Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
For the moving camera work on the next volumes we'll use these all purpose
rig to illustrate tracking shots, boom shots and crane shots.
Naturally camera support equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. So let's
look at how this rig (materiel,piece of equipment designed for a particular
purpose) aproximates each types of support. The main difference is really just
the length of the boom (bras de levier).
_Dollies don't have a boom, but instead a hydrauic arm that can raise or
lower the camera slightly during takes, so we'll illustrate this with a very
short boom.
The hidraulic arm itself can be positioned higher or lower but only between
takes when there is a permanent setting.
to show panning, the camera's angle of views sweeps left and right.
to illustrate tilting, the angle of view moves up and down, showing the
vertical middle of the shot.
and to show tracking we push the base of the dolly.
A boom ridge is longer alllowing for vertical movement of ten to fifteen feet
still mounted on track. Sometimes, the camera operator receide on the
platform at the end of the crane. But more commonly, the camera pan and
tilt to remotely control, which is how we'll show it. Cranes come in any lenght
and using the same rig we'll simply show it as a longer boom. Although many
cranes are technically mounted on a dolly, it's often inpractical and
sometimes dangerous to move the base of the crane during a shot. So we'll
mainly use the track to find the crane's position before shot.
We'll work exclusively with straight track. Circular track is more for
commercial and video music type shot and doesn't have a lot of uses for
narrative camera work. A crab dolly doesn't rig on track bu is positiones
directly on a studio floor and an change direction at moments notice. We
won't work with crab dolly directly. But everyhing we'll do with straight tracks
equals equally with crab dolling, with the advantage that we can combine
different camera moves and directions into single takes.
On the next two volumes, we want to create the large vocabulary of camera
moves from which o pick and choose when staging scenes. But let's look for
some general approach to blocking.
2/why storyboarding doesn't work
Storyboarding is very common way to plan scenes and it can be a great tool
for working out complex sequences that involve quick cuts in difficult action.
If we're doing visual effects, stunts or need to sell a concept, there're
complete necessity.
But contary to popular belief, storyboarting is very counter productive as a
shot planning tool fr the vast majority of scenes. Because they force us to
think sequencially and to do vey inchisive camera work. So let's stotyboard a
quick scene and look at this.
more camera that only cover a section of the scene. But the point is that
thinking in parallell creates very organic scenes that cut well amost no matter
what we do are cery easy to manage and allow the actors to do longer takes.
This type of camera work is fairly easy to plan and execute but the question
is: "how would we even begin the storyboarding?"
4/thinking in keyframes
Thinking in keyframes is a deceptively simple way to create powerful and
tight camerawork. Working in keyframe is so effective that many of the
techniques we're using on the next four volumes involves keyframes in one
way or another. Simply put, the goal is to plan camera move as series of
framings that each are perfect by themselves and then use tracking, panning
and craning to connect them. A key frame is really just a stop, except it's also
a camera stop it can be any type of shot we've already looked at. The point is
that a keyframe is a well framed shot that would work locked as well.
Here we'll start with a single shot on the man and call it a keyframe. From the
camera, we frame the shot to get a bit of the tree in the freground. Next we'll
have the man walk over here and mark another keyframe. Which we frame as
an over the shoulder. For the next keyframe, the man walks to the end of the
table and we're placing a camera down here with the red woman here in the
foreground. So when we track for the second keyframe to the third, the
woman will be revealed to the end f the move in perfec framing. For a fourth
keyframe the man moves over to the blue woman which is a very delibrate
over the shoulder three-shot. For the last key frame we'll have the blue
woman step forwards and place the keyframe here so the end rsuld will be a
push to this keyframe.
Working in keyframes we always arrive somewhere deliberate which brings
an enormous feeling of purpose resulting from the blocking. As we track from
the first to the second keyframe we arrive in an over the shoulder. As we
move to the third keyframe, we reseting both the dolly, camera pan tilt and
the boom hight creating this framing. Anytime we're arriving in a keyframe it
comes across as a lucky coincidence. Here we're pulling back as the man
walks forward conveniently arriving in this three-shot. This is the opposite of
how most of us learn to think of camera moves becaus we're used to focusing
on the moves himselves. Wrking in keyframes, we're much more interested in
where we're coming from and going to and the moves come about as natural
consequences moving between keyframes. Moreover thinking in keyframes is
integrating camera moves seamlessly into the scene, and gives us many
more reasons to do tracking shots than if we only use moves to achieve a
articular effect.
So when blocking a scene, one of the first thing we should do after deciding
on the basic character movement is finding keyframes we know we want to
be in. Here the red man will walk from dialoguing with the extra over to this
and cut to another camera. So let's give purpose to the move by planning it
backwards. We'll start knowing that the red woman and the man we'll
eventually have dialogue and laid a track so we'll end up as one of the
internal reverses.
As the women have their dialogue we slowly pushing on the scene. To the
audience, we're just doing a push but we're in fact going somewhere. As the
red woman turns to talk to the man, the dolly is now an internal reverse. On
more lock camera covers the man. So we've not only saved a camera. The
blocking is much more deliberate and intentional. This sounds exremly
simple, and it is. But very few people do it.
