For your journal entry, you are not physically filming a short film, but describing how you would shoot it…
You’re tasked with serving as the cinematographer for the following scene:
The scene opens with your subject in one location and they grab a backpack. They leave this location and move to a different location. In that new location, they find themselves all alone, feeling hopeless. The subject pulls an object out of the backpack and looks carefully at this object. In the closing moments of the scene, you want the audience to see the detail of the object, and the impact or significance the object has on your subject (i.e. your subject’s reaction to the object they are holding).
Describe how you would see this entire scene play out on screen, using the specific terminology you are learning in Cinematography [e.g. the camera movement (tracking, pan, etc.); shot choice (close up, medium shot, etc.), angle (high, low, etc.)]
Guidelines:
- You are free to use any subject (woman, man, boy, girl, dog, giraffe…), but be specific.
- You are free to use any locations – you’ll need two. Be specific.
- You are not limited in the number of shots to use.
- Describe the details of your shot choices to justify why you’ve selected that shot, angle, or movement. Describe the actor’s actions/reactions or other details as needed for clarity.
As an example, the opening moment could be described as:
We fade in a full shot of cute little Sandy in the middle of a crowded dance studio, the full shot of her body allows us to see her desperately trying to complete the dance routine. A close up of her face shows her growing frustration. A close up of her feet stumbling. And the camera dollies back to capture the full shot of her tripping and falling. She rises quickly, grabs her backpack and the camera pans horizontally to catch her escape out the door. We cut to…. (and the description would continue to the next location).
