Health and Safety

We have had to consider our heath and safety for our project, this because we are using realistic weapons in a public place. we have considered members of the public being scared or worried about the goings on in our horror (e.g. the kill scene). to combat this problem we will have a member of crew,l wearing a high visibility jacket with a dedicated phone line on the back (a mobile number, where they can call for a brief description of what we are doing); along with that the in tire crew will be wearing a high visibility jackets that say crew on the back. we will also ask Scott if he will over see our shooting as a responsible adult. we may also consider having a trained first aider on set.

we have also got in contact with the local police dept. and are awaiting for a response to our phone call to set up a recorded meeting to explain our project and our intentions. we have also written a letter to inform them of our goings on. this is shown below;

9^th December 2010

To Whom It May Concern

I am writing to inform you that we will be shooting a horror film sequence for our AS Media Studies Project.  This will include the use of realistic looking weapons (e.g. knife). This will be shot around dusk/ night near Olympus house. We will inform you of the dates nearer the time of shooting this. We will also inform Olympus House of these events.

This is part of our Media Studies course and it involves filming an opening scene for our chosen genre. We have selected the Horror genre. We have planned out our script and costumes for this over the last few weeks. All members of our group will be wearing high visibility jackets during filming.  Group members include: Connor Page, Francesca Williams, Ryan Newson and Liam Oliver. Also Sophie Stokes will be involved as an actress on this day.

We will have a dedicated help line displayed around the set where any member of the public can call to be informed of the current events in place.  A risk assessment will be carried out prior filming.  We kindly request your Consent to these events; if you have any queries please contact Connor Page on  07807 070458 or contact Roberto DeVita at Ken Stimpson Community School.

Yours sincerely

StandHardProductions                      R De Vita

                                                          Media Studies Teacher (KSCS)

Clothing Research

We have started research into clothing for our Opening Scene. We have also looked into buying hi vis jacket to alert members of the public that we are part of the filming. The below print screen shows that 4 high vis jackets would cost £5.20 and 4 Jackets with print on the back would cose £16.20.

The i-pod we will have to borrow of someone and the Machette we will eaither had to  borrow or buy.

The below screen shot shows the estimated price of buying a Machette:

Becasue of the weather being cold we have done some research into buying a read coat for the actress, below is a print screen of the estimated price for this, the price would be £3.69 including postage;

 We have experimented with various fonts for out titles, these are shown below:

We have decided on the last font. We will do this in red and white so it flashes on the black background like a heart beat. The sketchy text indicates the disturbed mind of the killer, and the red colour indicates danger.

Analysing 'The life of a bullet' Lord of War intro.

I've chosen to do a quick analysis of this as we plan to attempt to do a POV shot of a weapon in our project.

The POV of the bullet, adds more drama into the images, and involves the audience with the action more, making them feel like its them in the images place. This added depth. Putting this into an intro sequence is a very good way to create enigma and draw the audience in making them wanting to watch more.

In 'Lord of War', we follow the life of a bullet, from production, to shipping, to usage. The usage of it, shows it contact with someones head, kiling them instantly. The end of the bullets life, and the persons. We watch the bullets whole life, beginning to end and, essentially, how it was 'born' just to kill. This could, in some way, relate to the soldiers, or insurgents?

Following the life of just one single bullet, and that being the one and only bullet to contact with, and kill the person could relate to showing how much difference just one person/thing can make. Possibly, also, just how much destruction/devestation one person/thing can cause.

Codes and Conventions of horror.

This type of genre strives to educe fear and apprehension from their viewers by colliding supernatural into reality situations. Everything a normal society values is systematically destroyed throughout the film. It often can be completely paranormal without any reality whatsoever and are based on classic literature of the gothic/horror genre. They can also incorporate elements of other genres such as science fiction (sci-fi), fantasy, black comedies or thriller. Modernized horrors usually contain graphic violence or bloody gore. Horror films differentiate due to the years and so it is much harder to compare or group them largely and so contrasts between them become very clear.

 o Preliminary introduction into ordinary lifestyle
o Type of bizarre murder/death – killer maybe known or unknown
o Credits follow horror theme – creepy font, title movement, image eg pumpkin, weapon, etc
o Main characters introduced – young/ youthful
o Teenage kids – easy target also vulnerable – home alone
o Teenagers usually a couple – football jock boyfriend and cheerleader blonde bimbo girlfriend.
o Mysterious phone calls – dubbed sinister voice “Who’s There…?”
o Family ties broken
o Sisters killed by brothers e.g: Halloween
o Sometimes unsuccessful acts of heroism
o Victim unprotected
o Superhuman killer – doesn’t die successfully = sequels

-Source; http://smay-fuller-suttonmediaas.blogspot.com/2008/12/codes-and-conventions-of-horror-film.html

Meeting.

