Hit The Lights, Get the Camera... Ready For The ACTION

Video Drama! Everyone loves comedy don't they?? Not only we get to watch our friends' hilarious acting, We on the other hand, get to be a part of the acting too! This time, for Mr. Hardip's assignment, We had the opportunity to compose a script together with our own group members and create the characters for a 12 minute short video drama. Needless to say, all my group members (shamini, shalini, darveena, kah ming) were so hyped for this project! We were babbling away with the story-line we were going to have, the settings and plot we were planning for the filming. Sheer excitement were clearly plastered across the faces of my group mates. We were determined to ace this drama and provide maximum satisfaction to our audience including our very own skeptical lecturer, Mr. Hardip.

BUT, ARE VIDEO DRAMAS ALL ABOUT THE CHARACTERS, SETTINGS, PLOTS, RISING ACTION, CLIMAX, FACIAL EXPRESSIONS, COSTUMES, AND MAKE-UPS?.. WE ARE ALL MISSING THAT ONE IMPORTANT PART WHICH WILL MAKE A HUGE INFLUENCE ON THE QUALITY OF THE DRAMA. A PART WHICH WE CAN'T AFFORD TO MAKE ANY ERRORS IN IT.. CAMERA ANGLES.

In our Drama, a Wide Shot is used in a couple of scenes. Every person who can be seen in that shot takes up the whole frame, from the headroom all the way down to the footroom. But there is a small amount of room above and below the subjects which can be known as the safety room for it would look uncomfortable if the person's head and feet are completely touching the video frame. This wide shot is usually used for scenes where everyone's facial expressions and body movements need to be included and payed attention on. For example, a scene where people are gathering for a meeting need a wide shot angle to show everyone's body movement and their emotions while greeting each other.

WIDE SHOT

We did apply a couple of Medium Shots to Medium Close Up Shots to further emphasize the subject and to provide sufficient details of the person's upper body movements and expressions for that particular scene.  

We even did an EXTREME CLOSE UP SHOT on one of the characters' face in our short film. That was to specially emphasize the movements of the sensory organ (eye) of the person to present it in detail to the audience. It is a very specific camera shot and does not show general emotions but only the exact image of the eyes of the character.