Reflect upon your experience in class. Did anything come as a revelation to you? Did you learn something new technically; about the camera, or film craft in general?
Within this week’s classes, the content that was of the most interest to me was the exercise at the beginning of Wednesday’s tutorial. We were given a short script and through only the information on the script, create a shot list (coverage) and choose a sequence of shooting. It was especially interesting to me despite it seeming like merely a simple exercise because it gave me a big picture of how a film is formed. Previously, I had never given much thought to how much work is involved in turning a script into a film. It was perhaps naive to be shocked at realising how many different departments’ efforts are involved, but a lightbulb moment to realise the different considerations and decisions made by all the roles within the film crew to turn just words on a page into an impressive product on a screen.
It was interesting to think through the processes that are required to extract information from the script. First, a shot list needs to be created of all the possible camera angles and shots, and then refined to eliminate unnecessary ones to maximise production efficiency. During the discussion of the shooting order, the part I hadn’t considered before was the choices that need to be made to maximise economic efficiency. Hence, a commercial production would shoot in order of importance according to the production office for logistical reasons and not always according to creative importance. For example, you would always start with a wide shot, even if a particular close up shot of an object is the most important in the director’s creative vision. This needs to be the case so that you are guaranteed coverage of the scene in case something unexpected happens or there is a lack of time, as well as other benefits such as that starting with a big picture and working inwards is easier for continuity.
It was beneficial to apply the processes of creating a scene to a real life Hollywood situation where the financial considerations need to be addressed.
