For the induction task we had to firstly plan then shoot and finally edit a short film we had to do this using 20 specific shots. My group decided on the simple name 'The Package' as a lone survivor in a deserted world, that had lost a large percentage of their population, had to deliver the package a.k.a the cure to a scientist who could mass produce it and start on the road to recovery but they get murdered by a psychopath who want the cure for himself.
Mise-en-scene, meaning what is in the scene, to show who the character is we thought about the set and costumes we could use and we settled for a lab with bottles posters and general science equipment and got Joe, who played the scientist, to wear some goggles, a mask and a lab coat so the viewer can work out who he is without any audio to tell them, we did this by also dressing up the survivor in a muddy and scruffy jumper so people know she had been traveling for a while.
All throughout we tried to use expressive lighting to connote something about the atmosphere. In most if not all of the shots we took we used dark or underexposed lighting to show that something bad was going to happen and to keep you on edge. we were successful with this in a few parts of the sequence for example at 1:07 when you see the psychopath walking into the room we used a dark room with underexposed lighting to create a silhouette with a burning red color in the background to connote that he brings nothing but pain, violence and anger which is associated with the red color behind him. although we had to edit with the lighting after we recorded as the lighting changed drastically as we recorded on two different days at very different times.
We used a low camera angle, which is a shot taken from a low position which implies power and superiority of the subject. We did not use this angle often as we wanted it to have a bigger impact and for it to clearly show who was in power when we were to use it and so we did it in the scene where the psychopath is claiming the cure from the dead scientist to show he has complete control over the situation. we could have improved this by showing his entire body but i believe that by only getting part of the psychopath in the shot it amplifies the perception of how powerful he really is.
In a couple of shots we used a high camera angle, which is a shot taken from a high position which implies the subject is weak and/ or inferior. once again we did not use this angle often as we believed its effect would be much clearer and it would amplify the meaning we were trying to portray so we used it both times someone was dead/ dying. The first one we used was looking at a dead body which showed how inferior he had always been. With the second shot we show the scientist being shot down so he was going from an position of power and as he fell making the shot a high angle as he is no longer powerful and is now completely weak and helpless.
Mise-en-scene, meaning what is in the scene, to show who the character is we thought about the set and costumes we could use and we settled for a lab with bottles posters and general science equipment and got Joe, who played the scientist, to wear some goggles, a mask and a lab coat so the viewer can work out who he is without any audio to tell them, we did this by also dressing up the survivor in a muddy and scruffy jumper so people know she had been traveling for a while.
We used a low camera angle, which is a shot taken from a low position which implies power and superiority of the subject. We did not use this angle often as we wanted it to have a bigger impact and for it to clearly show who was in power when we were to use it and so we did it in the scene where the psychopath is claiming the cure from the dead scientist to show he has complete control over the situation. we could have improved this by showing his entire body but i believe that by only getting part of the psychopath in the shot it amplifies the perception of how powerful he really is.
In a couple of shots we used a high camera angle, which is a shot taken from a high position which implies the subject is weak and/ or inferior. once again we did not use this angle often as we believed its effect would be much clearer and it would amplify the meaning we were trying to portray so we used it both times someone was dead/ dying. The first one we used was looking at a dead body which showed how inferior he had always been. With the second shot we show the scientist being shot down so he was going from an position of power and as he fell making the shot a high angle as he is no longer powerful and is now completely weak and helpless.
(Over-the-shoulder shot)
(Medium shot)
(Close up)
All throughout the short film we have used a variety of different shot distances, In the screenshots above we can see a few of these. we used an over the shoulder shot to show establish the positioning of characters although in order to improve the scene where the survivor gets shot, at 1:12, we could swap it around to be an over the shoulder shot from the psychopath looking down at the survivor to show that he is the one in power although the way we have done this it makes it makes it seem as if the viewer is in the scene and on the side of the survivor therefore showing who is supposedly the good person in the scene.
in the finished sequence we did not use many camera movements but we did use one whip pan, a camera panning movement fast enough to give a blurred picture, we did this to show that the psychopath is watching from close by as we do it starting at the scientist and the survivor until it reaches him staring through the door, although we did achieve the blur the whip pan could have been performed faster to achieve a better blur and to run smoother with the rest of the shots.
