Film and TV-Longshot

Long Shot

Alex came up with the idea for the department to do a Long Shot. This is a film which continues from start to finish without any cutting , just goes all the way through till the end of the script. Because the second years are doing film and tv unit, Alex gave every second year students lines to learn for the Long Shot and anyone else who is interested in being an extra have the opportunity to do this.
The Long Shot was a scene in a hospital showing different characters doing different things all at once. I played a police officer who spoke to a woman about her son who has been involved in a car crashed.
We had props, costume and a set and it looked brilliant when we watched it on the screen. The Long Shot was around the whole performing arts block and it looked a bit like Casualty.

Before we did the Long Shot, I had no idea about it before. It came as a shock to me when we started doing it because I thought I would not be able to handle it. It is very difficult and requires a lot of focus. If one person messes up the filming, then it has to be filmed over again from the start. This means that everyone had to be focused and off the book with their lines.

We did a few rehearsals before we did the actual shot. The Long Shot literally took the of the college day to be filmed. We started off with Alex showing us what to do, where to come in with the line and the accuracy and speed to need to deliver the lines with. I researched Longshot and the definition I found was that it is a wide shot that are often times still and it is the very first shot of a scene in a film. I also read that it is used to establish what is going to happen in the scene later on. Moving long shots follow a certain object or individual/s to tell the viewers that an interesting event is going to happen in that particular scene. I think watching it over again, it came to me that it was a moving Long Shot.

I learnt a lot from doing this shot. It showed me how focused and dedicated I could be when doing work. I first discovered a work ethic I actually thought I would never have. I think this course had made me work harder to complete a task. The Long Shot was a whole different experience for me. We were given a script a few days before and was told to learn and know the lines by the day. Also the fact of using props and costumes made it look so professional and I thought at a point that I was actually doing it professionally.

Castings and Star Wars

 

Castings and Star Wars

A main part of the film and TV unit is the castings for film and TV. Alex gave us a short lecture about the difference between auditioning for a play and for a television series or a movie. He said in the casting for film, it is not a audition. They will ask for your headshot when your called and then they will start will the castings. Alex said that they will probably ask the actor the night before to learn the a piece of text and they are required to have it learnt and prepared for the casting.

Alex wanted to give us a experience of how it would be like. He used star wars as the film we are auditioning for. He gave us our times when we are meant to have our audition. When I went for my audition, Alex told me to stand front of the camera and stand still. After, I was told to sit down and given a script from Star Wars to see if I can sight read. Tyler was other character and we did the scripts. After I was after finished, he said thank you and told me to leave.

In this experience, I have learnt a lot. I learnt about the major difference between a theatre audition and a film casting. 
They are more focused on how the actor looks and how prepared you can be in a short period of time.


After we did a another casting workshops, not for a film, but it is for a business pitch, The Apprentice. We were not told about this. The teachers planned this and told us we will be only doing the pitch. When we were told about this, I was a bit angry because I was not prepared for it and I thought We were not going to do the pitching any more. Then we were told that we are still doing the pitching and I felt better. I was annoyed because of the hard work I put into the preparing the pitch and I thought it would not have been done. This is where we are apprentice businessman and we are looking to get a partnership.

I was told to enter the drama studio. After, Yusuf said I should put my C.V. on da table and then do a character profile and after he threw a ball at me and told me to throw it back. Then he said I should act like am trapped behind a wall. Then he said I should kick myself through the wall and say '' my name is Bicton Watson and I work for Apprentice UK. I did it and he said I should do it again, but this time with more exaggeration. I did it as he asked and he said thank you and I left.

I learnt a lot from this experience. I learnt that when it comes to castings, they can ask you to do a lot of bizarre and unnatural things to do and I should be comfortable to do it. Also, I also should expect anything so I should keep focused throughout. Also, smile, because if I go in with a serious face, they will think if they would really want to work with me. Even if I am a nice person, they don't know that. I learnt that they judge from what you give them in the castings so, its best to give them your best. That is what I have learnt.

