As the director of photography for VET-MAN, I am in charge of the overall look and aesthetic of the production. My responsibilities include; determining the shooting style, deciding which equipment would best fulfil this style, working out how the locations will affect the use of the equipment, how I wish to colour grade the footage to achieve the desired look within the chosen filming style as well as providing the shot lists and storyboards for the production.
The Shooting Style
Having researched the shooting style of various different situation comedies, both English and American, I have decided on a natural yet cinematic observational handheld style, characterised by lengthy sequences without cuts and using crash zooms to emphasise key points within the narrative. Even though shooting handheld has been an option since the invention of cameras, "the use of hand-held camera as an intentional aesthetic choice developed during the cinéma vérité style of the 60’s French New Wave movement ... Since then, the technique has been used to heighten tension and give realism to countless films and television programs." [Walsh, 2012]I have decided this would be most appropriate for VET-MAN as the realism of the piece greatly impacts the comedic effect of the dialogue. As Polly Morgan, a young female director of photographer in charge of the cinematography for Call The Midwife and American Horror Story, said; "all choices come in response to the story. What are you trying to say? How are you trying to make the viewer feel? How can you use the tools available to you to achieve that?" [Morgan, 2018] By shooting in an observational handheld manner, VET-MAN is given an almost documentary-style feel, making the audience believe this ludicrous situation of a failed vet taking his career into his own hands could actually happen in reality. Therefore, the use of crash zooms to emphasise certain actions and reactions is integral to the piece as it heightens the comedic value whilst maintaining the deadpan, macabre tone that is instilled throughout via the dialogue and actions of the characters and the observational shooting style. As it has been noted' "the zoom forces our attention on a particular area of the frame" [McGregor, 2017], showing how the technique of zooming is effective in ensuring the audience recognise the comedic elements within the scene as these will be highlighted to them through the use of zooms.
This technique can be observed in sit-coms such as The Thick Of It and Brooklyn Nine Nine (the former being an English sit-com and the latter being an American sit-com - showing that this technique can be carried across different styles of sit-com and still prove to be effective).
In The Thick Of It, the zoom is used to emphasise Malcolm being unimpressed and annoyed. Even though the starting shot was already a medium close up, meaning that the facial expression is clear to the audience, zooming in to a close up accentuates this emotion further as the audience is being physically drawn in. This also makes it very clear to the audience which part of the frame should be receiving their focus.
Whilst Brooklyn Nine Nine does use the same technique of crash zooming within the shot to emphasise certain aspects and emotions - a similar cinematic technique is also used where a slight jump cut is used to transition from a medium shot to a close up shot to achieve the same effect as the zoom shot of emphasising the emotion.
I will be using a mixture of these two techniques in VET-MAN to emphasise the characters' actions and reactions.
This technique can be observed in VET-MAN where blood splatters on Tim's face as he carries out a failed operation. The zoom from a medium shot to a medium close up will help to focus the audience's attention on the blood splatter.
Another use of the zoom technique that I will be utilising is using the zoom as a reveal. This can be observed in sit-coms such as Alan Partridge - an English sit-com. This proves effective in building anticipation among the audience as they are being prevented from viewing the full picture which builds suspense and excitement for what is to come.
As shown in my research, this technique is used regularly in Alan Partridge but is especially effective in the ending scene of 'Watership Alan' where it is presumed Alan is sitting on a chair and drinking a beer, whereas, he is actually shown (through a zooming out shot) to be sat up in a stretcher as someone else pours the pint into his mouth - adding to the shock factor and, therefore, heightening the comedy of the situation within the scene.
My use of this technique will be seen in shots such as when Tim and Luke appear from behind the owl enclosures to continue their scheme. At the beginning of the shot the audience are left with the question of why the owl is acting in such an irrational way with Molly, however, once the camera zooms out to reveal the entrance of Tim and Luke, the audience soon realise their interference has something to do with it.
