Research into a camera person’s role:

 On the shoot day there are going to be 3 main roles that Maddie, Neave and I are going to have to fill.

	Role	What that role does	Examples
Maddie	Director	The director essentially has control over the more creative aspects of the production. They position the actors and help position the cameras to make sure they can capture on film what they are thinking in their heads.	Examples of directors include Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, and Christopher Nolan.
Neave	Editor	The film editor chooses shots from a huge amount of footage that was taken on set and combines them to create the final product and scene. It can become quite a creative role, as each editor will assemble the shots in a unique way, and so perhaps with our opening scene, the director (or possibly even all of us) will have a look at which shots we want to keep, and which order we put them in.	Examples of editors are Stephen Mirrione, Kirk Baxter and Thelma Schoonmaker.
Bashy (me)	Camera person	The camera person’s (or the camera operator’s) duty is to film all the different aspects and perspectives of a scene for the film. They would need to take into account the lighting of the scene, the layout of the scene, and what parts they will keep in focus. Again, this can become quite a creative role, and so we will all probably have a say in how we position the cameras, but we have also been told that it is better to have more than we need to work with, than less.	Examples of cameramen include Roger Deakins and Daniel Moder.

 

The reason I took on the role of the camera man was more down to Maddie’s and Neave’s specialities. Neave is more familiar with the editing software and has used it in more depth than I have, and since Maddie’s original idea is what we are basing this opening scene off of, it seems more fitting that she has the most creative role out of the three of us. I was also very excited to work with the cameras, and so I am thrilled that I got this role anyway. Here is a video of the day in the life of a cinematography, working the camera.

 

Preparation before the shoot is essential. We need to remember to bring all the props, all the costumes and everything that we will need for the shoot. For me in particular, I will need to bring the fake blood and the costume for the dying body. We will also need to remember to bring with us the storyboards that we created (as they have visual aids to help us remember how we originally pictured the scene), our shot list and our shooting schedule. To remember all of these things, I have set reminders for the day. I have set one for the day before the shoot, and one for the day of the shoot so that I am more prepared.

 

 

Everyone’s role on the shoot day is important. Maddie needs to direct the entire process, Neave will need to edit, and I will need to film. Without my role, there wouldn’t be anything to edit or show at the end, but it is also important that I remember some other fundamental parts of my role. I will need to consider lighting, the positioning of the camera, and I will need to film as much as possible so that Neave has more than enough to choose from when editing, as opposed to being limited to a certain amount. There are some challenges that I can see now that we will have to think about before the shoot day, to make sure everything runs smoothly. Firstly, since I am in one of the scenes as the dying body, we will need either Maddie or Neave to film that part. If we decide this before the shoot day, it will save a lot of stress and time on the day. I also considered in my previous blog post that the amount of fake blood that I ordered may not be sufficient, and so I am going to order some more to be 100% certain.

 

Our opening scene is a thriller. This is going to be echoed throughout our opening scene with the blood, gore and violence within it. I will have to do my part as camera man to convey the genre, and so I will try and highlight the gory parts, the violent parts and make sure that the blood is visible in the scene. I’m sure that we will all pitch in to help each other’s roles as well.

 

Our target audience in my eyes has always been people who love crime and thriller movies, mostly aged around 15 and up, with the majority being around 18-25 years old, as this opening scene is for a crime-thriller. The expectations for the opening scene of a crime thriller will have to include crime (the murderer) and some gore and violence (the FBI agent shooting and the victim). We will have to convey this the best way we can, using our props and making sure we know what we can do within our roles to meet these expectations. I will have to make sure the camera angles and shots best exhibit the gory and the violent scenes, and so I think we will use a lot of close ups on the bloody and gory sections, but also some mid and long shots to show how much blood there is, for example coming from the victim as the shot will display the whole body.