Project: Short Film

For this project what we were required to do was create a video from a script which we were given by our teacher. The first thing we had to do was break down the script into different shots so that we could create a storyboard from it. Once I had studied the script in-depth I began to draw up my storyboard. 

Here is the storyboard that I created and the script that I created it from: 

The Process of Storyboarding 
The first step I took in this process was to break down the script. In order to do this I highlighted parts of the script which would need to be included in my storyboard. This involved sections of the script which described setting, facial expressions, character positions and props, meaning that I would need to have several frames in my storyboard. After I had gone through the script I began to draw my storyboard, using some coloured pencils so that, when shooting, I would know exactly what I needed.


Preparation
Although everyone in the class drew their own storyboards for this script, our teacher only chose four storyboards and then split us up into four different groups. The director of each group was the person who had created the storyboard that the group was going to use, and in my case I was lucky enough to be the director of my group.

The first thing that we did was to look through my storyboard as a team to make sure that everyone understood what was happening in each frame, and the part of the script that each shot related to. After this we decided on who will play what character and what props we would need. In the end we decided that the only prop we would need is some water which we would later dab onto one of the actors' foreheads to enhance the characters' nervousness. Once we were all content with what we needed and what each of us were doing, we began shooting our short film.

Filming
During filming, in order to take a successful shot we had to look at the storyboard carefully and use this to define exactly where we wanted this shot to be taken from. One problem that we encountered, however, was that for some of the shots we needed crowds of schoolchildren. The problem was that when we were shooting it was actually lesson time so there were very few schoolchildren around, meaning that we would not be able to capture this shot exactly as we had wanted to. But we managed to overcome this problem by using some people from other groups who were happy to help us out.

Overall the whole shooting process went rather smoothly and it was good fun to film our first ever project in AS media studies. Our mini film was also quite successful because we managed to pretty much perfect the majority of our shots. However, there are, of course, areas of our project that we need to improve on for next time which you can read about in my evaluation below.


Evaluation
1. How effectively did your group utilise cinematography to convey meaning? Give examples.
Our group used cinematography relatively successfully to convey meaning. Although there were not many shots which had a strong meaning, overall we did this quite well. One example of when we achieved this is when we did a close-up of  David's (character) forehead. Just before we took this shot we had attempted to dab some water onto the actor's forehead, to give the impression that he was sweating slightly. However, despite the fact that you could actually see the water on his forehead slightly, the shot was not properly in focus which we did not realise until it was too late. So actually this shot did not manage to convey meaning properly. On the other hand, one shot that did succeed fairly well in using cinematography to convey meaning is the close-up of the girl flicking her hair a little. By using a close-up we were able to show the audience her facial expressions in more detail, so that they could see that she was smiling quite a lot. Along with the hair action, this conveyed meaning well by telling the audience that the girl was happy to have David's attention on her.

2. How effectively did your group utilise mise-en-scene to convey meaning?
All in all our group did not particularly use mise-en-scene to convey meaning which is one area which we need to improve on. However one way in which our group did do this was by filming the characters of  David and the girl standing by a metal fence. This fence symbolised how these two characters were separated from each other and it also represented the barriers that they faced between them. Also, a more simplistic way in which we achieved this can be seen in our opening scene when the camera shows groups of students doing work and chatting, demonstrating that this short film is set in a school.

3. How effectively did your group utilise sound to convey meaning? Give examples.
In my opinion, this was one of the things our group did most well on. We thought about sound carefully and how and where it should be used in our mini film. As we have been taught, we knew that sound was an incredibly important part of filmmaking which told us that we really needed to think carefully about what sounds we would use. For example, in my storyboard the school bell rings halfway through the characters' conversation. So when it came to editing, we knew that at this point we would have to edit in the sound of a school bell ringing since, as it was lesson time when we were shooting, the school bell did not ring. Another way in which we used sound to convey meaning is in our opening scene when the camera is showing the setting. For this shot we put a soundtrack of music playing in order to show the audience that this was breaktime, when students are allowed to sit back and relax for a while. The music that we used conveyed this meaning because it has quite a laid-back feel to it but also implies that the students were having fun as well.

