CAMERA BLOCKING Blocking for Emotional... · HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA WORKSHOP OVERVIEW...

TONI WEISS

C A M E R A B L O C K I N G

F O R E M O T I O N A L I M P A C T

Director, Screenwriter, Storyboard Artist

B Y :

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA

O U R TO P I C TO DAY :

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA WO R K S H O P OV E RV I E W

PART 1

• STORY FLOW & LOGIC: what are shots for ?

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


PART 2

• CAMERA MOVEMENT & EMOTION: moves are feelings

• BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: aesthetics tell stories


PART 1

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA S TO RY F L OW

STORY FLOW & LOGIC: what are shots for ?

Each new shot in a sequence creates e i ther :

(1) in format ion

(2) emot ion

To dec ide which in format ion or emot ion i s impor tant to your s tor y,

ask the 2 questions every director asks :

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

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

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA S H OT F L OW

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

The basic pattern o f a shot f low i s „Q & A“ :

one shot poses a QUESTION. . .

the next shot ANSWERS i t . . . .

and ends wi th another QUESTION. . . .


SHOT FLOW & RYTHM: editing ground rules.

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

(1) do not cut f rom one shot s i ze to the same shot s i ze too of ten

(2) use the same lenses and d is tances in ang les & rever se ang les

(3) be care fu l not to jump across the ax i s / l ine of act ion

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


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 - Deta i l s as Foreshadowing , Quest ion or Par s Pro Toto

CU: Close Up - I so lates for emot iona l c lar i ty

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

MS: Medium Shot - B lock ing and Body Language te l l the s tor y

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


SHOT FLOW & RYTHM

Lets see th i s in act ion :


PART 2

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA C A M E R A M OV E M E N T

CAMERA MOVEMENT & EMOTIONS: moves are feelings.

By moving the camera , you can create s t rong emot iona l messages .

Used proper ly, you can even v i sua l i ze your char acter ‘ s inner life .

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

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


ESTABLISHING SHOTS

(1) cr ane down - s ink into the scene/mood & d iscover what ‘ s impor tant .

(2) boom up - revea l the scene/addi t iona l in fo & put your char acter in context .

Game Des igner s somet imes use too many wide shots in the i r cut-scenes .

Don‘ t .

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

Return to i t on ly i f there i s an emot iona l reason to go wide .


REVEALS

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

(2) Circ le Moves & pans - to add a surpr i s ing new e lement to the shot

Somet imes us ing a revea l i s more e legant s tor yte l l ing than

to s imply cut to the in format ion you want to revea l .


MOVING IN - DOLLY MOVES

(1) With a zoom , the aud ience ‘s percept ion of the char acter changes .

(2) With a dolly-in-move , the char acter ‘ s percept ion of someth ing 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 Tar ant ino ‘s ep ics employ zoom shots .

Sp ie lber g , Zemeck is & Peter Jackson use th i s master fu l ly.

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA B L O C K I N G & A E S T H E T I C S

BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: aesthetics as storytelling.

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

that might seem l ike pure aesthet ic choices .

They are not .

Such as : he ight of camera , block ing , compos i t ion & f r aming and depth of f ie ld .


BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: height of camera.

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

(2) a low-level-shot he lps to te l l s us : there i s lots of conf l i c t in th i s scene .

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

(3) a bird‘s eye-view-shot takes us out of the l ine of conf l i c t .


BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: the blocking of characters.

How char acter s s tand next to each other in the f r ame

makes a huge emot iona l d i f ference :

Block ing A Block ing B


BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: composition & 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 o f

look ing for harmony and ba lance in a v i sua l .

Some are born wi th a s ixth sense for i t .

Other s must learn f rom the master s .


BLOCKING, ANGLES & FRAMING: composition & depth.

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA F U RT H E R S T U DY

Thou shalt buy it & learn it by heart.

THE HOLY BIBLE

In which all shall be revealed in moving pictures.

REVELATIONS 1 - 6

HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA F U RT H E R S T U DY

Hans Bacher reveals how to design for animation.

ST. JOHN‘s BOOK

Drawing made easy by the man who invented Spidey.

Stan Lee speaks. Nuff said ?

THE GOSPEL OF STAN

T H A N K YO U.

© TONI WEISS / MOVING TARGET FILMS

www.movingtargetfilms.at

[email protected]

http://www.movingtargetfilms.at

http://www.movingtargetfilms.at

CAMERA BLOCKING Blocking for Emotional... · HOW TO TELL STORIES WITH A CAMERA WORKSHOP OVERVIEW...

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