MDA1300 - The Annie Foundation (Short Film)

It's finally here people, the short film my team and i made. In one of my previous posts i explained what this video is about and who it is aimed at. The point and message of the film i think, was matched and pointed out clearly. My role in this production was Director of Photography and i worked alongside, Ahmed (Sound) Stephen (Lights & Editing) Diana (Producer) and Jessica (Director). I think our team was great and any problems that occurred we overcame and didn't let it effect us. Please watch and share with other people, this isn't just a film for entertainment, but it's a real cause and we would like more people to be aware and to get involved in resolving this terrible growing cause.

Enjoy!

MDA1300 - Antisocial Networking (Continuity Project)

This assignment was to show that we learnt the importance of continuity. We was asked to make a short video and make sure all the cuts are matched, each movement and any dialogue. My role was the cameraman and i was working alongside Yousef (producer), Ahmed (director), and Stephen (Audio). This shoot went really well, apart from the issue of the weather changing so we had to make a new idea and change location. The location we shot this video at, had alot of pedestrians walking past the camera or making noise nearby, so as you could imagine we had to re-shoot many scenes over and over. Overall i believe this task enabled us to understand the importance of continuity and how it effects a movie or video. Since we made this video, continuity has always been a thing for me to look out in future productions.

Enjoy

MDA1300 - Three Point Lighting

In one of our earlier workshop lessons, we was introduced to lighting. Lighting is an essential part of movie making as it not only to light the set, but to also add a certain effect to match the genre of the movie. For example in a horror movie, lighting will be used to darken images, and create shadows and much more, this builds up suspense and all you have to do is adjust a couple lights.


This image shows the basic 3 point lighting set up. By looking at the image alone you can kind of get a basic understanding of how and why these 3 lights are in the position they are, and what they are used for. 


The key light, is what lights your subject, or the action happening in the scene, to not just make it visible but to also stand out a point of interest. This light, alongside the fill light, creates depth, and gives the audience a well lit, and clear shot of whatever is happening on screen. The back light makes the actor/point of action stand out from the background, to make it clear what should be visual to the audience first. It also in some way blocks out any shadows which may be unwanted. 


The key & fill light are big lights which have an adjustable light control, which is beneficial as the person on lights, when on a gig, can increase or decrease the amount of light, to get a perfect image on camera in the different surroundings they may be in. Both of these are white light, where as the back light is a sort of orange light which cannot be dimmed. This can cause a bit of a problem, because if the lights are not positioned and set right, you could have a shot that looks too white, or too orange.  

MDA1300 - Short Film Project

Our last assignment for MDA1300 was to make a short film no more than 5 minutes, my group and i did so, and personally, i think it was a great success. We managed to do all of the filming over 2 day, editing it took a bit longer. Our story was basically about a young girl, who was kidnapped from her country, and brought to the U.K to work as a slave for a wealthy family. A neighbor notices the young girl always doing housework for the family and never goes to school or socializes, so she begins to investigate and find out her story. In doing so, the young girl told her everything, and the neighbor said she will get help, and by the time the help arrives, the young girl commits suicide. Sad i know, but this makes our film more serious and emotional towards everyone really, as the point of our movie is to raise awareness about child slavery in the U.K, and that it needs to be brought to a stop.

My role on this project was the camera man, i have been the camera man on previous projects aswell but i feel this one went much better than the others. Reason being i think of myself to be more experienced and motivated to produce good work. I had a great team and everyone put in all their effort and made the film shoots exciting and straight forward. We used actors we found off a website which advertises actors that are looking for work in short films, to give them experience and to go in their port folio. These actors made our film superb, as their acting skills were really good and they helped portray the genre of the film really well.

This project could not of gone any better, it has brought me and the team together and deepened our relationship. We have all walked away with new experiences, and inspiration to continue making masterpieces.

P.S - The editing is going through some final stages, so once completed, i will have the finished film, on a post on my page very soon.

MDA1300 - Paranormal Activity Scene Recreation

In this assignment we had to choose a scene from a film, up to 3 minutes long, and shoot an identical version. This included finding all the identical props, same actors, same dialogue, and further more. Personally i think this shoot went rather well, considering we was shooting till 1 in the morning as one location did not work so we had to go on a recky and find a new location.

Enjoy

MDA1300 - My Groups Lighting Video

One of our assignment were to shoot 2 identical scenes, but in different locations and using different lighting. The first clip you see was using artificial and natural light, and the second clip was all artificial. We used a basic 3 point lighting, consisting of the back light, key light and fill. We managed to make it look realistic and as if it was all natural light.

Enjoy

MDA1300 - Film Shoot for Lighting Project