Thursday, 20 December 2012
Tuesday, 11 December 2012
Shot duration/pace
The duration of a hot will usually reflect the narrative context
Generally speaking, short shot duration conveys action and urgency (say in a shot sequence)
Whilst long duration conveys intensity and intimacy within the narrative, it allows us to focus upon facial expression and other aspects of mise en scene which would otherwise be missed.
Some extra editing devices:
Editing controls what we see and when, when analysing a clip you also need to consider how editing techniques are used to control what information is revealed to/hidden from:
a) the audience
b) the characters
Generally speaking, short shot duration conveys action and urgency (say in a shot sequence)
Whilst long duration conveys intensity and intimacy within the narrative, it allows us to focus upon facial expression and other aspects of mise en scene which would otherwise be missed.
Some extra editing devices:
- Parallel editing - cross cutting between different locations can convey the impression that two or more events are occuring simutaneously
- Split-screen - where the frame is split into sections so that we can see different events occuring at the same time.
Editing controls what we see and when, when analysing a clip you also need to consider how editing techniques are used to control what information is revealed to/hidden from:
a) the audience
b) the characters
Transitions
The process of cutting from one shot to another usually involves a simple straight cut. However there are other means of transitions available to a film editor:
A pattern of fade out followed by fade in suggests a conclusion to the previous scene and the beginning of a new one, or could seperate a flashback sequence.
Dissolve or cross fade - the preceding shot merges into the following shot, resulting in the two shots being superimposed. The longer the dissolve the more noticeable the superimposition becomes.
- Fade to black
- Dissolve/cross fade
- Wipe
A pattern of fade out followed by fade in suggests a conclusion to the previous scene and the beginning of a new one, or could seperate a flashback sequence.
Dissolve or cross fade - the preceding shot merges into the following shot, resulting in the two shots being superimposed. The longer the dissolve the more noticeable the superimposition becomes.
Continuity and Non-Continuity
Continuity Editing
Cutting shots to tella story with narrative continuity, helping the viewer make sense of the action by implying spacial relationships and ensuring smooth flow from shot to shot.
Continuity Techniques
Non-Continuity
Cutting shots to tella story with narrative continuity, helping the viewer make sense of the action by implying spacial relationships and ensuring smooth flow from shot to shot.
Continuity Techniques
- Establishing shot (establishes the space in which action is to happen)
- The 180 degree rule (ensures that the same space is described in each shot)
- Shot/reverse shot
- Eyeline match (e.g. character looks off-screen, next shot shows us what they see)
- Match on action (character begins to move in one shot, we see continuation of the same moverment in the next shot)
- Realism (edit is invisible so action appears real, rather than constructed)
Non-Continuity
- Montage - giving information in compressed form
- Non-Continuity editing - continuity is broken and construction is more apparent. Meaning often created through juxtaposition and metaphor shot inserts
- Effect - being created to connote. Stretches reality usually to signify or give a metaphor for something
Editing a clip
What are we looking for when editing a clip?
What are we looking for when analysing editing in a clip?
- making sure its accurate and fluent
- Making sure it looks real so the audience believe it
- Make sure shots link together - sequence
- Transition
- Making sure everything fits together (sounds, shots etc.)
What are we looking for when analysing editing in a clip?
- Order of shots
- Juxtaposition
- Continuously
- Transitions
- Shot duration
- Pace and rhythm
- Special effects
Camera Shots
In today's lesson I learnt four new types of shots:
180 degree rule: The 180 degree rule ensures directional consistency from shot to shot, it may be used in conversation.
Rule of thirds (9 imaginary squares on the screen): the viewfinder screen is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically, when framing a shot, the camera person should consider these imaginary lines when placing characters in the right place.
Depth of field: The amount of distance between the nearest and furthest objects that appear.
Focus pull: Useful for directing the viewers attention. There are two people in the shot but only one character is in focus.
180 degree rule: The 180 degree rule ensures directional consistency from shot to shot, it may be used in conversation.
Rule of thirds (9 imaginary squares on the screen): the viewfinder screen is divided into thirds horizontally and vertically, when framing a shot, the camera person should consider these imaginary lines when placing characters in the right place.
Depth of field: The amount of distance between the nearest and furthest objects that appear.
Focus pull: Useful for directing the viewers attention. There are two people in the shot but only one character is in focus.
