transmission woo - specialist portfolio

SPECIALISM PORTFOLIO: Cinematography BA film & Television

Specialism Portfolio - CinematographyBA Film & Televison Year 3London College Of Communication,University Of The Arts London.For the attention of: David KnightPleas Note: this project uses QR Codes.

A Project By:Thomas Ralph (RAL10299748)[email protected]@ralphytom(07946533689)

Thomas ralph SPECIALISM PORTFOLIO

contentsintroductionexplorationephemeral mediapublic access tvmajor influence 1 & 2vhsHD4x3 vs 16x9making it work...locationsShooting//running orderStoryboards//floor planson the setgraphicsconclusion

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Introduction

01

INTRODUCTION

Being the short film fanboy that I am one gradually becomes accustomed to the reoccurring themes and topics that plague the online short film world. I believe topics such as the wandering lonely person, the romantic – but destined to fail - indie couple and the voyeuristic quiet and bemused man to name a few plague Vimeo, YouTube and Short Of The Week with a brooding and forboding pallet of grey. With this in mind I promised myself that I would target to work on the most original and - most importantly - colourful graduation film.

Co-directors Duncan Roxburgh and Alex Shaw originally pitched Transmission Woo as 15 Minutes Of Woo. The premise being to create a documentary that incorporated elements of experimentation and expanded cinema in a collective creative project with East-London scene-queen, drag-queen Jonny Woo. The focus of the documentary would be an investigative celebration of all things “Tranny”. Initially researching Jonny online I discovered to me a bizarre, unexplored and incredibly colourful world which I have enjoyably spent the last year capturing through my (many) cameras and offering me a unique platform to experiment with the medium of video and its presentation.

The film today has become an exploration of the alternative drag, cabaret and sub-club culture of East-London presented in the format of an 80’s Public/Community Access TV pilot. Hosted (and ‘made’) by Jonny Woo, the project subverts mainstream modern television stereotypes and qualities presenting a warped analogue enthused VHS transmission. Taking on the role of Director Of Photography required collaboration with the co-directors, retro experimentation and adherence to the vision of a collective project.

Here is my journey…


Field notes:

I kept a pocket journal and drawing book during the project. On the inside I wrote “Woo Ideas” and jogged down every idea that came to mind. It was informal, but useful.


EXpLORATION

02

Exploration

Over the course of the first term I explored the varying different portrayals of documentary. Through reading, thinking and most enjoyably watching I realised I was chipping away at the genre’s core to reveal a much larger truth: documentary and its definition is vague; there are no ‘rules’. As a quote from Errol Morris states ‘You have a license to do a lot of diverse things under the umbrella of documentary’.

This turned my attention to the presentation of documentary. As a Cinematographer it can attractive to choose a great camera blindly hoping for a certain ‘look’ and then evolving the whole project around it. Early on I decided I would avoid working this way. I left my options completely open to choose a camera that would provide the strongest meaning to the project. With this in mind I realised the camera was the least important part of my specialism during the beginning of production. It was more important to collectively choose a structured format which would intern provide a selection of camera choices for me to choose between. This process meant I ended up researching an incredibly broad selection of different camera types ranging from 16mm, 4k RED Scarlet’s and iPhones as our ideas of documentary evolved.

With the Director and Producer I began considering the strengths and weaknesses of both traditional interview/talking head based documentaries and newer experimental formats of the genre including mockumentary and ephemeral filmmaking platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. I became increasingly enthused by the concept of reverting a documentary stereotype with performance in to what I now call a “Drag-ocumentary”.


EphemeralMedia

03

"e-phem-er-al"

Lasting for a markedly brief time

As my researching and exploration continued I became intrigued by a multitude of different film and video types which come under the tree of ephemeral filmmaking. The concept of ephemerality within filmmaking relates to the idea of filming, creating or documenting something for one purpose and one showing. You can use the term to denote a cluster of genres that frequently intersect: educational films, advertising or sponsored films, industrial films, institutional films, government-produced films, and amateur films or home movies.