Myself and Connor Page had a meeting yesterday after school at Olympus house (the location of where we will be shooting) to go over ideas and give ourselves a brief idea of how they would play out. Whilst doing this, we planted a few more ideas and tweaked a few of the other shots. Our product will now be more finalised with the new ideas we came up with to close off the scene.

Group Meeting

We have been having multipul group meetings recently to keep up our progress on our post-production. Our storyboard is currently in draft form with the final peice being drawn up.

We had a group meeting today to go over our final draft of the storyboard to make sure all ideas are included before the final copy is drawn up by Ryan Newson.

DEADLINES

Today we recieved our deadline for our post production work.

It needs to be completed by the 10th of December - 20 days from now.

This includes, Storyboards, Shooting list, Scripts and Research.

Storyboard ruff draft is complete, and Research is continous.

Mise en Scéne

MISE EN SCÉNE

Mise en Scéne is a Frecnh term meaning what is put into the scene or frame. What is put in or left out can make a big difference to the signals we, the audience, receive about what sort of film it is and how we are supposed to feel at this point.

A simple shot of a tree can be made to look threatening by stripping it of leaves, adding a vulture and some lightening and shooting it in darkness. The same tree can be given a very different look by having children playing beneath its sunlit branches. As an experienced film audience we are able to read these hidden signals of lighting, colour, props and characters and add these to our understanding of what will happen in the film.

In this way, the elements of mise en scéne are an indicator as to the genre (type) of film we are watching. We have certain expectations of the mise en scéne in different genres of films; e.g. Horror; Dark, creepy, evil.
Comedy; Bright, colourful, lively.

The elements to consider in the mise en scéne are:
a) settings & props
b) costume, hair & make-up
c) facial expressions & body language
d) lighting & colour
e) position ing of characters & objects within a frame

Heres a brief look at each of these in turn;

SETTINGS & PROPS

SETTINGS:

The settings used in a film are very rarely just backgrounds to the characters' dialogue and indeed we will often see shots of places without any action taking place. In this way the setting of a film is far more significant than the setting of a theatre and is almost always infinitely more detailed. Filmmakers can choose to build a setting from scratch using the bare walls and floor of a studio set; alternatively, a great deal of time and effort is put in by a location manager in the initial stages of making a fil;m to find a setting which already exists. Invariably this location will then be altered further to reflect exactly what the filmmaker wants to convery.

Settings can be used to manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then the action takes a different turn, for instance, a tale of horror set against the familiar background of modern everyday urban life is showhow more disturbing than one set a century ago in a house in the wooods. This can be particularaly effective if the setting goes against what we would expect from this genre of film.

PROPS:

Props is the term we give to objects in the setting which play a part in the action, rather than just being part of the background, for example, the glass containing the poisioned wine.


COSTUME, HAIR & MAKEUP

COSTUME:

Costume plays a large part in the mise en scéne because it can be an instant indicator to us of a character's personality, social status and job. It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society and/or culture it will centre around. It may also provide a clue as to the part of the caracter will play in the action. Certain types of costume are identified closely with indicidual genres, for instance, the black cloak of the vampire with a horror film.

MAKE UP:

In the early days of cinema, make-up was used to highlight facial features as black and white film stock could not register detail very well. Certain genres traditionally use make-up more than others.


FACIAL EXPESSIONS & BODY LANGUAGE

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS:

When we watch a performance at the theatre we, as the audience, are usually quite a distance away from the stage. On film, the camera can be at a range of distances portraying the actor in extreme close-up or as a dot in the distance of a long shot. This range of distance means that there will be different emphasis placed on facial expressions and body language according to the type of shot.

