Samuel Jones' blog: Preliminary task

Hey hey! samuel Jones' first blog entry! And in my media group is...
ME
GEORGIA MUMBY!
LAUREN MATTHEWS!
perry.

Preliminary intro
For the preliminary task we were given the original specification which involved someone walking in a room and sitting down in which we were supposed to expand around, so we set upon this task over a number of lessons until deciding on the idea of a police interrigation with the classic central lighting and old school gritty setting. We were given a lot of time to think about the idea because of the schools shortage of camera's, therefore we had to wait sometime to film elongating the deadline originally set by the teacher.

We brainstormed a few original ideas and genres to allow ourselves to see a wide variety of possible aspects in which we could add into our preliminary piece. We ended up on the idea of police interrogation here is a picture of our spider diagrams.
The 180º degree rule

This rule is where the camera is restricted to one particular side of the shooting almost as if there is a barrier straight down the middle of the set, this is used in order to not confuse the audience of the where abouts of the scene. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle.

Filming the preliminary

Due to the time in which we had to wait for an available camera our group had plenty of time in which to decide the details of the task, things in which we had to consider about the task were:

-different camera angles/ movement
-costume
-setting
-lighting

Setting

We decided on the old english office which is very gritty, old and we thought lighting would of been perfect which seemed perfect at the time, however when it came to properly filming we found that the plug sockets didnt work therefore we had to change our original lighting idea to just general light. this didnt effect our piece too much however did reduce the authenticity of the setting when looking over the final piece.

Costume
For costume we brainstormed that the detective (Sam White) would be in pedestrian clothing to show he is a higher ranking officer and the criminal (Ryan hayes) was dressed in a white vest with hair spiked up to show craziness and give him an edge.

Camera angles/Movement
Original ideas for camera angles were just the basic mid shot, long shot and close up however when filming properly we tried to be adventurous and used camera angles such as low angle and high angled shots which brought different dimensions to the piece.

high angle shot - This is where the camera is placed high up showing the character down below, the camera presents the actor being filmed in a vulnerable position
Low angle shot - This is where the camera is placed on the floor to show the characters up high this is usually used when showing an authority figure i.e. a police officer or doctor. The camera angle presents the character as dominant.
Close up - This is when the camera is shown close to the characters face, usually shown to present the characters feelings and emotions.
mid shot - Most common camera angle as it shows a good angle of the character and is usually used to identify the protagonist of the film/programme.

Long shot - Shows the whole character and there surroundings, usually establishes the characters status.

Establishing shot - This is used in order to present the setting of the piece towards the audience.