Three-Point Lighting

The Three-Point Lighting is the standard method used in film-making. By using three seperate positions the photographer can illuminate the shot's subject however desired, while also controlling the shading and shadows produced by direct lighting.

Key Light

The key light as the name suggests, shines directly upon the subject and serves as its principal illuminator; more than anything else, the strength, color and angle of the key determines the shot's overall lighting design.

In indoor shots, the key is commonly a specialized lamp, or a camera's flash. In outdoor daytime shots, the sun often serves as the key light. In this case, of course, the photographer cannot set the light in the exact position he or she wants, so instead arranges it to best capture the sunlight, perhaps after waiting for the sun to position itself just right.

Fill Lights

The fill light also shines on the subject, but from a side angle relative to the key and is often placed at a lower position than the key (about at the level of the subject's face). It balances the key by illuminating shaded surfaces, and lessening or eliminating chiaroscuro effects, such as the shadow cast by a person's nose upon the rest of the face. It is usually softer and less bright than the key light (up to half), and more to a flood. Not using a fill at all can result in stark contrasts (due to shadows) across the subject's surface, depending upon the key light's harshness. Sometimes, as in low-key lighting, this is a deliberate effect, but shots intended to look more natural and less stylistic require a fill. In some situations a photographer can use a reflector (such as a piece of white cardstock mounted off-camera, or even a white-painted wall) as a fill light instead of an actual lamp. Reflecting and redirecting the key light's rays back upon the subject from a different angle can cause a softer, subtler effect than using another lamp.

 Backlights

The backlight shines on the subject from behind, often (but not necessarily) to one side or the other. It gives the subject a rim of light, serving to separate the subject from the background and highlighting contours.

Back light or rim light is different from a kick in that a kick  contributes to a portion of the shading on the visible surface of the subject, while a rim light only creates a thin outline around the subject without necessarily hitting the front surface of the subject at all.

Mise en Scene

Settings and Props

• Settings and locations play a big part in films and music videos nowadays, they are no longer just backgrounds
• Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time is spent to find a setting which already exists
• Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain expectations and then taking a different turn

Costume, Hair and Make Up

• Costume, hair and make up act as an instant indicator to us of a character's personality
• It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the present and what society or culture it will centre around
• Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (ie; black cloak of a vampire, spidery's spiderman suit etc)

Facial Expressions and Body Language

• Facial expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone is feeling
• If someone is smiling broadly we assume they are happy but we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary music
• Body language may also indicate how a character feels towards another character or may reflect the state of their relationship

Positioning of Characters in a Frame

• Positioning within a frame can draw our attention to an important character/object
• A film-maker can use postioning to indicate relationships between people

Lighting and Colour

• To highlight important characters or objects within a frame
• To make characters look mysterious by shading sections of the face and body
• To reflect a character's mental state or hidden emotions ( i.e; bright = happy, dark = hidden, strobe effect = confused)

Our Media Character

Name: Vincent de ... ?
Age: Unknown
Gender: Male
Likes: -
Dislikes: -
Personality: Sarcastic, bitter, essentially good, good moral compass, anti-social, introvert and confined, lonely, intelligent, intimidating, strong willed,
Species: Appears to be human.
Special Powers: Doesn't age, Intelligent, physically strong,
Background info: Orphanedas a young boy, grew up in the back streets of Paris where he met a group of men who promised to watch over him and keep him from harm. Whilst he was growing he was kept well fed and clothed, yet he was always curious about the world outside. When he decided to leave Paris to become a man, the group of gentlemen laid a curse upon him ensuring that the boy who wanted to grow up, never would.

After wandering around the world and training with Tibetan Monks in the mountains of China, ... finds himself in 18th century London, curious as to why he has never aged. Seeking the counsel of the Catholic Church, ... finds himself unable to enter holy buildings and areas of worship. He realises that whilst he appears to be human, his soul has been damned. On trying to enter a London church, he comes across and young man sitting on the steps of the building who appears to be laughing at him. He tells him of the curse and that there are many like him, no of whom have ever been rid of the curse.

My Character Profile

Frodo

Frodo is one of the main characters in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Frodo is a young male hobbit who lives in the shire with the other hobbits of Middle Earth.  Frodo is a determined hobbit who is strong willed but does eventually cave to the power of the ring. Frodo's friends at first are just fellow hobbits such as Sam, Merry, Pippin and his uncle Bilbo, but he also has the wizard Gandalf the Grey as his friend. Later on in the film, Frodo befriends several more characters, Legolas the elf, Gimmley the dwarf, Aragon a man, Boromir another man and Elrond leader of the elves.
              Frodo finds himself on a quest to destroy the most powerful ring in all of middle earth, he is faced with many near death experiences mainly with orcs and a deformed creature Golem. He also is faced against a giant spider, nasgul's or ring wreaths and the dark evil Sauron.

