LIGHTING, SPACE AND FRAMING

LIGHTING

THREE-POINT LIGHTING

• Standard lighting scheme in cinema
• A backlight picks out the subject from its background
• A bright key light highlights the object
• A fill light from the opposite side ensures that the key light casts only faint shadows

Action Film Shorts

On the 6th of November, members were given the opportunity to film! The short film had to include the conventions of action films that we looked at last half term. 

Two short films were created:

 

THE ONE SHOT (covered on 13/11/13)

THE ONE SHOT

The one shot or "long take" is a long, uninterrupted shot that lasts a lot longer than the normal editing pace. They are relatively rare in films in comparison to other camera techniques used and are usually done with a dolly or Steadicam.

Escape Plan film review by Sam Diamond (5.8/10)

Some may be sceptical about Escape Plan from how it’s been advertised. Yet this is a step forward, as it seems that we are finally coming to our senses and learning that big names don’t always make a film amazing, or even memorable. Unfortunately, that is most definitely the case with Escape Plan, an action film which sadly fails to get the adrenaline going in its audience.

Where the Wild Things Are film review by Freyja Pakarinen (9.2/10)

With no session work to upload this week, I thought I’d quickly review one of my all-time favourite films, as well as what I feel to be an extremely underrated film. Not enough credit was given to lead first-time-actor Max Records, director Spike Jonze and musician Karen O. There are beautiful examples of cinematography, whilst being just an overall very sweet and touching film.

Inglourious Basterds: A Tarantino Masterpiece or A Bloody Mess?

 

If you're hankering for a film and want to find out if this film is worth seeing, the short answer is: Yes, go see it!

This'll be my first post on here and I wanted to do a review of one of Quentin Tarantino's more recent films: Inglourious Basterds. A lot of people have heard of Tarantino through the media hype around Django: Unchained and the controversial nature of his direction and previous work, so I chose Inglourious Basterds as it is one of my favourite Tarantino's and I have watched it quite a few times. Overall, I really like this film, it has some absolutely amazing scenes, with really good pacing throughout and an absolutely fantastic use of sound and music. I'll try and keep spoilers to a minimum; there definitely won't be any major plot spoilers.

Leon

To wrap up our action film half term we watched Luc Besson's "Leon", so to tie all the knowledge together, here is the analysis of the first fight scene of "Leon"

The clip is from 0:03:45-0:07:33

For those of you who don't have the DVD and don't know the timings, it's the first time we are introduced to Leon as an assassin:

Bourne Identity, Kick Ass and Kill Bill Analysis (covered on 02/10/13)

Notes on the analysis covered in the session on the 2nd of October of the three action film clips: Bourne Identity, Kick Ass and Kill Bill.

A review of the film Taxi Driver - Christopher Williams 8.4

Hey guys, apologies for not writing a review yesterday but as it was a Sunday I was feeling rather lazy, plus I was quite busy with making the politics society blog. To make up for it I did two reviews on Saturday so yeah hope you enjoyed them, i've been taking suggestions on films to watch so if you have one you would like me to review for you then please comment and I will put it on my list (at the moment I am working through quite a long backlog due to a certain two individuals who requested loads but I intend to do at least one a day so it should only take me two weeks to get through all them). Anyways this was a request from Cameron Hollis and it was a real pleasure to review this film I have to say. My childhood as a saxophonist player was dominated by the theme of this song which is partly why I am so praiseworthy of it, due to it's ability to take me back to evenings in my house when my parents would play it on their radio while have a glass after a long day's teaching, so despite the fact there is a strong sense of emotional attachment I feel to this film I tried to be as impartial as possible so here goes...

