John Lasseter is the Chief creative officer at Pixar. He was born in 1957 and went to Perperdine University where he left to study at the California institute of the arts (CalArts) due to their new character animation program. When he graduated he obtained one of 45 places for a job at Disney, there were 10,000 applicants. John worked on several titles at Disney but in the mid 80’s John was fired for siding with computer graphics over traditional animation, he left in 1984. Lasseter Then got a job with Lucas film computer graphics but this was short lived as after George Lucas went through a financially devastating devoice he was forced to sell of Lucas computer graphics, it was sold to Pixar where he produced many major titles like Toy Story, Cars and Finding Nemo. John is currently working on big upcoming titles like the sequel to Finding Nemo (Finding Dory) and the fourth instalment to the Toy Story series
Missed of the poster-Continuous Professional Development (CPD)
CPD is where someone learns new technologies, programs and equipment use in there field of work to allow them to progress with there field. In animation, its the programs that are used that will change and develop over time so every time a new version of the program you use comes out you have to learn to use it. Sometimes you will need to use a completely new program, this will require being taught to use the program. There are many courses for almost all professional programs, the problem is most companys will not fund you to take these courses so the cost has to be covered by you. This is often in the £1000-£3000 price range and requires traveling to major cities like London and paying for accommodation for a week. However if you cant afford this, internet courses can be as little as £40 and good ones can only be about £200.
Close ups- there used to show detail in a person or an object without showing the wider scene. They’re often used as cutaways from wide shots to show activity with a characters hands or emotions on a face.
Close up example shot from the film The Shining
Extreme close ups- its a very dramatic shot, close up to the subject showing allot of detail with no background detail. Usually shows parts of a face like the lips or eyes and is a fairly artificial shot because its generally magnified more than the human eye.
Extreme close up example from the film Avatar
Medium shot- used when the location of the scene has already been established. The shot size shows a character either from the knees up or the waist up and is used to show some, but limited action detail.
Medium shot example from the film the hunger games.
Establishing shot- they’re usually extremely wide shots showing the location of the scene and the relation of the surroundings to the characters and sometimes the time era the scenes set in.
Establishing shot example from Harry Potter and the deathly hallows
Over the shoulder shot- used when two or more characters are having a conversation. Its like a medium shot but with the closest characters back towards the camera, usually with the focus set on the furthest character whilst there speaking. The shot usually changes to a mirrored shot over the shoulder of the other character but sometimes to keep the element of mystery and suspense the nearest characters face can intentional not be shown.
Over the shoulder example shot from the TV programme Mr Robot
Long shot- the long shot or the full shot shows a character entire body revealing background detail. This shot is used for action shots where the focus needs to be on the character(s) but action needs to be seen in the surrounding space.Long shot example from the tv programme Breaking Bad
Camera Angles
Birds-Eye-View shot- a birds-eye-view shot is a unique shot angle that is rarely seen by eye. The angle can be used to establish a location or scene and can be use to track a character, for example in a car.
Birds-eye-view angle from the film les miserables
High angle- a high angle is used to belittle a character and make them seem less scary and blend into there surroundings. Its not as extreme as a birds-eye-view, its usually shot on a crane.
High angle shot from the film The Avengers
Eye-level angle- a neutral relaxed angle, usually used when a character is having a conversation with another. Camera hight is 5-6 feet from the ground for this angle.
Eye-level angle example shot from the film Forest Gump
Low angle- A shot looking up at the subject. The use of perspective with this shot is useful for making the viewer feel powerless and intimidated partly because of the lack of detail in the scene as all they see is either selling or sky and partly due to the fact it makes character and other subjects seem larger than they are. This last fact is useful to cinematographers because they can make short actors like Tom Cruse seem taller and more powerful. The fact that the viewer has a lack of view of the surroundings in the scene also gives the viewer a sense of confusion. The angle can also show speed and action.
Low angle shot example from the film the dark night.
Canted angle- a canted angle is a shot where the camera is not level. this shot can either be used to portray disorientation or to emphasise a key moment in a dramatic scene.
Canted angle example shot from the film Harry Potter
Camera movement
Pan shot- a shot where the camera is pivoted horizontally, this shot can be used to follow movement like a character walking. Its used to have a longer shot so several angles don’t have to be used.
Tilt shot- a shot where the camera is pivoted vertically. This shot is usually to expose a building, object or character usually from the ground up.