Half way through the video we used a dissolve, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another, we used this to show the passing of time this was successfully used as feedback from other students commented on this. At the end we faded out to a black screen, a technique whereby an image is made to disappear gradually or the sound volume is gradually decreased to zero, this is used to signify an end so we did exactly that and used the fade straight after two deaths and the theft of the cure which shows that not only is it the end for them two characters but everyone else as well. All throughout we used cutting. a basic and common edit which is where one piece of footage follows straight on from the next, we believe we did this in a way that was smoothly edited.
we did not use establishing shots as we believed it would add to the tension as you didn't know where the location was, we also did not include the 180 degree rule nor did we use a shot reverse shot although they could have been used to show the facial expressions of the scientist and the survivor when passing over the cure not only would it help with that but it would establish positioning of characters. we did use match cuts on action very early on where you see the survivor go through the door this is two shots which show the action that carries through a transition, allowing the audience to experience a continuous flow of action. we believed we executed this successfully as it runs smoothly throughout the transition like it should.
Here we tried to use an eye-line match, which is used to show a character's line of sight, for example in the first image above you see the survivor looking down at a corpse on the floor and the second image is supposed to show what she sees from her perspective although the placement of the camera is too close to the body for it to have been from her perspective so more thought should have gone into the placement. in the shot before this we used a pov shot, a point of view shot (also known as POV shot) is a short film scene that shows what a character is looking at (represented through the camera).
To summarize i have learnt how to operate editing software, apply fades in and out, input soundtracks and audio and how to upload the footage. i enjoyed getting feedback from my class on how i could improve and what was done well as this can help me to improve.
in the finished sequence we did not use many camera movements but we did use one whip pan, a camera panning movement fast enough to give a blurred picture, we did this to show that the psychopath is watching from close by as we do it starting at the scientist and the survivor until it reaches him staring through the door, although we did achieve the blur the whip pan could have been performed faster to achieve a better blur and to run smoother with the rest of the shots.
Half way through the video we used a dissolve, a dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another, we used this to show the passing of time this was successfully used as feedback from other students commented on this. At the end we faded out to a black screen, a technique whereby an image is made to disappear gradually or the sound volume is gradually decreased to zero, this is used to signify an end so we did exactly that and used the fade straight after two deaths and the theft of the cure which shows that not only is it the end for them two characters but everyone else as well. All throughout we used cutting. a basic and common edit which is where one piece of footage follows straight on from the next, we believe we did this in a way that was smoothly edited.
we did not use establishing shots as we believed it would add to the tension as you didn't know where the location was, we also did not include the 180 degree rule nor did we use a shot reverse shot although they could have been used to show the facial expressions of the scientist and the survivor when passing over the cure not only would it help with that but it would establish positioning of characters. we did use match cuts on action very early on where you see the survivor go through the door this is two shots which show the action that carries through a transition, allowing the audience to experience a continuous flow of action. we believed we executed this successfully as it runs smoothly throughout the transition like it should.
To summarize i have learnt how to operate editing software, apply fades in and out, input soundtracks and audio and how to upload the footage. i enjoyed getting feedback from my class on how i could improve and what was done well as this can help me to improve.
This is good Shannon - you make some nice points in your evaluation and you define some of the terms well. It's not correct to say you did not use the 180 degree rule - you did, for example in your corridor shots. If you had swapped the camera to the other side the character would have appeared to be walking backwards. An issue for you is punctuation and using capital letters - we can work on this together - it will definitely need to be better, through closer proof reading, when we get on to the assessed work.
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