The Director Alex constantly stated that the documentary was celebrating ‘the now’ within the Drag Queen scene with Jonny as our tourguide. This combined with the notion of ephemeral filmmaking and modern technology (notable twitter and video blogs) bought me to a radical idea of Jonny documenting his own life over the six-month production period using webcams, iPhones and home camcorders. I felt Jonny’s access to the scene would be unparalleled resulting in some potentially extreme and powerful imagery with Jonny as the cameraman. I pondered this idea for a while weighting up the pros and cons of Jonny as D.O.P and whether a) was

it allowed? b) would it work? And c.) could Jonny’s videos be placed on a video blog diary edited and published by us? In the end this idea was viewed to extreme and experimental but the process of researching fields such as this ephemerality enforced our final decision to create the documentary as a pilot TV episode that Jonny’s created himself. Would the pilot episode of Transmission Woo end up never being seen again? Is it ephemeral?

Ephemeral media

Thomas ralph SPECIALISM PORTFOLIO Ephemeral mediaEphemeral media

Mind map

Within my sketch book I started brainstorming ideas aboutephemeral filmmaking. The idea of having Jonny Woo as the camera operator, though an idea I really liked, in the end was deemed to weird but the ideology of Jonny as filmmaker remained.

04

PublicaccessTV

Thomas ralph SPECIALISM PORTFOLIO public access tv

The evolution of the project took a gradual move towards Jonny as both star and subject, which increasingly emphasized the need for a format in which the audience could learn and follow Jonny’s lead but also observe him at the same time. After talking to Jonny it became clear his passion for all things tacky and “crap” would lead us to our chosen format, Public Access Television.

Created in America in the 70’s Public Access TV is a form of non-commercial mass media that allows anyone to create and broadcast their own TV program either regionally or nationally. The form flourished in the 80’s where it spawned countless different channels, shows and celebrities. Iconic for its poor set design, bizarre programming and its sometimes down-right crazy presenters the medium is still remembered today by a cult following. Replaced now by the rise of the internet, notably bloggers, YouTube accounts and the growing power of the web-cam, Public Access in its peak was the best platform for many to be seen. Public Access and its experimental and strange ways, combined with the unique personality of Jonny created the perfect visual concoction for entertainment, experimentation and colour that I desired within the film.

The project evolved into a bizarre TV pilot – Transmission Woo - presented by Jonny in which he would lead (and attempt to sell) his world, the world of the drag-queen and “tranny” to a mass audience. The show would be both a homage to 80’s public access TV with cheap sets, awkward editing and most importantly for me TV studio camera set ups but also an interesting and investigative documentary of the “tranny” underworld.

I began researching different TV portrayals within Public Access TV…

“Its okay to experiment, its okay to fail... and heck you might learn something along the way! ”

John Kilduff Let’s Paint TV

(Above) Junior Christian Science Bible Lesson Show created by David Liebe Hart. (Below) Let’s Paint TV created by John Kilduff (2002-Present)


MOOD VIDEOWhilst creating still image mood boards is useful I personally (being the geeky cinephile that I am) find it easier to see and be inspired by moving image. Over the course of the project I collected lots of different weird and wonderful examples of Public Access TV and modern pastiches of the genre from across the internet. I have cut together some of my favourite and most inspiring examples into a short 10 minute video which accompanies this portfolio. I presented a majority of these examples to the crew along the research journey in a folder on my desktop titled ‘The Public Access Mood Folder!’. View it at....

https://vimeo.com/65865959

or by using the QR Code below.


Alex and Duncan initially titled the project 15 Minutes Of Woo directly referencing Andy Warhol’s 15 Minutes (1985 – 87). Warhol’s show was made up of many different quirky and surreal interviews and performances that were broadcast on MTV America in its early years. The concept stemmed from Warhol’s intrigue in celebrity and popular culture in which he stated “I’m really jealous of everybody who’s got their own show on television. I want a show of my own.”

