For my basic research project, I wanted to do something on shot selection, taking a shot that would normally be considered jarring and imbed it in a way that flows. My initial thoughts were to break the 180 degree rule, but we did this earlier in class. My next, which we spoke of but never acted upon, was to place a wide shot midway through a scene, as we tend to be believe wide shots should only be used to establish a location at the beginning of a scene.
There are films that have done this before effectively, but its a rare occurrence and I cannot name any off the top of my head. In films it is often done when a character is dropped somewhere and is only just made aware of their surroundings, ‘The Hunger Games’ for instance when they first spawn in the arena. I don’t recall it being done when a character is already in a defined space though, and this is what I am trying to achieve.
I poured my focus almost entirely into pacing and shot choice, as my main goal depended on creating a plot that would compliment having a wide shot in the middle. I felt that, to achieve this, the climax of the plot had to be blunt. I achieved this by zoning away as much as possible from shots of specific features such as character gestures and miss en scene. In doing so, the audience finds it difficult to engage with the characters and is hence drawn away from the action, working to make the wide shot less jarring. I also decided the only way such a sudden cut would make sense is for the character to be lonely, as there needs to be a motive for the widen shot, in this case, showing Stewarts isolation from his peers, as if he just noticed he’s alone.
A notable decision I made was to not use over the shoulder shots and instead position the camera just off to the side of the actor in the foreground. That way we don’t see Emily leave the room and hence the wide shot has purpose in progressing the narrative. I also opted for no music as it makes the scene feel even more awkward for Stewart. The experiment isn’t emotive enough for music to have the appropriate impact.
Shooting was done on Tuesday 11th and edited on Wednesday 12th, a relatively short turnover time. Keeping the shots basic meant editing wasn’t particularly difficult, making a shot like this work was all about the plot twist, and had little dependance on my editing skills (thankfully).
Overall, I enjoyed pulling off this exercise, especially the difficulty of planning such a shot and brainstorming a scenario which would make sense. I’m not particularly happy with the execution in terms of how the scene came together, however, the effect remains apparent regardless.
Basic Research Project Script: