Using Film Techniques - Analysis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_nMOOS5oio

shonamshahig321.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/g321-preliminary-task-using-film.html

Within the 40 second preliminary task that we created, we used four different editing techniques - shot reverse shot, eye line match, match on action and the 180 degree rule.

Editing Techniques Times
          Shot Reverse Shot - 28 seconds
          Eye Line Match - 23 seconds
          Match on Action - 17 and 25 seconds
          180 Degree Rule - Everything beyond 20 seconds

When creating and editing this, we learnt these techniques and improved upon them, in order to be able to apply them to our actual two minute opening for our film. We learnt the different ways to position and move the camera for the most effective shot.

We learnt how to edit in Adobe Premiere Elements and Sony Vegas Pro because we are still unsure on which program to use, but this has given us a greater understanding on how to edit our final film opening. Even though we used both Adobe Premiere Elements and Sony Vegas Pro to edit preliminary task in, we ended up editing and rendering in Sony Vegas Pro because I personally knew how to use it and I felt confident in my ability to work with the program.

G321 Preliminary Task - Using Film Techniques

G321 Preliminary Task - Analysis

shonamshahig321.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/using-film-techniques-analysis.html

Camera Shots

Extreme Close Up

An extreme close up is used to focus on a specific part of the subject. This shot can be used to create emotion and significance in a film. From this extreme close up shot, you can see that the characters eyes are focused on something significant but the audience cannot see what it is.

Close Up

A close up shot is used to show detail of the subject and is used to show the emotions and facial expressions of the characters. This is effective because captures true emotions of the character and makes the audience feel as if they are in a similar situation as them.

In this close up shot you can see that the lady looks shocked as she stares into the camera with almost watery eyes implying she is also sad.

Medium shot

A medium shot of a person is generally taken from the waist, or chest, up. These shot is used to show the character while also showing the location that they are in.

In this shot we can see that the character is sitting on a chair within an office environment.

Long Shot

Long shots are similar to medium shots however they reveal more of the character and more of the environment they are in. Long shots will generally show the whole of the character or subject. More of the location is shown in the shot allowing the audience to picture themselves in the scene. Long shots are often put at the start or end of a

This long shot was taken from ‘The Hobbit’ and depicts Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf in a green outdoors location. This is a long shot as it shots the two characters in frame and reveals a lot of the background.

Extreme Long Shot

An extreme long shot is taken from a long way away. This shot is used more to show the location that characters are in rather than details of the characters. These shots give a sense of where the subjects are in the location but don’t reveal a lot of details of the characters.

With this image we can see two people standing on a muddy / rocky hill. We can also determine that they are high up and in the far distance we can see a lake or river. From this distance it is not clear what facial expressions the two people are making or why they are there.

Establishing Shot

An establishing shot is typically the first shot in film or in the scene. It reveals to the audience where the film or scene is going to take place.

In this image you can clearly tell that it is set in London because of the iconic Big Ben tower, Palace of Westminster, the London Eye and The shard.

Aerial Shot

An aerial shot is a shot taken from above in the air. They are commonly taken either with a helicopter, plane, and drone and it could also be taken with a crane or on top of a high building. Sometimes aerial shots are used as establishing shots at the start of films to show the audience a greater view of the location that it is going to be set in.

From this screen shot we can see an aerial shot the New York City taken from a helicopter or a drone.

Bird’s Eye View

A bird’s eye view is similar to an aerial shot however a bird’s eye view is taken from directly above the subject. This shot makes the subject look small if used on people, but it is also used to show a map or buildings from above in films.

For example, in this image you can see a bird’s eye view of a crossroad as it is taken from directly above.

Canted shot

Canted shots are shots that are slanted to one side. This shot type is effective as it makes the audience feel at unease, distorted and paranoia. This shot is frequently us in horror, thriller and some action films.

In the screenshot we can see a canted shot of a dark, dirty tunnel. This makes the tunnel seen my gloomy and mysterious – connoting to a horror or thriller genre movie.

High Angle Shot

A high angle shot is a shot taken from above the subject to make it seem as if you are looking down onto the subject. This shot type makes the subject look small, venerable and insignificant compared to everything else.

This high angle shot of Harry Potter makes him look scared and venerable, and his facial expression also indicates fear.

Low Angle Shot

A low angle shot is a shot taken from below the subject to make it seem as if you are looking up at the subject. A low angle shot makes the subject look more powerful and gives them authority in the film.

In this low angle shot from Transformers: Age of Extinction, you can see a low angle shot is used to show the protagonist. This makes him look big and gives him power in the scene.

Point of View

A Point of View or POV shot is a shot taken from the perspective of the subject. This puts you in the scene, as the person, and makes you fell in a similar way to them.

This point of view shot of the cyclist makes you feel as if you are cycling along the road. The motion blur of the road and the rocky side makes it look as if you are moving very fast.

Over the Shoulder Shot

An over the shoulder shot is a shot taken from behind someone and over their shoulders to show them looking or talking to something or someone. Over the shoulder are typically used when conversations take place between two characters.

For example, this image if over the shoulder shot of a conversation.

Iron - Man

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hT4Jt1qx54

Children of Men

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJivXSErhB8

The opening of Children of Men is not like most movie openings. Whereas most, if not all, movies have different cameras angles and different shots, Children of men is mostly just one long continuous take.

[0:09 and 0:22]

Children of men film opening first starts of with a sound bridge from a black shot to a medium shot of many people in a small shop, looking at the news. We hear the voice over of the news lady in the first shot as she is talking about the death of ‘baby Diego Ricardo’, ‘the youngest person on the planet’. Then after we are shown the medium shot of the people on the shop and judging from all their facial expressions, they all look shocked and horrified from what they have just heard. As we hear the background voice of the news presenters, we see a man walk into the shop and ask for a coffee. From if attitude and facial expressions, it suggests that is doesn’t have a care in the world about the death of the youngest person in the world. As he’s ordering his coffee, we hear that Diego Ricardo was born in 2009. This is very unusual that the news is talking about the death of the youngest person when you’d expect someone new to be born every couple of seconds. This unusual news suggests that the world in the film is very different, so the genre of the film might be a thriller or a science-fiction.

[0:40]

Eye line match was used in this shot as the guy who order his coffee looked up to quick see the news, we are shots a close up shot of the TV and an image of baby Diego Ricardo. From this shot, the audience can also recognise that the film if set in 2027 as it says ‘2009 – 2027’ on the TV. We can also hear the non-diegetic orchestra music in the background. This soundtrack makes the scene emotional and also makes the audience feel sad for Ricardo. In this shot we can also hear the ambient sound of people weeping in the background is adds to the sadness.

[0:59 and 1:04]

After the man receives his coffee, he then walks out and the camera follows him from behind. As he walks out of the door, we see a red bus drive past and we can instantly tell that it is set in London due to the iconic red London buses. In the long shot on the right, we can also see that it is set in London, 16^th November 2027. In the same shot we can also see a Chinook in the background. This is unusual because Chinooks are associated with the military and you wouldn’t expect them to be flying around in London. The character that is followed by the camera could be a significant person in the film because he already has the most screen time in the opening. As he’s walking down the street, we can see that London in 2027 looks a bit run down and dirty. There are piles of bin bags lying around and the roads seem very dusty and dirty. Within this shot we can also hear the diegetic sound of the cars, buses and motorcycles driving past and through mise-en-scène, we can see the lighting in the opening is quite dark and gloomy. This type of lighting connoted to a thriller type of genre.

[1:19 and 1:29]

Here we can see a long shot of him pulling out a small bottle from his coat and pours its contents in his coffee. The shape of the small bottle suggests that it is alcohol and it could imply that the character is an alcoholic.  The camera moves past him while keeping him in shot, and then there is bid explosion from the shop that he just came out of. We can hear the loud diegetic sound of the explosion

[1:37]

After the big explosion, the camera moves forward to get a better shot of the explosion. As the camera gets closer, a human figure appears out of the dust from the explosion. We can make out that is person who is holding a severed arm. After the sound of the loud diegetic explosion, we hear a loud eerie ring and a lot of screaming in the background.

The Hurt Locker

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ISaajQF0eM

The audience is first shown a close up shot of an army soldier as he looks into the distance, changing from a happy facial expression to a scared and shocked expression. A close up shot was used to show the true expression on his face and is effective as it makes the audience as scared and as shocked as he is. To increase the effect of being shocked to the audience, the diegetic sound of the man talking in the background decreases in volume as an eerie, non-diegetic, stunned sound effect takes over. We can tell his character role is an army personal by analysing costume and props through mise en scène. He is wearing urban/digital camouflage clothing and a helmet, he has a strapped to his chest, a military bag and he is holding a rifle in his hands. The rifle/gun connotes shooting, death, danger and action. This indicates that the genre of the film is primarily an action film which typically appeals to a target audience of men and young teens.

Eyeline match is used for the next several shots. We see the soldier point his gun to something off screen then in the next shot we see a point of view (pov) shot of the thing he was looking at. When we are shown a pov shot we can hear a non-diegetic screeching sound effect in the background, making us feel uneasy and also indicating that something terrible is about to happen. We hear Eldridge shout in fear “Sanborn! Butchers shop, 2 o’clock! Dude has a phone!”. Him shouting this sentence suggests that this is something serious.

