Mise En Scene

Mise en scene refers to everything that appears before the camera and how it will be positioned in the shots. This includes props, costumes, settings and other aspects. 

There are issues to do with mise en scene that I may encounter when making my own two minute film introduction; 

• Location- As we are only given a limited time to film our two minute introduction, it wouldn't be ideal nor feasible to choose a location of a certain distance away as it may not be possible to get there and travelling would waste a large amount of time. 
• Props- I would have to ensure that I had appropriate props for the setting of my film (time period and place). Props could cause problems as we would have limited resources (including money), so not only will it be difficult to pay for some props, it may also be difficult to find certain props from certain time periods or places. 
• Actors- Depending on how many actors will be needed to film my introduction, it may be difficult to get enough people to play main characters as well as extras depending on whether people are willing to help out in the process of making our film openings. 

Evaluation of Preliminary Task

Using the green screen gave us the opportunity to be more creative when filming our preliminary task evaluation, Alexa and I thought it would be fun for our settings to be different holiday scenery's. Unfortunately we couldn't use our initial idea of using videos in the background rather than still photos as we couldn't work out how to insert them using the green screen setting. 

My Preliminary Task

Principles of Continuity

Match on action 
This is when one shot cuts to another shot that portrays the action in the first shot, creating the impression of continuity.
For example, in the preliminary task, we are required to to produce a piece of film in which a character opens a door, walks across a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character. When filming the character entering the room through the door, the first shot will be behind the character who will be pushing or pulling the door open, the second shot will then be from inside the room and will continue to show the character entering through the door.

Shot reverse shot
A shot showing one character looking at another character from their point of view (filmed behind the other characters back) followed by another shot of the other character looking at the first character from their point of view. 
This type of continuity editing technique would be used in the preliminary task when the two characters in the piece of film are having a conversation.

The 180º rule
A guideline that characters in a scene should have the same left-right relationship as each other. 
In the preliminary task, this would allow the audience to have a greater sense of location in the scene. Shot reverse shot can tie in with this rule to retain continuity by not distorting the audiences sense of location of the characters in the shots.

My First Blog Post- Cinematography

Cinematography was used cleverly in the animation 'Chicken Run.' Different camera shots were used to set the mood of the scene and even influence the viewers thoughts on different characters, This stood out particularly with Mrs Tweedy, the owner of the chicken farm. Low angle shots were used to really emphasize the power and authority that Mrs Tweedy holds on the farm. I think this was a smart use of cinematography as it helps the viewers to grasp the traits of a character quickly and how the plot will unfold.

Close-ups were used so that the audience can easily identify who the main characters are. An example of this is how Ginger in focused on a lot in comparison to the other chickens on the farm.
The Camera shots were often from the chickens point of view, I think this was a smart use of cinematography and is interesting as it gave the impression that the audience are meant to share the same views as the chickens.

Another animated clip that I found interesting was the John Lewis 2013 Home Insurance advert. The collaboration of smart filming, up-beat background music and fun imagery has influenced a desire to possibly include animation in my own short film.