Thinking backwards is a useful habit to develop, because we always eleganty
arrive where we need to be. When we think forward we usually doing it
because we want to experience what the audience is expercing which is the
thrill of discovery. But when it's find to the audience to not know what's
coming up, it's essenial that we do when w're directing blinfolded. In this
scene we're tracking behind some trees as the characters enter. When they
stop, we really can't do anymore with this camera so we'll abandone it. To
cover their dialogue, we add two reverses. At the end of the scene, the man
will leave and we suddenly realise that we need to do a push on the woman
so we move the camera over on a track and push as he lives. Both tracking
caeras are detached from the scene. We can block this much smarter by
planning it backwards.
Looking first to the cut, the characters enter and we track with them, we end
in an over the shoulder and cut some dialogue. When the man lives, we push
in on the woman ensing in a close shot. In this version, everything we did was
a consequence of what we were going. We first decided on two major
keyframes and laid a track that can do both. With this track angle we got
easily in the first keyframe and in the second and we used half the number of
cameras.
Here we're panning with the man as he walks from the extras towards
someone he's talking to, ending in a well framed over the shoulder. We
started by creating the ending keyframe, then we bring the red man back to
the extras and pan with him to the over the shoulder. We know the ending
position, but the audience doesn't. So from within the scene it seems as if we
arrived n a good framing by luck. When we're doing deep staging, thinking
backwards is essential because the frame is so meticulously put together. If
we pan wit the man we arrive in this framing. We would have to be exremly
lucky to arrive here without planning it. Instead we treat the ending position
as our fix we frame it carefully. In the man's prier position, the camera
position is whatever it will be because of the ending. When we pan the
framing is already set up.
6/script staging: parallel staging and keyframes
Let's stage a very simple scene to get an habit of planning shot and
of camera moves. Starting with panning, we'll assume that simple pan moves
like panning with the character need no explanation. This is useful for single
camera that stand on their on. But to make pans a more integrated part of
scene, we need them to be part of a structure.
Thinking again in keyframes it's useful to remember that a keyframe is
essentially a stop that includes a stop for the camera. If all camera pans start
and en end in a keyframe, the pan is a natural part of the scene.
So if we plan a regular scene at the stops; the woman starts here. Then walks
over here, and we'l add two reverses. Then she walks over here, and we'll
add another pair of reverses. But instead of having a character simply
walking in and out of the perspective shots, we'll pan with them into them. So
starting with the camera that will become the over the shoulder on the man,
we pan with the woman into this keyframe that seem to come conveniently
out of nowhere. After cutting to the reverse, we cut to this camera which will
become the new over the shoulder on the man. She walks and we pan. Again
and again a perfect keyframe. So instead of planning actual pan moves we're
more concerned of setting up stops or keyframes. And the moves tha come
about is a natural by-product of that.
But beyound panning at the stops, it's useful to plan character movement as
going between keyframes. Here we'll go between an over the shoulder and a
master so it's essentially transforming camera, except for panning to make it
happen. As she walks back, we transform back into an over the shoulder.
Here we're in a close up of the woman. She turns and we're in a perfect over
the shoulder. If we're already into an over the shoulder and we want a single
out of the woman , we can use the same move in reverse. We're not just
panning at the stops. The shots are designed as distinct keyframes well
connected with the pan.
This way of blocking can extend pretty far and ensures that the framing is
always good and it creates a feeling of being on track. Here we're starting
with a keyframe on the woman and the red man set up a right angle master.
When she walks over to the blue man, we carefully set up both character and
camera stops to become an over the shoulder. So starting in a right angle
master, we pan into an over the shoulder which seems to arrive out of
nowhere. And using this camera as a sort of backbone for the scene and a
second keyframe; all we have to do is add a matching reverse to complete
the coverage. As the scene continue, she walks back into the master.
Blocking like this starts with blocking in one of the keyframes. Here we've
designed the first keyframe to be symetrical around the door. With this as our
fix, we then move over what will become the second keyframe and move the
character around until the framing is good. If instead this keyframe is our fix,
we move over by the men and adjust them both to find a framing. This is
extremly easy to do, and give an immediately structure to the blocking.
Another more two domensional way to pan from keyframe to keyframe is cary
over from animation where it is a central blocking method. Here we're using a
fairly long lens as the woman moves between te other characters. Each
camera and characters stop at a distinctive keyframe. AS she stops on the
other side of the first character the shot is framed well enough that it could
work locked. She walks to the next character, again a keyframe. And to the
other side. And out here into an over the shoulder. Since we're shooting with
a long lens, the character positions are mainly designed into horizontal
position in the frame and we've kept just enough space etween them that
we're able to create visual keyframes. Blocking in keyframes like this is not
actually a big technique which is why it's so easy to overlook.
