MasterShots Vol 3

by Christopher Kenworhty

  Léon: The Professional. Directed by Luc Besson. Gaumont Film Company/Columbia Pictures, 1994. All rights reserved.

  10.8

  WIDE TO CLOSE

  If you can find a way to move from a wide shot to a close-up, without cutting, you can show an entire scene, revealing what the character sees and how the character responds to the situation.

  These frames from Schindler’s List show a masterful use of a long lens, with a dolly move and a pan. The camera begins on Liam Neeson’s left, looking across the space over his right shoulder. This is a long lens, so we’re quite a way back from Neeson, and he is completely out of focus, as we watch the couple who enter right of frame.

  As the camera dollies to the right it pans to follow the couple moving left. This causes Neeson’s form to move across until he is on the right of the frame. At that point, we are expecting the couple to emerge from behind his head. Instead of following them, the camera comes to a rest, and pulls focus rapidly, as Neeson’s hand rises into shot.

  The money he offers is a strong story point, and if the shot had ended there, it would already have been a superb storytelling moment. The lesson to learn from this shot is that even when you think you’ve shown everything you can from one setup, look for inventive ways to continue the revelations. Instead of cutting to the next character, Spielberg has the character push his face into shot.

  A moment later, there’s a final reveal as Neeson turns his head to the side, revealing his profile. This works especially well at the end, because each intrusion into the frame is unexpected. When something is unexpected, we take notice.

  In the first part of the shot, we follow the couple because the camera follows them, but then our attention is drawn to each story point as it appears in the frame. Find ways to reveal your story by moving from wide to close-up, through a shift of focus.

  Schindler’s List. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Universal Pictures, 1993. All rights reserved.

  10.9

  OPPOSING SLIDE

  At moments of high drama, you can immerse the audience in the scene by using two dolly moves, going in opposite directions.

  In the opening part of this scene, Leonard DiCaprio points the gun, and walks to frame left. As he does so the camera dollies to the right, and pans to keep him in roughly the same part of the frame. This is a strong move, because he is going in the opposite direction to the dolly. To make it even stronger, the reverse shot should reflect how this would look from his point of view.

  Rather than repeating the motion, Marion Cotillard stands still, as the camera dollies to the right. This moves her to the left of frame, as several other actors stumble into the shot, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt as their captive.

  These two shots are over in moments, but they achieve dramatic tension and rapid storytelling. The combination of these moves creates the effect. If the shot of DiCaprio had involved a dolly, but no actor movement, it would create a feeling of suspension. Likewise, if the shot of Cotillard had her walking to frame left, as we dollied right, it would create a feeling of her circling DiCaprio. This differs entirely from what we have here. In this shot, DiCaprio is trying to avoid being trapped, and sees that his attacker has an ace up her sleeve (in the form of his captive associate who’s pushed into frame). The camera moves reflect this completely.

  This shows how important it is to know what effect you are trying to achieve with your setups, rather than simply moving the camera around to capture action. Each move should be designed to convey how the character feels, or what he sees, and when done precisely, you can put across a range of emotions and a mass of information in a few seconds.

  Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2010. All rights reserved.

  10.10

  GROUP IN MOTION

  When there’s strong tension between a group of characters, you can capture their dynamic in one flowing shot. This enables you to see their reactions to one another, not just in their faces, but in the way they move around each other.

  In this shot from Black Swan, Winona Rider is close to Natalie Portman, and her hand gestures imply that she’s intruding on her space. This is a standard over-the-shoulder shot, except that Vincent Cassel can be seen approaching from the background. The actors are arranged in a line, and we see all three during this opening part of the shot.

  As Cassel approaches, Portman backs off, and the camera moves away to make space for her. This leaves us, a moment later, with a direct shot of Portman’s face, with the other two grouped behind her. This is a good example of how two beautiful frames can be joined by the simplest of moves, rather than a cut.

  As the shot continues, with the focus on Portman, Cassel joins her. After a few moments the camera favors Portman, and Cassel is pushed out of the side of shot. The focus is now on Portman again, and our attention is even drawn to the large gestures of the out-of-focus Ryder in the background.

  Don’t be afraid to let characters drift in and out of the frame, to help direct attention to the main character. Also, remain aware that characters in the background are more visible to us (even when out of focus) if they were present earlier in the shot.

  Directors are sometimes wary of shooting group scenes, or interactions between three or more actors, but a little planning and ingenuity can produce results that convey the ideas smoothly.

  CHAPTER 11

  THE ADVANCED DIRECTOR

  11.1

  DEEP BLOCKING

  Whatever your budget, you can fill out your scenes with a depth of detail and motion. Some scenes require stillness, but when you want to create the sense that something is happening, or about to happen, let background motion complement camera motion.

