Friday, 25 September 2015



 Studio lesson 2

This Thursday we had another lesson in the studio.
We learned how to shoot a really short and simple sequence.

We started with learning the 180 degrees rule.
This talks about filming two characters always in one direction, we basically have to imagine a line called axis and the cameras cannot cross it. This rule explains that cameras show differently the position of those characters, without this the audience would be confused as the characters seem to swapping place continuously.



Afterward we tried to film a little sequence of someone taking her watch off and put on the table. It seems an easy work but there is so much to think about, for examples the camera shot as well as the angles and timing.

Terminology is very important as it helps to communicate specially between the direct to the camera operator.
We learnt stand by, standing by, roll camera, rolling, action and cut. This expression where fundamental to make all the scene flows.

realized that you can do so much for this 30 seconds scene; mid long shots, face expression close up, object close up and use different angles, from the back of the actress, the front, etc.
The main issue was the camera shots as we were not sure about the close ups.

I found this lesson very interesting and interactive as we started to get into the mentality of this new environment, also I started to understand more how difficult it is and how many members of the staff you need.

I believe this lesson was really useful and it make me think of how much time we will need to shoot our thriller movie and how careful and clear you need to be, specially because it is all about timing and money and you don't want to risk to have and incomplete work as it is going to be a waste.

Thursday, 24 September 2015


Studio lessson

Last Thursday we had a media lesson in the studio.

In the lesson the thought us the name of the different cameras and their best uses.

The cameras are Sony NX5, Sony FS100 and a Canon 5D.

We started with setting up a tripod to setting up the cameras.

Our teachers were really confident and secure on this gave me a bit of confident and I felt less tense.

It is not easy working around that environment as you have to be very careful to the surrounding, for examples cameras, television, cables, tripods, lights, etc.

Focusing and zooming where the main aims for that lesson as we decided to go slowly to start with.

Lighting and exposure where a bit of a challenge as all the camera work differently and they have different views of those concepts.

Tips: the button BW helps you to find the right white colour as well as all the others, this it is also used for outdoor filming as you also have to adjust the lighting (brightness) of the camera from outdoor to indoor, preferably with a white object.

My favourite camera is the Canon as I absolutely love them a I fell that is more profession as more difficult to use compere to the other ones. The canon does not have an automatic set to find the distance between the subject of the film and the camera itself so you have to use a measurement tape.

I personally believe that was very interesting as we had the opportunity to learn something about cameras as well as doing a bit of practise.

As there where so many things to remember all in one go as a student I felt under pressured by timing and teachers but at the end the answer for everything is practise and experience.

As a photography student as well I really enjoy that lesson as explained few things of the use of a camera and gave me few ideas for future projects and lighting and exposure.
    
 


Film Poster

 


The film poster that I am going to talk about is Troy.

Looking just at the poster we can understand that the director wanted to create a strong impact on the audience as a first impression of the movie.

The poster of a movie is really important as it can tell by itself a story, in this case something about the movie and the main character.

The director wanted the poster to be of strong  impact but not too elaborated.

The structure of the poster is dived in three  parts.

Firstly the more important one, the visual part. As this is a poster the visual effect is everything.

The all poster is a mid-long shot of the main character ready to fight. The body language of this image tells us the genre of the movie, action, and the target audience, 12 upwards. I would not recommend this movie to a family audience because as the story is based on warriors and inappropriate or scary scenes will come in the movie.

The face expression of the character shows intensity and sufferance.

Costumes are another point to add to the visual effect. The costume of the main character is of a warrior, in the roman times. The character from the position, face expression and costumes show to the audience strength, independence and security on his personality.

The colours use for the poster are warm colours, on the yellow tone. The director used the stereotype technique to show to the audience danger and intensity.

This show us how much important is the visual part of the poster, by visualizing this I was capable to summarise the movie or at least have an idea of it without haven’t even watched it.

Secondary we have the title. The title is in capital letter, written in a big font and the low centre part of the poster to make sure that the audience concentrate on the image and then on the title.

The title is clear and reassume the story of the movie. Underneath the title in a smaller font we have the date of when the movie is going to go out.

Lastly but not less important we have the names of the main actors, for examples Orlando Bloom and Brad Pitt. This show that the movies has really good famous actors. Their names are written in a big font in capital letters all over the poster. Using this technique the director made the audience concentrate on the main image of the character without losing the main structure of a poster.

As a background there are significant words to explain even more what is this movie about and give the final impression to the audience.

Those words are written using the same font used for the actors name but just lighter and less visible. Those words do not cover the picture but go around it, just a significant decoration of the background.

Some of those words are warriors, legend, lovers, enemies, etc.

Words of very strong impact and each one with a deep meaning.

From this poster the director shows the general story of the movie and I personally find this fantastic how he showed all this with the use off an image. I am aware that behind this there must have been lots of work but I believe they received a positive reaction from the audience.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, 15 September 2015


Media Opening sequence task.

Captain American: The Winter Soldier.



This is movie is featured Marvel and is directed by Joe Russo ad Anthony Russo.

The main characters are Chris Even with Captain America, Scarlett Johansson with Black Window, Sebastian Stan with Winter Soldier, Anthony Mackie with Falcon and Samuel L. Jackson with Nick Fury.

