Preliminary task and shots

Our preliminary task is to create a short film showing a character walking to a door, going through the door, crossing a room and sitting across from another character and exchanging dialogue.


I am in a group with Sid and Amy and the idea we came up with was a sort of 'spy' scenario so we would have an interrogation scene.




My role on this task is to film and deal with most of the sound used in the final clip. Both Sid and Amy are acting in the film.




In our scene we have to use shot reverse shot which is a shot showing one character and then the other to show dialogue more clearly.




We also have to stick to the 180 degree rule, this is a rule which means when filming the characters have to keep the same right/left relationship to each other. This is so the shot looks believable and the characters looks as though they're facing each other. If the rule is broken then viewers could become disorientated and confused.


In our scene we have to make sure the match on action is okay. This means we need o make sure the continuity of the scene all fit together and run smoothly.

Utopia Case Study - how the show got it's comic book look

Utopia is a channel 4 TV series with a comic book look, this means all the colours in the show are bright and bold making them stand out. This gives the series the edgy and futuristic look of the comic it revolves around.

To achieve the look lots happened post production.

As you can see in these two pictures from before and after editing the colours in the series are brightened. For example, in this picture the yellow has been brightened to make it stand it more and be bold like a traditional style comic.

In the article by Wired the director, Marc Munden said how he looked to the technicolor pallets of 1950's Hollywood for inspiration. Munden and colourist Aiden Farrell worked carefully going through each scene and colour correcting it using a grading software. 

They used the colour correcting software to change grey British skies to bright blue skies and make grass greener to continue the comic book look. However, colour correcting isn't the only thing to happen between the end of filming and the series being broadcast. The order of shots is established, audio is mixed and extra sound is added such as music. Also time is allowed for pick ups to take place if footage gathered isn't adequate for filming, these can be expensive and time consuming which is why people are constantly on the look out for mistakes whilst the filming is originally taking place.

In series 2 episode 1 of Utopia, the episode we watched as a class the whole episode was filmed in the classic 4:3 style, I believe this was done as the episode was set in the 70's and the directors wanted to make the episode as believable and immersive as possible 

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/utopia-channel-4

Fight Video

For our first filming task we were asked to create a 'knife fight' video and this is what my group came up with.

 

I enjoyed making this film and I think from this task I discovered that although i enjoy acting I like creating and filming more. If we were to do this again I think we would film some scenes again as you can hear the word 'go' being said in places as well as seeing my reflection in the glass of the door. I am however now looking forward to our next task.

We used many different kinds of shots. For example in the final scene we used an over the shoulder shot of Amy looking down at Sid. This shot was effective because it showed Amy being higher.

Another thing we used was the 180 degree rule. The 180 degree rule is a basic guideline which states that two characters or other elements have the same left/right relationship. This is so the characters look as though they are facing each other.

Our next task is to create a shot scene showing a character go through a door, cross a room and exchanging dialogue with another character. We're currently creating a storyboard with our ideas.

Camera Shots

To help us get a better understanding of camera shots we had a task to create a short story using different camera shots. Our group decided we were going to do a story of someone being followed up the stairs.

This shot was our establishing shot which was used to show our scene would play out in the stairwell, looking back now I think we should've taken the picture from the bottom of the stairs rather from the top as the next picture was taken from the bottom of the stairs.

In this picture we used an over shoulder shot to show Amy's character, who was the 'stalker' for our scene had seen my character and was following her movements. This shot showed what things looked like from Amy's point of view.

The next shot we used was a close up, we used a close up on Amy's face to show her facial expressions which gives an audience an idea on what she might be thinking or planning to do next. 

Here we used a low angle shot of Amy to show that in this scene she is higher and she is in control. This shows that her character is dominant by making the viewer seem lower.

In this first image we did another over shoulder shot from a different angle to show my character seeing Amy's for the first time. Using an over shoulder shot here was effective because it shows Amy's facial expression at the 'dramatic' moment of the story we were trying to tell. the second image showed the same scene but from a different angle bringing different views to the scene. 

As my character had fallen over in this shot we used a tilted camera angle to highlight this and create a sense of danger. 

In this final shot it is over my shoulder again but shows Amy in full as well being taller than me. This helps show once again her character is the dominant one of the situation and my character has now been caught.

Welcome To My Blog

Hello and welcome to my blog.

My name is Beth and this blog is to evidence my media studies coursework.
I have never studied media before but I am interested in TV shows and films and how they are created. As of yet I don't know how they are created but I am looking forward to learning and doing the tasks we're set.

One particular area I am looking forward to is screenwriting as I have a huge interest in writing and enjoy doing it already.

The task is to create a two and a half minute film opening, I believe it sounds intriguing and am I looking forward to it.

I hope you enjoy the final film and this journey into to creating it.