OH&S of Oxford Before

Each location that we are planning to visit in Oxford will present different health and safety issue. To be prepared for these I have made a separate OH&S list for each location.


General OH&S
Manual Handling - we will be caring heavy equipment for an extended period of time. to prevent any back, neck of limb strain we need to make sure that we regularly rest and rotate the equipment among the group, so that not only one person is left carrying the heavy tripod (for example) for the duration of the scout.


The Turf Tavern 
Slipping - Even thought this could happen in any scenario I feel that because the turf tavern in a pub there will be a higher risk of spilt drinks. So when we are at this location we will need to be more aware of this.

Violence - Also due to the fact that it is a pub, their may be people there that have high alcohol levels. so we will need to be weary of these people, making sure that any violent situations that arise are reported to the manager straight away. also we will have to be careful of the equipment around them, in case they cause any damage to them from being too close.

Cowley Road
Main Shopping Area and Road -  Cowley Road has a high level of road traffic and pedestrian traffic, with limited space. When we are out filming on this road we should
                 - be aware of other people, and stay as much out of there way as possible. this will avoid conflicts, damage to the equipment and injure to ourselves and others.
                 - be aware of cars. we may need to cross roads when venturing down Cowley Road. If this is require we should take care when crossing the road, no only because of the dense traffic flow but also as we are carrying a lot of heavy equipment that may hinder the process of crossing the road.
                  - be aware of bikes. Oxford has a high density of bike users, so when crossing the road we need to watch for bikes as well as cars.

Jericho
Community Area - Jericho is a very community orientated area, so when we visit this location we need to make sure not to unset the locals. be as polite, quiet and quick as we can, with disturbing the area.

Canal - Also the Oxford Canal runs through Jericho. This will produce some nice footage and if we do plan to film near the canal we need to be sure not to get to close, so we don't fall in; make the ground is stable before setting up any equipment, so we don't loose our footing; and make sure all the equipment we are using it secured to our persons.

Oxford Preparation

Oxford Preparation
By going to Oxford we where hoping to gather footage that was not readily available in or around Nuneaton and as Oxford is an  intriguing  and architectural place we thought this would be a good place to film. As we where venturing so far from Nuneaton and only for one day we needed to make sure that we had everything laid out, like the equipment we needed, knowing how to use it all, specific locations that we wanted to film, what we wanted to capture (mainly different environment than that of Nuneaton) and have a route mapped out so that we don't waste time walking around trying to look for certain places (as time was so limited anyway). So we assembled an equipment list.

Equipment list:                                                   
- Canon 500D                                                        
- Canon 600D x2                                                   
- Small Lumix digital camera (for documenting)        
- Fluid Head Tripod
- Boom Microphone
- Spare, Cleared SD Cards 
- Reflector 

- Umbrella (in case it starts to rains)

Before leaving for Oxford we also have to strongly consider the health and safety risks, as we may come across some risks that we have not already as we are going to a completely different environment. some risks involve, vagabonds, muggers, car accidents and cyclist on the pavements. to avoid these dangers we need to, make sure we stick together, know where we are going, do not approach or be approach by people that look dangerous or suspicious, carry as little equipment as possible, be aware of our surrounding and don't get peoples way and don't venture to places that are far outside of our original scouted areas (Cowley Road,  The Turf Tavern and Jericho).  

These are the location that we have planned to go to when in Oxford

We also prepared and practised with the boom microphone the day before we went to Oxford. We did this as it was part of the brief to test the boom microphone and the cameras internal microphone, and as we had not used the boom microphone before we needed to practice with it and the set up. 

As well as learning how to use all the equipment we made sure that all the cameras were fully charged and that  we had spared SD cards that were empty. 

Low Key Lighting

Why Practise Low Key Lighting?

We decided to practise some low key lighting as we had not really had much experience or previous practise with studio lighting; also we were able to observe and correct OH&S issues in our own studio. 

Brief: To practise low key lighting and demonstrate that we are able to identify and handle OH&S issues on set. 

·      Equipment Used

·      Canon 500D

·      Tripod

·      Small barn doored studio light 

·      Back Drop 

·      Extension cord

·      Experience

            When filming low key lighting I found it very fun. I was comfortable in my environment, as everybody there were aware and knew what we were doing (because they were all participating as well). I also enjoy the footage that we ended up with and how we were able to experiment with the miss en scene more freely than we were able to do when on location. even though this does not completely fit in with new wave techniques, -such as natural lighting, real location and people used and innovative camera movements, to name a few- we did you innovate equipment and cheaply constructed equipment that we didn't have but needed, like a darker back drop made from large pieces of card being taped together; also by compiling all of this footage we were able to practice editing technique, like the Kuleshov effect.

