Cinematography

Cinematography

The five finalists in the Feature Film category of the American Society of Cinematographers Outstanding Achievement Awards are: Barry Ackroyd for The Hurt Locker directed by Kathryn Bigelow

The gridlines are diagonal, making the viewer draw its attention to the actual explosion also how the car is positioned on a hill makes us draw towards the explosion even the the explosion was in the background, it is given the most attention.
Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd was born May 12, 1954 in Manchester. He has worked on many films and TV projects as a cinematographer.
Barry Ackroyd won the BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography for The Hurt Locker as well as the BSFC Award and the Austin Film Critics Association Award for the same catagory.

Dion Beebe for Nine directed by Rob Marshall

The lighting was really important in this photo. It shows who is more improtant in the scene or who should the audience should focus on. The different type of lighting shows this. We also see the people in bright lighting are position in the frame, the are at the centre of the frame where the people in dim lighting are around them. This takes the viewers attention to the girls in bright lighting.
Dion Beebe is an Australian cinematographer born in 1968. Dion studied cinematography at the Australian Film Television and Radio School from 1987 to 1989

Christian Berger for The White Ribbon directed by Michael Haneke

The type of lighting makes the viewer has his attention of the burning house because thats the only source of light there is while everything else is dark.

Christian Berger is an Austrian cinematographer born in January 13, 1945.

Berger was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work on The White Ribbon at the 82nd Academy Awards. He was the surprise winner at the ASC Awards for Best Cinematography in 2010.

Berger invented the Cine Reflect Lighting System which he used on his latest films. Besides his work as director of photography he also teaches cinematography at the Filmacademy Vienna.

Mauro Fiore for Avatar directed by James Cameron

The person is in two thirds of the frame which draws our attention. Which helps us do this aswell is that this character is in focus while the background is blured out. Mauro Fiore is an Oscar winning cinematographer born in 1964.He was born in Marzi, Calabria, Italy and moved to the US with his family in 1971. He is most notable for his work in the 2009 film Avatar for which he won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography at the 82nd Academy Awards, making Avatar the first film completely shot in HD to win such award.

Feedback

One of the feedback we got were "the opening was very dramtic and the sound added on to that affect, however, i was unaware of the scenario, and id not know what was going on." Me and my group decided to make it a little bit more informing so our audience would understand what was going on but not giving away the story too soon.

Another person from the opposing class told me that "the sound used was a brillant effect, however, there were too many shots on the photo-album which could produce boredom." When my team heard this we acted on it staright away using some cut-away editing techniques and also fading to white, to make it quick and easier.

Another comment that was recieved by my teacher was "the continuity is not accurate, as orange flooring could be seen, whereas in all the other shots we could see black flooring. How does thatw ork out?" Indeed we never noticed it, until we went back and we had realised that even though it was for a small amount of time there was still orange flooring. Therefore, we had to use our editing techniques and cut out that bit and speed it up. Once we had done it, everything was perfect.

Shooting Schedule

Shooting Schedule

Photo Storyboard

Photo Story Board

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Q7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q7 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

