DYNAMIC FRAMES

10.1

Every film starts with a story idea which is developed into a script. You are going to be working on a scene from a film by Sergei Eisenstein – The Battleship Potemkin.

The film is set in 1905 – amidst a revolt by sailors against cruel conditions. In Odessa, a town on the Black Sea, the local inhabitants come to welcome the sailors but Government troops break up the crowds and start shooting as they move down a set of steps leading to the sea.

STEP ONE

The moment in the film that you are going to be working on concerns a mother who runs down the steps with her son, who is shot by the descending soldiers. She realises that her son is injured, collects his body but is, in turn, shot by the soldiers. At the same time we see shots of the mob running down the steps. 

So from this brief description, how would you as the artist/film maker decide to shoot this scene?  How would you organise what is happening? How would you frame the soldiers descending the steps? How would you show the mother as she realises that her son has been shot? Consider carefully each different shot that you might include in the scene.

10.2

STEP 2

Look at the original screenplay of this scene to understand how a great director of the past already solved this situation from the cinematographic point of view.

10.3

STEP 3

Put the frames of the scene in the best order according to your idea about the management of this scene.

10.4

STEP 4

Let’s watch all together the very final version of this scene: the director’s cut!