Media Studies Blog 2009-11

These shots were taken in one of the fields just behind my house, we decided to film here as we felt it had very open space, just like many horrror/thriller films. This location was the perfect place to set a horror/thriller film as well due to the trees, the general dull weather of the day and the general atmosphere much like in many of the horror/thriller films we had watched had somebody running usuall being chased, we wanted our openening to reflect that style of film.

THE MASK OF ZORRO

TRISTAR - A SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY

TRISTAR PICTURES PRESENTS

AN AMPLIN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTION

Z

THE MASK OF ZORRO

Infromation shots - (shots of writing to start storyline off)

In this sequence, it mainly consists of the titles and informational shots. The only shot in this, is the character of Zorro walking into a Medium Shot, he then cuts a ‘Z’ into the screen. Everytime a title is revealed on the screen, an accent of the music is played.

‘THE GRUDGE’

COLUMBIA - woman with torch (logo)

GHOST HOUSE PICTURES - (logo)

SAM RAIMI & COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS

A GHOST HOUSE PICTURE PRODUCTION

a film by TAKASHI SHIMIZU

SARAH MICHELLE GELLER - (starring)

CHINESE LETTERING (which then reveals as ‘The Grudge’)

THE GRUDGE

names of other cast members - (red background, with black hair revealing the names)

In this film, there are two opening sequences, this is purely because of the way the storyline of the film is laid out. The first sequence has no opening titles, however, after the sequence there are the opening titles with a red background and black hair revealing the names and titles.

The first sequence is a Wide Point of View shot, showing a male looking out into the city. It then cuts to a Medium shot of his face and a girl laid in a bed behind him. We then see a close up of the side of his head, to show the confusion in the character and then goes to an MS of the female in the bed, the dialogue has begun. Then a Wide shot is used to show the man jumping off the blacony, this then cuts to a POV shot of him falling to the ground, the speed of this shot is very quick. The shot from which he has just fallen is then shown again, however, the girl walks into the shot, shock and confused, this is then reverted to a POV shot of his mangled body on the road below. A crane shot is then used to show the distance he fell, the music now starts ans this then fades to a blackout.

‘MEAN GIRLS’

PARAMOUNT - a viacom company (logo)

PARAMOUNT PICTURES presents

A LORNE MICHAELS PRODUCTION

LINSEY LOHAN (starring)

MEAN GIRLS

This film starts off with a Point of View shot from the main character (Kady). This shot shows both parents, it then reverst to a Close up and POV shot of the mother and then back to the starting shot. This shot then tilts slightly - to simulate the character of Kady standing up. There is then an Over the SHoulder shot of Kady. There is then a mid shot of the mother and Kady, to another mid shot of the father taking a photo graph and then back to the original mid shot of Kady and her mother - which pauses as though taking the photograph, narration/ self monologue of the charcter Kady. It then reverst to a wide shot of all three characters and the surrounding house and background. Again, there is a MS of Kady and her mother and another non diagetic sound as a camera take a picture, whilst the shot freezes.

A video blog is a way to keep track whilst shooting your film. You can do it as you go along (which is the easier way) or do it afterwards. The video blog will contain six collumns. Thise being: Timecode, Take, Duration of shot, Description, Audio and finally Comments.

As a group we made many mistakes on this exercise, however, this helped us learn more about the filming process and what to do next time. Our first biggest mistake was not filming enough material, therefore, when editing we were left with a shortage of footage to use in our film, resulting in poor quality for the final product. Our planning before filming was good, however, we did not take into concideration many different aspects such as sound, costume and the white balance. We planned by using storyboards and mind maps. As we forgot to check the sound levels this meant that it was set on automatic, when we should have changed it to manual, this resulting in our preliminary excerise being far too loud. We had to film again due to costume changes - we had not planned what the actors were wearing on days of filming to ensure the continuity stayed the same, this meaning we had to film it all again in one session. We also began filming far too early as the starting sentences of the dialogue were missed out, other members of the group suggested next time doing a marker, which would also check the white balance and helps us search through our footage and know what is what.

As for our actual editing and shots, it was very slow, not quick enough changes between shots, this meaning it didn’t flow as well as it should have done. Our first shot at the beginning is of Laura walking into the shot, this worked well, however, we should have concidered using different angles during that shot, making the flow of the film quicker.

There are many different tools that can be used on Adobe Premiere, they can be used by clicking on the appropriate icon with your mouse or by pressing shift and the appropriate button.

Selection Tool - (The Arrow, like the one on your computer). This is used to select clips on the timeline. Click on this with your mouse of press Shift V.

Track Select Tool - (the Arrow pointing right inside a little dotted box). This is used to select multiple tracks at any on given time. To acess this with your keyboard press Shift M

Ripple Edit Tool - (Two Arrows, one pointing left and the other pointing right, with a little line down the centre of them). This is used to adjust your clips. To access this with your keyboard press Shift B.

Rolling Edit Tool - (Four Arrows, two pointing left and two pointing right and like the previous one, with a line down the centre). This is used to adjust clips without affecting the length. To access this with your keyboard press Shift N

Rate Stretch Tool - (Two Curved arrows with a line inbetween). This can change the length and the speed of the clip at the same time. To access this with your keyboard press Shift X.

Raxor Tool - (Looks like a blade). This can cut a clip in half or as many clips as you want. To access this with your keyboard press Shift C.

Slip Tool - (Two arrows with two lines at either side). Moves the clips points without affecting the timing of the clip. To access this with your keyboard press Shift Y.

Slide Tool - (A little box with a tool coming out of either side). Moves different clips along the timeline and moves the rest of the clips to fit. To access this with your keyboard press Shift U.

Pen Tool - (Looks like the end of a fountain pen). This controls different points in your clips. To access this with your keyboard press Shift P.

Hand Tool - (Looks like a hand). This can change the way you view your timeline. To access this with your keyboard press Shift H.

Zoom Tool - (A little microscope). This can zoom in on different clips on your timeline. To access this with your keyboard press Shift Z.

The Workspace consists of five panels. The first being the project panel, this stores everything used for your footage, e.g audio, footage, titles. The next being the monitor panel, this is where you can watch your clips back and see what editing worked well. The info panel which shows information about your clips. The next is the timeline panel this is where you arange your clips n the order you want and you can also adjust the time span of the clip and finally, the tools panel. The tools panel gives you different options of tools to add to your video, by adding them to the timeline.

Adobe Premiere is popular, high quality editing software. Adobe uses footage from video tape, displaying it therefore, you can edit the footage to how you would like it and then put it back onto your tape or disc. Premiere is used by professionals, however other are higher level packages are used. Adobe Premiere can export your footage on to many different formats, it can be used to add effects and titles, Import your footage and it’s main job is to edit the footage you have. Premiere doesn’t cost too much, however, it is not cheap.

Editing is the ordering of shots to create meaning in your film.

Linear is a sequence of time that makes logical sence.

Non-Linear is the opposite of Linear, this meaning it disregards time.

Montage is bringing together different unrelated images to create a meaning, it can also be used to show time passing.

Point of View (POV) is where the camera shows what the person is seeing. 

 Editing is a part of something called post production and one of the most important things in film. Editing is where you take different shots and put them together to create meaning, flow and style. It helps you remove any unwanted footage. This helping you to put together your best footage to make your film work.