So to quicly see what kind of structure we get from planning blocking as
panning between keyframes. Let's put together a small scene. We'll start a
master dialogue between a woman and a red man. Then the woman walks
out here and we're transforming the shot into an over the shoulder. With the
previous keyframe as our fix, we'll adjust her position which creates an over
the shoulder. And add a reverse for doalogue. To keep this scene moving, let's
have them meet in the middle, again a master The woman leaves, and we
pan with her over to another keyframe by the blue man. The blue man walks
over to the red man, ending in an over the shoulder. Our only available here
is the blue man's mark so we've twitch his position accordingly. Let's also add
a reverse.
Nothing mkes the effectiveness to panning from keyframe to keyframe more
vivid when when each keyframe is a deep staging shot. In the first keyframe
we had a woman in the foreground and a red man having a conversation on
the background. The red man spots her and walks over. In the meanwhile we
just seem to be panning until we again arrive into a carefully composed
frame.
To focuse on the man again we reframe for him. As he walks back, we again
reframe vertically to maintain a good framing. Typically we make the best
framing for the character who is the current focus 30:of the scene. In this
over the shoulder, the shot is bounced for the man with the woman being
cropped by the frame. But if she turns to yhink we bounce the frame for her,
leaving the man to be cropped. When she turns back, we again reframe for
the man.
The reframing starts to becoming a blocking decision when we move it to the
empty space to the side of the character during a line cross. In this shot the
line is to the right, so we place the empty space on that side. As th man
moves to the other side, we 're repositioning the character in the frame to
get the space on the better side. By having a framing being a non possibility
when blocking, it's very easy to create cameras that will work for both side of
the line simply by refrming. Regardless of whether or not we're dealing with
our line, keeping the space in front of the character creates the most
comfortable shot. So if a character turns, we'll naturally move this space
over on the other side.
How this again becomes again a blocking decision is that reframing causes a
reveal of the new part of the set which can be used to bring in characters. So
if we re-do the last shot, as the men leaves we reframe to keep this space in
front of her. Already in that space is a character coming towars her for the
next dialogue.
Another useful reframing is to flip the staging to add movement to another
one esthatic scene. Here we're on locked over the shoulder; but to add
movemnt just for the sake of it, we'll have the red man walk over here. We're
simply flipping the staging. And when he walks back, we flip it back again. To
do the same using the woman we'll start here and set the mark so that when
she walks we again become in over the shoulder miroring the first key frame.
And when she walks back to her first mark we are again in over the shoulder.
Reframing like this is an exrtremly easy way to add movement to a static
scene and a simple act of talking may be all the motivation we need.
Regrouping is similar to reframing. Where grouping was about choosing which
characters are together in this shot; with regrouping we chnge this during
shot. In this example we have three characters in this I shape and we 've
grouped two of them together. As the middle character turns to attention, we
use her as a pivot and regroup the shot for the two other characters. When
she turns back, we regroup again. This is also a very natural and easy move
to do when a character leaves. As the man walks out, we regroup for the
other dialogue.
As soon as w're covering a scene in a tighter shot, regrouping is an easy way
to select the part of the scene we're interested in at a particular time. Here
we're using regrouping to go between two over the shoulders as rhe man
shifts his attention from woman to woman. We start a reverse dialogue
between the man and the blue woman. In a regrouping camera, we use the
man both to pivot an to hinge to get to the other dialogue. After cutting to
the reverse we group back to the first dialogue.
9/pan: start on, reveal, end on
Using pan to control the order of information as presented in is actual
extension of open/close framings. The point again is that as soon as we've
revealed the entire scene. We have nothing new to add but if we instead
design the scene to generally move from open framing to its closed ones,
we're continously able to add information. This makes the scene stay
interesting for much longer and a vast majority of scenes can and often
should be open this way. Well before we were mainly using this to control the
cutting order, for instance from this shot, to this shot using pan to start on
and reveal an end on gives much more longevity to the process of revealing
information to.
As we scan across the objects on the floor, we have questions about what
we're seeing so we're drawn in. As we arrive by a man's feet, we still hae
questions about what who we're seeing. As we tilt up we finally get some
answers. Doing pan versions of openings we can just as easily have done with
cutting; here we start the scene on hands that are tapping nervously on the
table, we tilt up revealing a distrupt man character. Even if we know who is
listening the tape recorder, we don't know what condition he's in before we
tilt up or who he"s with before we pan to the right. But instead of being a
sudden reveal with cutting, the pan makes the reveal very gradual and fluid.
Anytime we're opening a scene it's a great idea to look for something to start
on and then pan in to the main scene. Here we'll start on the clock on the
wall and tilt in to the main keyframe when the characters are waiting
impatiently. Here we start on the store sign and tilt down as the man arrives
ending on him as he stops. These moves don't even need to be planned into
the blocking because they're so easy to discover on the set. Another effective
sthing to do is start with the central character off camera. As we pan across
the listening characters, we hear the man talking and recognize his voice. But
i's really very much interesting to start away from him, an finally reveal him.
Here the woman is talking with someone off camera. At some point she steps
forward causing the man to be revealed.
