Continuing on from last week’s documentation exercises, this week we were instructed to film people doing mundane or everyday-life things like walking, sitting, playing a game. For my shot, there was actually direction involved. I asked a group member to to go up to a vending machine and act frustrated when his drink doesn’t come out. While reviewing the shot, we agreed that it was a tad ‘overacted’. Upon reflection, I don’t know what I was trying to do with the shot, or at least I don’t remember.
Since Film 3 is meant to be a blend of documentary and drama, I will make some comments with this in mind. If there are people in the real world who become frustrated when their drink doesn’t come out of a vending machine and I try to recreate that, however awkward or clumsy it is, does that invalidate my shot as a documentary? Does the directing and acting involved make it a drama? In this case, my shot is probably nothing; not a documentary, not a drama – probably not even a scene. I guess the point of the exercise was not for our shot to actually be ‘something’, but rather for us to get used to using the cameras – adjusting the settings and whatnot – and to encourage us to be aware of when people are ‘performing’, whether they are aware of the camera or oblivious to it, when they dismiss it, as well as the differences between these.
On Friday, we were told to film people do something they look ‘cool’ doing. Within my group, we didn’t really have anything to showcase, so again I chose to direct. The scene consisted of 3 simple shots. The actor walks down the stairs, opens the door, finds its too hot so she takes off her jacket, and continues to walk down the hallway – kind of like a catwalk. Without music or any ‘special’ editing, I suppose it looks really normal – but if I added some background music and maybe slow-mo she would probably look cooler. That’d probably defeat the purpose of specifying the action should be something we are skilled in or look cool doing, but since my group didn’t have any special skills to showcase, I turn to post-production to add coolness.