For the next several seconds, more and more diegetic sound of people shouting can be heard and also the use of pace editing is used to makes this scene look more dramatic and lively. As this is going on, a non diegetic drum beat in getting louder and louder, and increasing in pace. During this scene we are shown a two army personnel running towards the person with the phone. A multitude of shots types, such as close up, medium and long shots, are used to show them running towards the guy while shouting at him to put down his phone. Much of the pace editing occurs as Sanborn and Eldridge run towards the man and we are also shown a few medium shots of the suspicious man.

The editing technique, match on action is used in these shots to show a close up shot of the man press a button on his phone. Before he pressed the button, we were shown a multitude of shots of everything that was happening around him. One of those shots included long shot of a man running and through mise en scène we can we can analyse his costume. He was hearing a large bomb suit suggesting that there is a bomb and it maybe going to explode soon as he is sprinting away. We can hear the diegetic sound of people shouting in the background and the non diegetic sound of the loud music. As the button on the phone is pressed we hear a diegetic beep sound effect.

Instantly after the button is pressed we are shown sever shots which are played in slow motion. These shots were most likely taken with a high speed camera at a high frame rate so they could be replayed back in slow motion. These slow motion scenes make the audience feel as if time is passing very slowly. There are different used of sound in these several shots, such as the metallic smashing sound when we are shown a close up shot of a rusty car. This sound effect was most likely created in Foley Studio where the sound effects were made by everyday objects and then overlaid in the movie to create that specific sound effect. After the sequences of slow motion shots we are suddenly shown a real time shot of the explosions to indicate how sudden and forceful this explosion was. These make the audience feel shocked as to what happened and also keeps then on their seats as the big explosion connotes an action and thriller genre. 

127 Hours

www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbaNk7ggQHE

The first shot shows a man sleeping in an outdoors environment. We can tell he is sleeping outdoors because of the diegetic sounds of the crickets. There is also non-diegetic music playing in the background. We can’t hear it immediately at the start but the music gets louder and louder which suggests that something exciting or energetic is going to happen.

In the next shot we see the camera dolly towards two doors and when the camera gets close to them, the doors suddenly swing open and a mountain bicker cycles down from above. Within this shot we also see the location of this scene – which seems like a large dessert. These denotations of the dessert and a rocky place imply that the movie will contain adventure as the movie takes us to locations that we would not see every day.

The next few shots are aerial shots, probably taken from a helicopter or a drone, and these shots truck to the right while keeping the cyclist in shot or move directly forward and have the cyclist character cycle past the camera. The lighting in these shots is well lit and uses a high key lighting which connotes hot weather. There are also a lot of orange/yellow colours used in these shots which also connote warmth.

Later on we see a medium shot of the character cycling towards the camera. We can also see that he is wearing a t-shirt, shorts, a bandanna around his face, sunglasses and a cap. His clothing suggests that he is in a hot location and the face mask and sunglasses suggests that it is a very sandy and dusty environment. Throughout these shots the non-diegetic music is still playing in the background. This music has a fast beat and pace to it - making the scenes livelier as the character cycles around. During some shots when the camera gets close to the biker, we can hear the diegetic sound of the bike.

In the next few shots we see the editing technique eyeline match being used. After the biker stops, he goes to turn on his camera, and as he does so, we get a close up shot of him turning on the camera.  Then in the shot after, we are shown a low angled shot if the camcorder. The first line of dialogue he says is “Blue John Canyon” – indicating to the audience that this is where these scenes take place. After, he says he is “four and a half hours till The Big Drop Rappel” and he aims to take 45 minutes off of that. This shows that he is the type of character that is very active and physical. When the character starts to speak, the non-diegetic music in the background decreases in volume and after he finishes speaking, the music suddenly gets louder. The next several shots are long, medium and low angle shots of the character cycling.

In these shots we can see that he as cycled over a bump and is about to fall over on his bike. The other shot is a low angles shot and is shows the mountain biker crash into the camera. This gives the illusion that he is about to crash into the audience as he is quickly coming towards the screen. At this point, the music in the background stops and we can hear the groaning of the cyclist with a medium shot of him lying on the floor.

Then is this shot we see a canted angle shot of the guy on the floor, as he removes something from his pocket. At this point we expect him to maybe for help but instead he takes out a camera and takes a picture of himself. The shot then changes to a pov shot of the camera that the guy was holding would have seem. This indicates to the audience that this character is the type of person that that will carry on with any situation no matter what is happening - even is he is hurt. Mise en scène could be analysed here as one of the props in the guy has was a small camera/camcorder.

