Sunday 30 October 2016

Music Videos Over The Last 3 Decades - Part 2

Adele - Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

1) In this music video, I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. The lighting was very dim and relaxing. It puts you in a calm mood. I liked how Adele was put behind a black background, right in the center, that also contributed to how simple the video was. Since the song doesn't have that party beat that makes you want to dance, the dimness and black background made the song feel and sound better. I liked how she was dressed in different colours and she didn't change her clothes in any of the scenes. It made it seem as if their was barely any editing in the video and made it look more natural and it also looked like it was all one scene. In the video, throughout it, Adele had floating lights of her reflection around her. The colour choice of the lights were good because they used very relaxing shades every colour. Overall, I enjoyed the music video and the song. It was simple but very creative.

2) The music video's lighting, placement, editing of the music video all contributed to the final product and how Adele's song was portrayed. I think that the simplicity of the song really delivered her emotional message to the audience watching. The floating lights of her reflection symbolize her love floating to her ex-man's new lover, but she stays in the same place throughout the whole video. It is very creative because their could have been many other ways in showing that specific part of the video, but she chose a simple but creative and meaningful idea that really symbolizes and definitely sends the message she wants to convey. 

Music Videos Over The Last 3 Decades - Part 1

1) I watched 9 different music videos from different decades to inspire the one I am going to make. What I learned from watching them is that all music videos are different and have their own unique style to them. Some of the older videos that I watched have very different technology offered to them compared to the newer ones. For example, in older music videos, the quality of the filmed video wasn't as clean as newer videos because of the difference in technology. Another thing I noticed was in the older videos, their were a lot less lights, props etc. to add more decoration into the music video, it was a lot simpler than newer ones today. Although each music video from any generation has a different style to it, something that inspired me actually ties all the music videos from any generation to one place, they all share a story. That's what I want in my music video.

2) I considered the music video, Runaway by Kanye West as a work of art. I consider this a work of art because the video was 35 minutes of absolute talent. Kanye West directed and starred in the work of art. He sang, dance and played different roles in different situations through out the video. Kanye's music emphasizes and makes the scenes in the video more powerful because of how strong his lyrics are. He sings from the heart and displays how he feels in the 35 minutes of pure talent. For example, closer to the end at about 20 minutes into the video, he sings and has ballet dancers display his feelings. The ballet dancers are soft and emotional as they dance and this emphasizes and really makes you understand how Kanye feels and the message he conveys in his work of art and his music video.

3) There are lots of changes between older videos and newer ones in terms of lighting, editing and sophistication. For example, in older videos, the lighting is a lot more dim and calm so you can focus on the music in the video rather than the distracting lights (colour, flashes). In older videos and newer videos, editing changes a lot. In older ones, the editing is a lot less. You feel as if nothing is edited because the editors want you to feel like the video is real and less edits. In terms of sophistication, the difference between older and newer videos is huge. In older videos, people are a lot more sophisticated. They are respectful towards how they dress (covering clothing) and how they speak (less swearing). In newer videos, you would see less sophisticated people. More intimate scenes with lots of explicit language.

4) The Arcade Fire video compares to the older decades because its similar to the older ones. It has audience interaction and is filmed in populated areas, like a neighbourhood filled with people living there. The lighting is very dim and creates are simple tone.

5) In my opinion, I think music videos will eventually go back to the more sophisticated tone. I think there will be an artist that eventually decides that having more intimate music videos, or videos with people doing drugs will think that it isn't right to expose these things to viewers. That artist will not fully go back to the original music video from older decades, but maybe will combine both new and old with an appropriate taste.

Wednesday 19 October 2016

Final Themed Portrait Photographs

Disgust
Anger
Joy
Fear
Sadness
 
     For my final themed photographs that I took, my theme was the 5 emotions from the Disney movie, "Inside Out". The 5 emotions that I used in my photos were: Disgust, Fear, Sadness, Joy and Anger. I chose this theme because in the movie, it shows how these 5 emotions build character in a person. In these photographs, the different expressions on the model's face show how character and personality in humans are shown.  To take these photos, I had my model sit in front of a light coloured chair that contrasted with the black background so the photo didn't look too dark. The chair the model is sitting on is arms length away from the background. I did this so there was a depth in the background. For lighting, I used the big light and placed it in the safe zone so I had some shadows on her face. I did not use a reflector for lighting of the photo. In photoshop, I edited some features in her face. I increased the brightness, contrast and vibrance. I increased those things to make her look more full of life. I used the same settings for all 5 photos. The only difference in my photos were the models's facial expression. Overall I am very proud of everything I learned in the photography unit and I look forward to adding everything I learned in this unit to my future photos as I did to these ones.







Monday 3 October 2016

Photos from Lighting Workshop with Steve Carty

Open Shadow #1
This photo was taken in open shadow. I used natural light and the shade to light the photo to the way it is. The model was placed in a way that the sun doesn't face her. I used the blue background because it was simple and it makes her stand out more. She is also sitting right in front of the door rather than a space between the door and her because it looks better because she is sitting. If she was standing, it would have looked better if she had some space between the door and her, but because she is sitting, it looks better without that space. I had her face away from the camera because I wanted the photo to seem more natural than planned. I also wanted her facial reaction to more real than planned, so whenever she would laugh, I would take the photo so it was real. I did not use a reflector for the lighting in this photo, it is all natural light. In photoshop, I changed the brightness of the photo making it lower. I also took some colour out of the photo because it was really bright in colour before. I also lowered the colour to match the theme of not too much colours in the photos during the workshop. I also added more contrast to the model because before it the model look very dull compared to the background. The contrast was to emphasize her more in the photo. 

Open Shadow #2
This photo of the model is very similar to the first open shadow photo that I took, but it still has many differences.  Like the first open shadow photo, this photo uses natural light from the outdoors to light the photo. I didn't use a reflector in the photo for changing the lighting in the photo. I also kept the model facing away from the sun so the light from the sun doesn't over expose the photo. I used the blue background again because it is simple and doesn't take your attention away from the model. She is also sitting right in front of the door rather than giving that space between her and door because it just looked more realistic and natural than planned. Once again, I had the model face away from the camera because I wanted the photo to look natural. Her facial expression and the way she is sitting is different in this photo then the last. The previous photo looked more fun and free but this one looks more serious and something is on her mind. In photoshop, once again, I lowered the brightness and added more contrast to it so she didn't look dull.  I also lowered the saturation because I wanted a theme of not too much colour, but some colour in my photos. 

Studio Lighting
This photo unlike the others that I took, was taken with studio light. It is a photo of my model but with a profile angle of her. In this photo, my goal was a silhouette. Although I didn't get an actual silhouette photo of the model, it still has some good features to it and it turned out to be a really nice photo. To get the white background and have my model a little darker, I used backlights on the background. There were no other lights. The backlights were 4 feet from the background of the photo. The model was in front of the backlights and far from the background. I did not use a reflector to change up the lighting in this photo. I put her in the profile angle because you can see some features of her face but not all of them and it looks purposeful. If she was facing directly at the camera it wouldn't look good because you would see some facial features and it wouldn't look as purposeful but it would like a mistake. After I took the photo, I took it to photoshop and I brightened her face just a little so you could see some features but not lose the silhouette feel of the photo. I added some contrast to her so she could stand out the background and once again not look dull.
Diagram of the Studio Lighting I Used For Photo #3


Overall, I am very happy with the photos that I took in the Lighting Workshop with Steve Carty and  I'm also very proud of the new skills I learned to add more to my photos and make them better. 

Thanks for reading :)