Our First Pitch

Above is our first pitch, as you can see we received an amber light this was because the basis of our film was very cliché and we need/want to create something unique and interesting. This means we will have to improve and develop our initial idea so we can receive the green light and begin our storyboard for our two minute film opening.

Preliminary Exercise

Above is my groups' completed Preliminary exercise. I believe we worked well as a team producing this video each of us naturally taking on individual roles within the exercise. As a group what we found most difficult was editing and piecing together our video, this was because none of us had used a Mac before not to mention using iMovie. However, once we came to grips with the basic editing skills we were able to teach ourselves how to do other things like only cut out unwanted sound which we weren't able to do at the beginning of our editing session. Overall I'm happy with what my group has produced and I can't wait to see what else we can develop.

Breaking The 4th Wall

The 4th Wall is a theatrical term that is used to describe the imaginary wall that exists between actors on stage (or in film) and the audience. A common example of an actress breaking the fourth wall is Miranda but the recent 6 part comedy series  Fleabag has shown brilliantly how well the breaking of the fourth wall can be.

The Fleabag trailer is provided below.

Filmmaking-A Start of A Genre

In today's media lesson we looked into the Found Footage genre, and I have decided to do some more research into it.

Now first of all many people believe that The Blair Witch Project was the first found footage film, but in fact it was Cannibal Holocaust  released January 1979 (USA) that is considered the first genuine food footage film.

However, in 1999 the film that is considered the undisputed king of found footage films was release. THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. It was shot for an estimated $60k and then it went on to produce $140,539,099 in the US and an additional $248,639,099 worldwide. It shocked audiences hauntingly realistic representation of footage expressed by student filmmakers that allegedly went missing in 1994. The marketing department went to extreme lengths to convince viewers that the procect was an authentic documentary. It successfully rebounded off of the Cannibal Holocaust but to an exponentially greater box office success. I want to look at the Blair Witch Project in more detail because I believe found footage would be a good genre to look into for my 2 minute film opening. During my research into the Blair Witch Project I came across an article on the Guardian's website by Heather Donahue who played herself in the 1999 film. What I found most intriguing about the article is where she explains the extent the marketing team went to in trying to make the film as convincing as possible, the poor girl had her obituary published when she was 24 and still very much alive.  I have provided the link to her article below.

I died in the first Blair Witch Film, I can't wait for the new one.

In taking such an interest into found footage films I decided to look at a few more, I have provided trailers to these other films.

Paranormal Activity-2007



Paranormal Activity Two-2010



Paranormal Activity Three-2011



Paranormal Activity Four-2012



Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones-2014



Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension-2015



Cloverfield-2008

Filming Techniques

The more research into filming techniques I do, I come across more and more different types of shots and skills. Consequently I have documented some more of my research into filming techniques below.

Conversation Shots

Conversation shots are where there are two or more characters in a shot conversing with one another. There are different techniques to conversation shots. Below are some of the different types of conversation shots I found during my research.

Over-the-shoulder Shot

This is a shot of someone or something taken at an angle over another persons shoulder. This is shown in the image below.

Face to Face

This shot is where two characters are positioned opposite each other (hence face to face) in the shot. An example of this is shown in the image below.

Two Shot

This where you can see the faces of both people in shot. This is shown in the image below.

Over the head

This is where a shot of someone or something is taken at an angle over another persons head. An example of this shown in the image below.

Focus Techniques

There are two standard definitions of focus, these are;

1. The position where the rays of light from a lens intersect forming a clear and sharply defined image on a focal plane.

2. The action of adjusting the distance between the lens and the subject to make light rays intersect forming a clear and sharply defined image of the subject.   

Below I have listed some examples of common focusing techniques. 

Manual Focus
This is where the photographer/videographer has to physically adjust the focus of the lens by hand.

Depth of Field

This is the distance between the nearest and the furthest objects giving a focused image. This is described in more detail with examples in the video below.

More Camera Techniques

As I said in my previous blog there are multiple camera techniques in filming. Therefore in this blog I am going to show you the some of the research I have done on camera angles and camera movement.

Camera Angles

The definition of camera angle is the specific location at which the camera is placed to take a shot. There are multiple types of camera angles, I have included examples of some below.

Eye Level Shot

High Angle Shot

Low Angle Shot

Overhead Shot

Undershot

Camera Movement
The definition of camera movement is the manoeuvring of the camera during a shot/scene. There are multiple types of these motions, some of which I have given examples of below.

Pan
This is where the camera moves horizontally, left and right.

Tilt

This is the vertical movement of the camera angle, e.g. pointing the camera up and down.

Tracking
This is any shot where the camera moves alongside the object it is filming/recording.

Dolly
This is when the camera is mounted on a cart which then travels along tracks giving very smooth movement.

Zoom
This is the change in the focal length of the lens, giving the impression of the camera moving closer or further away from the subject.

Dolly Zoom
This a technique where the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in the frame.

Camera Techniques

There are multiple camera techniques in filming and in order to complete my preliminary exercise and my film opening successfully I need to learn them. Therefore I have decided to document some of my research below.

The Establishing Shot

This is usually the first shot of the new scene, its designed to show the audience where the action is taking place. It is usually a very wide shot or an extreme wide shot.

Here is an example of an establishing shot

Long Shot
This is a shot which is taken at a relatively great distance from the subject and allowing a broad view of the scene.
Here is an example of a long shot

Full Shot

This shot shows the subject completely, for example you can see the person in the shot from head to toe. Here is an example of a full shot

Mid Shot

This shot is taken from a medium distance, and  you can usually only see the character from the waist up. Here is an example of a mid shot

Close up Shot

In this shot a certain feature or part of the subject usually takes up the majority of the frame. A close up of a person is usually a close up of their face.

Here is an example of a close up

Extreme Close up

This is a shot used in film making. television production and photography where the camera focuses on a particular detail of the subject and are usually extremely intimate.

Here is an example of an extreme close up

Key Words and Techniques for Preliminary Task

In the preliminary exercise for my AS Media Studies course I must produce a video including three different types techniques. These are match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180-degree rule. Therefore I decided to do some research on them and here is what I found.

Match on Action

This is an editing technique where one shot cuts into another which matches the first shots action creating the impression of a sense of continuity. Below is an example of this.

Shot/Reverse Shot

This 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. Below is an example of this.

The 180-Degree Rule

This is that the angle between two consecutive shots should not exceed 180 degrees, in order to maintain dimensional relationships between characters or objects in any sequence of shots. The diagram below is an example of how the filming should take place when taking into account the 180 degree rule.