The move is a dolly from left to right, but it is motivated by the movement of three actors. The first rushes past frame, close to camera. The second emerges in the background (drinking from a bottle) and we follow him for a beat, and then by the third frame, Alessandro Nivola enters the shot and we follow him.
If Alessandro Nivola had entered the room alone and we’d followed him to his mark, it would feel artificial, but because several people are moving into the room, we get a sense of everybody arriving from somewhere else, and it makes sense for him to move in and then stop when he sees Kate Beckinsale.
This shot is over in a couple of seconds, but the rush of movement in those opening seconds is a clever way of starting the scene with a sense of action, and getting the actor into position. Throughout the scene, a small amount of background action maintains this sense of movement in the room. Without that, the opening could feel contrived.
When you’re about to show a dialogue scene, and you’re putting two actors together, especially if it’s the first time they’ve talked, find a strong visual way to get them together. Using lots of motion across a room is one way to achieve this without anything more complex than a brief dolly.
Laurel Canyon. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko. Sony Pictures Classics, 2003. All rights reserved.
8.7
OWNING A SCENE
When you’re featuring a powerful character, especially a frightening character, you need to give the actor the chance to own the scene. This means that he dominates the other characters, but he also dominates the frame itself. There are many ways to achieve this, but these two scenes from Léon: The Professional show easy approaches to staging shots that have a strong impact.
In the first, Gary Oldman, who hasn’t yet been seen in the film, has his back to the camera. When another character approaches him and we expect him to turn, he delays his turn by removing his headphones. Finally, after an excruciating delay, he turns, but even then he doesn’t turn all the way around. This makes us, the audience, feel insignificant to him, and creates a strong feeling that we’re dealing with somebody powerful, immovable, and frightening.
In the next scene, Oldman literally dominates the frame, even when he’s in the background, by throwing his arms out. It’s as though the character refuses to appear small in the frame. He then strides up to the camera.
The final frame is shot from below, which creates the sensation that we’re pushing Michael Badalucco up against the wall, which is exactly what Oldman’s charater is doing. Also, you can see Oldman’s arm rise into the shot. Even in a tight close-up, the character is refusing to be left out of the frame.
When shooting extremely powerful characters, it’s helpful to think of them as dominating every moment, of being everpresent, and trying to loom large in every shot.
Léon: The Professional. Directed by Luc Besson. Columbia Pictures/Gaumont Film Company, 1994.
8.8
PARALLEL SPACE
Sometimes you can get the best performances when you put both actors in the same frame, rather than giving each a close-up. Some actors prefer their own close-up, but others will enjoy creating a shot where it’s the interplay of the characters that creates the effect.
A shot such as this one from The Book of Eli shows that even when you’re using a fairly long lens, which causes one character to be out of focus, you can get a strong sense of the relationship between people if you don’t cut, but let the scene unfold in one take.
In the opening frame, Oldman is in profile. You could shoot this in many ways, according to the story, and in this case the setup makes him appear inscrutable. He’s revealing unpleasant information, and if he has any feelings, he’s hiding them.
In the background, although Jennifer Beals is out of focus, we observe her reaction, and see her come up to him. As she moves into place beside him, there is a short push in from the dolly. This is optional, and the scene could work without it, but it serves to underline her movement.
Rather than positioning herself in profile as well, her face is directly toward the camera. This is because she is the opposite of inscrutable; we can see everything that she’s thinking and feeling, so we’re looking straight at her. The setup also works because their faces are so close. In this moment of conflict, their faces almost appear to be touching, which makes it heart-wrenching and painful to watch.
Finally, he turns away from her, revealing more of his expression to us, as she clings to him. With almost no camera move, we get to see the brutal relationship between these two played out. When shooting moments of conflict between two characters, consider putting them in the same frame, and letting their movement in relationship to each other dictate the mood and meaning of the shot.
The Book of Eli. Directed by the Hughes Brothers. Summit Entertainment, 2010. All rights reserved.
8.9
SEPARATING CHARACTERS
When you show a connection between characters after they have physically parted, you send a strong emotional message to the audience. You make it clear that the characters are thinking about each other, and considering their feelings for each other.
These frames from Love Actually show Hugh Grant completing a conversation with Martine McCutcheon and then walking away. We follow him down the corridor, his back to us the whole time, with Nina Sosanya visible ahead of him. It’s important to have Sosanya in the frame, because when Grant stops walking, the camera stops, and she continues walking away. This combination of him stopping, the camera stopping, and her continuing on, puts a great emphasis on the fact that he has stopped.
