Learning Tasks : Mise En Scene : Romantic and Crime Scene

Mise-En-Scene : (Wikipedia) to describe the design aspects of a theatre or film production.

My class and I say the objects and content of the scene.

We had 2 types of scenes and as a group we had to create a it by using the mise-en-scen given to us

Crime

We tried to create a feel of a criminal table with using stereotypes. We all watched a criminal fighting show once so we all know the normal conventions of objects of a criminal. 

 The setting was meant to be a casual work office at home with a typewriter, a candle, a wine glass and a book to show maybe an individual as there is only one wine glass thats likes to be drunk and the use of the gun to make its a crime scene. The attempt of the ruined opened book and the gun suggests that a few things were smashed about and suggests someone was killed but we don't know who and who did it. It could be uncovered by the owner to exemplify a book lying around so if the owner needed it he could just take it. Or was it another man's gun but hid it instead.

The lighting was made purposefully dark so we can understand this is a crime scene room like normal shows.

By adding the gun it give the audience more adrenaline and confusion to the still. The mise-en-scene really helps the creation scene. Not only does that happen but also we let the audience imagine what they want.

Romance

This romantic setting is again made from sterotypes.

We have the use of the wine bottle, the 2 glasses, the plates, the candle and the scrunched towel in the middle to get this aromatic setting.  The use of 2 sets of objects shows us that these people may be on a date and the use of a candle, it makes it more intimate. We assume a romantic scene because the of the singular candle is often associated with romance. The only unconventional piece of object is the towel in the middle and especially because it looks scrunchy it fades that romantic essence of the scene. But this may depend on the setting of the scene - are we in a rural restaurant or upscale five star hotel?

The use of light is much lighter than the one before as we can still feel the intimacy and romance of the place.

Overall, mise-en-scene can still justify the mood and theme of the area. So in a still it determines more of the objects and lighting to justify the setting but it also includes video/film, you may need to include shots and diologue but you still need mise-en-scene and lighting to create the effect to the audience as you had hoped

Learning Tasks: Dynamic Shot Movement and Aspects

Shot Movement

Lately in class, we  have learned about the movement and aspects of a camera shot and there are 4 particular movements which are; tilt, pan, zoom and track and 4 aspects which are; depth, focus, composition and framing


Tilt

Tilt is when the camera moves up and down from a fixed point/axis

If you look between 0:15 - 0:20, you will see that the camera shifts from the bottom to the top or normal eye view (of the building).

  

This is a visual of how tilt occurs with the use of an object and it ALWAYS stays at a fixed point/axis.

Pan

A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right about a central axis

If you look between 0:09 - 0:14 you will the pan from left to right and again right to left.

Below, there is a visualisation of how panning works. It is again always on a fixed point but around and at the subject.

Zoom

Zooming means altering the length of the lens to give the illusion of moving closer to or further away from the action. Zooming is effectively magnifying a part of the image.
The video below show us how it works:

Between the 4:06 - 4:16, there is a frantic zoom where the camera zooms very quickly to the subject/object. But if that was slowed down, that would be a regular zoom. In the right context, you could create tension through zooms like Alfred Hitchcock did.

Track

Tracking means any shot in which the camera follows a subject within the frame. This can be associated with a camera dolly, a wheeled platform that is pushed on rails while the picture is being taken.

From 0:42 - 0:56, the camera is tracking the subject down the abandoned train. And again between 1:03 - 1:10, across the road where they are shooting.

Another video was our preliminary task video and between the times of 0:12 - 0:21 shows us tracking because we follow her footsteps until she begins to sit down.

Shot Aspects

Depth

Depth is what is between the lense of the camera, the object/subject and the background.



(Left To Right) Depth is here is between the lense of the camera, Ben Affleck's character and the background.

Focus

Determining and creating a sharp or soft image of the/an object/subject.

