The Director’s Chair Issue #128 – Mar. 12, 2012 (Basic Film Blocking Techniques)

Blocking is simply “working out the details of an actor’s
moves in relation to the camera.” Think of blocking as the
choreography of a dance or a ballet: all the elements on the
set (actors, extras, vehicles, crew, equipment) should move in
perfect harmony with each other.For a first time Director, blocking a scene can be one of the
most frustrating and terrifying parts of your job. If you
don’t understand the concept of blocking and staging, and you
don’t know how to speak the actor’s language, you could end up
wasting valuable shooting time.Blocking and staging a scene with actors and crew takes
practice, and the more times you actually get to set and do it,
the more comfortable you will become.

(1) Whenever you start blocking a scene, you must know 5 things:

1. What is the LAST shot of the previous scene (Sc. 21)
2. What is the FIRST shot of the scene you are blocking (Sc. 22)
3. What is the LAST shot of the scene you are blocking (Sc. 22)
4. What is the FIRST shot of the next scene (Sc. 23)
5. When (and where) were the characters LAST SEEN

(2) A Director’s blocking plan (or shot plan) is determined by:

1. What distance are you from the subject? (The size of shot:
are you close or far)
2. What is your relationship to the subject? (The angle of
view: choice of lenses)

(3) Actors move on a film set for basically three reasons:

1. To express their character.
2. To define their relationship with other characters.
3. To physically change the shot.

(4) The opening position of a character is where the character
starts in a scene and is a very important element of blocking

1. Different character types tend to move to different places
in the room. For example:
– strong characters could move to the middle of room
– weak characters could move to the side of room

(5) There are two kinds of movement between characters:

1. Toward or Away: when you change the space between
characters, you indicate a change in the relationship.
a. A character walking towards another character could indicate anger
b. A character walking away from another character could indicate fear

2. Moving or Still: character movement also expresses
opposition and resistance.
a. Moving characters can create lots of energy (dynamic)
b. Still characters can create less energy (peaceful)

(6) There are two ways to Stage Space:

1. Staging across the frame.
a. Left to right
b. Right to left

2. In-depth staging.
a. Foreground to background
b. Background to foreground

(7) Four Basic Staging Techniques for the Camera

1. Static camera (camera doesn’t move)
a. Subjects can be still
b. Subjects can be moving

2. Moving camera (camera moves)
a. Subjects can be still
b. Subjects can be moving

3. Static subjects (subject doesn’t move)
a. Camera can be still
b. Camera can be moving

4. Moving subjects (subject does move)
a. Camera can be still
b. Camera can be moving

(8) Four Reasons to Move the Camera

1. Move for emphasis (the camera moves into an actor)
2. Move to emphasize a subject in a group (pan or dolly)
3. Transfer attention from one subject to another (pan or focus)
4. To connect movement from one space to another (door to desk)

(9) Camera Height

Camera height is used to show the physical relationships (or
status) between people. In real life, there are two kinds of
status relationships:

1. Equal to equal (good cop and bad guy / doctor and lawyer)
2. Superior to inferior (judge and defendant / teacher and student)

(10) The 180 Degree Rule

The “180 degree rule” states that if two characters are filmed
in a scene, there is an invisible line between them. The
camera should only be positioned within the 180 degrees on one
side of that line.

“The Line” is also referred to as the imaginary line and the
action axis. Coverage is shot from one side of this line to
preserve consistent screen directions for all participants.
Complex scenes involving multiple characters and physical
groupings may have more than one axis. (Example: dinner scenes
and fight scenes.)

“Crossing the line” will result in a jump cut. If you end up
crossing the line, two characters’ that are talking to each
other will look like they’re not talking to each other when
the film is cut.

Copyright (c) 2012 Peter D. Marshall / All Rights Reserved