Rickesh Gurung
final major project
secondary
TRON LEGACY
I remember watching this movie on the TV with my dad when i was really young who just wanted to see cool super hero and fantasy worlds. At that time i didn’t care about how good the plot or the story was since i would have to ask my dad every second about the villain’s morals and why they are doing what they are doing. I enjoyed watching the movie solely on it’s visuals and how it made me feel. I rewatched the movie back in 2015 again (I was 13 at this time) because the movie was really memorial to me. I watched the movie again for the 3rd time couple of days ago. I had to put on my analytic face to really see if the movie is actually a good movie or if it’s just because i was young and i liked everything that looks flashy.
To my surprise, i really like the movie not only for its visuals but for its story and the characters in it. All of the characters were memorable that had personality. I really dig the story as a whole and why things are happening. I was really invested with the characters. The villain of the movie “Clu” wasn’t any cliche antagonist, but someone who’s morals were scarier than themselves. Clu wasn’t any super villain that can one shot the protagonist and looked scary in any way. It’s what he believes in and his doings that made him scary.
CGI & VFX: Tron Legacy is one those CGI and VFX heavy movies that requires such level of editing and visual storytelling to tell and further express the plot in a way that wasn’t done most of the time. The CGI work on “Clu” was slightly poor compared to todays standards however for a movie that came out in 2010, it is pretty impressive and most of the time you couldn’t even tell.
How Tron Legacy inspired me: The whole futuristic world of “The Grid” amazes me on how real it looks in terms of executing and selling that the characters are actually stuck in this fictional world. From the acting to the real Tron suits that they made for the actor and actresses for them to use on set really worked to sell that they are indeed in this world. I am really into neon lights and the aesthetic/vibe it gives as well as the ways it could be used as visual storytelling to express your story. So from the beginning i already knew i was going to like the movie before watching it for it’s visuals. Therefore for my intro, i created a fictional city that resembles “The Grid” as well as maintaining the current features of a modern city building.
How i made the city: I made the city using blender 2.8. The process of making the city are shown on my previous post. The things i added on my city to resemble “The Grid” is neon lights and bright billboards on the buildings and the streets. I am still working on the city and the progress is still continuing...
Using colour to your advantage to further expand on story: (Baby Driver)
I will be analysing how colours are used in the movie: Baby Driver as a form of story telling technique as well as using it to give each character their own individual personality.
*Color coding characters in order to tell the audience more about the character’s personality and what they represents.*
Main Protagonist: In the entirety of the movie we follow Baby and we as the audience look through his lens. Baby is dressed mostly in black and white, which suggests the life he is living right now. Black representing the darkness of the criminal underworld against the lightness of him taking care of his foster father and his new found romantic relationship with Debora. In addition to that, it literally reflects to the fantasied black and white world that Baby wants to live. Which is also a metaphor to life being easy as black and white, in other words, not complicated nor hard. However it is the direct contradiction to the life of crime that he is getting involved with. He often refuses to witness the crime committed by his fellow crew members because he himself is a good person drawn into this mess. Going as far as to even prevent some casualties to save an innocent victim’s life. But there ends up being a lack of consequences for Baby, until he finds someone or something to care for enough to fear losing. The black and white also represents the boring “Black and White” life that he lives like he is living in the same loop over and over again. Get coffee in the morning, another meeting, another job without any further step or image of the future outside of that loop until he meets Debora. All of his crewman don’t mind violence, some even enjoy doing it. This is one of many reasons why Baby do not go along with the rest of the crew as all he wants to do is pay back what he owns. One way it suggests that is he is the only one without a coffee at the meetings but the one getting it for them. Which also shows that without Baby all of the heist wouldn’t have been possible, and everyone needs him to be there as the getaway driver. Just the getaway driver.
Baby’s costume design fits into the monochrome aesthetic for most of his scene whereas the rest of the cast are dressed in bold, vibrant colours. It singles him out visually even if there was no sound or dialogues in the movie.
Costumes are just another opportunity for communicating ideas or theme designed by the hands of someone as detail oriented as Edgar Wright (Director).
The Director worked closely with the costume designer for the movie to give each character their unique look, with one notable exception.
Clothing her in the same aesthetic as Baby severs a few different purposes:
one, it establishes the connection that they share and whom only two characters in the movie who want nothing to do with the crime life.
Two, it better sets up the payoff and the life that Baby fantasies and now it becomes clear that they both want the same thing for each other and the world that they want to live in. Debora is literally the light that shine on Baby. While her work’s uniform is black and white, her clothes outside of that is full of color, specially yellow and denims, she is literally and metaphorically brightening up his world. The shift from black and white to colour also symbolises Baby’s growth as he sees the world in a very black and white way, but as time progresses reaching into the uglier parts of his job, that he realises that it isn’t as straightforward as he thinks. We also see this change in Baby visually towards the end half of the movie were he is wearing denims throughout the final chase scene. It really drills into our heads that he has changed as a person and Debora played a major significant role in him making that change.
