Researching the openings of comedies and more camera practice

In todays lesson I researched different films with the genre of "comedy". We did this to help us with our coursework which is also a comedy. In the end I chose to write about the film "Juno" looking at the production company, distributer, rating, box office results etc. Overall, it was beneficial to look at Juno's trailer as it contained some effective cinematography and gave me a clearer understanding of how to present characters particularly teenagers.

Furthermore, we spent our time researching the openings of films such as Bridget Jones to inspire us with it's cinematography. We also worked on improving our storyboard. Today, we spent the day practice filming and worked on improving shots etc.

CLC.

At the CLC we worked on our storyboard. Furthermore, we were given a lesson which showed us how to edit footage and use the features of the program Premiere Pro. The lesson on Premiere Pro was effective as it helped us to become more familar with the program which we will be using to edit our media coursework. We also explored the music features and this got us thinking about music we could use.

Practice on the camera

In today's lesson my group filmed some practice footage for the main task (an opening of a film). We filmed the beginning shots; a long shot from the front and behind, a mid-shot from the front and behind. This was helpful as we now have more practice on the camera and some footage to edit when we have our first lesson at the CLC. Furthermore, our filming gave us an understanding of how we want to present the characters in the film.

Script and Shots

Today we devised a rough copy of our script which we found less time consuming as we decided that our media opening would have no dialogue as we considered that most openings of films do not have dialogue but just music which relates to the character or the genre or story. The script included things like the song used, the names of the cast, the facial expressions shown and body language and setting.

Script & Shot List:

*Establishing shot of the sky*
First Credit appears in the sky after a few seconds.
Music starts.
Camera slowly moved downwards so that a boy is in view. The loser boy walks slowly and he is listening to his ipod.
The camera follows the Loser boy who turns into a small alleyway.

Now, there is a Full shot of the Loser boy as he walks towards the camera from the top of the alleyway.
Secondly, we will have some quick shots. One of the Loser boy's feet, one of his full body and a mid shot of this face.
Then the camera will turn so that it is from the Loser boy's perspective.
From the Loser Boy's perspective the camera will show a full shot of the girl he likes waving. The loser boy thinks she is waving at him and the camera quickly flicks back to a mid - shot of the Loser boy hesitantly and happily waving back. However, whilst he is waving another boy is seen behind him also waving. The other boy is the girls boyfriend and he moves forward knocking the Loser boy out of the way. The camera again turns and watches the girl's boyfriend run towards Katie. They hug and the camera zooms in and out to show their relationship. The camera flicks back to the Loser boy to show his reaction and he turns around and walks away. The camera then flicks back to the girl and boy who are just letting go of each other. The boyfriend takes the girls hand and slowly turns around giving the Loser boy a dirty look. They walk of in the opposite direction to the Loser boy as they walk off the instrumental of the music begins to play.

The setting changes. There is an establising shot of a field and the Loser boy is slightly in view. To emphasize that time has past there is two final shots. One when he is in the middle of the field and one when he is walking past the camera. *Fades out* During this scene the two shots that emphasize that time has past appear in time with the music to add effect.

Storyboard

In today's lesson my group made a rough copy of our storyboard and spoke to our teacher about our overall ideas. He made suggestions such as to carefully consider our setting for eg, a quiet setting so we have the space we need to film. He also suggested that we lengthen our scene by adding more movement and shots to emphasise the connection with the boy and girl. We also decided to use diegetic music so that the main boy is listening to the same song as the music the audience can hear to prevent confusion. We considered songs to use and decided to use a fast tempoed and energetic song to enthuse the audience and to emphasise the characters personality. Furthermore, we have roughly timed our opening and decided to begin our opening with an establishing shot of the sky from the ground.