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Flatness and Compass Movement:
Before I outline the general comedic single camera techniques I might want to use for my final product, I would like to explore a characteristic of Wes Anderson's camera movement and framing that plays into the dollhouse aesthetic of art-house cinema. Throughout the Darjeeling Limited, more common through Wes's other releases like the Grand Budapest Hotel and the Moonrise
Kingdom is a sort of compass-like panning between different sections of the set, always pursuing a counterclockwise or anticlockwise movement between the four main points on a compass. Although a factor that won't play into the comedic style of the film poem, it has helped me better understand the flat nature of his movies, something I am keen on using. Even though they don't appear of any comedy substances, they place a larger emphasis on the protagonist subject, shining more light on his actions while the background becomes idle and insignificant to the viewers watching, only acting as a prop that reinforces the desired mise-en-scene.
The Darjeeling Limited:
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World:
Conclusion
What I maintained as a hypothesis had somewhat appeared to be true. The single-camera mode was at the root of most comedic techniques but had been overshadowed by the clever use of framing in both movies. As I said before, they aren't surrealist films in nature, maybe arthouse in certain ways, definitely not created for the average consumer but weird enough to categorize my desired target audience. Both examples utilise longer takes, later broken off by fast-paced shots that play into the comedic genre due to the spars and unexpected actions or dialogue used.
Although Scott Pilgrim had a noticeable change from Edger Wright's past films, staying true to the graphic novel roots of the story by utilising fictional motifs to push the real-world story forward, even going as far as to frame the actions and dialogue of the characters in a videogame/comic-book manner, it is still within the boundaries of his preferred directing and editing styles, whereas The Darjeeling Limited feels different. It feels rather odd compared to other Wes Anderson movies, looser, more flexible and welcoming to conventional Hollywood techniques of filmmaking. While it still feels like an Anderson release, his personalised cinematography vocabulary isn't so vocal here, meaning that I had to pick out examples of comedic single-camera techniques and compare them to other tighter uses found throughout his catalogue of films.
The shots I have chosen to utilise (the Gods point of View, Character Point of View, Subject or Objects entering the frame and Match Cuts) will all be utilised and practised around the scenes of my 'inspiration montage'. The God's POV is a tool I will employ when introducing the audience to the painter's workbench or various book extracts that provoke the montage itself. This technique can tie in my experimentation for the correct period centred set-pieces and props I will search for [see example of shot here]. It is second nature to me after having created and practised such a rig that will allow this shot to be captured, having experimented and mastered the most efficient way of constructing it in the safest manner possible. One way I want to use the Character's POV is through a shot recreation of Moonrise Kingdom's Suzy binoculars scenes, having my protagonist similarly glance through a pair of binoculars when rare bird watching for a section of the 'inspiration montage' [see example of shot here - Week 3 reflection]. Although not sure about how I may go about operating the 'Subject or Objects entering the frame' technique due to the one character nature of my film, the match cut element will very much transition each 'inspiration montage' scene into the next.
My next goal is to evaluate the true Wes Anderson style, an aspect I have never researched into but will prove beneficial when complimenting the heavy doses of inspiration I have taken from his modern-day cinema auteur approach to filmmaking. I aim to outline the four most important aspects of his cinematography that best aid my desired outcome for my final product: investigating the true meaning behind their uses, considering how they might aid my film poem, illustrating shot types that depict close description of my scenes they have gone to influence, and ways I may go about practising them in the following weeks.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this research study document on my favourite Wes Anderson techniques I wish to use for my final product has proven to be of tremendous assistance when outlining my overarching style attributes. For the first time, I have been able to analyse and justify his uses for specific framing methods or neglection for general filmmaking rules, evaluating how that fits under my ethos of filmmaking. The link below showcases how each section of the study has gone ahead to shape my understanding of my newly formed desired outcomes.