When he turns, he doesn’t turn all the way around, but far enough to justify a cut to McCutcheon. This is shot with a long lens, and she is placed in the center of the frame to show that he is looking directly at her. Putting her so central could lead to an unbalanced shot, so background actors help to lessen this effect slightly.
The previous shot of Grant was almost a close-up, but the director now switches to a relatively wide shot. The camera remains in place and Grant walks away. If we followed him again, it would signify that he was moving on from this moment. By leaving the camera where it is, and having him walk away, it feels as though this moment is lingering and will not be forgotten.
When you show a connection between characters, especially over a distance, bringing the camera to rest as they move on can indicate that emotion is going to linger.
Love Actually. Directed by Richard Curtis. Universal Pictures, 2003. All rights reserved.
CHAPTER 9
CAMERA HEIGHT
9.1
HEAD HEIGHTS
The height of your camera has a substantial effect on your shot. Sometimes, it can be the main factor that contributes to a shot’s effectiveness. Despite this, many directors keep the camera at head height for every scene, whatever’s happening, which leads to films that are visually lackluster.
For some shots, however, you want the camera to be at head height, but when you do, there are small changes you can make that improve their quality.
In these two frames from Hard Candy, you can see that the camera is apparently at the head height of both actors. In fact, it is a bit lower than their heads, and is looking up slightly. Also, the eyes are framed slightly higher in the shot than is standard. These adjustments to standard framing create a sense of claustrophobia within this scene, and almost make us feel overly intimate with the characters.
In the three frames from Inception, the director shoots Ellen Page at head height. Whether the camera is behind Leonardo DiCaprio or closer to her, it remains at her head height. We aren’t looking down at her, but because she is looking up at him, we sense that she is being admonished.
The shot of DiCaprio is taken from approximately her head height. This means that we focus on her emotions during the scene, more than his. We are with her when we’re looking at her, and when we’re looking at him, so our concern is with how she will respond to the situation.
This shows how camera height can
guide the audience’s attention and sympathies, and suggests that you should never put the camera at an unusual height simply to look good. Camera height has a profound effect on shots, and should be considered carefully, whether it is conventional or not.
Hard Candy. Directed by David Slade. Lionsgate, 2006. All rights reserved.
Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010. All rights reserved.
9.2
ANGLE INTRUSION
Low camera angles work especially well when the camera is canted over. The sensation created by this effect can be seen in the first frame from Léon: The Professional. All we’re looking at is a man standing in an elevator, but imagine how different this would be if the camera was level and at head height. Because it is low, and canted over, we get the sense that trouble is on the way.
Without moving the camera, you can use this low angle to let other objects intrude into the frame. The character on the left raises his gun into frame. A second later, the other character raises his gun into frame.
The effect of this angle, and this brief sequence of moves, is to create great tension and reveal a major story detail — these two men are about to get into a gunfight. This is all achieved in a tight space, with no camera moves or cuts.
Although seemingly simple, shots like this require great cooperation from your actors. To get those guns into exactly the right place in frame will take a lot of adjustment and practice. The actors may feel they are putting their hands into an artificially outstretched place, or somewhere that doesn’t feel natural. You need to convince your actors that, because of the unusual angle, their movements will look realistic.
Due to the technical nature of a shot like this, rehearse at low speed a few times, to ensure focus and placement is correct. It’s better to get the technical aspects right before the actors burn out.
Léon: The Professional. Directed by Luc Besson. Columbia Pictures/Gaumont Film Company, 1994.
9.3
ANGLED HEIGHTS
When you want to emphasize the power imbalance between two characters, you can put them at different heights. To make the effect even clearer, you can adjust the camera to amplify the height difference.
In these frames from The Karate Kid there is an obvious height difference between Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith. The director could have Chan stand up straight to create a greater height difference, but this would move their faces too far apart. Instead, Chan leans down and brings his face low. This reduces the physical height difference between them, so in each shot the camera must be moved. When shooting Chan, the camera is taken much lower than Smith’s head height. When shooting Smith, the camera is higher than Chan’s head.
This small change in height, just above and below the actors’ eyes, reflects the struggle going on between the characters. If the camera was level for each shot, or if Chan was standing, the effect would be lost.
In Derailed, Clive Owen is left sitting, so that his look-up to Sandra Bee is highly exaggerated. Again, the camera is placed above her head, to gaze right down at him. When we see her, the camera is below his eyeline. It’s the same setup as in The Karate Kid, but because Owen is seated while Bee is standing, the effect is much more extreme.
The Karate Kid. Directed by Harald Zwart. Columbia Pictures, 2010. All rights reserved.
Derailed. Directed by Mikael Håfström. The Weinstein Company (US), Buena Vista International (Non-US), 2005. All rights reserved.
