The long weekend came and went quickly. I feel as though I have barely blinked and it is the second week. We completed another experimental project in class. This task helped me to identify the process of shooting a scene/sequence. Working in a group was great to be able to feed off everyone’s ideas. As no one in particular had ‘ownership’ over the project there were no identifiable roles, therefore everyone was hesitant to express their opinion too much. This week dived further into the technical side of coverage, which is an area that I thoroughly enjoy. We studied a sequence of shots and HOW we would go about filming them. This feels more relevant to where I want to be in the future (Director).

Upon approaching the scene deconstruction task I instantly began to file through movies that I had a deep understanding of. This seemed like the ‘easy’ option. I didn’t realize I was doing it until I couldn’t come up with a film that I was really passionate about analyzing.

Over the long weekend I watched a film called ‘The Judge’. Although, I was distracted for most part of the film, when I turned my attention to it, it seemed very well made. There were a few scenes that were shot interestingly, changing focus, characters walking in different directions. It was quite poetic. A turning point in the film exploded with this incredible scene; a verbal confrontation between the Judge and his son. EPIPHANY!

This one particular scene reinforced my connection with film as a Director, Writer, Director of Photography.

This was the scene that I analyzed for my deconstruction. I had to watch it at least 10 times so that I could focus on the way that it was shot and not the conflict between these two characters. I was so immersed in it that I was forced to press stop at every shot change in order to be able to analyze it from a technical perspective. This scene was covered in a way that allowed the actors the space to perform. The camera followed them and conformed to their movements. It was a very organic performance. I want to create film that evokes this type of response.

Week one is finally over! There is always a build up of anticipation when returning to University; who am I going to meet? What am I going to learn over the next 12 weeks? The only expectations that I had for ‘The Scene in Cinema’ were that we would be analyzing scenes within cinema. It was beneficial familiarizing myself with cameras and equipment again. This is a part of my brain, which has been switched off over the summer period.

I chose this course, as I am always eager to extend my knowledge in all areas of cinema. I like to open up to new ways of thinking and to new perspectives. After our lecture, I am confident that I am going to gain a lot more knowledge involving camera coverage within scenes. I was a little concerned at the beginning of Friday’s session, as it has always been embedded into me that story, plot and pre production is key to a successful sequence. I couldn’t comprehend that we would be dismissing those elements in order to experiment with new ways of covering scenes. I had an epiphany!

‘Instead of being stuck with my learned behaviour, I am going to challenge myself to focus on advanced technical ways of capturing footage.’

This area of filmmaking has always been done FOR me. Someone else is always the ‘guru’ and as a group we turn to them for guidance. I am challenging myself this semester to learn more in depth knowledge on capturing aesthetically beautiful shots. Not only learn – I am going to capture a moving sequence that is aesthetically beautiful and appeals as a professional standard.

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