Yesterday in class the teachers did a lighting work shop, where they showed us how to get different lighting textures with the equipment we had available. Here is what they showed us;
example of different angles/shadows
So we were taken into the drama studio at our school where we shown how the lights that are fixed in there work, incase anyone wanted to film some scenes/ band shots in that room and how different shadows and a positioning of a person can create a different atmosphere of the shot.
Photo of chair under spot light
They also showed us how create different temperatures of lighting. This photo doesn't show it so well but half of Felix's face is a cool blue, and the other half is a warm orange. With this light we can change the filters if we want different colours of lighting;
They also showed us a white umbrella light, where the white umbrella diffuses and softens the light so when filming isn't so harsh, which could be good for high key lighting and filling in shadows.The umbrella can also be used to create contrasted, low key lighting when in a dark room;
example of the lighting the umbrella makes.
Also they showed how something as basic as the light on the back of a phone can be used for lighting to create a certain atmosphere;
And finally they showed us how something as small as candle light can create an awesome lighting effect. However they did mention it might be difficult to focus on something in that little light with the cameras we have, so they showed how to fix this problem by adding small amounts of warm light on what one wants to focus on, which will still give the illusion that the light it coming from the candle.
This lighting workshop is going to be extremely helpful when it comes to filming my main task as i will now know how to get the atmosphere I want with the right type of lighting.
Photo of what the room looks light without any special lighting
The way youths are portrayed in the media is generally negative. In most televisions shows they are presented as bad mouthed, immature, sexually frustrated misfits. So many televisions programs, and reality TV programs, portray this these days, for example "Misfits" "Bad education" "my mad fat diary" and "educating essex", mostly because its very comical. But I will be looking at how the youth is portrayed in the first episodes of "Skins" and "The Inbetweeners"
Skins -
Skins is a teen drama which attempts to show British teens in a half realistic way.
The writers have taken aspects of a teens life and exaggerated them to a comical size. (However the program is not to be mistaken as a comedy, its genre is Drama.)
These exaggeration make the program more entertaining and make aspects of what is being represented more noticeable.
Skins is ideal to show how youth are represented in the media, as they are seen doing drugs, abusing alcohol and getting into trouble with the police and parents.
Very desirable and glamorised - Even though the events in the program are shown in a negative light, it still makes the audience want to experience what the characters are experiencing.
Shows teenagers strive to always be popular.
Over exaggeration of expectations
Youth however can be like the people in Skins, but not all of them are like that.
Inbetweeners -
"The Inbetweeners" shows four teenage boys on their transition from young adults to men, and them trying to do more mature and grown up activities for acceptance, but always failing.
It represents an over exaggeration of youth and characters that most ordinary people can relate to during their school days. The main characters are all are depicted as outsiders to some degree - they are not the most popular boys in school but they are the normal ordinary boys that are forgotten about.
The four male characters as a group are the losers at sixth form - for example none of them have ever had an intimate relationship with a girl (which is apparently important for young people)
Individually they each have a role in the group which are; the geek, the idiot , the over confident guy, and normal guy.
Nearly every episode has all of the boys wanting to be noticed or trying to impress either girls or other class mates. Most of their attempts are unsuccessful which makes the show funny. Watching the boys make idiots of themselves, makes the audience laugh but at the same time we feel their embarrassment because we can relate to some of the situations they find themselves in.
Shows the constant strive teenagers have to be popular.
the program shows the awkward reality of teenagers trying to become adults.
Over exaggeration of reality.
In comparison the TV programme Skins which also features a group of teenagers doing the same type of activities but the characters in "Skins" seem to be successful and they never make fools of themselves. This is because the teenagers in this show are depicted as cool. In Inbetweeners the audience are more likely to relate to the characters whereas in Skins teen life is glamorised.
This will help me when I come to film my main task, as I will decide weather to stick to conventions or develop them in terms of youth, in my own production.
The other day, film maker and camera man for the BBC, Andrew Johnson came in to school to answer any questions we had about getting a job in the media and how he ended doing his job. He also showed us a documentary he worked on about a guitar maker in exeter, and how they would go about planning what they wanted to film - He showed us his planning time table (can see on screen behind him in picture below). Myself holding the camera they use to film the documentaries
Here is Mr Johnson showing us the camera he uses when he films his documentaries.
Here is Mr Johnson showing us the microphone they use when filming, which is attached to the camera
Here he is showing us more important equipment needed in that production.
Myself holding the camera they use to film the documentaries
This was helpful to me to figure out ways to plan my main task, and to somewhat see what it's like to work in the media.
Things that I feel went well:
- Presenting it as an awkward/funny interview by quick editing/shots in time with the comical music.
- Props on the interviews desk
- Variety of different Camera angles ( eg over shoulder shot, 2 person shot, extreme close up, point of view)
Things to improve:
- Lighting, a bit to low key at the begging, should really be high key as it's a comedy
- Couple of continuation errors
- Sometimes it's hard to hear what the actors are saying
- Pre plan script a lot more, don't trust improv (as good as it was)
- When interview walks in there is stuff in the background that wasn't there during the interview, should of moved it before hand. (continuation error.)
- Was difficult to time when my actors are free at the same time as me so we had to do it just when it was dark so the light outside was continuously changing
- There was a lot of comical things written on the mans CV which you couldn't read through the camera
- Camera had some issues adjusting to the dark light so the were some lines running up the screen
- Bit longer than expected
In class, we were asked to deconstruct a movie poster of our choice. I chose Martin Scorsese's, "Wolf of wall street." We were asked how the denotations in the picture are connoted. Here is what I wrote:-
Man in the centre of the poster - protagonist
Smug facial expression - proud of the chaos in the background
Classy hair cut - expensive? Wealth.
Not much text - Just the important information/important names (lead role, director) in bold text to intrigue audience.
Expensive suit & watch - Wealthy my who is of importance/power/authority.
Body language - power/authority
Based on true story of Jordan Belfort (well known stockbroker) - Audience are interested on how these people live
Chaos in the background - shows the madness of the film (comedic value).
For my preliminary task I need to create a maximum of a 2 minute clip, to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, who exchange some dialogue. Needs to include match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.
Match on action.
Match on action is an editing technique used for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject of the object in the first shot. The action carrying through creates a 'visual bridge' which draws the audiences attention away from slight cutting or continuity errors. It shows a continuous sense of the same action rather than matching two separate things.
The 180-degree rule.
The 180 Rule is important so the audience can understand where people are in a shot. The rule is that the camera or cameras, should stay on the same side of an imaginary line. The line is drawn perpendicular to the view point of the cameras. The rule enforces continuity. The rule is rarely broken, if it is it may cause confusion for the audience. The only real reason the camera might cross over the line would be for effect.
Here is an example where the rule is broken;
However, before the rule is broken here, the camera pans round to show the audience the background difference between Smeagol and Gollum, so there is no confusion. The clip shows a violation of the rule for effect. The effect created is that of a shot reverse shot.
Shot reverse shot.
Shot reverse shot in a continuity technique used for conversations, or where characters look at each other or objects. A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at, either as a point of view shot or an over shoulder shot, is followed with a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it, or of others looking back at them. Shot reverse shot often ties in with the 180 degree rule.
Examples of two characters having simple conversations, with various camera angles/rules (match on action, shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule) :