  This scene from Cast Away shows a director making the most of the tools available to him. They’ve paid for access to an airport, a plane, and various trucks, so these are all used to texture the scene. Don’t be fooled into thinking this only applies when you have money. Plenty of directors with large budgets manage to shoot entire scenes without using the richness of the sets available to them. The techniques seen in this shot could be applied if you were shooting a scene in a quiet diner, for example. It’s not about money, but about how you see things.

  The opening frame has Hanks in profile. In the background, the plane is almost facing him. In the background, Nick Searcy approaches on frame right. As Hanks moves to the left, the camera goes with him, letting Searcy take over the focus of the shot until the two of them are sitting on the small truck.

  At that point the camera changes direction, and begins to move to the right. Normally, a direction change mid-shot is jarring, but a moment later, in the background, a truck crosses from frame left to right. This helps to soften the camera’s motion to the right. (It doesn’t have to be a truck. It could be a background actor.)

  The camera now begins to push forward, which is another direction change. A truck moves from behind the camera, toward the center of the frame, and the camera moves in the same direction as the truck. It’s almost as though the camera is following the truck, which makes this direction change feel natural.

  As a bonus, this truck fills the gap between the characters. When shooting a two-shot, what to put between the characters plagues directors. Empty space is boring, but anything too interesting will draw attention. Out-of-focus background movement is perfect.

  Whether you’re shooting a small scene in a room, or a climactic action sequence in a huge landscape, make use of background motion to give depth to your scene, and motivation to your moves.

  Cast Away. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. DreamWorks, Twentieth Century Fox, 2000. All rights reserved.

  11.2

  MOTIVATE THE CAMERA

  Some directors are happy to point the camera at whatever part of the scene they want. Partway through a shot, they will swing around to let the camera look at something else. This can work, but it is far from elegant, and draws attention to the camera, which can break your suspension of disbelief. If you wa
nt the audience to stay immersed in the story, ensure that your camera moves are driven by action within the frame.

  In these two scenes from War Horse, motion is used to direct the camera. In the first example, Emily Watson bends down to pick carrots. As she pulls them out of the ground, the camera follows them up. This upward motion gives the camera the motivation to go all the way up to her face. You could just show her digging, and then tilt up to her face, but that would create a slight mental pause for the viewer, while waiting for the camera to settle. As such, it draws attention to the move, rather than the story. By following an object, the audience is guided through the shot.

  You need to find a balance between story and camera move. Don’t introduce props to a scene purely to motivate a move, unless they suit the character. Here, we’d expect Watson to be digging carrots, so the shot works.

  In the second example, a piece of cloth is being untied from the horse by David Kross. As he pulls it free, we pull back to get a good look at it as well. When he stretches it out, the movement of his hand across the frame motivates the camera to begin its move to the right. He then turns, so that his movement matches the camera’s movement. Finally, the camera follows his hand down to his pocket before we cut.

  A scene such as that requires exacting timing and delicate staging. Actors may be resistant to this, as it can feel overly technical, but you need to let them know this is the best way to capture their performance. Nothing is spoken in this scene, but we see Kross’s realization, contemplation, and reaction. Without a camera move, we would barely notice his acting.

  War Horse. Directed by Steven Spielberg. DreamWorks Pictures through Touchstone Pictures, 2011. All rights reserved.

  11.3

  DEVELOPING MOTION

  A camera that is in constant motion feels like it is floating around aimlessly, especially if the camera’s pace doesn’t change. This is why so many long, handheld scenes, which are meant to feel active and interesting, can send viewers to sleep. It feels like a bored documentary crew is wandering around after their subject. Try to change the pace of camera movement within a scene, to keep the viewer interested.

  Even in highly expressive scenes, where there’s an outburst of emotion, you should try to build in some contrast, to avoid the feeling of the camera drifting through the scene. You can see in the first three frames from The Fighter that Christian Bale is initially the main source of movement in the scene. The camera is stationary, while he moves within the frame. Then he turns to face somebody behind the camera and rushes forward as the camera rushes toward him.

  The move is so dramatic, and so fast, that it would have felt outrageous if it was tagged on to the end of a scene with no camera movement. Equally, if the camera moved this rapidly throughout the whole scene, the impact of these final moments would be lost.

  When planning your shots, be wary of letting the camera drift through the scene. Make sure that actor movement and camera movement are balanced out, to reflect the pace of the story, and the specific scene as it unfolds.

  Unusually, the same camera move is recreated moments later. At the very next cut, the camera again pushes in on Bale at great speed (in a different location), ending with his face in a close-up. This has the effect of making us see the character as frantic, but trapped. This is not a technique that should be overused, but it may be worth experimenting with repeated moves, to see what effect they have.

  The Fighter. Directed by David O. Russell. The Weinstein Company (Int), Paramount Pictures (US), 2010. All rights reserved.

