In the past, I have relied heavily on editing to dictate the drama of a scene. So with this exercise I am very interested in exploring the bare bones and often, forgotten elements of coverage. In one shot, I wish to create a scene that is just as engaging as one that has multiple cuts. To do this I will have to have a good relationship with my actor and a lot of patience.

What I want to explore with this assignment is how blocking intersects with pace and in turn, how this can have a dramatic effect. By focusing on one character and how they interact with the space around them I will try to create some interesting framing.

Movement of the camera to be motived by his movement in the same way that movement of an actor motivates cut in fluid editing. I’d like to view zeon from more angles to get a more humanist perspective.

I definitely wanted:

• A slow walk across the entire space to give establish distance (like in Barcelona)
• The camera to seem like a character in itself e.g when it moves to the microwave before it goes off and suddenly moves to the clock almost “wondering” what zeon was looking at.
• The framing to seem like it just “falls into place” while retaining an element of surprise
• Make a normal looking space seem dynamic

THE SHOOT 

Our approach to shooting this was quite like how one might rehearse for a stage play. We went through the scene a few times without shooting and I read out his actions to him as he did them. Since Zeon had a lot of actions and lines to remember, and all in one shot, the main challenge became remembering all of them. What helped was rehearsing one part of the scene for example the first half of the phone conversation over and over until we were happy, then trying to connect it to the next part.

Things to improve:

1. Clearer intentions, motivations: is he lying?
2. finessing the camera work
3. not an “effects” piece

one 

Since I had no pre written lines because Zeon seemed to be very good at talking sense without guidance, there were some minor differences in what he said with each take which heavily influenced the entire ‘plot.’ For the next shoot I will definitely decide on some clearer intentions. (edit: we have decided that Zeon forgot the DATE of the wedding that he is speaking at and the phone call reminded him)

two

Although we had done 14 takes there was still more perfecting of the timing that could be done. see google drive link.

three

More thought could be put into WHY he is doing things. When Zeon walks away from the microwave and sits on the couch in the back room it seems unnecessary and it is quite obvious that I have told him to do it simply for the LOOK.

PROGRESS

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1YBT26ceKGJnIWW3h9GfJsbD7uyDmqvps

part 1: the challenge was keeping Zeon in frame as he moved

part 2: framing Zeon on the couch in the background and slowly bring the phone into frame was tricky. Also timing the inclusion of the phone in frame with when it rang was difficult as I was calling his phone with one hand while operating the camera with the other.

part 3: Remembering to cue zeon about shutting the door. Between the previous dialogue heavy part and  having to walk into the room.

I was happy with:

• The left sliding camera movement with the door that brought us into another room that we didn’t know about. I liked view zeon through the glass door and having him open it to create a fresh look.
• moving from room to room without looking where I was stepping.
• the part where zeon looks back and the camera searches for what he is looking at almost judgementally or in panic that he will be late.