Account of shoot day

The planning for out shoot day consisted of our pre-production pack. Which had our story, storyboard, props list, cast list, set and lighting plans. The studio and lighting had been set up prior to our shoot day. As our story changed a number of times, our finished set was no where like our original storyboard. We were probably not as well prepared for our shoot day as we should have. We new how we wanted out characters to look, but as our story had changed a lot we were not entirely sure as to the exact shots we wanted and the order we wanted them in, I think we would have benefited from a little more planning time.

As all of our shooting was done in the studio we were on the same set all day. Which was less stressful, as we didn't have to think about how long we would spend on each set. We used a lot of lose-up shoots to get the full feel of the expressions and emotions on the characters faces. We didn't do many camera movements as they were not necessarily crucial for out shooting. The shots I like the most were the close-up shoots we had of Lou, the young child. Being so close meant you really saw her expressions and believed there was something wrong with her. The shoot I liked the least was the birds eye view shot, I just felt that we were to far away from what was happening to really get into what was happening.

We chose to use the studio as our location, because our story was only set in one place. We made the studio into one room which looked like an interrogation room. We then had a two way mirror so we could film the 'government' people on the other side. Just using one location meant we didn’t waste and time moving from set to set, or in setting up. The only thing I thought was wrong was the set, was it was quite small, so was hard to get some of the camera angles.

Our props were the table, chair, drawings of the pentagram, and a pen. Our story did not require us to have lots of props, we kept it simple. Russell, the man who was interrogating the little girl, wore a simple work suit, to show he was important, and a business like man. Lou who was the little girl, had crazy/messy hair, pale makeup and worn looking clothes, to give the effect of a strange girl, who is clearly not entirely normal. The three other 'government' men, wore shirts and suit jacks, to show they were important, business people.

We had an external actor for the main guy. We chose Russell because he looked like he would fit the character. We needed someone who looked important, and slightly scary. He was a great choice to use, as he really fitted into the part, and made it convincing that there was really something wrong with this girl, and sense to all the stuff she was doing. We chose Lou to play the little girl, because we needed someone who looked a young age. Lou was extremely convincing in her acting, and mad you believe she was possessed by the devil, so it was a good choice in casting. The other three men, we chose three boys who had old looking faces, as not much of them was seen so it suited.

In the interrogation room we just had a simple light bulb hanging from the ceiling. In order to use the two way mirror we had to have direct lighting from above and angle it correctly, this was already set up for us. We then had blackboards which went around the set to lose the reflection of the camera and crew, when using the two way mirror. I feel our lighting was successful. We did no use any separate sound recording but we will be using some prerecorded sounds in editing.

My role was the camera girl. I was on the camera all day, setting it up for each shot, filming the shot, saying whether the lighting was to bright, or off. Lottie, was watching the mini screen, telling us if the shot was off, what was wrong, whether it was good, if something needed to be changed. Millie was helping me holding the microphone and helping me move the camera around, and directing the actors as what to do. Emma, was writing down the shots list, did the makeup for the cast and directed the actors in their parts.

Overall I think we worked well as a team, although some could have perhaps got involved a bit more. But we had no arguing on the day and all agreed with everything said, so we were effective overall.

Shooting the last shot was so good to do, as we new we were done and it went successfully. We were happy with all the shots we had got and how they turned out. The footage did not follow our storyboard in anyway, as on the day, the actors and cast all contributed little ideas to the story, so the storyline grew and change significantly. Which I
think was an improvement to what we had already got. The changes really grew our overall story, and the shoots we were then able to do were even better than the ones originally planned to do.

Sony PD170

Once switching on the camera, you need to ensure you are in manual mode, and that manual focus is selected, You then need to set the white balance. Before shooting, you need to do colour bars for the first 30 seconds of the tape.

The Tripod

There are 9 main parts to a tripod.

1. The camera plate

2. Tilt lock

3. Pan & tilt bar

4. Tilt tension lever

5. Pan lock

6. Quick release lever

7. Level adjustment

8. Height locks

9. Spreader

Using a tripod allows you to film things with the footage being steady and not at all rocky. You can adjust the height of the tripod and you can put each leg out at different lengths, so that is your surface is uneven you can make your tripod level. You can use the pan and tilt bar to obviously pan and tilt, and the tilt tension lever to change the bar to make is easier to move.

Four major rules to remember.

- Make sure you never over tighten the screwed on the plate.

- Never let go of the camera until you are absolutely sure that it is locked in position.

- Don't lose the camera plate.

- Never let go of the pan and tilt bar with the tilt lock off.

The Studio

On our first practical lesson, we went into the filming suite where we sat infront of the camera and had someone interview us and ask us various questions. These were the questions in the interview:
- Why have you chosen this subject at AS?
- Do you have any existing skills/Past knowledge about this subject?
- What is your favourite film and why?
- What is your top TV programmer and why?
- What type of music do you like?
- Name two of your most played tunes on your ipod
- Name the film that you last saw at the cinema.
- Can you tell us a joke?
And finally.. What do you hope to get out of the subject?

