Film Shot Types

As a class, we have produced a short film detailing all of the various different shot types that can be used within a movie or short film.
While creating this short film, I picked up on numerous invaluable techniques in terms of camera control, directing and the process that goes into both filming a scene and editing the film. In terms of directing, there are several steps that must be taken when filming a scene. The first is from the person operating the camera. When shooting a scene, the cameraperson first says 'rolling' to indicate to the actors and director that the camera is filming. Then, the director, after waiting for a short period of time, says 'action'. This lets the actors on-stage know that the action within the scene can commence. Once the action ends, the director must wait one or two seconds before saying 'cut'. The cameraperson can end filming on the camera. These commands can then be indicative to the editor of which content needs to be kept, cut out, replaced etc. This is why these commands mustn't be too early. The editor can always cut away any extra footage created from saying 'cut' too late, however if said too early, they cannot create footage that they do not have.
I also learned about the importance of shooting multiple takes. Even if more than one of the takes work, this enables the editor/director to then choose the ones which they prefer the most, even if the differences between the takes are minimal or not noticeable at all.

Movie Poster Flat Plan - Rationale

For my movie poster, I decided to include the movie’s title in large, white text at the middle/bottom of the poster. The text will be a fairly slim font, but bolded, to give the impression of slimness (which in itself has negative connotations with ghosts, skeletal figures, emptiness etc.) while still causing the movie title to stand out and grab the reader’s attention. The title will feature the largest text size on the entire poster to ensure that is the first thing the reader is drawn to, allowing it to stay in the reader’s mind for the longest possible time. The background image will also be very simplistic, following the conventions of other similar horror movie posters. Unlike action movies, which feature lots of items on their posters to convey that the movie itself is action-packed and exciting, horror movies tend to go for the more simplistic designs to convey their desired feelings of isolation and loneliness, to further convey this creepy and unsettling emotion through to the reader and, subsequently, the audience of said film. The simplistic image will consist of a singular light source emanating from an otherwise dark location. This will be the only source of light used within the photograph, ensuring that the rest of the poster is as dark as possible to fully create this isolated and spooky atmosphere. All of the text on the page will consequently be in bright colours (more specifically white or red) to both contrast with the existing dark poster, and at the same time create an even further ominous tone. The tag line and film credits will be located at the bottom of the poster, following the conventions of existing movie posters, not just ones focusing on films in the horror genre. There will also be ratings of the film on the left hand side of the movie poster, however they will simply be one word quotes from the reviewer, and in a relatively small text size in comparison to the rest of the text on the poster. Both of these are to ensure that the reviews do not jeopardise the simplicity of the overall film poster, and still allow for the main focus to be placed on both the title and the background image of the poster. There will be approximately three of these reviews – enough to convince readers the movie is of good quality, but not so much as to overload the poster and take away from the simplicity of the overall poster design.

Horror Poster Reconstruction

Original Poster

My Recreation

As a task to practice my abilities with Adobe Photoshop, as well as identifying the key features of a horror poster, and practicing my ability to implement these techniques into my own design as best I could, I recreated the poster for 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. Initially, I aimed to try and recreate the perspective given from the background image, which appears to take place within a corridor. I found a fairly similar image of a corridor, adding an effect to the colour, giving it a distinct red/yellow effect, similar to that of the original. I then added a black border effect to the image, giving a very isolated feel to the central image. The figures were simply ordinary figures of a cowboy and girl sitting, accompanied with a decreased brightness effect. The text was inspired by the same font as the original, and while there is no definitive way to identify the original font, the recreation's font is very similar. The Warner Bros. Logo and New Line Cinema logos were exact copies, scaled down and recoloured accordingly to match the original.

Overall, I am very happy with the way my version turned out compared to the original. There were certain limitations such as the stances of the subjects in the image and certain advanced effects such as the light rays or the slight grainy effect on certain words such as 'STREET', however I think the finished version doesn't differ too greatly from the original.

Filmmaking Techniques - Storyboards

Storyboards must also contain a wide variety of key conventions to ensure they allow for as quick a filming session as possible. This ensures the director knows exactly where the camera needs to be located before filming each scene, the character's movements, props, mis-en-scene etc. While this may take up production time, it ensures for a seamless and easier time when actually filming.

