Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to storyboard what we wanted to have as our preliminary, this is to get a rough idea of what we are going to film and how we would film it. The storyboard shows each shot and the camera angles in it. We then had to take into consideration the 180 degree rule; a rule which the director has to ensure the camera he uses during a conversation do not cross the invisible line between the actors, it allows the audience to be connected with the actors during the scene, Match on Action; this is where the angle of the camera changes during a scene, this comes across to the audience as if it hasn't happened and the seems flows normally, Reverse Angle Shot; this is shot behind each characters in the scene, it allows the audience to see things from the same perpective as the characters. Below is examples of the rules we had to take into consideration:

Below left - 180 degree rule
Below right - Reverse angle shot
Below centre - Match on action

 

British Film Institution Visit

On Tuesday, my class went to London to visit the BFI (British Film Institution). I couldn't go on the trip due to an exam, but my classmates took notes so that I could understand what they were experiencing and how I should go about doing my coursework.They were given information by various amounts of people such as Pete Fraser, the Chief Examiner of OCR Media Studies, Simon Frame, and the writer and director of "Attack the Block" Joe Cornish. 

First of all Pete Fraser gave them information on how to improve and enhance out coursework. 

The key features in opening sequences are as followed:

• Genre
• Narrative (enigma)
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Setting

This allows us to create an opening sequence which will attract the audience straight away, and hopefully keep them watching. Every creator of an opening sequence thinks of things in general first and then elaborates on them more specifically, doing research at the same time as well. 

After speaking about opening sequences, my class watched numerous of past opening sequences in order to see what makes a good and bad opening sequence, taking into consideration the key features. The opening sequence is there for the audience to make a judgement on what they think the film is going to be about. My class were then given a list of six opening sequence that were common in which we should avoid doing for out final piece, these included:

• Saw - character/victim in a shed
• Scream - mysterious stalker 
• Se7en
• Lock, stock
• Someone waking up
• Flash back and forwards

They were then given information on problems which occur in an opening sequence:

• Making it look like a trailer
• Making it look like a short film
• Not many opening titles
• Poor lighting and sound quality
• Actors which were not directed correctly
• Making it complicated for the audience

Pete then told them about the steps we should take when filming our own opening sequence. 

Step 1: Take stock

- Building on skills, research and planning

- Time - giving yourself enough time to shoot and edit

Step 2: Setting up blog

Step 3: Build up skills

Step 4: Investigate

Step 5: Brainstorm Ideas

- Mood board

- Realism 

- Feedback

- Pitched

Step 6: Planning

- Experiment 

- Storyboard

Step 7: Shooting

- Costume, lightening, actors, movement, props and setting (CLAMPS)

- Rehearsing

- Keeping track or record of processing

Step 8: Editing 

- Screen grabs

- Audio and titles

- Foley

- Peer feedback and set a deadline

Step 9: Evaluation

- Evaluation of everything which has been filmed

Overall, I've learnt a lot from what the class has told me, the steps we have to make, to make our final piece realistic and what I should and shouldn't do whilst filming my opening sequence. I've also learnt that I should plan, learn from what others have done, avoiding creating an opening which is common, pay attention to detail and vary my blog. 

"Tell" by Ryan Connolly

For our homework we had to watch Ryan Connolly's "Tell". We had to comment on the clip, on what we thought about the camera shot and angles, and the sound. "Tell" is a short psychological film about a man called Taylor who is psychologically disturbed after he murders his girlfriend Jenny. Watch the 32 minute short film below by clicking on the video. 

My view on "Tell" was that I thought the clip of the film was really good and the camera angles were great. I especially liked the reverse angles at the start, it really draws in the audience because Connolly wants us to keep watching. The sound made it even better, it made me want to know what was coming up next, it was so tense.  For a short film, with a low budget and without using professional actors, I thought it was very well put together and it was very effective in order to attract the audience's attention. 

Types of Lighting

There are several types of lighting used on set of a TV drama, for example in classs we looked at the lighting in Hunted. We then analysed it through a point evidence explain paragraph whilst looking at the CLAMPS of the scence too.

The following types of lighting are:

Key: this is the main light on a subject, e.g. focusing on  a character in a difficult situation.
Low Key: this is soft light on a subject, e.g. candles in a room by a subject.
High Key: this is hard/direct on a subject, e.g. the sun, lamps or spotlight.

Full: light placed to the side of the subject to fill out shadows and balance light, e.g. half the light on a character.
Backlight: a light placed at the rear of a subject to give light from behind, e.g. to focus/highlight the character.
Ambient/Naturalistic: light available before artificial light is added, e.g. lightening from windows or lights already there.
Chiaroscuro: strong contrasts between light and dark light, e.g. to show the higher class and personality between characters.
Accent light/spotlight: a controlled, narrowly focused beam of light e.g. focused light on a character.

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is everything you see in the shot and scene. It is used to create a feeling of "realism" about the plot to the audience, this therefore makes it believable for the audience. It makes the characters seem real, helps the audience to understand who is who in the scene and it creates representations of different groups.  

Mise-en-scene is made up of six different elements: CLAMPS. 

C- costume 

L - lighting

A - actors

M - movement

P - props

S - setting

 Mise-en-scene links to realism. There are several steps to what makes up realism. 

The first level of realism means selecting the right actors, props/objects, locations, voices of the actors and the diagetic sound (noises on set.)

The second level of realism means how the drama is filmed. This will be done by the lighting, use of camera, choice of shot, non-diagetic sound (music) and the editing. 

Finally, the third level of realism is the finished "product" on television. This is when the actual TV Drama is viewed by the audience and then, the opinions of the drama, for example is it believable. 

Love Actually Trailer: Storyboard and Clips

In our lesson we had to storyboard a film of our own choice in groups. A storyboard is a sequence of drawings; they are used in order to show the shots planned for a movie or television programme. For example the film the group and I used to create my storyboard was the trailer for "Love Actually " We chose "Love Actually" because the camera shots are quite simple and easier to create again with in a storyboard. The clip below shows the trailer we used. 

The template below is a similar template to what producers use in order to plan a scene for their film or television programme. 

This is our recreation of the trailer, it contains the clips in which we thought had good camera angles and shots.