Mobile workshop Cinema Gestures
Inspired by
1 Abr 2015 - 10 Abr 2015
Meno AvilysAnykščiai
During the four-day workshop 14-15 year old students explore two types of gestures in film: body language and different camera movements. They observe their own body through different physical movement techniques and analyse gestures in photos of famous Lithuanian photographers. Later on, participants of the workshop observe camera movements in the excerpts of different films. These activities lead them towards creation of their own audiovisual works with special focus on body and/or camera gestures. They are mentored by three film professionals and one contemporary dance expert.
The first session of the workshop began with various exercises of dance and contact improvisation guided by the contemporary dance expert. Then, the students explored (together with the film educator Gintė Žulytė) gestures captured in the photos by famous Lithuanian photographers of the 60s-80s and body language in a few snapshots from the Lithuanian documentary A Trip Across Misty Meadows (original title Kelionė ūkų lankomis, dir. Henrikas Šablevičius, Lithuania, 1973, 10 min.). The participants of the workshop discussed the meanings of gestures and their relation to certain emotions or tried to guess whom they belong to. Finally, the students chose their favourite gesture in one of the photos and had to repeat this gesture and to capture it in their own photo.
On the second day of the workshop the students started observing camera gestures in the excerpts of the following films: Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, USA, 2012, 94 min.), The Bread and Alley (original title Nān o Kūcheh, Abbas Kiarostami, Iran, 1970, 10 min.), La Région Centrale (Michael Snow, USA, 1971). They discussed the concept of “camera choreography” and draw the trajectory of the camera movement seen in the excerpt from Moonrise Kingdom. Later on, students were also introduced to the concept of single shot cinema and camerawork in the films of Leonard Retel Helmrich (The Netherlands). In the end of the first two sessions they were given a task to shoot a scene in one single shot and to share their reflections on the filming process.
The next two sessions were devoted for the realization of the audiovisual works of the participants of the workshop. The students formed the groups of three or four persons. They had initial conditions for their creative work: 1) they had to focus on the body and/or camera gestures; 2) one of the film frames of their audiovisual work had to be identical to the photo which was captured during the first session of the workshop. The film director Živilė Mičiulytė and cinematographer Laisvūnas Karvelis shared their experience and knowledge about filmmaking techniques and editing process and accompanied the youngsters through the filmmaking process. The last stage of the workshop was reflection on the works made by the students.
Filmes
A Trip Across Misty Meadows by Henrikas Šablevičius (title Kelionė ūkų lankomis, Lithuania, 1973)
Moonrise Kingdom by Wes Anderson (USA, 2012)
The Bread and Alley by Abbas Kiarostami (Nān o Kūcheh, Iran, 1970)
La Région Centrale by Michael Snow (USA, 1971)