Category Archives: Scene in the Cinema – Epiphanies

In this week’s exercise we had more time and actually got time to plan and discuss ideas before the day of the shoot. This was quite helpful. During the shoot I discovered that as a director, I was more focussed on curating and making sense of the performances and it wasn’t until production that I realised I had paid less attention to the framing captured and the sound quality than I should have. I realised I should have taken the time to check the shots and look through the camera more. Another thing I realised was that we had a lot of problems with the reflections of the crew being in the last shot. This would have been avoided if we all bobbed down below the frame.

At the end of the shoot we were told that we are doing individual edits of the scene, this was a surprise to many of us in our group, as we assumed it was going to be a group edit hence we only covered the scene to be edited in one particular way. So my biggest epiphany for this week is: no matter what, always cover each shot from alternative angles to allow options in post production.

On Friday, we didn’t have enough time to film everyone’s scene for our scene coverage exercise. We only managed to do four set ups. While enjoying the fresh approach of this new course, I feel like the lack of structure and routine within class times are preventing us from using our time efficiently for research and practical purposes.

It is now week 4 and we have not discussed the major assignments throughout the next few weeks. We need more information to begin planning whether we will choose to write an essay or research by practice.

And getting 40 minutes of practical exercise time out of a 3 hour class is not exactly efficient. Maybe we could have the 2 hour class time dedicated for reviews/lectures/theory/research tasks and the 3 hour classes mainly for practical group exercises. Or even setting group exercises outside of class times so that we actually have time to plan out something more sophisticated. I think if we just had a little more consistency and routine to the course, everyone will begin to find a good rhythm.

I mean it was very interesting and fascinating to see what we could achieve in 40 mins with 6 different scenes or shots, but we have been doing slightly different variations of the same exercise for 3 weeks now. And I feel like 5 mins each per exercise is just not enough time with the equipment or getting to know the roles properly. Those were excellent introductory exercises, but I am hoping for some more in depth explorations where we can actually investigate into the nature of the production roles and have enough opportunity to engage with them in practice as well as research, which seems to have not yet begun.

Epiphany:

The use of a black screen needs legitimate justifications. When we watch something, we tend to expect something visual to be happening every millisecond. As an audience, we are all very much conditioned by popular media to be constantly entertained, taken through an experience that we hardly do that work ourselves.

P.S. – I still do not know whether we are suppose to write 2 weekly reflections/epiphanies or 1 fortnightly one about both weeks…

Week 1

Wednesday 1: script, Tony’s office, group of 4

In the setups, we had a director, camera operator and two actors. The director decides on a camera position, gave directions to the camera operator and directed the actors. We each took turns to construct our own versions of the scene. Eventually building up a more complex coverage by combining the ideas we liked from each attempt. After trying out a few different layouts that we individually had in mind, we made our decisions based on the majority of the group.

The script provided very little context and visual details. On one hand, it allowed us to interpret the spatial dynamics of the scene freely (in fact, we all had very different ideas about the layout of the office). On the other hand, there was no real context for the characters and the scenario, no meaning or message to convey through the scene. Towards the end of the exercise, we all discussed how we should interpret the meaning behind the last few lines of the script, especially the line: “do you still want me?”

Week 2

Wednesday 2: script, girls at restaurant, group of 6

This script was more straightforward than the first one. Our individual interpretations were quite similar. That led to very swift decisions when it came to scene composition and coverage.

Friday: scenario, two strangers on train, group of 7

After having gotten scripts for the last two exercises, I was glad to be able to work on something different. Paul suggested that we each own a shot in the scene, which meant that we disregarded the consistency of actors to focus on the rotation of rolls. Although this affected the storytelling of our end product, it was a more efficient system during the exercise. Not only did we save time as we were only filming each shot once or twice, but we also saw diversity within the scene when it was put together.

Epiphany:

After working off a script for first two times, the scenario format was less restricting in comparison. There are less details such as dialogue, but it provided meaning and context to the characters and their situation. We feel more encouraged to interpret the story and really get creative with it. For instance, throwing in comical twists and create alternatives to the setting of the scene. I felt like there was more creative freedom, control and authorship in the production.

Though there is still a sense of vagueness in the script and room to play around, it tends to take away the authorship of the work, as if we are adapting someone else’s vision. Hence, not generating as much creativity. A lot of team members have to struggle to get into the picture that is painted by the script.

Initially, I was quite confused and could not understand how the investigation of scene construction can be studied with a theoretical approach. But since doing the group exercises, I discovered that there is no one way of film making or constructing a scene. We were reminded of the difference between the industrial model of filmmaking and the current post industrial methodologies that allow more organic approaches to be explored. And that these organic processes may not necessarily involve scripts or script writing, one of the areas I am least familiar with.

Paul mentioned that this studio is an attempt to bring cinema theory and practice together. This is something very similar to the practice I have been trained in previously in Fine Arts. Knowing this, I am now more excited and comfortable about the course. Also the idea of doing individual research and perhaps making individual work by the end of the course seems to be an interesting approach where we can all figure out our own styles and see what we are purely capable of.

My goals:

• to become technically comfortable with the variety of film making processes such as shooting with cinema camera, sound and post production
• to explore and develop my own approach and methodology to film making
• to apply  research of existing films to my own practical experiments.