a date - alternative ending

assignment 1 - a five shots sequence

For this assignment you will produce a short sequence, of no more than five shots, that tells
a simple story using images alone.

Story 
She's at home and receives a message on the phone. It's him. He's asking to meet today. After considering it just for a second she answers. Yes. 
She gets ready, just as she does for every date. She wants to look pretty. 
Then, as in every date, she takes the bus to the park. While waiting, she thinks on all the other dates they've had so far... It's getting a bit less weird every time. Then, finally, he arrives. 

Storyboard

Shot 1 - A mobile phone is on a table, then it receives a text message. A woman takes the phone and answers the message. 
For this shot not much information is needed. I have chosen a close up of the phone, where you can see the table and then the hand that takes the phone, although you cannot see the person taking the phone and won't know who she is until the next shot, when you would only assume that was the person taking the phone.
It is important for the story to see the message "Shall we meet today?" therefore the close up should be close enough to allow the reading.
The point of view is a third person type, from outside the action, although to read the message it must be very close to a subjective POV.
The camera angle needs to be high, so the mobile screen is clear, and the object of the shot (the phone) clear to the viewer. There is no need to imply any feelings with the camera angle for this shot.

Shot 2 - The woman gets dressed in front of a mirror.
I have decided to use mid-wide shot and a mirror reflection for this shot. This will allow to show a bit more of the room, and as she is looking her reflection, smoothing her dress, the shot will imply she is getting ready for some special occasion. In frame the viewer will see the mirror and her full reflection, and in the foreground her back.
A natural angle will work ok, as if someone were looking from behind her.

Shot 3 -  The woman puts on some makeup.
To keep on playing with reflections and giving a clear idea that she is getting ready for a special occasion, this shot will show her in the bathroom, putting on some make up. The shot will be similar to shot 2, using a mid shot and mirror reflections. Again, a natural camera angle will suit, as the shot does not require to imply a particular feeling.

Shot 4 - The woman waits for a bus in a bus stop.
A very wide shot, showing the whole bus stop and the woman waiting. The bus will arrive and leave, and the shot shall keep the same framing to show that she has left.
The shot is showing pretty much all the information required and nothing is left outside the spectator's view range, except possibly the road. The viewer will notice that the bus is coming, though, thanks to the road noise.

Shot 5 - The woman is waiting in a bench, when a man arrives and sits in the same bench, but keeping some distance between them. It might be him, who sent the message earlier, or it might not... the viewer would not know. The woman and the man will look at each other for a couple of seconds, and then will look at the horizon, not saying a single word.
A wide frame will show the bench, and a little bit of the park. When the scene begins, the woman is already seated, so she might have been waiting for some time. I'll keep her arrival out of the scene as this information is not required.
The camera angle is a natural angle, slightly low. When the subjects look at the horizon they will be looking over the camera POV, but just slightly, to give a sense of openness and infinity.





Evaluation

Overall, I am quite happy with the sequence. The story is pretty much nonsense, but still has some enigma in it. I think the flow of the story has been well captured, and it has rhythm. In terms of planning, the final result is not far away from the first draft of the sketch. The main changes came when I re-read the assignment description and realised that I was limited to 5 shots, after that I re-draw the sequence and the sketches have really helped me to focus in the scenes and to know what I was looking for. I'll develop this further shot by shot. 

In shot 1 it could be understood that this is a subjective POV, due to the approaching angle of the hand that takes the phone. Then it wouldn’t make sense… is the subject staring at the phone, waiting for it to receive a message? That was not the idea that I wanted to express, therefore I think the angle of the approaching hand should be more open, so the camera is further away from the subjective POV. In the future I think it's worth it to film and then watch the scene filmed to identify these things that might not be so obvious from behind the camera.

Afterwards, when the spectator can see two hands grabbing the mobile, it is clearer that the viewer is a third person in the scene and it works better. In my opinion the close up of the phone while the woman is answering the message works well, as it allows to read the text and gives some dynamism to the sequence.  

There is a fade to black in between the different frames that doesn’t fit very well. I need to pay attention to how frames and sequences are stick together in series and movies, as I don’t know how to change between frames and scenes. This shall help me in future sequences.

I think shots 2 and 3, while she gets ready, have worked well. In my opinion the reflections on the mirrors are achieving the intended idea of enlarging the space shown, and fit in the story, as the woman gets ready for her date.

Shot 3 was finally recorded with a slight low angle instead of with a natural angle as planned, but that was purely due to the position and location of the mirrors. I think the final result is satisfactory.

Shot 4 was complicated, as I the shot raw was uninteresting, and trying to cut it was difficult. I did only one take of that shot, it was cold that day, and the buses were not stopping in that particular bus stop, so the only time that the bus was filmed it was driving quite fast, and far away from the bus stop. I did several cuts modifying the bus velocity, so it kind of looked like the bus was stopping, but none of them worked OK. Finally I cut this series of shots with cross dissolve transitions. I’m happy with the result, that shows time pass, and the final bus passing solution is not too bad, considering the available material. For next sequences I need to be more patient. Always more than one take is going to be needed. And I should wait for the bus to stop, as a lesson learnt.

The final shot, when the two people is seating on the bench, is my favourite one. I like the frame and the composition, the symmetry of the image, and I love the light. There is an alternative finale (actually this is not the original ending of the sequence) which I’ll post separately, but I finally chose this one as I feel it adds a little bit more to the story. 

Everything can be improved, but from planning to cutting, I think I have done a pretty decent job.