Cinematography / Shooting with DSLR / Montage

What is 'cinematography'?

Cinematography is the art of photography and camera techniques during film making. It consists of the different types of camera shots (full shot, long shot, extreme long shot, close up and extreme close up) , the angles (bird's eye view, high angle, low angle ,eye level angle) and movement (panning, crane shot ,dolly shot) and lighting (different contrasts to gain a certain effect). 

History of cinematography

Cinematography history from Enosh Yeluchuri

Shooting with DSLR

dSLR Cinematography from Leonard Low

My Continuity edit - Storyboard

My Continuity edit

My Continuity Edit from Grace Hardy on Vimeo.

In Media BTEC, my group and I had to create a 'Continuity edit'. This edit contains various shots which are used in cinematography to depict the journey from Haydon School's lower car park gates to the media class room (Room 12).

Continuity Edit - Self Assessment

The purpose for my group and I creating this continuity edit is to use different techniques of cinematography and shooting with a DSLR camera.  

When I edited the footage I think I used a good selection of shots. Such as: 36O degree rule, Jump transitions, Over-The-Shoulder shot.
What I could imporve on is that I could have edited the footage a little bit better so that it all runs smoothly.

Continuity Edit - Peer Assessment

What Grace did well in her continuity edit is that she used loads of different shots that kept it interesting. She also showed that she had a good understanding of what she had to do.
What could be better is that she could have done a little better on the editing because at some points some shots go on for too long.

Peer assessed by Elizabeth Dear

What is a 'montage' ? 

A montage is a feature in film-editing which includes a series of shots which depict a story or a certain event in a film.

Development of montages

Montages is otherwise known as 'The Kuleshov Effect' which is an film editing effect which was demonstrated by the Russian film-maker Lev Kuleshov in the 190s and 1920s. 

The Russian film-maker edited together a short film in which depicts a shot of the face of Tsarist matinee idol Ivan Mozzhukin which has no expression which was with numerous other shots with different objects (a plate of soup, a child and a coffin).

Types of montages

There are different types of montages to create. Such as: Soviet and Hollywood.

The 'soviet' or 'political' montage style of editing that was used in the 1920's to get meanings and a better understanding of the topic straight from the shots being used.

• Hollywood montage editing is when clips of footage are put together to illustrate a story or important information to viewers in short.

Montage Analysis - 'Do You Want to Build a Snowman?' - Frozen

 

For my montage analysis I have decided to analyze a montage from the film ‘Frozen’ which is in the format of the song ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’. The montage depicts the progression of the relationship between the two sisters - Anna and Elsa. Their relationship is in constant stagnation throughout the montage. The younger sister Anna is constantly trying to connect with her older sister Elsa and asking her: "Do you want to build a snowman?" which is something they used to enjoy before Elsa's powers. Elsa is always rejecting Anna's company and relationship due to the supernatural powers of ice and snow she possess. In the montage it skips into further years where we see Elsa's powers getting more unstable. In conclusion to this Elsa rejects Anna further but Anna does not give up. Their parents, the king and queen try and help Elsa cope with her powers which keeps Elsa stable but only by a small percentage. Later on in the montage when the two sisters are older, the king and queen depart for a trip which results in their death. At the end of the montage Anna tries to seek and offer comfort to Elsa. Anna suddenly asks Elsa through the door: "Do you want to build a snowman?". Anna tries to remind Elsa of their childhood by saying this and trying to gain a relationship with her through a comforting memory. We then get a shot of Elsa in her room which is frozen and covered in snow which reveals that she has lost all the control she had. Sad it may be but this montage sets the entire storyline of the film and makes the audience question what will happen next.   
 

My Montage - Storyboard


My Montage - Edit


Montage from Grace Hardy on Vimeo.

My Montage - Self Assessment

My group and I were given the task to create a montage. We tried to create a montage which was similar to the 'Rocky' training montage. The story which is being conveyed in our montage was a young man training for prom and his progress. However, due to his long training he then misses prom. We added this in the story to add a comedy aspect.

The way I edited the footage was to depict a range of activities which he was bad at and then getting better through out the duration of the montage. I think I did this well because I added in video transitions which make it blend it in well.

I used the audio from the original 'Karate Kid'- 'You're the Best Around' . I think this audio was good to use because I did not want to use the cliche 'Eye Of The Tiger' which was apart of the 'Rocky' montage so I used the audio from another famous montage from a film to make it seem less cliche. 
Another good point my group and I used was that we used a different range of shots to try and make each shot different to create a bigger impact on the audience.
What I think could be improved is that there could have been a bigger range of exercises the protagonist to do and at the end scene when he arrives at prom, my group and I could have included decorations in the hall to clearly display that it was a prom and thus the titles at the beginning would not have been needed.

  

My Montage - Peer Assessment
What went well in Grace's montage is that she used fitting music that would work well in a montage and she used a range of different shots which had different activities the main person did.

What could be improved is that there could of been more decoration in the final scene so people would be able to see that it was a prom that the main person was training for

Peer assessment by Elizabeth Dear