Camera Techniques

Camera techniques are all about distance, angles, movement and position.
A few examples of distance shots are shown below.

LS- long shot
ELS- extreme long shot (establishing shot)
MS- medium shot
CU- close up

Each shot has a different purpose. For example , close ups reveal facial expressions and emotions.

Shot angles
Low, eye-level, worms eye, birds ey (looking down)  amd point of view.

These camera angles also have a purpose, point of view, draws us into the narrative of the text (diegisis)

Movement
Pan left and pan right- fixed axes
Crab left and crab right- cameras moving with character
Track out and track in - cameras moving with character, usually for action shots
Tilting up and down

Here is a picture that summarises all camera techniques...

Do generic conventions help or restrict filmmakers?

My group: Hannah, Jake, Finley

Our group argued for both help and restrict and here are our reasons:

Helps because...
-It gives the film outline in which the filmmaker can stick to and know what to include
-Films that follow conventions usually earn more money as people like familiarity

Restricts because...
-It prevents filmmakers from adding in new and original ideas
-Filmmakers are scared to push the boundaries and include new twists

This has taught me that generic conventions are both good and bad.

Binary Opposition

This is where media texts are organised around sets of opposite values. For example, Light/Dark and  Hot/Cold.

The question is: How can you understand something unless you know the opposite meaning?

We wouldn't know the meaning of hot without knowing the meaning of cold. Words only act as symbols and the meaning of words, is a relationship, not a fixed thing


For homework, I watched the little mermaid to find some binary opposites and here is what I came up with:
-Male/Female
-Land/Sea
-Love/Hate
-Mythical/Realistic
-Good/Evil
-Happy/Sad

Explanation of some of the binary oppositions I chose-

Love/Hate:
This is shown in the film when the prince and the mermaid fall in love, and the rivalry between the bad mermaid ursula and the other characters show the hatred.

Mythical/Realistic:
The mermaids and mermen are mythical and the prince and the human beings on land are real.

Good/Evil:
The good is shown throughout with Ariel, her father and the humans on land, and the evil is shown throughout by the bad mermaid Ursula. 



 


20.09.2012

Claude Levi Strauss and Roland B

Recognising Genre's

When making a film, you have to take into account and follow the conventions/rules of the chosen genre.

The conventions are:
-Visual imagery; Iconography
-Plot
-Character
-Setting
-Modes of narrative development
-Music and stars

You must follow these rules so the audience know what to expect when watching the film.

Learning about this has helped me widen my understanding of Genre's and how there can't ever be a film that's not a hybrid as the boundaries are too blurred.

18.09.2012

Semiotics

In media we have also been learning about semiotics which help to show what genre something is. Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and their use/interpretation.

Signs are made up of two things, the signifier and the signified

A signifier is the form of which the sign takes and the signified is the meaning behind the taken form.

For example:
A rose is the signifier and showing that it's a type of flower would be the signified



There are 3 types of sign- iconic, indexical and symbolic.

An iconic sign is where someone or something is in the film that you recognise. For example, Bruce Willis in a film is iconical, and he is usually known for starring in action films.

An indexical sign works through linking, it leads to an interpretation. For example, if you see smoke coming out of a building, you immediately assume that the house is on fire. The smoke signifies fire.

A symbolic sign is a sign that represents something else, it is something that is learnt, people see the symbol and think of the thing that they were taught it is linked to. It's culturally specific, words don't actually mean anything, they are just linked to objects/pictures. For example,


This is a symbol used to symbolise peace.



We also learnt two key words:
"Denotation" (The literal meaning of something)
"Connotation"  (The potentional or interpretated meaning)

15.09.2012

Main Task

For our media coursework, our main task is to create the title and opening of a fiction film. Maximum of 2 minutes, the video and audio must be original, with exceptions of copyright-free sound.
12.09.2012

Genre's

Today in Media, we learnt about Sub Genre's and Hybrid Genre's.

A 'Sub Genre' is a genre within a Genre, for example a common genre is 'science fiction' however that could be broken down into: Space, Time-Travel, Alien and so on.

A 'Hybrid Genre' is more than one genre mixed together, It could be argued that everything is a hybrid genre, for examplem, you could say that although Spiderman is 'science fiction' it could also come under the 'love' genre, aswell as 'action.' People make hybrid genre's because they think it will make the film more interesting and to introduce new features into the film.

We also learnt that there has to be a genre cycle to keep audiences interested. This is because if the same genre was always shown at the cinema, no-one would go and watch as it would be boring and predictable, so writers have to bring out whatever genre is most popular. At the moment, I've noticed that superhero films are popular, recently, they have brung out the new Spiderman, the new Batman, and Avengers Assemble.They have to keep the film familiar but add new twists to engage the audience and make their films exciting.

Learning about Genre has helped me understand that if you go into too much detail, there isn't really much thing as a genre and the definition of it has changed for me. It has given me knowledge on how I can classify films into different categories.

 My Hybrid
If I could create my own hybrid film then I would mix together, comedy romance and horror, this is because they are all my favourite genre's. I believe that it would be a good movie if it made you laugh at times, and other times made you scared, and a love story added inbetween.
12.09.2012