Media Studies 2009-2011

This first shot is the setting of our first sene after the establishing shot, where we meet one of our chracters in the bedroom.

This next shot is of the scene where we meet our second character in his bedroom. I wanted to show two different lifes in this movie opening, so different bedrooms were essitential.

This next shot is of the scene where our first character walks from the bedroom to the bathroom mirror to show a point of view shot from the mirror. The following shot is of the camera angle we will be using.

The next shot is the scene of where our second character walks from his bedroom to the his batroom mirror. the following shot is of the camera angle of the piont of view shot from the mirror.

This next image would be of the establishing shot we would use for the first scene, to show where the characters live, in the same building, however never meeting. The next images would be of where the first character leaves the building close to the end of the opening.

The titles for this film and others in the genre usually start during the first sequence, when the characters and storyline are being set up and introduced. The first shot in this film was a medium close-up of a crowd, which the narration then set as the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. The camera kept zooming in and out and cutting to different people’s facial expressions to show their emotions, quite a lot of the shots blurred in and out of focus.

The main title of the film was introduced by the voice over narration and writing on the screen, the two things both said the words, ‘Love Actually is all round’, then after a few seconds the last three words faded to only leave the final title, ‘Love Actually’, and the next shot sequence started.

The film carries on in mid shots and medium close-ups as the characters start to appear, in the first seen comedy effect is made by using funny facial expressions, costume and comical singing and dancing. Throughout the first three sequences in the film the titles keep appearing and fading in different places around the screen, displaying actors’ names and people involved in the making of the film.

From the beginning of the film until the third sequence there is music over the top of any dialogue, this stops suddenly when one of the characters suddenly swears really comically and the titles stop appearing. After this there is an establishing shot of London and the words, ‘5 Weeks to Christmas’, are on the bottom of the screen, there is then a sequence of wide shots and mid shots to show the time of year and the location, showing things such as ice skating rinks and shopping centres.

The action then cuts to a mid shot of someone rummaging through draws and moving to reveal another character sat behind them, this makes the sequence flow well and look good. After some dialogue between these two characters the camera then switches to a wide shot of the house where the action is taking place, this sets up the location and tells us something about the status of the character. The action then cuts across to introduce some of the other major characters in the film.

We begin with the opening logo for “Universal Studios” with their advertising of their website (WWW. universalstudios.com), the next logo appears from ”Studio Canal” followed by “Working Title”. The Film then opens. When the film starts we see the use of a candid camera filming people at the airport, the first title that appears is ‘Universal Pictures and Studio Canal present’ followed by the next titile ‘A Working title Production’ and the next title ’In Association with DNA films’. After the three main titles we then hear the main character do a voice over of the the scene and playing in the background of the scene is some peaceful digetic music that gives the basic feel of the movie, the words of the voice over then comes up on the screen “Love actually is all around” then the ‘is all around’ fades and then you are left with the title “Love Actually”.

The next scene starts where the titles re-start with the name of the actors (Alan Rickman, Bill Nighly, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Martine McCutcheon), the list starts in alphabetical order of all the main characters. The next scene starts and the credits continue with the names of the less important actors, ( Andrew Lincoln, Chiwetel Elloiter, Gregor Fisher, Heike Makatsch, Keira Knightley, Kris Marshall, Lucia Moniz, Martin Freeman, Rodrigo Santoro, Thomas Sangster and Rowan Atkinson), Still all in alphabetical order apart from Rowan Atkinson who guest stared and the ones who guess star are always last to be read. The next shot starts and the namesw of the crew start, (Casting by Mary Selway, Fiona Weir, Music supervisor Nick Angel, Music by Craig Armstrong, Co-Producers Debra Hayward, Liza Chasm, Costume Desighner Joanna Johnston, Line Production Chris Thompson, Production Designer Jim Clay, Photographer Michael Coulter, Editor Nick Moore, Produced by Duncan Kenworthy, Tim Benvan, and Eric Feliner, Written and Directed by Richard Curtis).