Even though the lack of dialogue and characters has created a real discontent between my film and the everyday comedy, I have always regarded Monty Python as the route for a lot of the comedy I have tried to write in previous ventures. These six legendary writers and later actors have undoubtedly shifted filmmaking in a permanent way, acting as a 'Beatles' force in their respected areas of specialities due to their ever-growing influences on modern-day comedy-writers. Something that has always sparked my interest is the low budgets taken when creating both 'The Holy Grail' and 'Life of Brian'. Due to my position, exploring much of the thought and idea-generating processes of this time in the Python's career could help me write a fuller shooting script that utilises the low budget I am working on. The essay below acts as a similar timeline seen at the start of my research document, exploring their start-up and breakthrough attempts that were designed to introduce their raw comedic style of writing to an American audience. It tackles their specific characteristics of shooting scenes, uses of animation and other external techniques when breaking the 4th wall and ways audiences had received each release in terms of Reception Theory. When creating this research paper, I produced a question that would later be followed up by a hypothetical answer in which I would prove my thesis right or wrong with the assistance of the research conducted.
Conclusion - Main Takeaways
The first takeaway from this research paper is how the Python's broke the fourth wall, something I had previously discussed throughout my Wes Anderson research. Although Wes uses this technique in a variety of different ways when wanting his audience to recognise the blatant theatre-like atmosphere of his movies, the narrator's addition to 'Moonrise Kingdom' is similarly used to the one in 'The Holy Grail'. I think the short characteristic of my film won't permit for such a vocal breaking of the fort wall as it may disrupt the overall pacing of the montage editing, I could repurpose its uses of comedic one-liners to my advantage. Instead of a narrator, each act will be introduced by its corresponding chapter name - Non-diegetic text. (Having the name of each chapter act as a joke/pun when linking back to the bizarre nature of Dada - taking advantage of stupidity that crosses the line between what does and doesn't make sense). When taking a step back from the film element, I would like to utilise the same comedic approach Gilliam used when creating the various collage animations throughout both films in relation to the presentation strategy advertisements I produce to further attract my desired target audience (Poster of some sorts). If it doesn't prove successful, I am still keen on developing something that further encapsulates what my film is all about, just like how the poster of "The Holy Grail' had been scattered with jokes and other film-related puns that further mocked the seriousness of the Hollywood film industry.
The most blatant thing that made these films the widespread successes they were, in my opinion, were the countless disruptions of basic film rules we are told to follow when creating a film. Like the example discussed in the paper, and shown on the right, it is clear that the sparse way in which the audience set expectations are broken due to the infringement of basic film rules ultimately played alongside the goofy nature of the plot. Although I wouldn't use this tool as a path for comedy, it would serve a greater purpose within the long jumps in time and unorthodox ways of cutting into the next scene. I have a clear vision for how I may go about doing this but will use this scene as an appropriate segway into the editing of the Nouvelle Vague, a movement in french filmmaking I will further investigate in the next section of my research.
In relation to the 'Inspiration Montage' section of the film that takes up the entire second act of the film, it is crucial that the pacing between each comedic section is carried out in the most appropriate way. What I mean could only be described by the 'Time Wasting Jokes' used through the Holy Grail. With the original script, 90% of the material had been replaced due to the inconsistencies in pacing between jokes. Gilliam and others thought that the sporadic fast pace characteristics of each joke, coupled with their frequent nature, would have allowed the audience to 'relax' and soak in appreciation for the writing. Because of this, the 'Time Wasting Jokes' had been introduced to slow down the pacing of each scene and prepare the viewers for the next set of slapstick humour. With my montage, I wish for some areas to be blatantly stupid (in relation to the goal of receiving inspiration for a painting) but still, appear content so when something funny does occur halfway through, the audience has already been prepared with the stupidity of previous scenes and is ready to laugh. (It is also crucial that do this as the entire first act doesn't have any significant comedic factors that shape each scene, meaning that the jump to a more stupid set of shots may appear jarring.)
When reviewing some of my past attempts at emulating this style of filmmaking, one of these innovative directors has had such a profound influence on my work, Jean-Luc Godard. Other than the editing, the absurd but authentic nature of his films perfectly captures what life was like in both 50s and 60s France, something this movement had set out to achieve. As shown in the montage above, his distinct cinematography and uses of colour have definitely influenced and had long-lasting impacts on the wardrobe or filming locations I have used through my second year on the course. One example of a reoccurring inspiration I have drawn from Godard's work is the example shown on the right, the scene from 'Pierrot le Fou', a 1966 film depicting a man who runs away from his unhappy marriage and children with his secret lover (A weapons smuggler), in the hopes of discovering adventure. This scissors scene has always found its uses as reference material for when I want to portray a more personal look into the character's current emotions, highlighting a rather critical aspect of their character type in their hand (usually a prop that is later called back to). One goal for the future of my career in this industry is my fuller understatement of his work, more so the character and world-building in relation to the absurd but beautifully abstract way of framing individual shots. Acting as a round-up conclusion, I have compiled various examples of editing techniques and camera movements down below.
