FILM CLASS
WHAT YOU NEED FOR THIS COURSE
FILM-MAKING: CAMERA SHOTS MONTAGE
It is crucial for all filmmakers to know and understand what camera shots and angles are available. For your first assignment you will be familiarizing yourself with the various camera shots by creating a video that displays them. Mr. Choy will show you his example.
Grab movie clips (what ever method works for you) from the internet and save them in your folder. Begin sifting through them and finding examples for each of the following camera shots. You can follow these steps: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-download-youtube-videos/ For each camera shot find 2-3 examples. If the clips are too short, you can slow down the clip speed. You can add music to certain parts if you want. Before each change in camera shot, add a TITLE before it to indicate which camera shot is being shown. This project will be a test of whether or not you understand the different film camera shots. You can use iMovie or Final Cut Pro X |
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THE CAMERA SHOT LIST
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GENRE SHIFTING MOVIE TRAILERS
One of my favourite types of video projects are the genre-shifted movie trailers where creators take movie clips and retell the plot of the story in a different genre than the original. Popular examples include The Shining as a romantic comedy, Mary Poppins as a dark horror film, Home Alone as a horror/thriller, Superbad as a thriller, Ferris Bueller’s Day off as an indie “coming of age” film and Mrs. Doubtfire as a horror film.
Genre-shifting video projects are valuable in a number of ways. As video creation projects, they would not require a high-level of technical ability. In fact, I would argue that students with basic video editing capabilities could create videos like these from a purely technical perspective. However, if done well, such projects could challenge students to think deeply about the grammar of storytelling while considering essential elements of creating video (e.g., music, timing, edits/cuts, effects, pauses/silence, etc.) for various genres . As well, students would have to acquire a keen eye for the curation involved in finding & gathering elements that would support a chosen genre. But, even without offering students a hands-on component, these videos would be great for discussing questions around how film directors/producers make us feel a certain way through the thoughtful use of various edits & visual/auditory/stylistic elements.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
Genre-shifting video projects are valuable in a number of ways. As video creation projects, they would not require a high-level of technical ability. In fact, I would argue that students with basic video editing capabilities could create videos like these from a purely technical perspective. However, if done well, such projects could challenge students to think deeply about the grammar of storytelling while considering essential elements of creating video (e.g., music, timing, edits/cuts, effects, pauses/silence, etc.) for various genres . As well, students would have to acquire a keen eye for the curation involved in finding & gathering elements that would support a chosen genre. But, even without offering students a hands-on component, these videos would be great for discussing questions around how film directors/producers make us feel a certain way through the thoughtful use of various edits & visual/auditory/stylistic elements.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
- Create a genre shifting trailer by redoing the clip editing, sound track, Foley, and voice overs
- Once you've downloaded your film clips, brainstorm your ideas, and map out your plan before you start editing.
- Time duration of trailer- no more than 2 minutes.
LIGHTING: BACKLIGHTING
Backlighting is exactly how it sounds. It’s lighting from behind the subject. Backlighting can be a filmmaker’s friend and in other cases it can be a filmmaker’s worst enemy. Backlighting usually causes the subject in the foreground to be underexposed, possibly even silhouetted, as the camera adjusts itself to be able to expose the bright background properly.
Using Backlighting to Create Silhouettes Creating silhouettes is not hard. All you need to do is ensure there is a wide enough variance in the tonal range of your foreground subject and your background source of light. For instance, if you are shooting a dark object such as a person against a bright sky, all you need to do is set your exposure to capture the sky properly and you’ll effectively underexpose your foreground object, in this case a person. If however your foreground object was only darkened and not fully silhouetted, then you may need to slightly underexpose your background sky to further exaggerate the silhouette and make the foreground object appear entirely black. The more you underexpose your footage the more exaggerated this effect will be. PROJECT OBJECTIVE:
Create a short 1 minute clip utilizing "BACKLIGHTING" as the primary style of your clip. |
BACKLIGHT EXAMPLE: The Assassination of Jesse James
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RACK FOCUS
One of the techniques that Hollywood cinematographers employ often is the rack focus or focus pull. This is where one subject in a scene (foreground or background) is in focus and gradually the focus changes to another subject in the scene. This is a technique that allows the cinematographer to put a dramatic emphasis on one subject and then change that emphasis to another. It is often done in scenes where there is dramatic dialog between characters.
To do this, choose one subject to focus on. Say the subject in the foreground. Focus on that subject and then slowly and smoothly turn the focus ring on the lens barrel until the subject in the background becomes sharp. By adding this selective focus to an other wise static shot, you can actually move the viewer’s attention from one part of the screen to the other. All within the same shot! This little trick of film making is called “Rack Focus”. By racking the focus from one plane in the scene to another, you can direct the attention of the viewer. It can also lend a dramatic flare to certain shots. |
Auto/manual, and rack focus.
PROJECT OBJECTIVE: Create a short film clip demonstrating the usage of Rack Focus. The utilization of Rack Focus should be meaningful and purposeful. Brainstorm an effective idea. |
RACK FOCUS- LIGHTS
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RACK FOCUS EXAMPLE
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DA VINCI CODE: RF Example
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SHORT FILM: THE BIG ONE [Project]
FILM STEPS
Film students will be given a package containing guidelines, information, and templates for film-making. |
For your BIG film project, you will propose and create a film of your choice. You have free reign as to what your video entails, the only exception is that you come up with a formal proposal plan for your project. It is your responsibility to organize/arrange who is to be enlisted as crew members on your team and who to cast as actors in the film.
Prior to beginning the project, all students will submit a PROPOSAL LETTER. The letter will be a statement of the student's explanation as to why they chose this particular project and their intended plan to successfully complete the project. This is a 25+ hour project, if your group does not put a minimum of 25 full hours into the project, you do likely not get a passing evaluation (25hrs of sitting around in class does not count). Students must have the project approved before the start of any work on the project. In this requirement, the proposal must be typed and formally written. Not just some random notes jotted down. Components of Proposal Letter:
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