An elegant technique is to start on the effect of the character being in the
scene instead of the character herself. Here we're starting on a washin bowl
where the character reflection scatter on the water. Even if we know who she
is, there's plenty we don't know about her. It's this desire to know something
that keeps us watching any film which is why holding information like that
works. Even if what we have to reveal isn't super important.
Another type of effective start is the shadow. Here we're starting on the floor
as the woman shaw moves into the shot. Again we're not trying to create a
big mistery, we're just making it a little more interesting.
So far we've been using reveals to open the scene but reveals can just as
easily be placed to the end of a scene which make the scene ending in a
question we keep asking to get it answered. Here we pan with the man as we
walks to the door revealing the woman up front. This move can have two
meanings. If he knows she's there the move functions as a reaction shot or a
thinking shot If he doesn't know about her Her reveal is unsettling. The
feeling of her is spilling over the next scene.
On a much more mondane level, we can use this to provide some information
necessary later. Here we pick up on a pan with the red man, he stops for a
moment, then walks into the store, we tilt up, ending by showing where he's
going.
To go to extremes, we can put together a scene of series of reveals. A car
drives in, we tiltt down on the wheel to reveal mud splash all over the car.
Meanwhile, the door slam off camera, we tilt up to reveal the blue man. We
pan to reveal the redman as he steps forwards, he walks out of the scene and
we re-reveal the blue man. He leaves and we tilt down revealing a bullethole in the windshield. Here we've held each bit of informations until the last
minute.
10/ blocking-transitions 38:28
Transitions have many meanings. In editing it's a fade or a white between
shots. In acting it's the moment or the beats of the scene when the mood is
changing. But to add another meaning in blocking it's the time when we go
from one distinct thing to another for instance here as we dolly over bringing
another character. Calling this a transition is not an official term at least not
yet. But the reason we need to look at it separate from everything else is that
these moves need to go in some of the first shots when planning a scene.
The purpose of this chapter is mainly to introduce the concept, because we'll
turn it into a random during the next two volumes but to quickly look at a
couple of examples, the shot in the last chapter when the woman steps
forward revealing the man, is a transition.
In this example we're with the man by a control panel. In a moment another
man will walks trough the door in the background. When he does, we've
bridged two beats of actions into one single shot. Here the script calls for the
woman to have a conversation with the blue man after which the redman
makes some comments. This can be an excellent transition. If we don't
already know that the redman is in the scene; doing a reveal on his first line
is a smooth way to bringg him in. Even of if we already know he's there. It's
still an elegant way to connect her line with his line.
So in transitions, it's very often one character introducing another by means
of their movement, but it's really any move that absolutely must be in one
particular place in one particular time in the scene. Instead of doing the
scene and discovering the move, we are lay in the move as the very first
thing and find something to use that camera for before and after.
Here the man is talking to the woman. The move we have in mind tracks him
as he walks to the other chair to continue the conversation. With a move this
specific, we need to put that in first. In both the first and second keyframe
the camera is in over the shoulder. So let's instead build the scene around it
and add mathing reverse for each stop.
We then cut the dialogue between the first two reverses, one of which is off
the track. The man walks, we traack with him. And as he sits down we're still
in over the shoulder so we cut to a remaining dialogue between this and the
matching reverse. They are infinately many more moves that function as
transitions. And when they are mentioned, the keys is that these are moves
that need to go in first.
11/pan:search,shift,swish
In this chapter we're look at three nearly identical pan moves that all in one
way or another are extensions of starting on and revealing. The first is
searching; a simple pan move move would be to npan across a group of
people, as here where the characters are witnessing an important event.
Searching is slightly different as we have specific targets we wanna include in
the move. Here we pan across objects in the table and the move is
choreographed to include the phone, then the tea cup, and finally the gun
and then the hand. These such moves are very straight forward to do and are
usually created by firs deciding on the general move and laying out the
objects on the table in consecutive order.
This is great for dialogue too. If we arrange character by order in the script,
we're able to create a single move that happens to pass by each of the
characters just in time for their lines. Here the characters having dialogue
have numbers but if we simply pan between theem, the camera would have
to cjange direction a lot. So instead we decide with the move we want and
simply re-arrage the characters to fit with the move.
As we an across the characters, we pass by them for their lines-->First the
red man, then the blue man, the man on the suit , an finally the woman.
In a lot of scenes it really doesn't matter where we place the character so we
might as well position them in a way that helps the blocking.
A distinction we need to use both for now and for later is the panning interact
in completly separate moves. This means this pan move can be done
independantly at the same time as tracking. It allows to create some
sophisticate edit move that are very easy to execute. So in using one
technique for panning and another for tracking we keep the same pan going
from the red man, to the blue man, over to the man in the suit, and down to
the woman.
But besides the obvious production value, there is a practical reason to put a
search on a track. Unless all the character are facing the same way. We'l be
seeing some of them from the back.
Here we've already arranges the characters by their order in the script. We
then start on the redman, then the blue woman , the red woman, and then
the blue man. Pulling the search on the track allows us to get access to the
characters at the time of their lines. Additionnaly we'll arrange the camera to
end in a over the shoulder so the camera stays useful after the move.
