Camera Workshop 2

In the second lesson, we learned about the 180-degree rule where, when filming a shot you have a 180-degree radius from left to right, up to down that you can shoot in. Otherwise, it becomes confusing to an audience.

Alongside this, we learned about the 'rule of thirds' which applies to where characters or objects are placed within a shot. We looked at the example of two people conversing over dinner. it's important you keep the person on the left in the left hand of the shot throughout the scene, equally, the same goes for the right. if not, once again, it would reverse the audience's perception of their positions. 

We were taught about the order in which you shoot and the continuity of shooting. usually, the order of shooting begins with a wide shot, then a mid-shot, then a close-up. it begins wide because that is the shot that establishes and sets the location so that when the close-up occurs we have the context to it. We learned about the importance of continuity and that because filming is such a long process, if you had to stop and start all the time it would get tedious especially when in a difficult or unfamiliar location. The continuity of a shot is also dependent on catching details like the opening and closing of a door that you may have missed without keeping the camera rolling. 

We briefly discussed marks, they're used for actors to walk to and look at in their peripheral vision so they know where to walk to and when to stop. 

Towards the end of our workshop, we created a shot and simple scene and we became the roles behind the camera. Matt taught us what is said before shooting a scene. the assistant director will normally call out "stand by" and then "roll camera" the director says "camera rolling".The director also says "action/cut".

We were taught to keep rolling after and before the scene so that the actors don't stop acting and you didn't miss an extra window of entrances and exists on either side of the take.  You should never watch the footage back on set, firstly because you would never get anywhere, stopping and starting all the time. Also actors can get pretty bigheaded when they see themselves on camera and they may change the way they move, act or look on camera- which you don't want as a director!