'Change of Hands' Induction Task - Evaluation

This short film was made in order for us to better understand different techniques of film production including Mise-En-Scene, continuity, camera operation and editing techniques.

The plot follows an unnamed man in a suit, exchanging a package with a notorious, rival Mob-Boss.

Mise-En-Scene

Lighting

This short relies on lighting to set the tones and mood of the film. The only motivated lighting present within the short is in the shots of one of the subjects walking through the corridors; this was merely because we could not manipulate the lighting in that situation, and we had no other suitable locations available to us at the time. This is, however, not crucial, as the shots in the corridor were used more as filler shots and establishing shots.
 The focus of this short was the exchange that occurred within the dark room. This was were the lighting became vital to the short. We wanted the lighting to be dark, and moody, but also project an air of professionalism onto the characters.
The lighting in this scene is what is known as 'low-key', featuring bright, bold highlights and dark, moody shadows; intended to connote mystery, and unpredictability in the characters. It also looks similar to lighting that one would see in professional environments, such as offices, therefore reflecting the serious, business-oriented attitude of the characters.

Costume

The costumes were also very crucial to achieving the correct tone of this film.

 The short is intended to be a scene from some sort of crime-drama, similar to shows such as 'Peaky Blinders', therefore in order to evoke the correct feel we needed to think more about aspects such as costumes.

Gangsters are often very wealthy (at least the successful ones are), they also like to portray this in their lifestyle, including aspects such as clothing, housing, and vehicles. To make our characters evoke wealth, and power, we needed them to dress as such.
 The main subject (the man we see walking down the corridor) is intended to be the protagonist - evidenced by not only his screen-time, but also his outfit; he wears a blue suit, making him appear more laid back, more chilled out, and a bit more fun (all of which are connoted by blue suits).

 The mob-boss (named 'Big Boss') is intended to be more serious, more stoic, and the main antagonist. His outfit is intended to reflect the gangsters of old, his outfit being comprised of dark colours (mainly grey). 

Camera Angles

Camera angles are used within film and television to connote power relationships between characters; the same is true for this short.

 The use of camera angles is most prevalent during the exchange scene. 'Big Boss' (the man in the woollen coat and hat) is in possession of a firearm, and thus he has the power in this scene (right up until the end), this is conveyed through the shots of him coming from a low angle, looking up.

The shots of the man in the suit, however, are a bit more complicated:
 The first shots we see in the short are of 'suit man' walking down the corridor, holding a bag. These shots were filmed at a slightly lower angle, this was done in order to make 'suit man' appear larger and more powerful. It also indicates that 'suit man' is confident, and knows that he is truly in control of the situation.
 The shots then change when the exchange occurs, as they are all filmed from a high angle, looking down in him, indicating that he does not have the power in this situation.
 But then there is one shot in which all of this changes. When 'suit man' reaches into his bag to remove the package, there is a pov shot from the bag looking up at 'suit man'; this may go over most people's heads, but it is a subtle indication of the change in power in the scene. The next shot features 'suit man' passing the package over to 'Big Boss', and while there is only about half of 'big boss' in frame, the high angle of the shot indicates that this package has tipped the scales of power against him. After a pan and an exchange of information, all subsequent shots of 'Big Boss' holding the package are shot from even lower angles than before, the viewer may just think this indicates that 'Big Boss' is powerful, but it actually suggests that this package has the power in this situation.
 Shots of 'suit man' in this scene remain at high angles looking down, until he gets up to leave at which point the shot starts looking up at him; this indicates that 'suit man' is still not in control until he leaves the room. This is because (as we find out later) the package is a bomb, and if 'suit man' does not leave the room, he will also be blown up.

Continuity

We had to keep continuity in mind when filming this piece, this meant taking various elements into consideration.

180 Degree Rule

This rule usually applies when there is two cameras, but in this instance we only had one to work with. This meant that we had to apply the rule to our lighting sources.

 We had two light-boxes to work with, we ended up putting one on each side of the subjects in order to light up both sides of their face. However, the arrangement of the set meant that we kept having the adjust the positions of the lights whenever we wanted to film the other person. In order to keep continuity in this sequence, we had to make sure that these boxes were not within the field of view of the cameras.

Establishing Shots

Our answer to establishing shots were the shots of 'suit man' walking down the corridor. These were not typical establishing shots, but we felt that showing this gangster drama being set in a sixth form college would be inappropriate for the genre, and thus ruin the continuity of the piece.

Match Cuts on Action

 There were a couple of these throughout the piece, these were: When 'suit man' enters the room at '0:32', when 'Big Boss' places his firearm on the table at '1:04', when 'suit man' pulls out the package and places it on the table at '1:18', when 'Big Boss' inspects the package at '1:33', and then places the phone on the table at '1:40' and when 'suit man' switches out the packages at '1:57'.

Eye-line Match Cuts

There is only one shot I feel like I could justify as an eye-line match cut, and that is when 'Big Boss' places his firearm on the table at '1:04' and the we cut to see 'suit man' looking at that firearm.

POV Shots

There are a couple of POV shots in this piece; when 'Big Boss' picks up the first package and then looks at 'suit man', and (this one may not technically be a POV shot but I'm counting it anyway) when 'suit man' pulls out the package at '1:18'.

Shot-Reverse Shot

This technique is featured once in this short, and that is when 'Big Boss' and 'Suit Man' exchange looks at '0:45'-'1:00'.

 Other points include camera movement - camera pans up at '1:20' and '1:28', when the camera follows the phone along the table at '1:42', and when the camera begins to follow 'suit man' down the corridor at '2:26' - and the cut to black at '2:36' when the explosion happens and the credits begin to roll.