exercise: visualisation

Place yourself in the scene; don’t think about what is there objectively but what you would see if you were there.

You are talking to someone in a shop

The person is facing you talking in an animated way, using their hands.

Knocking on a door

You knock on the door.You wait.The door is opened.

You are having an illicit affair

You are alone having a passionate conversation with your loved one.
A sudden sound in the background causes you to glance round.

frame

I've come across this simple definition of a frame. It's simple, but yet I find it beautiful and poetic:

"The camera and the lens work together to record a particular horizontal rectangle of reality. The    rectangle is only a small segment or cut out window of the total sphere of the physical world around the camera operator. This cutout has a finite and defined border, called the frame." 

Thompson, Roy & Bowen, Christopher J. (2009), Grammar of the shot. 2nd ed.Oxford: Elsevier.

exercise: building a story

Chose a picture, identify a series of smaller frames within the picture to create a new story and outline it.

Stockholm Central Station, by Michell Zappa from Wikimedia Commons

I have chosen this photo of Stockholm Central train station hall. We can see a lot of people coming and going in their daily routines, but if we look closer, we'll find Jack. He looks like he has no rush or nowhere to go... and that's because he hasn't. Jack has been sleeping in a hostal for the last 5 years, and in winter during the day he comes to the station because it's warmer than the streets. Besides, he knows some people in this hectic place who usually help him. 

There is Pete, for example, reading in the cafeteria. He retired many years ago, and since then he comes to have a cappuccino every morning, then he will left to do the groceries shopping, but before leaving he will buy a coffee for Jack and will spend some time chatting with him. 

Also the two nice guys who must work in the office close to the station. They come by train every morning, stop to grab some breakfast and leave. Once Jack met one of them in the street while the guy was walking with his family, and he greeted Jack and asked if everything was OK... well, that's sadly unusual. Very nice people indeed. 

Jack also likes the station because he can make up stories, and then the times flies by. For example today he saw this elderly couple who looked anxious and nervous with their luggage and the tickets in their hands... He imagined they were going to meet his new granddaughter, who lives in Australia, and they'll spend some time in the southern summer with their family... how fantastic would that be. 

From left to right, Jack, Pete, the two nice guys and the elderly couple

exercise: look at other's students sequences

Look at other student's sequences and try to answer these questions:

• What is the story?
• Wat information is conveyed in each frame?
• What information is neessary to understand the story?
• What essential information has been left out and/or what is included unnecessary?

http://rjdown-dfp-log.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/project-1-frames-in-film.html
http://digitalfilmproductionbysuzy.wordpress.com/2013/10/19/exercise-telling-a-story/

Richard and Suzy both have chosen  Jack and the beanstalk. I like both approaches and the dynamism of their stories.
In Suzy's story you can easily identify the feelings of the different characters and the giant's representation is very good, as in one of the frames you can see only his big foot trying to catch Jack.  I think the only information that has been left out is clarifying what is the object that Jack has in its hands, and that it has been stolen from the giant's house. This bit of story is very clear in Richard's frames, although the size of the giant is not as brilliantly framed as in Suzy's tale.

http://heidibocalog.wordpress.com/category/photography-degree/digital-film-production/part-one-framing/project-one-frames-in-the-film/
Heidi chose to tell the story of Santa's visit on Christmas night. The first frame shows a child placing his shock on the fireplace, then you can see him sleeping in the second frame. The third frame shows Santa's feet coming by the chimney, and then in case there were any doubts, frame 4 shows a closeup of Santa and the presents. Finally frame 5 shows the happy child finding the presents by the tree. 
Heidi has included all the information necessary, and all the frames have been very well chosen. 

http://emilyoca.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/ex1-telling-story-in-five-pictures.html
Last but not least, Emily has chosen the difficult fairytale Cinderella. I think that, exactly as it happened to me with Pinocchio, the story is too long to be summarised in only 5 frames, but in this case the chosen information helps to identify it very quickly. 
You can see in the first frame a miserable Cinderella sweeping the floor, and her two evil sisters are in the foreground with the invitation to the prince's party. Then you see a fairy giving Cinderella her beautiful dress and frame 3 shows her dancing with the prince. Finally frame 4 shows a clock indicating it's 12 o'clock and the shoe in the stairs, and frame 5 shows the prince fitting the shoe in Cinderella's foot. 
If you didn't know the story it would be difficult to understand that Cinderella has not been invited to the ball, and that she needs to be back before 12, but then, how do you show all that in just 5 frames?

Repeat the process with a story of your own:

exercise: tell a story

Tell a story using just five frames. 
Choose a simple story and sketch out five essential images that will tell it. 

For some estrange reason I decided to sketch Pinocchio and I only realised too late that it was going to be very difficult (if not impossible) to tell the full story in just five frames... so I decided to tell my favourite bit instead.

In my opinion there is room for improvement in terms of creating the scenes (the elements would give an idea of where the frame is taking place, but a richer background would have helped)... and I wonder if it would have been possible to tell the full story. 

I would like to read what do you think, please comment.