So, during my interview on the Machiniplex premiere of Saving Grace, the question came up if I do storyboards - and people seemed a bit astonished that I don't.
In fact, I never even write down how I want to film certain scenes - in my scripts, you won't find inserts like "slow camera pan from left to right" or "camera focuses on younamehim's face". I don't make notes concerning the camera, not even for myself.
I thought maybe that would have to change now I'm filming someone elses script - but found that I work this like I do one of my own.
I just read the script, and while I'm reading, the movie plays in my minds eye; at first some scenes are blurred, but the more often I read it, and the more I get into it, the more the vision clarifies.
When I start filming, each scene is complete in my head, and the "only" thing left to do is get it done.... of course, during the process, I sometimes change things - add a close-up here or a pan there - but not much. In the end, the scenes always come out pretty much as I "saw" them.
I realise that this would be a nightmare if I were doing machinima in the classical sense - with other people operating the characters for me while I'm filming - but I'm not sure I could change my ways - for one thing, I don't even know all those fancy correct terms for the camera movements! :p I also think this might be the reason why I can work only one project at a time - there's simply not enough room in my brain for more than one movie-vision (I admire people who can work on several films at the same time, and I'm somehow sure that's only possible because they're taking notes... or is it?).
I would love to hear how you work. Do you have a storyboard, or write down notes on how a scene should look? How's your workflow? When do you get your ideas? While writing the script, or afterwards? How much do you change while filming if you do have a storyboard?
5 years ago
