Evaluation For Cinematography

Melissa Pitout

Our film was based on world war two, where we had the British army land on the German land and invade them the next day. The sequence we shot would be taking place at the middle/ soon after the beginning of the film, because it shows the British landing on Germany and the start of the invasion soon after taking place. During this sequence one of the German men is shot by one of the main protagonists in the sequence, this would help the audience get more of an idea of what else is going to happen in the film. For this scene I wanted to create a lot of tension and a build up of suspense, as well as anxiety in the sequence.

As my roll in the group was the cinematographer, I looked at other war films to pick up ideas on what we could do in our sequence, to give of a more intense effect. The two main films that influenced me were ‘Saving Private Ryan’ (Steven Spielberg), and ‘Band Of Brothers’ David Frankel. These two films influenced me because I thought the use of cinematography, was highly effective and got the audience involved the whole way through.   

 For cinematography, I was influenced by a lot of the camera work used in ‘Band of brothers.’  I liked a lot of the camera worked in the first few sequences. As it enhanced the effect it had on to the audience.
The first camera shot that I really liked in ‘The band of brothers,’ was the use of a mid shot, looking as though it was coming form another soldiers perspective (, image 1 below shows this). This shot used hand held camera movement, which involved following the rest of the soldiers from behind.  I thought that this influenced the genre because it got the audience more engaged with the action taking place, as the shot made them aware of how characters are feeling during this time; tense and scared. It also increased the pace of the sequence, which linked in with the narrative sequence. I liked the effect that this had on the audience, so I decided to use this in our own sequence. The next shot that influenced the sub genre, was a close up of the soldiers feet, also being used with held hand camera movement and it was also combined with a quick paced cut, this helped the audience feel tense, and we wanted to have the same effect be used in our film, so we were highly influenced by this shot, and used something similar in ours. 

Image1- ‘Band of Brothers’                              Image2 –‘Band of brothers’

    

I have developed my narrative through the cinematography, by using close up shots as well as well as the use of mainly held hand camera movement, to give the sequence a distorted feel to it. This way, it fitted in with the narrative, as war films are needed to be quick paced, in order for the audience to see everything going on in the sequence. However, we also used a range of slower paced camera movements at the beginning of our sequence. A close up shot of the binoculars, and a steady camera zoom out to see the soldiers face. We wanted to use steady pace movement at the beginning of the sequence and make the movement quicker to develop the speed of the tension within our sequence, to highlight the narrative structure. These shots such as the steady close up, also helped to introduce certain characters, as well as show importance of our characters used as individuals, this close up that was used was influenced by Steven Spielberg’s ‘ Saving Private Ryan,’ as this shot showed the importance of the character as an individual, but soon after this shot came a long shot, which showed the audience the importance of the characters as a group. We used a similar technique in our sequence, to show the significance of teamwork in war films.

Images below influenced by saving private Ryan- Steven Spielberg (similar shots used in our sequence to develop the narrative structure, in our sequence.  

 

 

In order to develop our narrative in our sequence as a group we would discuss what we thought would look good for our narrative, and talked about band of brothers and saving private Ryan and used similar, ideas to give off the same effect, this then would engage the audience more, and keep them interacted with what was going on.
We also talked about camera shots and what camera angles would look best where in order to keep the narrative simple but complex at the same time. For example a high angle used in our sequence to suggest weakness for the character, and quick paced camera movements to illustrate the genre. We would then watch what we have done and see if it needed to be re-done, and what transitions would look god to help increase pace, or slow down pace, but for the transitions to fit in with the camera movement. We also talked about weather or not there should be use of slow motion in some areas, and the use of fades combined with this in shots such as a character falling down after being shot to give off a bigger effect.

                                 When it came to adapting and changing our planed on the day of filming, we ran through the whole sequence      and talked about what camera angles would look best where. We then filmed the camera shots, angles and      mo               movement, and watched back our sequence, and discussed whether or not the camera movement looked good en               enough or not. If it didn’t we re-filmed our sequence and tried something different, until we thought the sequence      flowed. 

I wanted the audience to be greatly effected by the use of cinematography that we used. As there was a great range of different camera shots and angles in the sequence. I wanted the audience to engage with characters, and get a sense of how they feel is specific parts of our sequence. For example a close up used to introduce a main character, and long shots used to show the importance of the group, a similar effect that Steven Spielberg used in ‘Saving Private Ryan’.
I think that it would be important for the audience to engage more with the characters as it gets them involved, so the use of cinematography for our specific genre is highly important.  

When we got our feedback, we were rather happy, many of the people in the classroom said that the cinematography was effective, and that our sequence had many different camera angels to keep them interested throughout the sequence. Some people said that it would have been nice to have a few more close up shots of the amour to get the full detail, which might of added a slightly bigger impact on the effect of suspense. They also said that it would have been nice to have more panning camera movement to get a bigger view of the surroundings the characters were in, instead of using a hand held movement throughout, to illustrate the establishing shot.
Many people said that although we used a lot of hand held camera movement, it was rather effective, and it increased the pace of the sequence, which, had a build up of suspense.
An example that someone liked was the use of the mid shot of the shoes running and the camera following, as it looked like it was from another soldiers perspective, and the hand held camera movements made it look more realistic, and it gave them a sense of anxiety