During this short clip of a Shameless episode, many different camera types were used, all for different purposes. To the naked eye, you wouldn’t think too much about it, but when you analyse this area in depth, you begin to understand about the shots which the directors have chosen to use, and what effect it actually has on the viewer when they watch it.
At the beginning, a use of a Deep focus shot is used, to set the main attention to the man at the front/ in the foreground, and as the other man walks off, it then shows him to be on his own, as if he is somewhat distant from the man and woman, as they walk off around the corner, then a use of a medium close-up and a two shot were used to show how they were being secretive to ‘Marty’ and also having an intense conversation between each other.
A high angle shot is then used to show how it was almost spying on ‘Marty’, as he was alone in his room, when it was all dark, almost looking down on him, showing how he is inferior, and isolated from everyone else. It jumps to a medium close up, to express his anger.
Tracking and pan shots have been used for a long time in this clip, mainly to follow the movements of both the car, and Marty. Following the car to show that those inside it are of some significance to the events to come, and ‘panning’ was used on Marty to follow him as he is walking towards the car, the same effect which was used on the car shot, so you then know he is going the same way, following the car.
A low level shot is used from underneath the car, showing only Marty’s feet and petrol can, which signifies that he is of some threat to those which are inside the car, and that something is about to happen. As Marty begins to throw the petrol onto the car, the camera becomes unsteady/ jumpy, to signify how there is a sense of panic as each splash also shows Marty’s unstable state of mind as he acts before thinking and splashes the petrol onto the car, about to light it and kill those inside.
As Marty brings out his lighter, ready to drop it onto the petrol, there are switches between over the shoulder, and two shots, to show everyone’s reactions as he is about to set light to a car, and how the fire of the lighter was constantly set into the foreground, it shows the importance of it, as it will set the scene to the rest of the clip.
A master shot has been introduced, to show where everyone is in the scene, and to show those coming in also, with the car in the foreground, which signifies that something is therefore about to happen to it. A close to extreme close-up was then used onto the lighter, showing its’ importance and how it sets an important part to the scene, with its’ central placing, showing how significant it is.
So therefore, Shameless has used several shots in this clip, which have caused to become very effective in the sense of creating drama, and making the viewer attached to watching the rest of the episode. The most effective in my opinion are the deep focus shots, and two shots. Reason for this is that they are used often, and they create a lot of drama also, and show the conversations between the characters.

2 comments:
Great work on your blog so far Karl! Did you design the banner / title yourself?
Your Shameless work is very good - feedback is on your paper copy.
Just scanned over your 'Heroes' work briefly - looks okay too, but you may want to be more specific about the effects and the content on the clip.
Yeah i did the banner myself, didn't take too long, but this is how i did it;
- Placed in a black layer to count as the background
- put in some c4d pictures, changed the layer styles for them and moved them around
- used filter/distort/ripple a few times on each on a setting (makes it look a little wavy, and a lot more cool than what it was before)
- Rendered out a picture of those faces which are used in drama and plays (the sad and happy face)
- Adjusted the layer style, and colors so that it looked better
- Hue/saturate the layers so that it was blue, rather than red/orange/green which it was at default
- Downloaded a text from a website, then put it onto my computer, and used it, then added some emboss to make it look shiny and 3D
- Did add a border but it looked worse so i took it off.
- Also decided to add in another banner image which was in the original of the template i put in, but turned down its opacity and put a different layer style on it.
It's a lot easier than i made it sounds, but it took a few steps to do, they are simple once you know your basics around photoshop.
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