Thursday

To continue the theme of problems for script-writers, I thought I'd focus on cars today. This really is an issue for directors, but it originates in the writing phase: how to do you film two people in a car? There is very little scope for invention here, and any radical departure from what we already know will jar obviously unless the rest of your film is as inventive, and the shot has a purpose other than to avoid monotony. You almost always have to go for the two-shot establishing angle from the front windscreen. The audience needs to orientate themselves to the space the characters are in. It's painful, but is there a way out of doing it? Variations on this are to leave the reflections on the glass - sometimes giving interesting light effects - or to mount the camera on the car - as in Touch of Evil - to make the shot more dynamic. Other than that, as I said, the problem is in the writing phase: don't create any scenes where characters have to talk in (and/or use) cars. Perhaps the only solution is in crass humour: How do you shoot two people in a car? With two guns.

Incidentally, May the Fourth be with you - today is one of the most important days in cinema history, and in every cinema year.