Continuous long shot

When constructing Artifact 2 I am trying to find film camera angles used  to copy on my virtual environment to compare against a visualization. Some of the better shots I found were longer shots 10 seconds or longer. The average shot normally is just a few seconds long but the best cinematographers don't just stick to the basic rule such as establishing shot-mid-close . This got me curious about some of the longer shots used in cinema where I came across the opening scene used in The Player which is over 7 minutes long without a camera break.

Architecture in cinema

Casa Milà in Barcelona is a very unusual looking apartment building from the first decade of the 20th century. Its architect is Antoni Gaudí who also planned the famous Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona.In his movie The Passenger (1974) director Michelangelo Antonioni used the roof of the house as a meeting place for the two main characters, played by Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider.Edited to tunes of Nubian Lady by Yusef Lateef.

While researching and casually looking for camera angles to use as part of my artifact I came across a YouTube channel which has various clips showing great natural architecture being used in films. This is sometimes lost in today's film with the use of CGI and sets being used. As my artifacts are based around a real life building and adding principles of cinematography to them it is good reference to look at these videos as the shots used really get the best out of them.  

Good cinematography

Shawshank Redemption helicopter shot

Artifact One feedback and analysis

Angle 1

Angle 2

                For artefact one I compared two camera angles. One was a front on flat shot and one was angled with the focus on the front of the building. I wanted to test the impact of using cinematic camera angles on a virtual environment. At this early stage I decided to pick a few principles I read about in the Five C’s of Cinematography by Joeseph V. Mascelli .

            “Angle plus Angle shot is filmed with a camera angled in relation to the subject, and tilted either upwards or downwards. It will deliver the most forceful linear perspective and produce a 3^rd dimensional effect.”

            These shots are used to prevent flatness which is suggested to be avoided at all costs. By using an angled shot it adds more depth and shows more than face of an object or building. When it comes to virtual environments and visualizations showing off as much as possible is essential. I was interested to see if people were more drawn to the angled shot so I decided to compare a basic front on shot with a more cinematic angle plus angle shot.

            I carried out a survey with a series of questions to see which angle was the most effective and why. This was shared with course mates and other peers to get a mixture of feedback from those who may knowledge of the subject and those who don’t. Only one respondent thought that the flat on shot was more effective with 92% picking the angled shot. This person preferred the front on shot as it does not give everything away and they prefer not knowing what is coming as the angled shot reveals the whole building. This is understandable and it really depends what context the shot is placed in which will be expanded on further down the line.

            The following question asked why the angle they picked was the most effective to them. Pretty much all of the responses backed up the principle In the book stating that it added more depth and was a lot more interesting as it showed off more than one angle. Feedback on the other video stated how it was flat and dull and did not make the most of the 3D space. To help progress from this I asked what story the viewer’s felt the camera angle was trying to portray. A lot of comments suggested how although the angled shot was better and that it made the building seem interesting it still felt like an establishing shot. As the video was only one short shot it is hard to tell what context and narrative was intended.

            To improve upon this I can put a sequence together of various cinematic shots where it will be easier to understand the context. Just out of curiosity for the feedback I asked in the survey what context both camera angles would be placed. 50% thought the flat shot would be suited to a documentary while 28% thought it suited film. For the angled shot 35% thought it suited film and 42% said visualization.

 While its clear the angled shot is more cinematic it’s too hard to tell at this stage the effective in virtual environments with just comparing single shots. 

Artifact One

Video 1 compares a front tracking shot with a angled tracking shot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-MVZrpImkQ&feature=youtu.be

Video 2 compares dutch angle shots of similar nature from different sides

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxmny1s3YkQ