Wednesday 21 October 2020
Monday 19 October 2020
Camera Movement
Camera Movement
Camera movement is a filmmaking technique that causes a change in frame or perspective through the movement of the camera. Camera movement allows cinematographers and directors to shift the audience's view without cutting. Specific types of camera movements in film also can create a psychological and emotional effect on the audience. These effects can be used to make a film more immersive and engaging.
Static -A static shot has no camera movement at all. It is achieved by locking a camera to a fixed-position typically with a tripod. The stability of a static shot makes it non-distracting. This makes it one of the best camera movements for shot reverse dialogue, precise composition, or showcasing an actors’ performance.
Pans are often motivated by a character’s actions. They can also be used to reveal new information to the audience.
Tilt - Camera Tilts are just like pans, only vertical. Tilt camera movements direct a camera upward or downward. Camera tilts can be used to give a character dominance in a shot or to reveal new information to the audience. Tilts enable filmmakers to capture the verticality of a film in moments of awe and spectacle.
Push in -A push-in moves the camera closer to a subject typically with a dolly camera movement. Push-ins can draw the audience's attention toward a specific detail. Filmmakers also push-in toward characters to try and infer what is occurring internally. This can be a reaction, thought process, or internal conflict.
Pull out -The camera pull out is the exact opposite of the push in. A pull out is a smooth camera movement that moves the camera further away from a subject. This movement causes the subject to grow smaller while simultaneously revealing their surroundings.
Zoom -Although zooms are technically not a camera movement they do create movement within the image. Zooms change the focal length of a camera lens to either zoom in (magnify) or zoom out (de-magnify) the size of a subject in the frame.
Dolly Zoom -One of the more heavy-handed camera movements is the dolly zoom. A dolly zoom is achieved by dollying the camera away from or toward a subject while simultaneously zooming in the other direction. Dolly zooms are an incredibly intentional camera movement because they have such a specific effect.
Angles
Angles
Shot #1 - Low Angle
In cinematography, a low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Sometimes, it is even directly below the subject's feet. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful.
Shot #2 - High Angle
A high-angle shot is a cinematic technique where the camera looks down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often gets "swallowed up". ... In film, they can make the scene more dramatic. If there is a person at high elevation who is talking to someone below them, this shot is often used.
Shot #3 - Dutch Angle
This is when your camera height is about as low as your subject’s knees. They can emphasize a character’s superiority if paired with a low angle. It's not as extreme as a ground level shot but it gets the same feeling across. These are ideal when you want to focus on characters walking.
Shot #9 - Ground Level
A ground level shot is when your camera’s height is on ground level with your subject. This camera angle is used a lot to feature a character walking without revealing their face, but it can help to make the viewer more active and use the actor's performance to build an idea.
Saturday 17 October 2020
Hollywood Composition
Hollywood Composition
For this shot as a group we chose to use an over the shoulder shot, demonstrating the first and secondary characters in shot - we included this to showcase the two characters talking and not have to cut back and forth to each characters face. This also gave us ability to see the body language and facial expressions of both characters interacting with each other; also allowing us to follow the 180 degree rule where the camera stays on one side of the characters, helping the audience keep track of who is speaking. This shot was edited to fit the next scene. We could have improved this by having the camera higher upwards, only showing the shoulder and to blur out the secondary characters shoulder as well to emphasise/gain more attention on the first character. We followed the rule of thirds within this shot and gave headspace for each character, enabling it to look clean and not cramped, making the audience uncomfortable. There is a good use of white balance in this shot, allowing the face of the characters be shown clearly. We sequenced this clearly leading to the next shot to create a flow to the narrative
The camera angle we used is a over the shoulder shot, again to show the two characters dialogue without switching back and forth between the two. This also gave us ability to see the body language and facial expressions of both characters interacting with each other; also allowing us to follow the 180 degree rule where the camera stays on one side of the characters, helping the audience keep track of who is speaking. I feel the composition could have improved by allowing the first character (male) to have enough headspace in the shot - the angle makes the shot look crowded and uncomfortable and would make the audience notice the strangeness. We could have improved this by making sure the shot wasn't blurred and each feature of the characters were in focus. Moreover, I feel we could have improved the white balance as some aspects of the colour come across as grey and muted, as well as the background light overtaking some of the shot.
