Blocking workshop

This session was about lighting and blocking, and gave us experience with setting up a scene in terms of the directors intentions, including lighting, directions of the characters and the position of the camera. The scene we were setting up and re-creating was from 'The Last Tycoon' (Elia Kazan) of which we noted different elements of the set, the characters movements and directions and the positions of the studio lighting/cameras. On examining the scene, we first noted the various light sources within the scene ( I noted specifically the fact that the windows of the set provided no light source).  The light appears to be coming from the sources illustrated below. We re-created this lighting set-up in our own re-creating of the scene. The fill-light used we found cast far too harsh shadows in the scene, shadows which are casted on objects and actors can be very distracting for the viewer as a result of this. A piece of white nylon covering the fill-light softens the shadows, and improved the lighting of the scene, a long with the correct positioning of the key-light and the back-light.

Also focused on in this session was the performance of the scene, and how it requires careful planning and relies heavily on the collaborative view, patience and effort of the cinematographer, the actors, the director and the asst. director. This is to ensure that the shooting of the scene remains fluid and consistent, preventing the need for time-consuming re-shoots. This is achieved by letting the camera record while capturing the action from various different angles (5 all-together we arranged). This creates consistency, and allows the audience a natural view of the scene unfolding.