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.

Post 12 Advanced Production Skills Workshop 2

In this post I will be discussing the Quality of lighting and looking at the different types and methods used. we conducted our own experiment and we looked at the different aspects of hard and soft lighting and how it affected the scene and atmoshpere. there are 3 main types of lighting that we looked at

• Soft Lighting -This is a less direct (indirect) method which can be diffused to make a blured efect.

• Hard Lighting -  This is direct light being shone on to the image/charachter which then creates large shadows behind it with textures.

we were put into groups and were given a task to try and show the different affects of lighting (hard and soft). were all had to decide what jobs we all had i.e

Director - Anton Richards
Camera - Ryan Thrussell
Lighting - Tim White (Me)
Recorder - Nicola Carlisle
Actor - Anton Richards

we all had to work together and do our allocated job roles. this was a learning curve for us as this was our first practical experiment with lighting. First of all we had to get to grip with the equipment we were using (lights and camera) before we could shoot the scene.


before we filmed the scene, we as a group put forward ideas and predicaments to how and what we wanted to portray in the scene. before the exersise we had discussed breifly about difusers and what affect they can have on an image.







Once we had conducted our filming we analysed it and reveiwed what we could have done better (weaknesses) and what he did well. personally I feel with very limited time to prepare we conducted a successful shoot and portayed some good footage to prove the different aspects of lighting makes a big difference. Though it was difficult to see the change of difusers that we used on the image if you look closely you can see the difference. We completed the task that was given to . it is clear to seee that the different difusers make a big difference on the image shown it creates atmosphere with big shows this is what we wanted to tray and acheive before we started to film. It was a bit difficult to identify which diffuser was which in the filming becuase there was little change but i feel with more understanding and practice we could of impoved and changed things around to conduct are far more effect scene.

Improvments

Firstly I feel with more time and preperation we could have perfomed better and maybe thought about important factors such as lighting positioning and camera positioning. we went in feet first and didnt really think about the best place the equipment.

Another point is that we didnt focus the camera when filming. This lead to a problem becuase when the clapper was pulled away from the infront of the camera to start filmng the camera didnt have enpugh time refocus on the charachter leading it to be blured and less effective.   

we could have filmed for longer and perhaps gained more knowledge and understanding. we would of beeb able to see the effect of lighting and perhaps experiment more if given more time to film.

planning is key and i felt that we needed to have planned out what we were doing befroe we strated to film

all in all i feel this task was very beneficial and was a bif learing curve for us all. when it comes to us filming i think we will have a larger understanding of what we need to do.

post 11

before we started to talk about lighting in class i had a very poor undestanding on the importance of lighting. I felt that other aspect of filming like the camera and actors would be more important this simply is not the case. First of all we stated to look at what lighting can do to effect an image of a filming scene i found this vey interseting and educational.

we looked then looked into Film Noir which was very interesting in what it was trying portray. This type of filming was used in Hollywood over a period of 10 years between 1940 and 1950. It was mainly used for crime dramas and had even had links  in German film.

The main attributes to it was how dark and dangerous the atmosphere was using this technique. This was totally separated it from any other genre in Hollywood at the time with comedy and big lively musicals in production. the affect that film Noir had was by far very different.  Film Noir was often refereed to as 'Black film' because of its desperately dark and depressing feel to it.

Film Noir was first developed in the 1940s during the Second World War where there was a lot of anxiety and fear among people. it was a black and white film era used until the 1960's where then it finally had finished its golden age and faded away with the arrival of color.











some people misinterpret Film Noir as a genre like comedy, action, thriller ect but this is not the case. Film Noir is a style which which sets a mood and atmosphere within a genre it is not a genre itself. it is a unique style which sets a dark scene and mood to a a film. Film Noir is very important part of history in film and lighting. it developed during the second world war and has become very historic.