Preliminary Exercises

Bird’s eye view 

Close up shot

Extreme close up shot

Mid shot

Long shot

High angle shot 

Low angle shot

Two shot

Point of view shot

Canted angle shot 

  

Continuity Exercise:

 Aim: To create a storyboard and a brief film which occurs between two or more individuals.

During our discussion of the continuity exercise we were able to think ahead and plan out the basis which we wanted to create our filming on. We watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'deliI had recently watched some horror films and I did one of my ‘Art of the Title’ pieces on one so this was the genre I wanted to use. We discussed it as a group and all agreed.

We chose some typical props which we could use such as a black cape, a Bible to combat the demon and a wooden figure to mimic my movements like a puppet for the demon to control. We went to the tunnel because it has dim lighting for the spooky effect.

We decided on our plot line by discussing our basic idea as a group. We started filming and the camera person and other person would be directing from behind the camera and then we edited appropriate sound over it to cancel out our speaking if necessary. We also cut the clips to fit with some transition shots. 

We did the editing and filming in the app iMovie on my phone.                  

Table Top Exercise:

My brief is to create a title sequence using a table top and probs in order to create a small part of live action as the end of it. We also had to choose an approptiate soundtrack. 

To introduce us to the idea of a table-top exercise we watched some table-top filming from the films 'To kill a mocking bird' and 'Delicatessen’ which helped to provide different ways of introducing elements of a film through the symbolism of items. We discussed the key conventions as a group which included the birds eye view filming angle and the importance of having appropriate music to accompany the theme of our items. 

We were presented with many items which were typically ‘old’ in their appearance. We chose an aged picture of a man to use as the centre of our story as he was the love interest. The camera’s point of view shot was of a woman rummaging through the possessions of the fiancé of this man.

We used the song ‘Heather’ by Conan Gray which has a melody of a guitar strumming accompanied by his soft singing. We timed the lyrics ‘I wish I were Heather’ with the opening of the letter which is addressed to Heather. We thought that this gave some clarity into the feelings and desires of the person whose eyes we are seeing the items through.

We decided to edit it into black and white once we put our clips into iMovie. We thought that this would exaggerate the ‘old’ element to our items and scenario.

    

ON THE SET

I will be describing the process I went through today when setting up the camera and tripod. We learnt how and where to insert a compact flash card and the same with the camera battery. I tried to focus the camera and take a picture to test the lighting of the shot.

Camera work and tripod work:

We were given a camera today in groups of about four for us to learn and practise how to use and set up the camera and the tripod along with it. We were given a compact flash card which we learnt how to insert it and where to do so. Similarly, with the battery, we learnt where to insert it and how to secure it in the camera. We were also told, to protect the cameras, we should say ‘mine’ when we have a good hold of the camera and ‘yours’ when we are passing it over to avoid dropping them. We also learnt how to loosen the tripod to hold the camera and how to ‘bubble’ the tripod to keep the camera focused. We were able to quickly use the camera and explore how to change the exposure by using the dial.

 

On set:

We were able to learn and pick up some terms which are very common when on set; used by the director. The term ‘stand by’ is called by the director which you respond with ‘standing by’ to indicate that you are ready and prepared to start the shooting of a scene. Once the director gathers that the people are prepared they will shout ‘rolling’ which commands everyone on set to be quiet and then they shout ‘action’ which signals to start filming and the actors start moving. Once the scene had ended the director will shout ‘cut’ to signal the end. After this, the director will call ‘Strike the kit’ which signals for the set to be packed away, footage uploaded and cameras charged.

White Balance:

We also learnt about white balance where you remove the unrealistic colour casts so that an item appears white in the photo as it looks in real life. The ‘colour temperature’ must also be noted which will decide on how cool or warm the white light is. You can adjust this by using the ‘WB’ on the camera and choosing the tone of colour to give a realistic effect to the photo.

 

180-Degree Rule:

The 180-degree rule is a cinematography guideline to help two characters keep the correct left/right relation to each other. We learnt that there is an invisible line where the camera passes over which is when you have to use the reverse angle of the shot.