MASTER CLASS
A checklist of Video & Film Technique by Harris Watts
Many members now own a copy of this excellent book following the
visit of the author to Reading Film and Video Makers last season.
The following extract is reprinted to encourage other members to put
this book on their birthday list.
IS IT INTERESTING?
When you have put your film on paper (as a treatment, storyboard
or shot list) stand back for a moment and ask yourself: is this interesting?
Would you watch it as a viewer? Give an honest answer.
If the answer is no, try to work out what is wrong. If you can identify
the mistakes at this stage, there's still time to rethink.
Is the subject of the film interesting? Often you are asked to make
a film about a subject that isn't particularly interesting. This,
however, doesn't give you an excuse to be boring. You still have to
find away of making it interesting, even though this would prove that
your first reaction was wrong. It's difficult to work up enthusiasm
to prove oneself wrong and this reluctance (possibly unconscious)
may have made you neglect some promising angles. Perhaps it's led
you to spend too much time on an unfruitful part of the subject. Try
a different approach, or perhaps a mix of approaches. Would any of
them work better?
Perhaps the problem is not the subject but what you say about the
subject. Try telling somebody some of the things you plan to say in
your film. 'People live in houseboats. The houseboats are on the water'.
Your listener will start looking for the nearest exit. Statements
that you would never dare say to someone because they are so obvious
and boring often go unchallenged on television. Some producers seem
to think that normal modes of thought don't apply to the small screen
and so it's OK to talk rubbish. I don't agree. If a remark is obvious
and boring in real life, it's obvious and boring on television.
Perhaps the problem is not the what? (the subject or what you are
saying about it) but the how? So it's not the story that is at fault
but how you tell it. Perhaps your approach to the subject is too verbal:
a reporter saying things to camera at the opening, interviews linked
with a few general views of the location, a closing statement to camera.
Talking heads and wallpaper. You aren't showing things happening but
telling people about them. Think again about the points in this part
of the book; then work through your shooting plan, making it more
visual and less verbal. Give the viewers action, not words.
Perhaps you already have a good visual treatment but it's not in
the right order. Try dropping the first two sequences of your film,
or putting the ending at the beginning, or telling the story from
someone else's point of view. You may have become a bit too set in
your thinking. Playing around with the film in this way may re-introduce
some mental flexibility and give you some new ideas.
Finally, think of the viewers. Who are they? Are you trying to appeal
to too general an audience and saying too little as a result? Perhaps
you should get more detail into your film. Ask yourself, does the
film offer viewers who are interested in the subject an experience:
entertaining, enlightening or - at the very least - diverting? This,
after all, is the point of the whole exercise. You are probably going
to lose those who have no interest in the subject (though aim to keep
them) but if you can't satisfy those who are interested, you're in
trouble.
If you aren't sure where you stand, go through your plans with someone
whose judgement you respect. See what they think and listen to the
questions they ask. A fresh mind can turn up a lot that you have missed.
Spectators often see more of the game than the players.
Or, if you have the chance, go back to the location for another look.
You may have missed something. Watch and listen. Turn round 360-degrees
- the relation between the location and its setting may put things
in a new perspective. What is there worth saying about the surroundings?
The spirit of the place may give you an answer.
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