Reflections on Practical: TV Drama Still

1. Provide a brief summary of how you planned your photography practical.
We drew a storyboard in order to plan the shot type, actor position and poses in the shot, this allowed us to stay organised and take the shots easier as we had this to guide us.

2. Analyse your chosen shot and identify in what ways it could be described as signifying your chosen TV drama genre/subgenre.
The lighting conveys the horror genre as the colors are a eerie green with washed out colors. The mid shot on Ben makes you focus on his bloody eyes showing the bloody images that represent the horror genre by showing him as a conventional victim character type of a horror. The mysterious hand on his shoulder suggests a malicious intent, conforming to serial killer character type.

3. How did you intend the audience to interpret your still? What narrative moment were you attempting to create? What meanings were you attempting to communicate?  (BARTHES NARRATIVE CODES?
The semic codes of the dark room helps the audience to interpret the still as one conforming to the  horror genre, with a clear victim and killer scenario made clear by the conventions of this setting. Enigma of The action codes showing Ben in pain and someone gripping his shoulder sets who is victim and who is perpetrator.

4. Identify what is successful about your shot.
The framing in this shot was successful, with a mid shot of Ben in the foreground fitting the mysterious hand. The lighting of the still was also successful, with eerie green lighting around them helping to create tension.

5. What would you do differently if you were to repeat this activity?
If i were to repeat the task I would plan Ben's facial expression better.

Continuity task 1 evaluation - My Property

1. Explain the story of your video.
Ben is ignoring his girlfriend, and she is upset by this. She takes his phone in order to provoke a response and tells Kush to run away with it. However when running, Kush accidentally hits a pole allowing Ben to get his phone back.

2. How did you create 'narrative flow'?
We started the video with an establishing shot in order for the audience to have a clear sense of space. Most of our shots involve movement, and so we tried to have each shot pick up where the previous ended.

3. Did you achieve full continuity? If not, why not?
No there were errors, for example, in between shot 2 and shot 3, Kush teleport forward, and Ben goes from still on the bench to right behind Kush. Another example is how between shot 3 to 4, Kush takes too long to go around the corner. This is due to the difficulties of shooting everything with only a camera and no editing software, it was especially hard to time the cuts when running.

4. In hindsight, what would you do differently to improve the narrative flow of your video and tell your story more effectively?
In hindsight, i think we should've made Ben already begin chasing Kush in shot 2, so that he doesn't suddenly appear behind him. Also we should plan and mark where we finished running in one shot, in order to keep the flow.

Still analysis task: Sherlock

The still is an over the  shoulder shot of Sherlock pointing a gun at Moriarty who stands in front of John who is wearing a bomb vest. The protagonist, Sherlock, takes up the majority of the right side of the still, while the antagonist, Moriarty, fills the other half. This equal split denotes a standoff between the two sides. With the presence of these weapons and the standoff between the two, the still connotes high tension and confrontation while suggesting a crime genre. The still is in a public pool, which would normally represent a  fun, active place, however this is contrasted by the dim lighting (due to the time being night) and the small number of people present. This juxtaposition gives a strong sense of the drama genre of the show.