Shot Sizes

Today we learned all about the different shot sizes. We were given the example sheet of  'My Summer of Love' were we looked at many different shot sizes which included close-ups, mid/medium/long shots, wide shots, over the shoulder, two/three shot, high/low angle and POV.

It was very helpful as it gave me a greater understanding of the different shot sizes can affect how an audience thinks and perceives the piece of media they are watching.

 

To help explore that idea we watched a very short piece of Pleasantville's beginning in which the main characters, location and story were being introduced to the audience.

Within the first few seconds I noticed the director had used many shots including long shots, wide shots, POV and big close up. It was done very cleverly in the scene as is created this atmosphere and sense of what was going to happen just by using techniques such as sound and editing.

Then as the scene went on I was drawn more and more into the fact that the two characters were speaking together. But then with the use of the sound changing and the use of a WS I realised that this character was actually isolated and there was distance between the two characters.

It was a good task as it helped me recognize that as a director you can control/ change how an audience interpret a film if directed well.