UNIT ONE: Intro to Film
Warm up Activity: Contrast and Affinity
This is a warmup activity for Intro to Digital Film. We were supposed to choose a visual motif to demonstrate Contrast and Affinity in a series of photos.
For affinity, I chose the colour green.
For contrast, I chose to compare tone (lighter greys in contrast with darker greys).
PART ONE:
1) The Rule of Thirds: is a concept used to aid the photographer in creating balanced photos. It breaks the screen in to 9 equal pieces and allows the photographer to better understand the composition and placement of their shot.
2) Extreme Close Up (ECU): shows only a small part of the subject to highlight a detail that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. It brings the viewers attention to a specific place- such as showing only the eyes to reveal fear.
3) Close Up (CU): is similar to the extreme close up, but shows more of the subject. The frame is typically showing the entire face instead of only a particular part of it.
4) Medium Close Up (MCU): is again used to show the subject at a closer view than other shots may allow for. It crops the subject from the shoulders up and shows the entire face.
5) Mid Shot (MS): Shows the subject typically from the waist up. Also called an All Purpose Shot, it is usually used for dialogue and showing overall body language.
6) Full Shot (FS): Shows the subject fully, from head to toe.
7) Wide Shot (WS): Shows the subject fully, but also places them in relation to their environment.
8) Extreme Long Shot/ Establishing Shot (ES): gives the viewer context for the story. it shows the location or relation between the subject and their environment. Overall, it establishes where the scene is taking place.
9) Two-Shot (TS): Shows two people together.
10) Point of View (POV): A shot taken from the perspective of an object or person, showing what they are looking at.
11) Over the Shoulder (OTS): shows the backside of the character, including their head and shoulder. It is usually taken when two charcters are having a conversation.
12) Eye Level: is taken at the same eye level as the subject.
13) High Angle: makes the subject appear smaller, as the camera is at a higher level and looking down at them.
14) Low Angle: Makes the subject appear bigger, as the camera is below and pointing upwards at them.
15) Undershot: is taken directly underneath the subject.
16) Overhead: is taken directly overhead of the subject.
17) Dutch tilt: is a shot taken at a camera angle that has been rotated in relation to objects around it, usually in hopes of creating a disoriented feeling for the viewer.
PART TWO:
ACTIVITY TWO: EDITING A MOOD
Pitch:
My idea is to create an unsettling mood for the viewer by using their own senses against them. I plan to do this by creating contrast in what they are seeing and what they are hearing. For example I would show a shot of an empty hallway, but the viewer would hear a bustling hallway- with lockers closing and people conversing. As the video goes on however, I want to create even more confusion by pairing scenes with different sounds. For example, showing a hallway but instead hearing the sound of a door closing and bells ringing. I also plan to have quick and sudden cuts to add to the sense of uncertainty, and contrast the overall emptiness of the shots with perhaps closeups of one person, added in at different points. In all, I want the viewer to not have a clue what the video meant, and leave confused and somewhat uneasy.
Reflection:
The video didnt go anything like I had originally planned. A majority of the shots I took were used because they were somewhere in my room, or somehwere that was easy to film. They werent actually the shots I originally planned on taking. When I later went to edit, I wasnt really sure how to edit them together to still get the mood that I wanted. After one class of trying different edits, I went home and recorded different sounds that I might still need. I still wanted sound to have a part in creating the overall mood of the video. Choosing which clips to use and which to cut out was the hardest part. At the end, I had three different sections that I cut out because they didnt work with the mood, but I was hesitant to cut it out because I liked how they looked visually. Also deciding which sounds worked to convey the mood, and which sounds went against it was difficult. Near the end, I realized I was watching the same thing over and over again, and it wasnt making sense anymore, so I started to just throw things together and hope that they would work. Looking back on it, I think I did an okay job at editing a video that leaves the viewer feeling atleast slightly unsettled and overall confused.
ACTIVITY THREE: WALKING AND ARRIVING
Storyboard and Map
