Crossing the line - Video

After our talk with Simon regarding crossing the line. A process by which within a 180 degree arc, all characters are placed on the same side, i.e, they stay on the same side of the screen at all times whilst the shots still change.

To demonstrate this, we created a small version of people explaining the 180 degree rule, whilst also applying i tin the cinematography. The one issue with his video was that the sound wasn't recorded properly as it was on mono-sound, therefore it can only be heard through the right side of ear phones and appears muffled at times. I didn't realise that this could happen so because of this i will make sure to check for this in the future.

The link for my crossing the line video on my channel is -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snk56l13ia4

Storytelling - Storyboarding Presentation and talk from Simon

-What are story-boards?

Storyboards are a series of sketches, that used as a planning tool visualise how the action of a story unfolds. Some are incredibly detailed, almost like mini works of art, while the others can be purely diagrammatical.  
-When are they used?
Storyboards are used in all forms of films and programmes, with some formats using them more than others. Storyboards can be used at all stages of a productions, at conception they can be used to convey the concept for a new production, detailed storyboards specifically can be used to help sell the story to a commissioner, it is a lot cheaper than test shots or pilots etc.
At pre-production, storyboards are used to enable the detailed planning of an entire production, each department such as sound and camera will use storyboards to work our what is required and when. Some productions, in the actual productions stage, use storyboards as their first point of reference, before the script. However, not all productions use storyboards, such as long running shows such a Eastenders who know what they're doing day to day already. In post production, storyboards can be used in the editing phase to help the editor visualise how the director intended a scene or sequence to be constructed.
-Story-board styles
1. Graphic - most detailed version of a storyboard, will always be used in action dependent films or series.
2. Diagrammatical - less artistic and most commonly used type of storyboard, they give less detailed amount of information about the design of a shot.
3. Plan View - this type usually consists of one drawing              for each scene, viewed from above.

-Shot descriptions
-Birds eye or Angles perspective                                              -Extreme Close-up
-Extreme long shot or wide shot                                               -Close up
-Medium Shots









Trailers - designed to hook the audience into watching a specific film or tv programme.

Trailers were first used in the cinema and originally shown AFTER the main feature, because they 'trailed it'. Mostly, they are cut from the film to form the trailer, however some are specifically shot, for example Hitchcock's Psycho.

Questions to ask/think about when creating a trailer - What is the story?
                                                                                    -When is it on?

The Chair

In our second camera workshop last week, we were tasked to create a simple video clip based on 'The Chair'. The point was to include a range of different camera angles and shots within the one clip. I think that as it is the first video I soley have created, it went well, because there were certain things i did well but also certain things that were not as great, meaning i can watch out for them in the future.

I think that in terms of the general tasks, capturing a range of different camera shots, i did effectively, i followed the character as they walked toward the chair in a range of different shots. I also cut effectively back and forth to different shots to enable better view of different things, for example as she put her glasses on. One thing i didn't do as well, that i will watch out for in future, is making sure every clip is focused properly. Some of my clips were not focused fully and do not look as good as the others in terms of quality.

The Chair;    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnpuSXXzsWA

Contextual Studies; Camerawork - Notes

What is Camerawork?
-How the camera is used in television and film to serve story, character and action.
-the art of cinematography
-the primary grammar of visual storytelling

Basic Elements of Camerawork
-The shot; affects our emotional and pyschological relationship with character and setting through composition and speed
-Movement - affects our emotional and psychological relationship with characters and setting through changed in visual space and action

Why do we use shots?
-The basic building blocks of visual grammar
-The visual equivalent of sentence structure
-if shots are words, mis en scene is meaning and editing is narrative structure

The Basic Shots
-Wide Shot; establishes location, setting or characters context in setting
-Medium Shot; character dominate the frame
-Close up; face or specific object dominates the frame
-Extreme Close up; selected part of character or object fills the frame

Alfred Hitchcock - "Never, never use a shot without it having a clear, dramatic purpose"

Angle and Speed
-High Angle Shot; objective, alienating. Diminishes character or subject in frame, emphasising vulnerability or isolation.
-Low Angle Shot; emphasises character or subjects dominance in frame. Often used for hero shots or menace.
-Dutch/Tilt Angle; disorientating, creates pyscological tension
-Slow motion/fast motion; alters audiences perceptual or emotional response to dramatic action.

Expressionism
-Angles shots are a common feature of expressionism, particularly the classic German Expressionist films of the 1920s-30s
-Expressionism presents the world sole from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effecting order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionists artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality

Motion and Emotion - Why do we move the camera?
-To heighten action or emotion
-To convey objective or subjective viewpoints
-Refocus audiences attention within the scene
-Explore or change setting/environment

Alfred Hitchcock - "I believe in using camera movement when it helps tell the story more effectively...i think one of the first essentials of the moving camera is that the eye should not be aware of it" - Hitchcock's use of reverse crane/tracking shot is an example of alienation effect
Alienation is the extent to which one maintains a critical distance from a cultural production. The more immersive a piece, the greater the extent to which one is drawn into fictional piece, often associated with passively experiencing the media.

Contrastingly an alienated audience remains removed from the media, critically considering the signs, narrative and so on. This is often considered in relation to artifice, with alienated media not attempting to hide the constructed and artificial nature of the production; showing scaffolding, using minimal staging etc.

Key Camera Movements - 1 Pan, Tilt and Zoom
                                           2 Handheld
                                           3 Dolly/Crane

opening viewpoint from halloween, camera pov heads
 toward the house

                                           4 Drone

Viewing of a clip from Halloween (1978)
- Heightens actions and emotion through subjective POV
-Switches between the subjective and objective viewpoints
-Refocuses audiences attention within the scene (movement through set and pans)
-Explores character relation to environment

Elements of Visual Style
-Denotative (directing attention)
-Expressive (bringing out the magnifying qualities)
-Decorative (flourishes or stylistic patterns that are independent or semi-independent of narrative design.

