Working through individual and group based exercises defined by the rules that govern the project allows participants to experiment and develop an understanding of the interplay of elements that make up this question of cinema.
Segmented portrait: Make a segmented portrait of a person with 3 to 6 photos, or brief shots, which never show the subject in their entirety. This exercise allows an exploration of choice – the use of close ups, masking, the gameplay of framing and hiding, the difference between soft and sharply focused images – which offers up a category in between hidden and shown – that of suggestion.
In close up: Film an action in a series of tightly cropped shots: Person A moves from one space to another, nearby space, and gives something to Person B. This exercice allows to pay attention to the gestures and rhythms of the actors bodies, which, even more powerfully than dialogue or facial reactions, create a unique atmosphere and give birth to character.
What's out of shot?: A person in shot reacts to something or someone out of shot, which is only evident to the audience by way of sound, light, the actor’s expression, or the direction in which they are looking… Explore the possibilities of off screen space - the space out of shot, paying special attention to the use of sound, using, at times, the sound conventions of suspense and surprise.
