When shooting for a movie, it’s mandatory to get a variety of different shots to complete scenes. But this isn’t always the easiest thing to do considering that there you have to write them all out before and see which shot looks best. With just a few of these tips, it will be a lot easier to write out a shot list.
It starts out with over-the-shoulder shots. These are the hardest shots to get done correctly because you have to get the perfect amount of the back of the actors head in there while you still need enough of the person who is talking. Apparently, some directors don’t shoot these types of shots because it takes too much time to get it done correctly. But when the back of the head is blurred out, it looks perfect and well worth your time. Another classic shot is the panning shot. This shot is frequently overused and misused at the wrong times. Often, Steven Spielberg has great use of this type of shot to establish a certain mood or advance the action in a scene. The next one is a zoom shot. I think that these can be very nice shots but you have to use them right. The article says that you should mainly use these for an effective serious or creepy shot like how Ridley Scott executes them. But if you use them too much in a film, it will start to get annoying. And finally make sure that they are smooth because no one likes a jerky zoom. Now they start to get complicated. A tracking shot is a very sophisticated shot that can get messed up easily. By using a dolly, you can eliminate some of the trouble when trying to film this. But make sure that you’re on a smooth surface so it comes out great. The last one that I will talk about is the Dutch angle shot. This is done by rotating the camera a little to one side so that the character or object looks tilted. This type should only be done when trying to elicit a sense of unease and disorientation to the viewer. A lot of these tips are commonly used but when all of these types are mixed into a film, the cinematography will improve greatly. http://www.lavideofilmmaker.com/filmmaking/film-techniques.html
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These days, companies all over are trying to use solar power to save money and help the environment. A group of scientists from Columbia's Computer Vision Laboratory designed a video camera that runs off of the same light as a photo camera. That means no more charging a camera battery. The reason why this video camera works is because it has photodiodes. Photodiodes take the light and turn it into electricity. Normally, only a digital camera has photodiodes, but scientist figured out a way to put it into a video camera.
The outcome of the video is not at all perfect. The video is 30 by 40 pixels, which turns out to be very blurry. Today quality movie pictures have millions of pixels that is why it is so clear and crisp. This video camera does not have any color, meaning it can only be produced in black and white. Also the camera isn't the most small and compact item in the media world. It looks like an old, boxy camera from back in the day. All of these problems can be fixed easily if there wasn't a budget for the college, and if more people and or companies wanted to get involved with this product. A great quality to this new video camera is that it is cheaper for most people. With cheaper cameras more people can buy them. They can buy them not only for recreational activities, but for surveillance too. This innovation can help families stay more safe. I think this is a really good innovation, not only for the environment but for the people too. In this case it is a win win situation for everyone. I do not like how the camera is super big and hard to take around anywhere, but overtime I think the scientists will think of ways to make it smaller. Also I feel like this video camera is going to have a hard time selling if the picture quality is looking the way it is. Overall, I think this new video camera could have a big helpful impact in the media world, if some adjustments were made. http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-video-camera-that-runs-on-light-1429302199 Very recently, DJI came out with their latest and best drone for filming. The new drone is called the DJI Mavic Pro. Some new features of this drone are that it can avoid obstacles, track a subject as it moves, and fly to a spot that the pilot assigns. The drone even has an ability to snap a photo of the pilot when the pilot waves to the drone. This is obviously some really cool technology that we haven't seen before.