Use of handheld in documentary
-heightens action and emotion (conveys urgency)
- Dynamics of transition (moving from one location to another)
- Places character in context (life on the streets) authenticity

Storytelling Project - Story Development

Reflection

After the feedback session last week and as we get closer to writing our full first draft of our screenplay, i have been developing my idea and decided to call it 'Revelation'. I have begun finalising all of my research, for example i took inspiration from a particular storyline of long running BBC Drama Waterloo Road and based some of my research upon this - to be uploaded as part of my research in due course. Upon reflection i have written out a short synopsis of my screenplay, replacing aspects of my original idea with some from the feedback session and new ones i have come up with. 

Revelation

Amanda lives in a house, opposite a man named Dave. We first see Amanda in her house, cleaning, doing the washing up or drinking,

she looks very down, her house is very clean and very modern. We see her look out the window,  at her neighbour Dave getting out of his car,

a voice behind her appears (her friend or relative) asking if that is him - is that her dad. They argue about whether she should reveal herself as

his daughter or not. She goes over to his house, introducing herself as his neighbour (however she shows every intention of revealing her true

identity). She views his house, he has pictures of children (presumably his daughters-her sisters) and then as she is about to talk to him properly

(after some general neighbourly chit chat) he receives a phone call from his panicked daughter, this makes Amanda realise that he has his own

family, that he doesn’t need her and she, being a young and successful women, doesn’t need him either. She walks out of his house as a mere

neighbour and continues every day as this.

Steve Coombs; Beginning, Middle and End and Moments

Today we had another session with Steve Coombs, his talk today further helped me to develop my story before i start the actual process of writing. A plot is what happens within a story, whereas a story can be defined as the significance of what happens. Steve compares writing a story to throwing a ball, a story can be like a ball because you throw it in the air and then you have to catch it. This further links to the idea of knowing your ending, the plot has to use certain devices to culminate in the ending.

Steve introduced to us the idea of having 'buts' in our story. He explained that if a story doesn't have 'buts' then it isn't a story, for example, a character description "Lucy is a cancer survivor but is an alcoholic", having a but makes the story more interesting, the but is essentially the story. Talking about  beginnings middles and ends of stories, the middle of a story has to be bigger and better than the beginning, it has to have more buts in order to create dramatic irony, which ends up in the culmination of the story. In the middle, the story that the audience think they have been seeing, has to materially change. The idea of 'buts' helps me when developing my own story because its something i can think about when writing. I am in the process of writing the beginning middle and end of my story, so that i can be very clear and know what I'm doing when i come to physically write the script. I can apply the idea of 'buts' to make sure i am writing a clear, coherent and engaging story.

180 Degree Rule

We also had a session with Simon, giving us a project brief for our camera workshop with Fergus on Wednesday. The 180 degree rule - where you position the camera in a scene is where you place the audience in the scene.




If two characters are having a conversation; one will be on "screen left" and the other will be on "screen right" that will always stay the same as they stay in the same place. The camera angle may change, the audience may be looking from a different perspective, however their positioning on screen left or right will stay the same.




The Story So Far

"What's the point of writing a beautifully structured script, with all the right technical points in it, if the water has nothing to say?"
- Filter and sift through your ideas, test which you feel are the strongest, which has the most room for potential and development
- Which idea gives you the strongest gut reaction?
-Answer the following questions about you idea; who,what,when,where and how
- Look for the unpredictability and originality in your idea
-The characters; who are they? Develop the characters further than just names
- What is the goal of your story?

Steve Coombs Screenwriting: Dialogue and Characters

Today we had a session with Steve Coombs, today he was going to cover Dialogue and Characters. Firstly he detailed the most important things that we shouldn't do when writing pieces of dialogue;

• Pointless Dialogue, don't write something for the sake of it
• On the nose, characters rarely say what they really feel so make sure when writing that it isn't on the nose 
• Don't use a lot of formal language
• Don't use the characters name multiple times
• In real life, people talk in a vast amount of different ways, don't have all of your characters talking in the same way i.e. different syntax and vocabulary 
• Unspeakable dialogue - if it isn't speakable then it isn't dialogue 
• Don't be too grammatical
• Don't make the dialogue to real for example hi - hi - how are you etc
• Every sentence of dialogue should move the story along and/or developing the character, if it doesn't do either of these functions then it is not needed 
• Don't give a character more than three lines if possible
• As writers, should try to show the full range of human expression, don't overuse dialogue if you can use other means i.e. hand shake
• Dialogue should not be what it appears to be about

Pitch Feedback

We presented our ideas for our storytelling unit and had feedback from both Simon and the rest of our group. We each presented our idea by reading out our 25 word pitch out and outlining the story.

The way in which i would like to end my story, was received positively. I'd like to end my story with Amanda deciding to not reveal herself to her father, after she sees he has a family of his own and doesn't want to bring the disruption into his life.

However my initial starting point was questioned as it appears almost too random and too coincidental that she would move in opposite the father who doesn't know she exists. Other suggestions that I received from the group on how they could come to meet were

• Amanda meets him through her work, for example if she was too be an estate agent and her father is selling his house
• Dave, Amandas father, could be homeless and she could have been walking past him everyday for years on her way to work, not knowing he is her father

Getting feedback from Simon and the rest of the group is very helpful. It helps me to reflect on my idea, how i could change it or develop it further. Sometimes when writing things may make sense to the writer but not to the audience, so it is good to get that reassurance from my peers. After the feedback session i am thinking of new ways i can adapt the start of my story, whilst attempting to keep the essence of the story i wanted to portray.