(Left To Right) The Focus here is very clear as we can the the characters in 'The Great Gatsby' very clearly whereas the background is not visually clear. Terminology wise, we say that it's sharp (clear) and soft (not visually clear). We have another photo which consists of

Composition
Framing

A film frame or video frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture or the content of whats in the frame

You can see what is in the fram and nothing else. So you have no-one what she is staring at. You can stereotypically assume things from this angle and that may be an affect to the audience.

Task:

After learning about Film Shots, Dynamic Shot Movement and Angles, we were asked to recreate 4 stills and try and get the same angle and same shot type from Indiana Jones, Shawshank Redemption, Taxi Driver and Pulp Fiction.
Indiana Jones:








 

Shawshank Redemption:









 
Taxi Driver:










 Pulp Fiction:

Learning Tasks: Match On Action

Definition : The idea of sequencing events in chronological order to maintain continuity so the narrative can be followed. This is by matching the movement from one footer of one scene with the header of the next.

The first time we shot and filmed our initial video, we didn't worry about match on action and it wasn't perceived as a big thing to us. But after learning about Match On Action, the second time round that we filmed, we knew that it meant a big deal. So to get a match-on action in there and have the correct technique, we looked at the scene/shot before, examined it and tried to replicate the exact same movement so we could achieve the technique.

Match-On-Action creates the impression of a sense of continuity. As if it carries out a visual bridge and it is the sense of the same action made and not two different actions joined together. Without it you seem to loose the audience attention because there are missing parts to the story.

When an audience comes to see a film, they expect to be given a continuous film instead it disrupts the the audience's real time of the film.

Using the ball, gave us an initial idea of a simple throw and catch game made to an intense theme. So we always made sure we had this continuity of the ball been thrown and in this exact timing.

In films like Avatar, the Match-On-Action is very sudden. From 0:55 - 0:57, you can instantly aww the the mistake, as his arms was up on the bars but suddenly on his wheelchair. This also occurs on 2:11 - 2:15 with the man in the white shirt standing.  He seems to have his left hand on the bar but in the next shot its on his hip. 

This is our Preliminary Task Take 1 

Unfortunately we lacked match-on-action. Between 0:09 - 0:17, you can see the paper closer to the girl sitting down but then the paper moves further away and then goes back to having the paper closer the girl again. 

Between 0:53 and 0:55, the red t-shirt girl was at an angle further away from the chair and the next shot she is nearly touching the chair and there is no way that we showed how she got from one to another. It's such simple things that make the video so distraught and harder to follow or just disrupt's our pleasure of watching it.

This is our Preliminary Task Take 2

We had more match-on-action in this take as we didn't use many objects and we kept every object that we used as it was and didn't move it around. Only thing that we had to ensure the same was the dialogue, the laptop and the book that the other girl got out from her bag. 

Learning Tasks: Film Shots

These are some particular film shots that we achieved and learnt about today. It was interesting to consider so many shots that (could be in) a film have. There are a few shots that we have achieved which will be mentioned. I have used images from an ordinary view, a film view and any filming that we did.

1. EWS (Extreme Wide Shot)

 

                                

Normally this is 100% zoomed out and is normally (doesn't mean it had to be) a shot of the landscape much like the photo above. Ordinarily the character is hidden but still in the background or there is no character yet and just a causal photo of the landscape to set the scene.

2. VWS (Very Wide Shot)

                            

This is a 90% zoomed in and still a shot of the scenery.

3. WS (Wide Shot)

                                

This is a 40% zoomed in picture and has the whole subject/s in the photo. This can also just be a setting but there needs to be a clear subject to the shot.

4. MS (Mid Shot)

                                  

This is a 40% zoom which shows some part of the subject on more detail while still giving an impression of the whole subject.

5. MCU (Medium Close-Up)

                                      

This is a 30% zoom and is half way between a MS and CU

6. CU (Close-Up)

 

                                

This is a 20% zoom and a certain feature or part of the subject that takes up the whole frame.

7. ECU (Extreme Close Up)

    

                                 

This has a 10% zoom and the ECU gets right in and shows extreme detail.

8. Cut-In

 

                               

It has a 10% zoom and it shows some (other) part of the subject in detail.

