At the beginning of this semester I wrote a blog about what I expected to learn and get out of my semester taking part in the course The Scene in Cinema. This is what I wrote:

 

Using the skills I learnt in TV1&2 (keeping them fresh and up to date as well as building on them) we explore and focus on making that one powerful scene in a film, either the ‘wow’ moment in the film or just a scene sharing a bit of information that is not very exciting; this course will show us how to see and create a scene on it’s own merits and to see them as almost individual films; as well as the building blocks that create the film on a whole. By doing this we will be able to explore more innovative, creative and special ways to capture individual scenes and films.

 

This is a very basic concept of the way the semester has really gone this year. This concept was covered through a range of class activities and exercises; they provided me with the basis of the concept I thought the course would be all about, and in fact a whole heap more, in a matter of weeks.

 

The course ended up being so much more than that. Not only was I able to gain an understanding and newfound appreciation of individual scenes in film, build on my technical skills and explore the ways in which scenes have been created in innovative and fascinating ways, I was also able to gain a strong understanding of myself as a director / creator of film or scenes.

 

This understanding is so much more than I would have expected to get out of this course. To be able to acknowledge and accept my weaknesses, as well as learn to embrace my strengths, the practice of filmmaking will be so much easier in the future.

 

When we were first informed about the fact that we would be doing our own individual research about a specific topic, I was worried as well as a little bit confused. Everything I had done to do with the filmmaking practice at RMIT so far had been in groups working towards a final product. I thought that not only was I not going to be able to think of an interesting enough idea to explore to keep me involved for the semester, but also that I was not actually going to be able to produce anything good at the end of the semester. I know see that this was a stupid way of thinking and that the idea of exploring a concept of film thorough research and practice can in fact work for everybody if they are interested enough in the craft and improving their knowledge of how it works.

 

The concept I choice to explore what Points of View in film TV, how they are captured, used and portrayed in order to create different tones, evoke certain emotions and show storylines in motivating ways.

 

This began as an idea I had because we had to have an idea of class, and in watching a TV series the night before I thought that a POV shot was really interesting and that got me thinking more about POV shots and how they are executed. At first I thought that this was just idea I would have so that when we were asked about it the next day in class I would be able to say something, rather than giving my answer that I had been using for the last few weeks ‘I’m not really sure yet.’

 

Once I started to look into the concept of POV, how it is used, and how it is not used, I began to get more and more fascinated by it. I soon realized that I had come up with a really remarkable concept to explore and work with. The main thing I found interesting was the ways in which POV are generally not used in film and television. The major way being changing POV from one character to another in one shot.

 

I noticed that very rarely do you see a single shot in which two or more points of view are presented. I began to question why this is; is it because it looks bad and doesn’t work as a concept. Is it because it breaks too many ‘rules’ of filmmaking, such as crossing the line? Is it because it would make the shot too confusing and film, especially Hollywood film, must be made to appeal to a wide audience so therefore must always be made with the known tried and tested norms of filmmaking?

 

I think to some extent all of these options can hold true. As stated in my post after my shooting, my technical skills got in the way of me producing something really good as a ‘final product’ however just because it is the end of the Scene, doesn’t mean that this shoot has to be my final product. Yes my shots aren’t technically great, however I think the concept of the changing POV that I wanted to execute is possible and that changing POVs within a shot as well as using different approaches to point of view, entering in or out of a POV shot can all be used to great effect when shooting a scene.

 

Overall this semester has given me greater understanding on how best to approach the practice of filmmaking, as well as provided me with skills and confidence to be able to find an idea or concept not already widely utilized in film production and trust myself to be able to take the steps to make it my own and put into my own filmmaking practices. Through exercises and activities in class, to conducting my own personal research on the side, I have been able to get some much more than I imagined I would have out of this course and will continue to include the concept of new and innovative ways of presenting POVs in my work in the future.