Camera lesson 2

Last week, we were shown the different types of camera and how to set them up s well as how to use zoom, white balance, focus and aperture, so this week we were shown different shot types and how to use basic heights and proxemics to create a simple scene.
As an example, Rishad volunteered to play the actor in a short scene that Matt planned out. Matt told us that the simpler the movement and idea, the easier it will be to edit afterwards, so to show us what he meant Rishad had to walk up to a table and pick up a toy motorbike, look at it for a few seconds and then put it down again.

The reason why he wanted the sequence to be so basic was because we needed to film the same sequence over and over again using different shots, and if we didn't have continuity, the scene would look very bad and confusing to the audience.

Afterwards we were split up into groups, I was with Rishad and Vogue. We originally came up with the idea of Rishad shaking my hand once I walk into shot and we filmed it from many angles. We started with a wide shot to establish the setting, and then we used an extreme close-up of our hands shaking to show a variety of zoom. We also stayed within the 180 degree line while getting different angles of the sequence for when I entered the scene and for when I left.
We were very quick to realise that we had a major continuity issue because we didn't keep the actions exactly the same each time and because Rishad stood up from the sofa in different times for every shot.

We didn't want to go to the editing suite the following week with a bad sequence, so with 10 minutes of the lesson left, we made another short sequence. We chose to make the action more basic so that it would be easier to keep continuity and to only use one person in the sequence as we wouldn't have to try to catch different shots for each person.

All our sequence involved was vogue, sitting up from a sleeping position, looking at her watch and then going back to sleep again. Just as we did before, we started with a wide shot and shot some close-ups of Vogue's face. As the shots seemed too easy, I wanted to try and show off a bit by shooting a POV shot looking down at the watch. Fortunately it worked and we knew that we would have a good sequence to work with when it came to the following weeks editing session.

From this session I learned not to overcomplicate the sequence and to make sure that I figure out a specific time for each action so that we have continuity.

My First Camera Lesson

On Friday 18th September our class had our first camera lesson with three media teachers in the school, Matt, Mark and another Matt.
Firstly, they showed us the tripods and how to set them up so that the were a good height for the camera. There was also a small spirit level on the head of the tripod which told us if the tripods head was level or not.

Once the Tripod was set up, we were left to set up two more by ourselves because they were three cameras that needed a Tripod each.

The first camera was a Sony NX5:

This camera didn't have a specific use as it was good overall. It showed good quality and even had a small boom microphone attached to pick up any extra sound nearby. This camera was my favourite because it was a good size to handle and had a comfortable eye cup around the view finder in order to get a good view on the shot. Some people complained that the buttons were too small, especially the button for white balancing, but I preferred it this way because it meant that every option on the camera had a separate button rather than the other cameras which had confusing menu's.

The second camera was a Sony FS100:

This camera was my least favourite because the lens was a funny shape and I wasn't comfortable with the way it handled. Although it had the buttons for the different camera settings, the quality wasn't as good and in my opinion the lens came to far out anyway. This camera still has multiple skills and is used quite commonly in music videos and some feature films.

The last camera we looked at was the Canon 5D:

This camera is extremely good at music videos and a lot of difficult shots during feature films as the quality is amazing. The menu for the camera's settings was quite annoying but it is very small and good if you don't have much time to film as you can just get the camera out and start filming without fiddling with setting the camera up.

We then used each camera to try and test out the focus, zoom and the aperture. The aperture was used to determine the amount of light that was let into the lens. The zoom and lens were used to get different lengths of shots and focus on either the foreground or the background. These aspects were controlled by the dials on the outskirts of the lens and we used a picture in front of us to test this out.

We then were shown how to control white balancing, by using a white circle or any white piece of material to change the tone of colour between the outside world and the inside. If this wasn't adjusted, the inside would seem orange and the outside blue.

That lesson was a great experience and I learnt a lot about these three cameras and I shall use what I learnt to help my media tasks in the future.

Sexy Beast Opening Title

The Sexy Beast Opening title sequence was quite boring in my opinion but it did get Ray Winston's character across very well.
It started off and focused for quite a while on Ray Winston sitting on a sun-bed with nothing on except some uncomfortably tight Speedos. My first impression was that he was an english, rich idiot who is divorced and has no friends. I got this impression because they were a few beer bottles next to him and he seems very pampered. I later discovered that to be quite accurate which shows that within the first few seconds, they have already establish a stereotypical English bloke.

