MasterShots Vol 2
Page 7
The first shot shows David Kross with his back turned to the camera. Although he looks over his shoulder at Karoline Herfurth, he does not immediately turn to face her. She stands in the doorway, and although her face is turned toward him, she does not enter the room. This is the threshold she will not cross, and it serves to create some distance between them.
Rather than shooting over-the-shoulder shots, the director has chosen to place each character in their own frame, further separating them from each other. Although there is a hint of a possible relationship between the two, the barrier prevents them from getting close.
In the final shot of Kross, a longer, more flattering lens is used to create a little more intimacy, but although he now faces her directly, his body is turned away. He has not shifted around in his seat, and this maintains the dislocation between the two.
Scenes like this are effective because they pull the audience in two directions at once. In terms of the plot and facial expressions, we sense a growing intimacy between these people, but this is contradicted by everything else on screen. You can add great depth to a scene by manipulating this contradiction.
The Reader. Directed by Stephen Daldry. The Weinstein Company, 2008. All rights reserved.
6.8
NO CONTACT
People don’t look at each other much in the real world, and you can take advantage of this to keep a dialogue scene interesting to watch, when relatively mundane plot points are being revealed.
This scene from Ghost World is important to the plot, and sets up a few important ideas, but it is not a rip-roaring mystery, so the director has kept it interesting by using the camera to reveal the characters as much as the plot.
The first shot establishes their positioning, and by having Scarlett Johansson look away at something off-screen, the director shows both faces at once. The director then cuts to shots of each character, almost from directly in front, and they talk without really looking at each other.
Above all, these two are old friends, and this is shown by their complete comfort with each other. People who’ve been friends for a long time barely even glance at each other when they talk. When you meet somebody for the first time, there’s lots of polite eye contact. When you’re trying to make a point to somebody, or show your feeling, there’s lots of eye contact; but when you’re just chatting with an old friend, there’s almost no eye contact. To emphasize this point, the director has placed the actors on different levels, so that looking at each other is almost impossible. When one does look at the other, the eye contact is never returned. Far from creating a sense of separation, this sustains a feeling of intimacy while the mechanics of the plot are laid out.
This also demonstrates that whenever you have a scene that needs brightening up, placing the actors on different levels always gives you something more interesting to work with.
Ghost World. Directed by Terry Zwigoff. United Artists, 2001. All rights reserved.
6.9
SHIFT TO BACKGROUND
In some scenes, the plot point you want to reveal is not made by the dialogue itself, but by an action the character makes, or just by her expression. For something so subtle, you need to stage the scene so that your audience focuses on the actor’s face at the precise moment she makes a decision or feels an emotion.
This scene from North Country shows Charlize Theron move from the foreground (where she can’t be seen clearly) to the background, where she faces the camera. The director changes from a slightly obscured view of her face to a direct full-face view, and this enables the viewer to see what she’s feeling.
A scene like this requires that the actors have a lot of “business” to motivate their mundane actions. In this case, they are washing the dishes. Whether this was in the script or was added by the director, it is essential for the scene to work. If you ever work on a script where this kind of scene takes place at an empty table, move the actors to somewhere they can be busy with their hands. That way you can justify their movements throughout the scene. Also, a slightly mundane setting can make an important revelation seem all the more startling.
The activity also gives Theron motivation to move to the back of the room. She is clearing dishes away, moves toward the cupboard, and then stops there to take in what has been said.
Although this excessive movement of props and people will provide a challenge for your sound recordist, it’s worth the effort to bring more life to a few moments that could otherwise be cinematically flat.
North Country. Directed by Niki Caro. Warner Bros., 2005. All rights reserved.
6.10
SWING PAN
Panning the camera from one character to the other rarely works, but if the background action is related to the plot, you can make this move powerful.
This scene from Three Colors: Blue pans from one character to the other and back again, as they speak. A viewer might think this seems forced, except that the conversation is, in part, about the stage show going on below the two characters.
If they were sitting against a wall, the pan would appear forced, but by including the background, the director shows the full scene (including the important background action) without a single cut. It doesn’t matter that the background is out of focus, because the conversation explains what’s going on.
This scene could end on one character delivering a line, but the director chose to have both characters lean in at the same time, so that they share the frame. The final pan occurs at the same time as this movement, then the camera rests on the two of them.
