“The plots of Kubrick’s adaptations are often constituted by tableaux vivants. The features of classical Hollywood narrative are implicitly sacrificed in the name of the autuer’s style: the scenes are linked through stylistic choices that create an aesthetically superb diegetic world” Elisa Pezzotta, Stanley Kubrick: Adapting the Sublime, 2013
STUDIO PROMPT
How might focusing on visualizing your story, not merely as a textual narrative, but as a blueprint for a visual medium, provide tangible filmmaking tips and techniques?
DESCRIPTION
Understanding the visual narrative approach of auteurs like Stanley Kubrick or Wes Anderson, offers more than just an appreciation of their distinctive style—it also provides tangible tips and techniques that aspiring film makers can incorporate into their own films such as the importance of visualizing your story, writing a screenplay, and seeing your script not merely as a textual narrative, but as a blueprint for a visual medium. Consider how the scenes will look, how the characters will appear, and how the settings can enhance the storyline. Much like Anderson’s meticulously detailed descriptions and aesthetic, eye-pleasing shots in “The Grand Budapest Hotel” (2014) and “The French Dispatch” (2021), using vivid and precise visual language can help create a clear vision of the final product.
This studio embraces the ‘show, don’t tell’ principle; a tip gleaned from Anderson’s work. It’s easy to rely on dialogue and exposition to convey information, but utilizing visuals can often be more effective and engaging and encourages that we look for opportunities to visually communicate character traits, plot points, and emotions. Visual storytelling often makes the narrative more dynamic and immersive.
Enabled by exploration of traditional cinema and a range of cloud software and apps, this studio shows students how to develop visually compelling micro-short filmmaking, the techniques used to produce cinematic short video content and the industry opportunities for filmmaking and film production. Micro-short Films are most commonly live action narratives using fiction storytelling, just condensed. However, the format is also suitable for documentary, animation, music videos, experimental films, and more. The only real requirement is that they tell a full story arc or deliver a concept within a tiny timeframe.
In this studio, students created film, video and audio work that included an exploration of media applications and approaches such as colour theory, one-point perspective, film symmetry, tableaux vivants and the golden curve.
We acknowledge the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. We respectfully acknowledge their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. We also acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.