August 2008

Visual storytelling is obviously a key part of filmmaking – there is a big difference between photographing the action and using the camera to tell the story. In the first session this week we watched the beginning of a scene from Witness, paying particular attention to how the action was covered – where the camera was positioned, what shot sizes and how many shots were used. We were then given the script for the rest of the scene which we had to storyboard in the way that we thought best captured the action, before watching the finished version and discussing the similarities and differences between the various scenes we had come up with. Storyboarding is more important than I had realised – it really forces you to visualise each tiny shot, and to understand and justify to yourself why you are using that particular series of shot. We were then given the script of a scene from another famous film which we, in groups, had to make a shot list for and storyboard entirely. Bearing in mind that the more shots we use, the more money we spend, we tried to come up with the most efficient way of shooting the scene without compromising the end result. It was interesting and quite challenging to agree on the way we wanted to shoot and was a lot more time consuming than you would have thought!

In the second session we got to actually shoot the scene we had storyboarded the day before, with each person in the group acting as a member of the crew. Darren reminded us of what each of our roles entailed and we had to shoot as if we were under real time and financial constraints. This was my favourite session so far, because it gave us a taste of the on-set experience – I realised how you need to think about so many people all with different interests and aims on the same shoot, and how the conflict of two departments can hinder your film. We managed to shoot the scene in the time we were given, discussing why we were using each shot along the way. Now I’m really looking forward to editing it next week!

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Tom Verran

(One Year Practical Filmmaking) received a BAFTA nomination in 2007 for a 60 second short he directed and produced with two other Met alumni - Mike Doxford (DOP) and Neil Kendall (Sound). The short was selected from over 100 entrants as one of fifteen finalists for a national competition run by Orange in association with BAFTA.