attention of the audience? There’s certainly a lot going on even before the time loop aspect is introduced. There are a handful of factors that retain the film’s momentum, the first being attention to detail.
The first loop introduces most of the films characters that in sequential loops have their lives changed by Lola’s actions. We see this through the pictorial montage after Lola interacts with people. As the audience, it’s interesting to us to see how the lives of the characters change with each time loop. It may entice the audience to think how the next loop will affect these characters, maintaining their interest and giving the film more room to explore this narrative.
Not only do we see repeated characters through each time loop, but objects as well. Clocks are the “golden object” if you will, or the object controlling the flow of the film for the audience. The clock displays where Lola is in the narrative, especially in the following time loops. A clever plot device that helps push along the story while keeping the audience engaged with Lola’s journey.
Similar to the clock, locations in the film are repeated to clearly inform the audience that a time shift is taking place. These locations also help to pinpoint Lola’s location in the narrative, such as the train crossing over the bridge that Lola runs under.
Lastly, Run Lola Run maintains the narrative flow using incredible cinematography and a tight-nit story. There are a few questions left unanswered in the film such as why Lola has super-human screams, how the time loops are happening, and other similar vein of questions. These questions don’t need answering however as I believe the story would become too convoluted for the audience if they were.
To coincide with this point, the films’ identity in the form of cinematography has no real definition since the story has no real answers. The film diverts the audience’s attention with animation, various camera shots, and overall flow to allow the audience to focus on other aspects of the film and ignore the rising questions.
I will be recommending this film to everyone I know.
Take care,
-Caleb