When shooting this setup, you should slightly offset the camera toward one character. This means that when the two come into the frame the camera remains at an angle to them, which keeps the focus on them. If you place the camera exactly between them, the camera will come to rest on empty space, directing attention to the background. If that’s what you want, that’s fine. But if you want to keep the attention on the actors, keep the camera slightly closer to your main character.
Although this is a simple setup, it’s often the simple ones that need the most tweaking to come off exactly right. You’ll notice that Juliette Binoche sits quite far back in her chair. This enables the audience to see more of her face, rather than just her profile. It’s worthwhile to rehearse your actors in getting their timing right. This will ensure that you’re getting the best possible look at each face before going for the first take.
Three Colors: Blue. Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Miramax, 1993. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 7
WALKING AND TALKING
7.1
SPIRAL DOWN
Staircases can be difficult locations to shoot in because they are confined, but they can add visual interest to characters who are talking as they move.
In this scene, she wants to keep talking, but he is trying to leave. This means there is a distance between them, so as they move down the staircase the director can cut back and forth between the shots. If they were walking down together, it wouldn’t work, so the director needs some justification for the distance between them. It might be that one is rushing ahead, for example.
The camera setup consists of framing each actor almost centrally, and keeping the same camera distance as they move down the stairs. The actor’s camera is slightly closer to him, giving him the point of view. If the camera was at an equal distance to both, the audience might identify with her more, as she is higher up. As such, positioning the camera slightly closer to the viewpoint character is essential.
You can keep the actors on the move or have them stop, but it’s wise to keep the distance between them the same throughout, or the audience may be confused as to where they are. If you want to see one character catch up to the other, stay on that character while the movement takes place.
As they talk, you can have the lower character look back, as shown in the frame grab from The Science of Sleep. For most of the scene, he looks ahead, but the occasional glance backward helps to establish a connection betw
een them as they move.
It helps to shoot this sort of shot with a Steadicam or similar stabilizing device. Extreme caution is always required when you ask your camera operator to move backward down a staircase. Ensure that a strong assistant carefully guides the camera operator.
The Science of Sleep. Directed by Michel Gondry. Warner Independent Pictures, 2003. All rights reserved.
7.2
RUSH PAST
Dialogue can be spoken in a great rush, with two characters shouting brief lines at each other. In scenes like this, it helps if the movements of the actors and the camera reflect the drama. A good way to do this is to have the camera and actors moving in opposite directions.
In this shot from The Abyss, the camera follows one actor moving in opposition to another, creating the maximum amount of momentum. The audience follows the first actor down the corridor, and at the same time another character rushes toward him. As this is shot with a short lens, the corridor walls appear to speed by, and the approaching character rushes up.
She stops at the side of the corridor and he continues on his way. Partly, this is because he’s going off to solve the problem, but it also means that as he continues the conversation he has to look back down the corridor to see her, which keeps his face in shot.
It’s worth noting that when she stops, she is in a brightly lit part of the corridor, so that the viewer concentrates on her as she delivers her lines. Then, as the scene continues, the director switches the focus back to him as he turns around to shout back at her.
This approach works extremely well in a tight corridor, as there is ample justification for her stopping (to make room for him), but the same principle could be applied in many locations.
The Abyss. Directed by James Cameron. 20th Century-Fox, 1989. All rights reserved.
7.3
FINDING THE LENS
When actors walk alongside or in front of the camera, as shown in this shot from The Reader, the director must ensure that they keep their faces in view of the camera. Actors don’t usually need much encouragement to do this, but you should find good motivations for them, or the scene will look forced.
You can see here that as they walk, each turns as though to look back at the crowd and the events going on around them, but really they are finding the camera lens, and keeping their faces in shot. When turning to face each other, they turn slightly more than necessary so that the audience can see their faces.
At the end of the shot, the older man stops at the door. Rather than looking over his shoulder, he turns his whole body around, so that his face can be seen. Good actors will make this look entirely natural. It helps if the scene has lots of action going on around them, so that their movement fits in. In this scene, they are surrounded by protesters, police vans, and people coming into the courts, so it works. If they were walking down a country lane it might not be so effective, so use this technique only when it can be justified by the entirety of the scene.
The Reader. Directed by Stephen Daldry. The Weinstein Company, 2008. All rights reserved.
7.4
BACK TO CAMERA
When you have a group of three people on the move, add variety to your coverage by shooting from in front and from behind. This can be more interesting than the standard approach of shooting a medium close-up of each person from the side.
You can see here that when the camera is behind the actors, they angle their bodies and their faces to be seen better. They even pause, so that the couple can turn to face the tall man. Then, as they continue, a gap remains between them, leaving room for them to turn toward each other as they walk.
