Screen Storytelling Gerry McCulloch A Compilation of Visual References for devising the Image System of your Film Screen Storytelling Visual References: Counterpoint & Contradiction as story: ‘Telling Lies’ (2000 / UK) – Director: Simon Ellis Getting away with murder: ‘Whodunnit ?’ (1985 / UK) – BBC Public service broadcast Image as music & poetry / What does the story feel like ? ‘In the Mood for Love’ (2000 / Hong Kong) – Cinematographer: Christopher Doyle Asymmetry as story: ‘Ida’ (2013 / Poland) Cinematographers: Lukasz Zal & Ryszard Lenczewski Symmetry as story: ‘Right Place’ (2005 / Japan) – Cinematographer: Yoshinobu Yoshida Colour as feeling: ‘Woman in a Gothic Arcade’ (1905 / France)– Painter: Odilon Redon Colour as dynamic contrast: ‘Interaction of Colour’ (1963 / Germany & USA ) – Author: Josef Albers Composition as story: ‘Morocco’ (1965 / Belgium) – Photographer: Harry Gruyeart Internal logic as Story: ‘But I love Him’ (2017 / UK) – Cinematographer: Katie Titchener (Goldsmiths BA3 Screen Fiction) Idiosyncrasy as story: ‘The Girl Chewing Gum’ Smith (2004 / UK) – Director: John Smith Is story a spontaneously occurring phenomenon ? ‘Elaine’s, New York City’ (1999 / USA) Photographer: Larry Fink Positioning the viewer in the frame: ‘Las Meninas’ (1656 / Spain) – Painter: Diego Velazquez Abstraction as story: Black & White, Colour & Paintings - Photographer: Saul Leiter (1923 – 2013 / USA) Image system as story: ‘Carol’ (2015 / USA) – Cinematographer: Ed Lachman ASC Witholding story information: ‘Chance Encounter’ (1970 / USA) – Artist: Duane Michals Is a cut a naturally occurring phenomenon ? ‘Things are Queer’ (1973 / USA) – Artist: Duane Michals Stills frame meaning in cuts: ‘Shadow’ (2017 / UK) – Photographer: Gerry McCulloch Revealing and witholding: ‘Gasman’ (1998/UK) – Cinematographers: Lynne Ramsay & Alwin Kuchler Off-screen space as story: ‘Over’ (2015 / UK) – Director: Jorn Threlfall Presence through absence: ‘Hidden’ (2005 / France) – Director: Michael Haneke Implicating the viewer in the construction of story: ‘Wind’ (1996 Palm D’Or / Hungary) – Director: Marcell Ivanyi Meaning without means: ‘Mirror’ (2017 / UK) Cinematographer: Gerry McCulloch Crossing the space-time continuum: ‘Reservoir Dogs’ (1992 / USA) – Cinematographer: Robert Richardson Simplicity as complexity: ‘Broken Flowers’ (2005 / USA-France) – Cinematographer: Frederick Elmes Screen Storytelling Summary The premise of this lecture is that engaging screen storytelling results from: - Clarifying the secret you are unveiling - Establishing as little as possible - Explaining as little as possible - Entering In Media Res - Leaving early - Positioning your viewer in the frame - Inviting your viewer to supply connections / relationships - Offering clues about the secret of the film - Withholding key story information / withholding the secret - Revealing the secret of your film incrementally - Extending key story moments - Compressing irrelevant moments - Emphasising contrast and counterpoint in the cut - Emphasising contrast and counterpoint in composition - Emphasising contrast and counterpoint in related cinema language. For example in Blocking, Scene Coverage, Lighting, Colour, Shape, Tone, Line, et. etc. - Balancing conventions such as symmetry and asymmetry - Establishing your cinematic logic up front - Maintaining consistency of technique - Revealing your compelling secret as open-ended and continuing Image-System Questions for Presentations & Tutorials - WHO is your film about ? - WHAT does s/he want ? - What is the OBSTACLE to this objective ? - Is this AMPLIFIED / RESOLVED ? - What is the underlying SECRET you are unveiling ? - Can we make it even more about this ? / Can we make unveiling the secret of the film even more COMPELLING ? - What does the secret FEEL like ? - What pictorial VERISIMILITUDE are you employing to symbolises this feeling ? - Can you incorporate pictorial CONTRASTS that enable you to emphasise this ? (Think Blocking, Scene Coverage, Lens Perspective, Lighting, Composition, Colour, Line, Shape, Texture, etc, etc.) - Which story elements are being WITHHELD ? - What are the PIVOTAL STORY MOMENTS ? - Which story moments are being EXPANDED ? - Who is favoured in terms of BLOCKING, COVERAGE and SCREEN TIME ? Developing the Image System of your Film The following methodology can be applied to any story / genre / approach in order to develop a distinctive cinematic style. - Who is your film about ? - What does s/he want ? - What prevents this ? The dynamic between . 