Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The location I filmed my preliminary task in was the Studio. This worked very well as a location because we were able to re-arrange the objects in the studio which were chairs, a table and draws. We put the draws and the table in the corner of the 'room' (area we were filming) to make it look a bit like an office, and then had one chair situated infront, and the other along the side which was then going to be pulled over by one of the characters. I wasn't the director or directly behind the camera however I took a very active role in filming. I checked that the boy who was behind the camera was doing the correct thing and had things in the correct places, and it was often that he didn't so I told him where it should be and we discussed what looked best.



The thoughts towards lighting that we had was that we wanted quite a light set to film on so we could see the actors in detail. We therefore had a big bright light coming from the right corner onto the actors. This was important to the scene as it focused on two people who we needed to see clearly and in detail. It also showed that they were in a normal office and let us see the objects in the room and thus distinguish that they were in an office. This was effective as it made sure that every part of the set was light and there were not some bits lighter than others. However, there was one point where it would have been better to have an extra light as we were filming in a different part of the studio. This turned out to be fine though as we just situated the original light in a different place.



We set up the camera correctly by bubbling the tripod to make sure it was stable, and then locking in the camera. We then zoomed in on a part of the wall and set the white balance correctly. We made sure the exposure, focus and zoom were all in the right places. We checked the tripod was level in each shot and made sure the bubble was still in the centre. We checked the shot was framed correctly each time, and if we had doubt then we filmed it again just incase. We moved the lighting and camera equipment to make sure it was not in the shot, and one time when we changed the position of the camera a light came in that was not there before. We then had to move it before we took the shot to make sure that there was not objects that were just appearing. We chose appropriate angles for the shots, and made sure that the whole of the actors bodies were in the shots at all times. Therefore, we did a straight on shot of them when they are sat down but for the over the shoulder shot, it was harder to get their bodies in and we therefore filmed it from a much higher angle to make this possible. We filmed the shots using practical planning. We started off with the wide shot and filmed the whole thing a couple of times to be on the safe side. We then filmed the whole sequence as an over the shoulder shot, followed by a close up of that person as we only needed to zoom in and not move the camera. We did this the same on the other side and then went on to film the very beginning and very end, when we had one of our actors coming in and out of a door. There was no need to film a medium shot, as this was not involved in the sequence. We made sure to conform to the 180 degree rule and were constantly thinking about it especially when we had to move from one over the shoulder shot to another. I often imagined an imaginary line at 180 degrees to stop us breaking it. We used appropriate terminology on set. Our director would start of by saying 'stand by' to which we would all reply 'standing by' once we were in our places. She would then go on to say 'roll' and the camera man would say 'rolling' once he had started recording. After this she would say 'action' and the actors would start the scene. Once the scene had finished, she would say 'cut' and the camera man would wait around 5 seconds before stopping the recording.

Camera skills, camera operating and filming.

Before filming, we had learnt about camera shot types and movement as well as framing and composition. Here is a short clip about camera shot types:

We also learnt about the rule of thirds which is one of the most popular 'rules' in photography. It works like this: Imaginary lines are drawn dividing the image into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You place important elements of your composition where these lines intersect. As well as using the intersections you can arrange areas into bands occupying a third or place things along the imaginary lines. Good places to put things: third of the way up, third of the way in from the left. Bad places to put things: right in the middle, right at the top, right at the bottom, away in the corner. Another rule in media is the 180 degree rule. This means that there is a sort of imaginary 180 degree line which you cannot cross, and must stay on either one side or the other. If you break the rule, and cross the line, the characters will look like they are facing the same direction. If you want to break the rule, you must show the camera movement.



We had learnt before hand about the timecode of the camera. This showed the hours and minutes it had been filming for but it also showed a number which was moving a lot of faster. We learnt that this was the number of frames per second, of which there are 25 frames.

Today in media, we were put in groups of 4 and asked to film a short story. This was a practice for our preliminary shoot. To start off, we had to set up the camera in the tripod like we had been tought and we then bubbled the tripod. The benefit of using a tripod is that the camera is not going to move out of the position you have it in, and so will look more realistic. However, if you are wanting an effect of someone holding the camera, or a shaky effect, then it is best to use the camera handheld. After that, we zoomed in on a white wall and set the white balance, and then focused the camera and got it to the right point so that you could see the whole of the actors bodies. We then filmed the whole thing in wide shot, then again in an over-the-shoulder shot, then again in a close up and over-the-shoulder shot and close up on the other side.We realised afterwards when we looked at the filming that we had forgotten to focus on one of the shots so when it came to the real thing, we made sure to focus all the time.



There was some terminology that we had to use when doing our preliminary task. The director would say 'stand by' and we would all have to reply 'standing by' to show that we are in position for the take. The director would then say 'roll' and the camera man would say 'rolling' once he had started recording. The director would then say 'action' to let the actors know that they should start acting now. After the take has finished, the director would say 'cut' and the camera man would wait 5 seconds before finishing recording.

I enjoyed the experience of using the video camera because it was the first time I had used a professional one like that and was very fun. However it was also quite stressful because we had so much to think about and not that much time.

I saw you... HECTOR

Last week in our media lesson we were split up into groups of 4 and were told to go off and take pictures which we would then edit into a film poster or something similar. Our group went to the theatre department and managed to get hold of some props like a saw and a hammer which we then used for the pictures. I got many pictures taken of me next to or behind a tree with a saw, which i had the idea of then making into a horror movie poster. With these pictures, i chose 4 of the best ones and opened them in photoshop. I then cut three of the pictures out and pasted them into another picture. I used blur and the clone stamp, and by doing this made it look like there was 4 trees with 4 version's of me standing behind them. I then pasted in a picture of dripping blood from google and used effects to make it look as realistic as possible and then scaled it and placed it on the bottom of my lip to make it seem as if blood was dripping off my lip. I wrote 'I SAW YOU' at the top of the poster in bright red, and planned to have some blood dripping off that too but did not have the time. It looks a bit unfinished but...

Exterminate

Introduction to concept of editing film:

• Hollywood Narrative prioritises Narrative over Form (in essence, the story is the most important factor, not the look)
• The majority of editing decisions are based on this factor - choice of shot is dictated by necessity to narrative.
• Editing also dictates the PACE of the film, the faster the shots are cut together, the more tense or exciting a sequence becomes.
• Editing also maniplulates Time and Space - the ellipsis of the film-world (or DIEGESIS) we only see events necessary to the time of the narrative which are cut together to speed up or slow down the events depending on the needs of that narrative.
• Juxtaposition and meaning:
  Shots in sequence create meaning for audiences
  From exterior shots to set, audience is encouraged to believe the events they see are immediately sequential
• The Kuleshov Effect
  Audiences interpreted emotional responses on the actor’s face based on the juxtaposition of images.

To practice our editing skills, we were required to make a doctor who video using a website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/trailermaker/view/7iaqx4