The setting location is a key element to a storyboard. It details where the scene is taking place and at what time of day etc. While this may be included in the script, it is now aided by a visual representation to give even more of a clue as to the intricate details of the set.

The actors needed are also a vital part of the storyboard, with each scene needing to detail how many actors will be present within the scene. This ensures that setting up scenes when filming occurs is as quick and efficient as it can possibly be.

These storyboards must also give a detailed overview as to the important props and vehicles within a scene. These, detailed here, will ensure that the set designers are fully aware of which props need to be ready before the shooting of a scene.

The type of shot must also be detailed here. This planning will let the cameraman know where the camera must be positioned within a scene. For example, this can be a close-up, wide-shot, establishing shot etc. They can be any of the shots listed here (link to shot types)

As well as the type of shot, the shot angle must also be noted. For example, whether the shot will be a high angle or low angle shot. This will assist with the type of shot and pinpoint the exact location and position of the camera when filming.

In the scenes, it also must be noted as to whether or not there will be any movement from either the characters or objects on screen such as vehicles etc. This helps ensure the director and cast are fully aware of the exact movements taking place within a scene.

There may also be camera movement which must also be documented. This is to ensure the cameraperson is fully aware of any movements they must make to ensure the key action within a scene is focused upon during filming, and the movements are planned carefully beforehand to maximise effectiveness of the shot as well as saving time during filming.

Any special lighting must also be taken into consideration when storyboarding, identifying when a scene is likely to need artificial lighting if it appears that it would be too dark otherwise.

Sound effects should also be prominent throughout the storyboards, detailing exactly which sound effects need to be used at specific points within the film. These will mainly be used so the actors can react to sound effects, despite the actual sound effects not becoming present in the film until editing.

The final main feature of storyboards are the audio, detailing any background music which will be used. While these may not be necessary for shooting the film, they are useful for planning purposes and will be vital for editing the film. If the sound is present during the shot, however, such as music playing in a shop or bar etc.

Filmmaking Techniques - Scriptwriting

There are numerous different techniques used all to successfully write a script.

It should always start with 'Fade In - Transition', as this introduces the scene via a transition, so that it doesn't appear jarring to the viewer, and they are slowly introduced to the production, rather than simply 'thrown in'.

Scene Headings should be present, a simple, one-line description of the location and time of day that a scene is taking place in. These may also include abbreviations such as EXT. (for exterior) and INT. (for interior).

Narrative Descriptions of the events within a scene are also necessary, detailing briefly what is happening to provide context for the dialogue and actions. This can take place either at the beginning of a scene, between dialogue during a scene, or at the end of a scene.

Transitions should also be clearly labelled within the script - simply 'film editing instructions', they provide the editors with the necessary information to edit the transitions in-between scenes. Verbiage may include:

CUT TO:

DISSOLVE TO:

QUICK CUT:

FADE TO:

A Character's First Appearance should also be clearly detailed. A description of the character with a capitalised name should be present. (e.g.  The door opens and in walks RICHARD, a twenty-something upper-class gentleman with...)

The character's name must always appear capitalised above the dialogue.

The dialogue is the lines of speech for each character. and used any time a character is heard speaking, even if said character is not on-screen at that time. They are also used for voiceovers, but in these instances, the dialogue is in brackets.

Desconstruction of Magazine Front Covers

To get a better understanding of how to structure my own magazine front cover for my horror film, I will be taking a look at existing magazine front covers. In the one above, the magazine features what appears to be the antagonist of the horror film advertised. Interestingly, only half of the subject's face is visible. This instantly gives the impression of mystery and uncertainty towards both the character and the film.

As well as this, a key convention of listing other films included within the magazine is present. This will obviously be a key convention that I will carry out in my own magazine front cover.

One of the major things which I have picked up on from this cover is the way in which it contrasts the coverage between the main film (the one pictured) and other minor ones within the magazine. This is done by providing information about the film in the form of either a very short synopsis or a quote etc. as well as items such as "Catering for cannibals" and even behind the scenes information. The other films inside the magazine are present, but in a far more minor and less protruding location/size in the bottom-right hand corner of the magazine cover. 

