Epiphanies (week 6)

#1: Wednesday’s class was dedicated to the 3 minute proposal that each student must present in week 7. Paul and Robin (The two Tutors) shared with the class their take on the proposal and what they would include if it was about their own methodology of working. Paul covered filmmakers and their films, applying methodology, what he wants to achieve by the end of the semester, and the shoot he wants to create. Robin talked about filmmaking in general, focusing on coverage and decoupage; asked rhetorical questions; talked about his investigation and the observations he wishes to explore; and how he wishes to shoot his material through coverage. A point that he brought up was the word ellipsis. An ellipsis in narrative is when a portion of the story is left out, and is normally used to condense time. The director does this so that the audience has to fill in the missing story using their imagination, based on the cues the director has given. In film, it is used to suggest what has happened before and after the action being observed. An example of this: A character stands up from a chair, walks the length of the room and then opens a door. Instead, there is no need to show the character walking, so the shots will be the character getting up off the chair, then the next shot would be them opening the door. The audience doesn’t need to see the walking to know what has happened. While Robin was talking about this he showed a scene that demonstrated the ellipsis and the way these movements determine the editing.

#2: The Friday class was spent looking at another camera, which is much smaller compared to the one we have been shooting with all along. With this camera we shot another scene that Paul had given us, however this time there were more constraints. He gave us the instructions of coverage that we had to perform, explaining the types of shots, what they involved, and what was happening in them. With this exercise you could see someone else’s interpretation of the scene and how they wanted it to be executed. One of the main concepts that was taken from this class is the term spatial continuity. In groups, we were given the instructions that involved cheating the camera. We could move the actors around to suggest they are in the same room as one another, a room with the same walls. To achieve this look you would have single shots of the actors on the same wall, and cheat the camera by having an over the shoulder shot of the other actor.

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