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PART I1I SHARING YOUR WORK
PLAYING AROUND:
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CHAPTER 5: S L I D E
S H O W S
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A PARK IN FOUR MODES
Here is a salvo of small assignments that throw down this challenge: Make four slide shows about one place but use four very different design approaches. It’s a fun way to anchor the ideas about screen structure.
APPROACH 1: NARRATIVE
APPROACH 4: EMOTIONAL
Usually when taking photos in a park, your goal is to get a little bit of everything— to cover the topic and get some great individual shots. Here you are asked to use each of the four distinct approaches. And to test your mettle, the four approaches should be shot at the same location in the park.
With the narrative approach, you will be telling a story. One way is to recruit an actor or two whom you can direct. The narrative can be extremely simple—but be sure there is a very clear begin- ing, middle, and end. The end product will have ten to fifteen images, but I suggest you shoot many more than that, covering more details or moments within the story than you will end up using. Later you will select which images to put in what order.
The emotional approach may be the most diffi- cult, because you have to convey a specific inten- tion. Begin by identifying a specific feeling you want to build. Capture images that are emotion- ally charged. Rely on your intuition. Try to imagine the way this place would appear in a dream. Whereas editing in the first three approaches can follow a clear and logical flow, here your editing is intuitive. You will need to trust you instincts.
If parks aren’t your thing, select another place: a market, a ball field, a mall, a marina—almost any location can work as long as there are people there engaged in various pursuits.
APPROACH 2:
THE EDITING PROCESS
This project is about screen structure, the fundamental ways you select images (the way you shoot them), and their arrangement into a fixed sequence (the way you edit them). It’s not just about taking pictures. It is also about thinking ahead to how to arrange sets of ten to fifteen images into a coherent slide show that will be about a minute long.
DOCUMENTARY
Choose the best photos and then begin putting them into sequence. Work fast with the initial order. Next, lock in the duration of individual shorts. Experiment with patterns of quick cuts and slower montages. Then add camera moves within images that are held for longer duration. Then add transitions. Last, add a title card for the front.
Start by walking around the park without your camera so that you can consider all your options. Think ahead about the four different approaches that are at the heart of this little project. Anticipate how each approach will shape your camera work.
In the documentary approach, you will be report- ing on the specific location you’ve chosen. Work for a general sense of the place. Think like a journalist: who, what, when, where, and why. Anticipate your final slide show. Should it go from general to specific or the opposite way?
APPROACH 3: ARTSY/DESIGNY
With the artsy approach, the goal is to capture stills that imbed formal design elements, includ- ing shapes, colors, textures, unusual camera angles, framing, blur, and so on. In editing you should try to find a logic that links one image with the next by matching visual qualities.
This project suggests you find a location in a park. But many other environments will work as well. You can find fascinat-
ing activity and people in the heart of the city, at the beaches, along a water front, in a cemetery, or at a parade. Geraldine Laybourne, Smudge Studio; Smudge Studio; Smudge Studio; author; Todd Calvert