We're now using the track to help us see the characters much better. We go
smoothly from line to line and ending in over the shoulder.
Shifting is a time pan from one subject to another. Here we shift between
characters as each have their lines. The mas has a line, then the woman,
then the other man. This can be an elegant way to connect lines and beats of
action.
Shifting is usually done in tight shot, because it depends on the subject that
we're shifting to be outside the frame. We start on a gun, then shift up to his
face.
A man is knocked to the ground. We start on him then shift up to its attacker.
Here we have three characters talking with each other. As each character has
a line, we shift to them and lock on to their walk . Since we're going between
series of open framings, every shift is a reveal, which can keep the scene
moving. It also gives us a feeling of a advantage point. However doing one
line shifting shot will ultimately become heritating so as so it's best used for
transitions.
A shift as a transition is easy to do in a short scene because it can be already
coveraged. If the entire scene consists in 45:20 the man saying something,
the woman responding with a few lines, and the man making a las comment,
we're covered.
Otherwise we need to determine when to do the shifting and which camera to
do it with. We have two options, the first of which is to borough one of the
camera that has been already set up. Assuming we've shot a full take on the
woman, we're not shooting the man's angle. At some point we borrow this
camera to shift to her, and back again. The other option is to shoot the shif as
a pick up.
After we're done shooting a full take on the man, we'll shoot a seperate take
where all we do is shift to the woman, and back again. Which gives us
complete editing freedom.
If we're in a gun duel, we might borrow this camera to shift on to the gun and
up again.
Or we can shoot a pick up as a start on and reveal.
Shiting can result in very tight blocking when we go from keyframe to
keyframe. Here we're doing a start on reveal from the paper up on the
woman, then shift to a keyframe over here. each of our stops are carefully
framed and it gives the action a tight flow.
A swich is a fast shift. in this example the woma is walking down an alley and
suddenly realize that she's underattack. We swich between her and the
attackers.
Swhiches are ectic and usually reserved for extremly dramatic situations.
Here we're in a control room during a disaster. As they grab all the way to
shut down the nuclear reactor, we swich between them. the group leader
gives us an order, we swich over the operator as he pushes a button .
As with the shift we have to choose between shooting a sepearte pick up or
borrowing a camera for it. As we swich, we're borrowing her camera.
THe fast speed of a sweech makes it harder to use it for anything but the
most dramatic sequences. Here we're pushing in, as two characters realize
that they have to catch a certaiin train to intercept another character. The
train leaves at 8:29.
Again swiching can result in very tight blocking when we're going from
keyframe to keyframe. In this short sequence, the information they've been
waiting for finally comes up. we swich to the operators as they realize it, we
swich to the executives as they get the information, they leave and we shift
back to the operators.
A scene like this requires a steady hand to prepare the move we first found
an angle that gets us a good view all the three stops.
In the second and third keyframes we've tweek the character to get the
framing we want.
We then swich between the keyframes.
An important note about swiches is that the camera must me slow enough
that we get adequate motion blur. Here the motion blur is fine. If the shot is
too fast the result is ...
The last thing we look at here is the swich cut. A swich cut is usig a swichh to
create a hard cut between two scenes. This is done by swiching out of the
first scene, swich into the second scene. And then either desolving a wiping
during the swich. The hard part o f this is that the swiching speed in both
scenes has to match. And the scene has to have enough detail that the
motion blur create a good smear. With a long enough lens, this can be a more
dramatic way to get from one scene to another. An idea that works very well
for swich cut and for swiches in general, is to have a character trigger it.
As the blue man suddenly turns is head, we swich to the other scene.
12/pan:hand-off.
A hand off, also called a transfer, is changing who or what we're following
during the shot . We've already been using handoffs a few times without
mention.
In a scene from a previous chapter, when the red man walks out of the shot
we hand off to the blue man. In this chapter we'll be looking at panning and
handoffs and then returning them as they relate to dolly and crane.
There are basically 4 types of hand-offs:
-the end on
-the pick -up
-the switch
-and the step in
Loiikin first to the end on/end off; we follow the characters as they walk past
us, we pan with them doing a hand off to a full sail sign.
In this scene w've two characters and we're following the man. As he walks
out, we hand off to the woman.
Here we're panning with a way to walk in by then hand off to a the characters
sitted by the table. In all of these moves, there is a sudden shift of attention
from one character to another or between a character and an object.
Handoffs immediately give a feeling of purpose to the blocking and get us
elegantly from one character to another whether or not they are part of the
story.
In the last example we looked at, we're using a waiter to get into the scene
and handoff to the main characters.
The pick up works the opposite way. We're parked on the full sale sign. As the
character walk buy we pick up, handing off the shot and following them
instead.
Here we're arked on the woman. We then hand off to the man as he walks in
and takes over the shot. If we parked on the characters having dinner, we
suddenly pick up on the waiter as he walks buy and then againn handoff to
some other characters in the restaurant.
The switch is between 2 moving characters. If someone is sending someone
else a document, he might walk in. We switxh to her as she walks. We then
end on the blue man as she slaps the document into his hands. Finally the
step in as the man implies is a type of hand off that occures when a character
steps into the shot. As she steps forward, we help with the move and effect
52:01 ending shot to her.
