PRELIMINARY EXCERCISES

I have studied camera angles by reading Daniel Chandler's website The grammar of Television 

 I have taken these photos of Matt to express my media knowledge of camera angles, tat make him appear different in size. For example, the middle left photo makes Matt appear very tall (even though he already is). These canted angles make him appear different in size and shape, to create the illusion he is what he is not.

Camera angles and shots

Production company logo

I used photoshop in order to create my own, personal production company logo. I decided to use light colours because it is clear and not too overwhelming. However, it is still effective. I used different tools in order to get the flowers as my background, I did this because it is unique and creative and may stand out to my audiences. I am happy with my final product whilst also developing skills and confidence by using photoshop. 

On the set

Throughout this passage I will state what i learnt, stating the terminology and methods. This is when we ran through how to use the Canon cameras and Manfrotto tripods. 

Cameras and tripods:

We started off by understanding how to handle the camera and to ensure that we would not damage it. For example; we would make sure the strap was either wrapped around our neck or our wrist. We also got used to taking and slotting in the battery, making sure it was inserted the right way. It is also important to take it out at the end of the filming session. The SD card had the same treatment, making sure we it was inserted the right way. 

White balance (WB):

White balance is the process in which unrealistic colour casts are removed. It is used in film, photography and image processing. It results in objects that appear white to the human eye also appear white on camera. The warmth or coolness of the white light or 'colour temperature', is often taken into consideration by proper cameras. Many digital cameras will come with an option to change the white balance by selecting the 'WB' on the device. It will then display an array of pictures that give a representation of the differences in colour tones, can be used to create more realistic and naturalistic film. 

180-degree rule: This rule helps to make the film more flowing. This rule means that you must stay on the same chosen side of an imaginary line, during a scene. The camera can be 180 degrees along the line, but cannot cross as it will result in a 'unnatural' and 'messy' feeling. 

On set terminology:

'Standby' and 'Standing by': The director shouts 'standby' before filming to alert the crew that filming is about to begin. Whilst the crew would shout 'standing by' to inform the director that they are ready. 

'Rolling':The director then follows on by shouting 'rolling', which means the crew must be quiet and that the camera is on and filming, but the action is not unfolding yet. 

'Action': This is shouted by the director after 'rolling', and means that the scene should start to unfold.

'Cut': This word ends the action on screen, meaning the scene has ended and the camera will stop recording. 

'Strike the kit': This signals the crew to pack away and make sure the footage is uploaded. 

Editing: We are using to editing softwares, Final Cut Pro and IMovie, in which are both featured on the IMacs in the media studio. The footage in which we upload should be kept in a folder dedicated to your work. These folders are named bins whilst the unedited footage from the cameras are stated as being called rushes.  

Continuity Exercise

In our group, we had a task to film a short clip with continuity editing in order to devolve the camera angles we had recently learnt.We were asked to film something unique and based off of our personal ideas, which we would then incorporate multiple camera shots/ angles and clean editing in. In our exercise we aimed to use a range of shots including close ups, tilt pans, tracking shots, over the shoulder shots, extreme close ups and high angle shots. We edited this through I movie. My role was filming the shots, ollie and millie then edited the piece.