Throughout the second half of this semester, I decided that I wanted to get some experience focusing on the specific framing of shots whilst trying to cover a scene. I was inspired my many films, for instance ‘Mad Max: Fury Road,’ which have been specifically framed in a way to have action and visual emphasis situated in the center of the frame on screen. In Mad Max’s case, all the action was specifically framed in the center. And with this type of visual style in mind, I wanted to do the opposite of it. I wanted to create an emphasis on the other sides of the frame; I wanted to create an asymmetrical balance whilst covering my scene and to not have everything be conventionally covered in the center of the frame. This created a few challenges. I wasn’t exactly sure how I would make this type of coverage obvious. When I pitched this idea to the class, I received a lot of very helpful feedback as to how I could successfully explore this. One idea in particular became dominant which was: How can you make this asymmetrical framing appear dominant to somebody? The idea came up in this class consult that the frame should remain symmetrical, only to then become asymmetrical by one way or another.

So, for my first exercise, I decided I wanted something simple. I didn’t exactly storyboard it, I just had the idea that I wanted two people throwing a ball to one another. I thought it would be simple enough for me to execute, I had to have 3 camera setups, a wide long shot to cover the two people throwing the ball, and two over the shoulder shots of either person. The catch (pun intended) was, that after a few throws, one of the actors on the day, Sam Glover, was to run out of frame. This left Luke, my other frequent collaborator, visually, the only person in frame. I made sure that this happened in all three-camera setups, as this successfully created an asymmetrical framed scene. What I found worked very nicely, was that despite the relative simplicity of the scene of just two people throwing a ball to each other, the ball acted as a tool to guide the attention of the viewers out of frame. As well as having a fairly nice flow as a scene, it also created a heavy focus on the fact that it was asymmetrical, as one feels as if you have to see both people while throwing the ball, otherwise something doesn’t feel quite right. This is the effect that I wanted to create.

For my second exercise, I wanted to really step it up a notch. At first, I wasn’t exactly sure as to what I would be doing, however I knew that I wanted to create a scene which was better on a technical level. Throughout the first part of semester, it was quite valuable as we were always being practical and proactive, by making experiments and using both the camera, and sound equipment. However, I was still finding my feet when it came to operating the camera, and for this next exercise I really wanted to get the technical basics as nailed as I possibly could. Still, I wasn’t exactly sure as to what I would be doing in my next experiment. After a talk to Robin however, he pushed me in the right direction for what I should be building on for the next experiment. I found the consultation with Robin to be especially helpful, he suggested that, similarly to the first exercise, I should focus on an object, or a McGuffin which would help drive the flow of the scene. I wanted something that would justify the asymmetry as well.

After getting home soon after, I came up the idea for a scene, and was quick to storyboard it. The scene would involve the cup as the object, and two people interacting with it. In this particular fictional story, somebody would slide the cup to the other person, the other person would drink whatever is in the cup, and then they get poisoned and die. I thought it might be fun adding that level of mystery and suspense to my exercise, as that gives me a little bit more of an incentive to have this asymmetrical framing work; it allows me to have something to achieve with a bit of substance. I ended up shooting with the same actors, and had the same kinds of setups, one for a wide two shot (which eventually becomes asymmetrically framed as Luke gets up and sits next to Sam) the classic mid shot of Sam, and a wide shot from the side to introduce the menacing Luke. This exercise’s final cut proved to show I still had some technical short comings, such as the continuity wasn’t as nice as I wanted, and the tripod wasn’t levelled so I shot the majority of the scene crookedly. But that is to be expected. I’d improve for the next one. I was quite happy with how the rest of the technical things turned out. I applied most of the basics, each shot was in nice focus, there was some level of continuity in each shot (mostly) and there seemed to be a good level of tension between the actors. I also applied a skill I learnt in class in the previous week, focus pulling, to show the cup being slid across the table, which again helps with my technical confidence. Overall, I consider this exercise a success.

Again, I wasn’t exactly sure what I would do for my third exercise, which turned out to be my final. I decided to rely upon the feedback I received from the last exercise to try and guide how I would continue experimenting with asymmetrical framing. Again, the process of consultation was really valuable, as Robin advised me to not just take what experience I got from the last exercise and do something else, but to redo the exercise completely to make it as perfect as I possibly can. What he pointed out was valid, the last exercise worked fine, but it would be more enjoyable to have the frame have the clutter taken from it, and to have more focus on Sam, Luke and the Cup. I made sure to implement this, along with making sure that, technically, there were as little errors and blunders as possible. In the first iteration of the the cup mystery, the coverage was lacking as I found that the continuity would be way off, so I had to resort to long takes. This time, I was more cautious to make sure that not only is the continuity going well, but also that there is more asymmetrically balanced coverage. Ultimately, I feel as if I achieved that with the final cut. Despite a few small continuity errors, the final cut has the tension and mystery that I was initially after when I devised the idea. Also, the cup as the McGuffin allowed again, for a nice movement on screen which helps the flow of the scene. I couldn’t make every shot asymmetrical unfortunately, however hopefully the emphasis upon it should become evident.

The entire experience was a very successful one. The idea of creating experiments, in which you put the constraints, is a really cool alternative to a plain, set task of a final assignment, as it really allows you to find your own feet in the creative process of devising an idea and making a scene. I hope that my idea of having the action be asymmetrically framed becomes evident. There were probably other things that, as allows, if time permitted I could have explored, for instance a long take which had the camera moving whilst maintaining asymmetry for instance. However, I’m very happy with the outcomes that came along. Not only did I learn a lot during the process of the first six weeks of class, I learnt just as much by having this idea and learning about the technical must-do’s and don’ts, and finding creative ways of making the scene’s coverage and flow as seamless and successful as possible. Overall, it was a very rewarding experience.