Portrait of Place: Early Thoughts

Ideas:

• A documentary following someone as they explore Edale - Lots of establishing shots, landscapes and following the lead chronologically.
• A more experimental film with the same theme. Less chronological, more atmospheric.
• Someone being followed/chased.

All three ideas involved someone being followed by the camera and we decided that since the chase idea was the most dramatic it would present opportunities for the widest variety of shots and potentially the most interesting. This was especially true as we imagined the film to build up from earlier, slower shots and cuts up to something more fast and intense.

Early shot ideas:

• Static shots (tripod), long: landscapes and showing the lead wandering around, giving a sense of scale and loneliness.
• Static shots (tripod), short: Same as the longer shots, but quicker in order to give a sense of the pace increasing.
• Slow tracking shots of walking.
• Fast tracking shots of running.
• Camera chasing from behind.
• Very quick shots of lead running past camera in different locations.
• Few (but not many) close up shots in order to show confusion or fear, but in general preference for the action to be impersonal and distant.
• Extreme long shot of the lead running.

These were our general shot ideas, but once we were there the general atmosphere of the day and the locations we found lead us more towards the theme of loneliness and our shot selections reflected this.

We also came to this idea since we were only able to have one person in the actual film as we couldn't get anyone else, though the idea of the lead being chased by something unseen was an idea from the beginning.

We still filmed lots of shots of the lead being chased, but these became more about attempting to escape rather than actually being chased.