Making Media 4 Tyler Reeves
Assignment 3
Reflection on exercise
For assignment three I decided, after losing my original footage, to undertake an exploration of zooming out while panning at the same time. I immediately found that this is not as easy as it sounds. Smooth camera work provides the audience with the illusion that the camera is not there at all. We forget the tool and only notice the result.
Conversely, bad camera work breaks the illusion and removes or dilutes the emotion of what the audience is seeing. One of the most difficult things, I found, was to achieve a steady transition of the zoom without it becoming jerky or snapping to an abrupt halt at the end of its length. Starting and stopping the motion of the zoom in a soft and unnoticeable way is quite challenging.
To do this with any degree of success you must first abandon any attempt at using the zoom manually. A smooth transition can only be achieved by using the automatic zoom controlled by the servo motors.
The ease of pressing the button with one hand also allows you to concentrate on panning the camera simultaneously. All my attempts were based on zooming out and panning at the same time. It is not effective to zoom in and pan, as it just creates a confusing mess of images. I started on a point of interest and then zoomed out and panned across at the same time to reveal the landscape or surroundings. This is a technique I have often seen in films and I think it can be quite effective. A close up of an actor’s face is often the starting point for this kind of technique. We see the intended emotion on their face before the camera zooms out and pans across to reveal the source of their angst or joy. I unfortunately had no actors to construct a scene, so I had to make do with random happenings that I came across. This being the case I think I still succeeded in conveying the basic look of this technique and enjoyed exploring the process. Below is a link to my video.
Reflection 1
I would like to reflect on the short filming exercise we completed around three weeks ago. I found this to be a most enjoyable and instructive exercise. It was the probably the most valuable practical work we have undertaken so far. My role was that of director, so I felt an obligation to think out and carefully plan all the shots according to the script we received.
I found the process of storyboarding to be invaluable. It allowed me to visually plan and understand the movements and actions of the actors and divide the shoot into the optimal number of scenes. This proved beneficial on the day of the shoot as it allowed us a planned shooting pattern and easy transitions to the next shot. This saved time during the shoot and enabled us to get extra shots so that we had more to work with in the editing process.
I scouted the locations beforehand and this also provided us with a set idea of where we were going to be, regarding camera setup and actor placement. This being the case it only required minimal blocking through with the actors on the day of the shoot. I have inserted a photo of my storyboarding below. I designed the layout and it was drawn by a kind friend of mine. Another aspect of directing that I found challenging was organising everyone and keeping their minds on the job. I can imagine the stress a real film shoot could place on the director, cast and crew.
I will also mention the that it helped the production to go through the dialogue with the actors in each of the scenes. Continuity was also important, I think, and this was well managed in addition to the other assigned roles. The result was a smooth and relatively stress- free production where everyone enjoyed themselves and learnt a lot at the same time.
The elements I think that could be improved upon in future productions would be the amount of shots we took. Although we had the opportunity to shoot extra scenes, I would shoot even more next time. We were a little constrained by time, but I think we achieved a good level of production quality, adhered to the script and scenes and showed a good level of creativity and competence.
Reflection two
Reflection on the writing – “Blocking is overlooked and undervalued” by Tom Reilly.
I agree with Tom Reilly on the importance of blocking being undertaken by the director only. The actor is there for their acting alone and should not be privy to any discussions, let alone any decisions, on the blocking of a scene. The creative control of a film needs to belong to the director and maybe shared or discussed with the assistant director.
No one else needs to take part in this process, nor do they have the understanding or skill to achieve a desirable result. Blocking allows timing and movement to be practiced and perfected. I noted with interest the one particular director does not even use actors when blocking scenes. Instead he uses stand-ins and gets them to go through the motions instead.
This makes sense because the director has a vision of what looks good on film and always has this at the front of his mind. Tom Reilly writes – ‘By allowing the actors to participate in the blocking, a director is indirectly and subtly relinquishing a significant opportunity to keep control of the timing, pacing, shot selection, and overall dramatic tone of the project’ I experienced this when I occupied the director’s role for our short filming project. The actors, though well intentioned, end up interfering with the directors set vision, causing delays and creating unnecessary confusion with the rest of the cast and crew.
