Preliminary Excersises

CAMERA ANGLES

                    Birdseye View

              Medium Shot

                           Long Shot

    Close-up Shot

Dutch Shot

CONTINUITY EDITING

Using the idea of a, 'who wants to be a millionaire' we started off by drawing up the storyboard, The storyboard served the purpose of allowing us to plan a step by step guide of how we would shoot our short movie, this included a detailed plan of; the shot type, camera movement and the action we'd include. 

With everything planned we got into filming where we surrounded ourselves in green screen so that we could make our 'Who wants to be a millionaire' set more realistic

I played the host, Charlotte played the contestant and Jess played the friend who Charlotte would call for assistance with the question 

ON THE SET

In todays lesson (September 17th), we delved into the uses of the tripod and the camera, specifically how they interact with each other to create filming effects we can bring into our project. 

Cameras and tripods: In groups we passed the camera around and each of us practised how to handle the camera, insert the battery and memory card. We further learnt the etiquette of when you pass the cameras around; you should say 'yours' and 'mine' to avoid the risk of dropping it.  We learned how to set up a tripod and to 'bubble' it using the spirit level to help make the camera balanced and in focus. We explored the camera features to the extent of how to control exposure and how to manipulate viewing angles.

White balance (WB): This is the process of getting rid of the unrealistic saturated colour cast, this is important as it allows objects which appear white in person to be rendered white in the photo. Correct white balance camerawork should take into account "colour temperature", this refers to the warmth or coolness of white light.

180 Degree rule: This rule is a cinematography guideline that states two characters in a scene should maintain the same proportion of distance from left and right to portray a relationship to one another. When the camera passed over the invisible axis that connects the two subjects, it is referred to as crossing the line and the shot becomes a reverse angle.

On Set Terminology: In the film industry, one must use terminology in order to be clear and concise, this includes language like 'Standby', this is used by the director before starting to film to ensure that every one is ready. If they are, one should reply with ‘Standing by’, this clear communication ensures that filming can be as efficient as possible.

TABLETOP SEQUENCE

Link to our Table top Sequence: https://youtu.be/oj3r8xNMngQ

This exercise incorporated research we did into Jean Pierre Jaunet's, 'Delicatessen' title sequence. The title sequence used high angle shots and panned over a spread of objects which had connotations of the psychological-thriller genre the show would follow. The title sequence while doing this incorporated its titles into the props on the table, a creative solution to how it would usually break the fourth wall for audiences. In recreation of this, we attempted a similar formula where we spread objects across a table to suggest a genre, due to the lack of the budget we could not attempt a similar level of production. We learnt camera techniques, such as the pan, id be keen to bring into final production.

In my research, I found that the majority of the tension within these scenes is found in the 'slow burn' effect as items or photos are slowly conveyed that create enigma within the audience. The final piece often being a crescendo style shot that interlinks everything that has just been and to create a 'hook' in order to keep audiences watching.

Session 2: Live action shoot

This completes the opening sequence and launches the narrative. We kept this simple by only including a short 2 second clip with a close shot of a man opening a briefcase. With use of live-action, this introduces initial characters while providing the connection between the plot and the table top sequence the audience has just seen.