Korsakow
What I learnt from Lenny…
Initially I thought the Lenny was a bit of a drag, just another bit of assessment. However, after the exercise, I see how vitally important it was.
My role was pre and post production as I unfortunately couldn’t make the shooting day. However I found the most valuable part of the exercise was watching the shots afterward, from an outside perspective and realise all the things that needed to be considered.
It was also incredibly helpful watching other groups Lenny work partly out of interest, as to how exactly they shot it, but seeing their errors too. It made me aware of a lot of other things I wouldn’t have been aware of whilst shooting and now will take great care with on our shoot. These include; white balance, lighting, consistency in camera work and external interferences.
Blow Up (1966)
This film uses both movement of the camera and movement of the subjects simultaneously and therefore must be quite planned and precise about the exact movements in the film.
For example, tracking shots follow the woman in the film however so she would have been advised exactly where to move, stop and then move again.
As there is a lot of dialogue between the two characters the scene would have been shot multiple times from both angles to ensure continuity in camera work.
For example crossing the 180 degree line would be off-putting and confusing for the audience.
Developing a crew
I found the week 6 reading very interesting as it notes the importance of personality and human characteristics in making a film.
In last years cinema studies class we looked at ‘the auteur theory’ which I had problems with due to its all encompassing nature claiming that the film was a product of one person. This reading accounts for all roles in creating a short film and each vitally important in it’s creation.
On a personal level I enjoyed reading about the production roles as I think I do well in a communicative, organisational role and I like them because of the tangible, productive outcomes.
As a student studying a Communications degree I think its important to recognise strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes and manage them accordingly. Although perhaps many people like the sound of being a director or producers, perhaps their strengths lie in different area’s.
In saying that I think its always important to note weaknesses as areas of improvement. I was once advised to find the worst parts of myself and only work on those areas. Just food for thought.
Lighting Lecture
First of all, I realised at the lecture that I do not know which way the sun rises and which way it sets let alone which direction our location faces.
I suppose lighting is a bit like sound, unless you are made conscious of it, it may go by relatively unnoticed in simply watching a film.
Making a film though, is very different.
For example, I never thought shooting a film, in the middle of the day in a suburban household would require much focus on lighting, however after the lecture I realise this is not the case. There is a large window behind my bed. I never considered this as a bad thing, just a window. But I now understand that the window could ruin the film as, depending on the time of day, our character could be a silhouette.