Opening 2 minutes of a feature film

Character:


American Beauty;


Lester, he's 42, and believes he is going to die next year. But feels like he's already dead. He lives in suburbia with a wife called Caroline who matches her shoes to her gardening implements and a daughter Julia who is a typical teenager, insecure about herself. His family think he is a loser, and he feels he has lost a part of himself, sedated, but thinks he can find a way to get back to how he used to be. His neighbour is called Jim who's partner is also called Jim, they have a white and brown dog. They have a white picket fence. 


I think Lester knows that he may have a terminal illness and that because of that he believes he will die in the next year, he may be feeling sedated due to taking drugs for this illness. I think Lester will do something out of the ordinary as he appears to have the picturesque suburban lifestyle. He'll do something crazy and really live the last year of his life.




Jerry Maguire;


Jerry Maguire is a sports manager, he has the fate of 72 athletes dreams in his hands, he takes on average 346 phone calls a day. He's very business like, dresses very smart with slick hair. Mingles well with crowds and gets his name out there. becomes famous off of other people's talents. Looks after his clients well, but he is becoming unhappy with the people some of his clients are turning into. He's an expensive person, the way he dresses and talks. His house is very cluttered which suggests that he doesn't have much time for himself, it is only for other people. Work is his life. 


I think Jerry may possibly end up quitting his job and ends up showing how professional athletes should act to people and be like. Stop the younger unknown athletes from becoming the famous ones. 


I think both Jerry and Lester are both unhappy with their lives, and will both do something to change who they are and what they do within the course of the movies. I do not think that Jerry has a family as all his time is dedicated to his work, which suggests that he's lonely. But also Lester seems lonely as well even though he is surrounded by his family as he doesn't appear to have a good relationship with them, so I think they are both very similar characters. 


Early Doors;


Ken is the landlord of a pub, he appears tobe very cheap as he was refilling expensive brandy with cheap brandy. Sings loud, quite jolly, like a landlord seemed talkative and knows the locals who come in, and who it was who died. Happy but lonely as he was all alone and singing loud to make the place appear to be full. Normal routine, same every day, quite monotonous, same regulars coming in, probably not many younger customers as it was quite an old fashioned pub. 


Ken may lose the pub, he may have money issues as he is being cheap with the brandy, and there was the one customer, which may insinuate that he is having financial troubles and the pub and his routine may be taken away from him. Appears that all Ken has is the pub and he may go out and discover the world a bit more away from the pub. He'll go to the seaside. 


All 3 characters so far all seem like lonely men, whose lives are only really in the one place but it's all about to change. Each man probably won't like the changes at first, but will grow to love their new lives and never think about going back. 




Opening Sequences


London to Brighton;
Nitty Gritty, the sudden introduction worked well, brings you straight into the film, quite intense, lets you know part of the storyline and where the film is heading straight away. Possible one to remake, fairly basic settings and props used. Felt like there was a lot going on, when it was fairly straight forward what was going on. The lighting and time setting gives off a theme that may run throughout the film, makes it all seem a lot darker and worse than it may be. 


The Graduate;
Very basic, majority of introduction is spent in the same setting, well timed with the music, reflects on the character, colours used are very plain, clean cut. No words, only noise is instructions, either from the pilot or at the airport. Character has been at uni, is used to instructions, going back home, has been far from home, maybe wanted to be as far away as possible. Quite submissive, didn't interact with the people around him and didn't really pay attention to those walking past. 


Napolean Dynamite;
Credits fit into themes of the film, stuff used in the film is used in the credits, gives an idea as to the characters lifestyle. Quite tough to remake how to do it.




Possible Ideas for openings


Happy Go lucky - Cycling through a busy London street
(500) Days of Summer - cycling at night, jumps straight into the film
Juno - Animated credits blending in with the story
Little Miss Sunshine - Shots of the different characters
Fight Club - main character narration
Shaun of the Dead - walks into room in a zombielike state
Run Fat Boy, Run - Wedding prepartion
Rocky Horror Picture Show - The mouth talking
Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging - Running in an olive costume
Underworld - Selene on a ledge
Harry Potter?
Lord of The Rings - Smeagle's past life
Pirates of the Caribbean - Wedding in the rain
The Crow - walking
Bridget Jones - Singing/ Narration
Music & Lyrics - POP video
Labyrinth - Talking/Story telling
Moulin Rouge - ...?
Love Actually - Airport narration
Billy Elliot - ...?

Yo!

Welcome to my Media Studies blog :)

2 things I learned in my first proper Media lesson are:

• That film is a visual medium

• Often things shown at the beginning of a film foreshadow something which may happen at the end of it

:D