I think I have progressed a lot since my preliminary task because there is a contrast between the work loads. The preliminary task was shot after school whereas the main task needed a whole day to shoot. The preliminary also you had to do what you was told to do, we had instructions by the teacher whereas the main task we was put in groups, we had to make a story up and film it. We were more independent. We needed to find a place to film that would be relevant to our film and genre.
There were problems with our prelim task because our main idea didn’t work because a lot of people were using the room so we had to go to an empty room and work around the script and improvise a bit. It wasn’t the same with the main task although we had some problems with the setting e.g. we didn’t know where to do it and the media office wasn’t available because we needed a room that looks like somewhere in a house, like a home-feel but it got sorted out how we put wall paper and carpet in a room and recorded so you can only see that.
The pre production task, I wasn’t familiar with the equipment so it took quite a while doing a task. There was some techniques I didn’t know like adjusting the zoom speed so I didn’t use zoom in the task because the zoom didn’t run smoothly or it was too fast. I also didn’t know that we could shoot shots in any order to make the process faster so we recorded the shots in order which made the process longer. The task went quite well because we kept continuity, it is important to do this so you don’t cause no confusion or to make everything run smoothly between shots. We almost broke that rule because one of the actors didn’t have headphones on then put them on in the middle of film, so we had to do a shot of him putting his headphones in. We used 180 degree rule when the conversation started because it would confuse the audience if you see person 1 on the left and person 2 on the right then in the middle of the conversation you see person 1 on the right and person 2 on the left. In this task we learnt to work as a group so it was preparing us for the production. It was teaching us that we all needed to put 100% in our work. We had to listen to what each other had to say and had to take care of different jobs. It has developed my group work ability. It improved time management so for the production we would work according to time and don’t run late. We had a problem with our location because it was being used by a lot of people, we should have booked the room so we had to change room and alter the story a bit. This taught us that you need to book a room before using it and we learnt from it by booking a room in the production.
The Production task I was familiar with because I learnt from my mistakes and learnt more about the equipment and shooting since the pre production task because I went to camera equipment class which help me a lot since I was a camera man for my group. We all worked together coming up with the idea of the film, I worked on the artistic side and some of the editing, Josh Freeland worked on the plot and some of the editing and Antoinette Seki worked on the tag lines and the sound so we put in equal part in our work, I was happy with the group work. When we was filming we worked as a group as well because we was all putting ideas but Josh Freeland had to tell the actor what to do because of the director. I feel as a camera man I did my job well because when there was camera movement I was moving it smoothly like when the main character was looking through the photo album plus it was harder because I had to move the camera slowly also when I zoomed in to the pictures I feel my zoom speed was just right to fit the mood of the genre. We also decided to do safety shots just in case our opening sequence wasn’t long enough. In editing I think I haven’t progressed because I was already comfortable with the editing software and find it quite fun. I think I have progressed with everything else since the pre production task. From camera, group work, continuity, time management and creative skills. I know this because the pre production my time management was a bit late from when a certain activity was due but our production our time management was on time and sometimes we were early.
Shooting Schedule

Q6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q6 What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What equipment we used:


Camera (Cannon XHA1) with a microphone.
Tripod
External microphone
Windshield
Xlr cable
Tape
Boomstick.

I have learnt how use the Cannon XHA1 efficiently since I was the camera man for my group. I have learnt how to set up the tripod and place the camera on it. We set up the tripod detaching the hook at the bottom of the trip and separate the legs apart so it looks like a pyramid. We twist the bottom knobs on each of the legs to let it go higher, we do this until you see it is as high as your shoulder. We get the camera out of the bag open the cover where the battery should be placed and place the battery the right side up and push it in the camera and close the cover. We then place it on the tripod by sliding it on the top and there is a little knob near the top to make the camera secure so it doesn’t slide off. We then adjust the spirit level by twisting another knob under the camera after we do that then we are able to turn our camera on by putting it on automatic. A tripod is a benefit to recording because it will let us capture movement and images without shaking the camera, this would happen if it is being handheld that is why you need a tripod to keep the camera still. It’s also important to know how to connect it with the external microphone with the Xlr cable and put the tape in for the record. We use the external microphone for its clear and best quality possible; it also has a windshield so they will be no blowing in the microphone. We don’t want to use the one on the camera because the quality won’t be as good and if there is wind it will interrupt the sound and there will be blowing sound on the microphone. To connect the external microphone to the camera we use a Xlr cable. The Microphone sits on the boomstick so you can hold the microphone high and it would not interrupt or make noises when moving the microphone.

Editing:
LaCie drive
Cannon XHA1
Tape
Firewire
Adobe Premier Pro



I have learnt how to use the editing program ‘Adobe Premier Pro’ how to do effects and how you can digitize from the camera, we need to keep the tape in the camera to digitize. We connect the Cannon XHA1 to computer by a firewire for digitizing after that is done you don’t need the firewire and camera. All of this gets saved on the usb LaCie drive. The benefits of having a LaCie drive is that it doesn’t matter what user you log in to because it is saved on the LaCie drive also that means that if the person can’t come edit then you can log on to your account and edit n save it back on the LaCie drive. To produce the film it all has to go on the timeline in the program. To digitize you’ll need to put new project and press F5 or go on file then press capture, this would allow you to digitize. To do effects you’ll need to go on effects drag it out the shot on the timeline.

The filming techniques I learnt were
180 degree rule
Rule of thirds
The use of shots and variety.

The filming techniques I used were
180 degree rule- making sure we not showing the other side of her face once we viewed one side of her face.
Rule of thirds
We didn’t really use variety of shots, we made it simple and slow to add more to the drama effect, we tried to make it effective. The person has to not be in the centre of the screen to have full effect. We put Esma on the left 1/3 of the screen and the photo album took 2/3s and the rest of the setting. The benefit of this is that the audience can establish the setting and see more then jus Esma’s face.

