18th September 2009 moving image- weather project

Our task was to create a mid-shot, long-shot and a close up shot, representing the weather in three contrasting shots. Each shot had to be around 5 seconds long and represent the weather with good use of camera angle and movement.

We started by making story boards and writing down ideas we thought would be effective and what would work best with each shot. We decided that because the weather was pretty dull we would create our own with props. We decided for our long shot we would use a character who would act cold and a tree, because it wasn't windy we decided to use somebody to shake the tree giving the effect of wind. We then decided our close up shot should be of rain. It was not raining so we decided to improvise with an umbrella and a bottle of water. For our final shot we decided to portray cold weather in a mid shot using a character to show effects of the cold.

We went out with the camera and decided who would be filming, acting etc. As we started to film the long shot we had to think about camera angle so as not too catch the person shaking the tree in the shot, it took us a couple of attempts but we succeeded and were happy with our shot, we thought about our characters positioning and whether she should walk towards the camera or away from it, we decided that walking towards the camera was more effective because of the facial expressions. We found the shot was quite effective in how we captured both the physical and emotional effect of the weather.

We created a close up rainy scene using props such as an umbrella and water to create rain, keeping the framing close to the umbrella we captured the facial expressions creating a successful close up shot which portrayed the effect of weather on our character. While filming this shot we didn't come across any problems however we seemed to focus more on props and characters rather than camera movement which is something we could improve on in the future.

We then attempted to create a mid-shot of a cold scene, it wasn't actually cold or dark so we thought about location and decided on a place which was in the shade. We used a character and wrapped her up warm to show effects the cold weather has, we briefed her to act cold and shiver which she did very effectively, it was very clear in our shot what we were trying to portray. Setting up the camera to make a mid shot was fairly simple and we framed the scene with the character on the left side with the rest of the frame filled with the area around us to show location, it was also quite effective in showing the discomfort the cold makes you feel.

If we had to redo these shots we would stick with using props for emphasis but also try to think about camera movement. Altogether i think we succeeded in our task and successfully showed the weather using simple but effective techniques.