developing a personal visual dictionary

Master Anthony Dod Mantle (European Cinematographer 2003 for DOGVILLE and 28 DAYS LATER) agreed to hold this training initiative for cinematographers, he was looking for an inspiring shooting location where the architecture itself suggests a certain atmosphere. And here, in this massive architecture, with a man scrubbing away on the floor, on a hopeless mission of cleaning the place, and a figure of authority watching from above, it is immidiately evident why he chose this place.
　　“I couldn’t prepare the story,” he explains, “only a rough idea depending on the place, then book two to three people and have little stories transporting us from one situation to the other.” Because the focus isn’t the story, the story just allows the participants to experiment with different formats. While one cinematographer sitting behind the 35 mm camera on a dolly films the woman of authority who watches the cleaning scene from an upper balcony, another one does a few takes with a lipstick or finger camera, practically lying on the floor. Later, an HD camera is used to film movements in the fog, a Mini DV camera follows the man who runs down the columned corridors with two buckets of water . The idea, Anthony Dod Mantle says, ” was to shoot on as many different formats as possible, just a few beautiful shots, the less shots, the more time for grading.” And so after two days of shooting, the group moves into the editing suite and spends two more days in post-production, again experimenting with the different formats and techniques.
　　Apart from the actual shooting and post-production, the ambitious schedule for this EFA Master Class also includes a series of screenings and discussions. “This idea of developing a personal visual dictionary with 18 culturally different people,” says Anthony Dod Mantle, ” was not so focused on the technical aspects but rather on what happens before you push the button.” By experimenting with different formats, watching the other participants and discussing the results, the participants find out what format best to use for what kind of effect. “There are certain conventions about lenght, cut, texture, about how pictures should look and how they shouldn’t look,” explains Anthony Dod Mantle, “and I wanted to make the participants more aware of these pressures… because we are defining the sensitivities of the audience.”
　　At the end of this EFA Master Class, the participants have completed a full short film which is presented, analysed and discussed in the framework of a screening at the ‘Kino in der Kulturbrauerei Berlin’.