Pre-Production - Shooting Techniques

Close ups are going to be big part of the film. The uneasiness of a close up will really hit home the grittiness of the film and the isolation of the characters on the scene. Again if we refer back to Harry brown this plays a massive factor in the atmosphere of the piece. In this shot, you can see a conversation, but the conversation is shot closer, to give the uneasiness factor, isolating the frame instead of using background or mise-en scene, it uses the characters emotions in the scene as a focal point, which is what I hope to achieve in my film. . This is how I want the powerful scenes to be stylised and shot like. Harry Brown has a great use and style that I would like to use in my film.


I pride myseon using handheld is my forté in shooting, and ROADMAN is no doubt not an exception. However, that is just for close ups and mid close ups. When a handheld camera is shooting wide, it can give the illusion of somebody watching, stalking or eavesdropping, because the movement mimics a human slightly moving and breathing. Also in terms of manoeuvring the camera and getting into positions quicker cannot be achieved with a standard tripod. I know its music, but if we relate this to music, you can see how shallow depth of field and handheld really give it an urban, gritty feel. it also drops the background to give it more meaning. Shallow depth of field and racking focus will play a massive part in the imagery of my film. Isolation and grit plays a massive part in the films storytelling, so using this is a great way of choosing the focal point of the frame.



When shooting, conversations must make sense. Following the 180 degree rule and making sure conversation is continuous. As we are using a single camera set up, its important we follow this to make the edit process so much easier.

 If I use mainly close ups with narrow depth of field, I can use a method described by Danny Draven as the ‘Floating Camera’ Method (Draven.2013:128) . The camera is on a dolly or handheld, but is floating between a conversation. Using the same methodology in the diagram I can float between the actors that are talking on screen, this will intensify the scene because of the lack of cuts, plus brings the focus of the audience to which ever character we need to focus on.


Even though not the same, goodfellas does a good job in the floating camera. It limits it to a single shot, no jump cuts. nothing. really brings the scene to life.