Working on individual and group exercises outlined by a strict set of rules allows us to experiment with and understand the elements at play in this question of cinema. Over to you !
Record one minute of the weather in the place where you live: At school, in your street, in your neighbourhood, in your village, in the town or out in the country… Using a wide variety of choices of shot, looking at all sorts of different situations, invites us to look differently at the world of weather which surrounds us, giving our own, personal, view on that which may at first seem everyday life and humdrum.
Sensation: Give a representation or impression of a weather event, such as rain, wind, sun, fog, the cold or the heat. You will do this by filming a series of short shots, which can either be shot in sequence, or brought together through editing. This exercise calls on both memory and observational skills and invites a creative process in the expression of the sensations experienced, using observational and impressionistic work. Special attention should be paid with regards to the sound world of the weather events represented.
Seasons: Film the same simple situation in several different weather conditions. In each version of the film you must feature the same location, the same characters, and the same interaction between the characters, but it should filmed and staged according to the weather conditions of the moment in which you film. This exercise allows us to see how weather dictates certain approaches, much like a co-writer for the scene, on specific situations. This exercise could lead to an exploration of how creating artificial weather conditions affect what we see and feel on screen, such as finding ways to work with manmade rain, wind or sunlight.
