Rebecca Barrett - TV Production blog

For our first big Theory project for our contextual studies, we have to study a sequence (3 - 10 minutes long) from a TV show and write a 1000 word essay which explores the different camera angles, mise-en-scene, lighting, costume, setting, performance, sound and editing. We also have to give our interpretation of the elements involved in this scene and what is learnt about the story, characters and the meaning of the visual aspects and reflect on the genre conventions. For my chosen sequence, I have selected the battle from Game of Thrones season 7 episode 6 called 'The Spoils of War', Where Danerys (Danni) and her Darthraki army attack a Lannister supply caravan on it's way to King's Landing. I have chosen this sequence specifically as this entire sequence is filled with action in every shot throughout the timeframe, right from the beginning where Jamie and Bron first hear the thunder hooves of the Darthraki to the ending when Jaime is nearly burned alive by Dro

In our second screenwriting class, we focused on what action, dialogue and irony was within a script. We learn't that action is: Action is also known as stage directions - it provides the visual elements to a script All capitals in a script are only used for mentioning a character's name for the first time Action should be cut down to short sentences instead of chunky paragraphs Action should only say what the camera (also known as the audience perspective) can see Avoid adjectives / over-description if it isn't important to the story / scene Only include what is needed to be known. Dialogue is: Don't do pointless dialogue if it doesn't show the character Avoid 'on-the-noise' / too formal dialogue Make realistic dialogue, but still natural enough to the actual way we speak. If doing speeches - include breaks to make it more realistic Avoid expositional dialogue if its not important or it can be shown through action instead Dramatic Iro

For this camera workshop we focused on the 180* rule. This is where an imaginary line is drawn between two characters within a scene, the camera has to remain on this line at all times and if it goes on either side of the line even for a moment, it has broken the rule. To help with our understanding of this, we filmed a short sequence in a group of three, where one of us operated the camera and the other two acted out the scene. For this task, i was with Elizabeth and Will. We began with myself and Elizabeth filming first, Will brought the camera to begin at a wide shot and remained on the imaginary arch that goes around the two characters before zooming the camera lens in for a close-up, so even though the camera was zoomed into closer to us, the physical camera and tripod had not moved to either side of the line. Like my other camerawork posts, this files will not upload, however, i will try to resolve this asap.

This was another short practice film myself, Katie and Elizabeth filmed in our camera workshop last Friday. This short film took abut half an hour to brainstorm as we had to decide what part of the studio we wanted to use for our 'setting'. - we ended up picking the 'bar area' in order to simulate a staff room. We also chose the bar for our location as the script spoke about something being 'a total bloodbath', yet never giving context to what it actually means, this allowed us to interpret it in anyway, and we saw it as an important sale going wrong, whereas we first thought it could have been about a murder, and William trying to keep it under wraps as his colleague (Eric) tries to get the information out of him. We then decided to have myself playing William and Elizabeth playing Eric, while Katie was our director / camerawomen. It took us about an hour and a half to shoot our short film as we tried out several different shots per take to see what shot

Here is the short sequence called 'The Chair' that we made last Friday in our last camera workshop. it's only about 10 seconds long, but it shows sev eral different camera shots we used in order to make the most of the location and the views from different shots. This 'test' scene was for myself, Katie and Elizabeth to get used to the cameras and how to work them. It also enabled us to get a sense of how perfect shots have to be as well as how much effort can go into a single shot. For example, the second shot of Katie's feet walking across the floor needed to be filmed several times due to the camera shaking ever slightly, or the camera not turning 100% smoothly. which could have ruined the shot. Unfortunately, for some reason the video wouldn't upload, i will look into this and try to upload them when i can. (This little piece will be deleted once the video is up)

For part of blog, we are supposed to look up screenwriters (preferably from TV) that have inspired out craft. For me, my influencers are David Benioff and D. B. Weissoff, the main writers for 'Game of Thrones'. While they have been a huge inspiration in my craft, my main inspiration came from the Emmy-nominated script from the episode ''Battle of the Bastards' from Season Six. This episode was not only a perfect example of showing off the writing for the episode but once you look at the script, you can see the writers knew the tone or the entire episode, especially when it came to the final battle between the Starks and the Boltons. Even from the very opening scene where it says 'Tyrion flinches each time a projectile lands near the pyramid, because he’s human and it’s a natural human reaction.' and 'Dany never flinches. She is not the same woman who flew away from Daznak’s Pit on the back of a dragon. She is changed, changed utterly, a terrib

Consequences Genre: Drama Pitch: An estranged wife and her husband’s mistress confront each other over the affair. But does Alicia’s calm demeanor truly show the real her? Story: After learning of her husband’s affair, 50-year-old Alicia goes to the mistress’s house to confront her, which ends in violence. Days later, the wife comes back to the mistress’s house with a more sinister intent. The wife grows more and more insane, eventually lashing out at Carla for not defending herself, only revealing that Carla was killed in their last confrontation. Characters: Alicia is a 50-year-old woman whose marriage has ended in heartbreak when she finds out her husband has had an affair with her best friend. This leads her mind to some very dark places, including murder. Carla is a 47-year-old woman who has resented her ex-friend, Alicia, since they were in secondary school as Alicia fell in love with the man she loved. In revenge, she had an affair with the husband, only