Attack the Block Open Sequence

This is the main inspiration for our 2 minute film beginning. Many of the camera techniques have given me direction into how we will create a tension and establish a location throughout the opening 2 minutes. However I would use more establishing shots of London to emphasize a class and hierachy London has and we will hope to be portraying a darker side of London within about 5-6 brief shots of London that will also merge with the title of the film.

Shot Analysis


Fade in-Extreme Wide Shot of Space
Tracking shot of star turns into Establishing Shot of London
Camera sinks to tube station level
Close up/ Wide shot of Girl on phone 
Medium shot of girl walking
Medium shot from side view--panning
Worms eye view as girl walks past camera into frame
Camera rotates and rises to view girl crossing road
Aerial shot of girl crossing road
Wide shot in alley
Rotates onto wall
Medium close up of her scared reaction
Very wide shot in alley
Close up of face
Panning shot of feet walking 
Rotating medium wide shot
Wide shot of girl walking
Close up of face
Girls point of view shot of hoodies
5 shot
5 shot from behind
Pans to right
Close up of girls face
Over shoulder shot
Close up of bikes moving past
Wide/ 3 shot
Close up of girls face
2 shot
Whip pan
2 shot close up
Over shoulder close up


The shots in the first 2 minutes are clever as they are almost building up to something without the viewer having to realise. The stalking camera at the very beginning of the scene along with the quiet background music creates a creeping motion and we feel almost as if we are not supposed to be watching this woman. The tracking shot from the side then lets us see this as the viewer gather a better understanding of the location and how busy it is. The wide shot as she turns in the alley then stresses her vulnerability and we can see the graffiti on the wall of the gang members within the film. 
This shot within the alley was one of my favourites as the little amounts of a green/yellow light really escalates our sympathy for her knowing she is alone and puts the audience on edge more expecting something to happen. The close up immediately after then allows us to see the fear on her face and how quickly she resumes her walking speed maybe even faster then last time. 
A few seconds later a shot almost silhouettes the stereotyped hoodies to add something threatening to them. This effect is one I have tried to do in my film. 


Description:


We are introduced to the scene only being able to see a few light dots in the sky. Gradually we notice a falling star. As we follow it we are brought down to a typical busy scene of London. We are clear about the location as there is a tube station. Above are fireworks and the diegetic noise of explosions and traffic. Immediatley we know it's bonfire night.


The camera cuts to a much lower shot, possibly worms eye, and a woman emerges out of the crowds of people. The noise of the people grows louder and we are placed into a busy environment. She is on the phone and we hear her end of the conversation. 


We begin following the womans journey through a medium tracking shot. Cold music begins to play as enigma begins to grow. We also become aware of her surroundings as we see the shops and stalls she walks past. Titles emerge and we are introduced to the directors ect..


The camera cut to a worms eye shot that gradually rises to a crane shot. This is a slightly less busy street and we see a more peaceful side of London. It is occupied mainly by families or children on their way back from fireworks night. There is a happy atmosphere. 

As she walks down an empty alley the camera cuts to what seems to be an over the shoulder medium shot of her. We feel like we are following her this time when we are not supposed to be, placing us in the shoes of her follower. The camera slowly pans left and on a brick wall (the fireworks lights it up for a brief moment) we see the names of the characters within the film in graffiti form. Whilst the wall us lit up we notice the shadows of two hooded figures. The final burst of light we see from the fireworks is particularly loud and a medium shot shows the woman quickly turning around in shock. For this moment the music stops emphasizing her isolation from everyone else and her vulnerablility.  We are shown a quick wide shot of the woman in next to this intimidating wall before a close up shows her breathing is heavier (she is obviously scared) before she turns and continues her journey.

The music continues as normal as we are shown a close up tracking shot of her feet amongst leaves. It then cuts to a medium shot from behind her at an angle and we see her walking into a more open space, opposed to the previous small alleyway. The camera then cuts back and we see she is on an open road as a car passes her. This is a wide shot. The camera then cuts straight to a close up of her face as she is moving, the camera also moves in sync so that we are just ahead of her. 

