MasterShots Vol 2

by Christopher Kenworthy

  This shot from The Majestic shows how a scene should always be a story in itself, rather than just a series of shots where things happen. This shot contains a dramatic buildup, some conflict, and a final reaction. The camera work reflects this.

  The shot opens with the characters down in the bottom left of the frame, because the room they are staring at is as important to the scene as they are. The camera then moves forward, and as the actors turn toward each other, it begins to pan to the right to favor Jim Carrey. The camera then pushes between the two actors, making this a single shot of Carrey delivering his lines.

  You could shoot this scene by getting a wide shot and lots of coverage, but by using this move, you enhance the on-screen story. This is a moment in the film when something comes between these two men and — at precisely that moment — the camera also moves between them. It helps the viewer to share some of that feeling of conflict, and is more effective than simply cutting back and forth between two actors.

  The Majestic. Directed by Frank Darabont. Warner Bros., 2001. All rights reserved.

  11.11

  CLOSING THE GAP

  Most people who watch this scene notice that there’s a toy Garfield stuck to the porthole. What they shouldn’t notice is that the director has carefully positioned actors and props to create subliminal ideas of separation. As the scene progresses, the characters attempt to overcome this.

  The first shot of the characters is taken with a long lens. As they are a good distance apart, only one can be in focus at a time. The audience is aware of her movement in the foreground as he speaks, but it watches him.

  When she speaks, the camera racks focus to her. At the same time, the strips of film hanging from above come into sharp focus. It’s almost as though he’s imprisoned — the film strips look like bars coming down in front of him. If you think this is stretching the interpretation, these film strips certainly act as a barrier between the two of them.

  He moves forward in an attempt to connect with her and sweeps those film strips aside. He’s pushing the physical barrier away. This is shot with a wider lens, putting the two of them center-frame, to show that they are closer to each other than to the world around them. Also, he obscures the window behind him. The viewer can no longer see the toy Garfield.

  The joke’s over, and the director turns serious here. This is the sort of attention to detail that separates great directors from the ordinary. You only have to start paying attention to the possibility of using symbolism, and you will find ways to add it to your movies.

  The Abyss. Directed by James Cameron. 20th Century-Fox, 1989. All rights reserved.

  CONCLUSION

  When you put the shots demonstrated in Master Shots 2 into your films, you will meet some challenges. These may come from the actors who don’t want to get bogged down in technical moves, or from the financiers and producers who want you to work faster. The truth is that working creatively does not take longer and does not impede actor performance if you are prepared.

  Plan your shots in advance, plan them again once you’ve seen the set or location, and be ready to adapt them on your morning walkthrough. Once your crew knows that you’re working in this way, they will raise their game. Creative departments, such as production design, will cooperate more if they understand you are filming in a way that enhances what they are putting into the work.

  This is a book about shooting dialogue, and you may find the greatest resistance comes from the people who deliver the lines: actors. There is a widely held belief that there are “actors’ directors” and “camera directors.” Thankfully, this myth is being discredited as the best directors know how to work with both aspects of the production. There are still some people, however, who think that if you plan a complex camera move you’re not interested in actor performance.

  Reassure your actors that you are using these moves to show them at their best, and you should get their cooperation. If possible, show them rushes after the first day or two and they will be converted to your cause.

  It’s best not to tell your actors this, but you will probably get a better performance out of them if you give them lots to do. All actors are self-conscious. Even the greats, even the most jaded and world-weary actors, suffer from some degree of apprehension on set. They want feedback from the director that they are doing a good job, and you must give it to them. When you can’t tell them they’re doing well, you must help them improve. The best way you can help them is to reduce their self-consciousness.

  Actors have several jobs to do: They have to remember their lines, the performance they’ve planned, the direction and adjustments you’ve suggested, and the marks you’ve given them to hit. They still find room in their heads to worry about their performance, and that can spoil a good take. If you give them one more performance-related thing to think about, you can make them so busy that they have to act on automatic. The result is anything but automatic. It is usually far more real and raw than when your actors are carefully honing their performance.

  So when you ask them to hit another mark, or do something else with their hands, or turn their heads to a particular angle, expect some protest. They may tell you that you are wrong, or that the character “wouldn’t do that.” They are probably panicking because they worry it’s too much to do at once. This is a good sign. It means you’re going to push them into a space where they act almost unconsciously. Be gentle, but push them over the edge.

  Without good dialogue it’s difficult to tell a good story. As a visual storyteller, your job is to capture each scene in a way that reveals character and advances story. Take the shots from this book, adapt them, mix them, invent your own, and use them in your films. When you make them your own and invent new ways of using them, you become a real director.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Christopher Kenworthy has worked as a writer, director, and producer for the past ten years. He directed the feature film The Sculptor, which played to sold-out screenings in Australia and received strong reviews.

