Evaluating our preliminary task

For our preliminary task, we were asked to create a short film of a character walking into a room, having a short conversation, and then leaving the room. The sequence had to include match on action and shot-reverse-shot and it had to observe the 180 degree rule.

My role in our group was as the director and cameraman. For this I had to make sure that all of the shots were framed well and that they made sense so that they could be edited together to create a coherent narrative.

We succeeded in a number of instances of match on action, editing shots so that the transitions coincided with one of the characters performing an action. We did this by cutting between different camera angles as a character walked through a series of doors.

Our shot-reverse-shot was less successful as we only had one instance of the two characters being the focus of the shot, so we only had a shot-reverse. If we were to do this task again, we would have put in a second shot over Amy’s shoulder showing Tim’s reaction to her behaviour.

We observed the 180 degree rule as the camera did not ‘cross the line’ during the conversation between Tim and Amy.

Overall, I was happy with the final result of our preliminary task as we succeeded in carrying out our brief and the cinematography and editing of the sequence made it look more professional by controlling what was in the frame of the camera and removing elements that we thought were detrimental to the quality of the film.

How do blogs give us an insight into modern life?

Blogs are useful for discovering about the modern world as they enable us to easily see the thoughts and feelings of a range of different people with different expertise. This can help us to have more informed opinions on a topic because we are more able to see the different points of view. The fact that professionals in a certain area, instead of journalists, often write the blogs may lead to a more reasoned opinion and one that is more reflective of the truth instead of just the more sensational stories being picked up on for the news and for public consumption.

Also, the fact that blogs exist tells us about the modern world and how people are open with their feelings as they write them down for complete strangers to read. This is a sign of a trusting community, although it can also lead to potential dangers as people are anonymous on the internet, so may do or say things that they wouldn’t in real life. This may lead to people feeling victimised.

On the other hand, it may be that blogs are only written by certain groups of people, such as people with strong opinions on a subject and are good with computers. This may mean that we get a skewed viewpoint if we rarely see a moderate viewpoint on issues or if whole groups of people who are not good with computers are ignored. Also, people may pay more attention to blogs of people who they like or who write in a style that they enjoy, so this can lead to people making up their opinions based more on the person who has the opinion or how it is presented, instead of how they should by weighing up the different points of view and then making an informed decision.

Insomnia opening sequence

The opening titles in Insomnia help to set the claustrophobic atmosphere of the film. This is achieved by a combination of the opressive score; the contrast between the small plane and the wide open vistas; and by how Nolan gradually teases the material through which we see the blood soaking. At first when the viewer sees the blood, they are struck by the strangeness of the shot, but as it is repeated multiple times, the viewer tries to work out where the fabric is from until near the end of the scene when it is revealed that the fabric is from the sleeve of a shirt.

Memento opening sequence

Christopher Nolan uses the opening sequence here to create curiousity in the viewer. He does this by playing the scene backwards, with the polaroid photo disappearing and the bullet going back into the gun. This make the viewer wonder why it is being done, which sets the tone for the film as the viewer spends the whole film trying to work out what is happening. This air of mystery is also added to by only showing part of the tattoo on Leonard's hand, so the viewer becomes curious as to what it means.