Lights, Camera, Action! was a whirlwind introduction to filmmaking, one which I thoroughly enjoyed. I know next to nothing about filmmaking, making this guest session all the more exciting for me. What an informative, detailed session it was!
We began by watching a short film in French, Detour by Michel Gondry. Samina Mishra, our guest for the evening, asked us what we thought of the film and then we revisited a few details from a filmmaker’s eye.
What goes into mise en scène, or the frame of a film? What about cinematography? What does one pay attention to? Sound? Editing? What else?
After looking at a range of elements from setting to costumes, effect sounds to editing, Samina left us with a writing exercise in which she asked us to write a single shot. With clear examples, she asked us to pay attention to the following things as we wrote:
- Will we see the exterior/interior? What time of day is it?
- What kind of shot will it be? A long shot or a close-up?
- How is the scene set?
- What is the camera angle?
- What do we hear?
- Does the camera move or wait until the whole shot is over?
It was unfair to ask Samina to pack it all into an hour, and we did overshoot, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable session nonetheless. Here’s to many more!
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