MasterShots Vol 1

by Christopher Kenworthy

  The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Directed by Peter Jackson. Roadshow Home Entertainment, 2001. All Rights Reserved.

  2.3

  PASSING THROUGH TIGHT SPACES

  When somebody is being chased, you can raise the tension by having them pass through a tight space. When space begins to run out, it indicates to the audience that the scene is about to reach a conclusion, and that the pursuers are going to catch up.

  To shoot this you'll need a location (or set) that is genuinely narrow. Use a short lens, to exaggerate the character's apparent movement toward you. Although short lenses can make tight spaces look bigger (which isn't what you want), a short lens also shows more of a location and exaggerates character motion. In other words, the short lens fills the screen with more wall, and makes the character rush artificially fast toward the camera. This combination of effects makes it look as though the character is moving into a tight space.

  To get this to work well you need to position your camera in the middle of the alleyway, so that it's in the way of your character's intended path. As your character is just about to hit the camera, track away from this path, and pan to follow him as he looks back over his shoulder. You can keep the camera low, looking up at the character, to really emphasize that he's moved into a tighter, darker space. Let the camera come to rest as the character runs out of the shot.

  With a slight variation, this shot can have the exact opposite effect. You can show your character looking back, seeing that the pursuers are no longer following, and then pan as he passes the camera and follow him as he runs off into the distance. This indicates that the chase is over, and that he got away.

  Minority Report. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2002. All Rights Reserved.

  2.4

  THROUGH OPEN SPACES

  During any chase scene, it's wise to give your hero a goal at some point. There should be a house, doorway or car that he is trying to reach. At this moment the audience becomes even more tense. When the destination is within sight, the thought of being caught is unbearable.

  If you want the attacker to actually catch up during the scene, that's easy — you just film him catching up. But if you want to film the scene with no change in distance between the two characters as they head toward the goal, how do you make it scary? The danger is that it will just look like they are both plodding along with no real sense of urgency. The secret is to shoot this with two cameras moving across the set at different speeds. You can create an optical illusion that makes it feel as though the hero is going to lose, without actually having the attacker catch up.

  To the audience, it simply looks as though the hero is trying to get away, and the attacker is in hot pursuit. It doesn't look as though the attacker is actually catching up, but it feels as though he is catching up. This is a very subtle difference, but one that can make all the difference to your story.

  The frames from Hide and Seek show how a potentially dull chase can be made terrifying. As Robert De Niro runs toward his house, the camera following him catches up quickly. This creates the sensation that he's being caught.

  The camera that faces the attacker moves backward slowly, while the attacker runs toward it at great speed. This creates the feeling of being caught. It's vital that this camera moves backward, so the audience feels as though they are trying to avoid being caught.

  When you shoot the hero, a longer lens can enhance the nightmare effect; it makes the goal look closer, but the goal doesn't get much closer no matter how fast he runs. A shorter lens on the second camera makes the attacker's speed seem almost superhuman as he approaches.

  Hide and Seek. Directed by John Polson. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2005. All Rights Reserved.

  2.5

  SURPRISES ALONG THE WAY

  Chase scenes work well when you allow for a few moments of suspense, rather than making every moment a breathless pursuit. You can create suspense either by seeing something in the background that the character can't see, or by having the character see something before we do.

  These frames from Behind Enemy Lines show the hero having stopped along the way, believing he's got far enough away from the enemy that's pursuing him. If the camera was at his head height, we would see the enemy walking behind him, and this would create one kind of suspense. But for more of a shock factor, to jolt the audience out of this moment of calm, the camera is kept low. Then, when the hero hears something, he turns away from the camera. For a few moments we have no idea what he's looking at. This creates a moment of suspense for the audience, which leads to fear. We then cut to a long-lens shot of the enemy walking through the woods.

  To create this effect you need to set up the camera below head height looking up at the actor. It's ideal if there's some sort of barrier for him to be leaning against, as this creates a shield between him and the enemy, making it plausible for him to be unseen.

  At the moment the actor hears the enemy, have him look around. Take a moment to watch his reaction, before cutting to the shot from his point of view. This keeps the enemy unseen, just for a moment, and it's this anticipation that makes the audience feel a sense of fear. When the enemy is revealed, we know the chase is on again.

  Behind Enemy Lines. Directed by John Moore. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2001. All Rights Reserved.

  2.6

  THE UNSEEN ATTACKER

  It's often said that the unseen is far more frightening than what is seen. To take advantage of this, however, you need to make it clear to the audience that something or somebody is actually there, chasing the victim. An effective way to do this is with sound. In this example from An American Werewolf in London, the victim is walking alone in the underground station when he hears wolf noises. The first few shots show him listening and peering around, with nothing being seen. Only vague sounds are heard.