We are all familiar with facial expressions as being a clear indicator of how someone is feeling and how small changes to someone's face can send out totally different signals; if someone is smiling broadly we assume they are happy, but if this is held for too long we being to worry as this is not normal behaviour. Eyes give particularly important signals to us when we are trying to read someone's expression and  it is usual for us to follow the direction of their sight, so if a filmmaker wants to draw attention to a feature s/he can use this to make the audience focus on something or someone in the frame.

BODY LANGUAGE:

The way in which we hold and move our  bodies also indicates how we are thinking and feeling. As with facial expression, everyone is different, but there are some things which we all recognise such as curling up into a ball to protect ourselves or shaking a fist at someone to express anger.

Some films will call for a realisitc type of behaviour from the actors but some will rely on the audience's acceptance that in watching a film they will see some patterns of behaviour which don't usally happen in real life -  for instance, when a character bursts into song in a musical.


LIGHTING & COLOUR

LIGHTING:

Lighting can aim to give a particular scene a very realistic look or to bring out the dramatic nature of it and we associate these different lighting styles with different genres. It can be used to achieve a variety of a effects, for example;

• To highlight important characters or objects within the frame by drawing our attention towards them with a bright light source.
• To make a  character look mysterious by shading sections of the face/body.
• To reflect a character's confused state of mind may be suggested by alternating bright and dark light quickly as in a strobe effect.

COLOUR:

The connotations that colour carries with it are an important influence as to the mood of a scene. We tend to associate certain colours with certain genres particularly with reference to film posters and publicity materials which rely on the public quickly being able to identify with a film even from a distance.


POSITIONING OF CHARACTERS & OBJECTS WITHIN A FRAME

There are various ways in which the filmmaker can use positioning within the frame. For instance;

• If the filmmaker chooses to position a character or an object in the foreground of the shot we know that we, as an audience, should attach importance to this character or object; the mise en scéne is being used to direct our attention towards them. Likewise, we recognise that background events have less significance at this particular point in the narrative.
• A moving body or object placed against a stationary background will immediately draw our attention as it would in real life.
• If characters or objects are positioned evenly within the frame this will give a balanced feel ot the shot. If all the figures are at one end of the frame for example, this will create an imbalance for the eye by making the shot feel heavy on one side. These different types of spacing within the shot can be used to make the audience feel settled or unsettled, thus involving them in the action.
• If the positioning of figures and objects draws our atttention to the diagonal lines of the frame, this will help to inbalance the eye, especially if the lines of the background follow horizontal and vertical planes. This can be used to make the audience feel uncomfortable about the action that is taking place.
• The filmmaker can use positioning to indicate relationships between people, for example, if lovers are having an argument they will often be placed at the outside edges of the grame so there is a lot of physical distance between them to reflect the emotional distance they are experiencing at this point.

Juno

(5/11/10)  Our group planned a storyboard to help us film a practice video. are task was to reconstruct an opening silimar to the one seen in the film "Juno" this was to help us practice filming and video editing .. here is our quick version of the storyboard to give us a brief idea about the shots we where going to use...

 

Location

We decided on the best locations to frame the shots which looked quite similar to the location in Juno. in the video we changed locations often. we stayed in Werrington to do all the filming . we altered a few scenes to help fit our surroundings. Propsin our film we needed to use a verity of props, we needed to find a object similiar to the sunny d juno drinks in the film. we used a bottle of milk to do this . we needed to find a way to dress actoress fran in clothes juno would wear . we where able to get a hold of a red hoody and suitable shoes to create a Mise-en-scène used in "juno"

Extras

in our film we tried to include extras to add to the realism of the film
we got help from Connor's dad who played the part of a runner
also we was lucky enough to get in contact with a local neighbour who owned a van
who drove past us at the right time to match one of the scenes in "Juno"

Problems

we encountered many problems, one of the hardest challenges we had to overcome was the shot where you see Juno's feet and the camera pans up to her from a distance we had to shoot multiple shots to get it perfect.
another one of the problems was a member of the public took offence to us using branches for our filming , this meant we had to be more cautious about where we where filming.
another problem was the general weather conditions change from overcast(with occasional sun) to raining .. this was where we decided to call it a day

Colour in Films

Colour working on the subconscious mind to create certain mood. Hospitals and dentists use pale colours in their waiting rooms, such as pale blues and greens, this is said to have a calming effect on the mind. Each colour has its own connotations, which may have been influenced by the culture of our beliefs, For example Christan's see the colour White as a symbol of purity where as in Indian religions white is seen as the colour of mourning.
In the early days if a film maker wanted to use colour it would be painted on the shots afterwards. Technicolour introduced their new system in the early nineteen thirties that colour film began to see a commercial possibility.
Colour film was nearly thirty per cent higher than black and white, the effects where so dramatic that major film makers where eager to use it. Today we expect films to be in colour, and anything in black and white is added for effect. In the early days it was the opposite and colour was only really used for fantasy films.

