- Voyeurism - we will be using this twice. This is when show an image through a reflection. We will be using this in the close up when Sam closes the mirror and looks at his reflection. This is self-deprecating as Sam is reflecting on his life, looking particularly at the bruise he has. This allows the audience to question there is something else to it rather than just a "rugby injury". We also see this when Sam is driving and he looks at himself in the rear view mirror. This is also self-reflecting, furthered with the body language when he puts his head on the steering wheel in frustration and his facial expression of looking sad.
- Soundbridge: this is when sounds merge together. We use this at the end when the sound of the dialtone when Sam hangs up, turns into the beeping sound of a cardiac monitor when Sam is in the hospital. This heightens the tension and allows the audience to be surprised when we see the shot of Sam in the hospital. These sounds also signify finality; the phone ending the call, and the hospital showing the end of life. This makes the audience aware that domestic abuse is not final and that people should think more about it.
- Shot/ reverse shot: We will use this when he is talking to his friends. Not just to easily show the dialogue, but also to show his closeness with his friends, as they are in the same frame, which will then contrast with the reverse shots of Sam and Amy when they are not both in the frame; showing isolation from each other.
- Match on action: we will be using this when Sam gets his dinner out of the fridge. The transition will be moving from a mid shot of the fridge, to a close up of Sam's hand getting the item. This will be functional as it will speed up a sequence that does not necessarily have very good content, but the close up will also help to represent the social group of a teenager as it will establish that it is a microwave meal.
- Credits: we wanted to try and make our credits look good, but not detract too much from the film. So as the phone is the main prop we are using, we are going to send texts saying the credits.
Experiments - updated Wednesday 5th December
These shots will be the most difficult for us to do, so today we decided to practise them.
We practised the cupboard shot in different places to try to test the lighting, as well as the practicalities of the shot. We used a bathroom mirror in college to work out the angle we would use so that way we can still see Sam's face but so that you cannot see the camera in the background. We tested this out three times, and in one of the shots the edge of the camera screen went slightly into the frame. If this had happened in our short film we would need to reshoot, so now we will make sure we film this shot a few times, trying different angles in case it happens again.
Video of our mirror sequence experiment.
We also tried out different shots where we altered the zoom to change the composition of where Sam is in the frame. We did this for the mirror shot but also the shot where the camera is in the cupboard. We used a mid shot, a close up and a big close up. In the end we agreed that the big close up was best as it reveals more of Sam's emotion, which is at it's height in this shot when we are first introduced to his bruise. It is a small cupboard so we also had to work out the practicalities of this shot: where the camera would go, how we would prop it up and how we would press record. We worked out the correct height we need it to be at in order to see Sam's face, and the convenience of the touch screen meant one of us could press the record button without being in the shot.
again.
Video of our experiment for our cupboard sequence.
The match on action shot was fairly straightforward, however our experiment taught us that for continuity purposes we need to make sure we know the exact spot that the microwave meal is in for the second close up shot when Sam picks it up again.
Video of our title sequence experiment.
We also tried out the title sequence shot, this was again for the practicalities of the shot, for example getting the timing right of when we will send the texts, but also for the positioning of the phone in relation to the camera, and whether we will be able to see the texts. We worked our the mesaurement that the camera needs to be away from the screen so that we can see the text. We realised that by putting the phone on an angle we can still see the text, but it looks much more casual and realisitc, also it means we can see Sam's feet when he is walking past the phone, so the audience can link the phone to belonging to him. We also tested it for lighting purposes as phones are screens they reflect things easily. On our first shot we had the lights on and so the light was directly reflected onto the screen, making the shot unuseable. We then turned the light off, however this was too dark. So we realised that by putting the phone next to the window we can use the natural light which doesn't reflect on the screen. To do this shot we are going to show the credits of the film title, who it is starring and who it is directed by. We have four phones in our group. One is being used as a prop, but we will use the other three to send texts to this one phone saying these credits. When doing this experiment we worked out what is the best order for it to go in, how it will come up on the screen and the timing of it.
