In class I decided to undertake an exercise in framing. I wanted to explore how different framing approaches impacted on the tone of the shot. I wanted to get a good feel for the set up process of each shot. How to conduct myself and how to prepare the camera. I wanted to explore 3 different frames.

an over the shoulder shot

a mid shot

and a close up (hand held)

After capturing the footage and looking back at it I wasn’t too happy. The location we filmed in wasn’t the best, as it was a small space which made it difficult to move around with the camera. The dialogue wasn’t important ( or well thought out) and that is why I decided to leave it out of the edit I have uploaded as I believe it forces me to analyse the frame for whats in it rather than being distracted by sound.

When I look back at the over the shoulder shot I’m really happy with the exposure and white balance, but I feel that its composition is somewhat off balance. As it was a tight space it made it difficult to get the exact frame that I was hoping for. If I were to go back and shoot this again I would have framed it so that Bliss was on the left side of frame and Alex on the right side of frame rather than in the middle. As for the tone of this frame I think it comes across a little clinical. It seems very bland with very little going on within the frame.

As for my mid shot, I would have liked to there to be something in the left of frame so create some kind of interest. At the moment in looks a little bland but that is due to the fact that there is not much in the surrounds. The shot is filled with browny green colours and again has the same clinical tone as the over the shoulder shot.

My hand held shot I think was the only one that I got right to some degree. Its void of the clinical tone that was present in the previous shots.  It seems less staged through the movement of the camera. Especially for a documentary type feel this hand held shot relaxes the tone of the image and lightens the mood.

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This shoot wasn’t a success in the final product of the shots overall but I did learn a great deal from it. I went into this shoot with one plan which was ‘exploring how different framing approaches impacted on the tone of the shot’ and this is why it didn’t work out. I hadn’t thought through any other concepts of how I was going to approach this. Next time I want to make sure that I properly think through the concept and how I want to achieve it.