Black Background Technique

 

Advantages to black backgrounds

There are several advantages to filming with a black background.
They are easy to set up
They eliminate distractions
They make colours and characters pop out
Also, a black background adds a very serious tone, which works well for adult themes and serious ideas. The black Background takes away any sense of location, which forces the viewer focus on whats happening. In the first few seconds of my opening sequence i will have a black background, and a hip hop montage of extreme close up shots of clowns doing crack.

How i will create my "blackground"

I will build a makeshiftt frame out of wood and scrap metal, and i will hang sheet of heavy black fabric over it. Heavy Black fabrick works the best because unlike paper, it is non reflective, and just looks better in general.

Lighting smoke infront of the blackground

Smoke is hard to film infront of a blackground because it has a natural grey colour that only really shows up when light is reflected on it. So i need to set up a lighting source with a mirror opposite to it, so the smoke gets an equal amount of light from either side. I need to put the smoke and the light quite far infront of the blackground so that light doesnt get reflected onto that by accident.

Representation

I think an important part of my story is representation. Because the subject matter of my opening sequence is dark, drug addiction, it is a living hell that people cant imagine, or don't want to. So i found that it would be much more interesting and less shocking or disturbing if i used clowns, because you aren't meant to take clowns seriously, they hurt themselves and get into uncomfortable situations for the pleasure of the audience viewing them. So if the hardcore drug addicts are clowns, people may see my video in a different light, they may take a more sympathetic view on real life drug addicts. Also because clowns are supposed to represent something funny, so if you make something funny do something very bad it creates a strange kind of paradox in the viewers mind, and they are unsure of how they feel i.e the audience is slightly disturbed and confused.

However i understand that clowns are also perceived as being scary, evil and the most morbid people on earth, so i think they will create some really interesting characters, and if the audience is scared of clowns-they will feel fear and panick as they watch, which is what the clowns themselves feel.

Here is an example  the picture of the real life drug addict is much more upsetting and hard hitting than the picture of the clown.

Lighting and Mise En Scene

My opening sequence deals with dark subject matter, the taboos of society, the things that you don't often see happen in broad daylight. So,my lighting will be very dark, and minimal. I want there to be muted colours, like greys, blacks, browns, etc with a splash of bright colour from the clowns costumes. However they will also be quite muted and dirty. This will make the clowns jump out at you, and they will be a strong contrast to their bleak surroundings. I am thinking of trying to film in black and white, and then only the clowns will be in colour, and so they will jump out at the audience even more. I want it to be bleak because i want my audience to feel bleak and morbid in themselves, it is a technique used to help the audience empathize with the characters. I want my audience to feel empty and alone as the clowns do.

Target Audience 

Seeing as my film is about drug abusing clowns, its only fair to say that my target audience is the drug abusers themselves. I think this because, the film will appear to be a bit comical, like a pastiche, but they will realize that it has a very serious message behind it, and it will show people what might happen to them if they delve into the world of crack. Its also for teenagers from 15 onward  but the film would probably have an age restriction of 18, because it will contain drug abuse, bad language, violence, and some disturbing content. But let's face it... Teenagers don't care about age restrictions! If they want to watch a movie they're not supposed to, they will, so this will be made with them in mind. The rest of my target audience is all the weird, deranged sick people out there with a sadistic sense of humor such as myself. 

Inspiration: Requiem For a Dream

Requiem for a dream (RFD) uses montages of extremely short shots throughout the film, also known as a hiphop montage, or experimental editing. Splitscreen is used extensively throughout along with extreme close ups, long tracking shots, tying the camera to the actor, time lapse photography, and fast forwarding and slow motion are used alot.  The camera angles and shot types are so dynamic in RFD, i shook with exitement at the sheer genius of the camera work. It is a truly spectacular master piece, and it is where i draw much of my inspiration. The huge contrast in shots makes the audience feel disorientated, and thet feel mixed emotions about the characters, this is what i aim to achieve.

Here is an example of the "hiphop montage" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7Dp7eZjC2g

This is the Montage used in the film http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dig3HDSH9CE

This is our Hip-Hop Montage that we made in a media lesson, it is simply "how to make a cup of tea". All of us helped with the filming, directing and editing.

Camera Angles

I want to use a wide variety of camera angles and shot types to make my opening sequence visually interesting. Some parts i will film with a special lens that blurs everything out, i will use this effect plus additional distortion to make the viewer feel disorientated, like they are on a drug trip.
I like using low angled shot from the ground up, and canted angles. These are my two main shot types that i use alot, i also really want to use the setting and the mise en scene to frame the shots and make things more dynamic.
I will also be using different camera lenses, predominantly a fish eye lens.

Story board... Kind of... With words.

Establishing shot looking down a dark dirty alley way

Mid shot of Bozo the clown looking down really depressed, sitting cross legged with his back to the alley wall. We can see that he is surrounded by trash and filth, he has dustbins on one side of him

Extreme close up of crack pipe being put in between his crusty lips, and he inhales

Mid shot of Bozo again, he breathes out the smoke into the camera, so we cant see him properly, smoke blurs his face as it lingers, then when it clears we see his face properly for the first time

Long shot of him looking forward miserably

Bozo the clown appears letter by letter on the right side of him, looks as if it was spray painted.

Moving shot forward towards a pair of clowns, sitting on an anchor at night time laughing hysterically

Spinning shot with one of the clowns, (the clown spins and the camera follows)

 creating a disorientated feeling for the audience

Mid shot of that clown, fast forwarded, his name appears too in the same manner as Bozo

Long shot of the next clown walking happily around the anchor, on crack

mid to close up shot of him lying curled in a ball next to the anchor crying and looking desperate

His name appears 

Credits will appear at random ties integrated with the mise en scene ie on bits of trash, on the clowns, maybe the clown will hold a cardboard sign with credits on it, maybe credits can be spelled out in needle tracks on one clowns arm. These are just a few ideas, some of these i am definitely using.