So many shots and so little time.

Last week, something that was discussed in the lecture was the use of a shot list, as well as the value in reverse engineering a film based on the shots used. After giving this a try, I can honestly say that I probably won't look at films the same way from now on. I went through the opening scene of P.S. I Love You to break down the individual shots. Within the first two minutes of the movie, there were about 20 shots. A lot of them were only two or three seconds long, switching back and forth rapidly from one character to the other. You never really think about it when you're watching a movie, but the shots are constantly changing, often so fluidly that you don't notice. It's the same effect as looking back and forth between two people in a three-way conversation. For P.S. I Love You in particular, the first scene has the couple arguing in a stairwell, placing the angry woman in a dominant position above the apologetic man. He is shot from above to make him look smaller, while she is shot from below, giving her the position of power. It's definitely a technique that caught my attention.

As far as our group work goes, last week we acquired a new team member: Peter. We also had two members absent (Bec was in Sydney, and Zehn was sick), but we managed to power through the tutorial assignment (shooting footage for a possible opening sequence) and got a sense of how we all work together when it comes to actually coming up with ideas for shots, setting them up, and executing. The dynamic of the group is a little too passive, if you ask me. No one seems to want to stand up and take charge, which makes it difficult to get things done. There are a lot of good ideas and suggestions floating around, but I feel like they have to be pried out of some members, like they're too afraid to share what they're thinking. I don't usually tend toward leadership, but I've been trying to keep everything organized and get people on track with what should be getting done, such as defining the details of our idea and starting to come up with a basis for our script. In our group meeting, we came up with a basic outline, so I typed that up and shared it on the group gmail, to make sure that everyone's on the same page.