Watching the different episodes of Warhol’s show there were many reoccurring visual tricks, traits and compositions that I borrowed and recycled within Transmission Woo. For a program so bizarre the simple form Warhol implemented surprised me. Classic talking heads and mid shots are frequently used and an almost naïve looking understanding of lighting and composition is given off. Warhols ‘weirdness’

comes across in his strange content, awkward interviews, slow and melodic pacing and long zoom heavy cutaways. Warhol is taking the format of the TV chat show and slightly distorting it, not radically, but just slighly askew.

The opening credits to one of Warhol’s episodes used a series of four floating heads moving and starring in different directions each in their own boxes. Though a simple and iconic formula of pop art I really enjoyed the segment that I decided I had to recreate within Transmission Woo.

(BELOW) The four heads introduction I attempted to recreate within Woo.

“In the future everybody willbe world famous for fifteen minutes.”

- Andy Warhol


MAJOR INFLUENCE 1

05


MAJORINFLUENCE 2Manhattan Cable is a weird magazine style show from the early 1990’s which I absolutely fell in love with. The show is hard to describe, but in short its video and interview madness. The program becomes a strange mash up of different segments, styles and topics filmed in a lively, energetic and colourful way. The content was about style, fashion, music and art merged with strange public access cutaways and unexplained narratives. Though I am predominately confused what the hells going on in the show it became a major visual reference point when describing how Transmission Woo should be filmed. I loved its hand-held, amateurish but enthusiastic approach; combined with its bleeding video analogue aesthetic.

Where as Warhol’s 15 Minutes slightly twisted the format of a TV chat show, Manhattan Cable completely flip reverses it - whilst on acid. When planning the running order and pacing of our show it became obvious a subtle merging of both programs would create a well balanced and on the whole a more ‘Jonny like’ entity. Certain scenes such as the opening and final performance would be still and elegant but strange, whilst the Jaquai and Larry Tee interviews would be utter Manhattan Cable over the top energy..

What was obvious now though was that Manhattan Cable, Public Access TV and Warhol’s 15 Minutes were all beginning to push me towards an obvious format to work with, video.

"Television made by extrordinary and ordinary americans...”

Laurie Pike Manhattan Cable

MAJOR INFLUENCE 2


06

VHS

VHS

(Above) Panasonic M50

VHS Kit List:

2 x Panasonic M50(Including 2 x Batteries)Panasonic M5 (Including 2x Batteries)10 x High Qulity JVC Tapes

As my research continued and my strain of thought evolved I became increasingly interested in shooting upon an early video system. I was quite adamant that I didn’t want to shoot HD and fake a look with a plugin of FCP. I was intrigued by the analogue warped, bleeding, blurry and saturated look of Public Access TV and I could imagine the 1980’s rent-a-day TV studios and kit in which they were filmed. I spent a week or so researching retro 70’s and 80’s studio camera systems including looking at old NTSC studio

rigs. I quickly realised that these kits are both rare and a challenge to find but also expensive and clunky. The obvious alternative to these systems was VHS (Video Home System). VHS provides all the stylistic and aesthetic qualities that I was looking for whilst keeping budgets down. The accessibility and portability of these kits was great and the natural effects the cameras and tapes omit are genuinely unique. I pitched the idea to the crew and they backed it.

I began building my VHS camera crew consisting of fellow VHS lovers Fanny Hoetzeneder and Ekim Acun. Between us we had access to three retro professional kits all produced by Panasonic (2x M50 and 1 x M5) - in the end we only used two always keeping one as a backup. After testing we discovered that many of the batteries on these cameras - due to their old age - rarely held a long charge so we had to research and invest in new ones of eBay.


HD

07

After successfully pitching the idea to shoot VHS I was asked by the crew to shoot both SD (VHS) and HD. They were keen to keep the project “in the now” by not completely remove it back to the 80’s and that they wanted a HD master camera for everything as a technical back up. This gave me a difficult challenge to find a way to make this work narratively. I discuss getting round this issue in Chapter 9 ‘Making It Work’.

In the meantime I started planning on what HD cameras I would shoot on. I decided to stick with two Canon cameras. One the Canon 7D I already owned and have been hugely impressed by it when using on different projects and the second the Canon C300 which I rented.

