The Magic of Movies

In your own words, explain the differences between an outline, synopsis and a treatment. A synopsis is a one piece paragraph to a one page description of the overall premise of your film/show. Think of it as an extended logline. Within the one-sheet will be one solid paragraph that fully captures the core idea of your script. Often times, those that are not as familiar with the term, will confuse a synopsis with a treatment. An outline is pretty much the idea the map of what should and will happen. A treatment is a test before doing the official project, treatments allows writers to summarize their story idea.

What are three major tips from this article that you took away on how to create a great pitch?  Three major tips I learned from reading this article is never tell your whole story. When pitching the rookie mistake many people make is they the entire story what you want to do is make a synopsis. The second tip I learned was to focus on revealing the essential parts of the story. Who is your HERO or protagonist? What is that character’s EVERYDAY LIFE at the beginning of the film? Why will we feel EMPATHY towards your hero? These sort of questions are amazing to answer when pitching you want to tell people why you want something a certain way. Third is to begin revealing how you came up with the idea, don't lead with your title or log line. 

Preproduction is something that comes early into the filmmaking process, it determines your budget, actors, locations, crew, equipment, costumes, etc. Preproduction is the planning stage of a film. This is a part of where you solidify all the details of your project before producing content. Why is preproduction important in filmmaking? Preproduction is important because it allows to prepare and organize before executing the plans of your project. It's a time to figure out how much certain things are going to cost such as the equipment you plan on purchasing/renting. There are 7 elements of the preproduction process in film 1. is your script break down, 2. budget, 3.schedule, 4.crew, 5.planning, 6.talent, 7. rehearsal. All these elements are essential to the preproduction process, it's what stabilizes and puts everything together.  

Write an in-depth reflection on the activity we did yesterday on creating a movie! What was your role in the film? What was your character's experience? What did you learn about the activity? How could you have improved? My role in this activity was a distributor "The Strategic Visionary". As the distributor I got to decide where and how the film would be shown, aligning it with my platform or business vision. My experience as the distributor was me handling where we would advertise our blockbuster movie, what company we would permit to license our work. I learned a lot about the important roles in making a film, I learned how being a distributor you have to decide where a certain amount of the budget will go to. Something I think I could've improved was probably doing more advertisements or commercials to get our movie out there more, but due to our contract with China there were some limiting factors. 

Review your camera unit goals blog entry at the beginning of the unit. What did you do to achieve those goals? What did you learn in the Intro to Camera unit? What are more questions you have about using a camcorder? I learned a lot about composition, rule of thirds, 180 degree rule. I want to know more about cool shots and angles I can film to make my film/video project look interesting.  I achieved understanding what camera composition is and what the rule of thirds is, I learned about the different shots and angles that are used in many films. I learned a lot from this lesson. 

Now that you've learned about framing, angles and composition, how has it improved your appreciation of watching films and television?  What are 3 examples of how you've seen these principles in play out in the world? Some things I've noticed are two shots there will be a lot of times where I'll be talking to friends or family and two people are together. A two shot is a scene where the frame encompasses two people. A second example is long shot scenes I tend to see those a lot on a daily basis when I'm at school, my neighborhood, the stores, etc.I see people or objects from afar which tends to create this long shot and wide angle. A third shot I think would be a great example cowboy shot I see a lot of people from that distance and I've seen that very often. These shots played a lot in the world throughout my everyday life and other peoples everyday lives. It helped me appreciate every movie I've seen more because it's let me truly see the picture.

What are the tips that John gives to give steady shots in this video? How can you use this in your next video? The first tip John gives is if you own a small camera use the camera strap and put it around your neck, and then when you're shooting push the camera forward almost like an anchor using your hand and your neck as the contact points to give you a much steadier shot. The second tip John talks about is the marching band technique. The two thing you should think about is your heel to toe position, and your center of gravity. Plant the the heel roll through the foot. The second thing you want to do is lower and center your gravity. I can use these tips the next project I do that requires or involves handheld shooting.

What are three key tips that you found valuable from this video? The first thing to try when looking for a location is ask your friends and family. Tell them what you are doing and ask if they have any ideas. When trying to find a location don't be so locked on what you have in mind, that you turn down a location willing to let you use it for free. The number one rule when shooting on location is to leave the set exactly the way it was before.  

What is the difference between zooming and dollying? What do dollying and trucking add to the shot? While zoom is created through a static camera change in focal length. A dolly is created by moving the actual camera closer or farther. (Usually on a set of tracks) a dolly can be created using a prime lens, that's because the lens doesn't need to do anything. While a zoom shot only adjusts the camera's focal length a dolly zoom moves the entire camera toward a subject.

Movement in film can be used in a variety of ways. What are some that you noticed are mentioned in this film? In what ways are they used? What are some films that you like that you could go home this weekend and study for their movement? What aspects of their camera movement interest you? Please explain. Where you place camera interprets what your viewers are seeing. There's scenes you can do with a dolly, or handheld and both scenes give different outcomes and interpretations. A film that I enjoyed watching is 2 Fast 2 Furious, as far as I recall the scenes when they cut to action are intense they do a lot of cuts in between.

What do low vs. high angles mean in relation to each other? A traditional approach is to position the camera the same height as the subject or dominant element of the shot. Typically low angle shots make your character or subject appear bigger, more threatening. The low angle points the camera upwards. Using a high angle camera shot makes the subject look more vulnerable, smaller, weaker, or insignificant. High and low angles both very important and in relation each other because both frame people/subjects and give us a better idea of the emotions. 

What are three key things that this video teaches you about composition? Why is each of them important to the images that you shoot?  The idea of composition is very simple a good stable shot a good angle tells us a lot more than poorly angled scenes. You can frame left and frame right and frame right in the middle those three key things can make a tremendous difference in how you interpret the image that you're looking at. Your camera position is always important you don't want it to look sloppy or crooked. It will also help interpret what your audience is seeing. The rule of thirds is a basic composition tool that beginners use it helps you know how much space you should add or reduce with your subject. They're all important because the audience will have a better understanding of what they're looking at.

What do long shots, medium shots and close up shots mean in relation to each other? Long shots are often used to execute an establishing shot of a location, in context of a scene. A long shot typically include the subjects full body and gives you enough head room, lead room, and look room. It gives the viewer a sense of the location. A medium shot is close enough to include facial expressions, and still wide enough and an actors body language. A close up gives a more intimate look to the subject. These all relate to each other because they all give us a much better understanding of what the us the viewers are looking at.

What are the key differences between full, medium and close up shots? How does this apply to over the shoulder shots? Two shots? How do different lenses affect these shots?  The full body shot should shot from the head to the feet. Don't cut out the legs and feet it will make you seem like you don't know what you're doing. Close up shots are most often used with dialogue scenes preferably shot reverse shot over the shoulder angle. Medium shots are usually shot with a 16 mm focal point lens or 50 mm lens, and 300 mm lens. In terms of these different lenses being applied, framing doesn't change only the perspective.