  11.4

  MAKING USE OF SPACE

  When you enter a location or set, your first decisions center on where to stage the action. Beginners tend to gravitate toward the middle of the room. The danger with this is that it can look too similar to the way we see the world on an average day unless you fill the scene with details as shown in these three frames, from Melancholia.

  John Hurt is framed to the right, even though he’s looking to frame right. Normally, you leave a space on the side of the actor’s gaze. This framing works though, because he is surrounded by a roomful of people watching him make a speech. The second frame is kept interesting by having Hurt’s sleeve introduced in the foreground, with incidental actors passing in the background. The third frame is given depth by having the main actors curve around the center of the frame, with others in the foreground and background. With this much attention to detail, shooting in the middle of the room will not result in a dull shot.

  An alternative is to put your character against a wall, as shown in these frames from The Fighter. To avoid making the character seem alone, fill the foreground with other actors crossing the frame. This establishes the busy room as the camera pushes in.

  To capture the full range of textures in a location, be prepared to get a long way back from your subject, and shoot them moving through the location with an extremely long lens. These frames from The Adjustment Bureau show that angle choice is important for this type of shot. If Anthony Mackie was running toward camera, there would be no pan through the shot. If he was running right past camera, the fast pan would blur the background so that we wouldn’t get a sense of the space that he’s passing through.

  You aren’t shooting a location; you are shooting a story, but push your characters into interesting parts of the set, and remain aware of the background whenever you shoot.

  Melancholia. Directed by Lars Von Trier. Nordisk Film, 2011. All rights reserved.

  The Fighter. Directed by David O. Russell. The Weinstein Company (Int), Paramount Pictures (US), 2010. All rights reserved.

  The Adjustment Bureau. Directed by George Nolfi. Universal Pictures, 2011. Al rights reserved.

  11.5

  LOST GEOGRAPHY

  When you’re shooting scenes with large groups of characters, it takes a great deal of planning and skill to keep the audience focused on the dialogue. Although it may appear as though this scene from Cast Away was shot from several angles and then stitched together with tireless editing, it was designed with precision. Every look, every movement, is designed to direct our attention through the flow of the scene.

  The scene begins by following a character in to the dinner table, giving us an overview of where everybody is sitting. We don’t get to take this all in, but we see Tom Hanks because he moves his arm into the center of frame. Our eye was guided there as the camera came in from the left. His arm is the first thing we see, not least because he is wearing the most distinctive piece of clothing in the scene.

  The next frame contains his sleeve once more. As Hanks is not visible in this shot, using his sleeve is a way to orient the audience. Without his reach across the table, we might not be certain whom these other characters were talking to.

  We switch across to Hanks’ left side, and look across the table, but this is not disorienting, because his face remains in shot. He is the anchor for the whole scene; we know where he’s sitting, and so as long as he appears somewhere in frame, we know where we are. This is vital, because if you just edit the conversation together by pointing the camera at the various actors, the audience won’t know which way they’re facing, or who’s talking to whom. They will become confused and irritated by the complexity and will not follow the story.

  In the next frame Hanks looks to his left (frame right), because we’re about to cut to a shot showing that end of the table. His look motivates that cut, and the audience is guided by his look. Again, a small movement ensures there is no confusion.

  Although some new shots are introduced into this lengthy scene, it is constructed mostly from these few shots. The hard work is done in the first few seconds, and then, with the audience confident of who sits where, the scene can be edited according to who speaks.

  If you’re shooting a large group of characters, use visual cues during the first ten seconds or so to ensure that the audience is absolutely certain of the scene’s geography.

  Cast Away. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Twentieth Century Fox
(US), DreamWorks (Int), 2000. All rights reserved.

  11.6

  CHARACTER VIEW

  There are times when we need to see what a character is looking at. These frames from Never Let Me Go show two approaches to this challenge.

  In the first, we see somebody walk through a door and the camera pushes in toward the empty doorway. This creates a sense of mystery, and we want to look through the door. The main characters then appear ahead of us, and they too are heading toward the door. As they turn to look through the door, so do we. Importantly, Izzy Meikle-Small remains on the left of shot. We aren’t looking through her eyes, but we know we’re seeing what she’s seeing, because she is looking in that direction.

  The second example is the more basic approach, but it uses many small adjustments to make it effective. In the first frame we see the boys on the playing field. A long lens is used, so that the boys are in focus, but the background and foreground are out of focus. This makes them the subject of somebody’s gaze.

  We now cut to Izzy Meikle-Small and Ella Purnell, who have their heads turned toward the boys. If they were sitting straight on, facing the camera, it might not be so obvious that they are looking at the boys, and might even feel like a cut to another scene. By having them sit at an oblique angle, with their heads turned to look past the camera, their gaze is emphasized.

  Finally, Purnell looks away, and Meikle-Small is left staring at the boys. Singling her out in this way makes it clear that this is her scene, and that we’re seeing it from her viewpoint.