Cameras

On Friday we looked at cameras and I learned a lot of things I didn't know how to do before like white balance and how to zoom to focus.

SONY HXR-NX5

The Sony HXR-NX5 is a compact HD camcorder that is ideal for filming in many conditions and situations. I liked the layout of the controls and found that it was relatively easy to find my way around them and figure out what they all do. This camera had a 20x optical zoom which meant it was easy to focus and get closer to the action if you were filming in a war zone or similar environment. I thought the camera was a great size for a handheld but was quite chunky when mounted on a tripod making it a little difficult to maneuver, however overall I really loved using this camera.

CANON 5D

The Canon 5D had the highest image quality of all the cameras we looked and this means its used for a multitude of situations, from small scale youtube videos to TV to feature films. I found that this camera was the hardest to use partly due to not having a zoom function meaning you had to manually focus it yourself with a tape measure. I also found that with the stunning quality came a sacrifice of the nice user interface of the other cameras and that most of the fine tuning had to be done on screen rather than with separate buttons. This camera was small and had a replaceable lens which allows for adjustment depending on what you're shooting for.

SONY NEX FS100

The Sony NEX FS100 is quite a low cost camcorder that produces shots with a low depth of field, similar to a film camera. We found out that these cameras are ideal for shooting music videos as they have good memory and shoot in really good HD. I liked this camera as it was relatively easy to use and find my way around the controls. One of the best things about this camera was the easily interchangeable lenses, which allows for creative freedom and a variety of different kinds of shot. 

The Shining (1980): Opening Analysis

The Shining opens with a shot of an isolated island in the middle of a huge lake. You get a sense that the landscape is vast due to the reflection of the mountains in the lake, making the land look massive. This gives the viewer a sense of being very small in comparison to nature, that nature is very powerful in this opening.



The use of a crossfade transition is applied in this opening and is effective in giving a sense of a change in location and time. It makes you feel as though you are being taken on a journey and you feel this because the transition seems very natural. It keeps the continuity of the sequence going.



The credits that roll in this opening are a bright turquoise blue, which makes them stand out from the landscape. The first credit we see is "A STANLEY KUBRICK FILM", which captures the audiences attention as Kubrick is very well known.



One of the most captivating shots in this sequence is the drone shot that swoops down behind the yellow VW and then flys off the mountain. This gives the viewer a sense that the point of view of the camera is a bird or something flying and at one point that its of someone in a car. This is significant as Kubrick is trying to manipulate the audience psychologically from the very start, so we know that the rest of the film will be exciting. It gives us a sense of the genre of the film, a psychological thriller.



At the end of the sequence we see a ski lodge, indicated by ski lifts, with cars parked outside so we assume this is where the yellow car is headed and therefore assume that this is the setting for the rest of the film.



This opening has no dialogue or characters introduced, so it is quite impersonal but intriguing as you want to meet who's inside the car. Instead of dialogue there is music playing which helps pull you in to the scene.

Dead Mans Shoes (2004): Opening Analysis

The film opens with a series of home video style clips. These have a homemade feel due to being filmed with a hand held camera.

These childhood clips and spliced with long shots of two men walking down various paths. The juxtaposition of these two styles and subject matters gives a sense of nostalgia and suggests that  the boys in the childhood videos and the men walking, which infers that they are brothers.

When the childhood videos play there is a grainy effect over the video telling us that the videos are old and adding to the sense of nostalgia they give you. The transitions in these parts and very quick which gives a fast pace, but between the shots of the men and the home videos the transitions are very slow with gives a sense of time passing. These slow transitions are fades meaning you can see both images, making it smoothly and gently fuse together the two scenes.

In the videos from the past the setting colors are bright like reds, yellows, pinks and blues. This is a contrast to the coloring of the setting of the countryside that the men are walking in which is mostly green and grey. This gives a sense of childhood compared with adulthood.

The childhood scenes also have a golden yellow color added to them which gives a sense of warmth and nostalgia.

The way that the scenery of the men walking changes from fields to forest and back to fields lets you know that a long time is passing and they have been traveling for a long time.

There is no sound apart from an acoustic song in the background which sounds very emotional and reminiscent. It mentions being on the run which seems to tie in with the imagery of the men walking away. The fact that there's no dialogue adds mystery and keeps the audience from knowing very much too early.

I feel that this opening tells us subtly that the two men are brothers who are running away from something and that we understand this through the use of home videos and music. 

Introduction

My name is Coco and I'm studying Media, Art, English literature and Sociology at Hurtwood House. I love art and film and spend a lot of time at galleries and watching films in my free time. My favorite films are Leon the Professional,

The Dreamers,

Labyrinth,

Pans Labyrinth 

and The Secret Garden. 

I love Guillermo del Toro and Lars von Trier.

I'm studying media as I'm interested in pursuing film at university and media studies allows me to get familiar with using cameras and being in a similar environment to a real film set.