Shot Evaluation - Shot Variation

This shot further varies our shot list, being the only extreme close-up shot in the scene. Extreme close-up shots are conventional for action films, often used to create tension by not showing the audience the full picture. For example, focusing on a bead of sweat running down a characters face in a tense situation or just having the countdown timer on the side of the bomb taking up the whole of the screen rather than the team rushing to defuse it. We took these kinds of shots as inspiration for this shot, believing that using this convention would help create the tension we wanted to create at this stage in the scene. We wanted to raise tension as this is a pivotal moment in the scene, where the audience finally gets to find out what is in the briefcase that is so important. Our idea with this shot was to go extremely close to the padlock so that the numbers could be seen being changed into the correct code, but unfortunately the zoom on the camera meant quality was lowered significantly so we had to settle for this level of zoom instead, although we still think it is effective.

Lighting was an issue in this shot, one that we only noticed in editing when it was too late to change anything. The light reflecting off the padlock means the numbers cannot be made out and our villains hands also seem too white. We tried experimenting with different techniques to adjust the colour in post-production but couldn't find a way to do it that kept it looking realistic. In future we would keep a closer eye on the lighting of the shot during production so we don't run into this problem again.

Shot Evaluation - Story Introduced

I've chosen this shot to demonstrate our use of camerawork in filming our opening 2 minutes. The idea for this shot was one of the first we had in planning our opening scene, before most of the story elements were even in place. We positioned the camera to be exactly in the middle of the path, so that you can see the forest setting stretching on and on far into the distance in the background of the shot. This reinforces the idea of isolation from the audience and the notion of help being far away, meaning our main character is pretty much on his own. This increases the threat our villain imposes.

We also positioned our characters so that there is a clear divide in the screen, with our hero having the left third of the screen and our villain having the right third of the screen. The rule of thirds means our audience will see our hero as being the most important focus of the shot, which means his weakness and vulnerability will be highlighted to the audience. The muddy pathway that stretches from the bottom of the screen all the way to the top represents the divide between good and evil. We're also happy at the fact that this shot varies our shot list further, as it is a clear two-shot with both the characters of our opening scene being featured. We also made it so that both the crossbow and the briefcase (the 2 most important props) are shown in this shot to be on the villains side, making it seem like he holds all the cards and has all the power compared to our wounded protagonist on the other side of the screen.

Shot Evaluation - Antagonist

This shot is a low-angled mid-shot that gives our audience the best look at our antagonist so far. The low-angle was chosen to make our villain look as imposing and powerful as possible. We chose to put this shot at this stage in the scene as our main character has just been wounded and is lying on the ground, therefore our villain will be seen as more of a threat anyway after what our audience has just seen him do. The low-angle helps to reinforce the characters power. We have our villain walk towards the camera, taking up more and more of the screen until everything but him is blocked out. This leaves no doubt in the audiences mind as to who the most important character is at this stage of the scene as this shot focuses entirely on our villain.

This shot also gives a good shot of our villains costume. Preferably we would have liked our villain to have an all black outfit but a fitting jacket could not be found in time for filming. I think the one our villain does wear is a suitable replacement though, and carries the added benefit of having a hood which covers more of our villains face and makes his identity harder to make out for the audience. Originally we were going to give this character a pair of gloves to wear as well as if he was concerned with fingerprints. However, we changed our mind as we wanted the character to seem like more of a loose cannon which fits in well with his choice of weapon. The crossbow is also highlighted here which gives the audience the chance to associate this character with violence and blood even further, as he has only been shown with that crossbow to the audience so far.

Shot Evaluation - The Pace Slows

I chose to evaluate this shot as we hope it puts the audiences focus on the props. It is an over-the-shoulder shot that shows our antagonists point-of view whilst also showing the audience his actions, which is important in this shot as we wanted the crossbow being aimed and fired at our protagonist to be shown fully. We lined up this shot and directed our actors so that the crossbow could be seen fully and also our main character being shot. This will appeal to our target audience as they don't want rough edits and cuts made so that they can't see the violence in the film, they want to see everything and this shot achieves that by fitting everything in. At this stage in the scene, the audience should know of the importance of the briefcase, and the way our protagonist runs onscreen and the way he falls means that the briefcase is visible. Hopefully, the audience will always be keeping one eye on the briefcase and where the briefcase goes as they know that the briefcase is what our villain is after.

