I ONLY HAVE TWO HANDS
I have a confession to make: I’m not a cinematographer.
Don’t get me wrong, I know how to operate a camera. In a pinch, I can put together a pretty nice looking image. But my main skills are in directing (and writing, and editing).
I am also not a production designer, a costume designer, or a makeup artist. And even for other film crew positions that I am experienced with (if you’re looking for a good AC or someone to join the grip department, hit me up), they aren’t things I can effectively do while directing. Not to mention that working with other skilled artists gives more opportunities for collaboration and new ideas. So I need a crew.
And when that crew comes on, I need to show them what the film should look like. That’s where the mood board comes in. (You could also make a lookbook, there's a lot of crossover).
BUT I HAVE ONE MOOD BOARD
A mood board is a curated compilation of images put together to show off the desired aspects of a film. In If There’s An Emergency’s case, I compiled a mood board that displays my thoughts on cinematography, lighting, color spaces, angles in specific scenes, characters, wardrobes, props, and effects.
Because I’m a bit of a slideshow fangirl (I’ve helped put on a PowerPoint party before), I built my board out as a PowerPoint presentation. I sourced my images from…everywhere (there were a lot of Google searches). But a major source was [FILMGRAB], which hosts collections of good quality stills from hundreds of films.
HERE’S YOUR ONE EXAMPLE
This is the Lighting page, in case you were unable to read the spot that says lighting immediately above the picture. First is a grab from news footage that I found through a Google search. Second and third are photos taken by Nan Goldin (she’s pretty cool, an Oscar-nominated documentary was made about her). And the fourth is a still from Do the Right Thing.
The actual description of lighting is sparse. It's just there to give an idea about the overall lighting direction. The presentation includes stills for specific scenes as well to give more information. So I can show this to the Director of Photography and the Gaffer, and together we can figure out how to create this style.
AND I GUESS ONE PROCESS?
After I laid out the structure of my board, it was off to providing examples for each section. For a given section, I would decide what I was looking for. Perhaps there was a similar shot from a movie. Maybe I would do a targeted search for images like “large apartment living room”. Sometimes I just browsed stills from movies until I found one that I felt fit somewhere.
I then laid it out on the page, organizing in a thematic and/or chronological layout. Then I added a short description to the page.
And that’s it. This isn't a time-consuming process. The hardest part by far is sorting through images until you find the perfect one. After that, it's basically just making a slideshow.
NOW THAT FINISHES THIS ONE BLOG POST
So now the mood board has been put together. Next up, I’m going to put together some write-ups for the characters and will create a post about building an initial animatic. Subscribe to catch this and all of my other ramblings!
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