Camera workshop 2

 Our second camera workshop was more about the shooting side of things rather than how to work the camera. We talked about the order of shooting things, call outs, and recapped composition rules. 

It is very rare for films to be shot completely in chronological order, as it is not very practical, especially if there are lots of cuts between two different locations. Therefore all the shots in one location are usually done and then you move onto the next one. The same with the actors, if actors are only needed for 2 shots but they are far apart in the storyline, they would shoot them at the same time.

Firstly you would shoot a wide shot of every action, and then a mid shot, then close ups. You always start with a wide shot as it acts as a 'safety shot' so if anything goes wrong you still have the shot, as if you started with a close up you would only have this part of the footage instead of the whole picture. 

Continuity is also very important. It means keeping everything the same in each take of the shot/each angle. It helps create the illusion that everything is happening at the same time from shot to shot. For example if someone is picking something up then they use the same hand every time. 

Call outs are used when staring and ending a shot, they are to let everyone know what is happening clearly and quickly. These are the ones we discussed:

- Standby (film crew and cast get into their positions ready to start the shot)

- Standing by (film crew says this when they are ready to start)

- Roll camera (director says this to film crew to instruct them to start recording)

- Rolling camera (film crew confiriming that the camera is recording)

- Action (Cast start the scene)

- Cut (instruction to stop recording)

The reason you start recoding before the scene starts and keep rolling afterwards is to make sure the camera is recoding, and that you don't cut any action off at the end. 

You should never watch footage back on set as this wastes a lot of time. It is also because if the actors see themselves in footage they may get self conscious and act differently.

We recapped the 180 degree rule, it is a technique to help the audience know where everybody is and who is who. It is when an imaginary line is drawn between two subjects and then the camera can be placed anywhere as long as it stays one side of that line. If you were to cross that line it would make the shot confusing and the audience may not know where the characters are, what they are looking at/talking to and who is who. 

This rule means that, if there are two people talking to each other, one is always shown on the right, and one always on the left. 

Rule of thirds is when you place the focus point of the image on certain points in the frame in order to draw the attention to it and make it a lot more interesting. 

The rule of thirds is made up of four lines, and each point where the lines cross is a focus point. So it is a point of interest.

We then had a go at shooting a small sequence to get used to using the camera and these rules, there are some pictures from this above.