Shot #3
This worms eye view full body shot showcased a character coming up a set of stairs, we chose to make the camera angle lower to show the characters footsteps walking as well as using the two railing like arrows, making the eye lead to the characters face. We could have improved this by giving the character more head room to move as the shot comes across as uncomfortable and cramped. Within this we followed the rule of thirds and kept the character central in the screen. I feel the white balance has worked well as the colour and lighting are clear in this shot. the shot is also sequenced to be in time with the next.
I think this shot worked extremely well as the lighting, composition and white balance all worked harmoniously together. The shot we used was again a worms eye view of the character moving, following her feet as she walks. When the character left the screen it transitioned to the next shot following this movement. However, when editing this shot we had to reverse the footage as it didn't fit the 180 degree rule.
Shot #5
For this shot we used a medium shot to showcase the character walking, the camera walking backwards and character walking forwards in a dolly shot to create an illusion. We included this to finalise where the character was going. Although fro this shot we didn't use enough head space and so the shot can be seen to look cramped. I feel the white balance worked well in this shot and no over powering light leaked into the shot.
Tuesday 13 October 2020
Monday 12 October 2020
Short Model Movie Analysis
For the first shot I used an over the shoulder shot, the main protagonist being in shot and the villain in a dirty two shot. However, the footage when editing came out blurry, not giving the best quality to work with. The dialogue of the scene starts with the villain (side of shoulder), giving the audience the impression they are possibly on his side of watching from afar.
For the second shot in the short narrative, I used a close up of the characters side profile, this works well, corresponding to the 180 degree rule, as the audience can keep track of which direction each character is looking and can keep the story flowing smoothly.
For my third shot I again used an over the shoulder, however when filming this shot I now recognise in editing it did not fit an over the shoulder as it was too high up the characters body. As well as this the background stops behind the villain, as you can see a part of a set, making it a nearly unusable shot.
For the fourth shot I used an extreme close up of the character; at this moment in the audio the villain is left alone in a room, the single shot giving the impression of loneliness and emphasises the fact he is the only one in the room, to go further you could interpret the character is inside his head, thinking while the camera is on him. I feel this shot worked well in correlation to the narrative as well as the cinlmphatography, it being a clean, balanced and un-blurred shot.
My fifth shot was a medium shot, demonstrating the character from chest to head, as well as using only a small part of the screen in the footage as the character is central to the left, leaving speaking room in the right corner.
Wednesday 7 October 2020
180° Rule
The 180 Rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. By keeping the camera on one side of an imaginary axis between two characters, the first character is always frame right of the second character. Moving the camera over the axis is called jumping the line or crossing the line; breaking the 180-degree rule by shooting on all sides is known as shooting in the round.
The second shot was again an over the shoulder, although this time in a closer shot nearer to the second character; this was however was not a great use of exposure as the camera was in manual focus and so the light emitting overpowered the shot as well as the closest object being in full resolution whereas the rest was slightly blurred.
The next sequence of shots we were asked to create a stream of a moments of character walking, for the first shot we used a high angle shot to demonstrate a character coming up a set of stairs; the model getting closer and closer to the camera to cut to the next shot.
For the next shot we made a mistake and didn't use the 180° as the character was on the other side of the screen; to fix this, in editing we flipped the shot uses a filter in Final Cut Pro that does this.
This shot was a worms eye view of the character moving across a set of benches, the upper body not being visible but only the feet to give a clear view to the audience to where the character is going.
The next shot switches to an eye level view of the character, the cameraman walking backwards as the model walks forwards to create an illusion of time passing.
Tuesday 6 October 2020
Shot Sizes
Shot Sizes
The extreme close-up shot is traditionally used in film to allow the viewer to enter the character's intimate space, revealing certain characteristics and emotions that would otherwise go unnoticed from afar. It demonstrates an isolated specific area such as the eyes, nose, ears, mouth; this insert shot highlights something crucial to the audience and narrative thus being one of the greatest tools for emphasise.
Sunday 4 October 2020
Listening to a music video
Visualise - When listening to the song without looking at the visuals on the screen, I imagined a night club setting with flashing lights and dancing people. I did this because of its seemingly disco/DJ genre, with repetitive sounds and no words as well as the occasional beat drop.
