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Train of Thought

"Don't chaise people. be yourself, do you own thing and work hard. The right people - the ones who really belong in your life - will come to you. And stay." - Will smith
Induction
Single camera Techniques
Framing types for video
Framing types for photography
In this lesson I learnt how to use a camera and all the different techniques I need to film with a camera. I learnt that the camera angles reflects what the characters are feeling in certain scenes and I now know how to manipulate the height of the camera angle to make the character seem intimidated or powerful over someone or something. I now know there are many different ways to shoot scenes from a movie or a TV series like, for example; 'The Big Bang Theory'. I also now know how difficult it is for actors to keep a straight face while filming and for this reason, I respect actors for the work that they do.
Test edit

American Beauty
Pre-production
Short list
Story board
Textual analysis
Treatment
Recce
Risk assessment
Production schedule

What went wrong
When we did this scene in the studio, I didn't expect my entire group not to learn there lines or even look at the American beauty scene on YouTube. I also didn't expect the 3 people in my group not to be in college for most of the previous week, which meant none of them finished the work that we were set when it came to doing the scene. No one but me in my group bothered to learn their lines which meant they looked at the script the entire time and never made eye contact with me until they finished the end of there sentence. When it came to doing the actual scene, someone in our group wasn't in, which meant Lilly who was going to be on camera, had to play the mum and during filming she complained about playing her the entire time. You can see that with the amount of takes we did. She also didn't want to be seen on camera and you can see that when she kept flicking her hair over her face to hide it from the camera. Lilly also refused to take her mask off and take he gum out. When it came to the Keon playing dad, he wasn't in for the whole of last week. This meant he didn't know what he needed to do when Lester stood up after Jane sat down, walked around the table, then sat back down, then stood up again to throw the plate at the wall. Instead, Keon stood up for the entire time. When it came to my scene, reacting to what the people playing Jane's parent arguing, I tried my hardest to react to them just looking at the script, but I ended up just looking at them in Absolut boredom at there terrible performance. I know this coerce is not all about acting but they could have taken a little time to learn the script and make it something worth watching. When it came to me standing up, I accidently looked at the camera the entire time. I also waited for Keon to tell me to sit down, which caused me to stair at him until he said it. Me and Keon forgot to take our lanyards off, which is one of the many things that went wrong in the scene. Joel, who was on camera tried his hardest to deal with Lilly's complaining and Keon's wrong movements. He did study the scene on YouTube and knew what to do with the camera angles. When me and him where packing the equipment away, he said that he wished he played Lilly's part because she complained so much about playing a character and wanting to be on camera. But, I bet if Lilly was on camera, she wouldn't know where the camera should go. The thing that I would change, other than my group, is to tell the person playing a character to read it in there head and when whoever is on camera shouts; "Action!" They can say there line without stuttering or saying; "Um!" I would also tell my group to look at the American Beauty scene on YouTube and look at the characters movements before doing the scene, instead of just winging it. I would also tell them to slow down when they read out there lines, that way it is easier when it comes to editing it. Anyway, enjoy.
Remake of the American beauty dinner scene

Bloopers

Gallery of all our footage
To re-create the American Beauty scene, we did a static wide shot of all of us, we did a static wide shot of the table, we did a static medium close up of all the people that played a character and we did a tracking medium close up of the people playing a Jane and dad.
None of our group brought in any props, so we used the previous groups plate as they didn't know that they left there's behind in the studio. Although we didn't use it, we had a bear bottle. We also turned the lights off which made everything darker and made it look similar to the actual American beauty dinner scene.
Like Jane in the American Beauty scene, I had my hair tied up. Unlike the American Beauty scene, me and Keon accidently left our lanyards on, Lilly left her gum in and left her mask on, on purpose to hide her face.
Evaluation
Print screens
If you want to watch the real scene from American beauty, such
American Beauty - Dinner Scene - YouTube.
The Matrix
Short list

Textual analysis
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