In this example, the same concepts can be taken from above and applied here, with one film being predominantly the focus of the cover. In this example, however, it is obvious what the film's name is, advertising it as 'Hellboy 2' very clearly underneath the image. This is a convention that I would like to carry forward to my magazine front cover.

On a minor aesthetic note, I like how the position of the barcode has been switched from a traditional horizontal layout to a vertical one up the side of the page. This obviously allows for the text at the bottom of the cover to become more centred and not be restrained by the positioning of the barcode. If ever in the development of my magazine front cover I decide that I would like more space near the bottom of my poster, I will attempt to move the barcode into a position similar to this one to make more room, or perhaps purely for aesthetic reasons rather than purely practical reasons.

Finally, this cover also conveys the subject of the horror film in the exact same way the above one did, facing the camera. While the first differed slightly by having the subject face away from the camera, as well as only showing half of the subject's face, all three have the common similarity of actually showing the subject in a very prominent manner, making them the focus of the cover. This cover, however, appears to be more of a physical horror rather than a psychological horror, hence the reason lighting doesn't appear to be as big of a factor in this cover. Despite this however, the cover is generally dark and therefore still conforms to the convention of a horror film poster.

Deconstruction of Film Posters

This is a film poster which I have found in an existing film magazine, and have scanned and placed onto my blog to deconstruct it. The film it is advertising is in the horror genre, making it a perfect example to deconstruct, as I can identify the features I do and do not like, and then identify features I could possibly use within my own poster. The first thing that strikes me about this poster is the extreme-close-up shot of the subject within the poster. The single view of the subject's eyes create a personal relationship between the viewer of the poster and the subject, allowing the reader to create an assumption of the subject, letting them know the subject is deep in thought and/or in danger. Either way, it is apparent that, despite the use of emotion, the character is not in a happy mood. This lets me know that the entire face is not required to portray the dark theme that is being conveyed by the poster. The colour of the poster adopts a particularly blue hue, with the colour blue being synonymous with sadness and depression. Half of the poster adopts a dark, almost 'hidden' half, whereas the other adopts a brighter, more 'visible' half. This is reminiscent of one of the magazine covers which I looked at within my project pitch. Much like the posters I looked at, there is one central subject of the poster, with perhaps minor, smaller elements around it, but the subject being the focus within the poster. One thing I also picked up on about the poster was the use of the rain effect within the poster. It is helped of course by the blue hue effect on the poster, creating the illusion that perhaps the subject is looking out of a window, reflecting on something. All of these elements combine to create a dark, depressing and slightly creepy horror movie poster.

This was another movie poster which I also scanned in and placed onto my blog to deconstruct. This poster in particular is one which stood out to me. It features a high angle shot onto the scene, showing characters walking towards a chasm. Presumably, the characters cannot see the large metal object within the chasm. This creates a sense of dramatic irony within the scene - the audience of the poster know about the imminent danger that the characters are about to encounter, however the characters themselves do not. As well as this, the shot is a high angle shot, further emphasising the characters' lack of power within the scene. This makes the audience want to find out what happens next to the characters, thus making them more inclined to go and actually view the film upon its release. Again, the colour scheme of this poster is very simplistic, with only two prominent colours, both contrasting, black and white. The darkness is where 'The Thing' is presumably located, and this contrasts against the bright white surroundings where the characters are located, indicating they are being led into the darkness.

This was yet another movie poster which I scanned and placed onto my blog. This poster features two subjects, both being shown via a mid shot. Their facial expressions indicate they have seen something shocking or worrying, however it is not clear from the poster exactly what it is. The subjects are positioned on the right hand side of the page, with the information surround it, such as the short description, title, as well as the actors within the movie. This ensures that the expressions of the actors are the main focus, much like the first poster I analysed, are the key focus of the poster, and is not overshadowed by the numerous different other elements such as the cast, reviews etc. The subjects are also the only elements within the image that have a light source upon them, which further helps them to stand out within the image. This can also be seen in the previous poster, with the contrast of colour helping to separate the good from the evil within the poster, and allow the audience to quickly gauge a perspective of who is in trouble and where the trouble lies within the poster.