Red- Excitement, energy, passion, love, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence.

Pink- Love, romance and excitement.

Beige- Unification, Quiet, Pleasantness, Clam and simplicity.

Yellow- Joy, Happiness, Betrayal, Optimism, Idealism, Imagination, Hope, Sunshine, Summer, Gold, Philosophy, Dishonesty, Cowardice, Jealousy, Conventousness, Deceit, Illness and hazard.

Blue- Peace, Tranquillity, cold, calm, stability, harmony, unity, trust, truth, confidence, conversation, security, cleanliness, order, loyalty, sky, water, technology, depression, appetite suppressant.

Turquoise- Sophistication, Feminine appeal.

Purple- Royalty, Nobility, spiritually, ceremony, mysterious, transformation, wisdom, enlightenment, cruelty, arrogance, mourning.

Lavender- Femininity, grace and elegance.

Green- Nature, enjoyment, Healthy, good luck, renewal, youth, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, vigour.

Brown- Earth, stability, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, simplicity and comfort.

Grey- Security, reliability, intelligence, staid, modesty, dignity, maturity, solid, conservative, practical, old age, sadness, boring, silver symbolizes calm.

White- Reverence, purity, birth, simplicity, cleanliness, peace, humility, snow, good, sterility, marriage (western cultures), Death (eastern cultures), Cold, clinical.

Black- Power, sexuality, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, unhappiness, depth, style, evil, sadness, remorse, anger, anonymity, underground, good technical colour, mourning, death (western cultures).



In the film Shindler's List the girl shown below, was shown wearing a red coat while the rest of the film was in black and white. This is done to show  you that the girl is of some importance, it also makes her stand out to the audience while in the film not much attention is payed towards her.

Lighting

Ambient Light	The light already present in a scene, before any additional lighting is added. More info: Ambient Light
Incident Light	Light seen directly from a light source (lamp, sun, etc).
Reflected Light	Light seen after having bounced off a surface.
Colour Temperature	A standard of measuring the characteristics of light, measured in kelvins.More Info: Colour Temperature Chart
Contrast Ratio	The difference in brightness between the brightest white and the darkest black within an image. More Info: Contrast Ratio
Key Light	The main light on the subject, providing most of the illumination and contrast. More Info: 3 Point Lighting The image below shows this: Below shows Key light with less glare (created when the camera is too close to a light)
Fill Light	A light placed to the side of the subject to fill out shadows and balance the key light.More Info: 3 Point Lighting
Back Light	A light placed at the rear of a subject to light from behind.More Info: 3 Point Lighting The image below shows both key light and back light used. Notice the 'halo' effect above the sholder:
Hard Light	Light directly from a source such as the sun, traveling undisturbed onto the subject being lit.
Soft Light	Light which appears to "wrap around" the subject to some degree. Produces less shadows or softer shadows.
Spot	A controlled, narrowly-focused beam of light.
Flood	A broad beam of light, less directional and intense than a spot.
Tungsten	Light from an ordinary light bulb containing a thin coiled tungsten wire that becomes incandescent (emits light) when an electric current is passed along it. Tungsten colour temperature is around 2800K to 3400K. Also known as incandescent light.
Halogen	Type of lamp in which a tungsten filament is sealed in a clear capsule filled with a halogen gas.
Fresnel	A light which has a lens with raised circular ridges on its outer surface. The fresnel lens is used to focus the light beam.
Incandescent	Incandescent lamps produce heat by heating a wire filament until it glows. The glow is caused by the filament's resistance to the current and is called incandescence

Our groups ideas

Our ideas;

Connor presented our ideas while ryan filmed it and Fran wrote down notes. I was unable to attend.

