Account of prelim shoot:

 In Wednesdays lesson, we were in studio once again using the cameras but filming this time. We were to film short snippets of different camera shots to create a particular effect of filming something only small and insignificant. We were to capture a few frames of film to create a short intro into the start of a film.

We started off learning the appropriate phrases you would call out if you were working on an actual film set. These phrases were things such as: 'standing by' in response to 'standby', 'rolling' in response to 'roll' and finally 'action' and 'cut' to start and finish the filming. This language would be between the director and camera man. We were then told that most of filming relies on communication as everyone on set needs to be aware of what is happening, things like making the actors aware of where to be and whether they're in the frame etc.

Then, we started to film. I was camera man, and I opened it with an establishing shot, allowing my audience to see the location that I was filming. I then experimented with mid shots, close ups, two shots etc. and these all had particular meanings, and this was to create interest for the audience so they would engage with the different shots, as if you were to shoot all in one frame and all in one angle the film wouldn't work and it would be boring. Camera shots are vital in telling the audience a story.

In some of the shots I used a prop of a broom and this was to represent that one of my characters worked in maintenance. In our previous lesson before this, we learnt about signify and the signifier, and the broom used in the filming was to represent more information about the character.

The shots I shot worked well as they told a story cutting back and forth from different shots, and this worked well. It would introduce a scene, allowing an audience to note the mise en scene, then creating a story in this scene.

I had fun with this lesson as it was fun being able to get involved with filming and directing.

Analysing opening sequences to films - 'Sexy Beast'

The opening of 'Sexy Beast' addresses the audience, to what we immediately react to, an old (ish), retired man that looks rather wealthy as he lounges by a poolside in a villa. This instantly creates meaning and questioning to why this man is here and why he is so wealthy. His chain/sunglasses/speedo look present this idea to the audience. The mise-en-scene instantly tells us that the theme and genre of this film is 'gangster'.

We then later find out that a boulder crashes into his pool and again, creating meaning of whether this is intentional or not. This sets up the story of whether someone is after him or someone is looking for revenge.

The opening dialogue is him saying, "bloody 'ell, i'm sweatin' 'ere... roastin', bakin', boilin', swelterin'... 's like a sauna", this addresses that he has an accent (cockney) and his speech quality is rough. His language is not clear and he does not use proper English. This again tells us more about his character and what sort of person he might be. The opening dialogue doesn't tell us much about why he is there, it only represents to us the current situation he is in which is 'hot and bothered' and because he has nothing else to do, this adds context to his character.

The camera angles used are to show the position the character is in. We a wide shot to allow us to what he is doing. This shot tells us that he is hot as we see his veins throb on his forehead, and his body is pink and looks burnt. This tells us his character looks a little too old to be sunbathing so extremely this and this gives us the idea that he is retired and he is wealthy as he has time to sunbathe. We are also given a shot of a young woman driving; this tells us that she is driving to him as the shot is cut after we see him. This gives us an idea of that she is maybe his young wife, and because he is wealthy and retired now, she uses him for this.

Analysing opening sequences to films - 'The Shining'

This opening sequence was very iconic of a horror film. It used creepy, string themed music that was continuous to create an uncomfortable feeling. This was the only music used as because we felt so far away from what was being filmed, there wasn't any other sounds that could be used as otherwise it would be irrelevant. This was the effect the opening sequence had on an audience - we were to feel as if we were over watching the car, following their journey.
The camera used a wide shot of a car driving to a certain destination. We cut through lots of different locations which told me that the journey was long, and they were going to a destination that was, perhaps, abandoned. From the angle shots, it gave me a sense that someone was watching over the car as it was continuous and it went on for a long time. There was one shot where the camera gets closer the car but then cuts to far away again, this we expect to see maybe who and what is happening in the car but we don't, and this is what makes us feel distanced from what might happen and what will happen.

The credits were a contrast to the sequence. The credits used a turquoise font which was harsh against the film. The credits titled particular names and information to introduce us into the film. Some people also prefer to have credits in the front so that an audience can settle in whilst the film sets itself up.

 

Analysing opening sequences to films - 'Dead Man's Shoes'

In one of my first media lessons, we watched and then analysed 3 opening sequences. These sequences were from the films: 'The Shining', 'Sexy Beast' and 'Dead Man's Shoes'. The idea was to analyse on mise-en-scene, camera, editing and sound in the opening sequence.

This blog I will talk about 'Dead Man's Shoes'. When watching the opening sequence I got an impression that it was meant to feel like a journey; the opening sequence was setting up an idea that we were following the two characters on screen through a, perhaps, long journey. We were meant to get a sense that we understood their childhood journey and the journey that they were facing now - I got this idea through the cutting back and forth from video when they were young and back to their present selves. This told me they were brothers, and this created a nicer meaning to the story, and told me more about them as we don't see their faces so much in the opening.

The opening sequence used a sound bridge of non-diegetic music; continuous music that played through even when the camera cut from past to present. It had a memorable/happy theme to it, again making the opening feel a sense of a journey. The chosen song created meaning and added to their journey. There was specific lines in the song that I could pick out that added context to the chracters' journey, these were: 'I want you more than happiness' and 'no rest no sleep no peace no life one no guarantees'. These lyrics both contrast and the first sounds more happier than the second. The actual music creates a happier tone but the actual lyrics are a little more sad. There was also diegetic sounds within the scene such as the sound of feet walking on gravely ground to create a natural sound that related to what they were doing and where they were.

