Wednesday, January 25: The screenplay as a blueprint for production.

Today was all about using the screenplay and pre-production plan as a means to have a successful production.  This means that you have to look at the screenplay to include everything the script calls for in terms of location, characters, props, sounds, etc. - but you also have to start thinking about the style of your movie - how are you going to use the visuals to convey a certain feeling?

First, we finished our discussion on 3-Act structure.  In a narrative movie, you can always find a plot with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Beyond that, there are a few things that typically happen in a narrative movie that fall into the three act structure.  Below is a graphic that demonstrates some of the key ideas within a three act structure plot:

Next, everyone started working for a little while on their own short screenplays - hopefully keeping in mind that their protagonist should be clear, and embark on a journey that will change them slightly, providing a nice arch.

Once you have a script though, then the real visual thinking begins.  You'll notice that every movie has it's own visual style - sometimes the style changes throughout the movie.  Remember, everything that ends up on the screen is a choice of some kind - from the costumes and the way the characters move, to the set pieces and the lighting, and the way the camera is moving and framing everything.  This was all part of a larger discussion in order to convey the emotions and meaning of the film.

Here are some basic terms that we'll use and hear a lot when we're thinking about our movie's visuals:

A scene: You probably already know what a scene is just from watching movies.  Usually a scene stays on one topic and/or in one location, and when that idea or location shifts or transitions to something else, you're in a new scene.  You'll know your own scenes because you'll have them in your script - each scene heading marks a new scene.

A shot: A shot is each camera angle, or set-up.  As we looked at last time, Slip of the Tongue had over 10 shots in a single scene (at the bus stop).  Sometimes shots last a while, and sometimes they move - a scene can be only one shot.  Other times, there are tons of shots within a single scene.  (remember though, not every edit in a scene is a new shot - they're cutting back and forth between several shots, there are almost always way more cuts than there are shots... if that makes sense).

A take: Takes are the attempts to get the shot right.  There are a lot of variables to get right when you're shooting a movie - so if the director doesn't like a performance, or the camera moves at the wrong time, or the lighting is weird, you have to try again.  Each one of these tries is called a take.

With those terms in mind, we looked at some examples of how directors use different visual styles and very intentional choices in order to make their movie everything they wanted:

This is a scene from Do the Right Thing, by Spike Lee.  There's a ton going on here - notice the colors and lighting.  The use of color is important in this movie because it takes place on the hottest day of the year, and is about racial tension.  The fact that it's a hot day is significant because tensions are heating up.  The costumes (Jackie Robinson and Larry Bird jerseys, for example) all tie into the theme of race.  The way the camera moves, when it moves, and the angle at which things are shot also all contribute to the emotion of the scene - sometimes it's right up in someone's face, sometimes it does a quick zoom out, etc. etc.  EVERYTHING is working together to create a larger feeling that contributes to the message of the scene and movie.

Here is the opening from The Royal Tennenbaums, by Wes Anderson:

Notice how perfectly balanced everything in the frame is in a lot of his shots (the right and left sides are almost like mirror images), the camera movements are very very smooth.  Every single detail on the walls and set are full of meaning that plays into the story - as is the placement of the actors/characters and their relationship to the camera.  Wes Anderson is known for putting painstaking effort into the overall look of his sets and being very specific about camera angles and camera movement.

And here is a scene from The Hurt Locker - a movie about a bomb diffusion squad in the Iraq war.  This movie was directed by Kathryn Bigelow and won her the Oscar for Best Director in 2008 - she is the first woman to win the award.  Notice how the camera work is the complete opposite of the Wes Anderson kind of smooth movement - why?  In a war movie, why is it better to have such a handheld/focus-shifting kind of camera?  She also used up to 4 cameras running at the same time in this movie.

Lastly, here is a super classic example of a long take, single shot scene.  In fact, this could be thought of as a few scenes within one shot - from Goodfellas by Martin Scorsese: