Power Conversation

Our task was to write a very short conversational scene between two people that would last less than a minute. The conversation needed to be about something trivial, but it must have two points of view. The main objective was to implement a shift in power at some point through the scene. 

Before filming, we were given a chance to understand how we can present a shift in power within the conversation. The example we were given was the first meeting between Jake and Alonso from the 2001 crime/thriller, Training Day. 

(Training Day, 2001)

We took a look at the shots throughout the scene and how each shot was framed differently after a line of speech or an action made by one of the two characters presented. We established that the more powerful/dominant a character gets in a scene, the more space they will take up in the shot, and that the weaker/submissive character will feature in less of each frame. 

This is apparent in the frames below from Training Day, as at the start when each character is on a mutual level of respect they both take up a similar amount of space. This is further apparent as the characters are presented on the same level and point on the grid within the rule of thirds. We were able to understand how this presented a greater effect on the shift in power.

We had a plan and a pretty solid idea of how we were going to frame each character depending on what they say and do. We scouted for a good spot to film and decided that we were going to have a dark space with a table acting as a barrier between the two characters. 

Find 3 shots you are proud of...

I really like this shot as it did a good job of demonstrating the power of the character walking into the space. This is shown as the camera follows the character, presenting to the audience that this is the character we are following, and therefore, he has the power.

I was proud of this shot because to me it did a good job of communicating the shift in power. The second character who was initially has become the dominant character as this is shown as he takes up a large majority of the frame, entirely excluding the first character.

This shot is one I am proud of mainly for the fact that it is one of the more interesting shots. It was also the shot that needed the most thought and planning put into it.

Pick at least one shot you think could have been improved and explain why?

Out of all the shots we took, this is the one that could have been improved. It was out of focus, and whilst that is mainly due to the difficulty of shooting from such a low angle, I feel like it is very distorted, ruining the flow of the shots shown previously.

What part of the clip are you most proud of and why?

I am most proud and happy with the match on action shots that we were able to get. We were skeptical about whether it was going to work or not as it might appear inconsistent as the two shots were both filmed near the two ends of the 180 degree line. However, it worked out in the end and we were ultimately happy with the result.

What was the most difficult part to film and why? How did you overcome the difficulties...

The push-in shot at the end was the most difficult to do as we had to work with the lighting. We had a light from behind that would have shown the shadow of both the camera and the operator. In order to fix this we changed the positioning of the table we were using so that we could have the light coming from the top instead of behind.

Did you learn anything new in the process?

I was able to learn more about lighting, how to use it and how to fix issues with it. I think that it is going to be a really useful skill to have for the future film-making that I have with this task. I also had a little bit to do with the camera, so I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the equipment again. It has been really great and I have new skills and ideas to carry into the rest of my coursework.