If the conversation is interesting enough (as it should be) you can afford to show their mood through their body language alone, so don’t force the actors to keep their faces in view for the whole shot.
When the camera cuts to the front view, the actors are all closer together and facing forward, largely because this fits them all into the frame. They continue to glance at each other, but not as often, because showing their expression is more important than having them look at each other.
The problem is that the setup from behind is quite different from the setup in front. The actors are arranged quite differently, so you cannot repeatedly cut from one view to the other. If you use this technique, use one angle and then cut to the other, but do not attempt to cut back and forth between the two.
This setup can be a stylistic choice, but is also a good technique to have ready in case you are in a location where shooting from the side is difficult. If there are trees, walls, or other obstructions that prevent you from moving alongside the actors, shooting from behind and in front can capture the group dynamic with just a couple of shots.
Revolutionary Road. Directed by Sam Mendes. Paramount Vantage, 2008. All rights reserved.
7.5
MUTUAL INTEREST
There are times when simple coverage is the best way to capture a scene where the actors are walking. This example from Almost Famous shows the first moment in the film where these two characters need each other and try to connect. The coverage reflects this by staying resolutely in front of the actors, moving where they move.
Although it isn’t clear from the frames shown here, this scene covers quite a lot of ground, with the actors crossing the road and walking down a long street. Rather than moving the camera around them, the director simply keeps it in front of them and captures their relationship.
When the director cuts to closer shots, they are not at angles to the actors, but are pointed straight at their faces. This gives the scene a strong cohesion, and makes the audience feel the actors’ connection, while everything else is moving past. As in many of the shots described in this book, the characters barely look at each other as they talk.
The problem with shooting everything in one direction is that continuity errors can creep in. It is difficult to time every take to match exactly, especially when there is considerable background action. In this example, there are several continuity errors, as background action slips out of synch from cut to cut. One solution is to shoot an additional angle, but this would break the carefully crafted emotion of the scene. Perhaps the best solution is to time background action as carefully as possible, and cut around the problems as well as you can.
Almost Famous. Directed by Cameron Crowe. DreamWorks, 2000. All rights reserved.
7.6
OPEN SPACE
Sometimes you can frame your main character alone in the scene, even though others are present. The movement that follows can bring them back together.
In this scene from Only Clouds Move the Stars, Thea Sofie Rusten is framed on the left, looking at the boy as they talk. (The audience knows he’s there because of an earlier, overhead establishing shot.) As they talk, he moves into frame and past her, but she remains focused on the space where he was standing.
By keeping her looking at the same place, the director achieves two things. First, the character remains facing the camera as they talk, and second, her deep sense of self-involvement is shown. Although she is carrying on a conversation, she is wrapped up in her own thoughts.
By the time she turns to approach him, he has positioned himself on the left-hand side of the frame, facing her. This means that when she turns, the focus can shift to his face. At all times, somebody’s face is in shot. You shouldn’t force this setup onto a scene unless it truly reflects where the characters are in their journey. Staring into space works only if the character is genuinely in such a trance-like haze. Used inappropriately, this can look pretentious.
Only Clouds Move the Stars. Directed by Torun Lian. SF Norway, 1998. All rights reserved.
7.7
FOLLOWING
When one character pursues another, trying to be heard, you can keep the camera in front of them and capture the whole performance by tracking backwards. In this example from The Abyss, a Steadicam is used to give more maneuverability in a confined space. Although this looks like a simple shot, it is me
ticulously blocked so that both actors are visible throughout.
The Steadicam operator has framed the actors so that they are almost exactly in the center of the frame. This is ideal when moving through a tunnel, because it helps to keep the actors relatively settled in the frame, while simultaneously making the environment rush past.
At the beginning of the shot, the camera is just to the left of the actors, so the audience can see him over her right shoulder. The camera then moves over to the right, and he shifts so that viewers can see him over her left shoulder.
Although you usually want the actors to ignore the camera, this is one time when you should ask them to be aware of the lens. The actor who’s closest to camera should keep a consistent pace, and the actor at the back should maneuver so that he is in shot as the camera operator shifts from side to side.
In some cases, a director will tell the actors to just act and let the Steadicam operator do all the framing to compensate, but you’ll get better results if everybody contributes to making this a tight shot.
The Abyss. Directed by James Cameron. 20th Century-Fox, 1989. All rights reserved.
7.8
OFFSET WALK