MY FIRST SCENE BREAKDOWN

And now movies will never be the same.

I see movies as cuts now..... already. I knew it would change viewing for a bit but dang. So a scene breakdown is taking a scene from a movie and breaking it down to it's parts. Things like number of cuts, types of shots used, description of action and Mise-en-scene and the running time. It's just a nice way to take a piece of film and analyze it. Take a close look at what is happening shot by shot.

I chose the scene of the wicked witch melting in "The Wizard of OZ" and did my breakdown based on this video

Below is a copy and paste of my Excel file Scene Breakdown workbook. It's admittedly a bit boring but very interesting in regards to analyzing and seeing what's really going on. Especially in the editing aspect

Scene breakdown one follows:

SEATTLE FILM INSTITUTE: FUNDAMENTALS OF EDITING
SCENE BREAKDOWN # 1							DATE: 3/1/2014
Film:_The Wizard of OZ				Name: Mitch Calhoun		Program: MFA FM&P
Scene: Wicked Witch Melting								Page: 1
#	Time	Shot	Location	Character	Description	Music	Video FX	Sound FX
1	00:00:01	CU	INT. Castle	Wicked Witch	Wicked Witch threatening Dorothy	Eeerie with fast violins	None	None
2	00:00:04	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	All four characters looking worried and frightened huddling closer together.	"	"	"
3	00:00:07	CU   Pan up	INT. Castle	Wicked Witch Minions	Wicked Witch finishes threat and raises broom to a flame to set the end on fire	"	"	"
4	00:00:12	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	All four huddled together staring at broom and fire in fear	"	"	"
5	00:00:14	CU  Pan  down	INT. Castle	Wicked Witch Minions	Wicked Witch has set broom on fire and threatens scarecrow	"	"	"
6	00:00:18	CU  broom to MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	We see the broom on fire set scarecrows arm on fire. Dorothy retrieves bucket of water	"	"	Woosh of fire
7	00:00:25	WS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow Wicked Witch Minions	See dorothy throwing water onto scarecrows arm and that the Wicked Witch is in the "line of fire"	Climactic with loud cymbal crash	"	Woosh of fire
8	00:00:26	CU	INT. Castle	Wicked Witch	See water splashing onto the Wicked With's face	None	"	Water splash
9	00:00:27	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow Wicked Witch Minions	Wicked Witch is screaming as the others back away and recover from scarecrow fire	"	"	None
10	00:00:28	WS        Long time before it cuts	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow Wicked Witch Minions	All eyes are on Wicked Witch standing alone from any group, framed by minions and weapons, as she begins melting and cursing Dorothy	"	Smoke/Fog	Hissing sound
11	00:00:54	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	Look down in shock at the pile of robes and puddle of what was the Wicked Witch	"	None	Hissing sound
12	00:00:55	CU	INT. Castle	Toto    Monkey	Toto, a monkey and spear tip of a weapon investigate what remains of the Wicked Witch	Triumphant rum-pum-pum-pummm	Smoke/Fog	Hissing sound screech of monkey
13	00:01:01	CU	INT. Castle	Lead Minion	After inspection with his weapon minion looks at Dorothy amazed that Wicked Witch is dead and says Dorothy did it	Slightly eerie orchestra	None	None
14	00:01:05	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	The group looks worried and shake heads no as Dorothy states that she did not intend to kill the Wicked Witch	"	"	"
15	00:01:11	WS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow Minions	The minions are elated at the death of the Wicked Witch and bow to Dorothy as they hail her with praise	Happier but quiet orchestra	"	"
16	00:01:14	MS	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow	The group looks relieved and happythat the minions are happy. Dorothy realizes she needs the Wicked Witch's broom	Happy Orchestra	"	"
17	00:01:15	WS        Long time before it cuts	INT. Castle	Cowardly Lion Tin Man Dorothy Scarecrow Minions	All characters are elated. Dorothy asks for the broom. The minions are happy to see it go. Dorothy realizes her mission is accomplished and its time to tell the Wizard "The Wicked Witch is dead"!	Louder Happy Orchestra	"	"
END SCENE                    Scene Retrieved From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aopdD9Cu-So There you have it! My first scene breakdown in film school. Again, school is great! Seattle is great! My classmates are awesome and the faculty is too! SFI has been a great choice. Very hands on and a great pace. The location is amazing too. #chasethedream #filmschool #filmstudent #thestruggleisreal @SEAFilmStudent