PRELIMINARY TASK - CAMERA SKILLS

"What are the benefits of using a tripod and shooting multi-camera?"

Tripods

Tripods add stability to a shot and gives a profesional feel to a production. Not only does a tripod make a shot stable, but also gives the cameraman/director different options when it comes to taking a shot. The tripod allows for more stable zooms, pans and tilts whilst also allowing the cameraman to take low, or high angled shots less awkardly. Shots like close ups and mid shots are best suited to being shot by a camera mounted on a tripod, as unlike a handheld shot can do, the camera will not move around and the actor(s) will stay in shot. Tripods are used commonly during conversations for such reasons.

Working without a tripod can give shaky, handheld effects and can be effective when a director is looking to creat a POV shot, but this should only be done when a director needs a such an effect.

Multi-Camera Shooting Multi-camera shoots are used in TV, they provide multiple angles of one scene, without having to go back and repeat each scene as so different angles can be recorded. High output productions like EastenderS and other soaps use multi-camera shoots as they mean that productions can be recorded more quickly than productions with one camera. This is because it reduces the editing time, reduces the liklihood of continuity errors and also removes the need to go back and re-light, re-adjust etc, shots as to get the angles that a director wants from a scene. Multi-camera shoots are also used for live television, as there is no other way that a sufficient volume of footage from a variety of angles could be filmed. Here's a famous clip from the live broadcast of Eastenders, a show that uses multi-camera even when it isn't live, but had to rely on it even more so for the live broadcast:

YEAR 12 PRELIMINARY TASK - EVALUATION - REGRESS

YEAR 12 - PRELIMINARY TASK - FILM

PRELIMINARY TASK - Poster

PRELIMINARY TASK - Shot List

Shot List Draft 1

PRELIMINARY TASK - REGRESS: PRODUCTION SCHEDULE

Regress Production Schedule

PRELIMINARY TASK - REGRESS: SCRIPT

REGRESS - Preliminary Task Draft 2

PRELIMINARY TASK - OUR IDEA

Our task is to produce a one minute film, featuring "a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue". The task focuses on continuity and must be presented on the 13th December. Pre-production should have been completed by the 18th of November, whilst the production window lasts from the 19th of November to the 26th of November. Post production lasts from the 27th November to the 12th of December.

I will be working as the Director and as a second Camera man, whilst Jamie Stone will be the producer and the other Camera man. Our idea is for a "workaholic" office worker to be confronted by a child who tells him that he neeeds to remember how to have fun and realise that life is about more than work.

PRELIMINARY TASK - TEAM

For the Preliminary Task I have been teamed up with Jamie Stone. We immediatly started brainstorming ideas for our production. (I will post a picture of the sheet we used to brainstorm on).

Setting Checklist

Find out who owns the location.

Is a permit required for the location?

Have you got permission?

Ensure photographs have been taken of location beforehand.

Health and safety check.
Are restrooms available on location?

Is there enough parking available for crew?

Is the location easy to find and access?

Are there any noises (e.g. birds, planes) that are likely to interfere with the shooting?
Is there an electrical supply?

Is there likely to be any public interference?
If there are neighbours, are they happy with the shoot to take place?
Is the lighting adequate?
Will the shoot stop work for others?
Ensure all phones have been turned off/on to aeroplane mode before filming begins.

Research: Director

A Director works underneath the Producer in the chain of command on a film production, controlling the actors and crew. They have control of the creative and artistic elements of a production, often being involved in the original writing of the screenplay all the way through to post-production editing. How much a director is involved with a film is often down to the individual directors style, for example: Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg often write and produce their films as well as direct them, Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson regularly appear as characters in their own films, whilst James Cameron and the Coen brothers have been known to take part in cinematography and editing.

"Unlike television where the writer is in charge, in the movie world, the Director is king. The director of a movie is the commander and chief of a set. What he or she says goes everything from the look of the overall picture to the action contained within. They literally direct the movements of the actors, the choices of the shots, the rewrites of the script and the final edits. The director works closely with all major departments to make sure the project has all the elements they need. From the Cinematographer to the Gaffer to the Editor, they all take their direction from the Director"
http://filmtvcareers.about.com/od/basics/p/CP_FilmDirector.htm

The Chase Task

  Our team (me, Harry Ellerd-Cheers, Alex Collins and Glyn Smith), or "Extreme Close Up Productions" quickly decided which roles we wanted for "The Chase" task. I chose to be cameraman, Harry the director and Glyn and Alex the editors/actors.We quickly decided what the premise for our film would be, going down the action/adventure route, taking inspiration from classic chase scenes seen in films from the James Bond series. 

With only an hour to actually film, our planning was brief and, of course, made the actual production much harder to pull off with a high quality. We worked quickly though, and although there were a few problems, we got the large majority of footage that we aimed for. These problems mainly consisted of other people (filming groups and students) getting in the way of our shots and taking up the same locations as we planned. Post-production also went by mostly hitchless, until the video was uploaded, when we discovered black flashes between each cut, too late to change. These flashes take away from the films quality and are, frankly, a little annoying.

The Chase: