Camera workshop 2

The order you shoot in is wide, mid, close and then any other shots you want, like a tracking shot for example. This is so that you get your wide shot first, meaning that if something goes wrong, you still have the safety shot, meaning u still have a final product. The other shots, like mid shot and close up are there to add some diversity in the angles however they aren’t crucial like the wide shot is.

The literal definition of continuity in a film sense is ‘A detailed script or scenario consulted to avoid discrepancies from shot to shot in a film, allowing the various scenes to be shot out of order.’ It is essentially paying attention to certain details in a film script i.e picking up a cup with the right hand and not the left hand, so that the film can be shot multiple times and in a different order which makes the filming time much more effective.

It is important to use these rather than saying something like, ‘are you ready?’ as it makes the working environment more professional and also to make it more efficient in timing. For example, by using these you are informed that you need to be ready, that you need to be rolling the camera and that the actor needs to start the scene all within less than ten seconds, and in the real industry, time is crucial and it can be damaging financially for the filmmakers if they waste time by simply getting ready to shoot a scene.

The actor may use a mark so they know where to stand in a scene. This could be a small object or it is usually a piece of tape that you stick to the floor. This is important as it is vital that the actor doesn’t go out of shot when doing things such as close ups.

Before saying action it is always important to be rolling as if we recorded after saying action, we may miss the beginning second of the actor entering the screen, it is also important to keep the camera rolling after the scene so that we have a few seconds in which we are certain the actor has left the scene, and so that when we are editing the clip, it makes it easier, as we have plenty of room to cut the clip in

We don’t watch the footage back on set, as this may create a dependency on needing to watch the clip back/ the actor may create a habit of watching themselves back on set, and if they don’t like what they see they may get discouraged leading them to not act as well. Overall is saves time.

The 180 degree rule is when you have two points that equate to a straight line and you draw an imaginary circle from one point to the other. You then film either side of that line, and you can film anywhere in that semi-circle. This is important because, let’s say you have two actors facing each other and there is dialogue, the 180 degree rule helps us figure out which way the people are facing, and if we didn’t have this rule, the actors would look like they are talking to a wall, or to no one in particular as we can’t get a clear sense of direction.

When filming our sequences, we are also encouraged to incorporate the rule of thirds, which is where we divide our screen into nine segments. It is key to have your point of focus where two lines intersect as we are naturally drawn to these areas for example a person’s face. This is one of the three things when considering camera, as we also have depth of field, which is about what is focused, the foreground or the background, or the composition, where characters and objects are placed in relation to each other in the frame. This may include symmetrical shots and asymmetrical shots.