Media Studies 2009-11

1) Extreme wide shot (EWS) So far away from subject, not visible, usually establishing shot at the start of the film.

2) Very wide shot (VWS) Subject is visible berly, but placing the subject in its environment. Also an establishing shot

3) Wide shot (WS)- shot of the subject e.g. main person. Shot of the entire body, with a bit on the top and on the bottom.

4) Mid shot (MS) – shot of the person waist above usually, to show the audience the subject but still have them thinking they are looking at the whole thing.

5) Medium closeup (MC) - half way between a MS and a CU. This shot shows the face more clearly, but not too close.

6) Close up (CU) – Usually of whole face, to show detail and emotion. Makes the viwer drawn to the person.

7) Extreme close up (ECU) – very close for specific reasons, usually of a persons face.

Cutaway (CA) – Shot of something different, usually relevant to main person or action in scene.

9) Cut in (CI) – Similar to Cutaway

10) Two shot – MS of two people, usually above waist, in frame.

11) Over the shoulder shot (OSS) – Shot to show persons point of view.

12) Noddy shot – Nodding shot, usually used in interviews. Shown to show listening and reactions.

13) Point of view shot (POV) – Shows what the subject person is seeing.

14) Weather shots – to show the weather if its relevant, can be a establishing shot.

19/10/09 – 2 different types of editing; Linear and Montage

• Linear – patterneed editing, all shots in order and makes sense of time, events and story telling.
• Non – linear – Out of sequence, no attempt of relationship between shots. Primary shots.
• Montage – distorted, doesn’t really make sense of time. Can be quite random but does mean something.

Most professional cameras, and the ones I will be using are manual. This is because the camera will work better in poorer conditions, as well as me being in complete control over what I want it to do. The ain functions of a manual camera are :

Zoom – this is where the camera moves in and out and where close ups can be created. For long zooms use a tripod, and do not overuse it as the effect is tiring for the viewer.

Focus – Focus is important fo detail, and can be found on a ring on professional cameras. To achieve best focus, zoom right in and adjust for the best picture, then zoom out.

Iris – this is the control on the camera where you can adjust the amount of light going into the shot. The more light, the brighter the shot. Professional cameras have a dial, the one I will be using will problably have a dial or a set of buttons. The rule for exposure is: set the exposure for the subject, it doesn’t matter as much for the other items in the shot.

White balance – This is what the camera needs to know what colours look like. You could put a blank, white sheet of paper in front of the camera so the camera can adjust to it. You do this by adjusting the focus and xposure, then pressing “the white balance” button. This should be done regurly especially if the location has changed.

Audio – The camera should come in with a built in microphone. If not, or your in need of a btter quality one, then another microphone can be attached through the “mic-input” socket if the camera has one. This might be because it is better suited for the type of film, or the angle ofthe mic is better for the film.

Most cameras have an “auto-gain control”, which adjusts the audio level automatically. This is very important, and most cameras have this built in already. A tip for audio is, try to keep background noise at a minimun level, this helps emphasise subject sound and easy to change sound. Avoid background music, and organise speech in the film to a right timing. Also your camera should have a “low-cut filter” or a “wind-noise filter” which helps block out the sound of the wind. This can effect the audio.

Shutter – Rarely used for beginners, it helps some shots appear sharper. However, can ruin some by aking it look jerky.

Effects – Many cameras come with built in effect buttons such as; still, mix, strobe. They can be good if use properly, but like zooming, don’t over use it. Effects can be done better with editing software.

“Poor prior planning leads to particularly poor programs” is the opening sentence for this advice article. It says this is very true in the filming industry.

Planning is very important, as it saves time and money. The first thing the creators need to think about is the purpose of the film, and the audience. For instance, if its a promotional video for a charity, then the shot needs to contain people and situations which what the chairty represents, and some scenes which will persuade the viewer to do what the creators intended. The purpose will also help the creator know what equipment he/she will need, like dollys, amount of cameras etc. The audience will help know how to shoot the film, so for instance a charity video will be aimed at older people who have money, so it would be more slow nd serious. More formal perhaps. This narrows down how to shoot alot.

The location of where the creator is filming is very important aswell. It needs to be chosen carefully, and the obstacles or issues which may occur need to be evaluated. The major things which need to be checked are avaliability of power, space, accessibility, resources, food. Pollutions such as noise or other jobs going in may also effect the filming, The chosen location needs to be throughly checked.

What to put into the shots, is the last step in the creators planning process, and is determined by the script. The creator must decide what sounds and sights they want to in their shots, so they must make a list. This will become a shot list, which will be written with the help of the why and where they are filming. This will then be broken down into order of filming. This will have to be reorgranised into the best and cheapest ways aswell. E.g all locations nearest each other first, and certain weather on which days.

The casting comes after this, and always have a “reserve bench” of actors and other crew members in case of cancellations. Same goes for location in case of bad weather etc. Scheduling is very important for shooting a film too. The creator must go around actors time, time of day, events, equipment and stunts They must remember to organise the renting of equipment aswell. Once the schedule is thought up, a shot list should lastly be created. This will contain angles, lengths and sizes of each shot. The more specific the creator is, the easier it will be.

Overall, the better the planning, the easier the film will be to make.

Firstly, log into wordpress using the username and password the user has created. Once successfully done this, a Dashboard will appear. This tells the user what notiications they have. Below this, is the Tabs which the user will most use This consists of:

Write – this is where the user adds new posts

Manage – this is where the user can review/ edit any posts, comments, uploads etc

Comments: This is where the user can review/edit any comments they or others have posted on their blo9g

Blogroll – this is where links can be added to the blog

Presentation and Plug-ins- This is where the user can customize their page

Users – Other users of the blog

Options – advanced management of the blog

User management is where other people can acess and use the blog These people can either be, administrators, where they can acess everything, Editors, they can publish comments, write and manage posts. Or they can be contributors who view and comment on the blog, or subscribers, who can only view the blog. (In my blog I do not think I wil have any administrators or editors?)

The most important and problably most used feature of the blog is writing posts (this is what I am doing now). To do this, the user writes whatever they need to in the textbox, then when finalised, it is put into a categorie (i.e, for this post, it goes in Tasks) and then the user can choose to preview the post. The post is then published, chosen to keep private or not. The user can also choose to put a password on the post, whether to customize it using post slug, or put a post timestamp on it. This is where the user can decide when it is posted. This post is being wrote in the visual type, however if I wanted to post a media, e.g a link or a image, I would put that in the HTML code pasting box. The user can tag other blogs, comments or other posts in this post aswell. Once completed a post, the user has to click save once previwed or not, and then publish.

Once the user has completed the post, they can edit it and all other features in managing posts. This would take the user back to the original, and make whatever changes they need to.