One Hour Photo - Emma

In Class, we watched the opening of 'One Hour Photo', up until 3:43 and were asked to write notes and answer some questions.

A) The main character- What sort of person?

I think that the main character Sy, is a loner because he seems perfectly content being held in the interview room on his own. He's staring into space and smiling with his legs crossed, suggesting he's on his own a lot as he handles it so well. He seems a little doddery as he stumbled on the line and wasn't sure of his left and right.

B) How do you feel about the main character? - Why?


He gives me an edgy feeling, like I wouldn't want to be around him for too long or I wouldn't want to be near him on my own. Robin Williams achieves this by showing a lack of emotion, bar a polite smile here or there. This feeling was also emphasised by the fact that he was being questioned in what appeared to be a well equip police department.

C) Analyse opening credits - Why have they created them in this particular way?

i think that the credits are done in an effective way. even if the audience had never heard anything about the film other than it's name, they would link the title, being about photo's to the credits as the look like a film making prints and exposing paper. I also liked that there seemed to be an imprint left behind, hinting to the audience that there will always be consequences for your actions.

"One Hour Photo" extract - Lorna Wilson

1. In the opening extract from the thriller "one hour photo" camera work, sounds, editing and mise en scene communicate to the audience. From this extract the main character is depicted as an average middle aged family orientated man, soft spoken and seemingly not very threatening, this could suggest a psychological problem. The extract shows him in a police chamber being photographed and interrogated proving him to be a criminal, surprising for his appearance.
The opening credits have been created in a particular way, and could foreshadow the film. Colours used in the credits are white and red, this is typical of blood, death or danger. The credits start off white, flash then turn red. This could mean danger in relation to the camera. The flash of the text is similar to that of a camera, the detailing and symbols around the text are also found on a camera screen.
The setting of the police station is plain, spacious and linear, with a lot of metals and pale colours. This builds a harsh isolated and controlled atmosphere, making the main character look really out of place. There's a few long fixed pauses with the camera focussing on various pieces of equipment e.g. the camera at the beginning of the clip and the computer CCTV screen. This creates an eerie setting, along with the quiet sound which builds tension.
The effect of the Flashback is created through sound, mise en scene, editing and camera work. The sound effect of a camera flash links to make the transition in atmosphere and setting, other sounds of cheerful music and echoed children's laughter suggest a memory rather than reality. Mise en scene helps to create the effect as costumes are celebratory and lighting is brighter and colourful. Editing provides a brighter contrast in the flashback and the scene changes dramatically from harsh to fun and completely relaxed.
Aspects of mise en scene and sound work help to communicate very different atmospheres between the two places (police room and family celebration in garden) Body language in the police station is very stern and controlled, whereas the celebratory scene is active and fun. The sound work in the flashback is slightly echoed and is accompanied by a voice over taken from the main character who's memory it is. Generally the two settings are opposite to the other.

Peer Evaluation Feedback - Emma

After watching our film in a lesson twice, the rest of the class evaluated it for us. They said we had

• Good Framing
• Good Attention to Detail (The Ransom Note)
• Good Locations (The room the hostage was in)
• An Appropriate Use of Sound
• Good performance on our actors part
• Good Camera Movement
• Some Continuity Errors (The Paper missing and the Door Opening the Wrong Way)
• A Dodgy Cut (When Craig Was Entering The Room)

And that the pace could have been quicker.

I was happy to hear that they thought the sound worked well as I spent quite a bit of time on it, and that the framing worked well.

In regards to the continuity errors, we should have paid a lot more attention. They could have been eliminated in the planning stages if we’d spent enough time on it.

The dodgy cut was due to a technical malfunction, as the end of the first shot had fuzzed up. We would have used the full second shot, but it didn’t start in the same place, so we edited it together the best we could.

This evaluation has again helped me realise that we need to devote a lot more time to the planning stages and pay way more attention to detail.

Peer Evaluation Feedback - Lorna Wilson

After watching the preliminary films back with the class, we received a lot of good comments as well as some useful pointers. These were that we could've quickened the pace to add more tension, and the continuity error of the ransom note and match on action when the pull door is pushed.
Good points :

• Good framing and attention to detail e.g. ransom note.
• Good choice of location.
• Appropriate soundtrack that suited the mood.
• Good performance by the actors.
  
• Good range of camera shots and movement.
  

Overall I'm pleased with the outcome of our preliminary film. Despite some of the technical hitches and errors, I've learned a lot about the making of films which I'll use for the real task.

Amelia's peer evaluation feedback.

When the other groups watched our film, I felt we had quite good feedback from them. They said that our framing was good and so was the location we chose, some said that the soundtrack we used suited the atmosphere and that the acting performance was good. However, a few thought there were a few problems such as continuity errors with the ransom note in a couple of shots. There was a couple of scenes where the location was a bit dark and we could have improved with that by either filming again or editing it. I think we could have also improved in our task by having a quicker pace to the characters actions to make it more intense and dramatic.

Amelia's Evaluation

Preliminary Task Evaluation.

For our preliminary task we had to make a one minute film which includes shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule.

We created a film about a hostage situation, and we had to decide on the locations and the plot as a group. For the location we used an old isolated room and the learning centre. We used cross cutting between scenes to add more intensity within the characters.

When we were filming the match on action scenes we had a few problems because they didn’t match completely, we also had trouble with the camera at one point because it went jolty on one clip. With the 180 degree rule we found that we broke this a few times, we resolved this by cutting down the clips to try and make them fit in. To vary our shots we used different camera angles to make it more interesting.

For this task we used I-movie to put our film together and edit clips, I learnt how to add sound to a film and different effects. I think we could have improved our film by being slightly more organised as a group.

Emma's Evaluation :)

Through this task I have learnt a lot about the cameras and editing software. Before starting this course I had never used either ‘I movie’ or ‘Garage Band’ before. I discovered that I really enjoyed the editing process as well as the filming, which was kind of unexpected. I have learnt that for our next piece, we will definitely need to spend more time planning and refining what we are going to do, as well as sticking to it. We needed to have done a lot more research and should have looked at other films for inspiration for our piece. We found that although we had a good twenty minutes of footage, it wasn’t really what we needed. Some of the shots weren’t thought out enough and could have been a lot better.
In one part the camera jumped and cut out part of the take, so we tried to match it to another take but the cut was obvious. In the scene when our male actor Craig was dialling the phone (*1), the camera did something funny to him, so our initial reaction was to shoot that scene again. We then realised that we wouldn’t have enough time to do all of that again, so were going to get an extreme close up of just his hand, dialling the phone and add that in. Unfortunately, we’d left it a bit too late and had to leave our film as it was and continue on with other things.
In another shot (*2) we’d lost the printed copy of the ransom message, and were running out of time to finish our filming, so had to use one of our story board pages. Next time, we need to be more careful and make sure we know where all our props are at all times. Another obvious mistake was when we moved location, condensing space and forgot to make Craig take the paper (*3 & 4). I really like the framing of one shot in particular (*5) and think it gives an interesting take on what’s happening.
During filming, I was filming and directing. The actors we chose, although coming through for us in the end, wasted a lot of valuable time by laughing, joking around and not paying attention. They also didn’t know their lines as they hadn’t had a copy of the script before hand, the whole casting process was rushed and needed more thinking through. Next time, we will think about our options and maybe advertise in the drama department and hold auditions so that the people we end up using are fully aware of the importance and are completely dedicated.
There was an issue with the sound at one point, as I was away for a lesson and Lorna and Amelia put on a soundtrack that I didn’t think really suited the piece. I felt that that would spoil the mood of the piece, making it somewhat laughable, so during one of my free periods and one lunch break I decided to re-do it. I used the knowledge that I’d gathered from my film studies classes and used ‘Garage Band’ to remove most of the original sound and add in ambient noise, footsteps, clicking, doors and an eerie soundtrack. I was really pleased with what I’d done so submitted it for the group.

AS Media Studies Preliminary Task Evaluation - Lorna Wilson

AS Media Studies Preliminary Task Evaluation
For the preliminary task we had to create a one minute film which demonstrates Match on Action, Shot/ Reverse Shot and The 180 degree rule. My group and I based our film on a hostage situation. The first things we discussed were:
• Locations
We decided on using the Learning Centre for the establishing shot and a secluded room and hallway in the old building to hold the hostage.
• Props
Duct Tape and a phone
• Actors/characters
Two actors who played a Hostage and the Kidnapper.
• Plot
Kidnapper creates and prints a ransom note then proceeds to the room where the hostage is kept and makes her read it out down the phone.
• Camera techniques
Cross cutting between the two locations.

I was assigned the task of storyboard artist, and after discussion with my group I went on to draw on the storyboard and choose relevant camera work. Equipment we used to produce our film was a Video camera and Tripod.

We took a couple takes of each shot to enable a good choice in footage when editing. For many of the shot’s we tried filming at different angles and shot sizes. This was especially important when filming the match on action as it took quite s few attempts in creating a plausible scene.
After shooting our film and watching our footage back we realised there were a few mistakes in the match on action and 180 degree rule. Also in one on the shots the digital signal had dropped out leaving a partially blocked image. In order to sort this we planned to film a close up of the phone to replace it but unfortunately didn’t get round to it, so in order to keep the continuity we had to keep it in. With our match on action scene, the continuity wasn’t completely accurate; because of the order in which we filmed the ransom note wasn’t present in filming the actor coming out the door, when he was holding the note when entering through the door. We also had trouble with the 180 degree rule when shooting the shot/reverse shot as we went over the line in the conversation scene. We tried to solve this problem by using different shots and then cutting down as well as changing there orders, however this didn’t completely work.

Through this task I have learnt a lot about the process of making a film, and taking it from an idea to the screen. I've been able to practise camera skills and learn how to edit videos on I-movie, as well as how to add sound and effects. For the main practical task I'd improve the work by filming the sequence in order as to keep the continuity throughout. I'd also make sure there's time left after filming and viewing the footage to re-shoot in case of any mistakes.

The Hostage