This drone is very beginner friendly and comes all ready to fly. All you have to do is connect your smartphone to the drone through the DJI app and connector cable. While using the drone, the flyer can choose between using your smartphone to control the flight, or use DJI's controller along with a smartphone. While using the controller, you use the control sticks to control the flight and use your phone for the more advanced settings. When you take your fingers off of the control sticks the drone will hover perfectly in place. This allows for very crisp and steady still shots from unique angles. Tracking mode on the DJI Mavic Pro is one of the coolest modes. For example, as a subject runs or skies down a hill, the drone will track them and keep them well-positioned in the frame. Landing the drone can be done by a simple push of a button. The drone, much like the previous ones, has a GPS capability which allows the drone to return back from where it took off from all by itself. GoPro recently released a drone as well a week before the Mavic Pro game out. GoPro's drone was the most portable yet. However, that record was soon demolished by the Mavic Pro. One of the main reasons that the Mavic Pro is so popular is due to its incredible portability. The legs of the drone conveniently fold up so that it is more compact. When completely folded up, the entire drone is only slightly bigger then the iPhone 7 Plus. This allows film-goers more opportunities to get unique shots while on the go. The only real down side to this drone is the rather large price tag. The drone goes for $999.99. This puts this piece of equipment out of many people’s price range. Even though this drone is very expensive, you truly get what you pay for. This drone is very innovative and unique and will open up many new opportunities for drone enthusiasts. http://time.com/4523765/dji-mavic-pro-review-release-2016/ The article I read this week was about how a lot of people are saying that the only movies that are coming out are bad ones and that the film industry keeps failing. The article suggests that the people who say this are not looking hard enough and that there are so many new movies that are amazing.
They mention how this year a lot of kid’s movies came out. They said that usually kids movies are not for everyone, but this year in particular came out with a ton of kid’s movies that were imaginative and creative. They gave Finding Dory, Zootopia, The BFG, and the Jungle Book as examples. Also, it stated that this year came out with good horror movies. I’m a big fan of horror movies because I think that they can be very intriguing especially when they have a cool story line. I also agree that 2016 had a lot of good horror movies. The movie The Witch was a great movie and proves the article’s point that movies are not dead. They go on and on about all the movies that came out this year and they give many examples of the best ones. I agree with this article because even though bad movies do come out, there are also fantastic films that come out as well. In the article it states, “To say movies suck is really to say that big Hollywood blockbusters aren’t what they used to be. But there’s a lot out there for people who are willing to look past the ends of their noses”. This simply means that they only focus on the movies that flop and never look hard enough or realize the movies that are successful and the ones that are masterpieces. I think that everyone should read this article especially if they're in a media class or if they want to go into the film industry because this article gave me hope for me to make very cool videos in my media class and also it gave me a lot of confidence towards my work. https://lockerdome.com/vox.com/9118935446486548 After reading this interview structure from the Today show, I learned that there are many different techniques to know when needing to bring out every emotion out of the viewer. There are many people that excel greatly in this but one of the experts in this field, Jeffrey Zacks, shared with the newscast on how easy it is to make a film so dramatic.
A rule of thumb that a lot of movie makers use is called the mirror rule. It is as simple as having a tight shot on someone who is smiling. Since it is a shot up close, the audience has nowhere else to look, but at the person smiling. When we see a person smiling we smile back. This is how dramatic movies makes us sad. We see someone frown, so we frown, which makes us sad. Other reasons why movies can be so sad is music and location choice. Having shots with music and locations that can be sad and depressing can really touch the audience, because they can relate to it. Emotions aren't the only thing filmmakers can get out of us. Reactions from an explosion, guns, or any loud bang can cause us to flinch. This process is called the success rule. The science behind it is when you come "face to face" with a stimuli, or something that cause you to react in a certain way, you will act in a way that will help you have a good outcome. The response or flinch happens because that was your reaction to past stimuli. This interview from the Today show was very helpful. I learned a lot with how to structure my shots and how to use the necessary tools to convey the right feel in my videos. Also I now know how the stimuli reacts to a certain shot and how it can make the whole theme show very well. Finally I learned that you need to put a great deal of effort in every shot because it will make the audience feel a certain type of way and draw the emotion that you need to work with. http://www.today.com/health/your-brain-movies-why-films-make-us-cry-flinch-cheer-1D80258284 The animators at Pixar are stepping up their game when it comes to new movies and tv shows. They have new technology and software that makes their job a lot easier. From built in lighting sources to quick stencils, the new animators have it all.