         Footage analysis

  

Lighting

When we were filming the footage of Sammie and Will at the table the small studio light was to bright and lit the scene to much, not only defeating the object of lows key lighting but also the white back drop could be seen and this also took away from the effect. To deal with this problem we used a phone light to reduce the amount of light present and we placed it on the table behind the bowl in the subjects face, this help to light the subject only and not the surroundings like was happening before. 

This clip shows how the small studio light over lit the     This clip shows how we adjusted the barn doors on
scene. Even though a shadow was present on the          the studio light so that the amount of light and the
subjects face the rest of the set and background was     focus of the light was a suitable amount and point in
to bright. Also a shadow is seen behind the subject,      the correct place, in this case on the left side of the  so the positioning of the light is known. I feel the                     dolls face. even though closing the barn doors the
shadow ruins the effect of low key lighting as does        and the light source was reduced that was still a lot of
the back drop being seen.                                           light present, and once again the positioning of the
With this said the creases in the back drop are not        light source is known from the shadow on the back
visible as the aperture is high to only the subject in        drop. the aperture here is the same as before so the
the fore ground is in focus.                                           creased on the back drop are no noticeable; even                          .                                                                           more so because the ISO is the same as before, (a .   .                                                                                   .          low ISO) the back drop is darker so the crease are  . .                                                                                   .            seen even less.
  

Back Drop

 To begin with we had a plastic back drop that was meant to be used for filming and photography like we were practising  however this back drop was to heavy for the stand and kept falling off the roll and causing the stand to become unstable. we fixed this by use a lighter white sheet that we found in the studio. this stayed up fine and did a good job as a back drop, but the sheet was creased and made some shots look unprofessional. when we wanted a white back drop we increased the aperture so that the background was not in focus and the creases were not seen in the shots. 

      Even though the white sheet worked as a back drop, in some shots it caused the scene to be too bright and the low key lighting effect was not accomplished. we tested different ISO settings to see if altering the amount go light entering the camera would make any difference, but this didn't work. So to concur this problem we taped together some black card that we found also in the studio and held them behind the subject when we were filming. this helped to darken the surrounding and helped improve and emphasis the low key lighting effect that we were trying to accomplish. 

 In this clip you can see how the black back drop causes the table cloth and bowl colouring to pop more and stand out. 

  OH&S on set 

       There where a few health and safety problems that arose but we were able to quickly and safety adjust and remove these problems to make the environment safe for the crew.

       The first OH&S was the back drop falling. this was dangerous not only as it was heavy and could fall on to the subject we were filming sat in front of the back drop but also because it caused the stands that were hold the back drop up to be very unstable and liable to fall also. we mended this problem by removing the heavy back drop from the studio and replacing it with a lighter back drop, that didn't fall of the stands or cause hem to become unbalanced in anyway. 

       The second problem was the cable from the extension cord not being secured down. We taped the cable down to the floor and around the chair leg that the cord was on. By doing this any excess cable, that could be tripped over, was removed from the equation in turn removing any dangers from the set, reducing any  harm that to a crew member may come across.

      Finally heat from the studio light was a problem. Most studio lights get very hot when left on for any period time, as we only used a small studio light the amount of heat produce was less than that of a larger studio light, but still needed to be taken into the OH&S account. We made sure that all crew members were aware of the heat from the light and when the light was not in use any more it was switch off and left to cool before packing it away;  this not only decreases the risk of injury and burns to the crew but also prevents and chance of a fire if the light were to be packed away into its bag before completely cooled. 

Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S)

              Occupational Health and Safety  (OH&S) is are strict guidelines concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goals of occupational safety and health programmes include to foster a safe and healthy work environment. these regulations are present in any industry. the guidelines vary from industry to industry based on the different types of hazard in that particular working environment. 
              Due to the variety of locations where filming may take place the OH and S guidelines different vastly, with each location having different health and safety requirements; each each location has its own OH&S check-list. 

OH&S problems when on a studio set: 

- Cables and wires may be incorrectly placed and not secured down to avoid tripping. this could cause damage to equipment and potential harm to crew member. If this problem arises the cables should be taped to the floor or covered to prevent tripping. 

