Understanding Cinema 2014-15

L’Interval : Spacing

Rules of the Game - Draft version 17-10-14

!Exercises:

1. In this exercise you will take 3 photos of the same subject taken at 3 different distances. Place two actors in a room, 7 meters apart from each other, both facing the camera.

Take your first photo from as close as your camera will allow, keeping the head and shoulders of

the person closest to you in shot and in focus, whilst keeping the actor in the back ground in shot.

Take your second photo from the middle of your zoom length, making sure to keep the head and

shoulders of the person closest to you in the same place in the frame as in the last photo, in the

same place in the frame as in the last photo also keeping them in focus. We must also see the

second actor in the shot.

Take your third photo from as far away as your camera will allow, again keeping the head and

shoulders of the person closest to you in shot and in focus in the same place in the frame as in the

last two photos, whilst keeping the actor in the background in shot.

This exercise allows us to explore how the modification of focal length affects our perception of the interval,

or space, between characters. Be careful only to use optical zoom with this exercise, avoid digital zoom.

!2. In this exercise you will film a shot of a character in 2 different ways from the same camera

position. !Place a character in the frame so that we can see their whole body. Facing the camera they see

something or someone coming towards them from off camera, out of the frame. They step closer

and closer toward the camera in order to better see the object or person coming towards them.

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Film the first shot from a wide angled perspective. Film the second shot with the camera zoomed

in to your own preference.

!3. Film the following scene in three different ways:

1. A static long take

2. A moving long take

3. Using montage, cut and edit a sequence of shots together

The scene is as follows: Character A passes something to character B which produces a tension between them, leading to

their separation.

The only thing that can change between the versions is the actors, keep the same story and location. Keep

all dialogue to a minimum. The scene should last 1-2 minutes max.

!Group Film

Make a short film lasting 6 - 10 minutes which contains the following sequence:

A character is drawn in to a situation that makes them envious, involving 2 or 3 characters. They

then distance themselves from the scene. They then meet another character.

In the film the audiences’ emotional response should be brought about by the visual and aural spacing, or

intervals, between the characters and between the characters and the camera: Moving closer to each

other; pulling away from each other; placing objects between the characters; placing objects between the

camera and the characters.

!Blog

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