Looking back at our Preliminary exercise i feel that we did a really good job with our first attempt. For our first shot we had someone run into the hall and run up to the door. In this shot we had way too much head room as the person was seen at a distance, this shot should of been split into a multiple of shots to get every angle of the path to the door. The shot with the hand on the door was good as it was taken at a good distance and angle however the editing was too slow when the hand touched the door as it should of been straight away. Throughout the shots we had great lighting even when the person walked through the door in the room. After the person walked in she looked into the mirror and thats when we had a point of view shot when we filmed her looking into the camera as if it was a mirror, i felt that this was really effective and was the best shot in our exercise. However in that next shot there was a huge jump cut where there wasnt enough film when walking in. When the person walked into the room the door closed to show a sign that read “office”, at the time it seemed a good idea however looking back we all thought that the office sign needed to be before opening the door so that we knew where the person was going before she opened the door. When we came to the part when both characters exchanged dialoge we had really good sound so you could hear them really clearly, however when we exchanged dialoge we didnt include a shot/reverse shot which was an important part of our exercise. Our Preliminary exercise could of gone much better than planned, however despite our numorus mistakes i felt that we did a good job as a group yet we were’nt succesful.   

 Our Final piece of our Preliminary exercise

Once you’ve captured your idea onto paper, then you can visit the innumerable sites created to help writers turn raw ideas into workable scripts. Once you have received tons of encouragement and suggestions, you need to turn the description you have into an outline or a more technical treatment. The terminology can, at this stage, get confusing, as different approaches to early development are referred to in different ways (such as outlines, synopses, treatments). The essential thing is to develop the idea into a structured story that will work as a screenplay.

At this point you can show your work to others and get feedback, you can then rework the idea and think about what makes it cinematic. Who are the characters? What is the plot, the premise, the theme? When these components have come together in your mind it’s time to put your story down in script format. Production companies and directors are used to scripts that look a certain way, so it is worth getting to grip with industry conventions early on.

Sticking to industry standard formatting will help to give you a rough idea of the length of the film. Standard formatting roughly equates to a page per minute. You will need to continue developing your project, responding to criticism and absorbing new ideas into your script. If you are working with film and/or TV professionals, it’s very likely that you will go through a number of drafts.

A “video shot log” is a written record of the shots on a tape or disk. It can be made either as the shoot progresses or after the shoot finishes and it really helps to do the shot log during the shoot if you want to save time. If you are working in a larger team environment you will probably have a standardised format so everyone uses the same system and gets the required information.

here is an example of how a shot log can be formatted:

For our Preliminary exercise we began a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, where both characters exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. We will be demonstrating a match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

We will be planning, filming and editting a 30 second sequence in which a person walks down a corridor and opens a door. We could use a point of view shot for when the character enters the room, In the room another person is sitting. We could use the 180 degree rule and match on action for when we show the characters sitting opposite eachother. We could also use over the shoulder shots or shot-reverse shot for when the characters exchange dialogue. When the package has been given to the other character it representes the end of the sequence and may offer a resolution or establish an enigma.

We would have to try to use at least one close-up and one extreme close-up during this exercise and it is also important that you observe continuity rules and not break the 180 degree rule. All shots must be taken using a tripod. In our work we would have to show appropriate sound levels, Correct composition, framing, lighting, white balance and appropriate use of story telling to make it easy for the audience to understand.

We looked at one example of this exercise by Mr Marshall and Mr Manix and evaluated it. all through the exercise there was just the right amount of head room however for the first shot of mr Manix and the reverse shot of mr Marshall the head room could have tightend a bit as there was a little bit of unwanted head room. There was a wide range of camera shots and the camera panned steady and slowly which was effective, the close up of the door handel and the chair was effective and used correctly. The only dissapointment was the sound as it was a tad fuzzy and difficult to hear, other than that this was the perfect example of a prelinary exercise which we could of learned from.