The Scene In Cinema: Twelfth Reflection

For my twelfth reflection, I have decided to complete the activity prescribed in Part 17 of our online lessons, and reflect on my process and decision making.

The task involved storyboarding, shot listing, and floor planning a 3 scene script provided to us by Robin. I chose to do mine on one piece of paper with a pencil, which mightn’t have been the best option, but it I find it to be an effective way to quickly translate ideas to the page. Here is the outcome:

(click to expand)

I approached the task with minimalism in mind. This coverage requires only 5 setups, 2 of which could probably use the exact same lighting plan. It’s possible some slight dolly movements could add a bit of fluidity to this scene, but for the purpose of simplicity I planned all of the interior shots with just a tripod.

My first scene starts with a profile shot of Ella examining a book, Juliette appears from behind her and picks up the book Ella has reserved. We then cut to a two shot of them, at quite a long focal length to emphasise the narrow space between bookshelves. I would argue that an establishing shot wouldn’t be needed, unless the transition into the scene called for it. E.g: it may not be previously established that Ella is going to a book shop, in which case an establishing shot could be useful.

We stay at a distance from the action until they start talking to each other more intently, at which point the camera punches in to lessen the gap between them on screen. This could also help build tension between the two characters. I feel that a shot reverse shot structure may be too jarring, due to the fact they’re already standing quite close together (at least according to my floor plan).

When Juliette walks off and the second scene begins, the camera cuts to a wide shot of the bookstore interior, showing both the edge of the bookshelves she emerges from and the counter to which she walks. My thinking behind this is simply to establish her new position at the checkout. When Ella follows her we move back into that tighter two shot, returning to the tension I am trying to establish.

When Juliette leaves we cut back to the wide, while Ella finishes her transaction. And finally, when Ella begins to rush towards the door the camera swiftly pans to follow her movement. We see her opening the door to step through and a well timed cut takes us to the exterior shot beginning scene three.

My reference for this shot would be the dolly long take from Annie Hall I mentioned a few weeks ago. The camera dollies backwards following Juliette, and in the background of the frame we see Ella running to catch up to her. The dolly movement stays at a steady pace, following the two characters as they continue their conversation, stopping when they break from walking. I would use Juliette and Ella crossing the road to transition into the next shot, with them exiting the frame to the right and then entering the next shot from the left.

I imagine this outdoor street wouldn’t be too crowded, however that brings up the problem of how to imply onlookers without adding an extra shot? Maybe there could be people loitering on the side of the street that the camera travels past?

I can visually imagine the shot in my head, but am struggling to discern what information to include in this reflection. A lot of the small details just seem obvious to me, although I guess they would be done seen differently through imagination of a different filmmaker. I also imagine a lot of this detail could be resolved when blocking out the shot.

I’m really enjoying making these floor plans and storyboards. Picking up a pencil is something I don’t do nearly often enough.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *