What is TV Drama?

TV Drama is a huge genre, covering a wide range of sub genres and alternations, but to define it, it is fictional action in the form of being told as someones (one or more of the characters) story/ point of view.

Examples of TV Drama;

• Upstairs Downstairs
• Eastenders
• Doctor Who
• New Tricks
• Misfits
• Waterloo Road
• Shameless
• This is England '86
• Skins
• Red Riding
• Hotel Babylon

The are so many sub gemres of TV Drama, or combinations of TV Drama with other genres. For Exapmle;

medical, legal, horror, supernatural, fantasy, sci-fi, crime, historical, soaps, thriller, situational, genreal drama,

• Holby City and Casulty are examples of TV drama and medical drama
• New Tricks and Wallander are examples of Crime Drama
• The X Files and Misfits would also go under the Sci Fi genre

• Genre is the category or section of something, usually entertainment prducts such as music films and TV and books. It defines the topic of the media piece into a category.
• TV Genre therefore means how programmes are categorised according to certain conventions they have, to create a genre of similar products according to these converntions.
• Mot genres break into several sub gemres, in which the media product also has features and converntions from a different genre.
• The evolution of sub genres in TV genre began in the 1950's, when the BBc was developing and ITV began. Drama programmes began developing and seperating into sub genres as more people began to watch television and a wider audience needed catering for, people of different backgrounds, ages and culture had varied tastes and interests.

Final Edit Guilt Trip

Editing Completion!!!

Today we finally finished our Final Cut final edit! it took less time than we thought, but we were still getting used to the new software. we put in titles over the beginning of the film. we also put music over all parts of the film, so there were no gaps, and with the transitions it's continuous, and sounds great. we also did some good effects with the music, such as reversing it for one part, and increasing and decreasing the volume using waves.

Case study Shutter Island

Case study Shutter Island

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Rough Edit Guilt Trip

This is our rough edit. It is not finished as we did not have time to put enough music in, so some parts are a bit quiet. On Thursday we did a viewing with everyone else in our classes' videos being shown, and we got an audience of people to view them. We created a questionnaire, which we posted on survey monkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/L7XVFKJ and also a printed version which people watching the intros could fill in. This was a great chance to see what everyone else in the class had been doing.
Our feedback was quite mixed, a few people noticed the music, which we will improve on final cut. some people said they did not understand the ending, which after we saw it through their eyes, we realised that it could definitely be improved as it is not really very clear. I think this is because when we did the planning, we planned way too much shots for the time of film we had, as we did not realise timings.
With this feedback we can hopefully do a better edit in Final Cut, to make the music more continuous and the storyline better.

Body of Lies

            Body of lies is directed by Ridley Scott, and based on a novel of the same name, written by David Ignatius. It is produced by Warner Bros Pictures, Scott Free Productions and De Line Pictures.  Body of Lies was released in the US on 10^th October and in the UK on 21^st November 2008. Although the film is set in the Middle East, it was filmed mainly in Maryland, USA and Morocco. The film only made $12.9 million in its first week, and $115,097,286 in worldwide box office returns. Body of lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.

 Semiology/Location

As the film opens, there is a Middle Eastern character speaking and pointing his finger. We get the impression he is the leader, because the way he speaks and body language is quite authoritative, and  from what he is saying in the subtitles he seems to know a lot, and has influence over a great deal, and also is speaking in a manner of inspiration and encouragement. Because he is speaking in a foreign language, we as an audience feel excluded as if we are intruding on a secrecy act. We can connotate that because he is an unknown figure and language, he is a bad character, and the way he is pointing his finger he is almost dictating. After this, there is a shot of a train rushing past the screen. It's fast, rattly movement creates a slight built up of tension as it quickens the film pace, to make it seem as if there is something going to happen soon, and time is running out. This tension is added to with the bomb squad running around secretly. Although they are dressed in black, we know they are good people because they are country officials, we know them as defenders of us. This means, due to the vast amount of them spread out all seeming to focus on one house, that whatever they are defending us from is important as they must be quite dangerous. There is also a milkman character who seems to be the innocent, unaware peace character. The houses in the area of focus are run down, and poor which are usually used in film to portray dodgy dealings and mysterious activities in that kind of area.

