Contacting Indépendant Filmmaker: Jesse Weathington

I believe that in order for me to produce a successful trailer it would help to seek some advise of other independent filmmakers who have experience in the horror genre, I emailed Jesse Weathington who is a cinematographer from Los Angeles in America and he was kind enough to send me some top tips on how to make an effective production. Jesse Weathington has produced some excellent work creating films such as “the stalker” and “tracks” in LA and the images are the covers for his films.

This is the emails and advice he gave me.

 

Hi,

I’m a fan of your work and I would love a few pointers on how to make an effective production for the Horror genre, would appreciate any tips.
Sincerely,

Greg.

REPLY:

Hi Greg,

Just for starters:

Locate a good DOP who works fast and understands the horror genre. Lighting for horror or suspense is important. The lighting itself becomes the hidden "third character" which enhances your script. It's NOT about how many lights you use, but how one light is placed to do two jobs and create the look. Second, focus on your shot list, along with your shooting schedule. The more prepared you are the smoother the shoot. The DoP should help you with this. A good stunt guy and makeup person is another priority. Your DoP needs action experience to help "sell the shot" on screen. With horror, you don't need a lot of money or big stars to get noticed or to attract a  distribution deal.

JW

The advice I was given will help my production, I can take on board the tips he has given me and apply them to my work and also use them as a referral device when doing my production. I can take away from this the importance of lighting that Jesse Weathington mentions and also its significance in becoming 'a 3rd person'. He also stresses the importance of referring back to shot lists and scripts therefore by doing this I can ensure myself that my planning will enhance my production. 

Casting Information and Theory

It is important that when I cast for my characters I take into account narrative theories and show that I am assembling the correct common conventions in order for my audience to gain the best possible understanding of my characters. I want to achieve the broad character types in my production but at the same time I wish to pick people who can be unique and achieve the roles I wish for them to fulfill. Another important aspect I need to take into account is to get the correct representations of youth.

Using casting/character theory helps in researching and appreciates the structure of different roles in media characters.

Goffman’s (1959) character theory can help me sum up my youth characters I plan on casting and it can help me find a -

• The Protagonist, the leading character of my film, referring to my script ideas I believe Youth 1 would take control as this character, although I plan on making this character possess a way of cruelty when looking at the conflict of villain/hero he would most certainly offer the leading defense of all three youths.

• The Deuteragonist, the secondary character of my film, Youth 2 would fall under this character type, as he is the only other youth who offers enough narrative for my audience to understand this.

• The Bit Player, the minor character whose specific background the audience is not aware of, finally in terms of youth characters it would be Youth 3, this minor character is displayed clearly as I plan to have him as a smaller build to the others who takes orders and also is shown attacked at the end of the trailer.

Propp’s (1969) character theory can help me further sum up my character and content of my production-

• The Villain, this can clearly define my antagonist Rick Strangle, as a character type he needs to have a certain fear factor about them and also be willing to experiment with a range of costume/make up designs.

With all my characters now defined under certain character theory, my casting needs to take into account all these characterizations but at the same time I do need to twist some generic conventions to benefit my audiences needs and create something unique.

Production: Blog Update

During the run up to my exam for media, my blog has received less attention but as I come to an end of the pre-production package I have now got to scan in my storyboards and make sure all my casting, location choices are justified before I begin my production. I am looking forward to starting the production very soon and allowing myself enough time to go through the editing process professionally. 

Lighting in Film

Filmmaking does rely on capturing light as it can be used to assist the meaning of the production. Light in film can be produced by; the sun, the moon, existing light sources or using powerful artificial light. The way the scene or shot is lit does influence the audience’s gratifications.

The lighting can also help the audience understand the production values and quality, therefore it is important for me in my production to make sure the light is well placed and planned. By doing this I can avoid my viewers thinking my production is amateur. It also possible to consider lighting in terms of genre, for example Documentary’s use natural light so it connotes to the audience. Horror genre would use torchlight or something to connote fear.

Allen Daviau said "why we hate multiple cameras: because we light differently for close-ups." This is a quote from the book ‘Twenty-one Cinematographers at Work’; this makes it clear to me that I need to consider separate lighting for each camera shot if I am using multiple shots simultaneously, this way I can get the correct lighting.

High Key Brightness

There are different elements of lighting:

Brightness- the biggest difference when it comes to brightness selection is high and low key brightness with a mutual mid-key brightness.  Yielding average brightness is mid-key lighting. Brightness can be used to depict the drama of the scene. High key is preferred in a scene when there is a lot more action where as low-key lighting should ne applied to a stretched slow drama scene. In terms of my production I should look to be using high-key brightness that connotes high-speed action and tension, which is part of what I am trying to achieve in my film trailer.

Contrast- the specific meaning behind contrast is the balance of pure white and black tones in a piece of footage/image. Low contrast appear easy to the eye where as high contrast is sharp and uses a more diverse range. The use of high contrast is used in other real media examples to heighten drama and allow the audience to have a better understanding.

Quality of light- this can be defined through hard or soft light, the hard quality light features dark shadows with very sharp shadows whilst soft light gas diffused shadows. In my production blending the two in different scenes to create Claude Levi Strauss’s binary oppositions could be used.

Focus- this is the overall sharpness of an image; altering the focus levels can create a very soft or sharp image. The depth of field can further measure focus; different lenses can produce different depths of field. There can be both shallow and deep focus.

Deep perspective

Perspective- I must ensure that the depth is not decompressed in order for my footage to appear sluggish and slow, as the generic conventions of my genre require some fast paced shots that is achieved through a deeper perspective.

Color- otherwise known as hue can be manipulated through lighting, shooting in color which applies to me of course allows for more aesthetic variables so I need to take into consideration overall hue, the means a scene can be tinted, for my production I will consider using a dark blue tint which will give me the sinister horror effect. This would be considered a cool hue.