Filmmaking Techniques - Shot Types

Extreme Close Up

An Extreme Close Up (an ECU) generally focuses on one specific area for emphasis. This may not refer to a person, but may refer to a computer monitor reading, an object, a piece of writing etc. It is most known for being used to emphasise emotion or specific details, especially in human faces, used on the mouth, eyes etc.

Close Up

A Close Up is a shot of a person from above the shoulders, or perhaps a shot that is not as close up as an Extreme Close Up, not necessarily of a person, but perhaps an object. This is mainly used to emphasise a person's facial expression, but not emphasising a particular area of the person's face like an ECU would. This shot would typically be used for emphasising general facial expressions as a whole, rather than pinpointing a particular area of the face such as the eyes or mouth.

Medium Close Up
A medium close up would typically be used to emphasise both a facial expression and perhaps give a particular impression of the body stance and body language. It would also provide information in relation to the direction a person's body is facing compared to the way a person's head is facing, showing whether or not they are turning their head to look at something, or looking at something directly, a piece of information which may not be immediately obvious via a close up.


Medium Shot
A medium shot is a shot where the majoriy of a person or object is in the shot. In terms of a person, it is best described as a shot which shows the person from the waist up. With shots like this, the viewer would get a reasonably clear impression as to how the subject is standing, as well as their facial expression and the environment they are located. These shots are useful for delivering lots of information to the user at once, however would not be ideal for emphasis on specific factors of a shot such as facial expressions.


Wide Shot
Wide shots are particularly beneficial as they can emphasise the sheer amount of people or objects within a scene, or perhaps highlight the scale of the events happening. They are different to Establishing Shots as they do not 'set the scene', but merely highlight objects or events within a scene. For example, a wide shot could be used to emphasise the amount of people within a crowd, whereas an Establishing Shot could be used beforehand to show the exterior of the building to detail where the scene was taking place.


Extreme Wide Shot / Establishing Shot
An extreme wide shot (also known as an establishing shot) is a shot that is traditionally used at the start of a scene. It tells the viewer where the following scene will be taking place, often showing no clear visuals of individuals, objects etc. within a scene, unless the establishing shot requires it (such as cars on a road if the scene is about to take place in a car), and focuses mainly on the buildings/props etc. to set a scene.


Two Shot
A two shot is a shot which contains two people within the shot, usually having a conversation. Despite a conversation usually being the context in which a two shot is used, the shot can also be applied to demonstrate one character in the foreground and one character in the background. Typically, these shots are to show the characters' emotions/reactions to dialogue from the other character. This type of shot would most likely be favoured over multiple over-the-shoulder shots or reverse shots in scenes where the dialogue switches back and forth regularly as this could become quite overwhelming for the audience if the shot kept changing sporadically.

Dutch Angle/Canted Angle
A canted angle is a shot used in films that allow the action to be viewed from an angle. Usually not tilted too much as to make it hard for the viewer to follow, the camera is tilted slightly to give the illusion that the scene is not level. It may also be used to portray psychological uncertainty relating to the character. They are typically static shots, but may also incorporate camera movement along with the camera angle.

Over the Shoulder Shot

Over the shoulder shots refer to shots that typically show a face-to-face dialogue between two characters, but may not necessarily involve this concept. The shot can simply take place as an over the shoulder shot without dialogue or interaction present between two separate characters, and can simply be the character looking at an object, area or scene, similar to that of a Point-of-View Shot. 

Handheld Camera/Shaky Shot/Free Camera

A shaky shot is a type of camera movement which gives the effect of the camera being held by a person. It does not benefit from the use of a steadicam and, instead, uses the shaking generated by the lack of one as a cinematic technique. The camera is either held in the hand(s) or given the appearance of being handheld. This technique is often employed to give a particular scene an effect similar to that of a documentary or 'found-footage' type film. It produces a sense of instability, nervousness or immersion into a scene.

Tracking Shot

Tracking shots are shots which follow a character or group of characters' movements. This can include from left to right across a scene or moving towards the camera, with the camera moving away at the same speed. This shot is particularly useful when following a character or two characters having a discussion while simultaneously travelling to a new location. If used in a scene with more than one person, it is often linked to the storytelling-technique "walk and talk", where it suggests that characters are far too busy to simply 'stop and talk' and therefore must multitask by continuing to walk while having their conversation.