So to look at some practically uses for the handoffs, we'll start of using it for
getting reaction sshots. Here we're using the man close up to pan with him as
he leaves the scene ending off to the woman for reaction. We can do this
almost any time a character leaes a scene.
In a sense a handoff is a transition, so we can use it as a unique way to bring
together line of dialogue.
Here the man is talking, the woman has a few lines, and the man againt takes
over the dialogue as well as the shot.
A switch is very effective for a replacing of character. We're having dialogue
here. As the man walks out, we use one of the reverses to pan. We swtich the
shot to another character to who enters. And ack to a reverse shot, and we've
succesfully replaced the character.
We started with one of the reverses. The man walks out, the switch occures
here. And we pan back into an over the shoulder revealing the woman having
replaced the character. he beauty is that we can reuse both cameras for the
second dialogue.
If the man needs to have dialogue during the switch, we instead stop for a
moment, hen continue doing a slow handoff.
In order to ingrain this move let's do an unrelaistic sequence when we try to
do as many handoffs as possible. Fisrt the blue woman walks past the red
man and we do an end off to him. Then he walks past the blue man and we
end off to him. Te blue man walks over to the others which is just a reveal.
Then the woman eaves the frame and we end off to the two men. We do a
step in as she re-enters the frame. We give the shot to her as she leaves,
then switch to the red woman who enters, and walks over to the ohers when
we do a simple end on. The red man walks over to the frame and we endoff
to the woman. We pick up on the blue man as he walks over to the red man.
We pick up on the blue woman as she re-enters the scene. Then switch to the
red woman as she walks over to the others. Again we pick up on the blue
woman as she walks over here. As she leaves we simply shift over and end on
the ohers.
13/parallax and the value of foreground
As we now begin to look at tracking shots, let's first look at getting the
maximum impact from a move. Parallax is the apparent change of perception
of objects and characters in the scene as we change perspective. As we track
left and right, the characters that are closer to the camera seem to change
position faster and the characters that are further away seem to move slower.
This is crucial to be aware of because the imact we get from a dolly or a
crane move depends most entirely on the amount of parallax we experience.
If we don't have any parallax, we defeat the purpose of being on a track or
on a crane.
Let's do four identical camera moves where the only diffrence is the amount
of parallax.
For the first version, the character walks from left to right with no other
objects in the scene. Without any other obetcs, we almost don't know we're
moving. By putting some trees in the scene, we're starting to notice alittle bit
of perspective change. Moving the trees closer, the same move we've
alreaady done twice now feels a lot faster. So let's put the trees right in front
of the camera. A move that previously seem too slow, suddenly seem very
fast although we're moving exactly the same speed. This is because the
speed we perceive depends almost entirly on the ptoximity of foreground
objects.
Looking at crane shots, we experience vertical parallax.
If we start by craning down on a character that arrives on an empty scene,
We have slight feeling of movement. If we put a tree in the distance thsi
increas our perception of speed. Moving the tree closer, we again increase
the perceived speed. And if we put the tree right in front of the camera, the
move seems much faster although w're going exactly at the same speed. So
it's clear that when we are doing any kind of move, we either have to find
some foreground to move behind or put something in there.
Let's look at depth parallax as we move in and out of a scene.
In the first version we have no objects in the scene so we hardly know we're
moving and it almost feels like a zoom. In the next version, we put some
trees at left and right of the scene, and we already get some sene of
movement. In the last version, we put the trees close to the center and our
perceive read is fastly increased.
Even without foreground objects we can increase our perceive speed by
changing our high. Tracking with the character at eye level is expecting we
get almost no sense of movement. But if we lower the camera, the floor
pattern is closer to us, and we get an increase sense of movement. 57:55
In this practical example, the red man will walk from the blue man to the
woman.
As we watch the move we don't get much feeling of being on a track. So let's
place some trees and columns in the foreground. The move is now much
more dynamic. But we don't have to have constant foreground to get a sense
of movement. Let's place just one column in the middle of the move. Halfway
through the mov, the column reminds us of our speed. So even just ocasional
forground is enough to get a sense of movement.
It's worth noting that even within a pan shot we can create a sort of subtle
parallax simply by having foreground in the shot. It's not actually a prallax
because there's no perspctive change. But it still creat the ipression of
passing foreground, and makes panning action much more visible.
14/track:coordinating foreground 59:01
so let's look at some ways to coordinate foreground. There are two basic
approaches that are either build a blocking using foreground already on the
set, or just simply re-arrange the sets by either moving and adding props or
by re-arranging the characters and using extras.
In order to use a foregound that is already there, all we have to do is find
something to put the camera behind.
Here we track with the man as he walks to the woman. We get almost no
parallax, which makes the move less than it could be. If we simply decide to
place the track further back, we get the fence in the foreground. We now get
much more parallax.
If we have the characters walking in a park, we might stay slicely ahead of
them. Again we almost don't know we 're not moving, except by watching the
trees in the background.
