Assignment 1

For this assignment I've produced a short sequence of no more than 5 shots that tells a simple story using images alon.

Planning

This intends to be a funny story about a reader that falls asleep as soon as he starts to read.

Shot 1. We see the protagonist looking for a book. I need a mid shot because the room or something else is irrelevant. Just the reader and the shelves with the books are important. Besides, it has to show the title of the books in order to have an idea of what he or she is looking for. That's why the mid shot is needed. The point of view is a third person type. It could be combined with a subjective viewpoint but the limitation in the number of shots takes me to use the other one. The camera angle is neither hogh or low so it doesn't indicate any feeling or emotion.

Shot 2. Following up the first shot I have a close up  of the reader turning the pages. A high angle is needed in the form of an over the shoulder picture. As it happens in Shot 1, this doesn't mean anything. It's just to give continuity and coherence to the scene. In this manner, it is easier to understand what is going on. Basically, the idea is to have a subjective point of view. The main element is the book and also the action of turning pages but it is possible to see the shelves representing the background.

Shot 3. This is a wide shot. More information is required. I want to show the place where he or she is going to read the book. So, we see the typical stuff of a living room. A table, a sofa, etc. Obviously, a level eye shot is used. Furthermore, it helps to create a quiet atmosphere because the reader is going to relax - which is something that can't be forgotten. There is movement within the shot as it starts with an empty room and then the character appears. To reinforce this flat scenario the elements are shown in a well organised and distributed way that generates harmony.

Shot 4. For the fourth frame I could have two choices. One is a close up of the book's cover just to know the title of the volume that is being read. It is clearly a low angle as it is needed the reader as background. The other choice is a mid shot using also a low angle but the important thing here is the action itself. So, it is seen as a focus-unfocused scene, firstly showing an extremely close up of the shoes and then, focusing on the book, there is a mid shot that show the whole thing. It is the first time we don't have a normal point of view.

Shot 5. The final shot is a close up of the reader sleeping because of the boredom of the book. The book and the reader are equally imporant. It is a high angle and no more information is provided. There is no other intention behind. Just to finish the sequence showing that the book was not good enough.

Record and edit your sequence

Evaluation

By and large this is not a very impressive work and it can be seen clearly that it was done in a rush. There is only one setting, no filming outside, no variation in the lights...it is really very poor and shows a significant lack of effort. The truth is that the script was not very complex but irrespective of this, I think that the story could have been expanded a little bit more. 

Having a closer look on every single frame, the analisys goes as follows:

Frame 1. It is not acceptable in terms of framing and lighting. There is too much room on the left side and the overexposure over there seems more than a big mistake rather than a aesthtic choice. And that was the intention but by my reckoning, it merely didn't work as I thought. There is another problem here. The time. It is too long. It should haven been cut just when the guy looked at the back cover of the book. There is no need to see him turning pages. Moreover, this information is in the very next frame. 

Frame 2. The idea was to have an over the shoulder shot and in that sense, it could be considered a succesful use of this technique. However, the panning read the it was goind to be a subjective point of view. And this is definitely an objective one. So, I lost track here because it was not possible to have both things. And I'm pretty sure that the thing that I didn't do, it was the one which fitted in. Regardless this, the shot looks well, both the duration and the information presented. 

Frame 3. Not taking into account the overexposure issues already commented before, this shot achieves more or less what it pretended. It shows a lot of things such as the coffe table, the sofa, the guy laying...even the shelves are there. And anyone could get the feeling of quiet and peace, the ideal environment to have a good reading. 

Frame 4. This is another close up and even the low angle seems to be nice, it is quite silly to put this after the previous shot. That was another mistake. In this case is because of the planning. Now I realized that the sketeches were quite superficial and the story is repetitive. This frame should have been strongly linked to the boredom caused by the book. This is not reflected at all in my work. In some way, the scene here was the character getting bored and more bored. But even knowing what that was the point that shoud have been put across, I don't have a clue of how to get it. Maybe it would have been a good idea to play with the time. This means, having had a very long shot without any action. Just the reader reading. As the time draws on, the audience gets the impression of tedious. 

Frame 5. This a very interesting frame that have a go at the focused-unfocused technique. It doesn't go totally somoothly but it is a good attempt. And it is the the most succesful - together with the third one- in terms of getting its goal. Nonetheless, there is more trouble with the lighting. Given that the overexposure effect has gone, the coherence of the sequence is affected. This could make the viewers confused as it looks like the protagonist has been reading for a very long time. 

In conclusion, many things must be improved. Framing, lighting, action...they are not small things in filming. But they could be better the next time if the planning is planned properly instead of having a hasty outline.