Production- Prelim Task

Production

According to our booking we decided to shoot and prepared our setting which covering the walk to the dark room.

1) The opening scene was “tracking” Officer Gomez all the way to the “Interrogation” room so we filmed our tracking first from the outside. A potential problem was the weather that was slightly raining but fortunately it was light so we could continue to film.

2) Our extras were placed in the hall creating the typical office. This was also to sort of, mislead the audience that it was just a scene in a busy office they are watching, and then they would discover the Interrogation of the criminal “Selina”.  

A problem we encountered whilst shooting this tracking scene to the dark room was maintaining the focus of Officer Gomez and the extra’s; this was difficult to do, mainly because to track we had to use a wheel chair it was hard to maintain and adjust each time and effected the quality of this scene. But once we filmed this we found that the lack of focus in the beginning did not look bad but created a nice effect focusing on Officer Gomez as soon as she took her coat off.

3) We positioned our desk for “Selina” and “Officer Gomez” in the dark room and left equipment needed for the sequence in the interrogation. (Props used here:  Lamp-for the creative lighting, desk, chairs and a box recorder). Our lighting was important in the dark room.

4) Another problem we faced was we were very rushed to film quickly as the actors and certain members in our group had to leave early. Thus the quality suffered a little in some Close-Ups of the character, this is made evident by the lack of focus shot below. To overcome this we used other scenes from the different set-ups during editing afterwards.

When we filmed, we filmed the entire scene for each shot type, so that when it came to editing, it would be a lot easier for us to edit, making the process as lot shorter.

I have learnt that we should dedicate more time to shooting making sure all shots are in focus and make sure the actors are available for the whole shoot. Overall we were pleased with our shooting only to realise one major problem during editing…

Pre-Production Prelim Task

Prelim Task Pre-Production

Task: Our task was to construct a short sequence as a piece of moving image using the stimulus;

A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

The stimulus was not so specific so we had to be completely creative, we found it difficult to come up with scenes we could create.

Firstly to come up with our Production we brain stormed some Ideas; organising them into important categories. Our 4 Categories were Characters, Setting, Scenario and Scene. This enabled us to visualise the scenes that might occur and how we would portray it. Our group decided to create a police interrogation. This would involve a criminal “Selina” and the Police Officer which would “introduce” the audience to the Interrogation. Thus, we visualised our production through our brainstorm and started to make our Script.

Pic of Script...

Then we went on to Location Scout to understand our setting and what could be done in the spaces available. We discussed originally that we had to have a setting that portrayed an “interrogation”. It had to be dark and eliminate signs of being in a school. The Dark room was the best option we had and to create tension/suspense we experimented with the lighting; a swinging lamp would create this…

Fortunately in the dark room there was a red light available which we decided would enhance our scene further. We used props according to what was needed during Production so we didn’t plan that beforehand finding this way easier. We were thinking that music could be added in the editing process once we found appropriate sounds.

After Location Scouting we made the storyboards, making our sequence in order. The Storyboards can be seen below.

After which our Shot List was created.

We saw it most suitable to use actors that were not in our group so we could all organise and film the sequence together, only as extras we added ourselves in. Our Cast can be seen below...

Finally after completing the Pre-Production we booked our times for the camera’s and prepared for our Shooting!

Shot Types Meaning

Shot Types Meaning

In our first few lessons of practical media we looked at camera angles and different aspects to look at when taking a photo- focus, depth, composition and framing. These important aspects reveal and communicate the meaning behind all the objects/emotions presented in each photo. Technical language involved in media studies was something we also considered and defined.

Technical terms, aspects of shots:

1.    Focus- in a photo an object may be in either sharp or soft focus.

2.    Depth- the distance between your subject and the lens.

3.    Composition- the way objects are positioned/composed in a shot. (We found that this links closely to framing).

4.    Framing- the positioning of the camera to produce the appropriate position for a desired meaning.

Activity: in groups we got given a famous photo of a scene and we had to try and recreate it. Ours was Indiana Jones looking at the idol. We had to keep depth, focus, framing, composition and meaning in mind whist recreating it. To recreate it we turned off all the lights creating a nice effect that also emphasised the expressions of the actor Mr Kerrigan (Indiana Jones) by placing the focus on him. We put a spotlight on the 'idol'.  

Our recreated image…

 

Shot Types

Shot Types

Learning different types of shots and the reasons why we use them. There are many more shots that could be included but these are the commonly in films.

Establishing/wide- Usually wide shot with a 35mm lens 

Indicates:

Location - Establishing shots may use famous landmarks to indicate the city where the action is taking place or has moved to, Empire State Building or the Statue of Liberty to identify New York, the London Eye or the Elizabeth Tower (commonly referred to as Big Ben) to identify London the Eiffel Tower to identify Paris

Time - Sometimes the viewer is guided in his understanding of the action. For example, an exterior shot of the night then a cut back to the action inside portrays the conversation is occurring at night.
 

Relationship - An establishing shot might be a long shot of a room that shows all the characters from a particular scene. For example, a scene about a murder in a college lecture hall might begin with a shot that shows the entire room, including the lecturing professor and the students taking notes.
 

Establish a concept - For example, a shot of rain falling could be an establishing shot, followed by more and more detailed look at the rain with individual raindrops falling.

 A prime example of this can be seen in the TV show 'Friends' an establishing shot will be used to show they viewer the location which is Central Perk, before the cut to the action inside.

 

Close up- Show a lot of detail to the audience, such as characters' emotions, or some intricate activity with their hands. Major characters are often given a close-up when they are introduced as a way of indicating their importance.

Leading characters will have multiple close-ups. An example of a close up can be seen in the film “Jonny English” it depicts Jonny’s facial expression as soon as he gets hurt. Another example is from “Harry Potter” as Harry prepares for the final battle with Voldemort.

Extreme Close Up-The shot is so tight that only a detail of the subject, such as someone's eyes, can be seen. An extreme close up can be used to make an object appear larger than life. A prime example of a use of an extreme close up can be seen in 'Kill Bill Vol. II', where the mosquito can be seen on the skin of Black Mamba (Uma Therman).

Two shot- frame encompasses a view of

two people (the subjects).

The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two-shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the background.

 It is often used to show conversation between two characters. The two shot can show harmony or disharmony depending on the scene.  It is usually filmed from the mid-chest up.

 

Over-the-Shoulder Shot- Occurs when the camera is placed behind the shoulder of the character. This makes the characters head and shoulders visible, ensuring the audience knows that they are there, but making sure the main focus is on the other character or object in the shot (most often the second character is the subject of interest).

In this way the characters are “married” into the frame. It can be used to suggest tension, intimacy, desire or hatred.

Point of view shot- Intended to represent the subjective view of the character (the subject).

The camera lens is physically placed at the eye level of the character whose point of view we are seeing. In this way the audience see’s what the character sees. Usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction. POV provides the audience an exaggerated sense of intimacy with the character.

 

High Angle shot- occurs when the camera is placed above a subject with the lens pointing down. This makes the subject appear small and powerless/vulnerable.

Focus often gets "swallowed up" by the setting. (Dramatic or if there is someone at a high level that the character below is talking to).