Talking about different shot sizes with Adam

Today I had Media Studies and in my lesson we discussed everything about basic Shot Sizes and how to identify a shot. There are several different shots I learnt including...

• Big close-up (BCU)
• Mid shot (MS)
• Wide shot (WS)
• Point Of View (POV)
• Close-up or close-shot (CU)
• Medium close-up (MCU)
• Long shot (LS)
• Over the shoulder (O/S)
• Two shot, three shot (2/5, 3/5) etc.
• High angle
• Low angle

We studied a film called Pleasantville, and every different shot, Adam would pause it and we had to analyse the shot and write down what we thought it was; this would help us to become more familiar with each shot; so that we can use them in our own work for future reference.

First Camera Session with Matt

A few days ago I had a media studies lesson at Hurtwood House, but this time we had to go to the Filming studio. We walked into the studio and it was all dark and black inside, with a huge green screen in it. We were shown these huge cameras called Sony NX5, and we were shown how to set them up and how to work them properly in a small group. We were shown how to pan and zoom, how to focus, how to white balance, and how to use exposure. After this lesson, I went away knowing how to set up the camera on its stand safely, and making sure it's secure. We went through a long detailed process of how to set the camera up:

1. Take the stand out of the bag, and place it standing up, you can adjust the legs of the stand, by using the nobs on the side of each leg
2. Take the camera out of its bag making sure you are grasping it firmly. Our teacher told us to say "yours" when your handing over the camera and when the person waiting to hold the camera has securely got hold of it, they would say "mine".
3. The camera would slide on top by pressing a small button and pushing it on, once its clicked on you shake it to make sure its tightly in place
4. Then, you have to what we call, "bubble" the stand, which is the bubble spirit level which you have to centre, so that the camera takes good, balanced levels. 
5. Then, we had to the turn the camera and then Matt showed us how to white balance etc (as shown above).

Movie Analysis

THE IMPOSSBLE 

 In todays lesson, we had to choose a movie that we were familiar with that includes many different shots.
The movie I chose was 'The Impossible'. I chose this movie due to the fact that there was a lot going on in this scene and many camera shots to acknowledge; the filming and editing is very effective for this short clip of this film.

What is a thriller ?

 

Introduction to Media Studies

Hello my name is Claudia Beth Mewis, I am sixteen years old and I am from Birmingham. I am currently studying Media Studies, English Literature, Theatre Studies and Dance at Hurtwood House; as you can see I am very into the creative side of life at Hurtwood.

I am really passionate about Performing Arts! I have been singing and dancing for fifteen years at a stage school. I'm also a film lover, I love watching dramatic, romantic, horror, fantasies and many more. All the Harry Potter films are fantastic! And did you know that James and Oliver Phelps (Ginger Weasley twins) used to live next door to me. The quality of them is outstanding, everything from the design of the set, to the words the actors are fantastic and extremely clever. I wasn't really into action films until I watched Skyfall and Taken directed by Pierre Morel. Those two films really encouraged
  Some of my favourite romantic, drama films are The Notebook, Titanic, The Impossible, The Vow, Twilight, Les Miserables, Bridesmaids, Grease and many more. I don't really like watching horror films; as I've read many things and watched many documentaries about peoples lives that have been ruined or traumatised by watching a horror, for example The Exorcist. However, I can't wait to create my film my own thriller, by using all the technology in Media such as the Sony NX5 Camera, which I have never used before, and being able to edit on the software, Final Cut Pro.
   I have never done Media Studies before and I can't wait to get started!