My piece discusses the coverage of the prison scene from The Count of Monte Cristo over different eras of filmmaking. I hoped that readers would discover cinematic techniques that were utilised in these films without needing a comprehensive understanding of the story. My writing had a strong focus on camera and lighting, aspects of cinematography that is most interesting to me. These aspects of filmmaking are key to the coverage of a scene. By providing insights of many directors of the same scene, the readers can see the development of filmmaking over time. With the introduction of new technologies, filmmaking becomes more and more complex. However, many of the fundamental principles still apply to modern films.
Given more time and access, there are a few ways to expand on this work. First of all, getting access to the script of the films would be invaluable in understanding the decoupage of the scene. The vast majority of the films I have discussed do not have a script that I could access or find. Furthermore, many of the foreign language films, mainly in French and Italian did not have English subtitles, thus, many of the nuances of the dialogue are lost on me. With enough resources, I would find translators to interpret the dialogue. This will allow me to complete a comparison of the characterisation of the characters. Finally, without the restrictions in place, I would have liked to try out some of the filmmaking techniques for myself. Starting from the silent era and layering on more and more modern techniques to demonstrate the development of filmmaking over the era. This is a more visual way to demonstrate my learning as well as being a great learning experience.
Cormack’s examination of the long take is fantastic in the way he presented it. What better way to discuss the use of long takes than to do one yourself. Cormack relates the use of long takes to directors like Hitchcock, Spielberg and Scorsese. By introducing the practical limitations of long takes (the length of film only lasting 11 minutes), he effectively introduces the techniques to cheat the cut between shots. His video makes me appreciate the delicate interplay between the camera and the performance of long takes; the video he shot surely had to be done with a few attempts.
Richard’s investigation into the speed and movement of the camera examines a particular aspect of coverage in great detail. He explains that Baby Driver, The Legend of 1900 and La La Land are all films which the camera’s speed and movement are used to immerse the audience. He does this by looking at a specific scene and the effects it achieves in the context of the film.
Demagogues, Doubters and Douchebags focus on the use of voice over in documentary film making. For their final assessment, they had to edit together a video where the same sequence of clips was used over 3 different voice overs that alters the meaning and style of the video. The assessment demonstrates just how important the voice over can have in a documentary film. For a lot of the works, there is often the best out of the three iterations that is the best suited for the footage. The sorts of footage also matter; footage without a subject, i.e. b-roll of a park or cars passing by is suitable for multiple uses, whilst footage with a distinct subject, like Martin did with him, will often relate closely back to him. Finally, the use of music and sound effects enhances the emotions that are generated by the voice over.