So let's move te arrangement over here. We're doing the exact same move,
but because of the foreground we get more apparent movement.
To cover some character walking down the street, we place the track beind a
fence, we can easily see the characters through the fence. The fence stops,
then there's a tree, an extra and then another fence. Gaps in the foreground
keep the scene interesting but don't steal our attention.
The other method is to siply bringing objects for foreground. Looking first at
using props; we'll start with an empty shot of the characters walking at
different part of the room. But let's create some parallax by moving some
objects that can easily be iin the room. Often the audience doesn't know the
exact layout of the room so we can simply bring an object to fit with the rest
of the set design. Plants are a very unintrusive way to get a foreground
because we can see trough them. Here we're craning down on a character
but without a foreground such move have very little effects.
If we simply stick ome branches from the side, everyone will assume that
there is a tree athe left of us. When we crane down now, it's a very pleasant
move.
A way of using foreground that is often overlooked is to use extras the same
way we used branches and props.
Here we are in the party and the woman walks from the red man to the blue
man. If we wanted to create some foreground, we could put it in a lamp . But
lets instead rearrange some extras i the scene so that we're sure thato pass
behind some of them during the travel. In addition to make the move more
effective, it causes the character to blend much better into the scene. As
soon as we take liberties to rearrange the set, we get much more control over
the shot.
Another way to use props or extras is the arbitrary foreground. If we move
these two extras in into the shot, the man on the right will be visible on the
keyframe. When we track as before we go behind the firs couple of extras,
then pass behind the next pair. As we end, the male extra is still visible,
which creates depth and gives the surrounding scene a life in its own.
Anything we place in the foreground that get more parallax could be labelled
arbitrary foreground but our specific goal here is to place foreground objects
in keyframes.
In adddition to creating depth it gives us parallax to the begening and end of
the move. We don't need constant foreground to get a sense of speed. Even
just objects in the begining and end can be enough.
The opposite of arbitrary foreground is accordinate foreground meaningful to
the story. Here all the computer screen are flashing red. As we track with the
red man, one of the screen passes through the shot. This givs elegant depth,
because the screen provide relevant information about the situation.
Another way to coordinate meanigful foreground is to time it so that the
character's line fits with our tracking past him.
Here we're connecting three script lines into one shot. The red man talks to
the blue man. The blue man replies, and the red man talks to the woman.
Our last topic in this chapter is partially obscured moves. In thsi scene the
man walks over to the woman. Since we're on the other side of the wall, the
man is obscured on the entire middle part of the shot. As we track with him,
he's quickly obscured, we instead look at the interior decoration. It's an
interesting way to shoot it, and it's an amazing how long we can block out the
character without losing track of him.
Let's create a situation where we track with the character as he walks
through a part of debris. He disapears behind the part of debris. Here
reappears here and there. He becomes completly obscured. And finally we
connect these keyframes, so we'll again replace them with a track set up
between them. The remaining keyframes are now no longer place holders
and we'll leave them as lock cameras.
So starting in this lock camera, we cut to the keyframe on the track and pull
with the red man over to the other dialogue. Here we can cut to the reverse
three shot which is locked on the track. Back in the previous camera, the
woman turns .And we cut again to the reverse which tracks over to become
an over the shoulder here. To complete the coverage we use the remaining
keyframe which is now a lock camera.
Another way to integrate tracking cameras into a scene is to use them as a
backbone. Having them stop in useful places and adding lock cameras to
complete the coverage. In this scene the red man wil walk to the woman
ending in this keyframe. He then walks to the blue man, and then walks back
again. The first keyframe is complete as it is. But we've deliberately made the
second keyframe an over the shoulder, so we can add a reverse that mirrors
the tracking camera. In the third keyframe we're again in an over the
shoulder, so we likewise add a matching reverse. Each of our keyframes are
framed at differnt highhs and angles, but as long as the equipment is capable
of going between them, we can really frame in any way we want. As we cut to
the reverses, the coverage becomes complete, and the tracking camera
seemlessly integrated. It usually make sense to shoot the backbone camera
first, so we now which framing we're matching the reverses. The elegant
pattr of this strategy is that if the character we're following move between
keyframes we've already been to, we can simply re-use the backbone camera
in the matching reverses.
A great use of backbone cameras is to have one track be the bbackbone for
part of the scene and let another backbone track take over for another part of
the scene. As before we'kk start the scene with one backbone cammera. As
we converge in to the first keyframe in over the shoulder, we'll add a
matching reverse. Then the red man walks over to the blue man, and after a
short while we begin slowly catching to get some subtle movement. In this
keyframe we're again having a reverse pair, so we'll add a matching camera
But let's put it in a track so when the red man leaves, this camera can becme
our new backbone for the last half of the scene. We move around to the front
of the blue man0. Finally revealing the woman in the background. She walks
closer and we reframe slightly to maintain a good framing. Here again we're
half of a reverse pair. So we'll ad a matching camera for the remaining
dialogue.
