Cinematography
Our
preliminary task video was generally quite good if you consider the different
aspects of our video.
Firstly, Toby’s use of camerawork was very steady while holding a shot/s with
all the types of shots that were constructed in the video. So in terms of
holding a shot steady, we did well.
In terms of camera angles, we aimed to use a few shots such as:
- Panning - the camera horizontally so that it sweeps around the
scene.
- Over the shoulder
- a shot of someone or something taken
from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The
back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of
whomever the camera is pointing toward. This type of shot is very common when
two characters are having a discussion and will usually follow an establishing
shot which helps the audience place the characters in their setting. It is an
example of a camera angle.
- Two shot - the frame encompasses a view of two people.
- Match on action -
simple but essential technique, where the perspective of the camera changes
during a scene and the scene continues to flow.
- 180 degree rule - basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial
relationship between a character and another character or object within a
scene. An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping
the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first
character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then
always frame left of the first. If the camera passes over the axis, it is
called jumping the line or crossing
the line.
- Zooming shot - A
shot in which the magnification of the objects by the camera's lenses is
increased (zoom in) or decreased (zoom out/back).
- Medium Shot - a camera
angle shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long
shot" and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between
"medium shot" and "close-up". In some standard texts and
professional references, a full-length view of a human subject is called a
medium shot; in this terminology, a shot of the person from the knees up or the
waist up is a close-up shot.
- Close Up - tightly
frames a person or an object. Close-ups are one of the standard shots used
regularly with medium shots and long shots (cinematic techniques). Close-ups
display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving in
to a close-up or away from a close-up is a common type of zooming.
- Shot reverse shot - 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.In terms of shot-reverse
shot, we received good feedback from other students as some mentioned the fact
that the use of shot-reverse-shot was effective for when Liam and Richard where
sitting around the table face-to-face. They also thought that we had good use
of shot-reverse shot in the video as a whole, so this was a strong positive
factor of our video which was good.
With this very varied range of shots we were able to really
experiment with different methods of storytelling, and I think they are one of
the main reasons for our films success! Film is a visual medium, and so these
visuals should be used to their highest potential through different camera
angles.
The use of camera angles in our preliminary task video was
overall seen as good.
Also,
based on then editing used in the video, we recieved fairly decent comments.
Some of the comments involved the good length of shots, good range of shots
like close-ups, the right pace of editing etc One slight problem of the editing
was the dialogue.The reason why this was a slight problem is because the sound
of the dialogue was quite quiet which was the only real downside to the editing
of the video.
The
objectives of our task were to catch the audience's attention. To entertain
them and to make them feel interested in the video.
There
were only a few 'named' shots that we did not include, because of practicality
or just not finding a use for them:
The Dutch
tilt is more commonly associated with horror films, so was a completely
inappropriate shot to use for our film. The aerial shot is hugely impractical
seeming as we do not have access to much height, however the opening
establishing shots could be argued to be 'aerial'.
Evaluation
This task has taught me a
great deal; not only about working in a group (and those constraints) but also
about technical problems that can unexpectedly arise during filming. The
filming process took longer than I expected due to a few issues with the camera.
I think our preliminary task clearly demonstrated match on action (when the
main character walked through the door), shot reverse shot (during the conversation),
and the 180 degree rule.
The first problem that occurred
was the choice of our actors: it took enough time to film a standard amount of
footage as they didn’t take it very seriously; this resulted in a lot of wasted
time combined with poor quality footage. The next problem that surfaced was
that the footage hadn’t recorded properly as the camera wasn’t set up to record
on to the memory card.
Our group did not have any organisation or planning, as we weren't able to decide on the storyline, as well
as the different types of shots and angles before we started filming; this could of saved a lot of time. I am glad that the technical problems with the camera
happened during the preliminary task and not the final task, as this taught me
to always check that the camera is set up correctly and is recording on to the
memory card – so we will not make the same mistake again. I also learnt that
test filming is very useful as the lighting of a shot can appear very different
on a full screen as opposed to a camera screen; its normally much darker than
you actually think it is.
I am glad that I worked
with the group that I worked with, as it taught me to choose who I work with
carefully as I don’t want to end up doing all of the work. Luckily there was
one member of my group that I worked really well with; we contributed our ideas,
worked hard, explored creative editing and filming techniques and committed our
free time to finishing the film. So I now know that I work best in a pair as we
can share out equal amounts of work, I also know who I am going to work with to
create the final film – we already have many ideas and have past experience
with working with each other so we will definitely make a good team.
Overall I believe we done fairly good in our preliminary task as we all worked
hard on different aspects and put them together rather well. We came across
quite a few problems whilst filming but we overcame them and managed to finish
filming. We could have improved our time management by finishing filming
earlier but as we didn't have a room, we were still being productive by editing
the bits we had filmed and comparing angles as we filmed some scenes a number
of times at different angles to find the most suitable. To conclude, I believe
our preliminary task was a success. The biggest problem for us was when we went
against the 180 degree rule and this tells me how such a small factor can make
people confused.
If a film
is rated 15, it means that no one over the age of 15 is allowed to view it. These films can include
swearing, more sexually explicit scenes etc. They tend to be taken more
seriously than the lower classifications, as they are primarily aimed at an
adult audience. A lot of films that
are aiming for the teenage audience cut out a lot of their violence in order to
appeal to a wider audience. Many films cut out many seconds of
violence in order to stick with its target audience and to allow teenagers to
watch it. Consumer
Advice
This is
the lowest film classification; it stands for 'Universal' - a universal
audience. This means that anyone can watch it,
however they tend to be aimed for a very young audience. A lot of U rated films
are animations and almost all of them are aimed at children.This film classification is very much for
family films.