Written By: Joe Cornish

Directed By:Joe Cornish

After Filming First Scene Report

After filming for the first time I found there were some difficulties but I was happy with what was produced by the end. Firstly the person who was meant to play the main character throughout my film was ill and could not come to shoot the film. Considering we already had the equipment to film that day and the weather was as we wanted there was no point in giving up on the day. We found another similar looking actor but it was still an inconvenience at the time and for a moment everything fell apart. However the footage we got of the main character was good and we stuck to the shot list religiously. Another issue I found we had was the lighting. In the scene the girl is walking down a road and gradually the fairly short road she is walking down seems to be getting darker. This is because we had to shoot each shot a few times which meant we had a small margin of time to catch the twilight we were hoping to see on camera. I was the camera man and Aimee was director. My sister played the actor who came in at the last minute. From this experience I have learnt that time goes quickly when filming thus it is important to shoot quickly or over a series of days so you can maintain the light you want for a scene of gradually change the light to get darker so there is not an issue with things getting too dark too quickly. Another issue to look out for is stressing the importance of the filming to you're friends (actors) so they have a serious view on what you are doing and would be prepared to take it easy the night before to do their best on the day. Although it was not our actors fault she became ill it was still an issue for us and if we had not found a sub actor it would have been an issue we might not have been able to fix on the day, therefore pushing back our schedule.

Camera Analysis of 'Pi' clip

pi subway scene clip

We see a man in the underground take some pills. Seconds later he becomes nervous, that then changes into his unbearable state, at which point he starts banging his head into the wall. We then see a smartly dressed man wearing a bowl hat and leather gloves, as the camera tracks down his body we notice blood we notice blood is dripping off the bottom of his gloves. Concerned, our narrative character runs across to the platform where he saw the man standing. He is nowhere to be seen yet a trail of blood leads us and our character to a brain on the floor. There is a look of disgust on our narrative characters face yet not a look of shock. As he pokes the brain with his pen the music becomes faster creating tension and a train heads down the platform towards him.

Camera analysis- Extreme close up shots shows us he's taking subscribed legal pills suggesting a mental illness. A wide shot shows us his anxiety through body actions. followed by a close up of his hands to show us he's scared or nervous. An extreme close up jumps towards his face to show the point our character has been hit. Tilted vision that is moving gives us a feeling he has and he can't see straight. The camera is at eye level and every time he jolts his head the camera moves to the side. A hand held camera shows us a restricted view of a smartly dressed character adding mystery to the scene. We cannot see what this man is looking at. The camera quickly flickers back to our main character and then back towards the mysterious man. At first we have a close up of his gloved hand and the camera follows the blood onto the floor (Tracking ). There is a tracking, close-up. at head level that follows our character over the stairs, rocking as he does. We see through the main characters eyes as he approaches (characters point of view) the stairs. It then switches between a tracking close up of his face and a view looking through his eyes as he approaches the blood on the floor and following it to the brain. This rotates with the wide shot of him approaching the camera (brain). Close up of his brain. Medium/close up of characters head as he bends down to poke brain. He quickly turns around and the camera changes from a close up to a wide shot from behind him. Shot returns to medium/ close up. A repeat of he previous 10 seconds happens but we catch a glimpse of the train. We see him from the trains point of view as the train kills him.

Preliminary Task--FINAL EDIT

In my preliminary task as much as we fought it continuity seemed to be an issue. We applied 'Match on Action' where possible and although the outcome could be much improved I'm happy with what we ended up with. I speak for my group when i say the main issue was the doors. They opened and closed the wrong way to create the vortex almost portal i was hoping to achieve to take our character (Gabriel) from place to place, every time confused as to why he could never end up in the right place, whilst at the same time his girlfriend eagerly awaits to tell him some important news. Throughout making this film I found time past by faster then i thought it would. This meant organisation was key and something I needed to pay more attention to. Things such as organising where we would film and what clothes the actor was to wear on what day was an issue and I feel i have learnt from my mistake and will be able to plan and deliver better next time. However after walking around and finding what we thought to be funny places to film, we had a range to select from and I thought that helped whilst editing at the end. Editing was a job i shared with Sam and Aimee that seemed to take hours. Cutting clips to make them fit together proved a challenge in itself, and as i have said achieving continuity was hard but I thought it turned out smoother than rocky. A fault I found whilst filming was zooming in and out. I feel its uncomfortable to watch Gabriel stepping in and out of the van and i will work on that in the future. Aimee was our director, Sam shared the editing job with us all and I was the camera man. I found our team worked well and we learnt from our mistakes. The experience has made me more confident and excited about our 2 minute film.