A review of the film Requiem For A Dream - Christopher Williams 9.1/10

Hey everyone, my sister once told me that I was never allowed to watch this film because of how scary it gets. I was intrigued by this as I know it isn't a horror film and from what I knew about it, the main theme was about drug abuse and the effects it had on a family. I came in with a relaxed attitude thinking that it would be an easy ride of a film as drugs, while a very serious issue, has never been demonstrated in a scary way from movie motion to the extent at which my sister implied. I came out with a headache, a strong feeling of weakness and paranoia and foremost the desire to never EVER go near drugs in my life EVER. Good lord, if you watch this masterpiece be prepared for it to make you feel ten times worse than you did after watching 'Don't hug me i'm scared.' Here's the link if you haven't seen it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C_HReR_McQ but yeah so hope you enjoy this review and once again please feel free to offer praise and constructive criticism to help me improve these reviews, I intend to do alot more and any feedback is greatly appreciated.

A review of the film Equilibrium - Christopher Williams 7.7/10

Hey everyone, hope you're all having a good three day weekend. About 3-4 years ago Dr Young recommended this film to me so I decided I would watch and review it as I have always had it on my to-watch list but never quite got round to it. I would definitely recommend watching it but feel free to read this review first, it includes a couple of semi-spoilers but nothing major, it spoils nothing after the first 20-30 minutes and bearing in mind it's a 2 hour film, not a major problem. Enjoy and please offer praise and constructive criticism wherever you see fit!

ANALYSING ACTION FILMS (covered 2/10/13)

What was covered in this week's film society, in case you missed it, it's the start of analysing action films, but these categories will also be explored for other genres later on:

Breaking Bad: A Close to AMC's Masterpiece

Now, I know this isn't quite "Film", but Breaking Bad's finale was a cleverly executed piece of cinematography, and I wanted to share my opinion on what made both the finale, season 5, and the show brilliant. For those among you reading that are not aware, this post will CONTAIN SPOILERS, so if you wish to avoid them, don't keep reading.

A review of the film There Will Be Blood - Christopher Williams 7.9/10

Usually when writing a review about a film I prefer to look up some online criticism and read the wikipedia article as they both tend to offer some enlightenment to aspects of the film I may miss but as I wished to review this film straight after watching it (the credits are still rolling) I thought it best to make this as soon after as possible.

EXTRA LISTENING

Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's weekly film reviews on BBC Radio 5, click here to check it out.

CAMERA TERMS (covered 25/09/13)

CAMERA SHOTS

EXTREME LONG SHOT

•Also known as “establishing shot”

•Usually an exterior to establish a time and location

•Can’t see/feel for the characters

•Set the scene

LONG SHOT

•See the characters from head to toe

•The relationship between the character and the environment

MEDIUM SHOT

•Also known as a “mid-shot”

•Usually for dialogue scenes

•Allows you to see facial expressions

•Wants to focus more on the person than the setting

OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT

•Similar to mid-shot

•Expresses the relationship between the two characters

•Focusses on one person whilst showing interactions

POINT OF VIEW SHOT

•Feel what the character is feeling

•In this example: interrogated, slightly uncomfortable

CLOSE UP

•Includes the characters head or head and shoulders

•Emphasises emotions

•OR emphasises an object of importance 

EXTREME CLOSE UP

•Intense, unfamiliar view point

•Magnifies beyond what the human eye would see

•Dramatic and tense

CAMERA ANGLES

BIRDS' EYE VIEW

•Overhead -> show the setting

•Shot is God-like as it is watching over and doesn’t feel part of the scene

HIGH ANGLE

•Smaller and insignificant

•vulnerable

EYE LEVEL

•Empathise with the character

•Friendly angle

•Not dramatic

LOW ANGLE

•Makes the subject seem powerful

•Makes the audience feel small

CAMERA MOVEMENTS

PAN

•movement scans a scene horizontally

TILT

•Scans a scene vertically

TRACKING

•Moves backwards and forwards

•Can draw you into the action

•Crabshot- sideways tracking (keeping track of the action)

HANDHELD

•Juttery movements

•Chaotic atmosphere

•Show the fast paced action

New Beginnings

Welcome to the WCGS Film Society! We have yet to have a session, but we've begun preparations for the coming weeks and hope to have fun, watch some films and get stuff done. Cracking.

James