(The soundtrack in the opening)

The mise-en-scene gave indications about the characters' travels. In one of the wide shots of the brothers walking along, the light darkens. This adds a sense of sadness/mystery to the journey as if when they walk across it, the light dims. This could be representing them walking to somewhere that was more darker and saddened. There was also no communication between the characters which got me to think 'why not' as it is unusual to not talk to the person you're walking with. This created, again, more meaning in making the audience wonder why they don't talk as, from the editing of the shots, we gain a feeling that the journey is long. There was a sense of 'older brother' and 'younger brother' and this was shown through the, what I thought, was the younger brother, he was trailing behind and the camera shot of walking behind the characters helped give me this idea.

The editing helped me differentiate the two time periods. The past video used a grainy camera effect to recreate that the footage is old and then the present used clearer and clean, plain camera shot to contrast so we could pick out this information. The editing of shots helped me also to tell the characters were brothers. This was because we were shown through the two different footages, both two characters in both footages and this told us they were brothers.

Lastly, the camera angles told us a lot about the characters. In the older footage, there were a lot of close ups of happy, smiley children and happy family moments and this recreated a sense of old but happy memories. Then, when cutting back to the present, there was a lot of wide shots to make us feel distanced from this previous idea of happiness; it helped tell the characters were moving away from their happy memories as they go on their new journey. It also represents that they are older now.

Opening sequence analysis (what I presented to class):

Disturbia media presentation lauren attwater from hurtwoodhousemedia5
 

Intro to camera 2

Today we filmed a short sequence of a basic conversation between two people for our prelim. We did this on the Sony NX5 cameras again. This short film sequence is what we, in the future, will refer to in the course.

We were in the studio and we had a little set set up which was fun as it was cool to experience filming something that when on screen looked so natural and real just because it had a basic set. 

I directed and filmed today's prelim, I was  not in front of the camera. I liked being behind the camera because I felt in control with either: being the director, because I could command and instruct when I wanted to film and cut and whether I liked what it looked like on screen, and then, being the cameraman, I felt in control being the one filming. I enjoy filming because it's your own piece of work.

These were the guide line sheets we had to use:

This was an indication of the shots we had to use, the script/dialogue the actors had to use.
We used particular shots so that we could vary the look and range of camera angles to the story to make it look more interesting. These shots we used were:

* Wide shots
* Close ups
* and over the shoulder shots

The wide shots will allow an audience to see the location the characters are in. This allows use to see the mise en scene (everything on screen) so that we can gain an understanding of where they are, why they might be there and how the characters are reacting in their surroundings. In our film, the scene was set up as a living room. It included a sofa, wardrobe and a lamp; this added more context to the story as it sets up the scene as we started with a wide shot and then went into dialogue. It's dialogue that reveals a lot to the story because it's from the characters perspective and this is the perspective we follow through the story. These particular props would suggest to the audience that the character was in his own home.

The close ups were to show more emotion and language the characters conveyed on screen. This helped give indications to the audience because we do not know why the characters were having this conversation. The pained face that one of the characters showed suggested he did not want to do what he was being asked to do, giving us more information into the story, but not quite understanding yet what the situation is.

Finally, the over the shoulder shots helped portray a sense of conversation between the two characters. Over the shoulder shots make an audience feel that from this angle, that they're in the room observing this conversation.

I think today worked really well, and it will be nice to refer back to this piece of work because it was successful and enjoyable to do. The filming worked out really well as we managed to get done all the different shots, which when editing, will help me have a varied amount of angles to experiment with.

Camera angle evaluation lesson - different shots and how they combine

In this lesson, we watched the opening to the film 'Pleasantville' and this was a good example of showing a wide range of different camera angles, and also how they can create certain meaning to what is happening on screen.

The first camera shot in the opening is a wide shot. This allowed me to see that the location was set at a school and this information was communicated as I could see students busily walking along in a massive crowd, wearing backpacks etc. It also allowed me to see that the location wasn't set in this country. It was set in America, and this was told through the even further background in the shot which showed more sandy/desserty hillside and it also looked hot.

The next shots were cleverly done. They used the idea of a 'shot reverse shot' to create meaning that the boy and girl character on screen were having a conversation. This was then disrupted with a 'wide shot' showing him standing on himself and we find out that the boy is actually just talking to himself and that the shots were placed in that sequence so that we felt a sense of conversation and because it wasn't, I felt sorry but also cringed at the boy character. These shots told us meaning that the boy character is more nerdy and shy, and she is popular. He obviously didn't have the confidence to talk to the girl, and that's why it was shot so it could look this way.

The idea of the shots making the characters look like they were having a conversation was corrupted by another 'wide shot' showing the audience that the two characters were far apart and that he looks like a loner and that he is talking to himself. This created meaning to the character and also made him look isolated and lonely which added to his characterisation and also helped me to start setting up a story that this boy is obviously unpopular, not cool enough and a bit of a loner.

The music in the opening uses an upbeat (non-diegetic) soundtrack as we go through the opening shots of the school, and then the shot reverse shots to make it look like the characters are having a conversation. This idea of the conversation is not only set up and broken by the shots, but also the music. The music creates a background noise to the conversation making it seem a bit more normal, the conversation is then corrupted by the school bell (diegetic noise) to represent that the boy character is talking to himself. This also creates humour for the audience.