Slider shot- A shot where the camera is placed on a small dolly on a small track that’s used for smaller movement, up to 1.5m long. They can be used for slow incredibly smooth movement and this can be towards or away from a characters face in a close up shot or left and right to expose other things in the scene.
Rack focus- The change in focus from a near subject to a far subject (or from a far to a near) during a shot. This is to change the focus of the viewers eye during a shot to make them look at a new subject. This can be a very natural and aesthetically pleasing transition as our own eye does the same thing when changing the focus to a different subject.
Dolly shot- A dolly shot or a tracking shot is like a large slider shot but its where the camera and sometimes the operator are on rails that are moved, this shot type is usually used to follow a subject like a person walking or a car moving.
Hand held shot- a hand held shot is where the camera isn’t fixed to the ground using any equipment, it can be purely hand held but this gives shaky footage or a stabilisation system (steadycam) can be used. A steadycam is a handheld device that attaches to the camera and allows the operator to stand, walk or even run with the camera and it will cancel out vibrations and jerks giving smooth footage. Handheld shots can give a more gritty realistic view due to the small but constant movement of the camera.
crane shots- crane shots are where a camera is attached to the end of a large crane arm (or jib) and the operator on the other end can move the camera around allot further than they would with other systems. They are most commonly used to shoot high angle shots with ease or establishing shots of the location from above. Cranes are also used for Shots of objects in the air .
Zoom- A more uncommon movement used due to its shakiness, jerkiness and just generally hard to make look good on screen the zoom movement is where you change the audiences view dramatically by quickly zooming in to an aria of a frame there the eye needs to be drawn too. Its a very harsh movement which is why is more commonly used in eastern marshal arts films, its where the crash zoom comes from. The crash zoom is an overly dramatic zoom in used to make the audience suddenly very aware of something in the frame like a punch or a kick from a character.
I did research into the preferred genre of film for 16-20 year old’s. My results showed that action/adventure and comedy was voted the top two genres. All 15 people in the study said that either action or adventure was in there top three favourite genres. Horror was the next favourite with four people saying it was in there top three favourite genres and then drama was the third most popular with three people saying it was in there top three favourite genres. I did some secondary research into this and found that the web company IMDb did a survey into the most popular genres and the results are fairly comparable to my survey. The IMDb survey asked 9214 people there favourite genre and of that 1506 (16.345%) of people said action/adventure was there favourite which is similar to my study where 3 out of 15 people said that was there favourite genre which is 20%. The next most popular genre in IMDb’s study showed that drama was the next most popular with 1041 (11.298%) of people voting it there favourite whereas in my study no one voted it there number one favourite but 3 out of the 15 people asked (20%) voted it in there top 3. IMDb’s third favourite was fantasy with 840 people voting it there favourite genre whereas in my study only one person voted it in there top 3.
Research is useful because it gives you information about the general public opinions, likes, dislikes and views which can be used to influence the making of a product or a piece of work to tailor it to the likes of the general public who are the consumer of audience for the product or piece of work. This is necessary because this will make the product or piece of work more popular with the audience or consumer.
There are different types of research; primary, secondary, qualitative and quantitative. Primary research is research conducted yourself to gather data or information, this can be in the form of a questionnaire or survey. Secondary research is research using primarily other peoples work such as internet pages or books. Quantitative data is data that isn’t numerical but usually information like location or a favourite something. Qualitative data is numerical data like age hight or a distance or weight.
Now for my first post I could post something incredibly cliché, something along the lines of “I’ve always wanted to work in cinema” or “Film making is my passion” but that would be a lie. Growing up I wanted to be an architect, then when I got older i realised that my dream job would working as a mechanical engineer in a research and development centre, but after a year of failing my AS levels and being told by 50% of my teachers that I wasn’t going to make it, it was clear that i was never going to achieve the relevant qualifications at the required grades to get into any half decent uni course to study engineering. So I had to put plan B into action.
So, that’s the reason I’m doing this course. Not because its my dream but because its fun and I had no other options left. I’m not saying I don’t like Film production, because I do very much but just not as much as engineering. Its been a growing hobby ever since I got my Go Pro, three years ago and then got my first DSLR last year. I hope I’m going to have fun making films over the next two years.
Birds-eye-view angle from the film les miserables
Henry Rees 
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