Drama - Camera

For this drama project I will be the camera operator/cinematographer. To be succesful in this role I will have to work closely with the Director in order to realise their vision so a lot of communication is vital. For the 2 minute part of the drama the filming will be handheld and very close up as we want the full appearance of the protagonist to be a shock reveal to the audience towards the end of the film. Also this technique literally makes the audience closer to the character as they are in fact physically closer to them. I would like the shots to be from a low angle where possible to show how the character is in awe of the city around them and attempt to full immerse the audience in the feelings that the protagonist is having. The low angles and objects that the camera shows will suggest that the protagonist is in fact a child and as is stated in my first post, the audience will then find out that the protagonist is in fact an adult.

For this film we will be using a Canon 550D and as I am doing camera it is important that I know how to use this device. I have added new software called Magic Lantern to this camera to give a whole array of new settings such as white balance, light temperature and a measure that shows the distance that you are focusing at, which will be very useful for doing focus pulls. This sortware will allow me to use the DSLR in the same way that you would use a professional filming camera so I believe that should improve the quality of the footage we can record. Also another group member has the same camera so we will be able to use this to not only get twice the footage but much better coverage of things that could be hard to reshoot.

In my role as cinematographer I will mainly be working with the director but in small parts I will have to work with everybody on the set as they will have opinions on how different shots will work and how they will compliment their roles.