           

           




 - Liquids around the set (i.e. drinks) - damage to equipment if spilt, also risk of slipping if spilt on floor. if this problem occurs the split should be clearly labelled with a wet floor sign, mopped up, and the sign should stay in the same place until the floor is completely dried. 

             







- Equipment not being set up properly - again, causing damage to equipment and risk of harm crew member. any damage to equipment can be avoiding by weighing it down; to stabilise them and prevent them tipping or being knocked over a sandbag should be used on the equipments foot. 

            

            

- Heat from studio lights - crew member could get burnt if over heated lights are not handle properly as well as risk of fires if in a studio. the lights should be left to cool by crew before transporting them to another location to avoid any burns. to avoid fires the lights should be monitored and checked frequently, but as there is still a risk a fire extinguisher should be present on set and every crew member instructed how to operate it. the crew should also have a fire drill in place, in case the fire becomes out of hand. 

OH&S problems when on location: 

- Harmful and unsanitary objects like broken glass, needles etc. . To avoid any accidents the location should be swept and any harmful objects removed safety.  

           

       
     




- Violence, gangs and criminals in area may pose a threat. So to prevent any harm to the crew or damage to the equipment the area should be either secure or security present on location. to prevent anything violent happening more, planning of shots should be done before so that the filming process is quick and the crew can leave the area as soon as possible. 

   

           


 - Theft and/or damage to equipement. The same precautions that should be taken when violence, gangs or criminals are an issue, should be taken to stop and damage to or theft of equipment. 

  

               


 - Uneven and unstable ground. If your location in on a hill side for example, all areas should be checked and double checked, to make sure that the area is safe to work on and a perimeter should be establish so that the crew know where o and where not to walk. 

All of these must be considered and assessed before any shooting begins, it allows an assessment of the risks and solutions to be carried out to prevent any problems being occurring. 

Editing

Editing
Film editing is the invisible art of motion picture, when it is well-practised, the viewer can become so engaged that he or she is not even aware of the editor's work. The film editor works with the raw footage, selecting shots and combining them into sequences to create a finished motion picture. The job of an editor isn't simply to mechanically put pieces of a film together, cut off film slates, or edit dialogue scenes. A film editor must creatively work with the layers of images, story, dialogue, music, pacing, as well as the actors' performances to effectively "re-imagine" and even rewrite the film to craft a cohesive whole. Editors usually play a dynamic role in the making of a film.

Continuity

Continuity is a film term that suggests that a series of shots should be physically continuous, as if the camera simply changed angles in the course of a single event. For instance, if in one shot a beer glass is empty, it should not be full in the next shot. Technically, continuity is the responsibility of the script supervisor and film director, who are together responsible for preserving continuity and preventing errors from take to take and shot to shot. The script supervisor, who sits next to the director during shooting, keeps the physical continuity of the edit in mind as shots are set up. He is the editor's watchman. If shots are taken out of sequence, as is often the case, he will be alert to make sure that that beer glass is in the appropriate state. The editor utilizes the script supervisor's notes during post-production to log and keep track of the vast amounts of footage and takes that a director might shoot.

Montage

Montage was the essence of the cinema. Today montage has a completely different connotation than it used to.  There are at least three senses of the term: French film, Soviet filmmaking and classic Hollywood cinema. 

French Film 

        In French film practice, "montage" has its literal French meaning (assembly, installation) and simply identifies editing.  

        The New Wave filmmakers were linked by their self-conscious rejection of the literary period pieces being made in France and written by novelists, their spirit of youthful iconoclasm, the desire to shoot more current social issues on location, and their intention of experimenting with the film form.  

        Filming techniques included fragmented, discontinuous editing, and long takes. The combination of objective realism, subjective realism, and authorial commentary created a narrative ambiguity in the sense that questions that arise in a film are not answered in the end.French New Wave cinema became very aware of editing and makes this known among the audience as well. One way that awareness is created is by jump cuts which is the type of edit that causes the subject of the shots to appear to "jump" position in a discontinuous way.

Sequence from Breathless that shows Jump Cuts       A sequence I put together to show Jump Cuts

Soviet Filmmaking

Soviet Filmmaking of the 1920s, "montage" was a method of juxtaposing shots to derive new meaning that did not exist in either shot alone. Soviet editing techniques show that it is not the content of the images in a film which is important, but their combination.  An example of this is the Kuleshov effect, which I will discuss later on. 

Classic Hollywood Cinema
In Hollywood cinema, a montage sequence is a short segment in a film which narrative information is presented in a condensed fashion.

