Still focused on Paul’s suggestion from last week, I attended class with an open mind and without a plan. In our Tuesday session a few example clips were screened and for some reason a scene from The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada came to mind and immediately I felt inspired to recreate it.
To aid as a springboard Paul supplied scripts and so with the collaboration from a stellar group (including two first year students) we set off to shoot in the Building 80 basketball court. Our group also improvised the concept of no spoken dialogue; instead subtitles would deliver the dialogue and in addition another experiment to explore during post production.
Side Note:
The Two Burials scene includes two men seated in conversation, covered by mid shots. Their background settings and eye lines match, however only at the end of their conversation/scene a final wide(r) shot reveals the men are seated metres apart and divided by a doorway.
Screen stills from ‘The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada’ (2005)
The sun was shining, the courts were packed and a peculiar “gym” group session provided entertainment; picture a self-conscious bunch that just discovered the fitspo hashtag.
The first year students generously volunteered to provide on screen talent and we captured the scene traditionally with a MS reverse MS and a revealing wide. Last minute we grabbed OTS reverses in a final attempt to convince the viewer the subjects were sitting closer.
Have yet to edit the footage so will post results soon, but after a quick review and assembly edit I think we got it! A few lessons and/or reminders:
- Continuity is distracting, no matter what level of production quality.
- ND filter for greater control of aperture worked on the Sony.
- Matching eye lines when people aren’t actually seated together is tricky.
- Subtle technique in The Two Burials case, as its purpose is symbolic and not a huge plot reveal. In our production it is clearly a big reveal. How could this technique intentionally development plot, character and setting?