180° Rule

The 180° rule is a technique which relates to the way in which shots, typically between two people, are composed. To achieve this rule, an imaginary line must first be created, typically down the centre of the characters in the shot. All shots within that scene which contains these characters should be filmed on one side of this imaginary line. This stops the audience from feeling disoriented whenever their perception of the characters suddenly changes. Crossing this imaginary line is known as 'jumping the line' or 'crossing the line', and is occasionally done purposely to produce this sense of disorientation, but is usually avoided.

Pan

A pan is a type of camera movement where the camera changes the view from one object, person, event etc. to another one. It can usually pan from an object or person which may not be considered too important to an object or person which is important to the scene. This is a very common technique, and very useful to demonstrate a contrast between two things or to pan from an establishing shot of a building exterior to a character, event or object etc. Panning is similar to tilting, but tilting takes place on the vertical plane whereas panning takes place on the horizontal.

Tilt
A tilt is a type of camera movement which literally 'tilts' the camera up or down. Occasionally, this changes a shot that once was a high shot into a low shot, and vice versa. This is done, usually, to portray an object falling from a high point to a low point, especially in action sequences. This can also be used, however, as a pan, tilting from one object, event etc. to another. Tilting is similar to panning, but panning takes place on the horizontal plane whereas tilting takes place on the vertical plane.

Foreground and Background

Foreground

The foreground refers to the objects within a scene located closest to the camera/lens. It is usually shown via a focused lens upon the foreground and usually includes a less-focus background further away from the lens. Objects in the foreground are usually important and are located in the foreground so that they catch the audience's attention immediately and they are the audience's primary focus. Shots focused on the foreground can usually shift focus so that the background shots are now the ones in clear focus and catching the audience's attention.

Background

The background refers to anything happening in the frame that is not in the foreground, i.e. objects or characters located farther away from the camera or lens than the characters in the foreground. The image above shows the difference between a foreground and a background. The image on the left shows a radio in the foreground while the out-of-focus background contains unknown characters moving around. Shifting the focus from the foreground to the background (as well as incorporating a tilt and a pan), it can be seen that two adults and a young chil were running around in the background, now in focus.

Framing

The framing of shots refers to the way in which the camera is positioned. There is a certain framing technique called the Rule of Thirds that is often used within film production. Rule of Thirds refers to the grid above, and the positioning of the action within the shot in relation to this grid. It is often considered that at the four points circled on the picture above, the audience's eyes are drawn automatically to these four areas of the frame more than any other area within a frame. This is why, in many shots, the action is never centralised. The only examples where the action may be centralised would be in instances such as horror films, where the action would be the focus point anyway due to other conventional factors of the genre such as low light levels of areas other than the actors etc. Other than a select few instances such as this, however, the Rule of Thirds technique is often applied.

Target Audience of Film Trailer

For my film trailer, I have identified the target audience that I will be aiming my trailer towards, going into specific detail about their personalities, hobbies etc.

General Features:
- I have deemed that the majority of my target audience will be males. Most of the people who go and view a horror film are either male, or males accompanied by a female (as a couple more often than not).
- The age of my target audience will be mainly young adults/adults, based on the fact that horror movies would not generally appeal to the younger audience, and is far less likely to appeal to the elderly audience.

In-depth Features:
- My target audience, I imagine, would have a strong, mature personality, having the ability to withstand the more unsettling, shocking parts of the film. This links in with Blumler and Katz's 'Uses and Gratification' theory, identifying that the audience can use their reactions to the shock and terror within the movie to identify and build on their own personal identities.
- Stereotypically, horror movies are not as high-budget and sophisticated as other movies, which may be reflected in the lifestyle of the target audience. In this case, I would not assume that higher-class individuals would be the primary target audience for a horror film, whereas individuals from the lower classes would. This also links to the assumed age of the target audience, young adults who may not yet be financially stable or slightly more stressed than older individuals. Because of these key factors, a horror film would generally then offer some form of diversion, an escape from reality for those individuals.