1. The objective of the protagonist and 2. The main obstacle to the fulfillment of this objective . provokes the essential story theme / drama / underlying meaning of the film. Investigating the above questions in depth enables you to answer the central question that helps you to begin developing a cohesive visual plan. The central question is: - What is your film really about ? This is the pivotal question around which all aspects of your visual thinking crystallize. The answer to this question is the underlying theme of your film - its Secret. As a cinematographer, your central task is to encourage your audience to inhabit the psychological drama of the underlying theme (evoked by the story) by using visual means to provoke pre-verbal physiological responses that connect emotionally with underlying story meaning. If your story contains ambiguity and open-ended meaning, it becomes even more crucial to identify the underlying theme that ambiguity of meaning corresponds to. This is because ambiguity functions most effectively within a specified range of potential meanings, not as a spectrum of infinite interpretations. (see On Film-making by Alexander Mackendrick, especially is thoughts on The Pre- verbal Language of Film) - What primary visual equivalents are you develoPing to represent your underlying theme ? In terms of: - Blocking - Scene Coverage - Lens Perspective - Lighting - Composition - Colour - Line - Shape - Texture (See: The Visual Story by Bruce Block for an extended consideration of visual tropes.) Can you: - Identify visual contrasts related to underlying theme ? - Identify key story moments ? - Devise alternative coverage of these key sequences ? - Build your overall visual structure around these key story moments ? - Are you satisfied that your visual choices align with and deepen underlying story meaning – that your choices do not distract from or compete with emotional engagement ? (see Cinematic Storytelling by Jennifer Van Stijll) Devising Coverage “Film conventions are modelled on the dialectical flow of our consciousness whenever we are following something of importance to us. Our emotional responses play a huge part in this by literally directing our sight and hearing. Once you understand this princiPle a lot of shooting and editing decisions become obvious.” (See On Directing Film by David Mamet) Decisions about coverage are not automatic. Our difficulty is that we have too many places to put our camera. It can be helpful to formulate a story logic based on the Secret of our film in order to work out where the camera should go for each shot. Aim for coverage that offers access to experiencing the drama on a physiological and emotional level. - Based on your answer to who the film is about, work out who is being favoured in coverage and is afforded the most screen time. - Based on your answer to what the protagonist wants, figure out how you can emphasise the obstacles. - In the context of your overall story, what is the meaning of each individual scene ? - What is the meaning of each individual sequence ? - What is the meaning of each individual shot ? Much of your work is with subtext - with uncovering clues - exposition and story building that reveals the Secret of your film in the most compelling way. How you payout and withhold story information is as important to the storytelling process as the actual information being presented. Try to ensure the central idea of your story is made unambiguously apparent, especially if your ending is open-ended. Mamet advises us to never establish characters. He says that “a character can only be interesting because of what (s)he does. The story can only be interesting because we find the progress of the protagonist interesting”. The less the protagonist of a film is established, the more an audience will endow him or her with their own meaning - the more they identify with the protagonist, the more they will become unconsciously assured that they are in fact the protagonist themselves. “ We can extend this principle to establishing very little of the story too. Start in medias res. Enter scenes as late as possible / Leave them early. Remember that exposition is ammunition. Pay out information carefully. In stories, the most interesting thing has to be what happens next. Default Cine Strategies to Perfect in Assignments: - Identifying underlying meaning (The Secret) - Photographing intangible physiological content - Lighting faces - Lighting spaces / Motivation & time of day - Augmenting ambience - Influencing blocking during rehearsals - Combining lenses & lighting with blocking - Incorporating subject & camera movement - Pace, rhythm and timing - Depth of field & focus-pulling - Story embedded in Composition - Story embedded in the Cut - Reactions - Close-ups - Strive for simplicity that evokes complexity (not the other way around) Screen Storytelling Further Reading Albers, Josef - Interaction of Colour, Yale University Press, 2013. Benedict-Jones, Linda - Storyteller: The PhotograPhs of