For the synopsis, we have collaborated our ideas and the Treatment has been delegated to each member of our group, and I agreed to create the Storyboards and therefore the Treatment for the Cinematography of the video. This was going to be the Group Treatment, a collaboration of the Treatments for different areas that will be covered during this project.
For this task to be completed accurately I took into consideration various rules, codes and conventions used by professionals and expert cameramen in the media, when filming with any type of video camera system. These include the “Rule of Thirds”, the “180 degree line rule”, the “30 degree line rule”, “Handles”, “Match-On-Action” (continuity and flow of one shot into another), and “Framing”.
The “180 degree line rule” will apply greatly to the continuity and comfortability of the video from the audience’s point of view. If the man walks from the right to the left of the screen and the girl from the left to the right of the screen, in shots to follow this known movement should be retained, unless otherwise shown by the camera, where the camera tracks from one side to the other. Then, once you have explained how the two characters have been moving and how we as an audience have ‘crossed’ that ‘line’, as a cameraman you can then begin to develop shots with a different point of view of the characters. Otherwise, a bad mistake and confusion can often lead to audiences becoming less interested in your production and your mishap is considered to be a moviemaking error and a bad piece of camerawork.
I found the videos below on YouTube, and after using them for my Coursework project last year (Film Noir project) I decided to watch and use them again this year as they make the complicated rules easier to understand, use and follow.
For the first shot, the establishing shot, we had discussed a possible point-of-view shot of the Sun. This is personification of the Sun because we are seeing what the Sun sees, if it had a point of view of our world. So, I took this as a consideration, and as a result I have decided that the first shot could either be a High Angle Shot from the Sun’s point-of-view, or indeed a Low Angle Shot of the Sun, then from the Low Angle the camera tilts down to look at the street, but at the same time elevating the tripod using the Elevate/Depress tripod controls, so that when the street does come into view we see the street as if it is from the Sun’s point-of-view, or that of a CCTV camera (as in the CCTV camera joke video above), but looking to the right of the street.
The second shot is a continuation of the first, so Match-On-Action is increasingly important here. We see the man walking, “wandering aimlessly by the water’s edge” as Josh had put in our Synopsis. I was thinking of maybe a High Angle Shot looking down to the left of the street, the camera on the opposite side of the street this time, and focusing on the man as he walks from the right to the left of the screen, continuing his movements from the first, establishing shot. I was hoping that to cut down on the number of shots we actually use, we could make these two opening shots into one long one, so that we are not worried about the flow of the cuts, but if we do film and edit these as two shots then we must pay particular attention to the “180 degree line rule” and the continuity and flow of the transition between the two shots.
The third shot is of the man as he sits down by the water’s edge and dangles his legs over the edge of the promenade, his legs dangling above the water. We could have a Wide Shot of him as he walks to where he will sit down, the camera panning left to give him some “looking space” in the framing of the shot when he sits down. As he has approached and sat down next to the camera, the shot changes from a Wide Shot to a Medium Shot. Originally I thought we could have only the man in focus (Shallow Focus) then when he crouches to sit down we re-focus the shot so that both the foreground and the background are in focus.
When he sits down, the next shot is of his legs dangled over the edge and his reflection in the water below. Because I wanted to show his legs at the bottom of the frame, I think this shot will be better shot as a handheld shot, and have a focus pull from his legs to his reflection, ready for the next shot of the water where we see him and his girlfriend reflected in the water. She isn’t really there, and the reflection of her is just one of his memories which sets us up for the shot to follow.
To be creative, I thought the next shot of the water could be in the past, still with their reflections in the water, only this time it is a memory, not so much an illusion. I thought we could have the shot of his legs and her legs dangling over the edge, only they are both in different clothing to his present - in summer clothes, and as they get up and leave happily from the spot at which they were sitting, in the next shot (a Long Shot), hand-in-hand, the real man in the present time still sits there, and sees his memory as if he is a ghost in another world, invisible to others but not to us, watching as their relationship together (in his past) progresses to the video’s climax. I reckon we can add this effect to the video in Editing, and only involves superimposing, or overlaying one shot onto another.
We had discussed, as a group and with our lecturer Jon, that we could use the effect on our video called “Super 8mm” which was an old type of camera. I researched this on various websites, and found a video on YouTube which was the best example I could find of this video effect. It comprises handheld footage with the style of watching a reel of negatives produced from, for example, a family holiday in the 1960s, viewed in the 21st Century. We agreed that if we could in fact create this kind of effect for our video on our Editing software Final Cut Pro (on the Apple Macintosh computers in our Editing suite), as the camera equipment we are using records onto Mini-DV Tapes, then we would use this effect to our advantage on shots where we see the man’s flashbacks and memories on-screen.
Concluding on the fact that our narrative is about a man who now has a sad life, remembering (through the use of flashbacks) the good times he had with his girlfriend, I thought of using mostly Wide Shots or Medium Shots, with a couple of Dutch Tilts here and there where appropriate and maybe a couple of Extreme Close-ups on their hands joined in his flashback. I want to include a shot where we are focused on a metal fence (in the tennis courts?) with them arguing in the background but out of focus, then pulling off a Focus-Pull so that when she leaves him after their argument (in the tennis courts?), we focus on him, alone, and possibly crying (or not).
14 years ago
