Unit 1: Chapter 9 (Section B)

Chapter 9 is a film I have directed for college, I used this opportunity to put my Arts Challenge into practice which was working on cinematography skills. I feel that overall, I have improved my knowledge and skills of cinematography by doing this challenge. The above film took around five months to plan, shoot and edit. I took the main lead in cinematography so I could work on my Arts Challenge and overall I am very proud of the final product. I did not focus on mimicking Kubrick or Anderson's work in this project but I was definitely influenced by their general style. I aimed to incorporate some somewhat symmetrical shots from time to time.

Unit 2: Film Stills (Section B) 5

In this shot, I think the lighting went really well in terms of how the background has become solid black and Simon is set out from it quite nicely. Usually, close-ups emphasise emotion of characters most potently, however I think the framing, shot size and low angle portray the emotion intended particularly well.

Unit 1: Film Stills (Section B) 4

When initially setting this shot up I did not realise how much I actually liked it, but there are a number of things I feel went particularly well in this shot. First of all the focus went as close to perfect as possible. The shallow focus draws the viewers attention to the 'I' key which was my main intent. The lighting also created a very crisp image and the clarity of the dust in between the keys gave a nice effect, I feel. I also like the central framing of the 'I' key, although framing the subject in the centre is nothing out of the ordinary, I think with this particular subject matter it creates a nice image.

Unit 1: Film Stills (Section B) 3

I enjoyed incorporating  a bird's eye view shot into the film. I tried to create a somewhat symmetrical shot and have the main subjects focused vertically down the centre. I think this shot went particularly well in terms of the framing and positioning of the mise-en-scene.

Unit 1: Film Stills (Section B) 2

This is one of my favourite shots from our film. I feel that this shot was framed particularly well, especially for an over the shoulder shot which, usually, I do not like that much. The lighting of the shot is also something I am quite proud of, the heavy reflections of the water on the ground provide nice contrast to the solid black sky. I also think the view of the well-lit town hall adds nice depth to the shot.

Unit 1: Film stills (Section B)

Before starting the course at the Showroom, I had began the planning for a short film as part of my college course. We began shooting after the arts award had been briefed so I have chosen to use some stills from the film which I put a lot of effort into the cinematography. The next few posts will consist of still from my film 'Chapter 9'.

Here is a link to the film and IMDb page to prove I directed/wrote the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e24iLYMQHuY
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5372052/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_1

This close up is from the beginning of the film. I feel this is a particularly good shot as it is well framed and chiaroscuro creates a great effect in terms of tone.

Unit 1: The Showroom (Section D)

I have attended a course hosted by the BFI at The Showroom cinema in Sheffield. The Showroom is an independant cinema and is also funded through charity. I heard about the course via the Showroom's website. As I want to be a filmmaker (I will go on to study film production at university) I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to gain more experience in filmmaking and further my knowledge of the industry.
Many opportunities were provided by this course such as a networking workshops and experience in multi-cam TV work. The course was brilliant way to bring together students with similar interests from different locations.

Rob Speranza from South Yorkshire Film Makers Network (SYFMN) came in to give us a workshop about networking. He told us the basic necessary skills that would help us in social situations  such as networking. This was extremely beneficial as the confidence gained from this workshop will help when faced with these types of situations in my career.

We were given access to equipment similar to what is used in television studios, we were then able to create a series of interviews using two cameras. This was a great bit of extra experience which was only possible due to The Showroom's and BFI's resources.