Making a Video
In class we watched
a video made by some Australian production team. The video gave us some useful
tips and advice on how to control our filming and production schedule.
It started off by telling us the different roles that are involved when
producing a film:
- Executive producer: This person will create the filming schedule/timeline,
control the budget and decide who fills what rolls.
- Writer: This person will take all the idea that were discussed and write a
script for the production
- Director: This person is in charge of all the movement
- Production manager: This person keeps track of the production
and makes sure everything is on track to stay in budget/in the deadline
- Storyboard Artist: This person draws and plans the shots in a cartoon
strip style
- Camera operator: This person controls the camera and uses the storyboard
as the outline and guide of what to film (this can sometime be the same person
as the lighting director)
- Lighting Director: This person is in charge of the
lighting on set when they start the filming process
- Sound Technician: This person will add sound to the production at the
editing stage and may try and record different sounds on set to add at a later
stage
- Talent: The talent will be the actors; these will either be auditioned or asked
to partake by the executive producer
- Editor: This person will make sure the continuity etc is correct and produce the
finished product.
They then gave us an outline of the three stages of creating a
production.
Pre-Production
Scripting
Scene breakdown
Storyboard
Shot list
Casting
Location
Equipment
Catering
Hire of venue
Letting others (around the area) know you're filming
Shot list and
shooting schedule:
Where
Time needed
Different camera angles
When
How long
Plan Ahead, Be Prepared!!
Production - The doing stage
Shooting the project
Time management (crucial)
Quality control (image, sound, performance)
Potential conflict between producers (limitations and directors
creativity)
Post-Production -The finishing stage
Editing
-Rough-cute/off-line and final/on-line
Sound technician balances sounds
All elements combined during editing
Sound mix
British Film Insitute - 13th November
On the 13th
November my media studies class went on a school trip to the British Film
Institution (BFI) for a workshop on making film openings. It was a massive help
for our AS media coursework as creating an opening sequence and titles will be
our task. The day consisted of talks from Pete Fraser and Q&A sessions with
Simon Frame and Joe Cornish.
Pete Fraser started the day talking about the investigation and research part of our coursework. He told us about 5 key features we should consider when planning:
- Genre
- Narrative (enigma)
- Character
- Atmosphere
- Setting
He then gave us some tips/steps to use when we start looking into making the film opening.
1. Start general, don't limit yourself to one genre or style of film
2. Then home in on one specific genre and look at other relevant film openings too.
3. Make sure the research you do is focused on your chosen genre and relevant
We watched a few opening sequences to films ('Catch me if you can', 'Dawn of the Dead', and 'Napoleon Dynamite'). Pete Fraser asked us to watch the openings and makes quick notes on the 5 key features. We then discussed it with the people around us and a few students shared their ideas with the rest of us.
Here are my notes on 'Dawn of the Dead':
Genre: Zombie Horror
Narrative:
Character: only an introductory, no central character introduced yet. More about what it is and who it affects. Shows people who are clearly from a different cultural backgrounds to show what's happening is on a global scale.
Atmosphere: quick cut editing so that we can't see exactly what is going on, it doesn't tell the whole story in the opening. Shows news report in the opening, nothing good ever gets on the news, shows something bad has happened. The song used in the opening was 'Rapture' by Johnny Cash, the song juxt opposes the opening as it sounds like a happy song but the clearly isn't going to be a joyful one. The lyrics are about the religious end of the world, this foreshadows the film.
Setting: There was different global settings in the opening, this shows it is a film about the whole world however, it showed the white house many times suggesting it is mainly focussed in America.
Although the Q&A sessions were VERY interesting they weren't completely relevant to us because they were more about the filming as a whole and they were on a much larger scale (bigger budget, more actors, more equipment etc.)
The last session was again run by Pete Fraser. This session was purely about our opening sequences and was very valuable to us. We watched previous work submitted by candidates and Pete gave us a quick analysis on them and told us what level they were and why. He also gave us some helpful tips about our titles:
- The directors name should always go last
- We shouldn't use the word 'starring'
- Don't include our candidate number next to our names
- Try not to show all our title at the same time, spread them throughout the opening
He also told us about the 6 most common openings and 6 common problem often sound with openings.
