Assignment 1

Assignment 1

For this assignment I am required to produce a short sequence, that tells a simple story using images alone.

The briefing requires the shots to be set up ‘as you would a still frame’, therefore all shots are to be with a static camera (no panning, tilting, zooming, etc.).

NOTE: The revised and final version of this Assignment is found in post ‘Assignment 1- Tutor Feedback and Final Version’.

THE SEQUENCE

Planning

THE STORY

A young teenage girl has been out walking. On her way home, she passes the village playground. She notices something lying in the long grass. She goes to take a closer look at this thing, looks around to see if anyone else is around and then decides to carefully pick it up and place it in the basket she has with her.

She runs home, holding the basket carefully. As she gets closer to home, her father comes out to see what she is carrying. The girl shows her father what is in the basket and indicates that she would like to keep it. The father agrees that she may do so.

The girl is later found sitting outside caring for what she has found. She finishes by placing a lovely warm woolly hat on her latest find.

Later that evening her father comes into her room and sees that she has fallen asleep. He leans over and pulls the covers over her. As he walks out, we get a closer look at the girl who is cuddled up to her rescued mobile phone that is still sporting its woolly hat.

THE STORYBOARD

Shot 1

Assignment 1-1

In this shot, a girl is walking home and spots an object on the ground which she picks up and puts into her basket and then continues on her way home. Even though the audience must see that the girl has spotted something on the ground, they must not be able to see what it is. I chose the local playground as the location for this shot because it has a low wall that can be used to hide the what she is seeing.

By the end of the shot, the audience should be wondering what it is that the girl has picked up and that it might be a small animal.

For practical reasons, this is a long shot that must have enough space so that the girl can walk from one side of the frame to almost the opposite side of the frame. The angle should be low to help hide what the girl is putting into her basket. The feeling should be of openness.

Post-filming note: The original shot had the girl moving from the left to right of the frame as per the storyboard. This created a break-down of directional continuity with the following shot and was therefore reshot with movement from right to left.

Shot 2

Assignment 1-2

The girl will appear from the right side of the frame, walking up the hill. Her head will come in view first and as she gets higher up the hill, the rest of her body will come into view. As she approaches the top of the hill, a man (her father) will walk into the frame from the left. There will be a short discussion (we may hear some muted discussion but not really be able to hear the precise conversation) during which the father looks into the basket. There will be some form of agreement between them before they exit frame left.

This is a wide shot to take in the progression of the girl up the hill. The lamp post should mark the right third of the frame and the discussion between girl and father should take place closer to the left third of the frame.

There must be a sense of progress being made in this shot (directionally and from the perspective of getting to keep the object.)

Shot 3

Assignment 1-3

The girl is now caring for the thing she has picked up. The audience must see that she is putting a Band-Aid plaster on it and then a small woolly hat. As with the previous shots, the audience must not see what it is, therefore it should be behind the basket. The intention is that the audience gets a bit more information that may help them to work out what the girl picked up. The plaster indicates that the thing may be injured, and the hat that it may be in need of warmth.

This is a medium shot at a very low angle. The low angle helps to hide the object.

Post-filming note: this shot was originally filmed in the bedroom from a low angle as per the storyboard. The end result was a pale yellow background (the colour of the wall) that made the five shots too different from a visual perspective. I decided to re-shoot outside and match the colour to the first two shots. Coincidentally, I found a tree with branches that could be used to frame my actor and that both enhanced the meaning of the shot and created a much stronger sense of depth.

Shot 4

Assignment 1-4

This shot happens some time later and the location is now the girl’s bedroom. To indicate that time has passed the shot should be in the evening. The bedside lamp and muted lighting support that it is evening. The girl has fallen asleep. The object is on her pillow but the audience will not be able to see this clearly. Her father comes into the room and sees that she has fallen asleep and moves toward her to pull her duvet over her shoulders.

This is a long shot at a low angle to remain consistent with the previous shots.

Shot 5

Assignment 1-5

The father leans over the girl to cover her shoulders with the duvet. As he finishes, the moves away and the audience gets their first view of the thing the girl picked up which is lying next to her on her pillow – it’s a mobile phone. It has a plaster on its glass where there is a crack and is sporting the woolly hat previously seen in shot 3.

This is a close up shot taken from a high angle. The high angle is intended to achieve two things; firstly it shows the vulnerability of the sleeping girl and the object that she is caring for and secondly; the audience now knows what the object is and so are back again in a position of having the full picture.

Notes on the production:

  1. The audience will not know what the girl picks up and cares for until the last shot. The intention is that they will suspect it is a small, lost animal until the moment the truth is revealed. On finding out that the girl is caring for a mobile phone, the audience may wonder if this is now the modern day equivalent of finding a little lost animal to take home and keep, or they may just be appalled that a mobile phone could matter so much to a young girl!