The Kuleshov Effect
Lev Kuleshov is a Russian filmmaker who edited together a short film in which a shot of an expressionless face was alternated with various other shots; a plate of soup, a girl in a coffin and a woman on a divan. Audiences believed that each time the faces expression had changed and they praised the subtle acting. The reality, of course, is that the same clip of the actor's face was re-used, and the effect is created entirely by its superimposition with other images. 
            Kuleshov used the experiment to indicate the usefulness and effectiveness of film editing. The implication is that viewers brought their own emotional reactions to this sequence of images, and then moreover attributed those reactions to the actor, investing his impassive face with their own feelings. Kuleshov believed this, along with montage, had to be the basis of cinema as an independent art form.

  


Eisenstein Theory
Eisenstein was a pioneer in the use of montage. His writings and films have continued to have a major impact on subsequent filmmakers. Eisenstein believed that editing could be used for more than just expounding a scene or moment, through related images. Eisenstein felt the collision of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience and create film metaphors. He believed that an idea should be derived from the juxtaposition of two independent shots, bringing an element of collage into film.

A Baby in a Carriage Falling Down the "Odessa Steps"

D.W. Griffith
D.W. Griffith was an American director who, more than anyone of the silent era, saw film's potential as an expressive medium, and exploited that potential. Griffith played a number of roles as an actor before agreeing to move behind the camera as a director. As a director Griffith took the raw elements of movie making as they had evolved up to that time and wrought a medium of extraordinary power and degree - elements such as lighting, continuity, editing and acting. 
       D.W. Griffith developed classical cutting -where a sequence of shots are determined by the scene's dramatic and emotional emphasis rather than physical action, Griffith for example would edit love scenes in long lyrical takes- as well as developing a variety of editing principles he believed made cutting invisible, such techniques as eye-line match. also Griffith was the first to use close-ups for psychological reasons instead of physical reasons. his cross cutting style was hallmarked in Early short films such as A CORNER IN WHEAT (1909), FIGHTING BLOOD (1911), and UNDER BURNING SKIES (1912), using these cross-cut edits to build tension, acute observation of details to heighten reality, and the use of the camera as a vehicle for expounding his views on society. 

             Cross Cutting in Fighting Blood                                  Example of Eye-Line Match

The History of Editing

The Theory of Editing 
The Theory of editing begins with the idea that a audience naturally relates one shot that is followed by another, and the events occurring within time and/or space. In the first years of film editing wasn't used as it is today.

When film first came about it was mostly used to make actualities. However, it wasn't long before the Lumiere Brothers and the Edison company, produced film containing a plot. These filmmakers would set up a camer, and literally have a short narrative play out in front of the lens. the camera was not moved at all, and shots from different angles were not taken. The idea of editing was not contemplated.

The Lumiere Brothers

Thomas Edison 

                       

 The first film by the Lumiere Brothers entitled La Sortie de I'Usine Lumiere

  

       
Things changed in 1903, when Edwin S. Porter exhibited his unprecedented ability to construct a film and tell a story from multiple shots, rather than just one where the whole story takes place in front of a stationary camera. Porter was the first to use editing as a means of progressing a film's story.

Edwin S. Porter - The Life if an American Fireman

Porter's The Great Train Robbery (1903) follows a band of Western outlaws robbing a train and itterurpts the chronology of the action with a cutaway showing the rescue of the telegraph perator whom the outlaws ealier had tied up. an early exampl of parallel editing, showing two lines of narrative action happening at the same time, is evidence in The Great Train Robbery. 

D.W Griffiths

In 1908 D.W Griffiths film "For Love Of Gold" featured the first ever continuity cut when a scene was cut. From this Griffiths realised that emotions could also be portrayed through different camera angles and pace of editing and it wasn't all down to actors. Cutting from long shots to a close up accentuated the drama, and matching the action on a cut as a character walks from an exterior into a doorway and, in the next shot, enters an interior set enabled Griffith to join filming locations that were physically separated but adjacent in terms of the time and place of the story.

Sergei Eisenstein 
Sergei Eisenstein as a filmmaker and a theoretician of cinema who made films and wrote voluminously about their structure and the nature of cinema. Eisenstein believed that editing was the foundation of film art. The meaning in cinema lay not in the individual shot but only in the relationship among shots established by editing, for Eisenstein.

His metric and rhythmic montages were supplemented with what Eisenstein call tonal and intellectual montage, due to his interest in guiding the viewer's emotions and thought processes. the aim was for subtle emotional effects and to convey more abstract ideas.