Pitching and Editing

Pitching and Editing

At the start of the year, we were told to get into groups of two and create a pitch advertising a product we have designed and made. Charles and I decided to be in a group together. We decided to do a pitch about a healthy drink which gives you energy and rehydrate your body very quickly. We decided to use football as a means to advertise this product. We talked about most energy drinks and the fact they all contain a toxic chemical called aspartame. We found ingredients that would be natural and contains chlorophyll which is good for the body. We decided all the ingredients will be blended together and no artificial flavours or chemicals added. I did the story board while Charles did the mood board. Our idea was that a football is being played and Team A is losing by half time. Team A drink our drink while Team B drink water. By the second half, Team A turn the match around and win the match. We decided that the drink enabled Team A to win the match. I drew and coloured in pictures of the football match for the story board. Because the drink is classed as a green, all of the ingredients are fruits and vegetables. We did a pitch for the drink and we got feedback that the idea we have in using football to promote the energy drink was a very good idea.


At the start, we were given the task to plan and design a pitch to promote Leyton Sixth Form College Pierce was off because he was mourning the death of his grandfather. In my group, it was Yvonne, Claudia, Pierce and I. In the planning process, we came up with the idea that we would film the college like a normal college day from the entering the college in the morning, to leaving after college is finished and also showing some of the enrichment programs. We allocated different responsibilities for each member of the group in which mine was creating and designing the story board. It was difficult for me in a sense. This was because I needed to wait for the script to be completed which was Yvonne's responsibility, in order to figure out what the story of the video is and the order it will come in. This took a bit longer than imagined, so as a result I asked her what the script is and she told me verbally and I wrote down what she said. I then started to draw the story board. The first shot would be of the College, the second would be of students entering the main doors, and the others would be showing different departments and their best aspects. I struggled to get colouring pencils, but on the day of pitch, I borrowed a few and coloured in all the drawing s that was left to be coloured.

In the pitch, we were being judged by Kevin Watson, the principal of Leyton Sixth Form College and the person who decides whether our pitch gets to be the chosen one. In the pitch, I started i was really nervous when Prince started introducing our presentation but as we got more into it, i felt more comfortable. After Prince concluded his introduction, He showed the mood board and explained our idea of using a normal college day in our advert to promote the college. I took over from Prince showing the story board and explaining the type of shots we need and what departments we decide to shoot.  Then we were asked questions about our idea. One question that came from Kevin Watson actually made me think. He asked us if we are going to follow one student on their normal day or change to different students. I answered by saying that because everyone does different courses from each other, we will choose students from all departments to follow. I think we handled the pitching very well as a group and I fully enjoyed the experience I had with pitching.

Creating and editing the advert

We were given the task to create an advert to promote the college showing the college's best aspects. We had to go around the whole college to different departments to get shots. For some of the work, I went to university interviews which impeded me from being involved with some of the shots like the science department. Yvonne would simply disappear and could not be found. I came back from my interviews and ask Prince about the filming process and he said that when Claudia and I went our respective interviews, Pearce would complain that we don not come in to do work. After, he did not even asked why I was absent. He kept it to himself.

On Friday, I was worried about the work and the fact that I have not seen any filming done when I was absent and It was due on Monday. So I asked Prince again if there was any filming done and if there were, when are we going to edit the video. He said the filmed and Pearce knows where the camera is. I asked Pierce where the camera is and he replied saying that Steve has it. I asked Steve and he did not find it. He said it is probably borrowed by other students. As a result, we decided to use a phone to film again. We used the best camera possible which was on Pierce's phone. Pierce, Prince and I walked around the college and filmed the art department, the sports department, a drama lesson, the street, the gym and students going about their college responsibilities. We went to the editing suite to edit our video with a backing track and caption. We had difficulty uploading the video unto the Mac. Because Shabill and his group started editing before we did, I suggested that Shabill could give us assistance uploading the video. As stubborn as pierce is, he refused and said he'll try another method to upload the videos. He tried and with every attempt, he failed to upload the video. I suggested a second time to let Shabill help us and he refused and said he is going go to the hub and send it to his email address. I could not do anything because it was Pierce's phone that had the video. Later in the day, Prince called me and said that Pierce decided to go home and edit the videos on his computer. On Tuesday, after the due date, I asked if the video was edited and Prince told me that it was not edited. I have not spoken to Pierce since.

Modernising Shakespeare - Weekly Notes.