4. How well did your group work together on this project? What would you do differently next time? Our group worked well together on this project and there was good cooperation between each team member. As director, I was responsible for making sure that everyone knew what they were doing and were happy with this. Overall we all contributed to this project and got on well with one another. Although there were a few issues at the beginning about who would play which character, we eventually got over this once we had decided. Next time it would be good to vary the roles a little more as each person was essentially given one part to play. Although this was organised and worked well, I think it would be more enjoyable for people to change roles and get a taste of something new. Also for this project we only had one person editing, who was happy to do this, but in the future we should have a few more people helping with the editing process at the same time in order to speed things up a little.

5. What have you learned from this that you can take into your next project?
Specifically to our short film, I have learnt that you do not need a very lengthy opening scene. As long as you have set the scene and it is clear to the audience where it is and vaguely what is happening, then you can go straight into the action part. Another thing which I have learnt is that you always need to check properly that your shots are in focus before you take them, because otherwise they will be pretty much useless if they are out of focus and the audience will not understand what is going on. Furthermore for future projects I now know that it is always better to cut in than to cut out of a shot. For example, in one part of out mini film we cut into a shot and then out of a shot which I now know is a mistake which is to never be made again.

Digital Storyboarding

Digital Storyboarding

We began this project by choosing a scene from a film and storyboarding it. After this we got into groups and discussed each other's storyboards, eventually deciding on one storyboard to use for digital storyboarding.

The storyboard we chose is a scene from 'Matilda' where Matilda's father becomes angry at her and ends up throwing one of her books down a corridor. In order to develop our digital storyboard we looked at the props used in the storyboard and where it was set. For example in the second frame in our digital storyboard we saw that it was set in Matilda's bedroom where she is sitting by her bed with three piles of books laid out in front her. This told us that we needed to make a makeshift bed and find some books. Due to the fact that we had to take the photos for our digital storyboard in school, we were fairly limited with our resources. However we managed to recreate this scene as best as we could with what we had.

Another example of a shot that we had to re-create is the fifth shot in our digital storyboard. In this shot we saw that Matilda was speaking to her father whilst reading a book, telling us that we would have to make it look as though the person who was starring as Matilda was speaking and they would also have to have a book in their hands and pretend to be reading it. So this meant that we had to find a book and the person playing Matilda would have to pretend to talk by just holding their mouth open. Then for the next shot we saw that Mathilda's father was standing by her and looking displeased with her. However, in this shot you could also see part of Matilda's face in the left hand-side of the frame and on the right hand-side you could see Matilda's bedroom door open slightly. Therefore in order for us to re-create this shot we would need to have the same positioning as the original shot. One thing we did to try to make this shot as accurate to the real thing as possible was to have the door of the classroom open a little, and have the person starring as Mathilda situtated to the left of the frame. Then the camera person had to carefully position the camera in order to get the right shot.

Here is the original scene:

Furthermore to improve our accuracy was that we looked at what was going on in each frame in detail, such as by looking at the different characters' facial expressions. We also studied the different types of camera shots of each frame to try to get our digital storyboard as accurate as the original.

One thing that I learnt from this is that you really do not have to be good at drawing in order to create a storyboard. As long as you can understand what is happening in each part of the scene, and what shot you need, drawing skills do not matter. Also I learnt that storyboarding is very useful in cinematography and it does really help in the making of a film.

Types of Camera Shots and Examples

Camera Shots

There are many different camera shots but these are the six main types:

• Close-up: this is a shot which tightly frames the object in frame by keeping only their full face or head and shoulders in frame. This type of shot enables the audience to understand the actor's emotions so that they can come to comprehend what they feel like and why.
  