9. CA (Cutaway)

                               

A shot of something other than the setting/character/subject

10. Two-Shot 

                                                    

                                 

A shot of two people, framed similarly to a mid shot. 

11. OSS (Over-The-Shoulder)

       

                                

Looking from behind a person at the subject. 

12. Noddy Shot

                                

It usually refers to a shot of the interviewer listening and reacting to the subject.

13. POV (Point-Of-View)

                                 

It shows a view from the subject's perspective. 

14.Weather Shot

                            

The subject is the weather and can be used for other purposes e.g. background for graphics.

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Learning Task (LT) : Shot Reverse Shot : Pulp Fiction

I already had the idea of Shot, Reverse Shot was self -explanatory. You shoot something and when editing you face someone else and go back to the same thing with the same shot. After seeing some movies I could see how much it was used in the industry and knew it was an important aspect of shooting even if I hadn't noticed.

Definition: The process of switching the camera from facing one person to facing the other opposite which is behind the camera, usually used for dialogue.

Afterwards, we were asked to  recreate a 'Pulp Fiction' scene. I had never seen 'Pulp Fiction' unlike my friends so I felt as if the classmates knew the film better and knew how to recreate it better than I did. We had only been given a script, shot lists and a storyboard to help us film the scenes

The link shows my 'Pulp Fiction' recreation and how unorganised the shots were. After watching it, it was like it was all over the place and quite annoying because we go from shot after shot after shot. Of course, Match on Action was a definite problem and now I see how complicated the use of both techniques can be.

Then we watched the opening scene which we had to recreate and the aim was Shot, Reverse Shot. So we found the concept in this film and this is how it looked:

Watch the scene from 1:33 - 1:37 which will illustrate the Shot, Reverse Shot and watch from 0:00 - 1:28.

Preliminary Task : Take 1 & 2

Recently, we had been given a task to film with our peers and the task had to consist of this: ‘A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue.’

Our group looked at our film-making poster and went through the process of film-making. So firstly, we went about thinking about the concept of the film and how we wanted to portray each part. We thought about the dialogue and what we were going to say. I had a clear vision of someone who had killed another person but no-one understands how and why. After discussing with the group, they liked the idea about a post-murder idea but wanted to adapt it to a schizophrenic person so there would be a background story to this behaviour.

Then we selected roles and the first major was director. Being asked to be director was a delight but practically I was scared about my skills of being one. Then the rest of the roles were given out to whoever wanted them. 

When choosing the location, 2 of us set our eyes on the drama studio for filming.

For rehearsing, we only read through the script once and started filming which didn't work as well as we didn't know the lines properly so we had to stop the scene and redo it because we had said something completely different for example, once I had stolen someone's line so we had to re-shoot that.

Scene 1

(Door slams Lauren walks in)

Sophie - Who's there? (Feeling anxious and paranoid)

(No answer)

Lauren - (goes to shake hand) Hello my name is Inspector Amber Watkins, please take a seat.

Sophie - (ignores friendly gesture and looks away) no speech

(Lauren sits down and waits for Sophie to respond to orders) (Not bothered facial expression)

... Pause of silence

(Lauren sorts out papers and puts recording on table)

(Sophie continues to fidget and breathing heavily)

Sophie - I did nothing wrong, they did it.

(Lauren looking emotion less)

(Lauren starts recording)

Lauren - At 16:37 Nicole parsons was found dead in the back garden of Madison bloom, what is your take on this?

Sophie - (mumbling to herself) I didn't do it, i did nothing wrong.

Lauren - where were between hours of 4 and 5 o clock Saturday evening?

Sophie - I was with them

Lauren - (looking angry and concerned) who is ... them?