This shot was quite difficult to achieve, as it was quite muddy on the ground where we were filming which meant our actor could not get the fall wrong as if we re-filmed the shot his costume and the prop would have already been muddy before he fell to the ground, ruining the realism of the scene. For this reason we made sure we ran through every part of this shot carefully so every small detail such as positioning of the actors, positioning of the props, camera angles and the actions our characters make were exactly how we envisioned. Luckily, we got the take we needed first time so we didn't have to re-film it. This shot also allowed us plenty of room on the left third of the screen to put in another title, which was useful.

Evaluation Targets

Well done so far - although you need to evidence the group tasks like director's commentary and your annotated final piece. Revisit your recent posts and see if there are any more opportunities to use specialist terminology to explore mise-en-scene, editing and camera composition and comment on the way you intended to appeal to your target audience even more - a good start to this section of your coursework project. Well done!

Shot Evaluation - The Chase Shot

This shot is a mid-shot of our hero and villain in a chase scene. Our hero runs in from the left of the screen and exits on the right, with our villain following shortly after. I chose this shot to demonstrate our editing and special effects in our scene. This is by the way we got it to look as if our villain wiped our title off the screen as he runs past it, making the titles seem as if they are part of the scene and less of an add-on.

It also looks more professional and changes things up a bit by breaking away from our format of having our titles simply fade in and fade out again. This change in titles makes it more obvious that the pace of the scene has changed as well. Before the action began, the titles would just slowly fade in and out. After the arrow is fired and the villain begins to chase after our hero, the titles flash up on screen straight away and leave the screen in this fashion. I feel that this would appeal to our target audience of male teenagers as they would want an increase in pace quite early in the film to grab their attention, so this influenced our decision to change the titles. When the pace of the scene slows down again we return to the format of having our titles fade in and out.

This shot also gives the audience a substantial look at our villain. The main factors of our villain that our audience are likely to notice first would be the crossbow he is wielding, the balaclava covering his face and the hood he has up, meaning only his eyes are visible. The crossbow as a prop choice should appeal to our target audience as well, as it is associated with blood and gore which male teenagers would be interested in. The crossbow is obvious in showing the characters threat and demeanor, whereas the combination of the hood and balaclava show he is concerned with hiding his identity and makes the character a mystery that the audience will want answers to.

Shot Evaluation - The Action Begins

At the beginning of this shot, the audiences main questions have changed. The main characters face has been revealed, and now the question is who made that noise that caused the character to say "he's here," and hang up the phone. This shot is a long shot, and we decided to subvert audience expectations by making the action happen in the part of the screen they'd be most unsuspecting of (the least important third of the screen) with the arrow being fired into the tree. This shot also suggests to the audience that this is an action film as this is the beginning of a chase scene and involves weapons which is conventional of an action film.

The trees in the background look good in this shot as they look dark and twisted and visually interesting as opposed to straight and perfectly spaced out trees that would make the scene look brighter as opposed to the gloomy atmosphere the suspense in this shot works to create. We were disappointed not to be able to experiment with the focus in this shot, as the camera we used didn't have this function. If we had have had this to experiment with, we could have achieved our original idea for the shot, which was to have the tree out of focus and then brought into focus as the arrow hits it. We think this would have looked better but the shot still works without it.

This shot also serves as an introduction for our villain. The first thing our audience associates with this yet-unknown person is violence and threat. The main character clearly knows and fears this man through what the audience hears him say on the phone ("He's here, I'll call you back"). His choice of weapon of a crossbow shows our villain is a loose-cannon and he's not afraid of blood, making him seem more crazy and therefore more of a threat.