British Film Institution Visit

On Tuesday my class took a trip to London, South bank to visit the BFI (British Film Institution). We were given useful information from Pete Fraser, the Chief Examiner for the OCR Media Studies A level, and did Q&A with Simon Frame (Vsx Supervisor, Molinare Ltd.) and Joe Cornish (Writer-director of 'Attack the Block').

Throughout Pete gave us handy information to enhance our coursework, here are some of my notes:

Key features in opening sequences:

• Genre
• Narrative (enigma)
• Character
• Atmosphere
• Setting

We were told to start general, then more specific, then make research which was focused and relevant.

After that we watched different opening sequences which were all completely different looking at the titles and key features.

One of the openings was 'Napoleon Dynamite' (click here to watch) a film which I have never seen before, however, after watching the opening sequence and looking for the key features I could identify what it was about. The titles of the opening are part of the shots (on food, cards, books etc) which I thought was really clever as gives us an insight into what the film is about very subtly. The only character we see is Napoleon Dynamite on one of the cards so he is easily identified as the main character. The music in the opening sequence is 'jolly' and country like and portrays an American setting. The books, stationary, canteen like food we see represent it is set in a school. And judging by the opening we can see it is most likely to be a comedy.

This lead us to learn a little about titles:

• The directors name must be last
• They are often throughout the opening sequence rather than at the end
• 'Starring' is not using in film openings but in trailers

The Team GB cycling coach, Dave Brailsford, said "It's important to understand the 'aggregation of marginal gains" which also applies to our coursework (lots of small things add up to get better marks).

We were given a list of the six most common opening sequences to avoid doing:

1. Saw- victim in shed
2. Scream- hooded stalker
3. Se7en
4. Lock, stock- gangsters
5. Waking up
6. Flashbacks and flash forwards

and common problems in opening sequences:

• Making it look like a trailer or short film
• Not enough titles
• Poor sound of lighting
• Poorly directed actors
• Making it confusing or complicated
• and doing one of the most common openings badly!

The sequence should be up to two minutes, 20 marks is awarded for research and planning, 60 marks for construction and 20 marks for evaluation.

Pete's main advice was to:

• Plan
• Learn from others
• Avoid the obvious
• Pay attention to detail
• Vary our blogs

Step 1: Take stock

• Build skills
• Build research
• Build planning
• give yourself enough time to shoot and edit
• Keep evident throughout the whole process

Step 2: Set up a blog

Step 3: Build up skills

Step 4: Investigate

Step 5: Brainstorm ideas

• Pitches
• Mood board treatment
• Feedback
• Be realistic

Step 6: Planning (the more planning= the less problems)

• Experiment
• Examples of shots, costume, props etc
• Storyboard (post it notes) 
• Logistic planning

Step 7: The shoot 

• People, places, props, costumes
• Rehearsing, directing
• Equipment/ jobs on day
• Keeping a record of process

Step 8: Editing

• Everyone have a go
• Screen grabs
• Audio and titles
• Foley (the art of putting sound in sync with movement)
• Rough cut deadline and peer feedback

The big picture before the fine detail

Step 9: Evaluation

Film Riot- Preparation and Analysis of 'Tell'

On Mr Buckmaster's blog (http://marlboroughmediastudies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/how-to-plan-film.html) I watched Film Riots: How to Plan a Movie Shoot! - Script Breakdowns, Schedules and Budgets and How to Storyboard & Schedule Your Film. These two clips showed me all the preparation they went to before filming there short film 'Tell'. They also link in with the work we are doing in class at the moment (preparing our preliminary task) and will help us when we start to prepare for our opening sequence.
Although the short film only had a very small budget of £1000 with very few of the film crew trained, in the end the preparation really paid off. 'Tell' was a really good effective short film. I definitely thought the camera movement/shots and sound were the most effective in the film (the camera shots and movement were so good, constantly making the audience feeling uneasy and the sound also kept building up tension and creating suspense throughout using both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds). Overall it has made me realise just how important preparation is to create an effective and low budget production.

Filming A Scene Using My 'Bullitt' Storyboard

In class on Thursday we attempted to film the shots in the 'Bullitt' car chase scene using just my storyboard (see previous post). We didn't focus on sound in this, just trying to position the shots correctly. The video of Katie's, Alex's, Dionne's and my attempt is to above (we accidentally cut out the first shot). As we didn't have a car to use we improvised with two chairs, a table and a bin and filmed clips where we found it impossible to shoot.

The first shot in the video is a medium eye level shot of the back of the 'goodies' head, who is driving chasing the car ahead. In this shot we had to think about the rule of thirds and think about the positioning of the objects. To the right is a screen grab of attempt and what it should of looked like. As you can see the angle of this shot is wrong, it appears to be more of a high angle shot. We should of lowered the tripod to make the shot eye level. We also did not think about the duration of this shot (it should have last approximately 3 seconds).

The next shot was of two people in another car (the 'baddies') driving. It was hard to get the positioning of both characters right in this shot as our actors were different sizes to those in the actual scene which I storyboarded from. However I think this shot worked a lot better than the last (see picture to right). We remembered to think about the duration and angle of the shot.

The next shot was hard to film because I had found it hard to draw on the storyboard, so wasn't an accurate representation of the shot. We got the angle of the shot right however the size and the duration of the shot were a little out.

In the next shot we just filmed the actual 'Bullitt' car chase clip as we didn't have a car available.

We then filmed another clip of the 'goody' driving and chasing the car ahead. although this was a better attempt than the first shot, the angle and positioning of the shot is wrong again (the top of my head is one show). To correct this the camera must of been set up lower and checked that the positioning of my head was the same as my storyboard. However, the duration of the shot was correct.

After that we again filmed the actual clip from the scene again, as it was another clip of a car.

