Preliminary Task; Filming

On Wednesday Shelby, Tori, Ahmed and I started filming our preliminary excersise. We went out and started to film the first few shots of our short clip. We didn't use any other people to appear in our clip, Shelby and I were the only two people that appeared in it, while Tori and Ahmed worked the camera. One of the main problems we faced when filming were the occasional outburst of laughter which made the filming process take twice as long as anticipated. After finishing the filming after two days of shooting, we decided we will edit a lot of the bloopers out as they are not needed. Overall, I think we are all happy with the way we handled the camera and think it was great.

Preliminary Task; Editing and Analysis

After uploading the footage we shot onto FinalCut Express we realised two of our shots were missing, we left a gap in our sequence and planned to re upload them or reshoot them after we had finished editing the majority, so the film could be complete.

After we finished editing we uploaded the final piece to YouTube. I think the speed of editing is steady, we didn't include any fast shots as our film isn't a thriller or high octane movie so it would have looked strange.

Overall I am happy with the final film, although there were some small errors such as when we missed out  shot of Shelby siting down, the reason for this is because every shot we had she either laughed, or hit her feet on the bench then laughed! 

We followed the 180 degree rule and I'm quite proud of our continuity shots, and if we were to do it again all I would change is to get more shots.

Preliminary Task; Brief

For our Preliminary task we had to film a sequence of someone walking along a corridor, opening a door, having a conversation with someone else then walking back through the door and back along the corridor. During the task we had to carefully watch the camera angles, length of the edit and especially the continuity between each shot to make our film look realistic. 
We also had to pay attention to the 180 degree rule, this is where two people in a shot always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary 'line' than the viewers can become confused to who is where.

Casino Royale-2006, Martin Campbell

How is mise-en-scene used in 'Casino Royale'?


Mise-en-scene relates to what can be seen in the scene. In the 2006 James Bond movie 'Casino Royale' we are presented with two contrasting scenes, in the first scene we see, Bond is seated in a glass office building, half concealed in shadows. In the next scene, which is a flashback, we see Bond in a toilet where he is fighting frantically with another man.
In the first scene Bond is shown to be calm, collected and prepared to shoot the man whilst in the second scene he is frantic and his movements are  fast unlike the first scene when they are slower and more careful.


Another important aspect when looking at the mise-en-scene is the colour used in the film. In scene one the action is set in a contemporary glass office building at night time and looks quite mysterious because its empty and the viewer gets the sense that something isn't right. The second scene is a grimey tiled bathroom, the white of tiles picks up the dirt and makes the violence stand out more, it reflects Bonds corruption as this is his first kill.

Source Code- 2011, Duncan Jones

Is the opening to 'Source Code' effective? How does it build suspense and how does the director ensure you want to continue watching?


By looking at movies in the thriller genre I can effectively see what I can bring to  my own thriller film.
Source Code is an action thriller centered on a soldier (Jake Gyllenhaal) who wakes up in the body of an unknown man and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.
The film starts with a good establishing shot of Chicago and then the train and continues to switch back and forth between the two locations, this makes the viewer guess that these to aspects play a main role in the film.

The viewer can get a clue to where he is because we can hear train sounds in the distance. The music then becomes more classical and mysterious as he tries to figure out where he is, dark tones make the viewer question whats going on with this man.

The pace of the music quickens when we sense something isn't right and gradually as we find out more about the bomber and the 'source code' programme the music starts to become darker.

The trailer has many edits (over 100) this portrays to the viewer that it's going to be a high octane/fast pace movie. In the actual movie, only some events have quick edits, more last for longer. For example when the soda can is opened the attention is quickly transferred to that. During the face to face conversations that aren't shown in the trailer, the edits are fewer so the viewer can concentrate on what they are talking about. The pace quickens or slows to reflect the characters feelings at the time.