Sound/Special Effects

The film opens with the traditional Warner Brothers sound, which gives the audience some familiarity, and a feeling of safety. The man speaking is talking in Arabic, although we know it is set in Manchester, there is also Arabic music playing in the background. This makes the whole intro more sinister. As there is more action going on, there is more going on in the scene, with loud cars, and faster paced music. The radio in the background is relaying the voice of the same man at the beginning, implying that the man was an authority figure. The overall noise of goings on intensifies the film, by increasing tension. The opening uses mainly diegetic sound of city life noises and people speaking etc, except the Arabic music that is plying in the background which does not seem to have an origin point. The big explosion at the end is heightened by the complete silence just before it, making it more intense.

Mise-en-scene

The dark room at the beginning has many shadows, implying that they are concealing something. The foreign man talking and pointing his finger indicates power and that he is possibly a dictator. There is also smoke, which means there must be fire, signifying danger. In the next bit, the characters' faces are shadowed, also showing that they are hiding something and are not what they seem. The police are dressed in black, and are running around suspiciously and secretly. The intro contains themes of religion, suicide, explosion and mass destruction. The swat teams' entrance breaking is concealed by the sounds of the milkman, signifying that they are using the innocent character of the milkman as cover.

Camera shots, angles & Lighting

The scene opens with a mid shot of the Arabic dictator's face, and the camera slowly zooms out as he talks. The room in which he is in is dark and shadowy, and also slightly musty, as if he did not want to be in full view and is therefore hiding. There is light peeking through the windows, and as we see slightly later on with the swat team it quite light outside, indicating that it could be early morning.  The house which the three men are in also seems dark and musky. judging by the sweat they are producing, quite hot too, unless that is merely the tension of whatever they are doing, which is later revealed as building a bomb. This part is filmed as if it was the point of view of someone walking into the house. There are several shots of the Swat team as the camera follow them as they make their way to the house. At this point, the camera shots are very choppy changey as they switch between different views of the swat team and the milkman. There are several mid shots of the characters' faces inside the house, as they realise they are being broken into. When the bomb goes off, there are several different views of the explosion from different angles, and some with a kind of shaking effect to make it seem like the whole floor is rocking, and everything is in chaos. 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

On Friday night i went to Kings Lynn cinema to see the new Harry Potter film. After reading the book, i was excited about what the film had in store for the audience, and how it would compare to the book. Directed by David Yates, screenplay by Steve Kloves based on the book by J K Rowling. Following the death of Dumbledore and the sweeping overtake of the ministry of magic by Voldemort, Harry, Ron and Hermione leave Hogwarts in the aim to destroy the horcruxes, therefore defeating Voldemort and returning the magical world back to the way it was.

Although this film is only the first part, it still lasted a hefty 2 1/2 hours long, which despite being a long time to sit watching a film, meant (hopefully) they hadn't left anything important out.  

I was surprised how much i enjoyed the film, the acting and special effects were spectacular as usual, and although there was a slightly dull phase through the middle part of the film, this was picked back up to a climax for the end. It was strange to see the first harry potter film not to be set a hogwarts, making it differ from the rest of the films entirely. The plot is more free flowing without the usual school-mischief-quidditch-voldemort storyline, so the film lacks a certain 'safety' feel as the characters are running around freely with at some points not a lot going on. It has to be said that hogwarts, spells and  naive, merry Christmases were missed in this film, which had an overall more dark shadow over it which the previous films had been slowly growing, and i fear will dominate the final part, as the simple spell-casting, quidditch-playing days disappear due to voldemorts increasing power. It was also slightly disappointing that in all the running time the trio only managed to destroy one horcrux, then they were back to square one. Despite this, the film had this ultimate power that intensified the whole film, made it very powerful and full on. But the thing that i think completes this film is the editing and filming. The colour filters, tone of the film, the whole bluey tinge that darkens the scenes but brings out colour when there is some, a characteristic typical to Tim Burton films, creates this mysterious yet contrasting effect. The immense prodution techniques used for this film has given it a definite flair of individuality and uniquness that is nessicary to this film to prevent it from being forgotten after the inital sweep of popularity.  

This is a screenshot from the film, which i specifically remembered, because of it's fantastic photographic qualities with the dark, slightly blue sky, the large rocks, leading to Harry in the foreground. The gentle light emerging from the tent adds a warming quality to the shot. With the light area in the sky above the tent, this signifies that the person inside the tent is a good character, bringing hope and light to the darkness. The darker patch of sky lingers over Harry which could seem as if he has something to hide, is a slightly darker character in the sense that he is not to be trusted, especially because he is wearing the horcrux at this time which has an effect on his mood and perception of things around him. His slightly weary posture signifies he is tired and worn out.

