Student Collaboration

A big part of this studio is collaboration. Most of us can’t do our investigations alone and need the help of a small crew in the form of our classmates. I am more than happy to help anyone with their investigations. By doing so I am not only helping them out but I am learning things I wouldn’t from my investigation.

Yesterday I helped Sam and Matt with a couple of short exercises. We didn’t have a lot of time as we all had met up with Robin but it was good that I could help them get some practical work done. Matt’s investigation required Sam and I to be sitting at opposite sides of a long desk as he wished to experiment with using the very edges of the frame, prompting the viewer to focus on both edges of the frame and not the centre. Although using the left or right third of the frame is quite common for framing characters, I think his investigation focuses on using the very edges of both sides at once with leaving a negative space in centre. I couldn’t help but think about my focal length investigation in relationship to this. For instance, if he was using a really short focal length with the characters on the edge of the frame it would seem unnatural with them being visually warped. I was also able to help him with achieving a shallower depth of field by telling him to use a longer focal length and a minimise the focal distance.

Sams investigation is about reframing characters within the one take. While I was having my meeting Sam made the most of the time I was absent by carefully planning out the scene so as soon as I arrived we could shoot it quickly. I’m glad he did this as we only had about 10 minutes to do it. It taught me that if you plan out what you are going to shoot well then can greatly minimise the time that actors need to present. It makes me wish I had asked for help with sensor size shoot. Although I did plan it out reasonably well in advance I found it hard to stick to my shot list as I didn’t have help. For instance someone to focus pull, help direct the actors and write shot details for me. This resulted in me taking longer than I should have which lead to multiple problems such as the light dramatically changing and my actors getting impatient. If I had chosen some class mates to act I think they would be more patient due to them understanding the work that I was doing and the constant need for fine adjustments.

I have acted for both Sam and Matt’s investigations a couple of times and they have helped me with some class exercises. It’s worked out well that we all help each other out when we need too. While I think its important to offer my input to others investigations, I think its important not to take over in any way and let them direct the scene as its their investigation.

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