Cineroman

Cineroman – Does our makeup define us as a person? Does it give us more confidence?

For my Cineroman I chose the subject of make-up, questioning if it improves a person’s confidence. This may lead the viewer to delve deeper into thought about society pushing us to be perfect. Throughout social media and magazines there is a clear image for both males and female which we conform to and forget what natural beauty is. The Cineroman I have produced reflects this, showing growing confidence in the female whilst applying her ‘confidence make-up’.

The pictures start with low lighting, gradually becoming lighter as time goes on representing confidence building up to the subject metaphorically. To achieve this, I had to reduce the lighting in an over-lit area because of the natural sunlight in the location I produced the shoot in. Also, the different colour temperatures of daylight and the interior light produced an unbalanced effect. Therefore, I blocked out sunlight from the windows, toning down the lighting.

The final piece mainly consists of medium close ups, I thought this frame size was best to use because the subject is the main focus of the Cineroman. Using a medium close up meant that I could focus on the face detail rather than the surrounding environment. There is some variation as I also make use of close up shots. By doing this, I can focus on primarily the face, in particular the shots in the mirror consist of intimate shots of the subject. “An audience member should be totally focused on the human face with this framing.” “This shot shows who but not so much where or when.” (Thompson, 2009: 19). This is what I was aiming for as I wanted the view for the audience to concentrate on the subject only.

Some examples of other Cineromans I looked at included Deadline (Vimeo). This consisted of a voiceover and dark images throughout. There was a little music toward the end of the piece, however, I decided to pair my images with music throughout. This enables the audience to think for themselves without a narrative voice guiding them to a direction of thought. It enables the viewer to use their own imagination and I feel the melody enhances the flow of images.

I decided to pick an uplifting choice of music to add to the cineroman. Due to the fact the underlying message is all about confidence, I chose this piece because it flows well with the speed of the images. The music slowly builds to express a more cheery tune rather, reflecting the happiness of the subject at the end of the Cineroman. “Music is one of the most powerful tools at your disposal. In films, music tells the audience how they should feel about a scene, and it can be used for everything from helping to establish a sense of location to setting a mood to embellishing an atmosphere.” (Schenk, 2015: 412).

References:

Thompson, R. and Bowen, C. (2009) Grammar of the edit, 2^nd edition, Oxford: Elsevier.

Schenk, S. and Long, B. (2015) The Digital Filmmaking Handbook, 5^th edition, Boston: Cengage learning.