The action-heavy scenes will be comprised of a larger variety of shots than the dialogue scenes to aid the pacing of the production. During dialogue scenes, the majority of the comedy is being delivered through the characters' dialogue and their reactions to the dialogue - this can be captured through mainly medium and medium-closeup shots as this will ensure the characters' expressions are clearly visible to the audience. Action-heavy scenes require more shots in quicker succession to increase the pacing and enhance the excitement for the audience. This faster pacing also builds up the tension and anticipation so that when the comedy is delivered, it has the maximum impact on the audience.
This technique can be observed in the three aforementioned sit-coms and can be observed in VET-MAN in scenes such as when Tim punches the owl out of the air. As storyboarded and tested in test shoot 2, in the seconds in which the owl flies towards Tim and he punches it, 4 different shots are used (a medium-closeup zooming in to a closeup of Tim's face to show his reaction, a medium shot to show the owl flying towards him from the side, and over the shoulder medium-closeup to show the owl flying towards Tim and a medium-closeup zooming in to a closeup of Tim as he punches the owl out of the air). Together, this allows a vast amount of coverage of the scene whilst also speeding up the pace to reflect the frantic nature of the character's actions.
As well as zooms, in VET-MAN I will include camera movements such as tracking and panning. This works to follow the characters through the scenes without cutting to different angles to observe this action.
This technique is especially prevalent in The Thick Of It where it is used to follow the characters through the scenes, making as little cuts as possible. This helps to transport the audience along with the action so that they are experiencing everything along with the character. On top of this, the minimal cutting allows for a more observational, natural, realistic feel which will aid the cinematic yet realistic style of VET-MAN.
Colour and Tone
The colouring of a production helps to connote a lot about the story. Having researched colour theory, I found that there are five common film colour schemes. The first being a complementary colour scheme which entails using two colours on opposite sides of the colour wheel to form a complimentary pair. The second is an analogous colour scheme where colours that sit next to each other on the colour wheel are chosen to form the colour scheme of the film and is usually used to create harmony in a colour palette. The third technique is a triadic colour scheme which takes three colours spaced evenly around the colour wheel and one is usually most dominant whilst the others are used for accent. The penultimate colour scheme is a split-complimentary colour scheme which is similar to the complimentary colour scheme but uses the two colours next to the opposite complimentary colour instead. Finally, the last colour scheme is the tetradic colour scheme which consists of four colour made up of two complimentary pairs, however, one pairing is more dominant. When deciding on the colour scheme for VET-MAN, I had to decide which scheme would suit the tone and story of the production best.
For VET-MAN I am using a complimentary colour scheme in order to tie in with the natural yet cinematic look that I am hoping to achieve, particularly focusing on the orange and teal colours. This colour scheme is often used in cinema because "if you take two complementary colours and put them next to each other, they will 'pop'", [Hoad, 2010] enhancing the visual quality of the production by highlighting the contrast between these colours. I will be taking inspiration from Polly Morgan's colour palette in Call The Midwife as she refers to her personal style as "cinematic naturalism" [Morgan, 2018] and this is very similar to the desired realistic yet cinematic look for VET-MAN.
Therefore, I have borrowed elements from the colour grading of The Thick Of It as this uses grading to create a completely natural look. The skin tones are peach with a slight grey undertone to reflect the office lighting. The walls are a grey / cream colour and the shadows are a dull dark blue or brown. All together this creates a natural, realistic look.
In VET-MAN I am taking inspiration from the orange and teal colour grading of Polly Morgan to create a cinematic look but I will be combining it with desaturated undertones such as those used by Jamie Cairney in The Thick Of It to bring the natural, realistic feel to the production.
This can be seen in the colour grading of my test shoots. As displayed above, in VET-MAN I will enhance the orange and teal colours in order to make the production 'pop' in a cinematic way, however, I will introduce desaturated undertones to the skin and environment to ensure the realistic tone is not lost.