Audience research- Survey Analysis

Audience research- Survey Analysis

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Location

We discussed several film locations, as we all have woods near where we live. Holly said the woods near hers are particularly creepy, and there are several small lanes leading towards it. We decided to film here because of the whole setting, the country lanes and open fields, as well as the woods having some interesting fetures such as a bridge and a swing, which we incorpurated into our thriller.

 Large shadowy tree, leafy ground; good forsound effects, area surrounded by fairly dense trees. We sound the swing, and decided to add it into the film by havin Daisy coming into the clearng and seeing the swind swaying slightly, as if someone has just been swinging on it a gotten off. This adds to the paranoia that builds up during the opening.

The bridge we decided to add into the film as well because it was another dynamic feature to add to the environmet rather than just trees. We also thought this would be a good place for Daisy to trip up as it is a step, as apposed to having trip over a stone or something. Also the bridge has water running under it, a typical thriller convention.


Holly went out and took photos of her area for reference:
http://rhs-hollyf-media.blogspot.com/2010/10/scene-shots.html

Research into similar products

To support our thriller planning, as a group we did some research into films that are similar to ours. This is posted on Holly's blog:
http://rhs-hollyf-media.blogspot.com/2010/11/research-into-similar-products-we-are.html#comments


These films, as well as all the others that we have looked at over the past few weeks while doing audience research have influenced our thriller majorly. For example the large rabbit in Donnie Darko as the idea of being followed by something that is not actually there, an idea which we developed when we first started planning. We came up with the idea of being followed through the woods, but we decided to make it so it is being haunted by the sub conscious mind as this was much less cliche, and created a more interesting storyline and character dynamic. This is a similar thing, that influenced us after looking at the Machinist, although we developed our idea further for the whole film, with the development that the main character is slowly deteriorating into madness as the tormention of the conscious gets worse.

Audience Research- Results

Audience research

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Thriller opening

For the last week since we filmed the first part of our film, we have been creating a rough edit on iMovie. This has been very useful as it helped us peice together and organise the film that was ad already, and also it made us realise that we had planned too much for the time limit we had, so we had to drastically reduce some of the clips, and even cut out a few scenes entirely, before we managed to get it down to 1:00 min long, leaving us 1:00 left for the rest of the opening. We also got to play around with some of the effects for the 'creature view' part. we added several transitions, and as a rough edit, i think it looks pretty good. Today we imported the footage from Sunday, and we will begin a rough edit on that tommorow.

 On Sunday we finished filming at Holly's house. This was really successful, although we came across some complications. We began by filming the very last shot, when Daisy sees the cut has gone. We did this because we didn't now how well the 'cut' would wash off. We then went to the woods, a different part to where we filmed last time. We found a large clearing with a big tree, and a swing. We thought this looked quite scary and effective and so we decided to add this into our film. Everything else went well, we were very pleased with how well it went. It started to get dark quickly so went back to te house to film the final scene. We then realised the light outside was different to the one in the first scene we filmed that day, and as this scene was supposed to be morning, we had to artificially create some light. This was fairly difficult, but we can edit the brightness later on.

Q Magazine- Target Audience

Firstly, i think that the magazine is targeted at both males and females. This is because the colouring on the front; red, orange, black & white are non-gender specific, and because they a re bright tones, it stands out to everyone. Alsothere is a gender mix of music icons on the front cover, appealing to men and women. 

   Becaus ethe layout is quite simple, using simple colours, shapes and lettering, i think it appeals to the younger generation, possibly 20-30 years. Also the context, famous icons and type of music featured in the magazine appeals to the younger generation.

   looking through the magazine, adverts, apart from music ones, seem to all be aimed at men. There are men's perfumes, the game 'Halo', alcohol and golf adverts and mobile phones. Because these things appeal predominantly to men, this leads me to think that the majourity fo the readers of this magazine are male, even though the cover seems to be unisex. There is not one advert that is directed solely at women.

No Country For Old Men; Coin Toss Scene

Sound

The 'coin toss' scene opens with a long shot of the gas station. There is diegetic sound in the background of gentle wind blowing, although we cannot see it, we know it's there because the 'Texaco' sign is squeaking rustily, indicating it is moving because of the wind. This faint wind blowing sound can be heard throughout the rest of the scene, whilst the characters are talking. The is also a distant helicopter sound at the beginning that disappears quickly.  All these sounds combined with a background of silence throughout the scene create a very distant, isolated and desolate setting for the scene, therefore indicating that the victim will be helpless at the hands of the villain.

