"A Dimension of Mind: Film" - Part 1: Filmmaking Basics

"A Dimension of Mind: Film" is a facsimile of the "Sight and Sound: Film" course at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.  However, "A Dimenstion of Mind: Film" differs in some important ways because it can be replicated at home.

Difficulty level: 2

Round 1 – The Basics. 
Shoot only outdoors.   No sound or artificial lights allowed.

Movie 1. Location and shots:

• Find a cool location by scouting around for a little bit.  Shoot a short sequence there that feautes an impressive establishing shot, and also uses several different kinds of shots to show off the space.

Movie 2. Continuity

• Develop a sequence where the camera follows a person, place, or thing through a more complex series of events. Try to make sure that the direction that things are going on screen stays consistent and never jumps or flips. Consider it as if the audience’s eye has to travel in a consistent path regardless of the cutting rhythm of the film.  There is a rule called the 180 degree rule, and it mandates that if you want to keep continuity, you should not flip the composition 180 degrees in any one cut.

Here is a video in which a storyboard artist does his best to explain screen direction and the 180 degree rule:


Movie 3. Chase Scene

• Keeping in mind what you know about location and continuity, show us a story involving some kind of a chase through multiple locations while keeping continuity.

Movie 4. Parallel Action

• Tell a story where 2 things are going on at once, in different places. Then the two things cross paths in some sense.

This scene from The Silence of the Lambs (stretching from the 7 minute, 30 second mark, to the 10 minute and 40 second mark) is a good example of Parallel Action.