Lighting
The lighting of the production also contributes to the entire look and aesthetic. Due to the desired realistic feel of the production, I didn't want to use artificial lighting as I feel this is usually detectable. However, after test shooting both interior and exterior scenes, I thought of a compromise which introduced equipment to help light the production whilst still retaining the natural quality.
I wanted to emulate lighting that can be observed in sit-coms such as Big Train. The lighting is very natural in order to convey a realistic and observational feel.
It is evident that lighting equipment is required for scenes such as this because the window behind the character would naturally silhouette his face, however, his face is still clear and visible to the audience. It is possible to achieve such a look using either a light or a reflector as a light would provide additional lighting to the scene to compensate for the natural light coming from behind, whilst a reflector would bounce the natural light back into the scene.
Prior to figuring out which lighting equipment I would need, I had to work out how each location was affected by the natural light.
I created maps of each location to display where North, East, South and West were so that I could determine how the light would affect the locations. As each location proved to receive a lot of natural light during the day (as light was able to reach the locations from the South / East directions) I am using an Interfit Reflector to light daytime scenes (both interior and exterior) as this reflects natural light back onto the characters' faces in a way which looks natural and enhances the quality of the images.
The lighting test shoots help to demonstrate how the same subject and location is affected by different lighting equipment. As shown above, the best result was given by the reflector as this illuminates the subject naturally using the natural light entering the location from the north-west facing window. All locations shot in daylight have been mapped to highlight how the sun will affect the location so that a runner with the reflector can move according to where the scene takes place and how the sun enters and moves through the location.
For night shoots, artificial lighting is essential due to the dim natural lighting conditions. As I found in the test shoots, two aputure LED lights (one on a high setting and the other on a medium setting) both set to a warm colour temperature work best to emulate the warmth of street lighting which adds to the natural look of the entire production. Practical lighting will also be used in the night locations (either street lighting or interior room lights) to aid the realistic feel of the production as this lighting would be present in real life. The effect of using a combination of practical lighting and artificial lighting can be seen through the lighting test shoots.
Aspect Ratio
Aspect ratio plays a big part in setting the tone of VET-MAN. As the desired tone is cinematic yet realistic, I conducted some research into cinematic aspect ratios. I narrowed my options down to 16:9 (a common aspect ratio for widescreen HD TV) and 21:9 (a common aspect ratio for cinema). In VET-MAN both aspect ratios will be used, however, the 16:9 aspect ratio is only used for the first shot before Tim steps into the scene. Once Tim has stepped in, the production is letterboxed to form a 21:9 aspect ratio.
This wider field of views helps to "emulate a perspective that [is] in many ways closer to what the human eye perceives." [Kroll, 2014] In cinema this is done through anamorphic lenses which stretch the image vertically so that when it is projected back, it is pushed down to a wider aspect ratio. Giving VET-MAN a 'cinemascope' look adds to the cinematic yet realistic tone - the colour grading and shooting style help to convey the realism of the piece, whilst letterboxing the production to a 21:9 aspect ratio adds to the cinematic feel as it imitates a wider field of vision.
Frame Rate and Quality
I will be shooting VET-MAN in 4K with a frame rate of 24 using the Panasonic DVX200. The reason for this is that 4K allows for a better-quality image despite whether the production is shown on a 4K capable screen on HD capable screen. This is because when the image is shrunk down for a lower resolution screen, the noise within the image reduces and the image becomes sharpers, making it appear better quality. This also future proofs VET-MAN for if it is shown on a 4K-ready screen. The noise reduction is also a good tool as VET-MAN includes scenes shot at night which will require using increased gain which is usually accompanied by noise - however, shooting 4K with this camera will prevent this.
As well as shooting in 4K, filming in 24 FPS will help add to the cinematic look of VET-MAN as "the vast majority of films and movies are shot at 24 FPS" as this "closely [resembles] the 'frame rate' your eyes see in". [Coburn, 2018] Combined with the natural and observational shooting style, this will help to create the realistic cinematic look I envisaged for VET-MAN.
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