   The next sound presented in this scene are the footsteps of the character Anton Chigurh as he is walking across the floor towards the gas station counter. This is also diegetic sound because although we cannot actually see his feet, we can see him moving. His heavy footsteps indicate he is wearing big boots, signifying he is possibly a bad character, strong, and as would be common in that area of America, a labourer of some sort.

   Chigurh open the conversation between him and the gas station attendant by saying 'How much?' His short, blunt, to the point and slightly rude question is spoken in a very deep voice, coarse and rough in strong American accent, although the dialect is unspecified. This hints that he is a villain because that is the type of voice we associate with bad characters. In contrast, the gas station attendant's voice is a lot weaker, slightly feeble, and accented with a strong southern American accent. when placed with Chigurh's harsh voice, we know instantly who is the villain and who is the victim. It also indicates that this scene, if not the whole film is set in southern America

   There is no other sound occurring while the characters are talking, which focuses all of the audience's attention on what they are saying. Chigurh flips the coin, which makes a significantly loud ringing noise. This is to draw attention to the significance of the coin, as it is the most important icon in this scene, as the gas station attendant's life depends on it. Because the noise is so defined, it makes us wounder what would have happened if the coin landed the other way up. It also brings a lot of tension to the scene as so much is dependant on it.

   Just when the gas station attendant is about to call the coin, there is extremely faint, suspenseful music played, the only non-diegetic sound in the scene. This is added to create suspense when the attendant can 'stand to win everything', the tensest time of the scene, and as there is bare minimum other sounds during the scene, it is very effective.

Prelim task

Thriller Audience Research

Media studies questionnaire

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Filming

Today we began filming for our thriller opening, after completing all planning and research in class. We chose to film at Holly's house because there are some creepy woods nearby that were perfect for filming. As we walked towrds the woods we shot several scenes of Daisy taking the dog for a walk. this worked very well as there we some good landscape shots that show isolation. We managaged to film very well accoringly to the storyboard plan that we devised previously, and although neither Daisy or I had been to these woods before and did not know how well they would work for our film, it turned out to be just right. There was also a stream in the woods which we got a shot of to show running water, a classic thriller theme. we had to stop filming around 4.30 as it was begining to get dark so we will need to finish filming sometime next week but overall i think it was a successfull day as we made a good start and managed to get about 1/3 of the filming done.

Film Planning

Costumes-

Black because it is fairly neutral and normal, and will not stand out, which is what the character is like. A red scarf to signify danger, warning, and concealing something.

Location- http://rhs-hollyf-media.blogspot.com/2010/10/scene-shots.html

Narrow muddy track, looks unused and therefore isolated. No buildings around to show that the character is walking into helplessness, as the audience see there is no one able to help her.

even more unused and desolate track leading towards dark, shadowy, dense woods. the open fields around it makes it look extreemly isolated, as if there is nothing except the grass and the sky. When we film, as is is autumn, should be fairly overcast, which will look mysterious and grey, and also hinting that there won't be many happy occurences, signifying there will be bad things ahapening ahead.

Characters- For the casting, we decided it would be best if one of us plays the main character. This means we all are included in the production of the film, we all know exactly what we want for our film so we can produce exactly that, and it is easier for travel as we all live in little villages a way aprat from each other. As i am not very good at acting, it would be either Holly or Daisy. We decided Daisy would be best because Holly has a fringe covering her forehead, which wouldn't work for the bit where the character cuts her head.

Film Panning

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Film

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The Village

The village

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7/10/10
Today we began storyboarding our thriller opening using the drawing tablet connected to the computer. We created the images in photo shop, then inserted them into a PowerPoint presentation so we can write notes alongside the drawings, about camera shots and other film techniques. It was quite hard to get used to the drawing tablet at first, so we created simplistic stick-men drawings, but hopefully they still show our ideas for the thriller opening.