  He’s the author of the best-selling Master Shots; two novels, The Winter Inside and The Quality of Light; and many short stories.

  Recent works include sketch comedy for the BBC’s Scallywagga, a title sequence for National Geographic Channel, visual effects for 3D World, music videos for Pieces of Eight Records and Elefant Records, and an animated wall projection for The Blue Room Theatre, Perth, Australia.

  Current projects include screenwriting, several directing assignments, and the development of additional Master Shots applications.

  Born in England, Kenworthy currently lives in Australia, working on projects based there, in Europe, and the United States. He’s married to co-writer and co-producer Chantal Bourgault. They have two daughters.

  www.christopherkenworthy.com

  chris@christopherkenworthy.com

  MASTER SHOTS

  100 ADVANCED CAMERA TECHNIQUES

  TO GET AN EXPENSIVE LOOK ON YOUR

  LOW-BUDGET MOVIE

  CHRISTOPHER KENWORTHY

  BEST SELLER

  Master Shots gives filmmakers the techniques they need to execute complex, original shots on any budget. By using powerful master shots and well-executed moves, directors can develop a strong style and stand out from the crowd. Most low-budget movies look low-budget, because the director is forced to compromise at the last minute. Master Shots gives you so many powerful techniques that you’ll be able to respond, even under pressure, and create knock-out shots. Even when the clock is ticking and the light is fading, the techniques in this book can rescue your film, and make every shot look like it cost a fortune.

  Each technique is illustrated with samples from great feature films and computer-generated diagrams for absolute clarity.

  Use the secrets of the master directors to give your film the look and feel of a multi-million-dollar movie. The set-ups, moves and methods of the greats are there for the taking, whatever your budget.

  “Master Shots gives every filmma
ker out there the blow-by-blow setup required to pull off even the most difficult of setups found from indies to the big Hollywood blockbusters. It’s like getting all of the magician’s tricks in one book.”

  — Devin Watson, producer, The Cursed

  “Though one needs to choose any addition to a film book library carefully, what with the current plethora of volumes on cinema, Master Shots is an essential addition to any worthwhile collection.”

  — Scott Essman, publisher, Directed By Magazine

  “Christopher Kenworthy’s book gives you a basic, no holds barred, no shot forgotten look at how films are made from the camera point of view. For anyone with a desire to understand how film is constructed — this book is for you.”

  — Matthew Terry, screenwriter/director, columnist www.hollywoodlitsales.com

  Since 2000, CHRISTOPHER KENWORTHY has written, produced, and directed drama and comedy programs, along with many hours of commercial video, tv pilots, music videos, experimental projects, and short films. he’s also produced and directed over 300 visual FX shots. in 2006 he directed the web-based Australian UFO Wave, which attracted many millions of viewers. Upcoming films for Kenworthy include The Sickness (2009) and Glimpse (2011).

  $24.95 | 240 PAGES | ORDER NUMBER 91RLS | ISBN: 9781932907513

  24 hours | 1.800.833.5738 | www.mwp.com

  FILM DIRECTING: SHOT BY SHOT

  VISUALIZING FROM CONCEPT TO SCREEN

  STEVEN D. KATZ

  BEST SELLER

  OVER 200,000 COPIES SOLD!

  Film Directing: Shot by Shot — with its famous blue cover — is the best-known book on directing and a favorite of professional directors as an on-set quick reference guide.

  This international bestseller is a complete catalog of visual techniques and their stylistic implications, enabling working filmmakers to expand their knowledge.

  Contains in-depth information on shot composition, staging sequences, visualization tools, framing and composition techniques, camera movement, blocking tracking shots, script analysis, and much more.

  Includes over 750 storyboards and illustrations, with never-before-published storyboards from Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane, and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

  “(To become a director) you have to teach yourself what makes movies good and what makes them bad. John Singleton has been my mentor... he’s the one who told me what movies to watch and to read Shot by Shot.”

  — Ice Cube, New York Times

  “A generous number of photos and superb illustrations accompany each concept, many of the graphics being from Katz’ own pen... Film Directing: Shot by Shot is a feast for the eyes.”

  — Videomaker Magazine

  “... demonstrates the visual techniques of filmmaking by defining the process whereby the director converts storyboards into photographed scenes.”

  — Back Stage Shoot

  “Contains an encyclopedic wealth of information.”

  — Millimeter Magazine

  STEVEN D. KATZ is also the author of Film Directing: Cinematic Motion.

  $27.95

  366 PAGES

  ORDER # 7RLS | ISBN: 9780941188104

  24 hours | 1.800.833.5738 | www.mwp.com

  CINEMATIC STORYTELLING

  THE 100 MOST POWERFUL FILM

  CONVENTIONS EVERY FILMMAKER

  MUST KNOW

  JENNIFER VAN SIJL

  BEST SELLER

  How do directors use screen direction to suggest conflict? How do screenwriters exploit film space to show change? How does editing style determine emotional response?

