American Cinematographer - September 2017 - 22

22

September 2017

American Cinematographer

character. A close-up shot with a 20mm lens
is significantly different from a close-up shot
with a 200mm lens. A keen understanding
of focal length and relative distances
between subject and lens - a topic that's
well beyond the scope of this article - is key
to understanding where to put your camera.
Of course, you should also study all
kinds of movies. Watch and learn from other
directors and cinematographers. Even today,
after more than 30 years in this business, I'll
often watch and re-watch scenes to break
down the coverage. Understanding the
choices of others helps me continue to refine
my own approach to coverage and blocking.
It can be especially helpful to study something you don't like, so you can discover
exactly what it is that doesn't work for you.
And by all means, experiment. In this
day and age, when everyone has a camera
on their phone, there's no excuse for not
shooting and learning practically. Take an
object and shoot it from as many points of
view and perspectives as you can imagine.
See what you learn from each and note
how it might influence your decisions later.
A final parting thought: I have found
that there is always at least one moment on
each project when I get lost. The schedule
changes, some unforeseen problem
requires a complete change in plans, or time
and resources don't permit us to execute
what we had intended. What do we do
next? Where should the camera go? These
moments, with the whole crew staring at
you and waiting on your decision, can be
terrifying and debilitating.
The trick is to make a decision. Any
decision. Arbitrary as it may be, just put the
camera somewhere. You might realize that
it was the wrong decision entirely, but by
the time you realize that, you'll know what
the right choice is and you can adjust
accordingly. It's substantially better to say
"Sorry, I was wrong, let's move over here
instead" than it is to be a deer in headlights,
with everyone waiting on you as time and
the budget tick away.
Remember to always keep the story
in mind. Concentrate on the emotional core
of the scene - in the context of the
emotional core of the whole story - and let
that inform how and where you put your
camera.
➣

Images courtesy of Jay Holben.

telling. Many directors and
cinematographers seem to
forget this, especially when
shooting action. If the audience loses an understanding of
where they are within the
setting, that confusion is likely
to distract them from the story.
Wide shots help to
establish and remind us of
geography, while shots like
"dirty" over-the-shoulders can
help to solidify the geography
and remind us of the other
actors' position in the space.
Most shots that establish geography are objective, but not
always. Sometimes a moving
shot can help to establish
geography: Leading a character as they walk from one side
of a space to another is a
subjective method of delineating geography. Having a police
lieutenant walk angrily through
a detective's pool toward our
antagonist is a great opportunity to establish geography and
get into the subjective
emotional mind-space of that
character. We don't always
need a wide establishing shot,
but we do greatly benefit from
a clear sense of geography,
which establishes your character's place in the world - and,
as a result, the audience's place
in that world as well.
Reaction shots are key
to the emotional context of a
scene. Seeing how a character
- particularly the protagonist
- reacts to a moment helps
inform the audience as to how
they should interpret the scene
emotionally. Steven Spielberg is
As the camera moves farther from the actor's direct line of sight, the
a master of showing - and
viewer loses a subjective connection to the character (top) and becomes
lingering on - character reacan increasingly objective observer.
tions even before we see what
they're reacting to. This is pure
adds substantial weight to the line they're subjective filmmaking.
delivering.
The focal length of the lens you
Geography is a very important choose also plays a significant role in your
consideration. Geography is the overall visual storytelling, determining the degree of
structure of the sentence in visual storydistance between the audience and the
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Cinematographer - September 2017