The editing techniques:
Drag to timeline
Digitizing
Trimming
Fade in and out.
Effects

The editing techniques I used:
Dragging to timeline
Digitizing
Trimming
Fade in and out
Effects

We had to digitize our rushes before we even start the editing, when we done that, we drag the rushes in order of shots to the timeline and trim irrelevant stuff in the shot we don’t need e.g. in the beginning or in the end this is a benefit because they might be a blooper at the beginning or we need to take out the directors voice. We added effects to make it suit in our genre. We found the effect we wanted and dragged it to the shot on the timeline. With fading in and out you can even fade in or out sound or video or both. I have learnt a lot about editing since I used to use a program before called ‘Sony Vegas’ which is really similar but it took me a while to get used to ‘Adobe Premier Pro which is a benefit to me because rather than learning how to use the program it was more of adopting to a different software.

Q5-How did you attract/address your audience?

Q5-How did you attract/address your audience?

In our opening sequence, our idea came from ‘My sister’s keeper’ the way credits roll on the book.
It was a bit successful but took some attention away from the pictures so we tried to balance it out plus we had to take some shots of the pages out because it made the opening to long, dull and boring. We showed the main character changing the page so it shows our creativity instead of just a blank screen or just credits appearing. We had shots for the credits. The non diegetic-sound of our opening sequence makes our opening sequence more dramatic, it changes the mood just by the soundtrack, and it makes the audience think what happened or even feel depressed for her. We wanted the audience to guess or want them to be interested to watch what happens after the opening sequences. After the photo album the main character gets a phone call, she picks it up and you can hear narration which she says “my whole life changed in a second” this would make the audience feel sad but make them what to know what has happened, this is also a line that would stick in their heads. This is one of the techniques that the movie ‘Seven pounds’ used. This is done so you don’t see the main characters face and you just have the camera on the phone at a mid-shot, so it will make the audience guess more than just having her face there. We added an effect when the phone is dropping when we was editing, we put it in slow motion so it has a more dramatic effect when the phone is dropping it tells the audience that something serious has happened and grabs the audience attention. We added effects when the main character turns the page. We dissolved the two shots together where she is looking at the page and when she is turning the page, this happens slowly. We used it because this effect is usually associated with memories and sad emotional times also it fitted perfectly with the soundtrack since the main character was looking through her photo album the effect was convenient since it was all to do with memories and it was an emotional time for her and we wanted the audience to see and know that so the effect worked with the particular moment in the opening sequence. We also made her look through her photo album kneeling down. It shows how she is feeling weak and sad while she is flicking through the pages to add on to the dramatic feeling.
The audience would have knowledge of this genre and will expect some of the things we have added in this film so we are pleasing the audience but we didn’t want to be too predictable so we left the audience wanting to know what happens next, we didn’t want to give the story away and make it too predictable so we used the method we did.

Q4-Who would be the audience for our production?

Q4-Who would be the audience for our production?

Our film had to appeal to the target audience, so we would use the codes and conventions for our genre to make it appeal to the target audience.
Our film is a drama so it will have emotions that involves the audience maybe make them feel sorry for them or feel happy for them, we aimed to move the audience. The emotions that can be used in drama is love, hate, tragedy and hope.
It is different from other genres e.g. Comedy which is aimed to make you laugh all throughout the film instead of being dramatic, it is the opposite.
I researched the opening of 'Seven Pounds'. It captured the audience emotions straight away, with the music, the narration and the dialog. It started off with a dramatic opening which let the audience know that it is a drama. The primary target audience for this was 12 and over both male and female because it wasn't a chick flick drama.
We our main character is a girl in her teens and it created about her life and the film include emotions like being sad, happy, glad and devastated. I think our primary target audience for this is 15 and over female and secondary target audience is 15 and over male because it is about a girl and dramatic so females are bound to watch but males would be secondary target audience because if they like dramatic films or going to watch with their female partner or friends. Social class would people who are quite rich, earn standard money, teenagers or who is into modelling. The reason I say people who are quite rich because she is an upcoming model where she will meet rich people and start to live a glamorous life. This will let them understand the movie more. I say standard money as well because she starts with a normal and standard life. This will let them understand the movie more and send a dramatic message to the audience saying that you can be anything if you set your mind to it. This makes the drama better because every movie in this genre has a moral to it. Her costume is not glamorous in the opening sequence, it is what a teenager is likely to wear or a young woman this makes primary audience be teenagers as well because it is a movie that they can relate to because of what she is wearing.

