Research Question of the Week and Filming Plans

     I meant to address the research question yesterday but it slipped my mind so I shall write it today. Last week I posed the question of how to effectively use the camera to improve scenes. The research I have done to answer this was a mix of examining my own footage and taking a look at some renowned short films. What I found immediately while editing together my own footage was the fault of making scenes so static. Regardless of dialogue it seems that without very well trained actors, a static shot lasting more than 30 seconds or so grows stale. The solution would be to record lines individually with the camera facing different characters, this is if you're like myself and are without a large number of cameras.
     Another thing that I picked up was that you can use certain camera angles to aid in expressing a mood present in the scene. Now often it's not all too obvious but looking at a film like Christopher Nolan's Doodlebug, the camera angles are used to reflect the very odd nature of the film. The film itself is only three minutes long, it is about a man attempting to crush a bug in his apartment only to find the bug is himself. The camera shots included are at very odd angles, they're very dark and often have the character come into frame from an unexpected place. This very chaotic set of shots is used to add to the intended mood of the piece, a tool I could possibly use later on in my own film.
     I also read through an article of of the website "The Elements of Cinema" that talked a lot about the effect of the height of shots relative to the character in question. Such as that a high angled shot can work to make the character in frame appear weak or submissive and quite the opposite in the event a low angled shot.
     I will be filming this coming Saturday for most of the day and intend to read through the script beforehand and see when I may be able to use any of the techniques above. As I've watched through all of my footage, I've decided that it's important that I actually re-shoot parts of quite a few scenes making for a very busy day.
       As for the question I hope to answer this week I would like to look somewhat into acting which is something I have yet to really touch on. I want nothing more than to have the script performed well and much of that relies on myself. I don't have a very focused question to this point but I''l be sure to include one in my next post. All I know is that it will have something to do with emphasizing emotion when delivering lines. That's all for today.