This week, we started with feedback on the Bar’s 5+5 assignment. I was really happy with the result and completely agreed with Ting’s tweaks because they pushed the piece closer to what the director had in mind. The first note was technical: my render came out square instead of rectangular which was due to my current Maya settings. Fixing this will be important going forward, so my framing choices actually match what I plan to capture on camera.
On the first shot, Ting suggested exaggerating the movement from the very beginning. To achieve this, I shifted the keyframe from frame 120 to 70 so the camera accelerates sooner, then adjusted the curves in the graph editor to create a fast-in and ease-out. This made the shot feel more intentional and energetic rather than slow and floaty, and it reminded me how much timing alone can change the emotional read of a move.
For the third shot, the mid close-up, Ting noted that the camera movement felt slightly disconnected. In my initial version, the camera pushed in first and then panned up. I reworked this by combining both moves so they complete at the same time, making the moment more coherent and keeping the focus on the subject rather than the camera calling attention to itself. This also tied into our broader discussions about visual storytelling, where every camera choice should support the story’s beat rather than stand as a separate trick.
Here is the polished version:
In class, we shifted to story structure and how to build blocks of narrative rather than a simple chronological list of events. We discussed how each beat should follow from the character’s desire and flaw, and how causal connectors like “therefore” and “but” help create a chain of cause and effect instead of an “and then” sequence. We also differentiated internal vs external conflict and were introduced to the SWBST framework (Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then), which helps turn a basic template into a causal script with clear stakes and escalation. To apply this, we created a storyboard in class, which forced me to think about how each shot visualised a specific “but” or “therefore” rather than just filling space.
For next week, we were given two tasks. The first is a cinematography analysis of a scene of our choice; I chose the moment in The Chronicles of Narnia where Lucy first discovers Narnia. I focused on how composition, scale, and lighting gradually shift from claustrophobic and curious to open and magical, and how the camera movement guides the audience from hesitation to wonder. Writing this analysis helped me connect what we are learning about causal storytelling to how shots are actually designed in films I love.
The second task is a pair assignment called “Hunter to Prey”, which combines the last few sessions. We are exploring a change in power dynamics through both writing and previs: our story follows an apparently innocent man who is about to be mugged by a thief, but the situation flips, and the roles of hunter and prey are reversed. Mapping this in storyboard form forced us to decide exactly in which beat the power shifts, and how that is expressed visually through framing, staging, and camera movement rather than just in dialogue.
After finalising the storyboard, we produced a previs that roughs out timing, staging, and camera moves for the whole sequence. Working in previs made it very clear where shots were dragging or not selling the reversal strongly enough, so next week I want to focus on sharpening those key beats and making sure each cut has a clear narrative reason, following the “but/therefore” logic we covered in class.