Lighting 'chiaroscuro' (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, we'll explore the secrets of light in cinematography, specifically chiaroscuro. Let's begin.

First,

What is chiaroscuro?

Simply put, chiaroscuro is the juxtaposition of light and darkness.

Examples of chiaroscuro:

Chiaroscuro i

What is chiaroscuro in cinematography?

In cinematography, it's low- and high-contrast lighting that creates areas of light and dark in films. But what makes it special? I believe that because the contrast is so dramatic, it has a stronger visual impact on the viewer. I also noticed that it can be used to draw the eye to specific areas, similar to the rule of three.

Why do we want it in our film?

Because this type of lighting is often used to create suspense (and our film's opening is a mystery thriller).

Visual Foreshadowing (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be researching foreshadowing, specifically in cinematography. I'll also start planning how to use it in my film opening. Let's begin.

First,

What is Foreshadowing?

Foreshadowing is a technique in which a storyteller gestures to events that will happen later in a narrative.

Different forms of Foreshadowing:

Direct: explicitly describes future events.

Indirect: more subtle, indicates what will happen.

What is foreshadowing used for in storytelling?

Creating suspense

Dramatic build up

Developing anticipation

*We are using indirect foreshadowing. It basically prepares the audience for what's coming without telling them directly. Our goal is to create suspense, and to do that, we need to hook the audience. The audience's attention can be captured by keeping them in a state of anticipation. This tool can be used to create anticipation in a subtle way.

Pre-production: color (planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In the previous blog post, I researched how color psychology works in films and the meaning of each color. In this post, I will be applying what I learned about color psychology to our film opening.

Applying color to my film opening:

Color in shots is not something that should be added in post-production. Since I plan to use it in the mise-en-scène, it has to be planned from the beginning of pre-production. This is especially important in our case, as we are creating a film opening.  That is, we have to connect with the audience from the very first moment, using colors that appeal to the emotions we want to convey. Openings are the first emotional connection formed with the audience.

Color as emotional shifts:

As I mentioned before, our opening is going to be like a roller coaster of emotions that ends the ride when the audience is at the highest point of the roller coaster, about to descend. For this, I plan for the two scenes to be distinct, each having a dominant color to represent the change in emotion and time.

I will use cool colors (and purple to represent mystery) in the first scene, and in the second, I will focus on red to represent danger.

Why is this important?

When we plan color choices from the beginning, color becomes a storytelling tool and not just decoration. Objects, spaces, and characters gain meaning through their color, guiding the audience’s emotional response without the need for dialogue. This also creates a brand, a visual identity for our film.

Final thoughts:

Color psychology works on a subconscious level, which means the audience may not consciously notice every color choice, but they will feel its effects (subconsciously). By using color intentionally in my film opening, I aim to build tension and guide emotion.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this archive of thoughts.

-Dragorite

Pre-production: color (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'll be exploring the psychology of color and its use in films.

Idea

I was researching ways to make a film unique. When we talk about color in films, we almost always think about the color of the atmosphere or color grading. But what happens when you use a specific color for specific elements? In the mise-en-scène, for example, or in the characters themselves.

Color psychology: is the strategic use of colors to evoke specific emotional and psychological responses from the audience.

How can it be used?

Color psychology has diverse uses. As the name suggests, it is highly related to psychology and how the human brain reacts to each color. It's surprising how a single color carries so much meaning and can add details to the plot.

Color choices enhance storytelling, develop characters, and create immersive atmospheres. Each color carries its own associations and connotations, influencing the viewer's perception and feelings. By applying color psychology, filmmakers tap into the viewers' subconscious reactions, intensifying the impact of scenes and narratives.

Common meanings of each color:

According to editor Lilly Mtz-Seara, these emotions and adjectives are attributed to each of these colors. Of course, they can also vary and are not a rigid mold or a rule. 

RED – anger, passion, rage, desire, excitement, energy, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence

PINK – love, innocence, healthy, happy, content, romantic, charming, playfulness, soft, delicate, feminine

YELLOW – wisdom, knowledge, relaxation, joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, covetousness, deceit, illness, hazard

ORANGE – humor, energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vibrant, expansive, flamboyant

GREEN – healing, soothing, perseverance, tenacity, self-awareness, pride, unchanging nature, environment, healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy

BLUE – faith, spirituality, contentment, loyalty, fulfillment peace, tranquility, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conservatism, security, cleanliness, order, sky, water, cold, technology, depression

PURPLE/VIOLET – erotic, royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning, power, sensitive, intimacy

BROWN– materialistic, sensation, earth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity

BLACK – No, power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger

WHITE – Yes, protection, love, reverence, purity, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, good, sterility, marriage (Western cultures), death (Eastern cultures), cold, clinical, sterile

SILVER – riches, glamorous, distinguished, earthy, natural, sleek, elegant, high-tech

GOLD – precious, riches, extravagance. warm, wealth, prosperity, grandeur

Examples:

The use of color in films

Takeaways:

Color is a narrative tool that is developed from pre-production, it not only provides meaning but also a unique design and a unique brand for films (if the audience can recognize the film only by color it means that its use was a success)

Using specific colors on elements like objects, settings, and characters gives them meaning. It occurs to me that in Inside Out, the emotions had specific colors that represented them, like disgust and green, sadness and blue (these are colors universally associated with those emotions).