While staying with Winston, I saw that he puts ice packs on his crown jewels and then continues to sunbath, which reiterates his lavish lifestyle and his laziness comes across with his pot belly.
This length of time I stay on him is very effective because it made me feel uncomfortable and it gets worse when he gets up and his name appears across his crotch which is in front of the camera.

The next shots show that Winston has a servant who does everything for him which makes me dislike his character even more. From this I can also tell that although he has a lot of money, he is very lonely and without admitting it, uses the servant as a sense of company.

We cut to seeing a women in a car driving along the coast. I gathered that she is driving towards Ray Winston because his house is by the beach. This makes me wonder whether she is his girlfriend or if she is related to him at all or if she has any relevance to him.
While he is still by the pool, I see a POV of a big rock tumbling down the cliff towards Winston's apartment. A part of me wants it to hit him because of the disliking I felt for him, but it went past him and crashed into the pool. He even gets his servant to dive in the pool and attempt to get the rock out. I started to question how the rock fell, whether it was the women's car or if someone else wanted to kill him.

The Shining Opening Title

The Shining Opening Title Sequence is personally one of my favourites because of it's simplicity, yet it manages to grasp the audiences attention and set the tone for the rest of the film.

When an audience enters a cinema, they are trying to find seats and settle down. Usually the audience will forget to get popcorn or a drink so they might leave their seat for a few minutes to get what they want or go to the toilet. Due to these reasons, a title sequence should never reveal much about the story or happen to quickly otherwise the audience might miss some of the film. Although people think that as the title sequence isn't focused on by the audience it doesn't matter if it's any good or not, that's not the case. The title sequence is a great way to set an atmosphere and music plays a key role as the audience can't avoid hearing sound.

For this title sequence, we start of moving across the lake and closing in on a bunch of trees, the camera then swoops to the right and for the rest of the time we follow a car. Obviously because the car is driving in the mountains, it would presumably be travelling a long distance and so we can't view all of the cars journey, so we just cut in and out of different moments in time.
Following a car doesn't sound very exciting, but it creates a whole load of questions such as:
Where is the car going?, who is in the car? where are they in the world?
These questions that aren't solved straight away are called enigmas because they get the audience thinking about a lot of solutions to these questions and creates tension between the audience.
Strangely, we see other cars heading the other direction, but no cars going the same way. This also creates an eery tension as we start to question why people are leaving; maybe it's dangerous? or maybe it's just a coincidence.

After a long journey we see a big Hostel cabin that we gather is a Ski Resort due to the snow and slopes around it. There isn't a lot of snow so this also tells us that it's spring or summer which probably explains the lack of business and cars, but then we start to wonder why they are heading out to a Ski Resort in the summer time.

The music is extremely unnerving as it's in a low key and it's very negative. This music indicates to the audience that the film is going to be scary or at least thrilling, so before the film has even started, the audience can already feel tense and nervous.

The only part that I didn't feel worked well was that the credits were in a light blue colour which was the same colour as the sky so the words almost disappeared towards the top. The important names were big and bold which made people notice they were there, but the colour wasn't a great choice.

Dead Man's Shoes

EDITING: 

When this title sequence opens, the video showing the man when he was a baby looks very old and it's clear to see that the black lines breaking up the video has been used as a special effect to get across to the audience the era of when the men were babies.













There are obvious uses of cross-fades to transit between the men and when they were kids, which made me assume that the men are older versions of the kids and also shows the strong bond between the two men.
There was a very nice juxtaposition between the kids and the adults and got me thinking about the difference in their relationship over the years.
What I also noticed was that the title sequence followed a non-linear sequence, but the individual shots of the men and kids followed a linear sequence, which has an emotional effect on the audience as they see their childhood and they feel strongly connected to the characters before the film even starts. 


