Intro
For the Explorations Project in Film, we were told to expand upon our film skills, and go a bit further and learn a new, film related skill, and become well versed enough to teach it to others.
My project was to learn how to shoot and write a dialogue scene, with an emphasis on making believable dialogue. I chose this mostly because most of my film skills are with the camera, and framing nice looking shots, and even though I’ve already tried to do things similar to dialogue scenes, I never really properly learned how to do one. The plan was to make a simple, yet effective scene with a little bit of characterization for the people I put in it.
Process
For my project, I first started researching on how to visually shoot a dialogue scene. Things like what shots and angles I need, framing, who to show during dialogue, and other editing things.
After figuring out the visual side, I then went and researched on how to make proper dialogue; more specifically how to write believable dialogue. The basics I learned were that you should have a purpose for the scene, dialogue that fits the character, and minimal exposition.
The rest is left up to the actual film, where I got the idea to make a sketch on the 5 second rule. I wrote out some dialogue, and after sitting on it for a while and making slight revisions, I went out, filmed, and edited the full thing.
For a bit more in depth view, the link to the presentation is here
(will put link to final product here when uploaded)
Reflection
Overall I think this was the project I enjoyed the most throughout the year, even if it wasn’t the biggest one. The freedom to do almost whatever we wanted with it is what made it so fun to do, especially because I got an opportunity to do dialogue which I have always wanted to do, but never got around to until now. Teaching it to others was also pretty helpful as it forced me to really understand the concept of doing the scene so that I could teach it to people who might not know too much about film. Overall 10/10 project.
Lyrical Essay
For English at the end of the year, we were told to do a Lyrical essay. Honestly my first reaction was “what in the world is a lyrical essay”, and even now it still is a bit confusing, but the general idea is a piece of text, whether essay, poem, or something else, that represents an emotion or feeling. The use of annotations is a big part of it too, making it a rather unique kind of essay.
My general topic and feeling were for the experience of a night walk, and how it changes your perspective on the world. The following is the prologue to the essay.
LEARNING TO SEE
A quiet, tranquil moment interrupted by an explosion. Relaxation turns to fiery debris raining down upon the area. One moment centered, next one moved. The reason for the explosion, still a mystery, although all I could remember was the intense heat—not a fire, but words flaming straight from him.
“For the millionth time you STILL couldn’t listen!”
“Use that OH SO SMART BRAIN and realize you ARE NOT INVINCIBLE”
“Oh forget it, go ahead and run from all your problems instead of facing them”
“Go on that stupid little walk of yours then”
“Just know that YOU are the problem, and have always been”
The fire had finally started to die down, yet the ashes still remain. The moment lost, fractured in memory, yet still present. But the cleanup still needs to be done. The ashes need to be swept away.
But to realize how to assemble it all back, to resolve the burning embers, one must first learn to see.
The rest of the essay can be downloaded below