This week’s studio began with a discussion of how filming is usually undertaken, in what order the shots are done, and why. Wide shots are usually done first as a safety guard, then MCU and CUs of each actor, and inanimate objects last. This is especially important when paid actors are involved – the more efficient filming is, the less expensive it should be and this highlighted the importance of planning for me. Since I’m usually really lazy when it comes to planning (I just have an image in my head that’s kept there and not recorded), I realised I’ll definitely have to change my pre-production ways.

For our activity, the scene was ‘edited in film’ where during playback all the shots carry on from one another. The camera changed positions more times than usual, which is pretty much the opposite of what we discussed, but at least it was fun.

In today’s class we filmed a one-shot scene where we could only tilt or pan the camera. Groups received scenarios which matched with another groups, although they were written differently, and of course the end results differed. Afterwards, we were shown the original scenes that were taken from the film.

With these kinds of exercises, it’s always interesting to see how people interpret and develop scenes. There are so many possibilities and combinations of camera movement and movement within the frame, it can be overwhelming sometimes.

The difficulty of shooting a scene and ensuring it’s dynamic, creative, but doesn’t exaggerate itself was reaffirmed today.