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   

Aims for cinematography this week

Things needed to be done for cinematography  

• Although i have finished with the actual filming, i will need to help out with the editing, and see if i am happy with the camera shots in the order they are in, in order to see if the sequence flows. I will also help the editor, perhaps with transitions, and suggest what transitions look better when moving into different shots. 

• I also need to start my evaluation this week, on cinematography, and talk about where i got my ideas from, and why i chose those particular shots, as well as why i chose the camera shots from particular sequences. 

Shots that we really liked in the sequence
and we thought we effective: 

• We liked this close up shot of two because it introduces the audeince to the characters.It also gives the audience a feel of relationship within the characters. It also then creates sympathy for them, and gets the audience more involved with what is going on in the sequence.  

I liked this mid- long shot because it got other characters involved within the frame. It then shows the importance of all the characters and the role they play in the short film sequence. 

The use of this mid shot was used to create sympathy for the characters. As it enhances the friendship they have, and the team work needed in the film extract. It also engages with the audience more as the camera movement is held hand and the camera moves closer to the action taking place. This makes it almost look as though the camera is from another characters perspective., having a larger effect on the audience as they see how importance team work is in the genre. 

What went well with the cinematography

What went well in cinematography   

On the day of the filming, it went great everything went to plan, we got loads of filming done and the weather was really good. Everyone turned up on time for the filming and we got loads and loads of different camera angles. 

Pictures to show the cast and what went well... 

We got loads of different camera shots angles and movements to go into this sequence making it look far more interesting and captivating.

BBFC- Deciding what age restriction we should give our film extract

• As a group we were thinking about what we age restriction we should give our film extract, and looking at the BBFC's requirements for age restrictions we decided that the suited age restriction, best suited is 15. This is because it complied with all the policies for a a 15 film. 
  

  ’15′

  Suitable only for 15 years and over

  No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.
  

  Discrimination

  The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
  

  Drugs

  Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
  

  Horror

  Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
  

  Imitable behaviour

  Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
  

  Language

  There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest  terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
  

  Nudity

  Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
  

  Sex

  Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely  to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
  

  Theme

  No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
  

  Violence

  Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
  
  We think that our film suits with the criteria above so we rated it a 15, that was no-one below the age of 15 will be effected by any of the violence or language.
  

 

Risk Assessment

Risks 

 Because we are creating our own sequence from a war film, there are quite a few risks, so we decided to write down what we thought were the important parts to keep in mind while carrying out our project. 

1. Set safety- Because we will be outside, we have to make sure that all equipment is kept well out of the way so that people do not get hurt or even so damage the equipment.
   
2. We have to make sure that all equipment doesn't get wet or dirty while filming, this could cause damage and cost the group money.
   
3. Keep equipment within our group at all times so that we are aware of where all the equipment is, this way we will avoid theft.
   
4. Traffic- Make sure that all of us are aware of traffic while entering the main property, as it is near a train track as well as the main road, we are also using friends to act in our film we need to think of their safety too while filming and make them aware of the precautions that we are taking while filming. 
   
5. Setting- We are filming in a location which not many of the crew members are familiar with, so we need to make sure that all of use are located near each other in order to stay safe and kept together so none of us end up getting lost, this will also save us all a lot of time during the process of filming our sequence.
   
6. Weather- We need to make sure that the weather will be alright to film on this day, not because of the characters as such but it's more safety for the euipment so we need to make sure that if it is raining, we need to have an umbrella to keep the camera dry to prevent damage.
   
7. Explosions- We are not planning on using explosions however if we do decide to use any we need to make sure that we are far enough away from them to revent getting hurt, and keping all crew members safe as well.

Ideas On Cinematography

Cinematography  

• For our film sequence we felt as though we should look at different film sequences from war films in order to get a feel of what the film should in theory look like. From the extracts that we have looked at we liked the idea from a sequence off the film. 'Band of Brothers', The reason why we liked the look of this sequence, was because it used a good use of camera angels and shot to make the sequence look ,more interesting and realistic.    
•   The image on the top left side of this page in a camera angel that we are thinking of using, this shot consists of panning movement from a perspective of a character moving through the bushes, this shot looks highly realistic, and effective, this will then keep the audience engaged with the sequence.
  

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  The image at the bottom of this page is another shot that we are thinking of using, because of the use of hand held camera movement, it creates a sense of distortion for the spectators, this gives them an idea of how the characters feel perhaps, which gets the audience involved more with the sequence, keeping them more entertained.
  
  
   
• This is another shot that we liked in the sequence of 'Band of Brothers, because of the use of the mid shot to show the audience the body language of the characters, to again get them involved and keep them entertained.   

  

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