WEEK 4 - Composition and Aesthetics

1- Composition and Aesthetics

THE ARRANGEMENT OF ELEMENTS, COLOR, TONE AND LINE IN THE MISE EN SCENE

In order to understand how composition is put together you have to look at how form and content work together to convey meaning. Content is the subject itself and form is how they're arranged. When thinking about this you have to take into consideration, shape and proportion, negative space, colour, lines, rhythms, lighting, contrast etc. Some words to think about to help with this are:

• Symmetry/Asymmetry (frame divided equally vs not exactly balanced)
• Graphic focus (geometric line and shape)
• Rule of Thirds (grid overlay of equally space divided into thirds)
• Looking space (negative space for character to gaze)
• Production design (setting and costumes perhaps?) 
• Lighting (high-key/low-key, fill light, soft vs hard, etc.)

- Screen Grammar

• Camera techniques (distance and angles)
• Editing techniques (cut, matched cut, jump cut)
• Manipulating time (screen time, slow motion, flashback)
• Use of sound (direct sound, music, soundtrack, silence)
• Lighting (soft/harsh and back lighting)
• Graphics (text, graphics, animation)
• Narrative style (mise-en-scene, objective/subjective treatment)
• Formats and other features (shot, scene, sequence)

- Theory of Editing
- Post-Production Workflow:

PRE PRODUCTION OVERVIEW -

• Idea development
• Logistical planning/creative planning (storyboard)
• Researching and sourcing
• Location scouting/RECCE
• Hiring crew
• Scheduling shoot
• Budget/Finance
• Scripting/storyboard/shot lists
• Casting (Interviewees)
• Work on conceptual model

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU SEE -

• Rule of thirds (focal points)
• The 180 degree rule
• The golden ration
• Matching eye line and matching cuts
• Natural transitions

NARRATIVE -

• Aristotle - beginning, middle, end
• 3 act structure
• Set up - conflict - resolution 
• Dramatic arc/curve
• Non linear narrative (having multiple arcs)
• Symbolic and metaphor 

- Screen and discuss in class one-minute film exercise:

1 Minute Documentary:

SAM from Maddie Tod on Vimeo.

2 - Continue research for Creative Project.

- Reading: Rabiger, M. (2004) Directing the Documentary, London: Focal Press. Ch.16: Research Leading Up to the Shoot. 

• Research partnership. With someone else whilst researching you will appreciate how much richer your perceptions and ideas can become when you exchange with them.  
• A sample. Research relationships, two research strategies, deciding the action and casting the players and the value of assigning metaphorical roles.
• How people alter in front of the camera. Pre-interviewing is extremely important before shooting. You want to test the behaviour of the interviewee as they go on record. Some may come across as a show-off or clam up and get all nervous. Usually people start of being quite self-conscious and constrained. Soon after they begin to speak more freely. Later on you can analyse these interviews and see who's best on the screen.
• Developing the films thematic structure and double checking your findings. During research, collect as many relevant viewpoints as you can. It's fascinating to discover how everyone is perceived differently according to who you question. 
• Finding the dialectics and developing a working hypothesis. In documentary any hypothesis provides a more interesting start point than stupidly impersonate a scientific method. 
• Refining research into a plan. The need for development, conflict and confrontation. The dramatic curve.

As seen on page 236 in Rabiger’s (2004) ‘Directing the Documentary’

• The dramatic components of successful scenes. The best scenes are dramas in miniature. Look for beats and dramatic units. Exposition, facts and narration. 

Bernard, S. C. (2010) Documentary Storytelling: Creative Nonfiction on Screen, New York and London: Focal Press. 2 Story Basics