Idea 1:

Our first idea was taken from the film "LORD OF WAR" but instead we would show the LIFE OF A MACHETE in the hands of a local nut job then the scene changes to a crime scene.

Idea 2:

Our second idea we are going to film the whole scene in a FIRST PERSON prospective as he masacures a few victims then the scene changes to a crime scene


Idea 3:

Our third idea is that a group of "yobs" teenagers sneak into a abandoned factory and takes drugs having a good time. then a guy with a baseball bat enters wearing a hoody.. one of the teenagers start on him and ends up getting killed .. then the hooded charater takes on all the "yobs" while one person runs away and hides in a cupboard of some sort and the charater walks around searching for him , when the teenager thinks he's safe the hooded charater comes right up to the cupboard to scare the audience... then cuts to the opening title

Studying Similar Products

We have begun to research products similar to our media idea. Since we are thinking of doing a first person perspective for a large section of our project, I've watched the 'Lord of War' intro - a first person 'life of a bullet'.



Even though this was done via CGI it offers a good research background on the sort of things to film.

Lighting - Se7en

There is only low-key key lighting used for this shot. The light is very soft and so is obviously diffused. Its very dark creating a sinister, dank atmosphere. (Film Nior)

The only lighting in this shot is natural light from the windows and from the torches. There is no lighting upon the characters. This focuses the audiences attention on the body on the bed.


<NOT FINISHED>

Camera Movement

Camera Movement

A director may choose to move action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they may decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera often takes a great deal of time, and makes the action seem slower, as it takes several second for a moving camera shot to be effective, when the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. Not only must the style of movement be chosen, but the method of actually moving the camera must be selected too. There are seven basic methods:

1. Pans

A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.

3. Dolly Shots

Sometimes called TRUCKING or TRACKING shots. The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object. Complicated dolly shots will involve a track being laid on set for the camera to follow, hence the name. The camera might be mounted on a car, a plane, or even a shopping trolley (good method for independent film-makers looking to save a few dollars). A dolly shot may be a good way of portraying movement, the journey of a character for instance, or for moving from a long shot to a close-up, gradually focusing the audience on a particular object or character.

4. Hand-held shots

The hand-held movie camera first saw widespread use during World War II, when news reporters took their windup Arriflexes and Eyemos into the heat of battle, producing some of the most arresting footage of the twentieth century. After the war, it took a while for commercially produced movies to catch up, and documentary makers led the way, demanding the production of smaller, lighter cameras that could be moved in and out of a scene with speed, producing a "fly-on-the-wall" effect.This aesthetic took a while to catch on with mainstream Hollywood, as it gives a jerky, ragged effect, totally at odds with the organised smoothness of a dolly shot. The Steadicam (a heavy contraption which is attached a camera to an operator by a harness. The camera is stabilized so it moves independently) was debuted in Marathon Man (1976), bringing a new smoothness to hand held camera movement and has been used to great effect in movies and TV shows ever since. No "walk and talk" sequence would be complete without one. Hand held cameras denote a certain kind of gritty realism, and they can make the audience feel as though they are part of a scene, rather than viewing it from a detached, frozen position.

A crane in use, following the path of a balloon floating into the sky

5. Crane Shots

Basically, dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane (or jib), is a large, heavy piece of equipment, but is a useful way of moving a camera - it can move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are counter-balanced by a heavy weight, and trust their safety to a skilled crane/jib operator.

6. Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image. On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a 'close up' shot while still being some distance from the subject. A video zoom lens can change the position of the audience, either very quickly (a smash zoom) or slowly, without moving the camera an inch, thus saving a lot of time and trouble. The drawbacks to zoom use include the fact that while a dolly shot involves a steady movement similar to the focusing change in the human eye, the zoom lens tends to be jerky (unless used very slowly) and to distort an image, making objects appear closer together than they really are. Zoom lenses are also drastically over-used by many directors (including those holding palmcorders), who try to give the impression of movement and excitement in a scene where it does not exist. Use with caution - and a tripod!

7. The Aerial Shot

An exciting variation of a crane shot, usually taken from a helicopter. This is often used at the beginning of a film, in order to establish setting and movement. A helicopter is like a particularly flexible sort of crane - it can go anywhere, keep up with anything, move in and out of a scene, and convey real drama and exhilaration — so long as you don't need to get too close to your actors or use location sound with the shots.

