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.
Updated video and I forgot about the thumbnail so please don’t tell my girlfriend.
Title : Rejuv
In a desolate future, Ohm, a lone robot awakens amidst ruins, its metallic and plastic form a stark contrast against the decaying remnants of humanity. Programmed with a singular purpose—to initiate the Rejuvenation Protocol—Ohm ventures forth into a world consumed by emptiness.
Guided by ancient algorithms and forgotten coordinates programmed by its long deceased creators, Ohm traverses the barren landscape, its sensors scanning for signs of life. Along the journey, it encounters the relics of humanity’s past glory: countless crumbling cities collapsed and sunken into the dead Earth.
Yet amidst the ruins, Ohm faces obstacles both physical and existential. Collapsed buildings obstruct its path, toxic wastelands threaten its circuits, and rogue machines challenge its resolve. Beaten and battered, Ohm presses on, driven by its program’s purpose.
Finally, after a perilous journey, Ohm arrives at the heart of the desolation—a lifeless wasteland much comparable to the salt flats of our world today, where nothing grows, and no life stirs. Here, amidst the ruins of civilization, Ohm prepares to enact its ultimate mission.
Ohm activates the organic bomb, unleashing a wave of energy that transforms the landscape before its sensors. Grass sprouts from the barren earth, trees stretch towards the sky, and the air is filled with the sound of nature’s symphony.
Yet amidst the newfound life, there is a poignant absence—no organic beings emerge to inhabit the rejuvenated world. As Ohm watches the transformation, it realizes the bittersweet truth: it has succeeded in its mission, but humanity’s legacy remains absent from the reborn world.
As Ohm’s systems begin to shut down, its circuits fading into darkness, it finds solace in the knowledge that it has become a part of the rebirth it facilitated. A silent guardian of a changed world, Ohm’s legacy echoes across the ages, a testament to the enduring spirit of hope in a desolate landscape.
Visualization:
Influenced by the cinematic styles of Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron, and JJ Abrams, shots will focus on vast spaces and the objects within them rather than the main character themselves. Shot on the same film stock favored by Christopher Nolan (65mm IMAX), the film will capture the bleakness and desolation of the post-apocalyptic world with stunning realism. Long panning shots of the collapsed ruins followed by transition shots of different angles as we follow Ohm on their journey. Never closer than 50 feet to Ohm, the camera mainly focuses on the environment.
Vast expanses of destroyed and collapsing cityscapes with overwhelming amounts of man-made structures amidst the absence of nature. The camera will pan across abandoned skyscrapers, rusted vehicles, crumbling infrastructure, downed powerlines, destroyed roads, rubble, shattered windows, oil, and other chemical spills, and so forth. CGI will most likely be used when showing these vast landscapes, but areas of close quarters may use small set design to achieve the desired look. The wastelands will be portrayed as vast and empty, devoid of any signs of life. Picturing the Bonneville Salt Flats, but with less sunlight. The lack of trees, plants, animals, and humans will be clear. The sky is gray or black, the sun barely piercing through the clouds of acid rain and smokey atmosphere.
The lighting will play a crucial role in setting the tone of the film. Shadows will loom large, casting an eerie pall over the landscape and heightening the sense of isolation and foreboding. Shadows will reflect the metaphor of the past.
The colors for this story follow the theme and lighting. A near total lack of vibrancy with only very dark or very light grays, blacks, whites, and browns will be present. Anything resembling concrete, inorganic materials will be used. The color of the robot’s light, either red or green, will be the only real form of color until the end of the story when the mission completes, and life begins to spawn again.
Key words to remember for prompts: Realistic, 65 mm IMAX, dystopian, dilapidated, bleak, post-apocalyptic, technological, barren, sci-fi, robotic, metallic, rusted, void, devoid, rejuvenation, ruins, abandoned, lack of life, decay, natural disaster, exploration, vast, expansive, transformation, mission, man-made, etc.
I used ChatGPT to help convey certain aspects of this story into the right words for this post.
-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/.
Autumn Mists
I find interpreting silent films fascinating, especially since I grew up watching sound cinema. Watching silent films comes with a challenge, however, of relying solely on imagery to understand a silent films meaning. This challenge arises while interpreting Brumes d’automne by Dimitri Kirsanoff, but I believe I’ve gathered a good comprehension of the twelve minute silent film.
