This is a delayed post on my first collaborative class with the Creative writing students, which actually happened last Thursday. But you can’t blame me, I spent a good part of the weekend feeling like I was dying with an illness.
Despite the initial territorial-like awkwardness between the Media and the Creatives (or was it just me?), especially with the large group number that we had, it turned out to be somewhat effective in the long run. After reading three of the four scripts we had written, they chose to work with mine as “it was the easiest to do” according to one American-sounding Creative. Surely, the task being a long take, we utilised a single back-track shot which ended with a slightly panning medium shot of Antonius, the protagonist, sitting at his favourite diner spot with June the hostess, slightly off centre on screen. By doing so, the antagonist, his mysterious stalker, can be shot within the same frame. Simple cinematography at its best.
In terms of the group dynamics, two other Creatives and I were actors in this scene, with Jen Farrow taking charge on direction, another Creative on camera and the rest having to sit out this exercise (like I said, group numbers were massive).
I suppose if there was one thing to take away from this exercise, it’s that when writing for screen, one must surely take into consideration the logistics and practicality of what is being written, on eventual production. In this case, I hadn’t included much dialogue and opted for long silences with continued muted action. But filming a scene in a location that isn’t staged nor having proper actors with physical stimuli to deal with, there was a lot of silence that had to be cut. Only because, well, there was nothing happening. Glances and slight looks aren’t useful in class exercises like this. In lieu of future class exercises, one should opt for shorter scripts so that we can play more with the technicalities of production and experiment with cinematography.