post 15 Reflecting on Theory

In this post I will be reflecting on all the different theories we have learned in class over the last few months.we have been discussing 3 main topics.

• Genre Theory 
• Narrative Theory 
• Audience Theory    

Genre Theory 

Genre theory is used in films to put films into categories. Common genres are thriller, action, comedy, Drama, social realism and horror. Genre is very much dependent on different factors mainly things like the story line, who the director is (what their vision is) and what are the audience expectations of the film. when discussing genre theory in class we identified it by using genre theory we can create a short cut in how can try and describe films.

In order to fully understand genre I need to look at several examples. for example with horror films there is a certain expectation and there is a general notion in people that will think everyone will die besides one person. the people who to watch this will expect to see violence and will be scared.

I have already looked at different notions of genre earlier in post 4. The most important theorist for me was Robert Altman. i feel he looked at genre and identified that a genre needs to be easily recognized by audiences he is quotes saying 'that genres are defined by producers and are easily recognized by audiences.' 

This was very important for me when it came to our own short film. it was important for us to establish a genre for our film, our genre was Drama.

The actors are very important in film and genre. some actors are specified to certain genres. For example an actor like Seth Rogen has only done comedy his hole career basically and for him to be cast into a film will automatically make audience's feel that the film will be a comedy.

In my opinion through my own research i feel that there are two reoccurring genres short films these are 'social realism and 'horror'. this is because short films often suffer from small funds which would make it difficult to create an action films with explosions ect.. comedy is another one which is difficult to portray in a short film mainly because in the time period given it would not be easily to portray humour which wasn't a bit corny.

Narrative Theory

Many people mistake a narrative with a story. This is incorrect as a narrative is something far different. a story is just what happens a narrative is how it is related. all good stories has some sort of action which ultimately changes the characters life of how they behave. there are four main media conventions these are:

Character
Genre
Time
Form

Audience Theory

audience theory is very important it is how the audience see the film through their eyes and how the perceive and respond to what they see. this theory fist arrised in the 1920's and it was suggested that an audience receives the information via a media text without challenging what they are seeing and just accept it as reality this is known as the hypodermic needle model.

Post 14 Pre Production Work

location recce was very important so we could have a full understanding of the rooms dynamics and could prepare our selves for when we came to shoot the film. as camera man it was my job to take all the photos of the house so we could take them back to school and put them all together so we all had a clear understating of the house and what factors we had to talk about before the filming day. things like furniture  was important and also where the windows where for lighting purposes .



as the cameraman it was important for me to take all the photos needed so i could take them back to school and think about what factors we need to take into consideration. The positioning of the camera is vital and by taking these images I knew i would be able to work out where the best places would be. when it came to plotting the camera positioning with the director it made my job a lot easier.

the script is obviously very important and though I do not have any acting role in the script it was in vital i no the script and can access it easily to read if i have any problems connected with my camera role.

me and Anton worked closely with the shot list, story boards, camera and lighting positioning. we had to constantly change the script throughout improving it through out due to problems with actually filming certain bits. this portrayed our professionalism becuae we could adapt and work around any problems that we faced.  

costume design is very important because it portrays what the actors look like and what the audience feels about them. for instance if there is a very angry and aggressive person in a film who is supposed to portray fear then it will not make sense for that person to be wearing bright lively, fun colors. so making sure costume design suits the actor is important. as the camera man i need to make sure when I am filming that the costumes are all perfect and I must make sure the costumes are worn consistently  through out filming for continuity reasons.

The story boards were very difficult and required a lot of work. these are vitally important so when we come to film we can refer to our story boards so we know where the shot is who is in it the layout of the room (furniture) and how long the shot is meant to be and also where the camera needs to be positioned. when it comes to filming this will be vitally important.

The story boards are great to have on the film day so we can make sure we do everything correctly and follow the plan that we have been working on months in advance.  

the shot list is one of the most important parts of the filming process. this will lets us know the shot size (long shot, medium long shot, medium shot ect..). it states who is in the shot and gives a brief description of what happens in the shot (who speaks).

Post 13 Advanced production skills workshop 3

for our final Advanced Production Skills we looked at the different source of color used in films and what effect they have on the image and the audiences reception on it. This was very important to learn because light has a very big impact on how the image is portrayed in the film, it can atmosphere. this is vital for me as the camera man in my group because I need to make sure that what i am fully educated on these aspect so I can enhance my filming to the best it can be.

when we first started to talk about these issues in class were were shown real examples on how different filters portray a completely different view of an image. the image we looked at was taken out of the film Forrest Gump. This provided a great example of how the light can dramatically affect an image.

                                                                       Image one

                                                                              Image two 

it is clear to see that there is a massive contast between the two different images. both images are shot on the exact same bench with roughly the same amount of natural light. As you can see one is far clearer and defined than the other which is bright and blurry. The reason for this is because image two has very intense light being shone from directly in front of the characters. This is causing the image to become bleached and very blared especially anything behind the characterise. detail in the faces of the characters is being lost and the surrounding environment is almost impossible to see. This is not what the producers of Forrest Gump wanted because all detail and atmosphere is being lost. image one on the other hand is clear and in detail. you can see the faces and the surrounding area easily.

As camera man for my group it is important that I look at these photos and see what I need to do to make sure the filming is a total success. these photos give me a very good indication on how lighting needs to be used for me to be able to film a clear, affective and detailed scene.

Three Point Lighting

We then looked at three point lighting in our media classes. I then conducted my own personal research into Three point lighting to see what effect it had when filming and why three point lighting has been used for so many years and still being used today.

The conception of three point lighting was created in Hollywood the Three Point Lighting technique is a fairly basic use of visual media like video, film, photography and computer-generated imagery. It is a pretty simple method but its benefits of being a versatile system which forms the basis of almost all lighting makes it vitally important. Once I fully understand the three point lighting basics I can understand all aspect of lighting

3 point lighting has taught me a lot when it comes to filming our short film. I have a very detailed knowledge on 3 pointlighting which as the camera man is very helpful. I had worries that when we came to film lighting would be a problem and that we would need to rely on the weather. now i am confident due to 3 point lighting we can enhance our own source of light with out the need of natural light.

to understand the concept of 3 point lighting in class we looked at various images and discussed how and what is the lighting source and what affect it has on the image. firstly we looked at this picture :

As you can see there is very limited natural light in this image. This is where lighting comes into the equation. firstly the obvious main source of light are all the lights along the walls of the corridor this instantly lights the room and makes it fairly clear to see the image it makes the man in the corridor clear and see able. But there is in fact 3 other sources of light used in this image. There are lights on the ceiling of the corridor that cant be seen directly but you can see the light when you look at the arches on the ceiling are lit up. This causes the floor to be much brighter than it would otherwise be with just the side lights on the wall lit. Another source of light is at the very end of the corridor. It is clear to see it is much brighter at the end of the corridor, this is most likely natural light poring in from perhaps a window or doorway but i don't feel that this has much affect on the image as a hole (the light to far away at the end of the corridor to affect the man and the image around him). Then the last source of light used is directly in front of the man (behind the camera) shining towards him. this is most likely natural light like at the end of the corridor.