Unit 14 CTM Anna Weston: P4 production materials & techniques for an original print media product

Meaning and Purpose:

The use of this posting is to explain and justify how I used photography techniques appropriately for my photoshoot. The use of pre-production materials enabled me to know exactly what images I wanted to achieve, for example, having a diagram of the lighting and set meant that on the day I was able to set it up straight away for my photoshoot.

Setting up equipment

Meaning and purpose:
We knew exactly what equipment we were using, eg the lighting, background, cameras, lens etc. By knowing this we were able to set up equipment quickly and effectively. We also set the camera with different apertures and settings for different pictures to capture the most effective shot.

Lighting and set:
For the set and lighting I had a white screen for the background with a soft box light opposite on either side (The right and the left)

The soft box lighting created a mysterious effect on the model creating shadows which is what was intended. The lighting was also not too bright, but gave a realistic look and not as if it was studious.

Mis-en-scene:
My choice of mis-en-scene was the media studies room. I chose this because it has the correct equipment I had planned to use for my photoshoot. Firstly, there was enough room for a wide shot and I was able to set up a white screen background with lighting equipment around the room as I had planned in my pre-production material. The use of the white screen background was very helpful in order to create a mysterious image with the main character and Sam being the main focus. The soft box lighting also enabled good lighting, not too bright but was able to create shadows to create a dark and scary atmosphere to help advertise the genre of the film which is thriller.

Canon 7D DSLR Camera

The reason I chose this camera is because I am most comfortable with it and know exactly how it works. It also gives great image quality and has a wide variety of settings that I was able to play around with in order to get the best possible outcome of images. I was also able to use different lenses for this camera, but in the end the EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 lens was most effective for my photoshoot and ended up only using these lens as they gave me the best outcome of images.

This was a useful lens to use because it gave me a good wide angle and high definition and extremely clear photos.

Velbon DV6000 tripod:
I used this tripod because it gave maximum stability when taking the images. This ensured none of my images came out blurred because the camera was always still and stable when the pictures were taken.

Taking the photos:

Due to the fact that I was the main character in the film, I wanted the audience to have an image of what 'she' looked like just from viewing a printed media product of the short film. So I planned on taking a variety of images, firstly of Sam who we used to present the 'webcam stalker' who is staring into his computer with an image of myself on the screen so the audience can see what is going on. I then needed to get a shot of myself, so the audience can see who the main character in the film was, so what I did was set up the camera and change the settings on the camera exactly how I wanted, e.g the aperture and ISO and then I got Simone to actually press the button and take the picture. She had nothing to do with how the picture would turn out but just clicked the button while I modelled.

Image Information:

In this image, I set up the camera settings eg aperture and ISO exactly how I wanted and just got Simone to take the picture while I modelled. I set the aperture to f/5.6 which meant there was a shallower depth of field allowing more light in so that the main subject was in focus. I set the ISO speed to 2000 which meant there was more sensitivity to light in a darker environment which helped to give the shadows and create a mysterious scene.

Here I was trying to create an image which filled the audience with suspicion. The ISO speed meant that the sensitivity to light produced shadows to make the image look more mysterious which is what I was aiming for. I wanted a blank white background so that the model was the main subject and the audience can focus on her, especially in the way she is looking towards the camera which may hint towards the audience that the film is a dark thriller.

In this image I set the aperture to 5.6 and the ISO speed ratings to 2500. This was quite similar to the image above because I wanted the main subject to be lighter causing a shadow and mysterious effect to match what the poster is showing. There was a shallower depth of field allowing more lights in so that the image was in focus and due to the ISO speed ratings, there was more sensitivity in a darker environment producing the shadows.

Here again, I wanted to create an image with shadows around the corners, but a lighter image in the middle of the picture where the laptop is which means the audience will focus their attention on what is happening on the laptop. To create this effect I set the camera to have a shallower depth of field allowing more lights in so that the main subject of the image was in focus and lighter than the outside of the photo.

For this image I wanted to create exactly the same idea as the image above so I set the aperture to 5.6 and ISO speed ratings to 2500 as I did for the image above creating the same atmosphere with the shadows and mysterious look. the only difference was that I took it from another angle so that I have a variety of different images I can choose for the best possible outcome. It is also a bit closer up than the other one so there is a clear image that 'the hacker' is webcam stalking someone on his laptop.

As already said, I wanted to create a similar image to the photo above but shot from a different angle so that I had many to choose from for my poster. By having a shallowed depth of field the laptop could be lighter and in more focus so that the audience pay attention to it. The ISO speed ratings and aperture allows the image to look mysterious creating shadows.

For this image I slightly experimented to create a silhouette with a lighter background and the main subject darker and in contrast with the background. This gave it a mysterious and dark effect. The aperture was set at f5.6 so that the image was in focus due to more light coming in. The ISO speed ratings was set at 800 so that there was more sensitivity to light and the image was darker.

Here I wanted to create a lighter background with a darker subject. Due to experimenting, it did not come out as best as I had hoped but I still think it is an effective image as you are unable to see the appearance of the model on the laptop which creates suspicion within the audience.

Booking Sheet

The equipment used for my unit 14 photoshoot was exactly the same as the equipment used for my unit 17 film. this is because the canon 7D DSLR and the specific lenses ticked in the booking sheet provide high quality and clear images in both photography and filming.

Pre-Production Material

For this image below which I included in examples for my pre-production material, it shows a poster with two parts to it as I mentioned in what I wanted to do in the table above. It has the main character above and another image from the film below which is what I wanted to achieve for one of my film posters, with Sam on his laptop on the bottom and the main character above looking worriedly into the camera.