First week back at college and we looked into camera angles and when we would use them, as basic as that was it really made me think about how I can push myself into perfecting these shots and how I can tell my story better in my upcoming short films. We were then asked to go out and shot some of these shots and to edit them when we get back. After shooting the shots and looking back at them, I felt that the shots could of be better in both the duration and what was on screen.
The Wide Shot (WS) looked fine but felt it didn’t really show the location for what it was and that was a quiet park with the birds swimming. Although we wasn’t telling a story and that the shot was just a random shot, I still felt that the WS should still set the scene for the rest of the shots that were about to come. I did however like the amount of colour coming into the camera which was done by changing the settings on the camera and increasing the aperture on the lens.
The next camera angle was the Mid Shot (MS) and the thing I really liked about this shot was the depth of field between the character and the location background. Again just like the WS, the settings on the camera really brought out the colours and details in the characters hair and eyes. My only criticism of the shot was that it wasn’t long enough and that we didn’t play around with different angles such as showing the character from his left or right or over the shoulder of another character.
The Close Up (CU) was my favourite angle from the others as it didn’t include a character but just a flower blowing in the wind which I enjoyed looking at and felt it could be used in a story to show how calm the scene is or how everything is fine in that moment of time. The shot wasn’t too long or too short and just looked beautiful to look at for as long as you wanted to look at it for. But the thing that makes this shot my favourite was the range of colours between the flowers, the water, the glass and the ducks swimming, all primary colours fitting in the shots really balanced the levels.
The Pan shot was possibly the worse shot of the day as it didn’t feel natural and had parts where the camera would stop then move too quick. The Pan was the only shot that was used at the college and to be honest wasn’t the best place to use the shot, the location looked doll and was mostly just white walls from the top floor looking down at everything else. If we were to do the shot again it will be in a brighter location with different colours in every frame. We would also improve the Pan from the tripod so it will feel more soft and smooth which we will do with a number of different shots adjusting the tripod every time.
The Dutch Tilt (DT) was a shot I wasn’t used to before but after the first few attempts I felt like I understand the shot more and could see myself using the shot in some short films in the future. The shot wasn’t anything special with the shot being just a laid down tripod, but as just mentioned the shot has potential and with more attempts and research could be useful in some short films.
The Low Angle (LA) was forgettable compared to the other shots but looked good on screen both on the camera and computer. What I liked about the LA was the light bouncing off the statues head and creating a lens flare on the camera which was something that we didn’t have on any other shot. I felt like the shot kept unfocusing which we will look into next time we use the shot as both the Low and High angle shots are artsy shots which we will be using next time because they not only look really beautiful and adds more detail in the shot but also tells a story of the character/ object in the scene.
The High Angle (HA) wasn’t as good as the LA and could possibly be the worse shot next to the Pan. The reason the HA didn’t do very well was the fact we rushed the shot due to the time and only filmed the shot the once and went off to the next shot. The shot looks dull and lacked colours and detail of the character. As talked about in the LA, we will be using this shot more so it was nice to not get the shot right so that in future we will know how to shoot the shot better and with more planning.
The last angle as the Tracking Shot and this shot looked great on camera but once we got back to the computer noticed the mistakes which could of easily be fixed if we had re watched in playback. The main mistake was the fact the camera shake was too noticeable and could of be smoother had it been filmed on a tripod and filmed holding the legs. The idea of the shot was there but during the filming was not thought about and that was the reason the shot didn’t look good and compared to some of the other shots were not professional for this high level.
Overall I felt that more then half the shots looked artsy and could be used in some upcoming short films in ways to tell our story better but the other shots I felt should be looked over and for us to practice them over and over until we can master them and to use the shots to make other films better. This lesson has opened my eyes to how and when we should use the shots and how they can tell the story from showing us the same thing but in different angles.
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