Week 8
We are getting more educated in the Film and TV. We did Film Appreciation. This will help us to get more incite and knowledge about acting styles in Film and Television. The film we watched was The Shining.This film got famous because of Jack Nicholson performance.Also the line "Hello Charlie" when he is chopping down the door with the axe also made is reputation. We watched how his thought process was very huge but showed it through his eyes. Usually on stage, an actors thought process is shown through gestures, face expressions and through the line. Their voices would be projected to fill the space.But in the film, Jack Nicholson's thought process was very huge like he is on stage. But he portrayed his thought process through his eyes.It was minimal face expressions, but his eyes told us a s a class a lot of what he is thinking. This was the best example of a film to watch because when modernising our shakespeare pieces, that is the level of focus that we should in our film and television unit.

Historical context of the Perfomrnace

My group piece is Macbeth. I am playing a Psychic Doctor and in my scene, I am having a observation on Lady Macbeth because of her sleep walking habits. My character was usually really old fashioned and back in those times, would most likely be wearing a robe, and head garments with sandals and pencil behind his ear. But in the modernised version, he is played as a everyday doctor seen in hospitals on a regular basis. Because of this, one my characters objective are slightly changed throughout the scene. In the classical version,one of my objectives is apart from trying to find a diagnosis for Lady Macbeth, trying to find out what the Gentlewoman is hiding from me. In the classical version that is changed ever so slightly. The Gentlewoman does not really have anything to hide any more.

Our piece is being modernised in a number of ways. We are now set in a hospital, specifically the corridors. Lady Macbeth is no more sleep walking, but is actually mentally disabled and keeps talking to herself about things that happened in her past, which is a bit over exaggerated in this case. The gentlewoman's role is changed to a student doctor who is learning from my expertise. I am not a psychic doctor, but a general doctor who oversees the entire hospital.

Social, Historical, Cultural and Political Influences

to be researched.

The play was set in Dunsinane Castle in Scotland, but now its changed to 

to be researched

Modernising Shakespeare

The next unit that we are doing at the moment is modernising into aspects of film and television.
 our shakespeare pieces and doing it to camera (film). We have started looking
We were lectured by Alex on Film and Television. He talked about different shots for. film
For example:

Extreme Shots -  This is a very close shot showing the detail of an object or the physical features of a person. 











Long Shot -  this category includes the full shot showing the entire human body, with head near the top of the frame and the feet near the bottom. While the focus is on characters, plenty of of the background details still emerges.

Medium Shot -This shot contains a figure from the knees/waist up and it is normally used for scenes with dialogue in it, or it is also used to show some detail of action. This could be two shots ( has two persons from the waist up) and three shots (containing three persons). But any more than three persons in a shot is known as a long shot.
Also included in this category is the over-the-shoulder shot.

Close-up - This shows very little background and it focuses on either the face or a specific part of a scene. Everything else in the background id blurred. The close-ups takes us into the mind of a character.

Extreme Close-ups - This version of the close-up generally show beyond what the normal eye would go through in real life. Extreme close-ups mostly shows the mouth or eyes, with nothing in the background. This shot is mainly used for dramatic effect.

Also in film and televsion, different camera angles are used.

the Bird's-Eye view

CAMERA ANGLES 

This shows a scene from directly overhead. This angle is very unnatural and strange angle. This shot puts the audience in a godlike position, looking down on the action. People can be made to look in many different ways, for example, ant-like.

2. High Angle

This view is not as extreme as the Bird's eye view. They raise the camera above the action using a crane to give a general overview. The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting.

3. Eye Level

This shot is fairly neutral. The camera is placed as though it is a human actually observing a scene so that actors heads are on a level with focus. The cam,era is placed approximately five to six feet from the ground.

4. Low Angle

Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot tend to be just sky or ceiling, 

5. Oblique/Canted Angle

Sometimes the camera is tilted to suggest imbalance, transition and instability. This technique is used to suggest point of view shots.

CAMERA MOVEMENT

A director might choose to move the action along by telling the story as a series of cuts, going from one shot to another, or they might just decide to move the camera with the action. Moving the camera takes a great a deal of time and this makes the action seem much slower, as it takes many seconds for a moving camera shot to be effective, bwhen the same information may be placed on screen in a series of fast cuts. The style must not only be a chosen movement, but the method of moving the camera must also be selected. There are seven basic methods:

1. Pans 

This is a movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving abject which is kept in the middle of the frame.

2. Tilts

A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to the span.