Evaluation of the finished sequence

Shot 1:

This shot has two main purposes which were achieved:

  • To introduce the question – what has the girl found and wants to keep?
  • To mislead the audience into thinking that she had picked up a small animal.

The essential elements of this frame are the girl walking home and a hidden object. The local playground used as the location creates the feeling of it being a familiar environment for the girl and the low wall provides a convenient place to hide the ‘object’ from the audience.

This long shot has a sense of space and depth that has been created by positioning the camera low, with a view of the line of trees disappearing into the distance.

The low angle also sets up the theme that will run through shots 1 – 4, to convey that the girl is in a position of ‘power’ relative to what she has picked up and, more importantly, to the audience because they do not know what she has found.

Shot 2:

Shows the girl’s progress towards keeping the thing she has found and her home. The essential elements are the girl carrying the hidden object, the journey and a potential obstacle (her father).

The girl entering the frame from bottom right, progressing up the hill and stopping in the left third of the frame provides directional continuity and enhances the sense of progress. Once she has her father’s agreement, she continues her progress by walking out of the frame to the left.

Shot 3:

Shows the girl caring for the object. The essential elements are not only the girl, the object and the box to hide the object behind but more importantly, the Band-Aid plaster and the woolly hat because they will reinforce recognition of the object in the last shot.

Framing the girl sitting on the steps but through branches successfully creates depth and reinforces that the audience cannot see the object as it is hidden behind both the branches and the box.

Shot 4:

This shot is a quiet, calm, end-of-the-day scene. The muted lighting and bedside table lighting contribute to this atmosphere.

The object is lying on the girl’s pillow, however the angle of the long shot makes it unidentifiable.

Shot 5:

The object is finally revealed as a mobile phone (with plaster and woolly hat). This close up is the only shot that makes use of a high angle looking down on the girl to convey two ideas:

  • The vulnerability of the sleeping girl
  • The audience shifts to a position of knowledge because they find out what the girl picked up

Conclusion

The following worked well:

  • The low angle shots (1-4) to convey that the audience is less knowledgeable than the girl and then the switch to a high angle in shot 5 works well to enhance the feeling of audience revelation.
  • Use of perspective and positioning the subject in a frame (shot 3 – branches) successfully creates a sense of depth

The following was not as successful:

  • In shot 1 and 2, the action is a bit dragged out and would have benefitted from being shorter, however there was no obvious place to make a cut without compromising continuity. The only solution that could be to re-film and get the actor to move a bit more quickly. For shot 2, the work around was to have the girl run up the hill instead of walking
  • The cut from shot 3 to 4 is uncomfortably jarring. The transition should ease the audience into the quieter setting. At best, I was able to leave a black space between the shots to indicate that time had passed.

What needs to be improved:

  • Where cuts are being made
  • Tempo of a sequence
  • Sound quality
  • Colour corrections

There are a number of cinematography books that may provide guidance, as well as internet resources and watching movies and paying attention to how these two elements are achieved.

4 thoughts on “Assignment 1

  1. The decision to reverse the path of the character in the firstscene was a certainly a good one. It helps flow into the second scene, where the decision to run up the hill again helped the pace of the film. I dont think that as presented it is too long, I think it works.

    The placement of the camera in the third scene, with the trees between the camera and the subject gave a sense of depth on the film. I liked how in the final scene the father is hiding the recovered item from view until the very last minute.

    I did feel that the audio was a little quiet in the first two scenes. Audio for me is such an integral part of the films that we watch. It gives an extra layer to the film, fills the film almost. The third scene had it perfect, we could hear birds etc, I know they were present in the first two scenes, I just think maybe we could have heard more of it.

    It will be interesting to see what the feedback from your assignment is. Well done on this film and I look forward to seeing more of your work.

    1. Thanks Paul for the comments. You are absolutely right about the sound. I was looking at the assignment on a friends computer yesterday and thought the same thing as you. I think when I was editing I had my earphones in and since I have ultra sensitive hearing ended up turning the sound down way too much.

      1. I had exactly the same issues with the heartbeat on my alcoholic film. I edited it with headphones on and then couldnt hear it later on speakers. I took some advice from a couple of musicians who told me to drop the bass. It was counter-intuitive, but by dropping the bass out and only leaving the mid and high it made the heartbeat much more audible. A little play around with EQ and I got the end result.

        Even if for your own experience I would go back and try playing with the audio for the first clip.

        Another suggestion would be to take the audio from the third scene and simply place that in the first and second scene, not instead of but in addition to. That way you would keep the sound of footsteps etc but add the environmental sounds. I very much doubt anyone would realise that the audio wasnt from that clip.

        1. Very good ideas. I think I’m going to try to correct the sound levels, but failing that, I like your last suggestion. Thanks.

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