Blocking is an important tool to the director and should ideally be done without the input of actors or crew. The physical movement of actors makes up a great proportion of the film; where will they stand, how long they will remain in one spot, what props will they use, etc. One can see the value of a much-rehearsed blocking and how it gives the effect of effortless and smooth scenes.
Reflection Three
“A man of excess: Paul Schrader on Jean Renoir”
When reading this writing by Paul Schrader I was very surprised to find that he did not watch any movies until he attended college. Schrader was raised in strictly religious family that practised Calvinism. This was a reformation-based church that had its roots in Protestantism and was founded by John Calvin in the 16th century. The Calvinist lifestyle ‘emphasised predestination, guilt and the denial of free will’.
This is in stark contrast to Jean Renoir who was raised in a ‘liberal artistic environment, which privileged the visual and celebrated the vitality and richness of everyday life and the human appetite for experience’. This upbringing was to strongly influence Schrader in his early choices of movies. Schrader first watched avant-garde filmmakers such as Bresson, Dreyer and Antonioni. These filmmakers practiced a form of ‘ascetic minimalism’ that he was attracted to, due to his strict spiritual upbringing.
These movie choices would change as his enquires become broader and it was soon after that he discovered the far more joyful and humanistic films of Jean Renoir. I can relate to Schrader’s experience in a small way. In his story I can see parallels in my own upbringing, with the strictness of early life eventually giving way to a more liberal and joyful exploration of life. It is interesting to note that when Schrader meet Renoir, the latter was baffled as to why Schrader would be writing a book on Bresson.
Renoir could not understand or tolerate Bresson’s approach to filmmaking and did not care to try. Renoir said of Schrader “You’ve got to meet this kid, he’s the one who’s doing the book on Bresson. Tell them about your book on Bresson”. Schrader recalls that it took him a while to understand that he was a “running gag” and the target of good hearted amusement. I think Schrader was a willing sponge who wanted to soak up all that was good and contemplate upon it and add it to his experience of what filmmaking could be. Renoir inspired Schrader in his efforts as a filmmaker as he considered the effect that Renoir and other great directors had upon him he related “When you’re with them you feel as though you’re in a darkened room, and as the conversation proceeds, they walk around and open the windows and more and more light comes in”.
Reflection Four
This reflection will be based on the short filming exercise we undertook in week eight.
This was a short exercise with no dialogue and it was interesting to see the two group’s different interpretations of the script. Because there was no speaking, the scene’s needed to have a little more emotional content than there would be with dialogue. We first planned a layout of the scene – positioning of the actors and props and then blocked through the scenes. Once we were happy with the scene we put marks on the floor and adjusted the light coming into the room. Sound was only recorded through the camera as we thought that this would be sufficient.
As I was in the role of assistant director, I had to keep the ball rolling and found myself asking – Are we ready to go? Who are we waiting for? The cast and crew can be like a friendly but unruly gang that needs to be kept in check by the gang bosses. In this shoot I felt that the end product was helped by the multitude of shots that we took. Close-ups, medium shots, tracking shots-all came into play in the finished project and this allowed us to achieve a more detailed and polished result.
Our shoot ended up concentrating on one character more than the other. This was a mostly a conscious choice as we felt that one character was tired of the behaviour from the other and so was emotionally withdrawn. The actors performed well and took direction easily and everyone else was also competent in their roles. If I could change something next time it would be the location and the lighting. We wanted the lighting to be a bit more dramatic, I think external lights would have been better, but it was probably a bit much to ask for such a small shoot. The location was ok but again it probably could have benefited from a different setting.
In the end I guess both of these things can be transcended by creative shots and ideas combined with good acting performances. We were happy with the end result and learned a lot during the process which will be of benefit for the next project.