Fiction Adaptation - Workshop with Mike Rymer

Mike Rymer is an award winning filmmaker who has worked for many companies such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Canadian History channel.  In 2015, he released his original 15 minute film "Sick" which he entered into many film festivals and has won 20 awards and a significant amount of popularity through mental health organisations.  He has so far had a very successful career and alongside filmmaking, he teaches university students his craft and the ways of storytelling. 


We have had the opportunity to spend the day with Mike and get our hands on some kit that is new to us, with his guidance and expertise   we were able to begin to understand how to make camera movements effectively.  We used: A fig rig, A Jib and a Dolly/Track.  These are all pieces of kit that can allow you to make some really creative and innovative decision making when it comes to the shot choices for your scenes.  Mike got us to really think about what would be the best reasons to use each piece of equipment so that we are not moving the camera just for the sake of moving the camera.  Every choice made must have a valid reason behind it and needs to add to the storytelling of your piece. 

We split off into groups and at first, I worked with Josh Bayly, Troy and Sam and we worked together to understand how the fig rig could be used to create steady camera movement. It took us a while to figure out that it would be very difficult to keep the fig rig steady as well as change the focus and framing of the lens when creating a camera movement shot. For example; we tried to recreate the 'hero' shot seen in many Michael Bay films where the camera does a 360 around the character and the 
background appears to wiz past.

We then moved on to different groups.  I chose to work with Josh Jones, Becca, Nisserin and Ida using the jib to recreate a scene.  We decided to try and create a Jurassic  Park like scene where they reveal the dinosaurs.  We chose to change it up by having two characters talking to each other and then spot Shakira in the distance and the two characters run over to them. This worked quite effectively as the reveal from the jib was smooth and created some dramatisations. 

 



















The track really allows you to tell the story with the characters.  By moving the camera forward in a scene where the protagonist for the shot is the focus and if there are some things in the foreground, by moving the camera it creates a real connection between the audience and the character.  Take a look at this clip that explains visually what I mean:

As you an see, he explains the differences between a dolly shot and a zoom.  Mike explained to us a lot about the different effects that this causes during our workshop.  He got us to decide why filmmakers tend to no longer use the zoom for shots and instead to track or dolly in.  We decided collectively that the reason for this is that the actual lens is changing meaning we can no longer see a lot of the background.  The depth of field has changed dramatically making you less aware of the surrounding the character is in.  Thus making the dolly shot a lot more professionally looking as it really makes the film look like the production values are higher than the may be. 

I really like the tracking shot and I have ideas about where I could place them when looking at the poem I shall be adapting. I would also consider using the jib however it isn't as easy to take to locations due to its size therefore maybe the fig rig would work better.