Introduction to Camera-Framing activity

Framing Activity in Groups

After our class tutorial on the camera and framing, as groups we went away and completed a framing activity. We got given the different shot types we had to create and film them as accurately as possible.  

Close Up- this is our close up shot of Maleha which is framed from just above her shoulders to the top of her head. This shot is used in films, TV dramas as it allows the audience to see the emotion on the character's face 

Wide Shot- this is a wide shot that is used to show the area around the character/s which is a very important part in mise en scene. An establishing shot or an aerial shot will show much more than a wide shot as it will show more of area and location the character is set in. In this shot we see two main people at two different heights and shows the distance of the two. 

A shot showing feet- we decided to show feet walking down the stairs with the camera in front as a following shot. A close up of the feet were used, and the subject is centred to the camera in this frame shown.

An over the shoulder shot- we did a over the shoulder shot of me and Maleha and vice versa. The shot shown here shows most of my back, however a really good over the shoulder shot will show about half of my back and most of Maleha so the left side of the camera is more filled and not left with space. This framing can be referred to as the rule of thirds.  

The rule of Thirds- the rule of thirds is to imagine the camera frame spilt into three parts, left, centre and right. The rule is to get the subject/s into the most symmetric way so it fills in the three parts of the frame. In our test of the rule of thirds, in this screen grab, the rule is not entirely met. There are two subjects in the shot but one has more space behind them than the other and so is not symmetrical, a really good rule of thirds shot is the space between and behind the two subjects to be completely the same.

A shot near a window- this shot shows the subject looking out the window. Filming near to the window will always raise some lighting issues. Filming in the light may bring natural lighting to the subject as seem in the shot, however the lighting may not always fill every corner of the frame. Filming in the night, the lighting will be dark and as artificial lighting will be needed to see the subject properly.

Overall the filming framing activity went well. As a group it was our first time using the cameras and getting to grips with the different framing and buttons on the camera. Some frames turned out to be good and others turned out to need working on, but as an exercise it was good to learn from our mistakes so we know not to make them again when it comes to filming our thriller opening sequence.