Film Analysis on the film Cody Banks: Destination London

The genre of the film is an action comedy. It is the sequence film to Agent Cody Banks. The film is set in America and I can tell this by the accents have the people and that the teenagers are at a camp, which is like the camp in America. The general characters in the film are teenagers or young children. The temporal is modern and this can be analysed by the clothes that the people are wearing and their hairstyles. The spatial of the film is set from the day and works through until late at night, you know it is late at night as everyone is asleep and in bed. There are three main sequences to the 10-minute extract. There is the opening sequence, where it is setting the scene of the camp in the daytime, and moves along to when the parents start to arrive into the evening and the third sequence is later on in the evening when everyone is in bed and the action scene occurs.

The establish shot, is a close up on the main character Cody. The close up is off the boy in camouflage in amongst the bushes. The beginning sequence is an action montage, using various shots from a wide shot, a long shot to a close up. The angles of the shots vary from high to low angle and eye line view. This establishing shot and sequence ends on a mid shot of Cody successfully winning the camp competition. On the second sequence, the first shot is a three person shot of Cody talking with two boys, and the angle of the shots goes from either point of view. The whole of this sequence involves mid shots, long shots, wide shots and extreme close up shots, these shots are establishing the children turning the CIA camp into a regular camp before the parents come, this sequences ends on a two person mid shot. The last sequences starts on a close up on the helicopters flying into the camp, again there is a montage sequence, consisting of long shots, mid shots and wide shots. All of these shots are used to establish the setting and the surroundings, and to add emphasis onto the aspect, which are important to the story line.

The opening shot is at eye line view, showing the importance of the main character Cody. The majority of this shot is montage, for the action purposes. In this sequence it mainly uses tracking in to out, and out to in, and pedding up to down and down to up. The second sequence has four main camera movements, zooming in too out, tracking left to right and right to left, and panning left to right and right to left. The final sequence also has a montage scene of the in action fighting against the official men in the helicopters, and uses panning and zooming as the movement of the camera. All of these aspects add to the intensity of the shot and to exaggerate what is happening to the audience.

The establishing shot is a fade in from a black out, and through out the sequences a jump cut is used to go from scene to scene and place to place. A jump cut means there is never a pause at the movie continues and never stops keeping you interested in what is happening. Motivated cuts are also used, which immediately makes the viewer want to see something, which is not currently visible. The cutaway shot is used in the fighting scene at the beginning, showing the fight and the campsite surrounding. An insert shot is used once, when they are preparing the camp for the parents arriving.

The main sound in the film is the dialog; there is dialog between the people in camp, and people on walky talkies on the helicopter radios. Non diagetic and diagetic sound is used, and during the fight scenes there is music which is not heard by the characters but by us, but there is background noises of animals in the forest and so forth that the characters can hear.

Analysis on Image Production

For my contemporary horror film poster I re-enacted the poster for the film ‘The Ring’ (American version). My main aim of the poster was for the signification to be scary as it was a horror poster.

My poster is made up of various paradigms, which together give me my main syntagm. I started to think about creating my poster by brainstorming various ways in which I could portray the main idea of ‘The Ring’ without giving any of the film away but still being effective.

The various paradigms in my syntagm are colour, the image of the girl, and the landscape, such as trees, grass, and plants. The main focus of the poster was on the girl. In the film the girl is portrayed as scary, which is how I was aiming for her to come across in the poster. I took a long shot of a girl in various stances so I could then use them in Photoshop to manipulate them into a way I wanted, to show her on my poster. Not being able to see her face was a key factor when taking my photographs. Not being able to see her face symbolises to me that there is either something wrong with her face looks wise, or that she is just a very shy disturbed girl.

The main image is of the landscape, I used an empty field with a dark forest behind it because in a lot of horror films these two things are symbolised with loneliness and being terrified.

The focal point of my camera is not necessary one thing, but the main images your eyes are drawn to in the centre are the various images of the girl fading into the distance. The position of the camera is between a low angle and in eye view. The main image is an extreme wide shot, with some long shots and mid shots manipulated into it. I used the rule of thirds to position my images carefully so the most important aspects of my poster are noticed and in a relatively good order.

Just from looking at the girl in the image you are not given very many clues as to who she is. All you can tell is that she is a girl with long dark hair. This way not a lot is given away of the film, therefore people are inclined to want to watch the film. I did not use colour in my poster, because I thought it gave more of a dramatic effect, and made things seem scarier. As if the poster had been in lot of bright colours it would not of had the same effect as with dark gloomy colours.

Introduction

Hiya,I'm Shahla Dowley, i have just started studying As media at Hurtwood House. Throughout my studying at Hurtwood for media i hope to come out of my year with the ability to be able to create my own movie sequence and the knowledge of the media that surrounds us daily. The programmes i most enjoy watching on television are the typical soap operas that are on at really inconvenient times of the day, like Neighbours, Hollyoaks and Home and Away, I'm not sure why i like these so much they are just really addictive to watch and know what is going to happen the next day.My ultimate reality series would have to be The Hills, i refuse to ever miss an episode and can watch re-runs all day. Being a girl my typical movie genre is not action pact, with lots of killing, it's the more soppy chick flick romantic films, my all time favourite film would have to be The Notebook, there isn't one time i have not cried while watching it. I'm generally pretty easy with the genre of music i listen to, but one thing i will not listen to is heavy metal, i actually hate it. I have only had three weeks in media so far, and it is proving to be very challenging and demanding, but I'm enjoying it. Photoshop is cool, but oh so confusing to work, but the more i use it, the better I'm getting at it. There is a fair amount of essay writing to be done in media which I'm not best at but will get through.Yep that's pretty much it.