role: cinematographer ## Inquiry Our film "When the Water Boils Over" is based on a poem we were given -- Still I Rise by Maya Angelou. The poem is a powerful declaration of resislience against oppression and calls the readers to rise against the inequality in the US in the 1970s. Instead of aiming to capture the orignal spirit of the film, we decide to interpret the poem, especially its title "still I rise" through a different lens. Based on our daily realities at school, we ultimate decide to make a poem a reflection on the academic pressure in our learning environment. "Still I rise" in this sense becomes, not a fight against a certain oppressive force, but a self-enforced slavery toward a certain imaginary goal. One imagines himself to be "rising" against every day, but unwaware that he has become his own slave by constantly putting pressure on themself without addressing their true need and true self, trapped in cycles of work. The film is inpired by *The Burnout Society* by Byung-Chul Han. A quote from the original work: > “Achievement society is the society of self-exploitation. The achievement-subject exploits itself until it burns out." As a result, this film is an effort to capture this phenomenon of self-enforced pressure & self-exploitation in an academic setting. ## Intention - [ ] to capture the silent desperation the protagonist is trapped within - [ ] to create a sense of tension throughout the film - [ ] to use a mix of camera movements and positions to portray different phases the character experiences - [ ] contrast the still shots indoor with the volatile outdoor shots ## Action In pre-production, I made To illustrate the concept of "rising", we chose the staircase as a main symolism. For composition, I used of handrail as visual guiding line. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] For the indoor shots, I mainly used still shots on tripod. I wanted the camera to be non-intrusive and a quiet observer. As a result, most of the shots are remain distant from the character. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] For the outdoor shot, I used handheld camera to create a shaky effect and capture the tension of the protagonist rushing to school. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] For this scene, I used a wide shot and a wide-angle lens. The protagonist only occupies the left side of the screen, to the left of the pillar and almost hidden behind the fridge. This underlines the emptiness of the room by contrasting the character with her surrounding. The room is empty, yet the protagonist is fighting against herself and continue adding pressure to herself. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] I also chose this angle for a panning short -- I panned the camera to the right, pointing at the corridor in which the protagonism walks out. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] In this shot, I placed the character behind the pillar, to create the effect that the camera is sneaking behind the pillar and quietly observing. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] I used a close-up shot for the pot when the water boils, because it is the main theme of the film. ![[CleanShot 2025-05-24 at [email protected]]] ## Reflection ### Use of Camera This is my first time using a real camera, and I am definitely not good at it. A lot of the images were over-exposed, and the white balance was pretty screwed up in some shots. Some shots were not even in focus. I need to familarize myself with the camera settings. ### Storyboard? I didn't do a detailed storyboard, and a lot of shots were decided on the spot. A benefit of this is that I can adjust freely according to the contions at the spot and find new angles that I woudn't have imagined before hand. The downside is that it risked increasing the risk of missing essential coverage. ### Committment I have to admit that I ddin't fully commit myself to this film. I was sort of thinking, ok this is the first group film, and let's just see how it goes. I love the original idea of our film to capture the academic pressure, but after the script is out it just doesn't feel quite right, and are lacking key elements to make it a great film. Like I mean it doesn't even have a clear plotline. The things we want to stress are not clear enough. However, I didn't know how to fix it. So I was like, let's just go and see. As a result, I shot some of the shots without a clear picture of how it fits in the the big picture, and I just shoot and ticked all the shots according to the script. Most of the shots should not be extremely mediocore.