While I am still interested in researching my proposal, I am more excited about the prospect of experimenting with different ways to film the interrogation scene. I would really like to test out different shot constructions, framing, focus pulling and lighting to enhance the scene I have written. While I do have many of my own ideas on how to achieve the visuals I have in mind, I thought it would be a good idea to investigate similar scenes to see what other choices other directors have made. I decided to watch the scenes without listening to the audio so that I could focus my attention on the visuals completely. While audio is very important to any scene, and I do want to have a dynamic soundtrack that reflects the mood of this scene, I just wanted to initially focus only on the visual to begin with.

After watching quite a few different interrogation scenes, I noticed some similarities. This type of scene tends to be shot in a wide shot, then medium close-ups in a shot-reverse style. There are many famous examples by extraordinary directors who have their own distinct styles, however quite often the shot-reverse shot was used. One example in particular was ‘True Romance’ by Quentin Tarantino in which Christopher Walken’s character is trying to get information from Steve Gonzales’ character (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3yon2GyoiM). While I haven’t seen the entire film, this scene to me could have been filmed in a much more interesting and creative way. The performances are fantastic, however the choice of shots and editing has let them down.

The more interesting camera coverage choices that I found in interrogation scenes used a moving camera to create a sense of emotional instability. They also made framing choices which guided the audience’s eye to shift focus between different people/items/movements within the same frame, making clever use of background, middle ground and foreground space. The lighting used in these scenes tended to be quite hard, creating shadows and definition on the characters’ faces, while also furthering character development. In the more creative examples, the director’s choices meant that characters moved in and out of light, creating a dynamic illumination within the scene. One of the main challenges I am facing is trying to create an almost pitch black room with one direct light source but still allowing the camera to “see” the characters move in the dark space. I have found a couple of examples of this, as well as having only a character’s face illuminated and the rest of his body in darkness, almost as if his head is floating within the space.

I will discuss these points in more detail in future found scenes to hopefully inspire my own scene.