While there is no established plot outside of the audience’s perspective, the film does include a very poetic story. I believe this film is about a person’s emotional experience with the loss of love. This experience is expressed through intricate montaging techniques and visual storytelling as the world around the main character distorts and blurs. Close ups, stills, panning, transitional shots, film distortion and blur, just to name a few forms of editing this film employs. This love seems to be potentially romantic given the time period this film was made. Various scenes also suggest this theme, including the burning of letters, the shaking of hands with a figure, the scenes of a person leaving a house, and the close up shots of the main character tearing up.
I managed to get a few screenshots to note the scenes I mentioned above to illustrate my reasoning behind my interpretation of the films plot. To start, we have the scenes where the woman is clutching letters that they ultimately burn in the fireplace.
The woman seems reluctant at first to dispose of the letters as she holds onto them for multiple beats. The film shoots from the shoulders up in these scenes, allowing the audience to see the characters whole face and movements with the letters. For these particular scenes, the spatial shots work well to convey this type of emotion.
A montage then follows the rest of the film as we see the woman shake hands with someone, the camera holding position until the hands slowly slip away from one another leaving the woman still in frame. Cut then to a person leaving a building while a piece of paper falls out of their pocket. Then cutting back to the woman, then back again, and so on until the whole scene changes.
Once again, the film’s editing succeeds at conveying the emotion of the woman as we experience her point of view while the figure, assumedly lover, leaves her. Sudden, confusing, and without explanation.
Next up are the usages of montage express the woman’s feelings after her loss of love. So much so that film depicts scenes of nature with a lens distortion/blur while cutting to the woman staring into the distance. Much like the technique we discussed in class where directors will transition scenes based on where the character in the previous scene is looking. The film then cuts and follows the woman walking through the woods while cutting to a scene of a leaf flowing in water. These scenes could be depicting the woman flowing through her emotions and finding some form of acceptance through nature. Once again, here are some screenshots of said scenes.
Camera rotates the shot of the water, cuts back to woman.
Shot of the lake blurs and distorts, almost a radial blur.
Shot drastically changes into something jagged and sharp.
.
A shot of a tree slowly blurs and appears somewhat human-like as it cuts to the woman closing her eyes.
A simple shot of a dock as the camera blurs cutting back to the woman opening her eyes.
The last few scenes of the woman walking down a river and a leaf flowing down a river. A comparison shot of the two.
Overall, Autumn Mists tells a melancholy story through the thoughts of the main character and very intricate film editing.
Thanks for reading,
-Caleb
Hey everyone,
Here is my video on YouTube.
I made my first 30 second video in DTC 354 and feel this one was better in some areas, but could be improved in others.
Thanks,
-Caleb
Introduction:
The 1998 film “Run Lola Run” is a true work of cinematic magic. Director Tom Tykwer did a magnificent job directing this experimental thriller. Tykwer does a masterful job using this film to visually build sandcastles out of the sands of time.
Narrative Storytelling:
The film uses continuity rules to stitch together each scene. Tykwer does so in a way that makes you as the viewer feel like you’ve watched a story that had the good ending. Especially compared to the first two story outcomes for the characters.
Editing:
Franka Potente is the actress who plays Lola. She is tasked with getting to her boyfriend Manni before he changes their lives forever. The shots are edited in a way that makes you feel Lola’s sense of urgency. Shots of her running out of her apartment, down the street. She passes people on her mission and were shown different outcomes for most of them each time she hangs up the phone and starts the cycle again. Tykwer uses still images flashing on the screen to show us the outcomes of these people with quick flashes on the screen. The soundtracks also help build the scenes of Lola running.
Time:
Tykwer uses scenes to compress how time feels or stretch how long time feels. Each section of the film is 20 minutes. There are 3 different runs that Lola goes on while showing the time on the clock we also feel the time due to the clear starts and ends to each of the runs. Overall, this film has great passing that keeps you watching and involved in the story.
Conclusion:
“Run Lola Run” is a great showcase of what cinema can do for storytelling. The momentum of the story mixed with Lola’s determination to achieve her goal each time makes for an amazing tale. Tykwer made amazing editing choices to help tell this story. This film can be rewatched and still match the energy the first time it was viewed. An amazing film I’d recommend to anyone to check out at least once.
-Quincy Harris
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