Hi Everyone
In class the other day we were talking about composition and framing in contemporary filmmaking.
The conversation was animated and interesting and we were thinking of examples from films when the position that someone stands in can be read as something much more than the actor simply hitting their mark.
For example, an actor standing alone in the frame can suggest isolation.
A high camera angle and long shot length can heighten this feeling by also emphasizing smallness.
We have all seen moments in films when characters are overwhelmed by the enormity of the events that they find themselves experiencing and this enormity is doubly emphasised by their actual smallness within the frame.
No words are needed.
Single figures in a single frame can also be used to signal dominance.
Actors fill the frame with their body and this filling of the frame can be read in a variety of ways that all place emphasis on the character’s importance to the film.
Again, no words are needed.
When writing I aim to see my story cinematically.
I imagine what the story would look like as a film.
Not because I expect this to actually happen – even though it would be marvelous if it ever did.
I see my writing this way because I find it helps me strip away the language.
It helps me find the least number of words needed for a sentence.
The least number of sentences needed for a paragraph.
You get the idea.
No words are needed.
How do you write?
Speak Soon
Barnaby
BARNABY TAYLOR: Curiosity is Currency 