(Right) Canon C-300 EF Mount

Key Specs...Sensor - CMOSSensor Size - Super 35; 24.6 x 13.8 (28.2 mm diagonal); 6.4 µm cell pitchISO - 320 to 20,0008GB = 20 minutes

(LEFT) Canon 7D EF Mount DSLR

Key Specs...Sensor - CMOSAspect Ratio - 3:2 (Horizontal: Vertical)Recording Size - 1920 x 1080 (Full HD), 1280 x 720 (SD), 640 x 480 (SD)Continuous Shooting Time - 12 min. (Full HD)

HD


4X3 Vs 16x9

08

4x3 VS 16x9

The age-old, go to discussion for all geeky D.O.Ps is that of the beloved aspect ratio. The decision of ratio is for cinematographers just as important as an artist choosing a canvas size before one paints (or shoots). The discussion on aspect ratio in regards to Transmission Woo has become a sensitive topic for me, which I shall discuss.

Once we had made the decision to shoot Woo on VHS I believed it would result in me shooting 4x3 for the entire project. As a pastiche to the era we were referencing I felt the native 4x3 ratio would be the purest and most respectable size. This notion fell on deaf ears when we as a group discussed it and the group decided they wanted to shoot 16x9 because of fears it wouldn’t look ‘right’ on the BFI screen. This raised many issues for me such as we were not removing ourselves out of our comfort zones and I also felt it would waste lots of time in post cropping footage within compressor.

As all collective decisions one needs to take it on the chin and continue working and developing to the best of the paramaters they are given. Shooting 4x3 with a

16x9 crop made it a mighty difficult task in finding my ideal frame, especially consisting VHS cameras do not have monitors that I could of least taped. I attempted to practice this concept of shooting one ratio with an eye for another but found no real trick to the trade. It meant there was a margin in guesswork in figuring out where approximately my final composition lay - something that bugged me throughout shooting.(Below) A comparison sheet if 4x3 Vs 16x9.

(right) FCP screen grap showing varying difference between 4x3 to 16x9.


MAKING It WORK...

09

The collective decision to use both SD and HD gave me a dilemma; I was worried the two very contrasting aesthetics wouldn’t work narratively together. The film could be come a visual mess by not being planted within a place and time resulting in a confused audience. I was also adamant I didn’t want to randomly choose SD of VHS for each scene, there had to be a reason for everything.

I spent a long time researching a way to make the SD and HD footage work as I was aware that every aspect of the film should have a journey, including my cinematography, and it was this ideology that lead to me finding a solution. The turning point came when I discovered Director David M. Helman’s music video FROMDATBOMB$. Helman and cinematographer Trevor Wineman created an original technique of burning HD footage onto VHS tape and then using a rotoscoping technique to merge the footage on top of each other.

"..I was inspired by the nostalgia I felt when watching these VHS recorded videos..." David M. Helman

making it work...

I proposed to use the technique to give the film a gradual visual transformation through the narrative which the Editor supported. Starting in SD VHS the project - using Helman’s technique - would morph into HD, climaxing in Jonny’s final performance as a stark contrasting aesthetic to how the film started. This notion of visual transformation tied in with the films theme of performance and transforming personas; the film could now be described as a drag-movie. Using Helman’s technique filled me with great excitement, as I believe we are using a primitive and still original technique that audiences have not seen before, especially within narrative.


Now I had locked the visual narrative and the Director/Producer were beginning to consolidate the structure to our TV show we needed to start thinking about locations. The choice of location for me was intrinsic as being able to control the shooting process was a must. As I was clueless about what Jonny would wear and whom he would bring for the show it became incredibly difficult for me to storyboard the film. I had to take on a strange strategic approach of merging a TV show camera crew with a documentary crew. The location needed to give me an essence of foundation.