1. Saw (a victim tied up in a shed)
2. Scream (a hooded stalker)
3. Se7en
4. Lock, Stock (gangsters)
5. Waking up
6. Flashbacks or Flash forwards
- Making the opening too much like a trailer or short film
- Not including enough titles
- poor sound or lighting
- poorly directed actors
- Making the storyline too complicated or confusing
- Doing one of the most common openings badly
Finally, Pete gave us details about our opening sequences and the marking, He told us about 9 main steps we need to think about when filming our opening sequences.
Task: To film the opening, with titles, of a new, fiction film.
The sequence should be up to two minutes long. 20 marks will be awarded for research and planning, 60 marks for the construction and 20 marks for the evaluation.
Step 1: Take Stock Build up your skills
Pete Fraser started the day talking about the investigation and research part of our coursework. He told us about 5 key features we should consider when planning:
- Genre
- Narrative (enigma)
- Character
- Atmosphere
- Setting
He then gave us some tips/steps to use when we start looking into making the film opening.
1. Start general, don't limit yourself to one genre or style of film
2. Then home in on one specific genre and look at other relevant film openings too.
3. Make sure the research you do is focused on your chosen genre and relevant
We watched a few opening sequences to films ('Catch me if you can', 'Dawn of the Dead', and 'Napoleon Dynamite'). Pete Fraser asked us to watch the openings and makes quick notes on the 5 key features. We then discussed it with the people around us and a few students shared their ideas with the rest of us.
Here are my notes on 'Dawn of the Dead':
Genre: Zombie Horror
Narrative:
Character: only an introductory, no central character introduced yet. More about what it is and who it affects. Shows people who are clearly from a different cultural backgrounds to show what's happening is on a global scale.
Atmosphere: quick cut editing so that we can't see exactly what is going on, it doesn't tell the whole story in the opening. Shows news report in the opening, nothing good ever gets on the news, shows something bad has happened. The song used in the opening was 'Rapture' by Johnny Cash, the song juxt opposes the opening as it sounds like a happy song but the clearly isn't going to be a joyful one. The lyrics are about the religious end of the world, this foreshadows the film.
Setting: There was different global settings in the opening, this shows it is a film about the whole world however, it showed the white house many times suggesting it is mainly focussed in America.
Although the Q&A sessions were VERY interesting they weren't completely relevant to us because they were more about the filming as a whole and they were on a much larger scale (bigger budget, more actors, more equipment etc.)
The last session was again run by Pete Fraser. This session was purely about our opening sequences and was very valuable to us. We watched previous work submitted by candidates and Pete gave us a quick analysis on them and told us what level they were and why. He also gave us some helpful tips about our titles:
- The directors name should always go last
- We shouldn't use the word 'starring'
- Don't include our candidate number next to our names
- Try not to show all our title at the same time, spread them throughout the opening
He also told us about the 6 most common openings and 6 common problem often sound with openings.
1. Saw (a victim tied up in a shed)
2. Scream (a hooded stalker)
3. Se7en
4. Lock, Stock (gangsters)
5. Waking up
6. Flashbacks or Flash forwards
- Making the opening too much like a trailer or short film
- Not including enough titles
- poor sound or lighting
- poorly directed actors
- Making the storyline too complicated or confusing
- Doing one of the most common openings badly
Finally, Pete gave us details about our opening sequences and the marking, He told us about 9 main steps we need to think about when filming our opening sequences.
Task: To film the opening, with titles, of a new, fiction film.
The sequence should be up to two minutes long. 20 marks will be awarded for research and planning, 60 marks for the construction and 20 marks for the evaluation.
Step 1: Take Stock Build up your skills
- Build up your research
- Build up your planning
- Allow time to shoot and edit
- Keep evidence throughout the
task
Step 2: Set up a blog
- Post anything you do on your
blog
Step 3: Build up skills
- Learn from your preliminary
task
- Use a range of camera angles
and skills
Step 4: Investigate
- What do film openings look
like
- Look at a range of genres
- Look at other students work
Step 5: Brainstorm Ideas
- Pitches
- Mood board treatments
- Feedback
- Be realistic
Step 6: Planning
- The more planning, the less
problems
- Experiment
- Examples of props, costumes,
shots etc.
- Storyboard (use post it
notes)
- Logistics
Step 7: The shoot
- People, places, props,
costume
- Rehearsing, directing
- Equipment and jobs on the
day
- Keeping a record of the process
Step 8: Editing
- Everyone have a go
- Screen grabs
- Audio and titles
- Foley (the art of putting
sound in sync with movement)
- Rough cut deadline and peer feedback
·
The big picture before the final details
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