What are you doing here? - Analysis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFoWKDbPLW8

shonamshahig321.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/learning-adobe-premiere-elements-10.html

This video was the first time we created anything in Adobe Premiere Elements 10. We has to create a short video, showcasing us saying 'What are you doing here?'. The first time editing in Premiere Elements 10 was a struggle as we didn't know much about the software but over a short period of time we managed to learn the basics and produce this video.

What was good?
We were able to create a decent video considering it was our first time using the that editing software program. We were able to edit our clips together and were able to fade text in and out, add transition effects, change the time duration (speeding up or slowing down a clip) and panning and cropping clips.

What was bad?
As this was our first time editing in Premiere Elements 10, we weren't able to do as much as we were hoping to do.

What could we improve next time?
When creating something like this next time, we could learn better and newer techniques that make the videos look more professional. Instead of using Adobe Premiere Elements 10, we could use a different video editing software that has more and better features than Premiere Elements.

Continuity in Filming

Continuity in filming is very important because it allows us to immerse ourselves in the full glory of the film. If any of these are broken then the audience gets confused and a feeling of uneasiness. It breaks the illusion and they suddenly realize everything is a fake. Rules and shot types must be followed to keep the audience entertained, and to keep the movie realistic – such as the 180° rule, the rule of thirds, shot reverse shot and eye line matching.

180° Rule

The 180° rule in film making dictates that the camera is not allowed to go beyond the 180° line - otherwise the audience is left confused. In the image above, you can see the dashed line is the 180° line, and the camera / cameras are only allowed to film from one side of the line - in this case it is the green side. The red side is the no filming zone, so no cameras should be filming from that side. When filming you cannot switch between sides otherwise the objects in the shots switch around and this confuses the audience.

Rule of Thirds

The 'rule of thirds' in film making means that the subjects or object likes to be placed in a third of the shot. In the image above, you can see that it is separated into thirds horizontally and vertically (represented by the light blue lines). These likes are like guide lined and the subject should be placed along one of these lines or where these lines meet up. This makes the shot seem more interesting and appealing as the subjects are central all of the time. As you can see from the image above, the two characters are placed is each third.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is a filming technique where by one character is shown looking off screen at another character, and then in the other shot, the other character is shown looking back at the character. This is generally used during conversations within a film.

Eyeline Match

Eyeline match in an editing technique used in film making - and is based on the audience wanting to see what the character is seeing see off screen as well. When the footage is edited, shots of what the character is seeing is shown after. From the example above, you can see four shots. The first shot is the lady looking at something off screen. We as the audience want to know what she is looking at so the next shot is the shot of the object she was looking at. Shots 3 and 4 show the same story however they are more close up shots indicating that she is focused on the painting.

Guardians of the Galaxy

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNlnQwHWSYw

A canted angle shot is first used in Guardians of the Galaxy to give the impression that you are floating in the weightlessness of space. Within this shot we see several planets in the background. These are genre indicators as they suggest the film will adventure. As the camera rotates clockwise, we see the text ’26 Years Later’ - telling the audience that this movie is set in the future and will most likely contain futuristic/science fiction things. In this shot we can hear loud thunder and it also shows lightening within the clouds of the planet.

The next two shots denote a small spaceship like vehicle landing on a rocky planet and someone or something walking on the foggy and rocky planet. The landing of the spaceship uses an extreme long shot to show the landing and setting of the opening scene. Next is a long, high angled shot of someone walking in the fog. This makes him or her look mysterious as we don’t know what they’d be doing by themselves on a rocky and windy planet. The lighting in the opening scene also makes them look mysterious as the lighting is a dark, low key lighting. There are several sounds playing during these opening scenes. The diegetic sounds that both the audience and the character can hear are the thunder, rain and wind. The non-diegetic sound is the music soundtrack playing in the background and this is used to build suspense.

Several seconds later, we are shown a close up shot of the person by themselves. We can see that they are wearing a mask and the eyes are glowing bright red. The makes the audience curious to find out who it are. The bright red eyes connote danger and evil suggesting that this character is evil however we are still unsure who this person is. We then see them pulling out a futuristic device. As he tries to turn it on, it makes several electronic sound effects.

When it is turned on, at first it looks like a torch but then we find out that it is like a hologram torch, supporting the futuristic and sci-fi genre. We then get a bird’s eye view shot of the person walking with the holographic torch, and in the hologram, we can see people walking across - as if they actually there but cannot be seen without the hologram. We also hear the faint sound of people talking. This could have been the people in the hologram who are now gone.

In this we can see a long shot of a small girl playing with a dog in the hologram as the person walks up to it. This could suggest that the place the person is in was once run by people but has been abandoned, maybe due to catastrophic events. This can also hint towards the movie containing action.

The person then walks for a while then we get a medium up shot of them. They then press a small button on the side of their head and the helmet slowly faded away. Now we finally see the main characters face for the first time.