The choice of location would be key as it could be either my biggest ally or worst enemy. If I could control the environment and lighting I could affect the visual message portrayed. I also needed to be able to charge the cameras, especially the VHS. We explored many different locations ranging from night clubs to boats, public toilets to parks but we eventually settled for a great TV studio like space set within the Rich Mix Centre in Shoreditch, East London. The space was a large TV Studio space with incredible voltage

and a large amount of plug sockets. The gaffer and I could control all the lights off a light panel with the assistance of a trained technician. The space was large, quiet and cheap; I really aimed for the space to feel like a rent a day studio that someone might of rented to make their own Public access TV show (this included making Transmission Woo Crew T-Shirts).

(Below) We also shot one of Jonny’s shows at The Hackney Picturehouse.

Locations

10(Below) My location list from pre production.

Locations


Richmixfloorplan:

After researching and visiting the Rich Mix studio I used this floor plan to talk and instruct my camera crew the plan of action on the day. It became a useful goto tool in constructing the differeing segments.

locations


Shooting//running order

11

As the location locked I started finishing off the visually technical and creative aspect of each segment (These are found in section 12). As I did this we started constructing both the running order of the day and the narrative order. What was going to be in VHS and what is going to be in HD etc. As these decisions

began to be locked the running order within the piece was stating to take shape. Duncan the producer collated the running order into a table (right) whilst I started constructing the shooting order and basic notes for my camera crew (below).

shooting//running order


12 position a

position bBeing a weird merge of documentary and fiction I was only able to storyboard a few sections of the film. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of colour, cast and narrative of each segment until Jonny and Alex composed it on the day. There was a rough script but nothing solid. This forced me to spend a lot of time talking with the crew about varying pacings, colours and rough compositions. My floor plans and storyboards became very rough and malleable. In this sense me talking to the crew became the most important part of my pre production so on the day we were on the same wave length. Thankfully my camera crew were brilliant and completely understood the form I was trying to emit which made the process hugely creative and enjoyable. Over the next few pages I will present some of my plans. Some of these were created on the day others were pre planned.

(Below) An alternative beginning with Jonny outside with a long zoom.

(Right) Rough storyboards of the opening segment including comparison stills from the final piece. I wanted the segment to be a still, quiet and steady opening bfore the madness that follows. (Shot in VHS)

storyboards//Floor plans

storyboards//floor plans


cam 3. tom 7d

cam 1. ekim vhs

CAm 2. fanny vhs

For the Jaquai Potato interview we used a traditional three-camera set up with the two wing cameras (VHS)focusing on one character each with one central master wide camera (7D as backup). I repeated this format two other times in the program to give continuity in the format. To make the Jaquai interview strange we shot it in two sections with costume and set dressing changes

in-between. This in the edit gives off a slightly bizarre effect as the narrative cuts between two different times but in the same place. The main issue when shooting this section was the space (within RichMix) we shot in was originally researched, scouted and planned as all white but upon arriving on the shoot day it was all black! Though a slight issue I decided to continue as planned.

Jaquai



c300

vhs ekim.

masterwide 7d

For the Larry Tee interview I repeated the same three camera set up as on Jaquai and Princess Julia but with less VHS and more HD. This segment was to be the section where the film warped from SD to HD using Helman’s rotoscoping technique. I queried the idea of using a green screen but the Editor felt it would be easier to rotoscope with just harsh light and a black background. The segment became a stressful segment to film as we were pushed for time and the stakes were high. Being a documentary you only get one chance

to shoot something and I learnt that in this section! I frantically shot the entire conversation improvising and framing as I went. There were a few little hitches such as confusion about the master camera, which made me initially disappointed with the segment, but seeing it now edited I’m really happy with it. I like the way not everyone is in light, it adds a level of cheap and amateurish design which really works. I also love the statue (seen in the C300) as it adds an extra bizarre character watching in the back ground.

