The first three studio classes we have had for ‘Film 3’ have been filled with practical learning with equipment. Today’s class we were put into groups of 3 or 4 and were given the task of capturing 50-second shots with directed action. Working in groups is not usually something I am totally comfortable with, but being thrown in groups and sent out with some equipment and a task isn’t that bad.

We all brainstormed some ideas of some directed actions we could film. Our first idea was to go to a vending machine and kind of go from there. It was considerably easier to direct the action of someone in our group than someone on the street, so when it came to it, a few of the shots were not directed action, which strays away from the task at hand, but felt more comfortable in the moment. Setting the camera in a spot and waiting for people to do something seemed like a good idea, until we are faced with a filming a game of giant chess, which is not as action packed as one would think.

When it came to my turn of capturing directed action, I found a location that I really liked aesthetically, and just directed some of my group members to move around and make the shot not look like it could just be a photograph in a frame. It is quite easy just to tell someone “walk up that staircase”, because I am directing them, and I know what I want to add to a shot, but it is quite difficult to find action happening and shooting it. I used to watch a film and see shots of people on the street doing interesting things like skipping or dancing, and I sometimes would wonder if the director just saw them doing this and was like “hey this would be a GREAT shot”, but now that I am actually going out and filming, I am finding this a lot less likely.