Relationship Between Characters

Original Shoot (Watch Here)

In Ed's moving image lesson recently we have worked on shooting actors having a conversation from a script provided by Ed. Through this we have discovered how to do this effectively. There's three main stages of this: writing, shooting and editing. To practice this we shot and lit a scene in the studio, and cut it together. We also were given access to the original footage of the scene and cut that together too.

When planning out a story to shoot, the pre-production is one of the most important stages. A significant part of the pre-production is the characters and script - dialogue drives and develops the plot the most. At this point of planning, the idea of the characters in your head and their relationships are fairly vague. Writing dialogue is a struggle and can take lots of revisions and changes. One thing to consider when writing is how the actor will deliver the line - Will they be feeling a certain emotion? What speed will they say it? What expression will they have? - this needs to be listed in the script as a parenthetical remark. All of these things become a bit clearer when shooting.

Drama Student Shoot (Watch Here)

At this stage of production you work with the actors and can see the characters develop their personalities and relationships, as there is a real person to represent them. During conversations you can present the characters through their reactions, emotions and delivery of dialogue which can be done by directing the actors. As there are many takes, you can observe how the actors act and in-between takes speak to them about what you want them to change or do.

Finally, in the edit you have the ability to pick and choose how much of a certain emotion or reaction to show, and what order the shots are in. During editing you need to not only consider showing the characters when they react and speak, but also think about the flow of the scene and make sure it doesn't seem mechanical. If done well this can achieve different atmospheres/emotions or build tension etc. making a gripping and intriguing film for the viewer. Getting the intimacy right between the audience and characters can be essential. This can go on to invoke an emotional connection from the viewers.