  Then, when the werewolf appears, rather than seeing the wolf, we see everything from the wolf's point of view. Best of all, the camera creeps around the corner, with the victim gradually coming into view. This makes it feel like we, the audience, are creeping up on our prey. If the scene began this way, we'd have no sympathy for the victim, but as we've seen him afraid, and looking around for the werewolf, this shot works extremely well.

  To use this effect, make sure you show your hero or victim listening, and peering around for the unseen attacker for some time. Then, set up your camera, low to the ground, and around the corner from the victim. Use a short lens, to make the victim seem a long way away. The short lens also means that as you turn the corner and advance toward him, the camera's movement appears to be much faster than his attempted escape.

  You can carry this principle to its extreme by not showing the attacker until the very last moment.

  An American Werewolf in London. Directed by John Landis. Universal Studios Home Video, 1981. All Rights Reserved.

  2.7

  THE CLOSING ATTACKER

  There are many conventions in cinema, and sometimes you can create a powerful effect by breaking them. One convention during a chase scene is to follow the escaping victim from the point of view of the attacker, getting closer and closer. A slight adaptation to this shot creates a great moment of shock.

  In the frames from Murder By Numbers, the hero is trying to escape, and the camera is chasing. The audience expects this to continue until she reaches a door or trips up, or some other cliché. Instead, the attacker moves into shot and grabs her. What we thought was a Point of View shot was nothing of the sort – we were running alongside the attacker, and he suddenly made a gain on us. This is guaranteed to make an audience jump, as it breaks expectation.

  Set up your camera with a short lens, just behind the character that's escaping, and give chase. It helps if you give your character a goal to be aiming for – a door or corner. This gives the audience something to hope for. They hope your character will make it that far before the camera catches up. During the take, your ca
mera should catch up slightly, but before you get there, have the second actor speed up and move into shot, making a grab for the victim.

  This works best if you don't give the audience time to guess what you're about to do, so the whole shot only needs to be a few seconds long. It works best if there is a desperate sense of urgency, with the victim scrambling and falling and trying to keep going through difficult terrain.

  Murder By Numbers. Directed by Barbet Schroeder. Warner Home Video, 2002. All Rights Reserved.

  2.8

  UNFAIR SPEED GAIN

  Not all chase scenes are a mad rush, with one character chasing another. Sometimes your hero is simply trying to hide, hoping the attacker won't find him. When this is the case, you create a jolt of fear in the audience, when the attacker makes a sudden gain on the character.

  In reality, this could never happen, but with careful shooting and editing, you can make it look as though your hero's slight hesitation has given the attacker the chance to make great progress in his pursuit.

  The frames from Blue Velvet show how Dennis Hopper approaches the building, walking (but not running) across the street, and moving briefly out of sight. We then see Kyle MacLachlan looking down, pausing as he decides what to do. A moment later, we look down again from MacLachlan's point of view, and see Hopper much closer than should be possible. It's a frightening moment and one that means the full chase is on, and MacLachlan's character has to run and hide. It makes an ordinary man seem much more frightening.

  To make this effect work, you must have the attacker disappear briefly behind a wall, stairwell, or other object, and then cut back to the observing hero. The third shot should be taken with a much longer lens. This not only increases the apparent gain the attacker has made, but also echoes the tunnel-vision effect that occurs in the real world when you see something truly frightening.

  In the Blue Velvet example, MacLachlan is looking down, but you can easily shoot on the level or looking upward, so long as the attacker disappears briefly. Although you can have the attacker running, there is something far more sinister about somebody who's walking making a sudden gain.

  Blue Velvet. Directed by David Lynch. MGM Home Entertainment, 1986. All Rights Reserved.

  2.9

  ALMOST THERE

  The sensation of almost getting away, but suddenly being trapped, is frightening. In film this works best when there's a lot at stake. Use this technique when getting caught would mean instant death or the failure of a quest.

  The frames from Children of Men show how three characters are running down a corridor, to get away from a man they've just beaten to the ground. As they run toward a jammed door, and struggle to get out, the camera chases up to them and catches up.

  This is crosscut with a camera watching the fallen attacker get up. This camera moves slowly backward. The combination of two cameras moving toward the characters at the jammed door creates a great sense of urgency. In this example, the attacker isn't even coming toward them, but is merely getting up. The effect can be even stronger when the attacker is in actual pursuit.

  When you set up this shot, give your characters an obstacle that is potentially impossible to pass, such as a locked or jammed door. That gives the first camera time to rush up to them. The other camera, which moves slowly backward, does not need to show the attacker in great clarity. The attacker can be on the ground, or distant, and the effect is still extremely powerful.