Sophie - (walks into spotlight) Their my friends ... erm ... (hesitates) My friends ... (screams) Don't you believe me? (Slams hands on table)

Lauren - Calm down (reaches for Sophie’s hand)

(Sophie moves hands, and walks backwards)

Scene 2

(Sapir grabs Sophie’s shoulders)

Sapir - Hello there (sly face)

Desiree - so how yah been Madi?  Killed anyone lately?  (Grins repeatedly) (Sly face)

Sapir - Yea Madi, Killed anyone lately? (Touching her hair)

Sophie - (faces windows) I didn't kill anyone ... You did it ... Why don't you guys just own up? (Controlling voice)

Desiree - So what if we killed her? No one will find out! (Flicks Sophie’s hair) (walking around her)

Sapir - Technically (emphasis on the 'Y') you killed her, because you hand the knife. We didn’t tell you what to do.

(Sophie should be silent, but looking angry)

Desiree - whooooa is someone getting angry? (Laughs and pokes her)

Sapir - Is someone going to throw a tantrum? (Laughs and pokes her)

(Sapir and Desiree push Sophie around)

Sophie - (screams) stop it, stop it ... I didn’t do anything, it wasn’t my fault ...

Scene 3

(Lauren scared and very worried)

(Lauren looks at Sophie whilst she is getting knocked about)

Lauren - Who are you talking to?

Sophie - (Realised she is alone) I was talking to my friends.

Lauren - Where are your friends?

Sophie - They are right here.

(Sapir and Desiree make a mess)

(Sophie wide eyed and scared)

Lauren - Stay here I'll be back

(Lauren sprints away)

(Sapir appears and drags Sophie head to the table)

(Sophie bends down)

Sapir - This is for your own good

(Sapir’s passes Desiree the hair) (Desiree wraps round hand)

Desiree - This is what’s best for you...

(Slams head on table)

(Sophie collapses on floor)

Filming took us over 3 hours in total, we spent until 6pm at school on a Friday until we were sent out and another half an hour at one lunch time. This was aggravating as you need to get the same set-up and then do the scenes over again. I have now truly understood how hard filming making is, especially when you have an idea in your head and it’s so unique but when it gets down to actually filming it you tend to lack motivation as it gets tiring to film things over again  etc... 

Eventually we got round to putting the shots into the editing software (Final Pro Cut) where we had to convert a bunch of videos to AVI Pro Res (LT) and then put it on Final Cut Pro (FCP). Label all the videos and then start editing it. 

After watching this plenty of times, we came to the conclusion that we needed to redo things as there was no match-on-action, continuity or shot, reverse shot (by this time we had learnt about all these things).

So we headed off to do the mind-mapping, storyboarding and shot listing. From the picture below, you can see the things we wanted to include. This time we had an easier concept which was a girl walking into a classroom and sitting down chatting to her friends.

Although we wanted it to be natural, we had a script so we could know what to say so when we had edited, it would make sense to edit the scene in the correct way.

Enter Room – Shot 1

P1 : Hey What’s up?

P2 : Nothing Much, are you going to Poppy’s party?

P1 : Mm.. I don’t think so. Do you remember what happened last time?

P2 : YES! I was such an awesome night but oh I remember what happened between you and Jade.

P1 : Yer, I know right, she was well out of order.

P2 : It wasn’t even her party, she shouldn’t of even started a fight with you.

P1 : yer exactly. She got thrown out so that’s fine with me.

P2 : you should just come, I bet she won’t even be there

P1 : Well I have so much work so. (Interrupted)

P2 : No, you’re coming and that’s final

P1 : Fine, but you owe me.

P2 : We should go shopping 

P1 : Yehhh. I have been dying to buy this awesome jacket.

P2 : Oh My God, is that one from the shop in town/Topshop?

P1 : yehh, we should go on Friday

P2 : yeh, I can’t wait, the parties going to be epic.

P1 : Yeh, but if Jade is there, then I am leaving!

P2 : Ok fine, that’s fair

(Bell Rings)

P1 : Got to go to Psychology bye

When filming we used one extra person which was set to casually doing her work. The pre-production didn't include the idea of people already begin there and taking but we had made up the idea on the day so it would look more natural and having a background conversation would make a normal natural setting. As usual, the filming had gone to plan as there wasn't many shots to do.

In Post-Production, we had edited the film normally and had completed the deadline.