Lights, Camera, Action!

 Friday 30th September 2022

L/O: to understand and practice using the principles of filmmaking

Camerawork:

Shot Type

Establishing shots - An establishing shot establishes the setting, geography or time of day.
Master shots - A master shot establishes the setting and the location of the characters within it, then captures the scene in it's entirety. 
Wide shots - The wide shot positions characters in relationship to their environment, as opposed to the establishing shot which focuses on locations.
Long shot - Composed head to toe and often has characters in the centre of the screen. 
Medium-long shot - Composed head to just under the waist, sometimes called the cowboy shot due to holster height. 
Medium shot - Above the waist but below the chest, ends just above their head. Used as an average shot. 
Medium close-up shot - Head to chest
Close-up shot - Focuses on head and focuses on the emotions of a character
Extreme-close up shot - Frames subject to isolate specific area of a person
Insert shots - Focuses on objects, highlights relevance of the object.

Framing

Single - Features one character alone in the frame, focuses on individual character
Dirty Single - A single with limited presence of one character
Two shot - Both faces must be clearly visible, shows visual relationship between both characters.
Crowd shot - Large number of subjects in shot.
Over The Shoulder Shot (OTS) - Shows a conversation from both perspectives.
POV Shot - From the eyes of a subject, often accompanied by point of view audio. Inserts can be combined with POV shots to focus on an object from subjects perspective.

Camera Angle

Low angle - Any shot filmed from below eyeline of the subject, often meant to make subject seem powerful. 
High angle - High angle shots often make characters seem less powerful and more vulnerable, often paired with the low angle to establish a power imbalance. 
Overhead - Shots that are at a 90 degree angle directly above the subject. 
Dutch angle - Shots that are tilted slightly, often makes a scene tense.
Eye level shot - Often used to make connections between the viewer and the subject. 
Shoulder level shot - 
Hip level shot - Gun holsters rest at hip level, 
Knee level shot - Low angle (unless actually showing knees)
Ground level shot - Often used to track characters movement or reveal details in the setting

Camera Movement

Static shot - No camera movement, focuses on a subject or environment as character moves or talks. Sometimes used to trap the audience in a graphic scene. 
Pans - Moves to follow characters of a scene, or reveal new elements.
Whip pans - Higher energy pans
Tilt - Vertical pan, similar effects to pan. 
Push In - Moves camera into a subject to highlight importance of dialogue or emotion. Push ins occur on objects as well, specific details. 
Pull Out - Moves camera away from subject, deemphasising the subject. Can reveal more of a scene such as setting or other characters. 
Zoom - A zoom changes the focal length of a camera's lens. Zooming in is unnatural but provides a similar effect to a push in. A zoom out is in unnatural but provides a similar effect to a pull out. 
Crash Zoom - High energy zoom
Tracking - Physically moves camera during the scene, following a subject.

Rule of Thirds 

Head room
Particularly in medium close ups and close ups, leave enough space above someones head in the frame

Looking Room
When your subject looks in a direction, make space where they are looking

Eye Level
Use a tripod for eye level. 

I shot this, directed my own scenes and edited the entire thing. I used conventions of holster shots and close up and extreme close ups in order to build tension.

One area in which I failed is respecting the 180 degree rule, as there is a shot in which Sergio is looking camera left and where Naseem is looking camera left.

My product conveys a clear narrative by establishing the characters as enemies and using colour coding to differentiate between them.