DAA: DVD Addicts Anonymous

Hi, my name is Debi and I’m a DVD addict. 

One great resource for any sequential art buff are the DVD commentary and extras.  Be forward though, there are great commentaries and there are horrible, horrible commentaries that make you want to hurl things at the TV while you scream ever curse word you know.

To help you all avoid that pain, here are some of the best of the best.  All are chockfull of info and very entertaining.   And feel free to add your favorite ones in the comments! 

Suggested Commentaries:

X-Files, commentary by Kim Manners (Director/Producer)

He’s very technical and gets into what lens they used, lighting, and other camera equipment used.

Season 4:

"Max" (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 2 - Black Oil)

"Patient X" (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 - Colonization)

Season 6:

"Two Fathers" (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 - Colonization)

"Milagro"  (The X-Files Season 6 DVD)

Season 7:

"Closure"  (The X-Files Mythology, Volume 3 - Colonization)

Season 8:

"Existence" (The X-Files Season 8 DVD)

Season 9:

"The Truth" (The X-Files Season 9 DVD)

Buffy and Firefly, commentary by Joss Whedon (Director/Writer/Producer)

He’ll walk you through his decision-making process for scenes.  He explains why he shot and wrote things the way he did.  Great look inside his film making process.

Buffy:

Season 1

"Welcome to the Hellmouth"

"The Harvest"

Season 2

"Innocence"

Season 4

"Hush"

"Restless"

Season 5

"The Body" - (A must!)

Season 6

"Once More, With Feeling"

Season 7

"Chosen"

Firefly:

"Objects in Space" - (A must!)

Supernatural, commentary by Eric Kripke (Director/Writer/Producer) 

Like Joss’s commentary, his passions and knowledge of the medium oozes out of his commentary.  It’s a joy to listen to.  He also goes over a lot of his decision-making process about his shots. 

Season 2:

“What It Is and What Should Never Be”

Season 4:

“Lucifer Rising”

Farscape, Commentary by Ben Browder, Claudia Black, Rockne O’Bannon, and David Kemper

While this is my all time favorite show, this commentary is special because it’s not about how good the episode was, but rather, about how everything went wrong!  They even titled the commentary “When Bad Things Happen to Good Shows”.  It’s great to hear how bad decisions were made and how they piled up.

Season 1:

"Jeremiah Crichton"

Suggested Extras:

Pleasantville: The Art of Pleasantville, The Storyboards: An extra shows you the books they made from all the storyboards in the film. Director of photography, John Lindley flips through the books while talking all about the boards and the process.  The commentary with director Gary Ross is also great on this film.

Seabiscuit: Anatomy of a Movie Moment: An extra of director Gary Ross talking his way through his decision-making process for a whole scene. Very in-depth and educational. The commentary with director Gary Ross and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh is also great on this film.

Camera Angels

Or, what it would look like if an angel stole your camera.

This is my convoluted way of saying I’m gonna talk about high camera angles today.

High angles
What they are good for:

Establishing shots: Usually the first shot in a scene that shows the area the scene will take place, also usually a wide shot. This lets the viewer see and understand the world they are in.

Vertigo: High angles are great to give the audience a good case of vertigo. Think of our superhero standing on a ledge about to jump off. We go to a high angle above him showing the depth of the drop before him. The audience holds onto their seat a bit more.

Little Lost Riding Hood in woods effect: A high angle shot used to make the character feel small, weak and helpless. This is also usually a wide shot since it will make the character look that much smaller in the broader background. Most people will also feel sympathetic towards this character since is it human nature to feel that way towards anyone who is helpless.

Monster’s POV: Our lost hero is running through a maze and finally bumps into the maze’s Minotaur. Oh no! Cut to the Minotaur’s view; a high angle shot (or down angle shot as some will call it) of our hero. This is a closer shot than was of Little Lost Ridding Hood, but our hero still feels small and helpless. This sets up our hero as the underdog for the upcoming fight against the big, scary Minotaur.

