reflective report

Our scene opens with a stationary wide shot of our heroine walking into the distance, we wanted to give the impression of magnitude and size to the setting out scene is set in, the graveyard which we filmed in was full of tombstones that were worn and crumbling, which we thought not only served as a metaphor for the desecrated, crumbling society that governed the world. wide shots are typically used in post apocalyptic sci fi cinema, especially mad max, the road and planet of the apes, to portray the space and isolation within the world. Following this we used straight cuts to move from shot to shot, in the group we had several disagreements on whether or not straight cuts were the right choice for the scene or at least the transitions in this particular part of the scene. We settled on straight cuts, as they not only created tension due to the fast, frequent cuts, but also to contrast against the long, drawn out feeling of each shot

Straight after this we have a  moving track left shot of our heroine walking down the stairs and into the tunnel, we used this type of shot to give the "world" our film is set in life, by moving the camera alongside the protagonist we can create a sense of mystery to the world. we attempted to keep the colour palate very bleak and drab, primarily this was to represent the wasteland that our scene is set within. Time and war has eroded the landscape, the people and the lives within it, to represent this we wanted to use worn, battered and dirty clothes, our final choice was a long blue trench coat, ripped leggings and a old t-shirt, these choices were to highlight the fact that our heroine was an every woman, for example if we were to use road leathers or full denim then we'd get the impression that she was a warrior, a fighter rather than a survivor, which is what we our heroine to be.

We wanted to keep the shots in each shot very focussed on the heroine, we tried to keep her centre in every scene, to convey to the viewer that she was the centre of the world, that everything evolved around her, which in a survivor, survival of the fittest, would apply. Following this we have an extreme close up of our heroines eye, this was chosen to give emphasis on perception and how vital a skill it would be in the wasteland. After the close up of the eye, we have a fade which cuts to a stationary wide shot of the heroine walking up towards the garage, a fade was used here to give the illusion that time and distance has passed. The stationary wide shot was, similarly to the first shot, used to give a sense of location and atmosphere to the shot, with this shit we are able to see the world with more clarity, compared to a tighter shot. The location around the garage naturally looked like a wasteland, and the building we filmed in was de-creped and abandoned, meaning the grounds were untamed and unkempt, serving as a perfect location. At this point in the scene we have three extremely fast straight cuts, throughout the sequence of her opening the door, we cut to a backwards shot,a frontal shot, and a side shot of the opening of the door, these shots all happen within a small time zone, around 5-6 seconds, these consecutive quick shots help to build tension.
if we notice the audio in this shot, it seemingly cuts very abruptly, this was a dramatic choice as in all the shots before hand it was very fluid and almost dream like. however when she steps into the garage it just stops, as she walks forward, a very low rumbling can be heard. the low rumbling which created an atmosphere of tension, with it seeming like there's another presence in the room, as the angle of the camera was front facing, you are unable to see the back of the room, as the shot progresses, our heroine walks to the side of the room, the camera tracks right, following her, almost stalking her. during this particular shot the overall theme of the scene changes from a post apocalyptic sci fi film, to a straight down horror film, with all the conventions of one. the colour black is the most dominating colour within the garage scene, with it very often taking up a large majority of the screen, the grungy, stained interior of the room gives the impression that the garage is in disrepair, but the relatively clean empty packets, and tins that are still chromed tell us that something quiet possibly still lives in the garage.
if we were to re shoot our film, one of the ways we could improve the quality of the shots would to be to use a movable tripod, to shoot pans and tracks, we used a stationary tripod, which does work in the scene, but by using a movable tripod, we could still get the straight, unwavering shots we wanted, but could also rotate around objects,people, locations, to create a more three dimesional film.