Camera Angles

Camera Angles

The relationship between the camera and the object being photographed (ie the ANGLE) gives emotional information to an audience, and guides their judgment about the character or object in shot. The more extreme the angle (ie the further away it is from eye left), the more symbolic and heavily-loaded the shot.

1. The Bird's-Eye view
This shows a scene from directly overhead, a very unnatural and strange angle. Familiar objects viewed from this angle might seem totally unrecognisable at first (umbrellas in a crowd, dancers' legs). This shot does, however, put the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look insignificant, ant-like, part of a wider scheme of things. Hitchcock (and his admirers, like Brian de Palma) is fond of this style of shot.

2. High Angle
A cameraman, raised above the action, gets a high angle shot2. High Angle
Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.

3. Eye Level
A fairly neutral shot; the camera is positioned as though it is a human actually observing a scene, so that eg actors' heads are on a level with the focus. The camera will be placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

4. Low Angle
These increase height (useful for short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion. Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

5. Oblique/Canted Angle
Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies). This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character,seeing what they see — a hand held camera is often used for this.

Framing/Shot Length

Framing or Shot Length



1 . Extreme long shot

This can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an EXTERIOR, eg the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action eg in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, it's meant to give a general impression rather than specific information.

The extreme long shot on the left is taken from a distance, but denotes a precise location - it might even connote all of the entertainment industry if used as the opening shot in a news story.

2. Long Shot

This is the most difficult to categorise precisely, but is generally one which shows the image as approximately "life" size ie corresponding to the real distance between the audience and the screen in a cinema (the figure of a man would appear as six feet tall). This category includes the FULL SHOT showing the entire human body, with the head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of background detail still emerges: we can tell the coffins on the right are in a Western-style setting, for instance.

3. Medium Shot

Contains a figure from the knees/waist up and is normally used for dialogue scenes, or to show some detail of action. Variations on this include the TWO SHOT (containing two figures from the waist up) and the THREE SHOT (contains 3 figures...). NB. Any more than three figures and the shot tends to become a long shot. Background detail is minimal, probably because location has been established earlier in the scene - the audience already know where they are and now want to focus on dialogue and character interation. Another variation in this category is the OVER-THE-SHOULDER-SHOT, which positions the camera behind one figure, revealing the other figure, and part of the first figure's back, head and shoulder.

4. Close-Up

This shows very little background, and concentrates on either a face, or a specific detail of mise en scène. Everything else is just a blur in the background. This shot magnifies the object (think of how big it looks on a cinema screen) and shows the importance of things, be it words written on paper, or the expression on someone's face. The close-up takes us into the mind of a character. In reality, we only let people that we really trust get THAT close to our face - mothers, children and lovers, usually - so a close up of a face is a very intimate shot. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character, and usually uses a zoom lens in order to get the required framing.

5. Extreme Close-Up

As its name suggests, an extreme version of the close up, generally magnifying beyond what the human eye would experience in reality. An extreme close-up of a face, for instance, would show only the mouth or eyes, with no background detail whatsoever. This is a very artificial shot, and can be used for dramatic effect. The tight focus required means that extra care must be taken when setting up and lighting the shot - the slightest camera shake or error in focal length is very noticeable.

Camera Angles

Camera Angles

Camera angles and movements combine to create a sequence of images, just as words, word order and punctuation combine to make the meaning of a sentence. You need a straightforward set of key terms to describe them.

Describing Shots

When describing camera angles, or creating them yourself, you have to think about three important factors

— The FRAMING or the LENGTH of shot
— The ANGLE of the shot
— If there is any MOVEMENT involved

When describing different cinematic shots, different terms are used to indicate the amount of subject matter contained within a frame, how far away the camera is from the subject, and the perspective of the viewer. Each different shot has a different purpose and effect. A change between two different shots is called a CUT.

Preliminary Finished!

As of today, our primlinary exercise has finished being filmed and edited, par a few tweeks we keep making to it.

We're pleased with the end result and glad that dispite the set-backs we had that we managed to complete the work on time.

Issue

On Friday 17th, Everyone in our group apart from Fran had a collapsed timetable due to a life skills course, thus we missed Fridays two units of Media. This put us behind on work, however we started it in free lessons and managed to catch back up.

