Post 1 MAIN task

      For this main task post 1, I shall be carrying out research on conventions of an opening sequence. I shall be doing this as for my main task it will be too create an opening sequence. I shall be analysing the opening sequence for two films of different genres in order to show the conventions used so that I could use them for my task.

 

 The first opening sequence I looked at was 'Skyfall'. In this opening of this trailer the credits of who stared/made the film appears ontop of a clip of a man being dragged down to die. The background music is played through out of this trailer, which creates tension and suspense. The colours are dark throughout to present mystery and death. This trailor mis-leads the audience in to believing that 'James Bond' is drowning and has been killed. 
 Conventions uses in this scene:

Credits of the characters and Directers.

Music is non-diegetic

Dark death like colours used throughout.

Name of the film.

 

 

 

The second film opening sequence I watched was the 'fight club'. This trailer is fast moving with the camera constantly moving at a fast pace. The music is non-diegetic and is the same throughout the film. The way the camera and the music are both fast paced it makes the sequence tense and builds up excitement. The way the directer has designed the trailor makes it exhilarating and makes the audience want to watch the film. The background colour is also very dark with little light creating suspense and tension. The conventions used in the opening sequence are;

The names of both characters and directors,

the name of the film.

and the non-diegetic music.

 

2012 Main post 1: Coventions of an opening sequence

 

Your coursework main task is to produce the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes. All video and audio material must be original, produced by you, with the exception of music and audio effects from a copyright-free source.

Post 12: independent work

Above is a picture showing myself doing independent work.

Post 11

Post 11: Targets

1)  To ensure that the group and I are confident that our idea is good and that we are happy with the way the script is written before we film. 

2) In our next task another target is to learn from what the feed back from the class was, so that  the next task is perfect.

3) I would to edit the film so that I can learn new skills which will help me in the main task. 

4) In our last task I did more acting than filming etc so in my next task I would like to use the camera and to learn new camera skills. 

5) To choose a different location from the school so our film can be more realistic and this will create an interesting film.

Post 10

Below is the link to youtube of our video to our prelim task:
We had trouble trying to inbed our film into this task so we had to just supply the link to the clip.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij-8BuG5Ix4


Creative Skills

My group and I have each learnt new skills during this task, such as to work as a team to come up with different ideas and learnt how to take account of everyones ideas and put them together to finalise our film.

Personal and Technical Skills

In my opinion i have been able to learn new skills during this task such as how to edit a film and the different techniques used when filming such as high angle shots. My understanding of how to film correctly using the camera and the way you insert music etc when editing, has grown hugely since starting the course which we will help me throughout the year. Also i feel that the group and I were able to work very well together which gave us no problems when filming and editing

Post 9

Below is the link to my group and I post production task. We decided to change the style of how to do this task, and decided to make a video.

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCY8CgbvCMV5VL5rTcM5elWg

Post 8

PRODUCTION PROCESS

How did the shoot go? and What problems did you encounter?

The footage we shot as a group was good. We came across a number of problems during filming, one being that we laughed alot which stopped filming, which caused problems during editing as our shots we captured were very short.

How did you over come these problems?

We over came these problems by staying calm and organised, making sure that everyone in our group knew what they were doing and what needed to be done.

How well did you work as team?

I feel and believe we worked well as team because we were able to complete at a high level. We were able to help and guide one another and was easy and comfortable to share thoughts together.

What do you think of the footage you shot?

Overall I would say our footage was of a high standered for a first attempt, but we also now know what we must do to make it even better.

Are there any areas for improvement in the technical execution?

- leave around a 5-7 second pre-role in between each shoot which would have left more time between each line and director saying action, making it slightly easier to capture our shots during editing.



Have you abided by the rules of continuity?

I believe we have followed the rules of continuity as we have not crossed the 180 degree line and have made sure that our eye lines match up. We have included everything that was specified in the brief which included of match on action, 180 degree rule and the 30 degree rule in our short film.

Post 7

Location Recce:

We decided to film our film within the schools premises. We searched round the school to find appropriate locations which had good natural lighting. We have 6 different locations both inside and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TECHNICAL RECCE:

To prepare filming there are a few problems which could affect our filming during production. As we will be mostly be using natural light from the windows if weather forecasts predict bad storms it could make lighting more darker ruining the mood of the film. Another problematic situation is if the camera malfunctions and we are incapable of filming this could delay our timetable in which we use to plan out our shooting schedule.

As we are filming in the Science room there is a chance that the room could be booked or locked restricting our access to the Science room, or problems of people not part of the cast could come in causing chaos on set. Also as myself and the members in my group are from another school it was hard for us to film and to keep up with filming and editing.

During the stairs scene people could walk down the corridor student could come out of class and accidently come into shot going against continuity.

Risk assessment



Location - Stairway

One scene involves Gazza having to jump down the stairs whilst running, this could be dangerous as he could trip running down the stairs which could cause serious injury.

Corridor - Fire exits

In the event of a fire occurring during filming, the corridor we used for filiming had 2 fire exits and 3 fire extinguishers.

