The Confession of Pain: The Camera Behind The Video

The Camera Behind The Confession of Pain

    Lighting played a big part in the piece. It had to be coordinated with the animation and the movement of the camera. When thinking about color, I chose red. It is the first thing that comes to my mind when thinking about pain and probably to many others. It worked well with the color of the walls (the green and yellow wallpaper), which again had a symbolic meaning, the color- green representing ill health. In my concept, the room in which the elderly woman stood had to become progressively overfilled with the color red, together with her increased limping and distorted body movement. It was to visualise the chronic pain which spreads and sometimes leads the way of life. Just like it, the model is going in the direction of the red light, which leads her further into the labyrinth. Camera movement and angles became very important to me. I wanted the audience to be immersed in what has become a quite cinematographic experience. In the meantime of creating the video, I got inspired by the way Stanley Kubrick directed his scenes. He is known for using the one-point perspective shot in which the whole focus of the scene leads to a specific point:

A Shot from a Movie Shining by Stanley Kubrick

A Shot from a Movie Shining by Stanley Kubrick

    Here is an example of how I used the perspective of a camera when shooting the video:

    The way the director used camera movement has also inspired me to experiment more with it and the way I introduce and lead the audience's gaze by following the elderly woman. I wanted the meeting point to be an unexpected moment, but at the same time, I wanted to prepare the viewer, by building tension before. To do that, I used slow camera movement coming forward through the corridor. Then I made it take a turn to the left, which would make the atmosphere quite unsettling as the viewer does not know what awaits them. The camera is in full control of what the audience sees. 

    The first meeting point of the audience and the character was a crucial moment. At the first the elderly woman appeared as a blurred figure, quite a distance away from the viewer. As the video progresses the camera moves closer to the woman. When her face is finally visible, the red light comes on.

Before Taking the Turn

Facing the Character

The Appearance of the Woman

    As the red light intensifies, the camera moves away from the woman, shortly cutting to a different shot. In the new scene, two legs of the character become the focal point. This important shot becomes the moment the movement of the woman is revealed to the audience. As the camera follows the character, her limping becomes more apparent, progressively becoming more distorted and exaggerated.

    This is the scene in which the camera starts following the character. The woman is not a threat anymore - the viewer is taken along on her difficult journey. The different angles of the camera allow the audience to see various sides of the character and her movement before finally facing her again. In the last shots of the film. the camera stalks the approaching woman from a distance. As she takes the exact turn that the viewer has taken at the beginning of the film, the camera creeps on the character liting her and the room in bright white light, dimming the red.