9.4
DOWN TO CAMERA
In some scenes, one character is tense, while the other remains calm. You can use camera height to show this difference. When the characters move into the same frame, you symbolize that they have reached a joint decision, or overcome the tension.
In Heavenly Creatures, Kate Winslet is shot with a low camera. She is on the other side of the room, so we feel how low the camera is, and her pacing makes her appear extremely tense.
The shot of Melanie Lynskey is also taken from a low angle, but because she is closer to the camera, and sitting down, we don’t feel tension from her. This matches her dialogue.
Winslet then moves toward Lynskey to join her. This shot is taken from a camera that’s at their level, rather than looking up at them, to symbolize that things have normalized for them. They are now at the same height, in a frame that feels more like a normal shot. Even though they are facing away from each other, it feels as though a decision has been made, and the tension overcome.
If this third shot was taken from the same low angle, we would not feel the same sense of calm connection. The low angle would make it feel as though the tension was continuing despite their physical proximity.
This change in camera height and distance is quite minimal, and should make you aware that camera height should never be arbitrary. Whatever your setup, you should check that camera height isn’t affecting the meaning unintentionally.
Heavenly Creatures. Directed by Peter Jackson. Miramax Films, 1994. All rights reserved.
9.5
FLATTENING THE SHOT
Having the camera move from above your characters until it is on their level can create a sense that the action has settled for a moment. You can use this to bring an action sequence to a conclusion, or to misdirect the audience into feeling that all is well when action is about to burst in on the characters.
In these frames from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, three characters have been arranged in a triangle. This means that the camera pointing toward Daniel Radcliffe will feature him even as it is lowered down; he will remain in view between the other two actors.
The camera that’s pointed toward Emma Watson and Rupert Grint will keep them in frame through the downward move as well. This triangular arrangement is common when using groups of three actors.
To shoot the whole scene at head height would make this feel like any other conversation, but starting high and then craning down creates the feeling of settling. Although the dialogue may be full of concern, we feel that this is a pause in the proceedings.
The flattening move, which feels calming, is the perfect misdirection for introducing villains in the background. In the third frame you can see that two characters have been subtly revealed in the background. These characters are about to attack this group of three, so their appearance is important. If you don’t show them at all, having them burst into the scene might feel too abrupt, but featuring them directly would be too obvious.
As shown in the overhead diagram, this works when the camera moves straight down, but you can push in slightly as well, as shown in Harry Potter. As with most of the shots in this book, you can get the effect you want even when working handheld. Crane shots require practice if you’re to get them to work handheld, but so long as the rest of the scene is handheld, they can cut in quite unobtrusively.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Directed by David Yates. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010. All rights reserved.
9.6
HIGH ANGLE
Before you raise your camera higher than you can hold it, ensure you look to safety first. It’s never worth hanging off the side of a building to get a shot, when the results can be disastrous. When you can get a handle on the safety issues, getting yourself above head height yields fantastic results.
The first three frames from The Karate Kid show a combination of moves and effects that create a great feeling of motion, even though the camera is a long way from the actors. By placing the camera so high up, we are able to see all of the actors rushing through the scene, which generates both pace and a reminder that there are several pursuers.
If you look at the frames closely, you can see that the camera dollies from left to right, just a few feet, keeping pace with the actors running below. It is not aligned with the street going from the left to the right of frame, which would be a much less impressive shot; instead, the street crosses the frame at a slight angle. Also, as the camera moves, it is wobbled slightly as though handheld, even though it
is clearly secured on a crane/dolly arrangement over the edge of the building.
If you have no way of organizing the correct equipment, you still may find opportunities to shoot similar shots, through large glass windows in tall buildings, for example. Rather than thinking a shot is impossible due to limitations, look for ways it can be adapted to suit your circumstances.
The second shot uses a camera placed above head height, with a short lens. As Jaden Smith runs past, the camera pans to keep him in frame. This is easy to achieve, but the combination of such a fast move, with a short lens, creates a rush of distortion around the actor, giving a sense of speed.
The Karate Kid. Directed by Harald Zwart. Columbia Pictures, 2010. All rights reserved.
9.7
MOTIONLESS LOOK-UP
Placing the camera on the ground is one way to get a different perspective on a scene, and it can add unexpected drama to dialogue scenes.
In this shot from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the camera is placed almost on the floor, and the actors are filmed having a conversation in the far distance. A long lens means that anybody who passes close to the camera remains out of focus, helping us to feel the distance between the actors and the camera. Also, by being so low, we are able to see the ceiling lights, which also help convey distance. If you use this sort of shot, ensure that there are markers to reveal distance to the viewer, or when the actors walk toward the camera, it can feel like they are hardly moving at all.
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