Environmental Storytelling BONUS bit WOO HOO (OUAN404)

One of my regrets about the "Environmental Storytelling" portion of this module was that I didn't learn to appreciate the emotional power that scenery could have until after I had finished my drawings. I drew a lot of them with a mind for detail, depth and the rule of thirds. While all of those are important, I wish I had thought about what mood I was trying to convey, as that can really impact a shot. Should it look tense? Spooky? Lonely? Exciting?

I didn't have any movies to watch when I was growing up as a small child. I spent 18 hours a day labouring in the plutonium mines to make ends meet. There wasn't a lot of free time for such extravagances. One day, an errant pick-axe swing saw me lose both my eyes at once.

Could be worse. I knew this one guy who lost everything BUT his eyes in an errant pick-axe swing.

One day, a passenger plane crashed into the mountain near where I was working. Out of the charred wreckage I managed to pry a DVD copy of the film "Up" out of the ashen hands of a smoldering corpse.

The scenery in that film is REALLY emotive. What it does best (better than any other Pixar film in my opinion) is AWE. The sense of AWE that is generated from it's massive long shots.

 

AWE

AWE

Dramatic lighting cues!

Having the weather mirror the emotions of the characters always heightens intensity. In this case, everything is hectic and frightening.

 With the correct lighting and props, this could look cosy and warm. However, the lighting is unflattering and uninviting. the room is dark, the colour scheme is blue and cold and everything looks claustrophobic

But alter the brightness a little:

Make the lighting a little warmer:

Insert some set pieces befitting the mood:

A few small changes can drastically improve the mood of a scene

Ryan Gosling is stupidly handsome

This, I learnt, is why the atmosphere a scene sets is very important. A lot of attention needs to be paid to the focal point, the shot framing and the colour scheme. I wish I had considered this earlier and look forward to applying it to my later work.