Images - I visualised a night club when listening to the music video, flashing cinema-photography of dancing people, a DJ on stage, a bar and alcohol. These images came to mind seemingly as if they were cutting on the beat, knowingly that the visuals would change in a match cut whenever the beat changed too high or low base.
Colour - When listening to the song I visualised flashing iridescent lights in a night club, contrasted to a dark atmosphere filled with people.
Singer - As there were no lyrics in the song i simply imagined a DJ on top of a stage.
Transforming visuals into a music video -
When listening to the song multiple times I imagined a clear setting of a nightclub, a medium sized area buzzing with different people. The style I feel would be a DJ/techno like genre within a dark atmosphere only lit with flashing iridescent lights coming from above. My audience would be able to see the dancing people, possibly choose one to be a main character that leads us throughout the nighclub/night from a POV shot. This would entail showing the audience the singer and band playing, giving clear visuals of this throughout. The music video could take the audience on a specific persons night out, demonstrating the highs and lows of a city life, it could demonstrate the dangers and highlights of a night out, possibly from a women's perspective contrasted to a males and how these are very much different in this situation. To satisfy an specific audiences pleasure, the target audience maybe being teens/young adults who enjoy the night life, the visuals could include alcohol, drugs, relationships, night clubs, etc. I could include intertextuality from other music videos of references of other artists or genres that fit the theme of the music video and lyrics.
Friday 2 October 2020
The Effects Model
The concept of the music video is how Madonna, the artist, describes herself, the song is about a 'passionate young girl so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life'. The narrative of the music video revolves around a young teenage girl who is completely enticed with God, seemingly obsessed and devoting herself to someone who she feels is in physical reality. As well as this, the music video features themes of rape, depictions of religion that arn't typically stereotypical and sexual imagery. Madonna said herself that she was blamed that the video was controversial for simply "because I kissed a black saint and danced in front of burning crosses!" The performance in the music video is very narrative based and revolves around the artist as well as some of the controversial themes within the video.Madonnas song is a pop rock song and incorporates gospel music. It features background vocals from a choir and also a rock guitar. The lyrics contain liturgical words, but they have dual meanings of sexual innuendo and religion. "Like a Prayer" was acclaimed by critics and was a worldwide success.
In early 2018 there was a parody of the Madonna song, written in context of the struggle of University classes. Using the music video as a base and reference to create a popular song; 'like a prayer' themes are used throughout such as the cinema-photography, lighting, settings and characters. There was references of homage in the music video fo the themes displayed throughout the narrative were closely related to religion and christianity. The repeated religious imagery of crosses, Jesus on the cross, white outfits and church settings invoke this. However, there was no use of pastiche.
The police mistakenly suspect the black man of being the killer and arrest him. Madonna flees the scene and escapes to a church. There, she sees a caged statue of saint who resembles the black man. Madonna then lies down on a pew and has a dream in which she is falling through space. A woman, representing power and strength, catches her. She tells Madonna to do what is right and sends her back up. Still dreaming, she returns to the statue, which transforms into the black man she had seen earlier. He kisses her forehead and leaves the church, as she picks up a knife and cuts her hands. After seeing scenes of Madonna singing in front of burning crosses, erotic scenes are shown between her and the saint, and the singer being surrounded by a choir inside the church. Madonna wakes up, goes to the jail and tells the police that she had witnessed the crime and that the black man is innocent; and he is released.
They called for the national boycott of Pepsi (after she performed it in a Pepsi commercial) and PepsiCo's subsidiaries, including KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Pepsi explained the differences between their advert and Madonna's artistic opinions in the video, and later gave in to the protests and cancelled the campaign. Pope John Paul II also got involved, and encouraged fans to boycott the singer in Italy altogether. There is a censored version of the song, although the lyrics never showcase any blasphemy, a separate copy of the music video has been made that cuts out more extreme controversial parts of the music video.
Uses and Gratfication
Uses and Gratification
Surveillance {learn something new}:
Personal Relationships
Personal Identity
Escapism
P3: Call Sheet
Above is the call sheet used for actors/actresses, director, producer, cast and crew within the production to use when they are needed on s...
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Mise-en-scene: Many conventions within my music video are symbolic and are open to interpretation, such as the character changing her outfi...
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D1: Requirements Met What did the client want? A Leeds based production company has secured the funding for our company to produce a short...