Thriller Opening Planning

5/10/10
We were put into groups for our thriller openings. In my group is Holly and Daisy. We discussed lots of ideas, and eventually came up with an idea each.
Daisy's idea was an opening based around a girl biking home after work in the dark and its raining (running water- thriller theme). She is being followed by a car. She speeds up, and so does the car. As she stops, the car slows down to stop beside her. The scene cuts to black for a few seconds, then you see a quick glimpse of the car again, fades to black etc.
We discussed this idea, and about the background information of the girl, who was likable, but shy, works in a pub, goes to college. the character in the car is a drunk for the pub.
Holly suggested an idea of a girl walking her dog in the woods, and being followed by something mysterious. The dog senses something else, barks and runs off, leaving the girl very scared. there are shadows, heavy breathing, and twigs snapping. Then there is a black figure that runs past quickly right in front of the screen. Both these ideas are of the horror sub genre.
My idea was more action; there are four men sitting around a table, playing poker, smoking etc. Then one of then falls out of his chair, onto the floor, dead, after taking a sip of water. one of the other men turns over his cards, revealing a winning hand.


6/10/10
Today we chose which of our ideas we were going to develop further into a thriller opening. We decided that my idea would be too difficult to do, creating the right-looking characters, and the correct setting for that kind of film. We also said that Daisy's idea would also be quite difficult to do, as we don't know anyone that can drive that could do it, and it is also hard to film in the dark.
We then could develop Holly's idea further. We discussed the scene in more detail. We worked on some background detail, that the thing that's actually following the girl is not actually a being, but more of her conscience, because shes done something wrong (that would be shown in the rest of the film as it goes back on itself, a few days before). We began making a storyboard which we will complete next lesson using the Macs.

Question 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this project?

In constructing this preliminary project i have learnt many things about producing a short film. Firstly, I learnt how to use a film camera properly, as i had never used one before, and the importance of using a tripod to keep it still. The tripod was very useful when moving a camera in a certain direction, as it stayed still while moving, so was still. I learnt that it is helpful to film a shot more than once in case something went wrong with that first go, and that will save us having to re-shoot it during editing. We found it fairly easy to create the actual shot types that we'd learnt about.
With editing, we were still getting used to using the software, so we learnt a lot. The program that we'd used was very easy and simple to use, so we found it quite straight forward. We selected the shots that were right for the final film, and cut them so they fit smoothly together. we then added a few transitions, such as fade in and fade to black and white. we added a sound effect of the telephone ringing, which actually turned out really well. We also added other sound effects and music to certain parts of the film, which we found quite difficult at first to get the hang of. We also added a title shot at the beginning, and also end credits.
I have learnt a great deal about film production through this task, and it has been really useful to use the equipment for the first time.

Thriller Research

Yesterday we looked at the opening 3 minutes of three thriller films.

The Book of Eli

2009
Directed by the Hughes brothers
Starring Denzel Washington
Sub-Genre: Post-apocalyptic action


This opening was set in dark forest. There were lots of shadows, a classic feature of Thriller films, and the trees surround the action in this scene to make them look like bars, symbolising being trapped and isolated. The colours used in this scene were mainly blues, greys and black. There was a heavy wind sound in the background, which actually began before the film had started, signifying a feeling of isolation. The are what seems to be falling leaves, or ash, from the sky throughout this scene. This could symbolise falling society. The camera runs along at ground level, giving us a view of a gun, and a dead body, which overall gives us the idea of the the theme of death. I think the camera films at this angle to give us an idea of being a forest animal, watching the following events, but also to give us an impression on how the main character lives, which as we see later on in this scene, is quite primal, and creature-like.
A cat comes into the scene, which could possibly signify innocence; a victim which is also a typical thriller character. This scene seems to move at a slow pace, which builds up suspense.
Then the character is introduced. He is breathing heavily, indicating anticipation, as if something is about to happen. You do not see this figure's face, and so you are unable to determine whether he is a good or bad character. The whole scene gives the impression of watching, and being watched, another typical Thriller theme.

Brick

2006
Directed by Rian Johnson
Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt




This opening begins with the sound of some kind of simple percussion instrument that has a slightly tinny sound, and guitar. This creates a really eerie sound, and the impression of mystery, and things not being all that they seem. There is running water, a typical thriller them. There is a dead girl, which means death, and also she is a victim, a venerable woman. The sewer tunnel which is where we see first symbolises trappment, darkness, and isolation. The main character seems very isolated and also, unlike classic thriller themes, he also seems like a victim in some ways.
There are several camera angles in which we see the boy's feet. This could be the point of view of the dead girl, lying on the ground and watching everything he does from ground level. The next scene we see is set a few days earlier, as the boy as he receives a letter from the dead girl. A public telephone rings, which seems odd as we don't expect to get calls to phone booths. This adds mystery to the scene. The girl on the other end of the phone sounds scared, hurt, either emotionally or physically, which again makes her seem like the victim. We do not know what she is talking about, which adds suspense as we want to find out why she is so upset. Then a fast, black car drives past. This is obviously the bad guy, as the driver also flicks a cigarette out the window, which we associate with baddies. The cigarette is filmed on the floor as it still burns away, symbolising a life burning away.

