Research

Living in Oblivion:

 

When we first started our short film research, we looked into a short film called ‘Living in Oblivion’ which was released in 1955 and was directed by ‘Tom Dicillo’. The film was very popular and branded as being ‘the ultimate tribute to independent film makers’. This film is about a group of cast and crew members who are having a bad day on set and nothing seems to be going the way it’s planned. This however, turns out to be a dream of the director. The reason we were given this short film to watch is so we get an idea of what it’s like being a director and the different roles there are within the film industry. It helped us to choose which roles we would do within the group and also help us to realise that it isn’t going to be an easy task and we need to co-operate.

Cinematography:

I was given the role of director therefore I wanted to make sure that I knew about the different camera angles that we could incorporate within the short film. This means that I will have a better understanding as a director and I will be more knowledgeable about to improve my short film in order to make it more interesting for people to watch.

The shots that we can include within our short film are listed below with a definition of what they are:

Close Up: Head and shoulders are within the frame. This is because the director wants to focus the audience’s attention on the facial expression of the character.

Extreme Close Up: This is when small details are given the most attention. This can either be done for artistic effect or to highlight an important aspect that they director wants the audience to notice.

Long Shot: This shows the whole character from top to toe. This helps us to identify the characters body language along with see what clothes and prop they may be wearing.

Point of View Shot: This shot is used to see what the character is looking at. This helps the audience get into the scene and makes them feel a part of what the character is going through.

Mid Shot: This is from the waist upwards. This shot is usually used to the audience will focus on what the characters are saying rather than what they are doing or what is going on behind them.

Over the Shoulder Shot: This shot is where we are looking over one characters shoulder at the subject. This is usually to focus the audience’s attention on the subject and their reaction to what is going to happen next.

Two Shot: This is a shot of two people which is used to show the relationship they have with each other. For example: if they are close together they are friends with each other of they are far away from each other there is hostility between the characters.

Another important aspect we need to consider is camera movement. This is because cameras are very rarely motionless therefore camera movement is used to create impact. Some of the types of camera movements are as followed:

Steadi-cam: This is where the camera is at a standstill and is mounted onto a harness so the movement is smooth.

Handheld: This where the camera shot is a bit shaky due to the camera being held without support. This is usually used to show panic and build tension.

Pan: This is where the camera moves horizontally across the room or location.

Zoom: This is where the camera is in a fixed position and the lenses moves either closer or further away from the character. This is usually used to show the sudden facial expressions of characters.

Tracking: This is where the camera is placed alongside the movement within the scene in order to ‘track’ or portray movement.

Tilt: A movement in which scans a subject or location vertically.

GRANITE:

 

Within this section I will analyse the GRANITE structure on order to analysis films effectively.