SENIOR SCHOOL
Media
magic
This term the Year 7-9 media X boys have
been learning the basics of filmic narrative,
character development and camera operation
to help them in the creation of a number of
short films. We encourage the students to think
outside the box when creating their masterpieces,
as experimentation is the backbone of great
cinema. Part of the process for this is showing
the students how to take advantage of basic
perspective cinematography and manipulation of
action in shots.
In order to do this we took the classes outside
with a standard digital SLR photography camera
and set up some very cool still shots of some
unique special effect actions. We set the camera
to continuous shutter release and choreographed
certain scenes, such as the Epic Ground Punch,
Force Push and Force Choke. For each image, we
asked one person to hold still in an action, and
the cameraman then started shooting continuous
shots while he simultaneously directed the other
boys to all move in a choreographed action on
the count of 3. We then picked the best image
out of the set of continuous shots.
The boys all came away understanding that
special effects don’t have to cost a million dollars’
worth of budget, some can be achieved with just
a little imagination and some organisational skill.
They got some great Facebook cover photos too!
Brad Minchin
Media Teacher
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