CAMERA WORKSHOP 2: THE CHAIR

In the workshop we got to try out the Sony EX1R cameras again and just get familiar with them and the checklist 'SWEFF'. We tested and went through the cameras to make sure we knew how they worked and were comfortable using them.

After this warm up, Simon joined and gave us a task. He talked to us about capurting with footage and how detail helps to tell a story in a film. Detail on movements and actions, the more detail can sometimes make a simple scene really interesing and grasping, even if there isn't any dialogue in the scene. Sometimes the suroundings and objects in a scene can tell the story better. This goes back to Steve's rule for screen writing 'Show, Don't tell'. This is how we can do that. Simon showed us some good examples of story telling with 2 scenes from different films. The first was from 'Children of Men' directed by Alfonso Cuarón. This entire scene is done in a single shot and was done with a specially made camera rig.

This scene is inscredibly detailed in what is shown and clever that there isn't any cuts. However, this is almost impossible to re-create at my level but showed me the importance of detail in a story. The next scene that Simon showed us was a scene from 'The Shawshank Redemption' directed by Frank Darabont. The scene is where the guards and Red discover that Andy has actually escaped from the Prision. We were asked to count how many individual shots we thought we saw in this scene. (Link below for scene)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQSmfzfg2MY
I counted that there was 15 shots, there was actually 18. But in that scene we see so much detail, which goes with the amount of dialogue from the Warden but the focus on some parts, the guards face when he discovers Andy is gone, the Warden when he hears the alarm. The Warden's hand as he puts his hand through the poster and discovers the hole that Andy created. There is so much detail.

We were then given the task of making a short film about someone walking over to a chair and sitting down. We could interpret this in any way we wanted but that theme had to stay and we had to have detailed shots to make the scene more interesting. We were put into pairs and given 2 hours to plan and make this film.

Planning
To plan out how I was going to shoot this scene by drawing out a basic storyboard of how the scene would work together with the shots. 

After quickly planning out these shots I used my mobile to test and check to see if the shots worked correctly, I wanted focus on the actions in close ups like when the actor was walking, tieing their shoe, looking at their phone. All the action that needs to have a large amount of detail. With moving I'd cut between steady cam shots and locked off shots of the actor walking past.
When testing the shots I used my mobilr phone to check the shots and see if they worked and frame them up to make sure that they would work and look right.

After testing and framing I went forward and put together the story that the actor (Trine) walks in, looks around and see's the chair, walks over to it and sits and texts someone telling them they're waiting for them and then it ends. Plently of detail on the scene making it more interesting for the audience and an open ending which adds mystery, story and questions for the audience.