Research and Practice: Camera Shots

We explored how to use the camera properly, and to reinforce what we learned we were set a task to take certain shots. 

Big Close Up

 This shot went well, however it could have been improved by framing more of the face and less of the blue background.

Wide Shot

Our next shot was a wide shot where we framed the setting of the street outside college. This shot is a simple shot that shows a lot of background.

Feet framed in interesting ways

We came up with the above screen shots for the feet task. We agreed that the second image is far better because it is more likely to appear in films, which we are researching, whereas the first image is something that has neither been seen in films nor would really fit into our genre of thrillers.

The Rule of Thirds

We also learned about The Rule Of Thirds, which is a way of ensuring that the characters are properly framed. We demonstrated both the right and wrong ways of doing so -

This is a bad shot because the actor is not in frame properly; their head should be right at the top of the frame, and they should also be in the middle with equal space either side. Although the tripod in the background was not intentional, this also adds to the lack of professional aspects of the shot.
The next shot is better because the head of the person fits nicely into the top of the frame, however it is still not perfect because they should be in the middle of the shot, not to the side (unless it is a two people shot.) The shot after the following one demonstrates the correct way of filming whilst including the rule of thirds (aside from the tripod in the background.)

Over The Shoulder Shot

The next two images show over the shoulder shots from both perspectives. Perhaps we could have improved here by being a bit more centre, however overall they were good shots that demonstrated over the shoulder perspectives.

Issues raised with Lighting

The next shot clearly portrays the issues raised with lighting when using a camera; when our character stands in front of a window, their face cannot be seen properly. This causes problems which need to be identified before the filming process to ensure the faces can be seen at all times.