Hospital Drama/ Soap Opera Keynote

Here's our essay of wrapped up into a nice wee keynote for you to get through.

http://tinyurl.com/6eaz2r

Here's some bonus material also.

http://tinyurl.com/2w4apm

Still compiling the storyboards.

Hollyoaks Case Study

We have been asked to take a section from the British soap, Hollyoaks, and examine how it move from a serious (thought-provoking) story line to a more lighthearted story line. Examine a three-five minute sequence that shows both of these story lines.
I first found this quite hard as i have never watched a full Hollyoaks episode in my life so i didn't really know what i was looking for but as the saying goes, youtube is a mans best friend, and i found my clip to examine.



I apologise about the length of this clip, i tried to shorten it down but didn't seem to work out. I am using the example for this link to scenes (5.30-7.30).

The more serious scene takes place first from 5.30-6.34. This is about how an alcoholic sister/friend pushes the other sister/friend down a flight of stairs for some reason or the other and now the alcoholic is looking for help and wants to start afresh by apologizing to her sister/friend. During this talk an older looking sister/friend/mother ruins the alcoholics plans of making up anytime soon.
The second, more lighthearted, scene takes place from 6.34-7.30. This shows two girls who have babysat for a couple who come home a bit early and light hearted banter ensues.

Storyboard

I am not entirely sure what i have to do in this section but i will give it my best shot from what the case study dictates.
Below is the last shot of the first, more serious, sequence.
The start of this scene starts off with a pan shot of the side of the hospital bed with the two women talking. From this moves to an over the shoulder shot of the girl in the bed, then a close up of the other woman (the alcoholic), as their conversation continues they use these camera angles again. When the woman in the hospital bed says "Would it be easier if i was unconscious again" it cuts to a medium shot. When the alcoholic says "I'm getting help..." It moves in for the continued use of the close up shot and the regular format of an over the shoulder shot when the woman in the bed speaks. When the sick woman says "I wish i could believe you.." the camera cuts to a long shot/ two shot of both of the characters in the scene. It returns to the regular close up and over the shoulder shot for another for another two shots until the audience hears a third voice coming from off screen. The camera then cuts to a close up of the woman standing at the doorway, who seems to have been listening to the conversation the entire time. As she continues to speak the camera darts form a two shot of the other two character an then back to a long shot of the third. As the woman at the doorway says "...this time we're not going to fall for it" the camera then cuts to a close up of the women n the bed and then to the other, ending the scene.

In this next scene we take a breath of fresh air from the seriousness of the last scene and are given a two shot of the babysitters. After hearing the return of the adults the girls try and clean up, for this scene we are given a medium shot. As the parents come through the door we are given a twist on the two shot idea with it taken from a low angle from behind on of the babysitters. We then cut to another over the should shot form the adults point of view aiming at a two shot of the babysitters. This then leads to a medium, two shot back and forth as the parents and babysitters talk. As the babysitters leave it leads to a back and forth close up shot of the parents talking and finally a medium shot of the woman as the door closes.

Assessment

I have already discussed how the camera moves from shot to shot but i am going to try and analyze other element that the director used to built up the contrast between the lighthearted and the serious.
In the first scene takes pace in a hospital ward. The audience are made aware of this with the use of props and diatonic sounds that can be heard from quiet voices in the background. The serious atmosphere is created by the actors dialogue and their performances. The audience can grasp quickly that is an emotional scene. The Camera does well too in getting across the atmosphere between the two characters in the sharpness of the cuts and when there is a silence and awkwardness in the room (e.g. 6.11).
There is no noticeable bridge between the two scenes to tie them both together so just a cut to the other story line was all the director needed to do to.
In this next scene the change in atmosphere is almost immediate with the dialogue between the charactered creating a much more relaxed mood for the audience, even to the point where they use slang like " We are so busted". The performances with the characters in this next scene show the change as well with lots of giggling and smiling between the babysitters and the adults. There is no other sound in this video other than the characters voices which suits this scene at it is depicting a late night with two girls with a sleeping baby in the next room. The angles play an important part in some of these shots, showing the differences between the two sets of characters.
This scenes atmosphere even contracts the other scenes mood to the point that characters are even flirting in this scene.

In studying this in detail i have come to realize, even for greatly, all the small elements that take part in building up a successful scene that will grasp the audiences attention and make them aware of what’s going on.

More Editing Techniques

Transition of Image and Sound: A transition is a action in film which refers to the shift from frame to frame. It is usually tried to be subtle as possible as not to attract the viewers attention away form the content of the piece.
To enhance the feeling of continuity, directors and editors try and place both a shots image and sound correctly to create a streamlined effect for the viewer.
Also the use of this technique can be used to tell the viewer that you are now viewing a shot which takes place in somewhere else.

Continuity and Non-Continuity Systems: This refers to the process in film and television that ensure that the details are consistent through the narrative. For example, the continuity person will make sure that the actor's hairstyle does not change from shot to shot and ensures that lighting is the same from take to take.



Through out this example, it shows continuous scenes of continuity from different camera angles and also good transition of image and sound to make sure the audience knows where they are at each shot. (The fact that this is a British drama is the only reason i'm using this, it pains me that this is on my blog.)