The second to last shot was another shot of me (the 'goody') chasing the car ahead, except the angle was slightly different. Although we showed this angle and the duration of the shot was close, we again got the positioning of the shot wrong (too much of my head is on show).


The last shot is again of me but from the side. I have far too much space behind my back in this shot and above my head in this shot. The angle and duration, however, were good.




Filming the 'Bullitt' car chase scene using just my storyboard made me realise how important and helpful storyboarding is to help you get the right and accurate shot. They also save a lot of time as you know exactly what you are doing when you start filming.

Storyboarding

Webb Smith, Disney credited animator, created the first storyboard in the 1930's which ever since then has played a massive part of filming. Storyboards are a sequence of illustrations which often have details of duration, shot size, angle and transition underneath. They represent and help pre-visualise the shots planned for a scene and are similar to cartoon strips. They are one of the most important things to do before filming to give a good idea of what each shot should look like, however, then can be alternated if certain shots do not work or look effective when filming. 

I have attempted to story board the first 28 seconds of the car chase scene from 'Bullitt' (click here to watch) directed by Peter Yates. (Below)

Second Attempt With A Camera

Above is my groups second attempt with using a camera. This attempt was much better than the first as we really focused on the advice Mr Buckmaster gave us such as setting the camera up perfectly before hand, meaning we did not have to move it much when filming. We also tried to remember head space for example on the shot when we paned we did two run throughs before filming to make sure my head was never cut off.

We started by panning a high-angle medium shot (up to 0.08) from the top of the stairs following me walking up them, we filmed this on the science block stairs as we new the lighting was good there as there's lots of natural light from all the windows. In this we really tried to make the panning smooth by keeping the camera on a tripod. We also started filming for five seconds before I started moving, and made sure we had the right amount of head space before we filmed.

The next shot was a birds eye view (0.09) of me sat on the floor, which we again filmed from the top of the stairs, this shot was a lot easier to film as we did not have to move the camera (but we did slightly by accident). To make the shot better we would have needed more leg space/less head space and we should of thought about the rule of thirds instead of making me centre of the shot.

The last shot we did was a reverse angle shot, we started with a close-up of me staring at something and then filmed the back of my head and Sam in the background as if I was staring at him. Sam stood by the window in the shot to hide his face, nearly making a silhouette, to create the illusion he was mysterious/ dangerous. In this shot we thought about the rule of three and Sam and I were never central.
Our last shot was a low-angle shot at 0.24, however, this was not very successful as we did not set up the camera very well so I cropped most of it out.

Our second attempt was much better, although we did less shots they were higher quality.

First Attempt With A Camera

The video above is my groups first attempt with a camera, we took turns to make different camera shots and movements. Our filming wasn't the best as we did not set up our camera very well before each shot so I have put ways to improve and what we did wrong after most of the shots.

We started with a panning long shot up to 0.05 seconds showing most of the field. The movement could of been a lot smother on this and we should have weighed up the ratio of trees in the shot in comparison to the ratio of grass.
We then moved to a medium long shot at 0.07 then a medium shot (two character shot) before filming we should have thought about our head space in both of these shots.
After that we went onto a medium close-up at 0.11, this shot was quite wonky, we ought to of checked this before filming.
We then moved onto a slight low angle close-up showing my face and surroundings at 0.14 and a big close-up at 0.17.
My group then attempted a reverse angle shot at 0.19, however, I thought it did not look very effective as the actress was not really looking at anything so we just filmed a blank space.
Our second to last shot was a another low-angle shot at 0.23, however because the light was behind our actress it was hard to see her face.
The last shot was a high angle shot at 0.25.

Once we had finished we watched everyone's back in class, Mr Buckmaster gave helpful feedback such as:
-Through out our shots we need to remember to keep the camera still (unless panning, tracking, crabbing etc.)
-We also need to position our camera exactly how we want to before we start filming and do a count down from five before filming
-We need to think a about lighting, if lighting behind the character is too strong then you wont be able to see their face
- The last tip he gave us was to think about head space before we start filming

Casino Royale Camera Shot Analysis

In today's lesson my group watched the beginning of Casino Royale- torture scene (click to watch up to 1 minute) and listed the main camera shots of the start of the scene and evaluated them. We were also told the very useful website Daily Motion.

The first main shot we noticed was a high angle medium close-up (at 0.02) which showed Bond on the floor, this made him look vulnerable as we see him in the eyes of Le Chiffre looking over him.

The next significant shot was at 0.08, this shot is a big close up of Bonds face which exaggerates his emotions (him looking scared and not at ease).

After that there is a reverse shot showing the door being closed and locked at 0.12 (which is what Bond is looking at worriedly) and then a close up back to James Bond at 0.17.

The forth main camera shot we spotted was a low angle shot of Le Chiffre (at 0.19), this shot shows that he has more power over Bond in the scene and makes him appear to have a higher status.

There is next a close up of the prop Le Chiffre is holding (at 0.23) a piece of rope to beat Bond, this shot exaggerates it and shows its significance in the scene.

The camera then goes on to a medium shot to show the setting and Le Chiffre walking around Bond, we see that James Bond is very helpless in this moment in the scene (this shot is at 0.33).

At 0.44 we see a medium close up of Bond and Le Chiffre talking to him over his shoulder, because of the lighting in this shot Bond is bright where as Le Chiffre is coming from the shadows and so has a shadow cast upon the sides of his face, extending the idea of Le Chiffre being the 'baddy'.

The last main shot was another close-up of the rope being swung by Le Chiffre (at 0.58) before hitting Bond, this builds up tension until he actually hit him.

Through out the scene the camera shots are slow, building the tension until Bond is tortured or we think he will tell Le Chiffre the information. The camera shots also follow the rules of third and most shots are not central.