Color psychology appeals to our subconscious, activating emotional responses.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of thoughts.

-Dragorite

How will we use suspense in our film? (Planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'm planning how we're going to use suspense in our film opening. This is a continuation of the research on how to create suspense.

Recap:

The genres of our film opening are Thriller and Mystery. One of the main elements these genres share is "suspense." As I discussed before, suspense engages the audience.

What suspense technique will we be using?

Hiding information. I think this technique is the easiest to recreate and also the most effective. Since our opening is only two minutes long, our goal is to do everything possible to grab the viewer's attention. That's why we chose Thriller, Mystery (genres) and Causal Agent (opening type) for our project. They are perfect for keeping the viewer attentive and making them want to see the full film. We also plan to end the opening at the highest point of tension. Like a roller coaster at its highest peak, we will stop the experience before the big drop. We plan to play with the audience's expectations.

How does it apply to our project?

Thrillers: feeling of suspense and worry.

Mystery: suspense, investigation and the resolution of enigmas.

Causal agents: Introduces an event, object, or character that triggers the story.

Hiding information: Withholding information from our audience is also another way to create suspense. Secrets. It works by giving the information to ourselves, not telling the audience the secret.

Hiding information in our film opening

The causal agent of our story is a book. Not where it is located, nor who is holding it. In fact, we have no information about any of the characters, nor is there a connection to the location of the events, because the most important thing is the book and what is not shown.

A boy arrives running to the library. Scared and agitated. The boy's face is not shown. He is holding a book. This book is unusual. It has no title or author. The boy looks for an empty space on a bookshelf and places it there. Time passes. A person arrives looking for something to read. They are drawn to the book. They open it. We see their expression. We do not see the contents of the book at any point. 

This raises questions such as:

What does the book contain? What will happen next? Why is that book important? Why was the boy scared? Why did that person make such an expression?

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this archive of thoughts.

-Dragorite

How to create suspense? (Research)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, I'm researching and planning how to use suspense for our film's opening. But why is suspense important? Well, suspense plays a very important role in thrillers, but especially in mysteries. And since those are our main genres, it's crucial that we know how to develop suspense effectively.

First things first, 

What is suspense?

According to this super useful video I watched for my research, suspense can be defined as a state or feeling of excited or anxious anticipation about what might (or not) happen. It's the tension of waiting for something that comes from waiting for an outcome. Basically, it's a great tool for creating entertainment. 

                            Alfred Hitchcock On Mastering Cinematic Tension

The elements of suspense

How can we create suspense?

There are many ways to do it, but here are the most common ones.

“In order to get suspense you provide the audience with a certain amount of information, and leave the rest to their own imagination”

-Alfred Hitchcock 

Knowledge and information: those are key elements. We give the audience information, leading them to think that something will (or could…) happen. And if something doesn't happen it doesn't matter, because it is that waiting process that creates tension and races the audience's heart. The work is done by the mind of the viewer.

Promises: We can create suspense by making promises to our audience, things that they know will eventually come to pass. This can be done by waiting until the last minute to finally deliver on that promise. The three D's: delay, deny, deliver. 

Parallel plot lines: We can also create parallel plotlines in our stories, having two or more characters that are connected in some way, heading on a collision course towards one another. We know as an audience by the information given that the characters will intersect with one another at some point, but we don't know when or where.

Hide information: Withholding information from our audience is also another way to create suspense. Secrets can also create tension in the audience. This works by giving the information to ourselves, not telling the audience in the secret. 

Example, we know that the character is searching for a box. We don't know, as an audience, why he is looking for the box. But then, he finds it, and in the moment he opens, we only see his reaction, but we don't get to see what is inside the box.

Takeaway:

Techniques for creating suspense don't have to belong solely to technical elements; suspense can also be created with narrative elements and applies to every member of the team.

There's a second blog post that's the second part of this topic, go check it out!

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of thoughts.

-Dragorite

Creating a Storyboard (planning)

Hello, reader. Welcome to my blog. In this post, we will analyze the storyboard I created for our film. Let's unravel this together.

What is a storyboard?

According to Animum 3D, a storyboard is “a set of illustrations, sketches, or images organized in sequence, designed to preview a film, advertisement, animation, or story”. 

In other words, it's a visual guide that will be very helpful to my team and me. Especially for me, because I need it to plan camera angles, shot sizes, and movements before production.

Events:

After our research and discussing our ideas as a team, our director created the script for our film's opening. We used our editor's idea, and the director refined it to create the final script.

After analyzing the script, I started working on it right away so that our team would have a visual guide. Obviously, our opening doesn't have to be exactly the same; the storyboard is just a starting point that can be edited and changed at any time. 

The process:

As I mentioned before, the first thing I did was analyze the script. Then, I divided the two scenes into seven main shots. But how do I know these are the main shots? It's simple, because they can tell the story on their own, without needing any extra details.

Then I got to work, created some basic sketches, and then refined them to make them look more detailed. The goal was to bring it into existence and then make it look good.

Final Result:

The storyboard as a digital comic:

Since I haven't created the shot list yet—which will be available in future blog posts, by the way—I didn't specify the shot numbers.

Key takeaways:

Storyboards are important because they are like the foundation of a filmmaker's pre-production. They provide structure and a strong base.

They are also a good basis for casting actors and creating the shot list.

That's all for now, reader. Thank you for reading this collection of thoughts. 

 

-Dragorite