These are just a few of the reasons to use a high angle shot, there are countless others. When trying to decide what angle your camera should be at, always think about raising it a bit and seeing how that changes the feeling of the shot. Who knows, you might discover another reason to use a high angle!

So Pretty: Game of Thrones

Warning:  The following post contains major spoilers from episode nine of the first season of Game of Thrones.  Run away now if you don’t want to be spoiled.  Don’t even scroll down; there are pictures that will ruin everything. Just run away! Run away! But come back for the next posting!

*Spoiler space…you’ve been warned!*

“So pretty,” I gasped as I watched a major character being executed on the show Game of Thrones.  No, I don’t find killing pretty, but the way Alan Taylor directed that scene was just gorgeous. It wasn’t what he showed that made it spectacular, it was what he didn't show. 

We come into this part of the scene with the roar of the crowd, the screaming of the doomed man's eldest daughter and the chaos of the nearing execution.

Close up of Stark, the soon to be be-headed man, seeing his daughter being restrained and screaming for him.  The close up lets us see his emotions and helps us connect to him. 

He then looks forward.  The sound is slowly fading away.

We see the reverse, see what he sees: The crowd, all chanting for his death. Since this shot followed a close up of Stark and now are seeing what he's seeing; we feel as if we could be in his place. 

The sound has dropped out and silence has now fallen.  The absence of sound seems to duplicate what happens to us in real life in moments of extreme danger and stress.  It’s like he’s going into shock and we are going right along with him.

We are closer to him now and low…as if we are part of the crowd, but so much more intimate. We still feel very empathetic to him. 

Crown shot again.  This could be the last thing he ever sees.  Still there is silence.  It makes it eerier.  So many people, yet he and we hear nothing.

Low close up of him again.  The pacing is slow, the moment is being dragged out, the waiting for the ax to fall is excruciating.

Reverse, he’s looking for his other daughter, Arya, he saw in the crowd earlier.  Does he want to be connected to his daughter for one last time? Does he not want her to see what’s about to happen?  Does he want both? 

Back again to him…the moments feel like years.  The despair in his eyes is screaming out.

The shot of his back, with his hair parted just right so our eyes seek out the skin on his neck. A reminder that in a few seconds his neck will no longer look like that.  We are reminded of the danger to him and our anxiety increases.

Also, the silence is broken with just the sound of Lord Stark’s deep breathing.  We, as the audience, truly feel as if we might be up there on the block with him. 

We finally see the executioner and the sword as he practices the swing.  It could happen any moment now.  We are on the edges of our seats.

Close up of the youngest daughter, Arya, somewhere in the crowd: We now to switch to her as the storyteller.  It’s a down shot so she feels small and vulnerable. 

Back to Stark.  Notice we are now farther back from him.  He is no longer the storyteller; he is the catalyst for the pain his daughter is feeling. 

The time is here! The sword is on its way.

And it’s through!  His breathing is gone and the sound of a swing sword is so striking (pun intended) due to the silence that surrounds it.

And here is the beauty of the shot.  It's so fast, the SFX are so simple, so understated. No blood, no head rolling around, just our eyes seeing a sword pass through a neck.  Our minds fill in the rest in a way that no camera shot could ever do.

We are with Arya again.  She knows what just happened. 

Her eyes open.  There is no sound. Stark's breathing is gone, as is he. Again, we feel as if we are in shock with the lack of sound, but this time with Arya.

Reverse shot, we see what she sees.  It’s a flock of birds above her.  The soft sound of their flapping wings is all we hear.  It’s such an interesting choice to show the beauty of a flock of birds and not Stark’s head rolling around on the ground.  We see life, not death, but not in some hopeful way.  It’s like her brain is overloaded and all she can focus on are the birds. Again, the shot tries, and succeeds, in mirroring real life.  How when something horrible happens, sometimes our brains just shut down and focus on one small detail because that’s all it can handle.  It’s seeking refuge.

Back to Arya.

Her eyes close.  We can almost feel the emptiness that now fills her soul and her life.