• Medium shot: this type of shot is shot from a medium distance away from the subject(s). A medium shot shows characters or a character from the waist up, enabling the audience to see the character's faces clearly as well as their interaction with other characters.
  

• Tracking shot: where the camera moves alongside, in front of or behind the subject(s) which it is recording. This type of shot gives the audience a comprehensive understanding of what is going on in the scene by showing the character's movement.
  

• Pan: where the camera moves continuously right to left or vice versa and it can be used to establish where the scene is taking place, showing the audience where the characters are situated.
  

• Wide shot: this is sometimes referred to as a long shot and it is used to show the entire subject(s) in the frame. Normally the intention of this type of shot is to place it in some relation to its surroundings. A wide shot has a similar effect as a pan shot which is that it shows the audience where the characters are located and the immediate environment around them.

Examples

Close-up:  In the film 'Psycho' during the shower scene many close-ups are shown which can be seen in this video-

Medium shot: This type of shot is very common to many films but here is just one example from the film 'Blades of Glory'-

Tracking shot:
in the opening scene of 'Spectre' a tacking shot is used which can be viewed here-

Pan: a good example of this kind of shot is on 'Blow Out' when the camera does a 360 degree pan in Jack Terry's (played by John Travolta) office-

Wide Shot: during the film 'Hanna' when she enters the desert the camera zooms out to a wide shot to show the setting-

'Children of Men' Car Scene

This scene from 'Children of Men' begins with the camera panning out to show the audience each of the different characters in the car. At first they are joking around with each other and laughing. For example during the medium shot of the couple playing the ball game they are both laughing and smiling, demonstrating that they are having a good time. However the wide shot which follows this shows a completely different atmosphere. This wide shot shows the camera looking out at the car windscreen and the audience is able to see that a car, which has been set on fire, is rolling down a road, about to block off the road for the characters' car. However this wide shot not only shows the audience the setting, it also foreshadows the unfortunate events about to come by placing the car on fire- symbolising wreckage and chaos- in an idyllic and calm setting.

This shot is a medium close-up of the couple when they are playing a ball game with one another. Here you can see that they are laughing and having fun, demonstrating that they are enjoying themselves. The man has a wide, open smile spread across his face as he laughs which shows the audience that he is having a pleasurable time. But this delight is soon destroyed when they are attacked by an angry crowd of people. In just minutes the characters go from joyful to distraught when Julian is shot, demonstrating to the audience how quickly happiness can disappear.

Here the audience is able to clearly see what exactly the  main characters seem to have encountered. This wide shot shows the audience what is happening at this point and they are able to see that the main characters have been attacked by a infuriated mob of people. They run after their car and try to attack it by hitting it with baseball bats and smashing the car windows. From this the audience can see that the main characters have ran into a scene of compete havoc and destruction and are desperately trying to flee the scene.

This shot is taken from just seconds after Julian has been shot. it is a close-up of the car windscreen shattering which adds to the drama of this moment in the scene. This is because Julian has just been shot which is incredibly dramatic as it has a powerful effect on the reader, which is that they are left shocked and stunned by this shooting as they did not expect it. Due to the peaceful and serene setting before this incident the audience was led on to believing that everything was going to be alright. So when things turn out horribly wrong the audience is severely shocked. Furthermore the shattering of the car windscreen could symbolise the death of Julian; when it becomes broken and essentially dies, like Julian. Once more this reinforces the drama of this event by placing an emphasis on just how damaging this event has been.

From completing this task I learnt the basics of cinematography and how to interpret the effects of different camera shots. The main thing that I have taken from this assignment is the definition of basic camera shots and what effect they have on the audience. However, by using the example of 'The Children of Men' car scene I have also learnt how to analyse the effects of different shot types more deeply, improving my knowledge of different camera shots.

Welcome!

Hello there! My name is Ruby and I am currently an AS media studies student (year 12). This blog is about the start of my experience of doing this course, including the basics of media studies. I hope you find it interesting and enjoy!