Captain American: The winter Soldier is the sequel of the first Captain American.

This movie talks about Steve Rogers, Captain America lives in the nation’s capital as he tries to adjust to modern times. An attack on S.H.I.E.L.D. colleague throws Rogger into a web of intrigue that places the whole world at risk. Joining forces with the Black Window and a new ally, The Falcon, Rogger struggles expose an ever-widening conspiracy, but he and his team soon come up against an unexpected enemy, Winter Soldier Rogger’s best friend that in previous movie seems to dye in the world war one.

As Captain America is an action movie the opening scene starts with a mission and all the different elements in there for examples fights, rushing throw time and a clear view of good and bad.

The scene starts in a military plane with some of the main characters getting ready for action.

This includes Captain America and the Black Window. The lighting is mostly dark as the mission feature during the middle of the night. Only once they are in the ship of the enemies we then start to see some artificial lights. This creates an intense atmosphere as the audience is going to concentrate more on the sounds and interpretation of the story and what is happening.

Costumes are another thing that come up clearly in the opening scene. Captain America is recognised by his uniform representing the American flag. This costume is modified from the previous movie with a more technical fabric.

 All the other characters that are part of the team, include Black Window are dressed with a black uniform. This uses of dark colour made the scene darker and once on the enemies’ ship you could clearly distinguish the enemies from the team as they were dressed with casual clothes and they were holding guns. I believe the uses for casual clothes for the enemies were the best option as they looked unprofessional.

Also the uses of uniform for the team made the scene looks even more intense as the audience knows which side they have to stay with.



So in this case we have only two elements the lighting and costumes that make a huge impression already to the audience, with just those elements we know that this movie is going to be an action movie and it is all going to be concentrate on building up intension to the audience and create a story from the very beginning.

Another element is the script. This is really important especially for the audience view as the dark lighting and costumes make the scene intimidating for  the audience to understand what is happing is going to rely on the actual words than on what surrounds the scene.

The dialogue is strait forward, with a briefly explanation of the mission. Here we can understand the Captain America is the main character as he is the boss of the al team. We can also gave an idea from those few seconds that Captain American and Black Window are good friends as they have a normal chat just before he throw himself out of the plain. This also give a comic tone to the scene and leave the intensity of the scene for a moment so the audience can feel different emotion all in one little scene, I also believe that this talked with those main characters was due to distract the audience from the mission and show that this movie is also a comic as well as the intensity as it always at very high level those parts make an easier view to the movie.

This is shown even in the fighting scene.


Soundtrack is added once Captain America throws himself out the plane. This has been done because the director wanted the audience at first concentrate on the script as it was fatal to understand the whole story, then as the action started the music added more intensity and subconscious to the audience of they are watching and that this was just the beginning.

The timing of the scene is slow at the very beginning to convey the feeling of intensity and anxiety towards the audience. As an action movie in the fighting scene everything happens so quickly to make the audience concentrate and expect the next move.

This is shown with the camera movements that do lots of close ups on the faces of the main characters to show their expression but also the make the scene that are out of zoom of more impact. The fighting scenes have close up as well out zoom to give the impression of being in there and give more feeling of the movie to the audience.


I really like action movie because the opening scene is always something very exiting that makes you want to carry on watching and as lots of different things happen strait away you have to be open-minded for the next scene and you cannot predict anything.

Marvel logo always appears at the very beginning of the scene.

In this opening scene we have all different elements connecting to each other into a unique story compilation.

We have most of the elements we are looking for the main character, the theme action and the begging of a complicate story without ending.



 





 


.





Thriller Review

Detachment



Detachment is a thriller film, the story is about a man waking up from a violent conversation between a wife and his husband, as the man seems irritated from this usual routine he decided to end this leaving his flat with his gun.
As this is a thriller the story is not very clear as camera shots are based more on facial expression and create intensity.
Thrillers usually have slow timing to increase the intensity.
One of the best things about this film is that the directors decided to create the intensity through normal usual gestures. This makes every single step and movement of the man crucial and intense for the audience, for example, when the man tries to light his cigarette unsuccessfully, as part of the audience I felt nervous as the cigarette contain nicotine and in some way it calms you down, as he could not have this I felt a huge increase of intensity, the directors made this scene crucial zooming in with the camera to the cigarette and stopping the soundtrack (screaming) to concentrate to the sound of the lighter.
The sound was the most important effect of this film as the screaming got louder and louder to give intensity to the movements and make the audience feel uncomfortable.
Straight after the cigarette part the screaming restarts but with a street/pop music to make the impression that the screaming are as loud as possible because you can still hear them underneath all that noise.
Costumes are simple as the man seems that he does not have enough money to buy new clothes and as he gets dress with the first clothes he finds in the flat. The costumes are normal pans, t-shirt and a big hoody. Those costumes even if insignificant they create a stereotype of a "bad person" to the audience.
The setting was a messy dirty flat, this also created the stereotype of a person that does not take care of his own stuff as well as himself.
The last part of the thriller is the man rushing to put clothes on (we can notice this with the fact that he wears his pyjamas underneath his normal clothes).
He then take a gun and leave his flat.
As an audience point of few the last few movements are in the same timing (slow) but the movements used make those last seconds coming up really quickly.
The intensity increase through the different scenes.