The first new tool that they have is the ability to add light in even after the scene is already drawn. They used this software in the new movie Inside Out where one of the main characters, Joy, has to have a consistent glow to her that effectively lights up the room. The animators describe her as a lamp that will actually light up other things near her. Lighting is a big part in animation because it can define a good story from a bad one because it makes it look pretty real. Also, they had to use a lot of lighting in the movie Up because the look of the balloons had to reflect off the sun and look realistic. This portrayal can be made very easily with their new tool that lets you add light after because it saved a lot of time for the animators. Up is also a great example for their other new tool that allows you to stencil in other details and copy them in other frames. Although this was already a prevalent resource, it was recently made better as some people wanted to perfect the process. Now they can copy images from past frames and make them show up in other places a lot easier by using this tool. For example, as I said, the movie Up uses the tool by copying the balloons from frame to frame so that the producers are not consistently drawing them over again. I think that these new tools are very important because the animators already have a very tough job to create all these drawings. Also it takes a while for an entire movie to be animated and the producers could use any new gadgets that they could find to speed up the process. It is a good idea to provide the new things because it will maybe motivate some people to take on this job and will also help the producers pump out more animated movies in the meantime. http://fortune.com/2015/09/14/pixar-brings-movies-life/ When thinking of the perfect scene in your head, it is often hard to find the correct music to go along with that scene. The music must reflect the image perfectly or it just feels like it’s missing something. I struggle with this exact problem and sometimes I overcome it but usually I just throw in a track that I don’t really like. Robin Hoffman is an expert with sound and has studied it for many years. He explains the importance of having the right type of music in your films.
First of all, the music in your video will create the atmosphere. This will set up the whole film for you and frankly establish the mood of it too. This can be used in horror movies when they have the scary sounds in the beginning or in love movies when the romantic song is bringing everyone to tears. Also, by creating the atmosphere, you also begin to develop the relationships between the people. The main characters love interest will be met with a bunch of angels bellowing while the bad guy in the film with be greeted with loud piano noises and violin screeches. Another big part of music is that it can establish the time and period references by the type and style they use. Old timely music can be used or modern hip-hop can also be shown to explain when it is. Many shows use this now a days during the first episode or in time travel experiences in big movies because it can be very boring if you are given a glimpse back in time and there is no past music to reflect that. Finally, music can give a sense of unease when you create contradiction. This is usually done when directors have the wrong type of music in the wrong type of situations. Like having children’s music in a horror film will creep people out even more. This just comes to show you the power of music and how it can take an ordinary scene or film and make it extraordinary and exceptional because “the soundtrack was just too good.” http://www.robin-hoffmann.com/tutorials/guide-to-working-with-a-film-composer/12-what-is-the-function-of-film-music/ Black Mirror is a new type of show that has been released on Netflix. The first two seasons were produced in Britain and then Netflix took up the series for the third season. It is revolved around the use of technology and how it can consume up the everyday necessities that happen in the world. The most interesting part about it is that every episode is a completely different realm and story line. None of the episodes have anything to do with each other but somehow all reflect the same moral against the use of technology.
One of the reasons that this series is getting so much love is that each of the topics are really hard hitting and cover some brutally honest areas. That being said, they usually start out with a different kind of society that is primarily happy. Then the main character will have a moment of realization where they try to overpass the civilization’s norm. My favorite episode was the first episode of season three, right when Netflix bought the series. They had a lot at stake for this to be good and I think they nailed it. This episode, called Nosedive, revolves around a futuristic society that has a strong social media aspect to it. After every interaction people can rate others on a five star scale via a cell phone and contact lenses in their eyes. That number, your overall average rating by people, gets shown right by your head when you are talking with someone. Also, your number can lead you to certain privileges around the society that other people with lower numbers can’t have. This leads to everyone being very preppy and social in order to get rated well and increase your overall number. The main character, Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard), has a remarkable score but wants it to be even higher. Although, this leads to some bad decisions and her number is declining rapidly as people continue to give her bad ratings. She eventually has to make the decision whether she has the willpower to gain the love of people again and get her score back over a lot of time or just accept her new fate. I really like this series because it is very down to earth and all the topics reflected have a very adult theme to them and are really cool. Also, the cinematography is amazing in every episode and they are all very well done. I would recommend this series to someone that is willing to watch something that is little different but very entertaining. http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/24/13379204/black-mirror-season-3-episode-1-nosedive-recap After leaving viewers on a cliffhanger at the end of season six of AMC’s The Walking Dead, people were very excited and anxious to watch the season seven premiere for one lone reason; who did Negan kill?
