#cinematorgraphy

Meet Imani Belser!

Our cinematographer. Imani was born and raised in Brooklyn New York. “Growing up in one of the most diverse cities in the world in poverty, I got a lot of perspective from being exposed to so many different people and cultures. This definitely influences my style as a DP when it comes to framing and composition. My goal is to be able to influence kids like me, who grew up in the hood, by creating a platform and opportunities for them through my success. I will start a production company one day. By us and for us!”-Imani

The aim of the brief was to explore the relationship between the viewer and the artwork I create. In this project we were asked to produce 6 illustrated frames from a chosen film that showed a range of techniques and processes. The context of the assignment was to develop an understanding of the relationship between art and film and the link between still and moving images. When we received the brief we straight away looked at Edward Hopper. We used this a case study to research a artist known for the cinematic quality of his artwork. Before this project i hadn’t looked at any of his artwork, what i found interesting was the way he communicated the story of the character through his paintings and drawings. This would then become more relevant as then we would explore some of his techniques to develop our own ideas. I found working from a case study quite challenging as some of the techniques and processes are out of my comfort zone. We have been introduced to artists such as Edward Hopper, Jean-Michel Basquiet, Paul Rand and Saul Bass, however I feel The artist that most inspires me is Paul Rand because he is a logo designer and he uses simple and solid colours to still symbolise meaning, he has designed logos for ABC, NEXT, UPS and IBM, these are all well know logos and still used to this day, I use his technique because I think if something can be simple but communicate a complex meaning then that makes it just as successful as a complex graphic that only tells its audience one meaning or no meaning at all. the value of this research helped me understand the basics of how to send a message using simplification as a primary graphic technique.

His use of solid colours have influenced me to work with digital processes and experiment more with colour and techniques In my illustrations, so that I can create effective pieces of work. For example in one of my developments I made a simple illustration using Adobe Illustrator to create a cartooned version of Sarah Connor, the protagonist of the terminator (1984). I drew round the image of Sarah Connor using the pen tool and added a stroke, I then used the colour picker to pick just one solid colour to be applied to the different shapes e.g. her face and hair. The overall effect of the image was quite flat and the use of solid colours made the the image quite boring, I then wondered how I could implement this with a analogue process. I found that mixing inks in over the top of a print out still created quite a dull, boring piece of art, but the process allowed me to test and prove that I could mix the two processes to possibly create a communicative piece of artwork.

Edward Hopper has also inspired me to try more analogue processes that I wasn’t confident in before, for example dry point. When we started dry pointing I wasn’t confident but seeing his work and seeing what effect it communicates and the message it gives and also the texture it has, seeing his work do this has made me want to push myself out of my comfort zone and try more techniques and give my work the same effect and meaning. I think I was quite experimental with visual language within my work for example I used ‘line’ in my work by adding strokes to images, this gives the effect that whatever is using a stroke is something that you want the audience to focus on. I’ve used ‘tone’ by using drawing ink on tracing paper to paint all the dark tonal points within the frame, after I then scanned it in and manipulated it because I could then change what ever I wanted about the image so it was more understandable to the audience.
I’ve used ‘texture’ also in my artwork by making my own textures using processing such as marbling and using water colours this will add vibrancy to my work and add life to frame of my chosen film.

In my work I have used materials such as cartridge paper, tracing paper, watercolour, drawing ink and oil based ink, the effect of using these materials is I can create a natural looking piece of work using ink, paper or watercolours, in my work I have used dry point, mono printing, painting, carbon transferring and also I have used tracing, the effect you get from using these is that because they’re all analogue processes you cant control what happens so it allows you create an effect thats works but you didn’t mean to make it, this makes it more unique, I also used drawing ink with a quill and traced my close up of terminator and when the ink bonded with itself it created a dark and light separation and a gradient effect. 
I have used a collection of processes, analogue and digital these are both successful ways, because with analogue sometimes you cant control the effect it gives, however with digital you can scan the analog process in and change it using hue, saturation, levels. Therefore it affected my creative decisions because before trying out all these different analogue processes I wanted to do just do digital, but now I’ve tried these new processes I will use them more often within my work. Also all these materials and techniques I will also use within my work.

John Wick (2014) Directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch

John Wick (2014) Directed by Chad Stahelski and David Leitch