camera blocking and emotional impact

5/27/2018 camera blocking and emotional impact

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TONI WEIS S

C A M E R A B L O C K I N GF O R E M O T I O N A L I M P A C T

Director, Screenwriter, Storyboard Ar tist

B Y :


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WIT H A CAMERA

OU R TOP IC TODAY:


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA WORKS HOP OVE RV I E W

PART 1

STORY FLOW & LOGIC: what are shots for ?

SHOT FLOW & RYTHM: how are shots put in sequence ?


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PART 2

CAMERA MOVEMENT & EMOTION: moves are feelings

BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: aesthetics tell stories


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PART 1


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA STORY FLOW

STORY FLOW & LOGIC: what are shots for ?

Each new shot in a sequence creates e ither :

(1) in format ion

(2) emot ion

To decide which infor mat ion or emot ion i s imp or tant to your stor y,

ask the 2 questions every director asks :

(1) who does the s tory / scene be long to ?

(2) what do I want to te l l the audience ?


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA SHOT FLOW

SHOT FLOW & RYTHM: how are shots put in sequence ?

The basic pattern of a shot f low is Q & A:

one shot poses a QUESTION. . .

the next shot ANSWERS i t . . . .

and ends with another QUESTION. . . .


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SHOT FLOW & RYTHM: editing ground rules.

There are some simple rules to edi t ing a shot f low:

(1) do not cut f rom one sh ot s ize to the same shot s ize too of ten

(2) use the same lenses and dis tances in angles & reverse angles

(3) be carefu l not to jump across the ax is / l ine of act ion

(4) most important ly : use the shot for what it has been shot for !!!


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SHOT FLOW & RYTHM: what shot sizes do for your story.

Dif ferent shot sizes te l l d i f ferent th ings :

ECU: Extreme Close Up - Detai l s as Foresha dowing, Quest ion or Par s Pro Toto

CU: Close Up - I so lates for emot ional c lar i t y

OTS: Over The Should er - create a fee l ing of connect ion

MS: Medium Shot - Blocking and Body Language te l l the story

WS: Wide Shot - use i t to establ i sh a scene or to i so late a character


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SHOT FLOW & RYTHM

Lets see th is in act ion:


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THE MIST storyboards 2007 by Pete Von Sholly / MGM


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PART 2


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA CAME RA MOV E ME NT

CAMERA MOVEMENT & EMOTIONS: moves are feelings.

By moving the camera, you can create strong emotional messages .

Used proper ly, you can even v isual ize your char acter s inner life .

Books use words . F i lms & Animat ion must use p ictures , sound & mus ic .

Th i s i s qu i te powerfu l & impor tant .


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ESTABLISHING SHOTS

(1) crane down - s ink into the scene/mood & discover what s important .

(2) boom up - reveal the scene/addit ional in fo & put your character in context .

Game Des igners somet imes use too many wide shots in their cut-scenes .

Dont .

Use an establ i sh ing shot no more than once in a scene.

Return to i t only i f there i s an emot ional reason to go wide.


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REVEALS

(1) Zie l insk i move & other c le ver combinat ions of pan, t i l t & dol ly

(2) Circ le Moves & pans - to add a surpr is ing new element to the shot

Somet imes us ing a reveal i s more e legant s toryte l l ing than

to s imply cut to the informat ion you want to reveal .


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MOVING IN - DOLLY MOVES

(1) With a zoom , the audiences per cept ion of the char acter chang es .

(2) With a dolly-in-move , the character s percept ion of something changes .

When the camera moves c loser to a char acter,

i t creates a powerfu l fee l ing of change:

Spagett i -Westerns / Quent in Tarant ino s epics employ zoom shots .

Spie lber g , Zemeckis & Peter Jackson use th is master fu l ly.


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA BL OCK ING & AE S THE T ICS

BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: aesthetics as storytelling.

There are cer ta in aspects o f the v i sua l des ign o f a shot

that might seem l ike pure aesthet ic choices .

They are not .

Such as : he ight of camera , b locking , compos i t ion & f raming and depth of f ie ld .


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BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: height of camera.

(1) an eye-level-shot te l l s us : there i s l i t t le c onf l ict in the scene .

(2) a low-level-shothe lps to te l l s us : there i s lots of conf l ict in th is scene .

Whether the camera i s h igher or lower makes a huge emotional d i f ference:

(3) a birds eye-view-shot takes us out of the l ine of conf l ic t .


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BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: the blocking of characters.

How characters s tand next to each other in the f rame

makes a huge emotional d i f ference:

Block ing A Block ing B


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BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: compos ition & depth.

The f ina l ar t o f v i sua l s tor yte l l ing requ i res a f ine eye :

Compos i t ion i s the ar t oflooking for harmony and balance in a v isual .

Some are born with a s ixth sense for i t .

Others must learn f rom the masters .


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA FURTHER ST UDY

Thou shalt buy it & learn it by heart.

THE HOLY BIBLE

In which all shall be revealed in moving pictures.

REVELATIONS 1 - 6


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HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA FURTHER ST UDY

Hans Bacher reveals how to design for animation.

ST. JOHNs BOOK

Drawing made easy by the man who invented Spidey.

Stan Lee speaks. Nuff said ?

THE GOSPEL OF STAN


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THA NK YOU.

TONI WEISS / MOVING TARGET FILMS

www.movingtargetfilms.at

[email protected]
http://www.movingtargetfilms.at/http://www.movingtargetfilms.at/http://www.movingtargetfilms.at/

camera blocking and emotional impact

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