We've essentially daisy changed two backbone camerad so they take over
from each other. On the first track we arrive in the first keyframe, and cut
dialogue with a lock reverse . After a while the redman looks to the blue man,
excuses himself, and walks over. We pan first, then catch up with the track,
ending in a useful keyframe. Here we cut dialogue between the first and
second backbone camera which are now both locked. When the red man
walks out. We move out to get a mmore personal view of the blue man,
finally revealing the woman. As she walks closer, we push a little to maintain
the framing. Again in a useful keyframe we add a locked reverse to cover the
remaining dialogue.1:11:34 We would now add more cameras to get more
detailed coverage, but the two backbone cameras provide a solid structure
that is easy to build upon.
The last thing we'll look at in this chapter is who will stay in during a move.
Very often keyframes are angled enough that we can only frame one
character during a move. We get very diffrent reesult depending on which to
choose. Here we're staying on the man. This causes the woman to disappear
for a moment, then to be revealed again at the end. Here we're staying on
the woman. The key is to stay on the person who's the most interesed in the
point of the scene which is sometimes the listenin character. As the man
walks back, he's driving the scene, so we stay on him.
16/track:keyframes on opposite sides of the line 1:12:26
Onz thing that helps break the perception that we're seeing the whole scene
from ths same side is to deliberatly place keyframes on opposite sides of the
line. In the scene from the previous chapter, the beginning and ending
keyframe as the man walks on opposite side. Placing keyframes on opposite
side of the line first of all makes the scene more complex. Here our tracking
camera is a master and we'll add two reverses for dialogue. As the woman
walks and talks we go to a keyframe tat causes a linecross, and add a
reverse to feel in.
First we're cutting between the two reverses. Out in the master she walks to
the second keyframe. By crossing the line we break the perception that we're
stuck on one side of the line. And the scene feels freer to move her at once.
But on a very practical level, it also means that we can very place keyframe
without any particular care about which side of the line we're on as long as
we 're putting matches and reverses on the same side.
Another consequence of this is that we get more parallax. Here we'll be
crossing the line on the way into the scene. We could just end to move here.
In which case the woman would be revealed at the very end of the move. But
crossing the line on the way in,she not only gets to be in the frend longer, she
also becomes a freground object and gives us more parallax.
Having keyframes on opposite sides of the line causes everything to move
more which is great for scenes that need sudden action. If we have the
characters placed like this and the man suddeny has a pain in the stomach;
for the effect, let's have him back down over here. As he moves, the line
crosses us while we cross it, and we end in the next keyframe.
We're starting dialgue cutting back and forth. Suddenly the man is in pain.
We go to the second keyframe. Here we continue the dialogue. When the
man is feling better, we re-use the track for a walk back.
move. The end result is a slow push into the second keyframe.
Since pan and dolly are completly independant moves, we're simply
offsetting one of the parameters. This creates very fluid blocking where our
fixes are very obvious. When we arrive earlier or lat e a keyframes, we begin
to create some complex moves that from our perspective were easy to
execute. This first of all eliminates this stop/start feel we sometimes get from
timing move directly trough the action.
But more importantly, we often wanna do a slow push towards character
because of the highten focus it gives to the scene. Arriving late gives us both
a reason and a method to do that.
We might even want to completely separate the character and pan move
from the dolly move. Here we're panning with the man and he arrives in the
second keyframe. But it's not until an important dialogue that we start
pushing. By arriving late we are also stretching out the move. Which allows
us to get very long and useful coverage.
Here we again have two keyframes. When one the blue man has entered the
scene. And one when he's walked over to the red man. Instead of timing the
move to the man's walk, we just let him walk, and then cover the dialogue in
one long slow track which brings another level of focus to the entire scene.
We could just do such a move as a seperate element, but then whe would
end in a keyframe., ready for reverse dialogue.
Arriving early into keyframe has a very different effect. In this scene we
again have a keyframe in the beginning and one at the end when the blue
man has walked to the red man.
We start in a three-shot. As we push towards the second keyframe our
attention is drawn on the red man. W've already started a keyframe for te
second keyframe, even tough we're misssing one character. As he steps in,
he completes the frame. In this idea, the two men having dialogue end in
over the shoulder.
We have two keyframes; this one, and this one. But let's have the blue man
take a long walk. We start our move toward the second keyframe immediatly.
Meanwhile the blue man is off camera. We arrive but the frame is half empty,
until the blue ma steps in and completes it.
Seen from the camera's perspective our attention is drawn toward the red
man. As we push in we're already framing for te ending keyframe. Whent the
blue man steps in , the frame is in perfect balance. In this last example we're
tracking on time with one of the characters but ahead of the other. In this
scene the woman is breaking up with the man, and is packing her belongings.
Meanwhile the man is trying to talk her out of leaving and continuisly trails
her movement. As we go back and forth between keyframes, we frame each
stop with space for the man after which she steps in to complete the framing.
It would be very easy to cover an entire scene with just this camera.
19/track:parallel. 1:21:56
With a parallel track we lead the track horizontal to the scene. Here we're
tracking behind a group of people witnessing an important event. This mostly
have the function of having a movement to a scene that