PRELIMINARY EXERCISES

I have studied camera angles by reading Daniel Chandlers website The Grammar of television and film. 

Some examples of shot types that we practiced.

Below is a Long shot (LS). Shot which shows all or most or a fairly large amount of the subject and or much of the surroundings.

Below is an Extreme close up (XCU): Forehead to chin. Close ups focus on a persons reactions or feelings and are sometimes used in interviews to show people in their emotional states.

 

Below Medium shot (MS): The subject or actor are in roughly equal areas in the frame.

Below is a Medium Long Shot (MLS): The lower frame line passes through the chest of the actor.

 

Below is a Low level shot: places camera below the character exaggerating their importance.

 

Below is a High level shot: The camera looks down on the subject making the viewer feel more powerful than the character. This can also suggest an air of detachment.

Below is a Worm’s Eye shot: This exaggerates the power of the character making the viewers feel that the character is more powerful than them.

 

Continuity Editing (click here) . 

In groups we filmed different shot types and edited them all into one short video, using information from Daniel Chandlers website. This also gave us an opportunity for us to try out editing on the iMacs and on iMovie.

Production Practice: Title sequence "A whole world in a table top"

I made a practice film opening and below the video is an account of the research and planning that went into this exercise.

                                            

We watched the title sequence of the Delicatessen. We looked at how the tracking shot created and told us a story and the genre in under a minute. During the sequence there are a number of cuts to different types of food that you would find in a Delicatessens shop. It was clever how they had edited the credits onto recipes and onto the labels of products. As the sequence progressed amongst the food some body parts were visible. This created the idea of the film being to do with horror and mystery.


Having watched the Delicatessen title sequence we had a go at making our own table top sequence. The song which we were to use was Nostalgia by Emily Barker. We created the Mise-en-scene using a variety of props including, a plastic gun, old newspapers, playing cards, money, passports, matches, and empty alcohol bottles.


We wanted our props to tell a story, our first thought was that our character would be a criminal who was into gambling, heavy drinking and smoking. After having the empty gin bottle in the pocket of the jacket we moved it this was because we wanted all the props to fit together. Instead of having the empty gin bottle in the jacket pocket we replaced it with the plastic gun. Two joker cards were also added at the start and at the end of the sequence, this was to signify how the character's decisions had led him to being in prison. - Monday

We started filming our live action element of the sequence. Instead of putting the live action at the end of the sequence we put it at the beginning. This was to help viewers visualise the reason behind the sequence and to allow the them to work out why he was in prison after they had watched the title sequence. - Tuesday

Having started to edit the clips together and adding the music we then added the titles, credits and other sounds that we used. We added the sound of a gavel to the live action part, of the sequence this was to signify the character going to prison. When editing the credits we included our own production company, director, producers, director of photography and the actor. We used the same font for the credits so that it would be easier for people to see as the sequence progressed. -Wednesday


We changed the placement of our music and where the gavel sound should be to be effective during the live action sequence. We added a transition of 1 second of a dark screen from the life action to the tracking sequence so it was not a hard cut. Another transition of 1 second of dark screen was added at the end of the sequence, this was because we felt that the sequence ended too abruptly. The transition allowed for the music to start where we wanted it to. Our sequence was titled The Fugitive, this was to enable the audience to consider what the sequence may be about. - Friday