And cut to black. It could almost act as a reverse shot of her eyes close.

The director Alan Taylor could have shot the scene for the chaos of the moment. He could have filled it with blood and gore to shock us and overwhelm our senses, but he went for the quieter route, the more personal one.  We really feel the anxiety of Stark and the sadness of Arya.  By focusing on the emotions, the scene reaches a whole new level that leaves everyone gasping at the end and leaves us film buffs whispering, “so pretty”.  

The whole scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR1s_tZxp9c

What are your thoughts on the scene? Was it successful? 

Wally Wood’s Talking Head

What site about sequential art wouldn’t be complete without the famous Wally Wood’s 22 Panels That Always Work graphic.

For those new to this graphic, it’s a quick reference guide of ideas on how to make people talking not look boring.

Apparently along with these 22 images taped near his desk, he also had this quote:

"Never draw anything you can copy, never copy anything you can trace, never trace anything you can cut out and paste up."  

As a purest myself (everything must be drawn!), it's an interesting viewpoint and one I think has merits. Only, maybe one needs to have mastered drawing before they go the copying route.  A shortcut, not a cheat. What are your thoughts?

Extreme Close Up: We’re Gonna Blow Up!!!

Extreme close ups are just that…close ups to the extreme!  You want to go extreme when the script is going extreme; when you want to emphasize the moment. 

That moment is usually due to one of these:

-Pain

-The moment before the decision is made

-Revelation

You also want to make sure this moment is important enough to warrant an extreme close up.  If you pull in this close when the main character has a paper cut, things will be a bit weird.  But if you pull in this close when the main character is shot, then all is good…well, not your main character who now has a bullet in him.

Like close ups, extreme close ups should also be used sparingly so not to loose their impact.

Objects:

Extreme close ups also have a functional use and this is when you need to see details on an object. Say if the bomb is ticking down, we won’t see those tiny numbers in a wide shot.  Even a close up won’t give us the full impact of the numbers ticking down. In a close up we’d see more of the bomb, maybe the wires and the casing.  With an extreme close up, all we’d see are the numbers. Nothing to distract us from the fact that our heroes are going to be blown up in 2 seconds! NO!!

The Wrap-Up

And that sums up shots and distance.  Here’s a quick overview for the forgetful:

• Wide Shot:  Good for establishing shots that open the story or orientates the reader to a new environment.
• Full Shot: Is all about the action and the character’s position in the setting.
• Medium Shot: Good mix of background and characters.
• Medium Close Up: Good mix of background and characters, with more focus on the characters.
• Close Up: Is about the character.  Background will often not be shown or shown very minimally. Use sparingly in comics.
• Extreme Close Up: Is all about the emotions.  Use sparingly in comics.  It’s also for important details on objects.

Close Up: P.U.!! Get a breath mint!

Close Ups are probably the best known shot and is the one we are drawn to the most.  This shot is all about the character, about getting into their space, feeling their emotions and smelling their bad breath. Backgrounds and other characters become secondary or non-existent.  This is the featured character’s moment. 

Distance wise, we are looking at shoulders and up or an equivalent shot of another body part....is anyone else’s mind in the gutter at this moment? 

With comics, close ups should be used sparingly.  They are your money shot on a page and you want to keep its impact.  If a page is full of close ups they start to loose their power, like when you hear a song over and over again.  It looses something each time.  If you rely heavily on close ups, you’ll end up having to push in closer and closer to re-find that emotion.  Eventually, you might end up with shot of the character’s DNA!

The same is somewhat true for films, but not as a strict rule.  Films have many more images to play with, more time to work with, and other ways to vary up a close up (sound, movement, actors acting).  It would be interesting to see if a short film could pull off telling a whole story with just close ups. 

Next: Extreme Close Up! 

Lovely, Wonderful Dead Trees

Before moving onto close ups, I thought I’d share some of my favorite books on visual storytelling.  

Good starter books for any sequential art:

Comics and Sequential Art

By Will Eisner 

(Considered the Father of Comic Books. It’s sad that a lot of people don’t know of him.)

Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative

            By Will Eisner

From Word to Image: Storyboarding and the Filmmaking Process

By Marcie Begleiter

Visual Storytelling: The Art and Technique

By Tony C. Caputo

More advanced books:

Film Directing: Shot by Shot

By Steven D. Katz

Comics Above Ground: How Sequential Art Affects Mainstream Media

By Durwin S. Talon

If you can find any used film directing text books, those are usually golden too.

These focus on comics, but are also very good for any visual storytelling:

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art

By Scott McCloud

Panel Discussions 

            By Durwin S. Talon

            (Very good book!  In depth interviews with many comic artists explaining their work) 

Artists on Comic Art

            By Mark Salisbury

Reference:

Setting Up Your Shots: Great Camera Moves Every Filmmaker Should Know

            By Jeremy Vineyard

            (Good reference book with all the different types of shots)

Random:

Fight directing for the Theatre

           By J. Allen Suddeth 

Medium Shot: Are You Looking at Me?

We’re getting closer now!  The camera is now starting to get into the character’s face.  Mean, evil camera.  We are on medium close up.  Now, as most of you smart readers can suss out, this is a shot between a medium shot and a close up shot (we’ll get to that next post).  Basically, this shot will be from about the chest up…or from the thighs down if you need to see what boots Hero Chick is wearing for some odd reason.  It’s pretty much 1/4^th of your character in shot. 

Like a medium shot, it’s a good mix of character and background, though a medium close up will focus a bit more on the character.  We can really start to see the emotions in the face now.  It’s like having a one-on-one conversation with a person.  Staged any farther back and you’d have to be yelling to hear each other.  Staged any closer and you’d start to get into their personal space…which, depending on the situation could end with a bloody nose or a new human in 9 months.

You’ll see medium close ups used a lot in both films and comics.  It’s just a great every use shot. 

Medium Shot: Don’t Chop Me Off There!!!

Here we are, back with the different types of camera distances (sorry for the delay...vacation time and all that).  If you’re just joining us, feel free to see the previous post about wide shots and full shots.  Today we are on the every exciting medium shot. Ohhhhh Ahhhhh.  Wow.

Medium Shot: We have now moved close enough to the character so that part of him/her has been chopped off.  But don’t worry, it was a clean chop; no blood.  And to keep there from being no blood, you must never chop them off at a major joint.  If you do, it will look like you just amputated your characters and that’s not fun for anyone.

How close you are in medium shots can vary.  It’s usually far away enough that you see at least half of the character’s body if not more.  You use a medium shot when you need a good mix of background and characters.  We are now close enough that we can really see the character’s face, but we still get a good look at the background.  It’s your Swiss Army Knife of shots; has a bit of everything. While, like your knife, you might want to use this shot all the time, don’t.  Variety in shots will keep the audience interested.  Medium shot after medium shot will get old fast.

Next: Medium Close Up! 

Full Shots: Place and Action

We are back with camera distances and we have now moved our camera a good bit closer into a full shot.

Full shots show the full length of the character but are close enough so that we can see their details.  Their faces are no longer dots, their arms and legs are now more than squiggly lines…well, they might still be squiggly lines if you’re still working on your anatomy, but ideally they should be looking more like arms and legs now.  Bobby-Boy’s gun is also becoming more gun-like.

Full shots are about the characters’ action and their position in the scene.  Do you need to establish that Annoying-Kid is sitting at a table waiting for dinner?  A closer shot might not get that message across, but if you pull back a bit so that we can see him at the table and the mom preparing the dinner, then bingo, the audience gets the message. But pull back too far into a wide shot and it becomes more about the room and less about Annoying-Kid and his annoying body language. Body language is key in full shots.

Full shots also allow us to see more of the characters’ interaction with their environment. It’s not just about placement as it was with wide shots, but it’s about what they are doing in said environment.  Is Hero-Chick now hiding behind a box?  Is Bobby-Boy now strolling down the pathway? These could be full shots; place and action.