For many who do not know the series, it is basically about a post-apocalyptic world with zombies, commonly called ‘walkers,’ roaming around. But most of the murdering in the show is done by the bad people that the main character, Rick, and his group face. At the end of season six, Rick’s group is captured by one of the worst villains that they have every faced. Negan is a man that will do anything to show you that he has all the power. The finale ends with all the nine people in Rick’s group on their knees and Negan saying that he is going to kill one of them with his baseball bat to pay for killing some of his friends. The suspense is building and building as Negan is walking around and whistling. The last few seconds is a point-of-view shot of Negan’s bat coming full force down on one of Rick’s friends. Following that finale, viewers were going crazy to find out who Negan killed. Conspiracy videos were posted on the internet with die-hard fans examining every angle of those last precious seconds to find out who was killed. When the season seven permiere was back on about a month ago, many people tuned in to find out the truth. When it was revealed that a character named Abraham was killed, fans were somewhat relieved because this was not a major character. But then Negan goes crazy and unexpectedly whacks one of the major characters that has been there from the start, Glenn. But even after Glenn was dead, Negan kept on hitting his cracked skull on the dirt ground until he was unrecognizable. The backlash from social media was outrageous after the episode. Many could not believe that Glenn was dead but the most talked about part was how realistic and gruesome the murder actually was. Loyal fans had to turn their heads during the beating because it was just a horrific thing to watch. The article I read was promoting the hate that The Walking Dead had received from that one scene that had fans shocked. People kept on saying, “Was that gruesome slaughter scene worth it?” Although I can understand why people are fighting against it, I believe that the scene was a great idea because it got people talking. All this anticipation for the new series was brought to a great climax where people are tweeting and posting all these things about the show. To conclude, I think that the directors at The Walking Dead did amazing things with the suspense of season six, the plot twist of the death of Glenn, and the brutality of the murder. http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/10/walking-dead-glenn-dies-abraham-negan-kills-cliffhanger-worth-it Virtual reality (VR) is a new concept to many of us. It allows the viewer to be inserted into the scene and as he or she turns their head, the camera moves with them. Although it may seem like an easy thing to some, this is actually a very challenging concept and it is very hard to tell a story when the viewer may be looking in the complete opposite direction. But Adobe has solved this problem by coming out with the first virtual reality editing software that is fairly easy to use.
This new software, that has just come out a few months ago, has already been stirring up some buzz. The main thing is that they found a way to make it so that you don’t have to put on your headset whenever you want to watch your video and then take it off when you have to edit. Adobe’s Project Clover has a built in editing system in the virtual reality headset so that you can keep it on and not have to take it off and on again to see the changes. Because the software had to be built in the side of the headset, they couldn’t make it too heavy. With that in mind, the programmers only put a handful of editing options that you can work with. But the ones that they did put in there are very useful. As I talked about earlier, being able to direct the viewer’s focus to a certain part in the video has been a continual challenge for journalists. So Adobe has made it very easy to layer the clips on top of one another and drag the clip to the side so that when it switches from clip to clip, you’re already looking at the point of focus. The video in the article shows an example with cars sliding around a race track. I think that this new software is a great and intelligent idea for many of the people that want to step up their game in the virtual reality world. However, I don’t know how many people this will apply to as not many student producers have the right equipment to film that 360 video. http://www.newsshooter.com/2016/11/09/vr-video-editing-goes-meta-with-adobes-project-clover/ |
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