In class this week, we attempted a block-through of a scene. In it, a student comes into class, makes conversation with others and sits down. For me, I gained a deeper insight into focus pulling. I have used a wireless focus puller before where I could manage the focus behind a monitor away from the camera itself. In this class, we used camera tape on the focus ring of the lens and used focus markers to keep track of my focus on the subject. Focus marking can be done with stand-ins, an assistant to place a marker in a spot that can’t be seen on camera where the subject should be, and then marking the focus on the tape with a pen. This allows the focus puller to know where the focus should be without seeing the viewfinder. 

The chapter by Bunuel discusses the idea of segmentation and its close ties to cinema. He writes that a well-shot film with good camera angles can seem uncinematic because it lacked a good segmentation or decoupage. Whereas a film with ordinary photographic techniques can be a good film with great decoupage. My understanding of decoupage is the process carried out before anything is shot. It takes place during scriptwriting and especially storyboarding. Bunuel echoes this idea, saying that the “very act of setting one’s camera before an object to be filmed presupposes the existence of a decoupage” (2000, p.134). In class, we spoke about the role of the director. In this case, the director who is also in charge of turning the script into storyboard is also in charge of the decoupage of the film. This task differs with the role of the editor whose role is to coordinate shots with each other, however, the arrangement, sequencing of the film was “first projected inside the brain of the filmmaker” (2000, p.135).