Diegetic and Non-Diegetic Sound

A diegetic sound is a sound heard within the world of the film. Everything the viewer hears within the world of the film therefore counts to be diegetic. An example of this is character dialogue or a car on the street sounding it's horn. Non-Diegetic sound is sound that as i like to say, takes over and floods over all other sounds. An example of this is the theme tune in James Bond. In many cases films merge the two in a bridge of music connecting a change of scene. Picture a man listening to the radio in his room and as you hear the flicker of his lighter whilst he lights his cigarette, the music becomes louder and almost takes over every other sound in the scene. The flicker of the lighter could be described as a bridge from diegetic to non-diegetic, and the non diegetic could be used to switch scenes.

What You Can Tell From A Single Shot

From each single shot you can tell a lot about whats happening. From what i gather in this shot, a man is handing the woman, quite obviously upset, money. Her casual clothing implies their gathering was also casual and therefore either they are close friends or more. The bed she is lying on also suggests their surrounding is either of the two's home. The man seems to have a suit on showing he is a man on class and possible wealth. He is handing her money also suggesting wealth or that he is leaving her and giving her money due t her situation.

Backgrounds

Back grounds can be created using various different techniques such as the one shown. A set up for a scene takes hours to prepare and the director would not settle for anything less then what he had previously pictured. 

High and Low angle effects

The use of high angle and low angle shots can be used to posses a character with dominance over another character in the scene. In this scene taken from TV series, 'Scrubs', a low and high angle shot has been used and exaggerated for comical effect. Due to the camera looking up at the woman in the scene it gives the impression she is larger then she is and is a figure of authority. The camera looking down on the man takes away his masculinity and makes him seem more easily overpowered.

List Of Camera Sizes

Extreme Close  Up

Close Up

Medium Close Up

Mid Shot

Medium Long Shot

Long Shot

Extreme Long Shot

Establishing Shot

Master Shot

Birds' Eye View

High Angle

Eye Level

Low Angle

Worm's Eye View

Tilt

Dutch Tilt

Point Of View Shot (1st person)

Over The Shoulder Shot

Spectator Shot Spectator Shot

Panning Shot

Tracking Shot

Steadicam

Handheld

Symmetry and Composition

Framing

Depth Of Field

Focus

Rule Of Third

Two Shot

Preliminary Task Storyboard

Preliminary Task 1 final

This is the final edit of my original preliminary task. Its is rushed and poor quality but it is what iv'e done to ease myself into filming and become more cumfortable with a standard camera shot and the 180 degree rule. I have also used 'match on action' to create a smooth, naturalistic movement of the character walking through the door. In my first shot I was outside filming the character walking into the building and through the door. The second shot is from within the building at an angle i thought was appropriate to film from as the viewer can see the environment (classroom) and can see the character progression through the room. I combined the two shots and cut out irrelevant noises using iMovie. 

Preliminary Task 2

For the second, and better, preliminary task I am going to film an anxious teenager waiting at home for her boyfriend to tell him she has recently found out she is pregnant. It all looks very serious at the beginning. We can tell she is nervous waiting, until everything becomes strange and surreal when the doors the boyfriend is travelling through take him to random locations he doesn't want to go to. The doors are portals and as he starts of confused, it soon turns to anger as he can never manage to end up in the right place.

POSSIBLE LOCATIONS:

Swimming Pool
Library
Roof
Park
Museum
Restaurant
Bar
House Party

Shot reverse shot

This shot reverse shot technique is taken out of a movie. Skip to 60 seconds for the above ^^




This is a talk through of  shot reverse shot and how it can be used in films to create a sense of conversation. Although it's not very serious its a good example.

The 180 degree rule

This explains the 180 degree rule and what the effect is when it is broken. Sometimes directors break the 180 degree rule to confuse the audience.

sam walking 2

Sam walking outside, proliminary task take 1

- Research into audience
-Everything needs justification
-Can give away whats going to happen but not how
-Each genre has it's own ingredients, we call these conventions
-Narrative = way to tell a story
- Funky title
-Create enigma
-Film someone walking into a room and exchanging dialogue

THE EXAM

-film-blog-powerpoint

final exam /50 Analyse TV drama

/50 Film Industry

mise/en/scene  = everything in a scene

-costume
-make up
-props
-lighting

-location

-narrative
-script
-plot

-editing

-camera

-sound
-dialogue
-music
-sound effects


http://www.artofthetitle.com/

Usually in a film after 15 minutes there will be a point of attack. This is when an event will happen and set a journey that the rest of the film will follow.