Ex 4: Translation (One-Shot) Process

Final Video: https://vimeo.com/364633539

Keita Morimoto, Night Owls, 48 x 60" oil on linen, 2017

Sketchbook notes, Visual Sequence Map 

Design Document

About the Art/ist: Keita Morimoto is a Japanese-Canadian artist and OCAD alumni based in Toronto. His recent works include candid scenes of downtown street life presented in a vividly surreal light. Morimoto's 2017 painting Night Owls takes place in Chinatown and features his girlfriend and fellow artist Megan Ellen, as well as two iconic establishments in the background.

Selected Work: I selected Night Owls for film adaptation for the following reasons: first, Morimoto’s urban paintings stood out to me because their ability to instantly transport the city viewer in to a mysteriously familiar world. The particular location of Night Owls is of particular socio-historical interest, due to a controversy surrounding the reconstruction ('gentrification') of the left corner building (as seen in the left edge of the frame). The subjects in the painting create an additional layer of narrative interest, in the apparent disconnect between the two parties and the countenance of the girl. Altogether, the elements and context of the painting stimulated my cinematographic imagination and seemed to make a suitable adaptation project.

Method

• An adaptation approach was selected due to the recreatable realism of the original artwork, the intention to compare/explore the neighbourhood changes from 2017-2019 as well as the idea to reconstruct the ‘story behind the painting’.
• The Fujifilm X-T100 is lightweight and offers precise colour temperature, white balance and colour tint controls which was used to preset a 'surreal' colour scheme inspired by the original.
• To set the scene, the Fujifilm X-T100 on tripod was adjusted to match the frame, angle of the original painting as closely as possible.
• No additional light was employed beside existing street lighting as they appeared adequate.
• No camera movement was needed – the shot relied on the movement of actors and natural traffic in the background to make the painted scene ‘come alive’.
• Actors were directed to enter in to the scene one at a time for a natural progression, and some directed acting was involved to help conjure a silent story of an unknown object spotting outside the frame.
• The buildup of expectation is the ‘completion’ of the painting re-creation, and a possible reveal of what each party is looking at (which is never resolved). 
• Numerous test shots were deployed to refine angle, colour/lighting and timing of background traffic elements. About 8 full takes were done after test shots, for the selection of one with the optimal background traffic, timing and performance.

Night Owls Re-Imagined Rationale

The concept and goal for my exercise was to recreate the scene of a painting in a way that both offers a “retelling” of the story behind the painting, as well as the altered perspective of another in the same place. To do this, a silent still-frame short film was designed with actors implying a progression of events. The camera was set up for a still frame because additional movement would take away from the natural flow of movement within the scene. Actors were directed to enter in to the scene one at a time for a natural progression, and some directed acting was involved to help conjure a silent story of an unknown object spotting outside the frame. The contrasting mood of the middle ground and foreground actors were made distinct through entry points, speed of movement, body language and facial expressions. No eye contact is made between parties to further create an unsettling disconnect - as if the foreground figure is entranced in another world. Together, the still frame, altered lighting, ‘candid acting’ and a normal street background with no audio conjures a mixed sense of familiarity and strangeness as experienced in Night Owls.

Workflow Sheet

Title of Project: Night Owls Re-Imagined
Length/Duration: 34 secs
Presentation specs: Vimeo 1080HD
Frame Size: 1920 x 1080
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate: 24fps

Other Specs: MOV video format

Approach: Still frame observing natural flow of traffic, candid actors recreating ‘snapshot’ in painting

Summary/Description: A still-frame recreation of the story behind Night Owls, through slightly coloured lens.
Production Design: In-camera ‘surreal’ colour scheme (pink-violet tint), in-camera light temperature adjustment ~5,000K, found cityscape, no props
Audio: none
Software/Hardware Required: Fujifilm X-T100, tripod, Adobe Premiere Pro CC 2019
Research/Anticipated challenges: night lighting, matching frame/angle of original painting, traffic/background elements, safety of actors on streetcar tracks