This week in class we watched the single shots we had each filmed last week when we were allowed the position of director and had the assistance of the crew members. I noticed many patterns which were interesting. Firstly, many people made use of the lingering frame. I am not sure whether it is solely impelled by a creative drive or perhaps we are afraid to take risks with hand held camera or tracking/pans/tilts in the single shot because we rely so heavily on montage??
One individual chose to shoot a very tight frame with a girl’s face centered within it. A hand obtrusively enters the frame, to which the camera responds by zooming out to reveal a boy offering to dance. I really like how well thought out this shot is so as to achieve maximum potential in terms of that obtrusiveness. If the frame were bigger then the impact of putting the hand in the frame would not be nearly as disruptive.
I also really appreciated the use of a crash zoom as a girl walks away from camera. The frame switches from a long shot to an extreme close up which in fact has a very satisfying effect.
Interestingly, the shootings were much more efficient. Robin encouraged us to explore why this is so. To reflect on my own experience, it was easier to have the director’s one objective which he informed us of, and guided each of us to help achieve. There were not 10 people on set making suggestions which is often the reason we take so long shooting our scenes.
This session we were divided into groups of 9 and given a scene to plan so as to shoot on Friday. We proceeded to divide roles amongst us. There were 5 key roles ‘director, director of photography, actors, sound and camera’ and other roles included ‘holding the boom mic, first ad’ and so on. I took on the role of Director of photography and from just this one session i have already noticed how collaborative my work is with the director who is essentially looking at the whole project holistically. We planned shots however when we went to the physical staircase space, we realized some shots were unable to be executed so we had to adapt.
Epiphany of the week: I’ve actually had two epiphanies this week so I will name them:
1. No matter how much shot planning takes place, once the physical set is entered things will change to adapt to the constraints of the set.
2. When we are offered a single shot to do we are much more creative with not only the camera movement and framing but specifically with the movement inside the frame. When we only have a single shot, we begin to explore new ways to manipulate the information within the frame to have a more dynamic effect.
#Below is a shot breakdown I created for filming on Friday based on our shot planning last Wednesday
| shot |
Framing | Angle | Description |
| 1 | Medium shot – lucy and Martha on each side of the frame with Charlie centered behind them | Filmed from an eye level angle | Lucy and Martha are walking Martha seems distracted |
| 2 | Medium shot – same size as above but from Charlie’s POV with each girl on the side of the frame. | Eye level | Lucy looks back at Charlie |
| 3 | Medium shot of Charlie’s upper half. | Filmed from a high angle (approx. 45 degrees). | Charlie walks behind lucy and martha |
| 4 | Long shot | Birds eye view | Charlie lucy and Martha walking into the building |
| 5 | Over the shoulder shot – long shot | Eye level | Charlie looks at lucy
|
| END OUTSIDE SCENE | END
OUTSIDE SCENE |
END
OUTSIDE SCENE |
END
OUTSIDE SCENE |
| 6 | Close up of feet moving up stairs | High angle | The 3 people walking upstairs |
| 7 | mid shot of Martha and lucy speaking with Charlie centered behind them. | Slight high angle (Filmed from a higher step on the stairs looking down) | Lucy is further distracted |
| 8 | Pov shot from Charlies –MCU SHOT. | Low angle shot | Charlie walks and then stops as the girls stop. Lucy says to Martha “ give me a second” and Martha heads up stairs |
| 9 | Pov shot- mid shot- from Lucy’s perspective. | High angle shot | Lucy looks at Charlie and asks “ you’re following me” |
| 10 | Mid /long shot from Charlie’s perspective looking up at lucy | Low angle shot | Lucy “ are u drunk”
Charlie “ I’m never drunk”. |
| 11 | Two shot. Long shot of lucy and Charlie on each end of the frame. | High angle | Lucy and Charlie look at each other |
| 12 | Return to shot 10 | Low angle shot | Charlie watches lucy run upstairs |
| 13 | Long shot of charlie | High angle | Charlie is alone on the stairs. |
| END SCENE | END SCENE | END SCENE | END SCENE |