Video Using imovie

Here's my video with pictures from my trip to Italy in 2008.

Sorry there's no sound. I ran out of time! :)

Teaching Film Activity: Documentaries and Mockumentaries

 Recently, there have been what seems like an explosion of “mockumentary” shows on TV and in film. These shows share many aspects of a documentary, such as using interviews to comment on action, use of tracking shots and camera movement, or long, uncut shots to capture action, etc. All of this makes the viewer think that what they are watching is reality when it is actually completely scripted. This activity will teach students to identify the types of filming techniques in a documentary and analyze the use of these techniques in a mockumentary.

Procedure:

Students will be shown a short 5-10 minute clip of a documentary film. While watching, students will be asked to record any types of filming techniques they noticed. What types of camera shots were used? Pan shots? Tracking shots? In what places were voice-overs or interviews used? How were clips edited together?

After viewing the first clip, students will discuss and share what they noticed and record a list on the board. Keeping this list in mind, students will then be shown a 5-10 minute clip of a mockumentary such as The Office or Modern Family. After viewing, students will be asked to list any film techniques from the documentary that they noticed were used in the mockumentary. They will then compare the techniques used in the documentary and mockumentary: What was happening in the TV show when these techniques were used? Does it have the same effect when used in the mockumentary as it did in the documentary? Were there some techniques that were used in the documentary that weren’t in the mockumentary? Or Vice versa? Why?

This activity will force students to notice the filming techniques used in documentaries and mockumentaries. It will hopefully give them a better understanding of how various filming techniques can impact a documentary. It will also allow them to see how these same techniques could be scripted into a mockumentary and how these scripted techniques can affect the mockumentary in similar (or dissimilar) ways.

Extra: Clips from reality shows can also be shown. Students can compare the filming techniques used in reality shows to those of documentaries and mockumentaries to see how meaning is made in reality shows using similar filming techniques.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

This clip from Pride and Prejudice uses filming and editing techniques to beautifully relay the tension that exists between Elizabeth (Keira Knightly) and Mr. Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen). Director Joe Wright, editor Paul Tothill, and cinematographer Roman Osin do a fantastic job of placing the camera and putting the scenes together in such a way that dialogue seems unnecessary; one feels that the emotional war that goes on in this scene could be told completely through camera placement and focus.  This is especially evident during the part where Mr. Darcy finally reveals his feelings for Elizabeth. In this scene, the camera does not focus on Darcy as he speaks, but rather on Elizabeth, allowing the audience to read her face and know what she is feeling and by doing so, adds to the emotional impact of the scene. However, when Elizabeth and Darcy begin to argue, the camera quickly switches back and forth between Elizabeth and Darcy; the fast paced movements give the audience the feeling that they are caught up in an argument themselves. However, despite this, the audience is never allowed to actually participate in the argument. Throughout this scene, when the camera focuses on either Elizabeth or Darcy, it is always situated behind the shoulder of the other character. This effect allows the audience to witness firsthand the argument, but, because the camera is behind the characters, the audience cannot to take the perspective of either character. Thus, the audience cannot side with either Elizabeth or Darcy, but instead can only witness the emotional pain that one character causes to the other. Eventually, when Elizabeth and Darcy’s argument slows down, the camera lingers on each character, allowing the audience to glimpse the extent of the pain and sadness that both characters feel but are afraid to admit to one another. The sadness and loneliness is cemented into place in the final scene, where a wide-angle shot shows Mr. Darcy walking away and leaving Elizabeth completely alone.

Link to my video annotations of the scene: Pride and Prejudice Annotations

My Vlog: Introduction

Link to my introduction vlog.

Crash Test Kitchen Vlog Critique

I chose to watch the vlog “Let the Jelly Roll: Spring Roll Recipe from Waz’s Nana” (http://www.crashtestkitchen.com/). I really liked this vlog because 1) I love watching cooking shows and 2) it seemed unintimidating. It was just two people in their kitchen making a jelly roll recipe that they got from someone’s grandma. There were no fancy cuts or graphics: when they switched from one person being in front of the camera to the other, they weren’t afraid to have awkward camera movements or to have strange pauses. This kind of took the fear out of making a vlog for me. Also, they made baking something as seemingly complicated as a jelly roll seem easy as well. I like the way they broke down each step and offered substitutes to some of the ingredients or some of the steps. They were afraid to make mistakes in this part either and I think that they really tried hard to make baking seem fun, especially the part where the man is whipping cream for the filling.

In terms of audience, I think that this vlog was created for average people who are not experienced in cooking or baking, but want to learn. One of the biggest reasons that I think this is because everything seems so ordinary and simple. It wasn’t filmed in a fancy state-of-the-art kitchen with the best appliances. They aren’t using exotic ingredients that you would have to travel to another country to obtain. Instead, they are in their kitchen in their house and using ingredients that everyone most likely already has in their cupboard. In addition, the woman does a really good job of breaking down information and explaining ingredients that people who are chefs might not be familiar with, such as self-rising flour. Finally, I liked the way that the cameraman asked the woman questions as to what she was doing, acting as a voice for the audience who might have the exact same questions.

There aren’t too many video editing techniques applied to this video. Mainly, editing was used to cut down on time by taking out parts that weren’t needed. However, there were some parts that could have been edited out, but were left in, such as the cream whipping part. But I feel that this was kept in to make the vlog more entertaining, so I guess it serves a purpose. Other than that, there was a lot of movement of the camera from the woman’s face as she was explaining something to the bowl she was mixing in and back and forth. This seems to serve to give the viewer the feeling that they are right there watching the woman bake as the camera follows what seems to be the man’s moving line of vision.