Preliminary Task

In Wednesday's lesson it was our group's turn to shoot and edit our prelim. Though short, the process highlighted to me how crucial storyboarding will be when creating our two minute film opening particularly when changing location. As well as this, timing will be crucial as we hope to involve a number of people in a party scene for our film opening therefore utilising the time wisely, not only for our sake, will be beneficial.

The concept of continuity, paying attention to the mise en scene of every shot will be something we need to become accustomed to in order to produce the best work possible. There were a number of times in filming our prelim that the setup of chairs was altered or positioning of myself or Julia was slightly off meaning re filming that specific shot. We did however manage to incorporate shot reverse shot, match on action and follow the 180 degrees rule.

As well as our first time filming as a group, it was our first chance to edit and get accustomed to using iMovie. Following editing and exporting we did notice a sound error at the 10 second point in the clip. If we had observed the sound levels on iMovie we would have been able to spot the sudden rise in sound however this is something we can take away and consider when creating our film opening. Using a MP3 file in the background allowed us to play around with sound levels not only in the clips but overlapping sound.

Ellen

This TV film, created by a team of "breakthrough" film makers aired a few weeks ago on Channel 4. After watching it I believe it contains a number of shots and settings I would love to experiment with in our film opening. The concept of the slow motion party scene captured briefly in the trailer is something I would love to incorporate into our opening. The plot draws focus to the life of  a young teenage girl, and the neglect by her family that  ultimately leads her into a highly vulnerable position. Ellen's character is immediately established to the audience as boisterous and disrespectful through her responses to other characters in her life in spite of any consideration for the relationships. This attitude only exaggerates her affection toward Joe Dempsie's character Jason, and although he is initially portrayed as her escape from life on the estate, he later proves to pose a danger to Ellen. A poignant message is delivered to conclude the film, where again use of slow motion creates emotional intensity. Although the film does not explore a greatly elaborate plot, the drama is character driven, a message relevant to modern day society is delivered through the fate of Ellen. In a bedroom, surrounded by a number of older men the camera dolly zooms out in conjunction with the repeated line "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?". Out of the room, then the house, then the street onto the next road highlights the almost ignorance of people and their perception of who is deemed vulnerable.

In an interview for Radio Times, Sarah Quintrell says “I feel there is a section of our society – young females – who aren’t heard because we have this idea of vulnerability in our society. We have a perception of what a vulnerable girl looks like and that is maybe someone who’s quiet or malnourished or skinny. Vulnerability comes in many guises but one of them fools people and that’s if a girl is mouthy, difficult, smoking, drinking – she has sex and decides to explore her sexuality. She seems to be almost living like a grown up and rather than using those things as a sign that maybe they need someone to step in and check they’re okay or give boundaries, we use that as a sign to write them off"

 

 

Preliminary Task - Techniques

The preliminary task requires us to include match on action, the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique where one shot cuts to another, portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This technique provides a sense of continuity and creates a "visual bridge".

The 180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule means that all filming takes place within the 180 degrees angle in front of the camera which ensures the background remains the same. This allows the audience
to have a greater sense of location in terms of what may be off camera.

 

Shot Reverse shot

 

This technique is used when filming conversations, filming one character then switching the shot to one of the other character in the duologue. Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180 degree rule to create continuity in the scene by not distorting the location of characters.

 

 

 

 

Breaking the Fourth Wall

In the past few weeks, I have been watching Phoebe Waller-Bridge's series Fleabag. The programme follows a single woman with heavy focus on her love life but also the relationship with her sister and the death of her bestfriend. Very few of the male characters encountered in the programme are given names but all appear to have a key feature or quirk that defines them. The decision to do so highlights their almost insignificance to the character of Fleabag in comparison to her family or bestfriend. As a comedy, use of these humorous nicknames is one of many ways the programme explores humour. The exploration of breaking the fourth wall, speaking to audience directly at the most unexpected, consequently comedic moments made me feel so much more involved in the story as an audience member. Unlike the programme Miranda which similarly explores the breaking of the fourth wall, Fleabag does not include a live or recorded reaction (clapping and laughing) which I think was a clever decision as it allows the viewer at home to find humour in what they please rather than being encouraged. As well as this, I found it much more personal, witnessing the relationship with her sister and the heavy contrast between the members of her family was something I found I could relate to.



The reference to Fleabag in the lesson today began to make me consider the various explorations of breaking the fourth wall in both film and television. A number of examples in film are Fight Club, Goodfellas and a more recent example is The Big Short. The use of breaking the fourth wall is so heavily different to the intention in Fleabag. The Big Short follows the complicated world of finance so to allow the audience to understand the facts behind the plot, director Adam McKay breaks the fourth wall. One example from the film is Margot Robbie explaining key finance terms.

Storyboarding Remember Me

As well as being introduced to camera shots, in the lesson we watched the opening scene of the BBC programme Remember Me. Whilst watching the clip, we filled out a storyboard for each new shot containing as much detail as possible. Doing activity helped me understand the level of detail I'll need to include when working on our groups film opening.

The opening of Remember Me was such an interesting scene to watch as it built so much tension through the varied speed of scenes and mood created by the establishing shots. The older man who appeared to be the protagonist of the story had no dialogue but the later introduction of the ghost leaves so many questions to be answered.



The trickiest part I found in storyboarding, as shown above, was when the camera would tilt or pan within one shot. To demonstrate this I annotated as much as possible alongside use of arrows.



Camera shots and angles

Today's lesson was an introduction to the varying types and uses of camera shots, movements and angles. From the brief drawings I made in lesson along with some research, I was then able to find examples of shots and angles from films.

Establishing Shot
The establishing camera shot is one used in the opening scene or the set the location of a new scene. Typically they are wide or extreme wide shots of landscape.



Long Shot
Much like the establishing shot, long shots set a scene but often film the outside of builders or people within a surrounding.

Full shot
This type of shot draws focus to a person within it, without much else going on in the frame.

Mid shot
The camera films from the waist up, the frame contains a more equal proportion of the person in frame and the background.

Close up
Tightly frames a person, seen most frequently in film with close ups of the actors face in focus with little background.

Extreme Close up
A much more zoomed in close up, with the characters face taking up the large majority of the frame.

Very Extreme Close up
The very extreme close up allows the audience to witness intense detail not made evident in other shots. The focus of the shot takes up the entirety of the frame.

When filming conversation between characters, other shots are used. Alongside the Two shot where the majority of both characters is shown and Over the head shot, the two most widely used shots are Over the shoulder and Face to Face.  

In conjunction with these camera shots, directors use varying camera angles. Many shots, such as the ones above, are at eye level.

Low Angle
In this case, the camera is below the individual looking up at them. This angle can be used to represent the point of view of an unseen character or object but also to illustrate status.

High angle
The camera is above the person looking down. Similarly to the low angle, the high angle can illustrate status or another point of view. This particular shot from Moonrise Kingdom is one of my favourites. Wes Anderson's use of colour and abrupt change of shots makes his films so interesting to watch.

Overhead shot
Provides a birds eye view of a scene or scenario.