Hands on workshop, #1

This introductory workshop is intended for you to work in groups to review how to use cameras, microphones, tripods, and basic FCP workflow. It is also structured so that you can experiment with discussions of film form which you will find in chapters 2 and 3 in Film Art, Bordwell.

One definition of "narrative" is that it "presents a chain of events which are situated in time and space". Bordwell, in Film Art, Chapter 3, describes "narrative to be a chain of events in cause-effect relationship occuring in time and space". (75). Bordwell describes how a random string of images can become a narrative through spatial and temporal relationships. In chapter 2, he discusses "form" as an "overall system of relations that we can perceive among the elements in the whole film." (55). So not only are events related in time and space causally, they also (through form) illicit feelings such as humor or frustration, expectations which are suspenseful or surprising, or create meaning (60) between and amongst images, or utlize motifs (66).

In this workshop, we will start with a string of random of images or unrelated images in a shot list, and in each group turn these images into a short narrative using space, time and form.