Friday 15 October 2010
What is a Thriller?
A thriller is a genre of film used to create suspense and tension. It is usually faced pace to keep the tension creating momentum. There main characteristics are crime, conflict, murder and violence. Thrillers are usually dangerous and generally work around cliff hangers and twist in the story. They are designed to give the viewer a thrill and by having suspense keeps viewers interested.
Monday 11 October 2010
Camera Shots
Camera operation and functions- We used zoom by turning the middle dial and we turned it slowly to get a smooth effect. We have learnt how to white balance the cameras by zooming into a white object and flicking the white balance switch to A so that is a set white balance for that room, if you wanted to go outside or into a lighter or darker room you would set the white balance on B before filming and simply flick it from A to B as you walk out. We also learnt that we have to focus the camera by zooming close on an object and turning the large focus dial and then zooming out and filming at that focus. By using the tripod we got a smooth film without any movements or jults, this enables you to do certain specific camera movements when you need them every time you film rather than guessing with a hand held camera setting up the tripod we had to get it out and try and make it different heights for different shots, we had to try and make it equal by undoing the nuts and moving it up and down to get certain shots. Fade and Dissolve are to be done in editing not on the built-in features on the camera as you can cut or edit them out if they look wrong but you can add them in when you are editing. By Bubbling the camera you get a straight images to that its not tilted to the side you do this by undoing the nut underneath the camera and moving it until the bubble is in the middle of the black lines.
Using the camera- We learnt how to do some basic camera shots, such as close up shots which are usually from the shoulder upwards, over the shoulder shots which show someone’s shoulder and the back of there head and then the person that they are talking to face, a point of view shot which is showing what the actors is looking at effectively the camera becomes the persons eyes, we also learnt long shots or establishing shots which tends to show the location around, they are often used to set a scene showing a new place that the actors are in, also a wide shot this is to show somebody usually from head to tow with not that much background around them.
We also learnt about the rule of thirds- which is about putting your main focus in the middle of the shot. the shot is broken down into nine smaller box's and the central box should have the main focus in it, what you want the audience to look at first.
The 180 degree rule- it helps to maintain continuity by making sure everything in the film take place in front of an imaginary line, if the line is crossed it can be confusing for the audience.
The 30 degree rule- when a film is cut the camera shouldn't move more that 30 degrees either way otherwise it creates a jump cut (an awkward movement).
continuity editing- this is the most common form of editing using the 180 degree rule, the establishing shot and also the shot reverse shot. This is important to keep the perspective of the film.
Spatial Awareness -is being aware of space around you, how far things are away from you and how much spaces there is between people or objects that you are filming. This is important so that you film all that you want and don’t hit things that you think are further away from you than they actually are.
Timecode-tells you how long you have been recording for, it is on the LCD of your camera. It is placed in the top right hand corner of the viewfinder and it is the numbers that which change when you begin recording.
Expossure-It is used to control the amount of lighting that is allowd into the camera, the expossure ring is placed on the lense of the camera, it is the smallest ring with is the third one in.
We made a few mistakes by doing hand held shots when we needed the tripod. We also broke the 180 degree rule when we were doing the over the shoulder shots. But these things we will be able to keep in mind for when doing our final Videos and we can learn from our mistakes. I have learnt not to look back on what you have filmed and if you are unsure do the shot again, i have also learn to try and film in many different ways if you have time focusing on different things in that section so that you have more to work with when you are editing and for an audience it more interesting not just one long shot. We also learn to zoom slower as zooming fast doesn’t look good and ends up looking jerky.
Director
Camera man
We learnt to use these when we were filming, which was really good for the organisation and making sure everyone was ready at the same time.
I really enjoyed using the video camera and the still cameras. I enjoyed moving on the video cameras more as it was a new challenge and they have more to them than the still camera's. I really like the fact that we now how a small section filmed by us it’s a really nice achievement.
Using the camera- We learnt how to do some basic camera shots, such as close up shots which are usually from the shoulder upwards, over the shoulder shots which show someone’s shoulder and the back of there head and then the person that they are talking to face, a point of view shot which is showing what the actors is looking at effectively the camera becomes the persons eyes, we also learnt long shots or establishing shots which tends to show the location around, they are often used to set a scene showing a new place that the actors are in, also a wide shot this is to show somebody usually from head to tow with not that much background around them.
We also learnt about the rule of thirds- which is about putting your main focus in the middle of the shot. the shot is broken down into nine smaller box's and the central box should have the main focus in it, what you want the audience to look at first.
The 180 degree rule- it helps to maintain continuity by making sure everything in the film take place in front of an imaginary line, if the line is crossed it can be confusing for the audience.
The 30 degree rule- when a film is cut the camera shouldn't move more that 30 degrees either way otherwise it creates a jump cut (an awkward movement).
continuity editing- this is the most common form of editing using the 180 degree rule, the establishing shot and also the shot reverse shot. This is important to keep the perspective of the film.
Spatial Awareness -is being aware of space around you, how far things are away from you and how much spaces there is between people or objects that you are filming. This is important so that you film all that you want and don’t hit things that you think are further away from you than they actually are.
Timecode-tells you how long you have been recording for, it is on the LCD of your camera. It is placed in the top right hand corner of the viewfinder and it is the numbers that which change when you begin recording.
Expossure-It is used to control the amount of lighting that is allowd into the camera, the expossure ring is placed on the lense of the camera, it is the smallest ring with is the third one in.
We made a few mistakes by doing hand held shots when we needed the tripod. We also broke the 180 degree rule when we were doing the over the shoulder shots. But these things we will be able to keep in mind for when doing our final Videos and we can learn from our mistakes. I have learnt not to look back on what you have filmed and if you are unsure do the shot again, i have also learn to try and film in many different ways if you have time focusing on different things in that section so that you have more to work with when you are editing and for an audience it more interesting not just one long shot. We also learn to zoom slower as zooming fast doesn’t look good and ends up looking jerky.
STAND BY / STANDING BY - readies everyone into position for the take. The AD calls STAND BY and the response tells them that everyone is prepped
TURN OVER / TURNING OVER (Roll film/Rolling etc) the director tells the camera operator to start filming - a few seconds of film is then run as the camera gets up to speed - this is often referred to as LEAD IN. Once done the Camera operator will respond TURNING OVER or ROLLING (etc) to indicate being up to speed
ACTION! - Cue for the actors to perform the take, and the crew to do their jobs. It is good practice for the Director to let the film run on a further few seconds after the take is completed before cutting - this is referred to as LEAD OUT
CUT! - Cue for the camera to stop running film. Industry practice expects that the camera operator does not CUT before being told
Director
Camera man
We learnt to use these when we were filming, which was really good for the organisation and making sure everyone was ready at the same time.
I really enjoyed using the video camera and the still cameras. I enjoyed moving on the video cameras more as it was a new challenge and they have more to them than the still camera's. I really like the fact that we now how a small section filmed by us it’s a really nice achievement.
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