Cutting: This term in film editing comes from the literal cutting of the film that is part of film making. This has lead to the development of terms like "rough cut" and "first cut". This is a key part of film making and it is very rare to find a piece of film that goes longer than a number of minutes without a cut to another shot.

Eyeline Match: This refers to the matching of shots in film so that the gaze of a character is seen to match to that of another character or to construct the consistent gaze of a character at a landscape or object. The shots are then edited together to create the sensation of continuity in the look.
I.e. If one of the shots shows a character looking out, the next will often show what he or she is looking as from the angle and level that would suggest that the shot is from their eye-line.



In this example we see that the director uses eyeline matches to show the characters looking at eachother and the camera operator even gets the angle at which the character would view the other person at also very well. (Yeo, 'mon the skins.)

Graphic Match: This refers to the two camera shots distinct elements match and thus this builds a sense of continuity of action between two objects, which may be just similar in shape, colour or usage etc.

Action Match: This refers to a major continuity tool when editors use to mach movements which other movements to create a seamlessness between them and so the viewer is not aware to notices that they are interrupted movements which time has elapsed.
This is done by careful fame by frame matching, e.g., using footsteps or sound etc.

Editing Techniques

Parallel Editing: Parallel editing, or crosscutting, a cinematic convention in which two or more concurrent scenes are interwoven with each other. It can be used to show the differences between two separate experiences, e.g. two separate peoples journey to the same party.


Cross Cutting: This is an editing technique used in films to establish continuity. In a cross-cut, the camera will cut away from one action to another action. Because the shots occur one after another, cross-cutting is used to suggest simultaneity of action.



Jump cut: This is a cut in editing where the middle section of a continuous shot is removed, and the beginning and end of the shot are then joined together. The technique breaks continuity in time and produces a startling effect.


Shot/Reverse Shot: This is a film technique wherein one character is shown looking (often off-screen) at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.



This is a British example of shot and reverse shots used to create a conversation like atmosphere to the viewer from one of my favourite shows skins (1:00- onwards).

More Shot Types

Hand Held: Hand-held camera or hand-held shooting is a film and video technique in which a camera is literally held in the camera-operator's hands--as opposed to being placed on a tripod. The result is an image that is perceptibly shakier than that of a tripod-mounted camera.

This example is taken from the movie Cloverfield, which was made in its entirety using hand held cameras to give a POV type of feel.

Zoom: Zooming means altering the focal length of the lens to give the illusion of moving closer to or further away from the action. Can establish sudden realisation.
Reverse Zoom: This is when the establishing shot is one that is closer to the object and as you zoom out you get a fuller picture. Can be used to establish isolation.



(since everyone has at least one lego shot on their blog, thought i might join in :L)

Rule of Thirds: This is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into into nine imaginary sections. This creates reference points which act as guides for framing the image.Points (or lines) of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up (or across) the frame, rather than in the centre. In most "people shots", the main line of interest is the line going through the eyes. In this shot, the eyes are placed approximately 1/3 of the way down the frame.

Deep and Shallow Focus: This is a technique incorporating depth-of-field. Depth-of-field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image i.e. how much of it appears sharp and clear. In deep focus the foreground, middle-ground and background are all in focus.
The opposite of deep focus is shallow focus, in which only one plane of the image is in focus.

Deep Focus Picture


Shallow Focus Picture


Focus Pulls: The focus pull is a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another. See below (0.11-1.10).

Shot Types

Pan: A pan is a horizontal camera movement in which the camera moves left and right about a central axis.

Panning is also combined with zooming in or out on a single subject, leaving the subject in the same portion of the frame, to emphasize or de-emphasize the subject respectively. This is a very popular shot and would be hard to find a piece of film thats did not have at least one pan shot.

Tilt: A tilt is a vertical camera movement in which the camera points up or down from a stationary location.

Tilting is less common than panning as it is the way humans work — we look left and right more often than we look up and down. Often used for establishing characters, for example, a new character or a tall building.

Track: Tracking is often defined as movement parallel to the action, or at least at a constant distance. Usually the camera is mounted on a cart which travels along tracks.



This is a famous tracking shot taken from the movie Goodfellas, this is far longer than what the average tracking shot would be.

Dolly: In many circles a dolly shot is also known as a tracking shot. However, dolly is defined as the in-and-out movement (i.e. closer/further away from the subject), while tracking means side-to-side movement.



This is an example of a dolly shot (1.50-4.37) taken from the movie panic room. You can see the similarities between the tracking shot and the dolly shot and how easily they can be taken for one another.

Crane: A crane shot, is basically, a shot taken by a camera on a crane. Most cranes accommodate both the camera and an operator, but some can be operated by remote control.


The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie. Some filmmakers like to have the camera on a boom arm just to make it easier to move around between ordinary set-ups.

Steadicam: This is a technique which mechanically isolates the operator's movement from the camera, allowing a very smooth shot even when the operator is moving quickly over an uneven surface.

This is a popular shot that allows the camera man to get better, clearer shots, without compromising the scene, for example, in a chase scene.

Quick Edit

Class time fun, on film :)