3. Dolly Shots

Sometimes called trucking or tracking shots. They place the camera is placed on a moving vehicle and it moves along side what is going on, following a moving figure or object. 
Dolly shots that are complicated will involve a track laid down on the set for the camera to follow. The camera might be placed on a car, plane, or even a shopping trolley. 

4. Crane Shots

Crane Shots are dolly-shots-in-the-air. A crane is a very useful way to move a camera. It can be move up, down, left, right, swooping in on action or moving diagonally out of it. The camera operator and camera are both balanced by a heavy weight and trust their safety to a skilled crane operator. 

A crane in use, following the path of a balloon floating into the sky

5. Zoom Lenses

A zoom lens contains a mechanism that changes the magnification of an image.On a still camera, this means that the photographer can get a close up shot while still having distance from the object. A lens with a video zoom can change the position of where the audience is, either very fast, using a smash zoom or slowly without moving the camera. This saves a lot of time and trouble.

6. The Aerial Shot

This is an exciting variation of a crane shot, which is usually taken from an helicopter. This is often used at the start of a movie to establish setting and the movement. The helicopter is like a flexible kind of crane because it moves everywhere, can keep up with everything,can move in and out of a scene and can show real drama and exhilaration.

These are different types of shots and angles established in TV and Film.

Weekly Notes for Macbeth and As You Like It

Week 1-3

The first week was just being introduced to the pieces were are doing. I am doing Macbeth, Act 5 Scene 1. This week, I have been doing research and reading the script. I also went on Spark notes to find a English version of the scene that I am doing. I also did character research on the Scots Doctor and his characteristics.

In rehearsals this week, I have been trying to give my lines different dynamics while portraying anger in a natural way. But it’s a lot better than my first attempt at having a go.

Because I am meant to be angry in the scene, I spoke on one level all the way through and there was no difference in my emotions and it just sounded mono tone. 

In this week, staging was thought about but our main focus for now is working on our characters.

One person I think have a similar character is me and Sean. It is not as similar as I might be considering it to be, but we are both angry at points in our scenes.  His energy at this point compared to mine is massive. I think I should be a little bit on his level. But I think the difference is that he is aggressive with his actions and me, with my voice. I have authority in my voice and my status and he has it with his actions.


Week 3-4

This week was the presentation of our pieces sharing our research done in week 1-3. This was in depth research from the history of the play to the social context.

Week 3-4

In week 3-4, we are trying to get our piece together. When I enter as the Duke to banish Esther’s character, the girls need to work on their mood change. It needs to be more distinctive. The girls should be more excited and happy and my character should destroy that completely and that is something that is weak in our performance. Also, they need to they need to match my energy in order to get my energy full out. If not, it is like scoring in an empty goal. I need to work on how to portray my anger in different ways to show a contrasting feel to the scene. Also to stress more words while saying my lines especially when its in a big bunch.  

Also in this week, Michael Parr and Mat came in our lesson to do a workshop developing our pieces in the best way possible. Matt is a director by profession and he directed our Shakespeare pieces giving me a better understanding of what the text conveys.

 Michael Parr

Michael Parr is an actor who has known about what his future is going to be even at an early age. According to Michael, He has no GCSEs because he went straight into acting. He loves Film and TV and has acted in Casualty, Hollyoaks, and is now currently filming with Emerdale. He has a good acting experience and helped us a lot with our pieces.

Week 7
This week was actually getting on my nerves because our scene for Macbeth did not get watched by Alex. But then on Wednesday, finally, Alex asked to see our scene. Even though our scene was already at a good standard and the lines were off book, I still wanted Alex to watch our scene to see if opinion would be the same as Yusuf. He had a lot of different feedback points from Alex and we as a group both points to make our scene even better. By the end of the week, Yusuf said he no problem with the scene and the only thing we should do is work on being consistent till the night of the performance.

In Brendan and Mauricia scene, Mauricia said that Brendan had difficult with his character and we allowed him to watch the Macbeth scene I am in to see how it can help him in any way.

Peer Feedback

Feedback I received from peers for As You Like It is that I should be more authoritative with my voice, I should be still, and think of myself as a king. These feedback as helped me a lot as I found out it was much easier when I am still. I have also been told to use my diaphragm when I am shouting in the scene which is 80% of my lines.