  You can also use a mix of handheld camera and dolly work, which enhances the nightmarish quality of the moment. The camera that chases your characters can be handheld, while the camera tracking away from the attacker can move on a dolly. This mix of panicked camerawork, with something slow and steady, makes it feel as though the attacker is getting the upper hand, and will catch them no matter what.

  Children of Men. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Universal Studios Home Video, 2006. All Rights Reserved.

  2.10

  FOOTWORK

  Chase scenes aren't always about an attacker and a victim. Sometimes you have one character trying to catch up with another for more innocent reasons. For this to work, it's best if the person being pursued has no idea a chase is on.

  In this scene from Amélie, the male character is in a rush, and Audrey Tatou is trying to catch up with him. By putting the camera low down and shooting her feet, we get to see the energy of her pursuit, as well as how close or distant she is from the hero. This is much smoother than if we were watching this from over her shoulder, or from a wide shot.

  Set up your camera slightly behind the character who's in pursuit. The other character should be slightly offset to the right, rather than directly in front. This makes it easier to get everybody in shot. The character who's in pursuit should run directly ahead on her own path, rather than toward the character she's pursuing. This enables you to move the camera slightly faster than her, pan on to her legs, and still keep the other character in shot.

  The effect of being low-down, with this sort of smooth motion, is that the audience is forced to guess the character's emotion, purely through their movement and distance from each other. It must, therefore, come in the middle of other shots that have established the nature of the chase.

  It's easy to pull this off with a handheld camera as you run, or with dolly tracks. You can even adapt this shot to include changes of direction, as well as going up or down inclines. Don't stay in this shot for too long, though, or the audience may become frustrated.

  Although it is used here for whimsical reasons, it can also be used effectively in a more serious shot, where one person is secretly pursuing another.

  Amélie. Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Becker Entertainment, 2001. All Rights Reserved.

  3.1

  CHARACTER SWITCH

  A powerful way to introduce your main character into the film is to show a crowd, and then have your character come to the front of the crowd and become the focus of the shot. This underlines that this character is a hero, and more important or interesting than everybody else in his world.

  These frames from Children of Men show exactly how this works, because when this scene opens, we think we're just watching people observing a television set. We don't expect Clive Owen to push through to the front. When he does, and looms into view, it's clear that he's made an entrance to the film.

  There are several ways to make your character stand out at this point. One is to give him more light than the other people in the scene. Another is to make sure that everybody who's on the same visual plane as him is shorter. The Children of Men shots show this well. Everybody else on the front row is relatively short, so he towers above them, making it clear he's the hero of the piece.

  Set up your camera to the height of your main character, and angle down toward the crowd. Make sure there are no faces among the extras that are too distinctive or distracting, or extras that are trying to steal the scene by overacting. The extras should keep quite still as your hero pushes through the crowd.

  This technique also underlines that your hero is an active character, somebody who will do things to the world, rather than have the world just happen to him. While everybody else stands there observing, he moves in and out of the scene. To the audience, this signals that we've met a character who's going to take action throughout the film.

  Children of Men. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Universal Studios Home Video, 2006. All Rights Reserved.

  3.2

  BACKGROUND REVEAL

  Directors like to give characters strong entrances when they first appear in a film, and at key moments of change or drama. Usually, these entrances end with a close-up of the actor in question. You can take the opposite approach, and show the character in the distant background. This works best when the character's appearance in a scene is a surprise, either to the audience or the other characters. It works better for entrances that occur when we already know the characters well.

  In this example, from Punch Drunk Love, the scene starts with a set-u
p that appears to be nothing more interesting than two characters bickering during a haircut, but then as we move around them, we see that Adam Sandler is watching them. He doesn't actually make an entrance. Instead, the camera gives him an entrance through its movement. His lack of motion makes this dramatic.

  The effect is lost if you announce the character's arrival with a loud bang, a shout, or some other call to attention. Although a minor sound can be used to attract the other characters' attention, let the visuals do the work. Set up the opening of the shot as though a full scene could be played without a camera move. The entrance of the third character should feel like an intrusion on the scene.

  Although you want the entrance to be a surprise, you don't want the camera move to feel forced. Set up your shot so that there's some empty space at the side of the frame. Once the shot's begun, your camera can move toward this empty space, keeping your characters roughly in the middle of the shot.

  Although you can get the required result with a simple track and pan, you create a stronger effect by circling slightly around your characters, as you pan toward them. The shot can end with the hero to the left of frame (and the left of the other two characters), or framed between them. Having this third character in silhouette can emphasize the effect.

  Punch Drunk Love. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Columbia Tristar Home Entertainment, 2002. All Rights Reserved.