THE FILM

The Preliminary Task.
For our film we have chosen a woodland scene starring Callum Adams and Phil Lemon. Oli Theuissen took up the job of cameraman and Luke Butcher Directed while Callum and Phil were in action. Every part of the film making and editing was talked about as a team. We used a range of camera shots to enhance the story, showing the dominant character and the lesser, weaker character.
The first scene was an establishing shot of the two characters, Callum and Phil. As a group we chose to use the woodland area because it had a tunnel effect. From behind the two characters walking towards the camera the location mimics a long journey, coming from the darkness into the light. There are many varied establishing shots so we kept ours simple but effective. The characters start from a long distance and walk towards the camera, no zoom is used to show the characters transition not the camera's. The camera follows the characters as they walk past from above (to do this Oli did have to climb a tree, something captured and shown in the deleted scenes (if we upload them)). The scene ends as the camera watches the characters walk slowly away in deep discussion.
Due to the following scene we chose to add a transition into the change. Instead of having a plain cut we included a push slide from left to right. This was due to the fact the second scene started with the camera panning from a wooded area to the two stationary characters talking.
This second shot was a short scene panning from a wooded area to the two characters talking. We chose to move the camera out of the wooded area so that the difference between the first and second scene didn't seem to lose continuity.
Moving onto the third shot we chose a straight cut into a 180 degree pan. This was a hard shot to manage as we didn't have a dolly, the ground was particularly uneven and the wind was reaching gale speeds. To combat this we chose to enhance the effect of having a hand held camera. If we had tried to make the shot seem as though it was a smooth pan but at the same time was inevitably jolty the shot would seem cheap and unconvincing from an audiences perspective.
The cut from third to fourth scene was again, a straight cut. This we felt was essential because it brought the viewer immediately into the action, and although there is no dialogue as we will explain later on, it pulls the audience into the action.
The fourth scene is a close up of Phil's face as he starts to make the conversation more serious. To enhance Phil's authority over Callum we included Callum's right arm and shot the scene from a low angle exaggerating Phil's power and size. To add even more difference in size Phil stood on a raised up area while Callum crouched slightly. Finally we zoom into an extreme close up of Phil's face to encourage his seriousness.
We then used a fade out face in transition from the fourth to fifth scene because it helped get from one scene to another with a smooth move.
The Fifth scene is of Callum's face from an over-the-shoulder shot from Phil's point of view. This was used as a method to show Callum's lesser authority. The camera then zooms in as Callum walks away and the shot fades into a woodland area. The scene then moves to the Sixth scene through a fade in.
The Sixth scene is of Callum walking alone towards the camera. We incorporated the 'Match on Action Shot' in here by filming the walk from two different angles, separated by a straight cut. Callum moves towards a tree and leans on it as the camera zooms into his shoulder and Phil's hand is seen resting on his shoulder, comforting him. We purposely blurred the shot as Phil's hand rests on Callum's shoulder so that the audience wonder if it is really Phil's hand and, in general, what is going on.
From scene Six to Seven we chose to use a fade out fade in because coupled with the out of focus ending it creates a mysterious, smooth cut.
The final scene, scene Seven, is from an over-the-shoulder shot of Phil from Callum's point of view. We made sure in the final scene that Phil was comforting and reassuring Callum but still had authority over him. Phil then walks out of the scene to show that he is done and the rest is left to Callum. The camera then moves from the position of Phil's face left into the wooded area and slowly zooms in and finishes. We chose to end it this way to leave the audience wondering how it has ended yet hopefully have a rounded view of what the scene was about.
The entire project centered around broadcasting a message through camera angles and shots rather than mise-en-scene and dialogue. Therefore we made the brave move of taking background sound and dialogue out and replacing it with a backing track. The backing track is emotional piano to keep the film neutral and leave the message conveyed purely to the camera.
The whole project was a difficult one but satisfying to make and watch once it had been through the editing stage.