Lighting

The Basics

Soft Lighting 
Soft light is when a light source is large relative to the subject. Things that can effect the softness of the light are : - Distance. The closer the light source, the softer it becomes.
        - Size of light source. The larger the source, the softer it becomes.

Soft lighting is used in photography and cinematography for the following reasons : 
- Shadow-less light is cast.
-  It can be used as fill lighting,  reducing shadows without creating  additional shadows, so doesn't indicate where the supplementary light source is positioned.
- Makes a subject appear more beautiful or youthful through making wrinkles less visible.
- Soft lighting makes the subject very well lit and looks more natural. 

An example of soft lighting is a person (the subject) and the sun (the source). 


 Hard Lighting 

Hard light is when the light source is small relative to the subject. candle light or a concentrated light source  would give this effect. The type of lighting instrument used can effect the hardness. Fresnel lights can be focused so harder-edged shadows are produced, having less transition between illumination and shadow.

Low Key Lighting 

Usually photograph and studio have use three-point lighting, consisting of a key light, a fill light and a back light for illumination. Low-key lighting, on the other hand often uses only one key light, and may be controlled with a fill light or a reflector. 
Low key lighting is a necessary element to create the chiaroscuro effect and is commonly used in film noir and horror genre films as it tends to heighten the sense of alienation. 

Portrait Lighting

There are three main types of portrait lighting; Rembrandt, Edge and Butterfly. All of these lighting techniques only use one light source, this is cheap and therefore, used in new wave, so by practising and using these lighting techniques we are sticking to the new wave style.

Rembrandt

Rembrandt lighting is characterised by an illuminated triangle under the subjects eye of the shadowed side of the face. It's named after the Dutch painter Rembrandt who, in his paintings often lit his subjects faces in this way. to achieve this type of lighting the angle and height in comparison with the subject must be considered and the degree that the light is pointing (measured from a horizontal plane, like the floor).
- The subject must be placed in front of the camera, facing away at a 20 degree angle.
- The main light source is at a 25-35 degree from the camera, about a foot and a half above the subject and tilted down about 45 degrees also. 
- When using a fill light or reflector this has to be at a 45 degree angle from the camera also but on the opposite of the camera to the light. the reflector will lower the contrast. 

Analysis

As you can see from the clips above, we did manage to achieve this technique, not as distinctively as image above, but the signature light of triangle can be seen, more so without the reflector than with. The footage was edited in high contrast monochrome to show the light and dark contrast more effectively, but also by doing this a style from French new wave has been incorporated. 

Edge Lighting

Edge lighting is more drastic, defining and separating one side of the face from the other more obviously. It makes the lights light and the darks dark. To achieve this edge lighting, like with Rembrandt, the angle and height in comparison with the subject must be considered and the degree that the light is pointing (measured from a horizontal plane, like the floor).

- The subject must be placed in front of the camera, facing away at a 20 degree angle, once again.

- The main light source is at a 90 degree from the camera, eye level with the subject and kept at 90 degrees to the vertical stand. 

- When using a fill light or reflector this has to be at a 70-80 degree angle from the camera also but on the opposite of the camera to the light. And once again the reflector will lower the contrast. 

Analysis

The edge lighting technique that we practise was done very well; a stark contrast between the lit and shadowed sides of the face was achieved - as the footage above shows. Once again the footage was edited in high contrast monochrome to show the light and dark contrast more distinctively.

Butterfly Lighting

Butterfly lighting is a classic Hollywood technique that offer a much softer way to light the subject. This lighting technique highlights above and below the eyes, while the eyes stay in shadow. The name of this lighting style stems from the butterfly shadow cast under the nose from the lighting angle. The butterfly  pattern can be quite useful for a variety of faces, but is at its best on lean subjects with high and pronounced cheekbones. To achieve this edge lighting, once again like with Rembrandt and edge, angles and positioning have to be considered. 

- The subject must be placed in front of the camera, this time directly facing the camera.

- The main light source is behind the camera, 2-3 foot above the subject and at a 70-80 degree tilt to the vertical. 

- No fill light or reflector is used with this technique as is would lighten the subject to much and the lighting would not be seen.

Analysis

I feel we mimicked the butterfly lighting technique very well. not only have we achieved the correct shadowing and highlighted the cheek bones, we have stay with the typical use of this lighting in the 1930s to enhance the beauty of female subjects, by using a female subject.