CAMERA: 

The camera angles were very effective as we never got see fully see the men's face which drew me in as I was focusing more to try and see what they looked like. 
I felt like I was following the characters because the camera went on the journey with them and used camera shots such as Pan and Tracking. Sometimes the camera sat still and let the characters walk across shot which for me was extremely effective because it made the journey seem longer and established the distance they were walking even though it wasn't clear where they came from or where they were going to. 


MISE EN SCENE: 

There were a lot of effective establishing shots which emphasised the mood of the play. The shots showed that they were in the middle of nowhere in the fields and the use of empty space made me feel as if they were isolated and stranded. One of the most obvious times in the sequence when this concept is shown is when the men walk across camera with just a single distant tree in the middle of the frame.
A lot of enigma was created the use of the order in which the men walked and also the bag on one of the mens back. The guy with the bag on his back seemed to be leading which had intertextuality with "Of Mice and Men". 
The bag created enigma as I was always asking myself "what is in the bag?". Choosing to keep the shots empty and not revealing a lot about the features of the film was extremely effective and made me want to watch the rest of the film.



SOUND: 

The only sound was from the non-diegetic song which I found to work really well as it distracted the audience from the fact that the characters said nothing. Again this was used to conceal any clues to the rest of the story. I picked up the words "on the run" during the song which made me think that the characters could potentially be on the run which is why they seem to be heading to a remote place.


OPINION: 

Seeing that any clue about the plot was well hidden I looked closely into finding some ideas. At the start, one child is shown and later on the next child is shown yet this child is older which makes me wonder if one of them is adopted. 
I felt more connected with the characters as we went through some of their childhood. I thought that this was more powerful than if they were to have let the characters talk. A very powerful title sequence and I definitely want to watch more!!!

ABOUT ME!!!

        Hey, I'm Haydon and to start off with I would like to say WELCOME TO MY BLOG!!!

I am 16 years old and I'm a triplet consisting of two other sisters, Hayley and Lauren. I also have an older sister called Kirsty who is 20 and a nine year old dog called Sadie...and yes she is also a girl. I know you must be feeling sympathy for me as I'm the only boy, but in all honesty I love my sisters and I wouldn't change them for the world!

My favourite actor is probably either Will Smith or Tom Hanks because they star in my favourite films " Forest Gump" and "The Pursuit of Happiness" and they are both incredible actors. 

I don't listen to much music other than the radio, but I would say my favourite artist is either Michael Jackson (a legend) or Sam Smith (an upcoming legend).

 I also love to go on holiday but I don't usually go with my family so in August my friend Dan invites me to his grandparents villa in Portugal!!!

This is the swimming pool that they had at the villa and as you can see we are very cool people.

This is us at the local harbour. On that night Dan's grandparents paid for my dinner as it was an extremely expensive restaurant. We also walked around the market which was nice. 

 Here, we went for a walk towards the beach and in this specific location there are hundreds of soldier crabs which only come out if there is complete silence.

This is the view from the top of the villa and this is the last photo we took before we went back home .

 I'm also an actor and recently I starred in a Sky1 three-part series called "Fungus the Bogeyman" along side star actors such as Timothy Spall and the comedian Victoria Wood.














I love to party as many teenagers like to do and this photo is from a girls 18th birthday party. I have a great group of friends who have made my college life very enjoyable.

I have a Weimaraner called Sadie who is almost 10 years old. As you can see in the first photo, we have a puppy which is a crossbreed and her name his Nala.

















I'm currently studying at Hurtwood House along with my sister Lauren and we are both taking Media Studies. For me, films and TV have been a big part of my life seeing as I am an actor myself and I would like to pursue it as a career and so I chose Media in order to further my knowledge in the area I will be specialising in.

I am also studying Spanish, Economics and Theatre. You can probably guess why I chose Theatre, but for Spanish, I not only picked it in order to become fluent, but it was also because it makes me appreciate another culture. My parents were fairly surprised when they found out I chose Economics as it is a very academic subject and I hadn't taken it as a GCSE. I have always been asking questions about problems in our economy and how the world works and so I took it upon myself to study the subject which would answer those questions best.
Life at Hurtwood has so far been incredible and I feel extremely lucky to be a part of such a diverse community. I have befriended some wonderful people, but I'm also aware of who to stay away from.
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I really hope you enjoy it!!!