Filming Issue

We realised the sound hadn't been recorded, this means we had to go back and record some scenes again. This caused problems as this time filming we didnt have the same bottle and kept laughing so had to retake it quite a few times. In the end we managed to overcome the problem and got all the footage we needed, the only thing is by doing this we missed out on time for editing. Also we had to take the camera to the ict techs to download our film clips onto a shared area for my group. This took time so we couldnt begin editing the same day.

Preliminary Exercise

What we did...

We began our filming, Fran and Ryan were acting. We started by choosing a room we would film in. We film ryan reciving a text and walking down the corridoor to meet someone. After this Fran was filmed reciving the text and then walking down the stairs to meet Ryan. They then met up and sat under the stairs and exchanged a few lines of dialouge (this is also shown below in our story board) We included match on action, 180 degree rule and also shot/ reverse shot.

 

Here is our script;

Fran: Heyaa
Ryan: Hellooo
Fran: What lesson you sciving?
Ryan: Science
Fran: i dont blame you, that Miss Moorehouse is such a bitch!
Ryan: Yeah i think im failing becasue of her, do you  have that drink i asked for?
Fran: ermmm.....ah here it is.
Ryan: cheers, see you later.
Fran: See ya.


Problems;

To begin with we had to wait a while to get cameras because the person was on the phone. It took us a while to find a location and sometimes we had to wait a while until people moved from the place we where filming in. We could not resolve this so just had to wait. Also with lighting we had to shut the blinds in some rooms because the sun was too bright, in some cases we had to change the direction we was filming in.

Overall;

I believe our filming went well, we got all of the footage we needed, and more.

Preliminary Exercise Research

Continuity:

• Uninterrupted connection or union
• A detailed script used in making a film in order to avoid discontinuities from shot to shot
• The property of a continuous and connected period of time

Continuity is a fundamental principle of moving image production. Watching a film or TV programme tends to be a fairly effortless pleasure because continuity is normally secured by producers follwing the conventions of the 'classical realist text'.

As long as continuity rules are followed, plot and story can unfold in such a way that the audience can assume what happens in between each shot or sequence. For example, if a character boards a train in shot 1, is seen sitting reading a paper in shot 2, asleep in the same seat with the paper folded up in shot 3 and getting off the train in shot 4, the audience will not think the train journey was extraordinarily short. They will assume that in between shots 2, 3 and 4 the journey continued but nothing of significance to the plot occurred. However if a continuity rule was broken so that the character appeared to move seats, this would disrupt the follow of the sequence.

Video example of continuity ERRORS;

Match on Action:

• Either an action commenced in shot A is completed in shot B, or an action in shot A is mirrored by an action in shot B, for example when we cut from character A in location A reading a letter to character B in location B reading the same letter.
• A continuity editing technique. A match-on-action is when an edit takes place in the middle of an action. For example, shot one might show a person sitting down while shot two shows them standing up. The cut occurs during the movement from sitting to standing

This technique is about cutting from one shot to another view that matches the action and pace of the first shot. this creates and impression of continuity although you may have filmed the shots weeks apart. If a character begins an action in the first shot and completes it in the next, a visual 'bridge' is created which acts to disguise the cut from one to the other.

Video example;

180 Degree Rule:

• The 180° rule is a basic guideline in film making that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line.

In the example of a dialogue, if Owen (orange shirt in the diagram) is on the left and Bob (blue shirt) is on the right, then Owen should be facing right at all times, even when Bob is off the edge of the frame, and Bob should always be facing left. Shifting to the other side of the characters on a cut, so that Bob is now on the left side and Owen is on the right, will disorient the viewer, and break the flow of the scene.

In the example of an action scene, such as a car chase, if a vehicle leaves the right side of the frame in one shot, it should enter from the left side of the frame in the next shot. Leaving from the right and entering from the right will create a similar sense of

disorientation as in the dialogue example.

** This schematic shows the axis between two characters and the 180° arc on which cameras may be positioned (green). When cutting from the green arc to the red arc, the characters switch places on the screen.

Shot/Reverse Shot:

• After an establishing shot, the shot-reverse shot refers to the close-ups used when two characters are in conversation. (Because we have already used an establishing shot, we now know where the characters are in relation to one another.)

Shot reverse shot (or shot/countershot) is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.

** Picture example of Shot/Reverse shot