Films - Magic and Illusion

The difference between photo and film is that a photo captures just one 'thing' at one time whereas a film is produced by thousands of photos that create the illusion of movement.

Looking at the history of films the name Eadweard Muybridge comes up. Muybridge was an English photographer who got hired by a businessman and race-horse owner for some photographic studies in 1872. Muybridge should proof that all four feet of a horse were off the ground at the same time while trotting. To find that out he used 12 different cameras photographing a galloping horse in a sequence of shots. That was the first time that people could see a horse moving by using photographs.

Eadweard Muybridge impresses me with his work a lot. He knew he had to look at the issue differently than all the other people to come up with a solution. The most important thing for a photographer is to bring a new view to the world and that is exactly what Muybridge did.

The task ask us to produce a short film and add magic to it by using maximum three edits. My group decided to create a film which reminds on an old black and white French film. Therefore we did not use any voices but instead a typical silent film music and created a story in black and white. We used a happy music to convey a happy and playful atmosphere.

To stress that point we were looking for a light background which would might show the sun.

Our story is about two girls which do not know each other. Both girls are sitting on benches located in a park to create a peaceful atmosphere. The one girl is sitting on the right side of the foreground facing the camera so she is a point of interest referring to the rule of thirds. The other girl is also facing the camera but she is sitting on the left side of the background. Because of that the image has depths of field which creates the illusion of being three dimensional.

The girl in the front is about to eat a chocolate bar. At the same time the other girl is playing with a stone.

At the very moment when the girl in the front takes the first bite the chocolate bar and stone switch so she actually bites into the stone. She is disused and cannot understand what just happened. The other girl is surprised but happy about her new chocolate bar.

To convey harmony in our film we set up our setting basing on the golden ratio. We also looked for balance to have symmetry while placing both girls on each side.

 

I enjoyed producing the film because I got to experience how to use short cuts. In addition I understand better how magic actually works in films. Furthermore I learned not just to take a random video but to think about the light, place and composition to convince the audience.

However, it was difficult to make a smooth transition. We have done it by filming the whole time while both actress were holding still and another person (not seen in the video) switches the stone with the chocolate bar. Afterwards we cut that part out of our final version.