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Showing posts from September, 2020

Shutter Speed

What Is Shutter Speed? The shutter speed on a camera is the length of time the shutter is open whilst shooting. The longer the shutter is open the more light the camera lets in (Moura). If you use a shutter speed lower than 1/60 it is best to use a tripod or some sort of stabiliser as when the shutter is open for a longer period of time more motion blur is capture in the shot. In film the shutter speed should be set at double the frame rate. The frame rate is the number of frames taken in each second. Usually in film the frame rate is set at around 25 frames per second therefore the shutter speed should be set at 1/50 of a second (35mmc). The shutter speed is set at double the frame rate as it helps capture natural movement better. If the shutter speed is too low you will get blurred movement, if you was to record with a high shutter speed everyone within your scene will look like robots, the motion will be very choppy therefore making it look like a stop motion (Devo). As you can see

Use of Split Screen in Film

 What is Split screen? Split screen is an editing technique in which the shot is split in to two or more different images to create a single shot. In 1898 George Melies created an magic trick which baffled the audience of the time using editing in his film the 4 troublesome heads. The illusion used multiple exposures combined with matt painting to duplicate the magicians head. Soon after, many filmmakers took inspiration from Melies technique and started combining images in order to tell more complex and engaging narratives. A famous example of this was "The Queen of Spades", a Russian silent film which used split screen to juxtapose the characters dreams with what was going on in reality. The same technique is still used to this day, for example it was used in "500 Days of Summer" in order to reflect the main characters perception of how a night will go at a party compared to the sad reality of how the night plays out.  The use of the technique of juxtaposing image

Dolly Zoom

What Is Dolly Zoom?  A dolly zoom is a technique used whilst shooting where the camera zooms in or out on a subject whilst the camera moves towards or away from the subject. When timed correctly , the effect created is that the subject should stay the same size whilst the background seems to compress or decompress.  The most famous scene the dolly zoom was used in is from the film Jaws. The use of this technique can be to create a sense that the character is undergoing and extreme realisation. My Example of a Dolly Zoom In my example of a dolly zoom I have chosen to zoom in on a cup, I have used a cup as it is a lot steadier than using a person is therefore, t was easier to re-create the effect. As you can see, the background warps however, the cut stays the same size throughout the video. I have used a warp stabiliser on the clip in order to make the movement seem steadier and more natural. References Wickmann, F., 2014. The Evolution of the Dolly Zoom (Online) Available at : https://

ISO

 In digital photography, ISO refers to the sensitivity to light of the camera sensor. When using actual camera film the ISO is dependent on the specific films sensitivity to light (Nikon). When your ISO is placed quite high (above ISO 800) is will create a brighter exposure whereas a low exposure will give an under-exposed image. However, using the ISO to artificially brighten the photos does have some effect on the image quality, the image will have more noise to it if the ISO is a lot higher (Moura). Noise in film can be used to your advantage, for example, commonly in horror movies such as Paranormal Activity a lot of noise is in the shot as the shots are mainly produced at night in order to make them scarier. The noise in film can create a handheld feel to it which in horror films can make them seem more scary as you feel as though it is more real (The Photographic Angle). As you can see in these images I have taken, the top images are less exposed to light suggesting that they hav

Editing Techniques in Films

 Shot/Reverse Shot This editing techniques is used in many cases in dialogue. It is used to edit two shots together that alternate the characters, this allows the audience to suggest that the characters are facing opposite each other whilst having a conversation. The technique isn't always used to shoot footage of the characters talking, in many cases it can be used to show the reaction/emotion of a character to something to other character may be saying to them. In The Hunger Games the use of shot/reverse shot is used to show characters talking, when a character says something emotional instead of watching them say something emotional we watch as Katniss reacts to the information, the use of a close up allows us to see the emotion on her face, this makes the audience identify with the character as they are able to feel sad for her. 180° Rule This rule sets an imaginary axis, by keeping the camera on one side of the imaginary axis, characters or objects within the scene remain on t

How has Easy Rider Been Constructed to Create Meaning

 Easy Rider is a 1969 American Independent road drama written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Terry Southern. The premise of the film is that Fonda and Hopper play two bikers who travel across the Southwest of America carrying the proceeds from a cocaine deal. The film is very appropriate for the time is was filmed due to the inclusion of topics which were prominent at the time such as drugs. In the 1960s the hippie movement was very prominent, this was a movement which rejected mainstream American life and culture, you can see how the history of the time era has been reflected within the film to create an amazing and meaningful end result. In the scene you see four people sat in a cemetery smoking, drinking and taking acid (Priutt). These are all maladaptive coping mechanisms which suggest they was trying to cope with something bad, during this time, the hippie movement had became popular as there were many people against the USAs contribution to the Vietnamese war, many stood in pr

Lighting Equipment and Setups Which would be Used for the Following Scenarios

 Lighting equipment and setups which would be used for the following scenarios A small documentary where portability is paramount  Lighting - In a documentary where there is a lot of moving about it is always best to have portable equipment which doesn't rely on mains power, therefore something with a battery is most suitable such as an LED portable light, they are very efficient and extremely bright at the same time, you can use coloured filters in order to change the colour or intensity of the light in order to create a certain atmosphere. However, documentaries usually rely on natural lighting in order to make their content feel more natural therefore the use of a portable light reflector could be useful, they allow you to reflect the light of sun in order to capture a photo of your subject with good lighting. The light reflectors have a silver, gold and white surface which all create a different tone which can help suggest an atmosphere in a specific shot. Silver can increase h

Research Into The Development of Editing Technology

  Research Into The Development of Editing Technology Early Editing Editing in film serves many purposes in the modern era, it helps tell a story, it creates a mood or atmosphere which overall lead to the success of a film or video. In the early years, short films use to be one long, static shot. There was no use of editing, the film ran as long as there was film in the camera. The very early filmmakers were wary of editing film shots together as they believed that joining different shots of different things using different angles and positions would confuse an audience. The earliest films which used some form of editing where created in the 1900s. A great milestone in editing technology can be seen in the film "The Great Train Robbery" which was written, directed and produced by Edwin S. Porter. It was a 12 minute Western film which used a number of innovative editing techniques such as cross-cutting, double exposure composite editing, camera movement and on location shootin

How and Why Light Affects Camera Techniques For Moving Image

How and why lighting affects camera techniques for moving image Lighting is a very important part of film, without proper understanding of lighting your shots can become either under or over exposed. There are many lighting techniques which all have different affects on your film result. Lighting techniques have connotations in a similar way to colours. Unlike colours, the preferred reading of different types of lighting is more unanimous. Low key lighting is produced from only one source of light rather than a traditional 3 point set up. It produces high contrast shots. Similar to this is hard light, this occurs when the light source is much smaller than the subject; hard light casts shadows and usually produces high contrast and areas of darkness (Leeson). This lighting creates a hard edge on the shadow to give it a clear shape, this is good when creating a silhouette for noir films. Both types of lighting give connotations of fear, mistrust and paranoia. Soft lighting is produced wh