Next: Guess what…yes! Bobby-Boy took a breath mint so we can move closer!  It will be medium shot time! Yippee! 

Wide Shots and Bobby-Boy’s Gun

With all visual storytelling, the first question to ask yourself is: “Do I have enough munchies on hand?” (I suggest Hot Tamales, mmmmm Hot Tamales.) The second question is: “Where should the camera be?”  By camera, I mean either a-soon-to-be-real one with storyboards or a virtual one with comics.

This breaks down in the simplest terms of distance and angles (though some might call on angels to help too). 

Let’s look at distance first.

First, we have the farthest away shot called a wide shot where the camera is far, far away from the characters. It’s all about the place, the mood, the setting.  This is where you let the location speak. 

Wide shots are about the big details. If you need the audience to see that Bobby-Boy is holding a gun, don’t use a wide shot.  The gun will be a teeny-tiny widdle line that your audience will never know is a gun (unless that’s already been established earlier). But this shot is not about his gun, it’s about the location, and his location in the location. It’s about how close he is to our Hero Chick. Is she close enough to kick the gun out of his hand or far enough that she could dodge the bullet; or is she fully screwed and in that sweet spot that is making Bobby-Boy a very happy boy? It’s also about the environment, the creepy warehouse our characters are currently in.  Are there boxes Hero Chick can hide behind? Are things lurking behind those boxes? Will she get tetanus from the rusty, ugly nails that are sure to be littering the ground is this worn out, abandoned warehouse or is the warehouse so clean and modern that she might slip on the floor as she tries to run?

Often you’ll hear of an establishing shot.  This is usually a wide shot that is used as the first image of a story. This tells the audience where your lovely story is taking place.  It orientates them, grounds them in the world you are creating. It’s your tour guide greeting the tourist.

If what you need to convey in the shot is the location, location of your characters, the mood, or the big details, a wide shot is your friend. 

Please Won’t You Be My Neighbor

Keep in mind that shots cannot be thought of alone. They are social creatures. They like their neighbors; they like to know what their neighbors are doing.  Did wide shot’s neighbor to the left (assuming we are reading left to right) establish who the two figures in the warehouse of horrors already were? Or is wide shot the first house on the block and therefore these two tiny blobs of figures are a mystery to the audience?  Or is wide shot pissed off at his neighbor for mowing the damn lawn at 9am on a Saturday?

Next, we move a bit closer with full shots. Yahhhhh!

Not a Blog

This is not a “blog”. The word “blog” sounds like the noise you make when regurgitating.  “Oh, my stomach is not to happ- bloooooooooooooggggg, spew…ewww”  Cannot stand that word!  This is a...um, Wlog, Elog…great, now it sounds like alien names.  Epost?  Virtual Letter? ViLet? Post-E?  Er…ok, we’ll figure this out later. Anyways, whatever this is called, I will NOT be updating you on my boring-ass life.  There will be no posts of “Oh, my rabbit ate my comics!”, even if my rabbit does eat my comics, you will not hare about it hare.  This will be a place of learning, of fun and of sharing ideas. Though, if I seem very down one day, you can assume that my rabbit did in fact eat my comics.  Bad, cute, adorable rabbit with Batman’s speech balloon hanging out of his mouth.

Ok, now to explain the reason for this…This-Thing-That-Has-Yet-To-Be-Named:

Films, TV, comics; I love them all. I love how they tell stories visually. I love the creativeness, the playfulness and the richness of the images. How image after image are placed together to tell a tale that whisks you away from reality. This love made me become a comic book artist and then a storyboard artist.  This is also what filled my head with a ton of visual storytelling knowledge; knowledge that I want to share so others can create wonderful worlds and stories.

So, over the next few months, years, or however long this lasts, I hope to share some of this knowledge that is shoved in my head with anyone interested…even if it’s just me.  *Waves*  “Hi Me!” “Hi Me back!”   Aww…good company.

Enjoy!

Oh, and help me up with a better word than blooooooog. Please!