  Many first-time writers and directors do not ask these questions. They forego the huge creative resource of the film medium, defaulting to dialog to tell their screen story. Yet most movies are carried by sound and picture. The industry’s most successful writers and directors have mastered the cinematic conventions specific to the medium. They have harnessed non-dialog techniques to create some of the most cinematic moments in movie history.

  This book is intended to help writers and directors more fully exploit the medium’s inherent storytelling devices. It contains 100 non-dialog techniques that have been used by the industry’s top writers and directors. From Metropolis and Citizen Kane to Dead Man and Kill Bill, the book illustrates — through 500 frame grabs and 75 script excerpts — how the inherent storytelling devices specific to film were exploited.

  You will learn:

  • How non-dialog film techniques can advance story.

  • How master screenwriters exploit cinematic conventions to create powerful scenarios.

  “Cinematic Storytelling scores a direct hit in terms of concise information and perfectly chosen visuals, and it also searches out... and finds... an emotional core that many books of this nature either miss or are afraid of.”

  — Kirsten Sheridan, Director, Disco Pigs; Co-writer, In America

  “Here is a uniquely fresh, accessible, and truly original contribution to the field. Jennifer van Sijll takes her readers in a wholly new direction, integrating aspects of screenwriting with all the film crafts in a way I’ve never before seen. It is essential reading not only for screenwriters but also for filmmakers of every stripe.”

  — Prof. Richard Walter, UCLA Screenwriting Chairman

  JENNIFER VAN SIJLL has taught film production, film history, and screenwriting. She is currently on the faculty at San Francisco State’s Department of Cinema.

  $24.95 | 230 PAGES | ORDER NUMBER 35RLS | ISBN: 9781932907056

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  CINEMATOGRAPHY FOR DIRECTORS

  A GUIDE FOR CREATIVE COLLABORATION

  JACQUELINE B. FROST

  The essential handbook for directors and aspiring filmmakers who want to get the best visuals for their films while establishing a collaborative relationship with their cinematographer.

  Through balancing interviews with working ASC cinematographers and the technical, aesthetic, and historical side of cinematography, this book guides directors toward a more powerful collaboration with their closest ally, the cinematographer. Topics include selecting a cinematographer, discussing the script with the cinematographer, choosing the appropriate visual style for the film, color palette, various film and HD formats, and postproduction processes including the digital intermediate.

  “I urge all aspiring filmmakers to read Cinematography for Directors. Frost has the ability to put the director at ease by bringing clarity to the notoriously elusive relationship between the filmmaker and the cinematographer... The numerous thrilling interviews she conducts create an empowering message: that the dynamic between the director and their cinematographer can be a relationship of understanding, ease, humor, passion and, above all, true collaboration.”

  — Bryce Dallas Howard, Actress (Terminator Salvation, Spider-Man 3, As You Like It, Lady in the Water, The Village), Writer, Producer, Director

  “Far too few books about the filmmaking process address the complex, challenging, and intensely collaborative relationship that exists between the director and the cinematographer. Drawing on her vast experience as a working cinematographer and as a film school professor, Frost deftly combines her clear appreciation of the profession of cinematography with a pragmatic guide for how to accomplish these often startling and culturally-significant moments of visual artistry.”

  — Denise Mann, Head, UCLA Producers Program; Associate Professor, Department of Film, TV, Digital Media, University of California, Los Angeles

  JACQUELINE B. FROST has been teaching film and video production and film history for twenty years at various universities including Miami, Penn State University, and the University of oklahoma. She currently teaches cinematography and advanced film production at California State University, Fullerton where she is an Associate Professor. She regularly teaches a course through the UCLA extension entitled, Cinematography for Directors, on which the book is based. in addition to teaching, Jacqueline has b
een the cinematographer on numerous sort films, independent feature films, and documentaries that have been screened in film festivals.

  $29.95 | 292 PAGES | ORDER NUMBER 127RLS | ISBN: 9781932907551

  24 hours | 1.800.833.5738 | www.mwp.com

  In a dark time, a light bringer came along, leading the curious and the frustrated to clarity and empowerment. It took the well-guarded secrets out of the hands of the few and made them available to all. It spread a spirit of openness and creative freedom, and built a storehouse of knowledge dedicated to the betterment of the arts.

  The essence of the Michael Wiese Productions (MWP) is empowering people who have the burning desire to express themselves creatively. We help them realize their dreams by putting the tools in their hands. We demystify the sometimes secretive worlds of screenwriting, directing, acting, producing, film financing, and other media crafts.

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  Onward and upward,

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  Publisher/Filmmaker

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