Gothika

2003

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz

Starring Halle Berry

Sub-Genre: Supernatural/ Horror

The opening scene begins with slow, cello music, before the film actually begins. This creates a very spooky, creepy impression on the audience, so they know that the rest of the film is likely to be quite scary. This music also creates anticipation, wanting to know what will happen that will make the audience so scared. The opening credits are white/ blue on black; typical horror film colours. They fade/ disappear backwards, to signify real life separating from supernatural, also something running away, trying to escape. The girl talking appears to be the victim of this film, but she also seems quite crazy and phycho. The woman interviewing her by contrast seems quite controlled, and organised, portraying her as the heroine of this film. The are a lot of dark shadows, creating a mysterious atmosphere, like the is something that is being hidden. These two women are in a cage. This is a typical thriller theme, the idea that they are being trapped, or possibly either protected from the outside, or to protect us from what is inside. The scene is shot to make us feel like we are watching from outside the bars, as innocent onlookers being protected from what is being kept inside.

Preliminary Task

Today we shot our preliminary task. This was the first time we'd used the equipment, so it took some practice. We went to the drama building, where we also found some useful props. We used the tripod, and began filming. We made sure we used lots of different camera angles, such as Long Shot, Close Up, Over the Shoulder. This went pretty successfully, so we went back to the classroom to begin editing. After replaying the tape, we decided that some things could have been better, so we decided to quickly film it again. This went really well, and next lesson we can start editing to create the final product.

Film Terminology

Editing
Film editing refers to the method  of combining lots of shots into a continuous sequence.
To make the flow from shot to another more interesting, we use transitions. These are usually used with continuity systems, which means the flow from one shot to another is as smooth as possible, and therefore specific editing is undetectable. These also apply to sound.
Other editing techniques include fade in & out, slow motion, which can be done during the editing process to make the film run at a slower pace; visual effects, which is computer modified images used with live tape to create things which would either otherwise be expensive, or impossible to create.
An important part of editing it Cutting. This includes techniques such as shot reverse shot, which is two camera angles combined together to create the impression that the two characters are looking at each other. It also includes Eyeline match, graphic match, action match, jump cut, crosscutting and parallel editing.




Sound
A lot of sound effects are added in the editing process, although dialogue is recorded on film.
Diegetic sound is the term for sound whose source is visible on screen to the viewer, such as speech. Non diegetic sound, therefore, is sound that is separate to the action on screen, such as narrative.
Music can be added, during the opening and closing credits, and at points during a film to add another dimension for the viewrs to enjoy.

Film Terminology

Composition

Film composition means how the objects in view on screen are arranged to make the scene more interesting and effective to the viewer. There are several techniques we can use to create a good composition.

Framing; This means to frame the subject of interest with objects in the foreground.  

Rule of Thirds; By imagining that the scene is divided into horizontal and vertical thirds, you have four places to put your subject. Because the subject is now slightly off centre, it creates a more interesting and stimulating scene for the eye to view. This can be used to identify a characters' path as they are walking, or for an establishing shot.

Depth of field; This is the focus of the camera on either the foreground or background (shallow or deep focus). When the camera is focused on the subject in the foreground, the background is blurry. When the camera is focused on the object in the background, the foreground it blurry. In film, this can be used to draw attention to an object in the foreground, while still allowing us to vaguely see what is going on the background.

Focus Pulls; This is similar to depth of field, although it is only used in film as it means to change the depth of field. For example, the scene may begin with a shallow focus, so the subject in front is in focus. Then the shot adjusts to a deep focus, meaning the background is now in view. This is used to direct the viewer's attention from different subjects during the same shot.

My Media Blog (:

Hi, i'm Alana, and I am studying AS media at Reepham College. I came from Alderman Peel High School in Wells. This is my blog on which i will be posting all my ideas, film reviews and coursework, throughout this years media studies course.