Fiction Adaptation Unit: Research - Alex Boorman Workshops

For 4 days we were taught by camera op Alex Boorman; over the 4 days he gave us several workshops.

1. Slow-Motion workshop.


Using a Canon 7D we were tasked with filming something in a higher frame rate. The 7Ds max out at 50fps which isn't particularly high if you wanted to film in slow-motion but for the workshop it was enough. My group consisted of myself, Mike, Sophie and Roxane.

We raised the shutter speed to 1/120 and shot three different scenarios: dropping an I.D badge; blowing a pile of small pieces of paper and a dripping tap.








It was interesting as I had never shot in a higher frame rate before and had a few days prior read a few tutorial articles on shutter speed, ISO and other cinematography-related topics.


2. Three Moods


Our second workshop was to make three 30-45 second films about three different moods: happy, sad and angry. They had to contain at least 5 different shots also. My group was myself, Danny, Charlie and Tim.

For this workshop there were fewer Canons available so our group used a Sony EX1-R instead which I wasn't too fussed with as I prefer them over the Canons. So I set the camera up whilst the others were coming up with ideas.

We based our three films around the same focus point: chewing gum. Titled The Wrigley Trilogy four characters are sat in a room: anger (Danny) gets out some gum and is the first film we see. Sadness (Charlie) is a victim to anger and is the second film and happiness (Tim) finishes the trilogy off with a double surprise.




3. Short

Our final workshop was to create a 1-2 minute long film with one of the following themes: despair, loss, confusion and victory. Myself, Andy, Mark, Sophie and Roxanne chose loss and came up with the idea of Mark getting an important text saying "we need to talk" but before he can call back he loses signal: resulting in him walking around the studios looking for some signal. We used a Sony again due to a second Canon being faulty.





Of the three I think my favourite is the Wrigley Trilogy film: it has three interlinking stories and some light comedy mixed in. It also looks and is shot pretty well.

Aside from getting some more time and experience with the Sony I didn't really learn much. It was good to have the hands on time with the Sony though as I was planning to use one for my fiction shoot.