Q3-What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Q3-What Kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

There are two types of films, Mainstream film and independent films. These films are made on a big budget like avatar which was about or nearly 500 million dollars, and which is promoted a lot by the media. Independent Films are made with lower budget then mainstream films like slum dog millionaire it was 15 million, although it is not the cheapest out of the independent films but you can see the huge contrast between this and avatar. It usually doesn't get that much promotion by the media and so the public don’t usually go see these types of films but they are some films that are successful e.g. slum dog millionaire. Our film production is drama so we need a media institution that would take that type of genre and distribute it because a lot of fans will know about that institution and can tell the genre or what type of film it is by looking at the institution.

Axiom Films International Limited will be one of the media institutions that would distribute my film. They have been successful with such independent drama films such as ‘Goodbye Solo’ this is a successful drama. The budget was $826,763 which is still expensive but not as expensive as mainstream films. It has won various awards such as International Film Critics Award - Best Film and got one of the main cast nominated for Best Male Lead for the 2010 Independent Spirit Awards.
Axiom has steadily built a reputation for taking creative risks, working with new talent and original ideas; developing, financing and producing a diverse body of work from directors from all parts of the world. Uniquely, each film project that the company has been involved with has been both a critical and commercial success, frequently winning awards
This is the type of Distribution Company I would want to distribute my film because as you can see ‘Goodbye Solo’ was a success because of the various awards and the ratings of this film is mostly 8/10 by every reviewer. I would want my film to be a success and even be more successful than ‘Goodbye Solo’ and I believe with this company it can help me fulfil my aims for my film.
Entertainment Film Distributors is a major UK production and distribution company. It has showed continuing growth and success since that time distributing a wide range of product and building a significant film library. Entertainment has found further success with British films such as Stormbreaker, Run Fat Boy Run and the box office hit St Trinian’s and are continuing to invest in the British film industry with the launch of the highly anticipated Inkheart movie, featuring the best of British talents including Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis and Paul Bettany.
I chose this because of i need a UK distribution company to distribute my film everywhere and they are looking to continue to invest in British film industry.
Metrodome is an independent all-rights distributor, in business for over 10 years. Metrodome has earned a reputation for acquiring and releasing quality independent films that challenge our audiences and provoke the critics - from box office smash hits Monster and Donnie Darko to the Academy Award winning The Counterfeiters, and Academy Award nominated Away From Her, Days of Glory and Water.
I this would be a good company for my film because it concentrates on distributing independent films and it is not just US films that they distribute they distribute UK films as well.
They distributed a film called Days of Glory, the film was shot in France, Morocco, Belgium and Algeria so they don’t just concentrate on the US.
We can also use youtube to distribute our film to promote our film by uploading a trailer, this would allow a lot of people to be interested in this film and want to watch more, it will help our film to be more successful. We can also use facebook by making a group page so the movie can be easily accessed on the internet and would be promoted well.

Q2-How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

Q2-How does your opening sequence represent particular social groups?

Protagonist

In our opening we introduce the main character and only her so we only represented one type of social group. Different types of genre all have their own codes and conventions So we needed to make our main character appearance and other suit the genre, her costume is a normal top and trousers to show that she is a young teenager so it will be more dramatic rather than her wearing something glamorous or working class. It will also send a message to the audience that she is still young and has a lot of life ahead of her which makes the story more dramatic. We used props like the photo album to show what she has been through and show her happiest emotions, this is a big contrast to how she actually feels in this point in her life. This can make the audience feel sorrier for her and see how her life turned upside down, we also used make-up in the photo album pictures to show how beautiful and model-like she is to show how perfect she looks because when the audience sees a beautiful girl, they never expect anything bad or sad to happen to the girl so it adds dramatic feel to the drama genre. Her dialogue was short but effective, you can tell that something really bad has happen and can feel this girl’s pain. This is similar to ‘Seven pounds’ because near to the end of the opening Will Smith says “In 7 days god created the world... And in 7 seconds, I shattered mine” this is an emotional line so the audience felt his pain, it also goes well with the non-diegetic sound. This is what we were trying to do with the narration, a short statement but emotional. The main character was a popular girl so you'll imagine she be beautiful, happy and everyone loved her, we showed a bit of this in the opening sequence by her photos e.g. with her friends. We thought Esma from the other media class suited this role because we knew she was confident, willing to work and how she speaks was like how a popular girl would sound if we gave her the right advice. We were going for a model look e.g. white girl, brunette and slim and Esma matched all three.