Larry t



Jonny’s perfromance would do a spoken word piece which would appear at the end of the film as a Jonathan Ross/Jools Holland TV program ending where an artist ‘sees the show off ’. Jonny sent us a recording of the spoken word he was performing but he couldn’t tell us what he was going to wear, or even the colour. This gave me a dilemma as this scene had to be both shot efficiently and crisply. We decided that

the piece would work well with a subtle, quiet and powerful ending of Jonny speaking to the camera in full crisp HD. The feelings and look Jonny would be emitting to me spoke a thousand words so I decided to not intrude with the camera. The piece would benefit by letting Jonny just do his thing. With this in mind I planned a very basic shot set up where Jonny would literally walk into frame, perform and then walk out. On the day Jonny revealved to us what he was going to be wearing so me and Marco (the gaffer) quickly

sketched up a plan minutes before shooting. We used the red and the green light to compliment Jonnys outfit and used a spotlight to place Jonny centrally but nowhere. The darkness around him (though obviously a studio) suggests some unseen place whilst the strak HD powerfully compliments the visual narrative I was trying to underpin. Personally I am very happy with this ending and am pleasently surprised by my resistence to not interfere to much with the scene.

masterwide canon C300

masterwide canon c300 close up c300

Performance



The floating heads:Oozing Gloop

Kirsty 'Thirsty' Mckenzie Peter Fingleton

David Masters & Larry T.

Andy warhol's floating heads


13

on theset

(left) Me lining up a shotat the RichMix studio during

the Princess Julia interview.

Thomas ralph SPECIALISM PORTFOLIO5 1

Jonny woo

6 vhs tapes

24hours

7guests

“Welcome to Transmission Woooooo!”

- Jonny Woo

The one day shoot at RichMix Studio became the visual backbone of the whole project. Shooting Jonny’s intro, the Princess Julia Interview, Larry Tee Interview and Woo’s final performance we had an intense - sun lightless - day of filming. The nature of documentary meant we really didn’t know what we were going to get and I had to rely on my gut feelings on how to compose my shots. Through pre production and a strong collective understanding the day went remarkably smoothly and surprisingly enjoyable.

5set ups

cameras


a selection of my favourite shots.


14graphics

graphics

As my cinematography portrays the narrative of the show; the graphics, titles and animations act as a key glue connecting my shots. I was keen to be heavily involved with every visual aspect of the film, including the graphics as they needed to perfectly compliment my photography. I asked Jesse the editor if she would allow me to experiment and play, which she accepted. As the film went into postproduction I set about working on the graphics and typography. I designed the Transmission Woo logo and then spent a day with Duncan the Producer experimenting, warping and bending VHS to record strange noises and sounds which we could lay our graphics over. Designed on Photoshop we imported the graphics to Final Cut Pro where we printed them onto our warped footage through a VHS recorder and an old 4x3 Monitor. This pure treatment gave us an authentic look than any plugin. I remember thinking of the closing credits... “it should be like you’re inside a VHS tape!”

(Below) The orginal logo I designed on Photoshop.


conclusion

15

conclusion

Being cinematographer upon Transmission Woo was a rewarding experience that allowed me to fully do what all-good student projects should do - it allowed me to experiment. Researching Public Access TV and the cult that adores it I was warped into an analogue induced state throughout the project. Falling in love with bleeding colours, interlacing and static scratches I morphed from a 21st century HD cinema lover to an 80’s retro enthusiast. For this I am truly grateful, as I believe I am a more rounded cinematographer and filmmaker than I was before.

The documentary aspect of Woo was my biggest challenge to hurdle. Recording as much live footage as possible whilst sticking to an ethos and narrative became tricky, but it really tested me as a cinematographer. I learnt to work not just in a crew but a collective multi cam team (something I had never done before). I learnt to trust my colleagues, my subject and embrace my mistakes. Researching ephemerality enforced my now founded belief that documentary is the arguably the purest form of filmmaking, even if you completely experiment and distort its ideology. I would love to work on an experimental documentary again in the future; seeking out new (probably old) eras, formats, structures and charachters I can fall for.


thankyou Jesse Mico, Alexander Shaw, Duncan Roxburgh, Jonny Woo, David Knight, Ian Collison, John Ralph, Richmix, Video Europe...

...and a special thank you to Alice Ralph

...and to Fanny Hoetzeneder & Ekim Acun my (beloved) VHS camera crew.

transmission woo - specialist portfolio

Documents

collective project

presentation of documentary

umbrella of documentary

thomas ralph

short film fanboy

queen jonny woo

online short film world

colourful graduation