Inspiration
La Nouvelle
Vague Editing
Much like the Moonrise Kingdom examples I had discussed in previous sections of my research, much of the French New Wave films I had used to refresh my memory on the movement included a form of compass-like panning that displayed something greater than just an artistic camera movement. In my film, I will strive to use this technique as a way of showing my artist's preparation for the final idea in act three, displaying his movements around the art studio when showing him gathering the appropriate tools and paints he might use. Although a tricky challenge with the unpredictable nature of the room layout that may change due to the shifting personality of the classroom, it will pay off as a way of including more substance to this shot type rather than just having more planimetric shots that look pretty.
The interesting example I found on the right engages me in how a framing may free up a shot when making the slightest movements to a camera's position. The initial scene starts off with a personal mid-close-up of two characters having a conversation. Due to the confined space of the background and its busy arrangement, we as the audience are meant to believe that the room both subjects are seen in seems diminutive. As the camera is slightly raised and moved backwards, we are now exposed to a completely different frame, having our spacial awareness destroyed due to the large confinement of the now fully exposed room, introducing another character to fully exaggerate the wide frame. The way I want to utilise this technique is with a cut. I want my camera position to start as a fly on the wall observer of the protagonist preparing to paint, cutting to an opposite angle that follows him walking, exposing another dimension to the large workshop he is in that furthers the audience's spacial and architectural understanding of this location of the film.
As a basic rule of thumb, I want to mimic the camera movement I have seen in many of François Truffaut's films. As the flat and idle way in which I filmed large quantities of my film-poem proved to be rather dull, I have decided to utilise the new college tripods and their smoother ways of operating the up and down movements to my advantage. Truffaut uses pans and linear camera actions to his advantage, something I want to practice when combining the songs designated BPM to direct the camera's motions. More so used around the second act of the story, the tripod may still remain idle while the up and down, left and right, panning of the tripod head allows more movement to be introduced within each shot.
The most impressively bold and innovative technique utilised through the New Wave movement is the abrupt jump cuts that disrupt the natural flow of time. You have to understand that in the 50s, filmmaking had begun to take on a formula if you may, each exchange between two characters had taken on the same shot recipe that made these innovative directors so unhappy. Instead of having to show a character's journey to a certain place, one may cut to the character already being there, throwing away the tedious collection of establishing shots that show the audience the process of travel. Taking this one step further, a more artistic use of this technique, as shown on the left, is a conversation divided into various distinct backdrop filming locations that play with the rules of time. One way I want to utilise this is through the page scenes of my film. I could have the protagonist inspect the 'inspiration book', walk to his desk and begin flicking through the many pages, or, have him pick the book up, open it up through an initial inspection, cut to a God's Point of view of him placing it on his desk, a low angle of him opening it while cutting back to a closer God's point of view of each page. Although not within the basic conventions of filmmaking, it cuts the rather uninteresting parts of the scene as the audience is still capable of following the sequence due to the character's clear motif of reading on.
And finally, what seems like an inconsequential detail, can help a scene capture the attention of the viewer and make them question its importance. The freeze-frame is an interesting tool I have never experimented with but find fascinating with the contributions it brings to a specific piece. As the examples on the left and many others found through this movement of cinema, the director must know just about when they might want to utilise its significance. As most movies are filmed in 25 frames per second, it raises the question of why a specific second within that frame holds that much importance? What does it highlight about our character's journey? What emotions are utilised, and how does that further aid the plot? With my project, I will strive to use this technique only once, further supporting its significant nature. At the end of act three, once our protagonist has finished his painting, a subtle smile of satisfaction appears on his face, having the freeze-frame focus on that moment in time. (Although insignificant when placed alongside the trouble he had gone through when gathering inspiration for the piece - it shows a genuine human emotion of content fulfilment he has gained through this journey).