Throughout the movie, in every step of the way, the costumes are there to inform us of important information, regarding the characters and how they transform as the plot progresses.
Bats: The most violent member from the crew. He represents the violence caused by him and his crew members as he is the colour red.
Or how green is used to represent Greed presented mostly in Doc’s costume design and the scene around him. However the filmmakers made the decision to avoid Doc as this stereotypical crime boss as he ends up sacrificing his life and literally takes the bullet for Baby for him and Debora to escape in the end of the movie.
Non of the costumes used in the movie stands out too much from what you’re used to seeing. They’re bold and vibrant but could perfectly blend in with the real world setting and yet still manages to tell a story about each character which is the ultimate goal of a costume designer.
How i will implement this into my work: I am thinking of using certain clothes to portray the character’s personality and emotions as well as using it as a guideline on which timeline or time period the main character is on. I will also colour grade the footage differently in a way that the viewers can tell if what they are seeing is in the past or the future. Orange and warm colours to represent the past. Dark, green and teal tones to represent the future and the ugly state of the future world.
RESEARCH
I have been watching videos after videos to learn how to perfect the “cinematic look” without having expensive gear and camera to help me with. I found this video on YouTube super helpful in achieving and how to film a cinematic sequence.
Tips:
1) Shoot your videos/footage like a movie. Do not think of it as shooting a vlog or any YouTube content. You also want to tell a story in your cinematic sequence so the videos serve a greater purpose and how the sequence will move the story forward. Extra tip: Get enough footage to be able to tell a story.
2) Shoot a lot of different variation of shots sizes and types ; for example a drone shot, close up shot, POV shot, etc.
3) When shooting a cinematic sequence, always include movements into your shoots creating dynamic shots. Static shots do not feel cinematic.
4) Use shot reverse shot, this is a filmmaking technique where you are shooting two different shots of the same action or movements but from different location or angle. This allows your footage to flow better creating that cinematic feel/look.
5) Shoot in Slow Motion to make everything look dreamy. Shoot in 60-120fps so that the footage doesn’t look choppy to get that buttery smooth slow motion.
6) Show the passage of time: For example, Time lapses and hyper lapses. Which gives the opposite feel of the dreamy look that the slow motion provides.
7) Use Prime lenses to get the cinematic look. This will allow you to get the super shallow depth of field that looks cinematic and professional. As most of the kit lenses do not provide with low enough f-stop/aperture.
8) Use different types of cameras to further advance your storytelling skills. For example, using drones to get the wide aerial shots to get full coverage of the landscape and using a GoPro for POV shots as it is easier to use.
9) Find music that matches the scene, the story or the feeling you’re trying to achieve. You can also add voice overs and sound effects to add to the scene.
All though i hear a lot of people saying, get a better lens or a camera, most of them do not provide the audience with actual tips and information. I found this video super helpful, even though i know and have applied most of these tips. I found it refreshing to see new tips like adding different types of filmmaking techniques to create diversity in your shots.
SIMILIAR VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE
Sam Kolder is a content creator on YouTube that I have been looking up to for years. His videos has been inspiring me to do something similar for a long time. He has a lot of seamless transitions in this video that allows the video to flow smoothly. This is something I am trying to do as well with my project. He also has a lot of crazy and creative transitions to make his video pop. I have watched this single video for multiple times trying to copy and learn his transitions so I can learn from them. There was a lot of tutorials on YouTube that showcase "How-tos" covering effects that he uses, which was really helpful as well.
Another content creator that i look up to is Andreas Hem. He currently works with the popular YouTube channel "Yes Theory" and "Will Smith". My GTA scene was inspired by this video. When i first saw this video, I was amazed by how they pulled off all these effects from the game "GTA V". Therefore i wanted to do something similar to that as well. All though i didn't go crazy on the effects, i added small references here and there to all the gaming viewers. One of them was the GTA V map transition that appeared just before the "My year 2018" section of my FMP. As well as the Notifications and sound I got on my phone which was pulled straight from the game. To make sure I got everything right, I had to go back and play GTA V for like 10-20 mins gathering screenshots of the game as a reference.
THE ART OF TRAVEL FILM
This is a breakdown video of Sam Kolder's Style of editing and filmmaking techniques. In this video, they discuss most of the popular transitions that Sam Kolder uses in his videos and how he achieves that transition. This video was really helpful for me as i could understand why those shots were placed there and why his videos are better than mines. They also talk about colour grading and the pacing of the video as well and why it is important to keep the video fast paced to avoid the viewers from getting bored. Keeping the movement consistent is something I took out of this video and applied the knowledge to my FMP which can be clearly identified in the "My year 2018" section of my FMP. This video also talks about using different types of cameras to shoot your shots, for example using a GoPro to get perspective of the protagonist and using a drone to cover the whole location and give context of where the main character is to the viewers. Sam Kolder also uses a Gimbal while using his DSLR to stabilise his footage.