When thinking of obstructions/constraints it would be interesting to see how different types of constraints would Influence coverage. So far from memory in class exercises we have had used mostly formal restraints, i. e. not moving the camera, single shot, not going back to the same shot etc.

I think it’s also important to note that these constrains have had hidden formal motivations i.e. not going back to the same shot aims for the camera to evolve through the space along side the action rather than return to it, using a single shot possibly prompts us to move the action within the frame to create compositions. I think it would be interesting to investigate how using different constraints effects coverage. Lets start by looking at the each of the obstruction in The Five obstructions.

The first obstruction as taken from wikipedia is  :

1. Leth must remake the film in Cuba, with no set, and with no shot lasting longer than 12 frames, and he must answer the questions posed in the original film; Leth successfully completes this task.

Looking at this again the one obstruction is really a set of three obstructions, one arbitrary, one formal and one thematic.

Perhaps a tough place to start as it is difficult to analyse the effect of one let alone a combination of three, I’ll return to this in Pt 3.