Research & Planning - Shot Types

Camera shot types
For Media Studies it is important to know what the different types of Camera shots are, as it could be an important factor of filming our opening two minutes as there is going to be a wide variety of shots used.

Extreme wide shot

In the extreme wide shot, the view is so far from the subject that s/he isn't even visible. The point of this shot is to show the subject's surroundings. The EWS is often used as an "establishing shot" - the first shot of a new scene, designed to show the audience where the action is taking place.

Very wide shot
 
The very wide shot is much closer to the subject than an EWS but still much further away than a wide shot. The subject is visible here but only just. The emphasis is very much on placing him in his environment. This often works as an establishing shot, in which the audience is shown the whole setting so they can orient themselves. The VWS also allows plenty of room for action to take place, or for multiple subjects to appear on screen.

Wide shot

In a wide shot, the subject takes up the full frame. In this case, the boy's feet are almost at the bottom of frame and his head is almost at the top. Thr subject doesnt take up the entire shot but all of them is visible as this is as close as we can get without losing part of the subject.

Mid Shot
 
The Mid Shot shows some part of the subject in more detail, whilst still showing enough for the audience to feel as if they were looking at the whole subject. In fact, this is an approximation of how you would see a person "in the flesh" if you were having a casual conversation. The Mid Shot is appropriate when the subject is speaking without too much emotion or intense concentration.

Close up

In the closeup shot, a certain feature or part of the subject takes up most of the frame. A close up of a person usually means a close up of their face.  Close-ups are obviously useful for showing detail and can also be used as a cut-in.

Extreme close up

The Extreme Close Up (also known as XCU) gets right in and shows extreme detail.
You would normally need a specific reason to get this close. It is too close to show general reactions or emotion except in very dramatic scenes.

Two shot

There are a few variations on this one, but the basic idea is to have a comfortable shot of two people. Often used in interviews, or when two presenters are hosting a show. Two-shots are good for establishing a relationship between subjects. If you see two sports presenters standing side by side facing the camera, you get the idea that these people are going to be the show's co-hosts.

Over shoulder shot

This shot is framed from behind a person who is looking at the subject. The person facing the subject should usually occupy about 1/3 of the frame. This shot helps to establish the position of each person, and get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view. It's common to cut between these shots during a conversation, alternating the view between the different speakers.

Point of view shot

This shot shows a view from the subject's perspective. It is usually edited in such a way that it is obvious whose POV it is.


 

Storyboard animation

               
Here's a short clip of the shots of our storyboard put together in the order that we plan our opening two minutes to be, combined into a video as opposed to scrolling down an entire page of photographs, they can all be seen in one video here.

Research & Planning - film institution research

Paramount pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a film and television production/distribution company, consistently ranked as one of the largest (top-grossing) movie studios. It's also the fifth oldest existing film institution in the world to date, followed behind others such as universal studios, Pathe', and Nordisk film.

 The institution dates its existence from May 8th 1912 when it was founded by Adolph Zukar. The institution got straight to work and had released its first film by 1914. The headquarters of the studios is located in Hollywood and is considered an iconic landmark. Today they are acknowledged as the longest operating major Hollywood studio in the area.

To date their film library consists of approximately 3,500 productions.
In the mid 1960's was when the institution ventured into the television industry with programs such as 'Frasier', the original 'Star Trek', and the 'Mission: Impossible' television series.

Awards 
As one of the longest operating and most successful major film institutions, during their existence they have taken on a handsome collection of awards, these consist of :

"Academy Award for Best Picture, Peabody Award, Academy Award for Visual Effects, Academy Award for Sound Mixing, Satellite Award for Best Film – Musical or Comedy, Academy Award, Best Short Subject, One-reel, Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature, Razzie Award for Most Flatulent Teen-Targeted Movie"

Top 10 successful films 

Listed below are the top 10 grossing box office productions by paramount pictures, which for that reason will be considered the institutions biggest success's. 

10 - Kung Fu Panda - Box office gross $215 million, came close to matching the same amount of money as Pixar's WALL-E.

9 - Ghost - Box office gross - $217 million

8 - War of the Worlds - Box office gross - $234.2 million

7 - Beverly Hills Cop - Box office gross - $234.7 million - the oldest movie to make the top 10 successes list.

6 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Box office gross - $317 million 

5 - Iron Man - Box office gross - $318 million 

4 - Transformers - Box office gross - $319 million 

3 - Shrek the third - Box office gross - $322 million - the highest grossing Dreamworks production.

2 - Forrest Gump - Box office gross - $329 million 

1 - Titanic - Box office gross - $600 million - just over double Forrest Gump, the second highest grossing Paramount pictures production.  

Opening two minutes - Synopsis

Opening two minutes - Synopsis

At the beginning of our movie, we will have a fight to signal the intent of a fast paced action movie. There will be two villains as well as a victim where the villains don't quite understand his actual power. This fight scene will be set in an alleyway and the scene will actually start in the middle of the fight .

The victim doesn't seem scared to show that the villains won't get away with it and so one of his bits of dialogue will be " Do you even know who I am," Eventually the victim gets killed and the villains return back to base. This base is where their report to for their boss.

We aren't going to show a full shot of the boss but extreme close ups because it will add up to the mysteriousness of the boss. Not only does this take the prevalence of him a bit, but it gives more prevalence to one of the villains who the audience will identify that he is trying to get away from this life.

Towards the end of the two minutes, the boss gives the villain a new target and then the villain receives a call from someone who wants revenge for the murder of the character at the beginning of the movie.

Film Questionaire

Q1) Are you more likely to watch a film with a male or female lead? please circle

Male Female

Q2) How many films do you watch in a month? please circle

0 1-3 4-6 7-9 10-13 14+

Q3) What is the most important aspect of a film opening for you? please circle

Setting Music Characters Title Dialogues

Q4) What type of a film genre do you prefer? please circle

Comedy Drama Action Romance Thriller Gangster/Crime Drama Sci-fi
Horror

Q5) Are there any particular film openings that catch your attention? please circle

Yes No

If yes, which one/s and why? ...................................................................................................................

...................................................................................................................................................................

Leatherhead Station - Another possible filming location

Another possible location that as a group we have disscussed as being a possible location to film our opening two minutes is the alley way leading from near the bottom of Cleeve Road to Leatherhead station, this is a good location as it's a long and wide straight path meaning plenty of space to carry out  filming. It is also well lit at night so the darkness wouldn't be a problem,.

The only issue with using this location is that it is used very frequently by members in the public as it's a short cut from Leatherhead Station. The fact that members of the public frequently which could disturb or interupt the filming, which doesn't restrict us from using this as our location, but may mean it will take longer and involve doing a lot of retakes of scenes if we are interupted by passers by.

Storyboard

Storyboard

This is our storyboard, which is a strong idea of what the shots in our opening two minutes is going to look like. It gives deatails of the shot type, the length of each shot, and the camera angles and movement used in each shot. It also gives information of the type of sound, and any dialogue included in the scene.