Fiction Adaptation | Experimental Piece + Camera Movement Workshop (7th September 2017)

Today we were in the studio looking at different camera movements, and what effect they have in terms of generating emotion, tone and meaning.  The eye is drawn to the movement in a frame, so moving the camera can guide the audience's reading of a scene, and diffuse / destroy / weaken a scene's dramatic conflict.

1. Dolly (or track in/out)
1. Can be used for a reveal, to build intensity, or to follow movement
2. Pedestal
3. Truck (or crab)
4. Pan
5. Tilt
6. Roll (or Dutch tilt)

For our experimental pieces, we had to chose between four themes to demonstrate using the camera movement and editing techniques we had learned in the previous weeks.  I chose fear (out of fear, despair, hope and joy), as I felt this would be the most relevant to my adaptation.

I chose to demonstrate this in a fairly simple way.  I got my actor, Will, to sit on the ground, curled in a ball and rock as if afraid and I emphasised this with the camera movements and editing.

We experimented with using the track and dolly, as well as with the jib and fig rig.  I felt the track and dolly worked nicely to bring the audience either into the action or away from the action.  I decided to use the track and dolly to enter a character's psychological space by tracking in towards them.

I chose to use the dolly and the jib to isolate Will in the frame, and I also utilised the depth of field to add a sense of mystery to the shots.  I applied some basic yet drastic colour grading to bring out the dark tones and saturate the red colours to lay a sinister and dark foundation.  I also interjected some fast cuts of different camera angles to bring about some distortion and unease.  Combined with the sound design, I feel this has been effective in portraying fear, and also tension, in my experimental film.



I would like to use these techniques in my film, particularly the montage, as I would like to create parallels between one location and another.  I also want to ensure that my sound design is on point to ensure that I build tension to bring out the feeling of isolation that my character is going through.