Science lab/classroom - Dangerous items

The classroom we used for filming was a science lab, before filming we made sure all fragile items were moved safely and we also got a science teacher to grant us permission to film in the room and made sure any danger chemicals were removed.

MISE - EN - SCENE DESCRIPTION:

Set Design/Location

The room is spacious and is a perfect school setting of a class room. It has 4 windows on one side of the room and stairs near by to create a quick exit.

Props

One light brown table and two red chairs opposite sides of the table. One black gun to show the tension.

Lighting

The main source of light will be the natural light coming from the many windows in the science room, we will be also using artificial lighting that is already provided to help make sure the audience can see everything that’s happening in the scene.

Character Movement

At the start of the filming ABDUL is walking into the school on his own texting . He then walks into the room and sits opposite to GAZZA at the table. After the two characters have spoken their dialogue, ABDUL shoots GAZZA in the leg then in the head, he then runs out and jumps down the stairs and gets away. We chose this character movement as it is straight to the point and has enough going on to show different shots.

Costume

ABDUL: Black suit, no make up, didn't need it.

GAZZA: Black suit

CAST, CREW, EQUIPMENT and PROPS LISTS:

	Cast	Crew	Equipment	Props
Scene 1	Sean as Abdul	Henri	Camera and tripod	n/a
Scene 2	Sean as Abdul	Henri	Camera and tripod	n/a
Scene 3	Sean as Abdul	Henri	Camera and tripod	n/a
Scene 4	Sean as Abdul and Sam as Gazza	Henri	Camera and tripod	Box and gun
Scene 5	Sean as Abdul and Sam as Gazza	Henri	Camera and tripod	n/a
Scene 6

Post 6: Shot list and story board

Shot list
This shot list below is a table we created as a group which gives details about each shot prior to filming. It gives us the location of the shot, the scene and shot numbers and the details about each shot including shot sizes.

Post 5:Jump Cuts, Over-the-Shoulder Shots, Cutaways and Point of View Shots

Jump cut
A jump cut is a cut in film editing in which two sequential shots of the same subject are taken from camera positions that vary only slightly. This type of edit causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way.

Over-the-Shoulder

In film or video, an over the shoulder shot, is a shot of someone or something taken from the perspective or camera angle from the shoulder of another person. The back of the shoulder and head of this person is used to frame the image of whatever (or whomever) the camera is pointing toward.

Cutaway

A Cutaway Shot is the interruption of a continuously filmed action, by inserting a view of something else. It could be off a different subject, a close up of a different part of the subject or just about anything else. Cutaway Shots are effectively used when is correct, as they can help add drama, tension and sometimes make films more interesting.

Point of view shots

A point of view shot, is a short film scene that shows what a character, is looking at. It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction. The technique of POV is one of the foundations of film editing.

post 4: script writing

Continunity

Continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons. This is done by following a set of rules, you must make sure that each scene is the same in all out takes, so that it doesn't matter if you stopped filming and had to carry on the next day beacuse the scene will  look exactly the same as it was when you left it.

Here is an internet link which I used to help me find out what continuity in a media context is, and it explains it in more detail than what I have said.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuity_(fiction)

180 Degree rule

Whem filming the 180 degree rule is a basic guideline between the on-screen relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.

An imaginary line called the axis connects the characters and by keeping the camera on one side of this axis for every shot in the scene, the first character will always be frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first.

 If the camera passes over the axis, it is called crossing the line or jumping the line.

The diagram below shows this.

Shot-reverse-shot

Shot reverse shot is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.
Here's a helpful link for information and concept on shot-reverse-shot: 

get loads of information about shot-reverse-shot here 

Match-On-Action

This is when something happens in the scene then when there is a cut the same piece of action must also be going on. This is also an example of continuity editing and this is also very important in helping the audience understand exactly what is happening throughout.

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Here's a helpful link for information and concept on match-on action: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Match_cut

Shot Sizes

There are seven main shot sizes which is used thoughout media;

1) extreme close up

2) close up

3) medium close up

4) three quater shot (3/4 shot)

5) medium long shot

6) long shot

7) medium shot.

Below are drawings which i have scanned, of the different shot sizes which I used as a plan to tell me what photo's i needed to do for each shot. I did this using a digital camera.

My shot sizes

My Camera Shots

Below i have inserted pictures taken on a digital camera showing examples of the different shot sizes:

 Extreme close up (ECU)

 Close up (CU)

 Medium close up (MCU)

 Medium shot (MS)

 Three quarter shot (3/4 shot)

 Medium long shot (MLS)

 Long shot (LS)

Using different shots creates different effects for example using an extreme close up shot will show facial expressions which will display an effect eg. serious or frightened.

Rule of thirds

This shot shows the rule of thirds guide lines.

Here are some useful links about the rule of thirds:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds

Preliminary Exercise Brief

I will be working in groups of no more than 4. The task will continuity involving filming someone editing a character whilst opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down opposite another person whilst in a chair. They will then exchange some lines to each other. The task shall demonstrate match on action, shot and reserve shot and also the 180 degree rule.