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“Cinematic Motion is invaluable help for the director’s trickiest and most central job: blocking the
actors to the camera. I recommend it highly.”
“The presence of some of the most legendary mentors of the film world and the real-world set
situations lift the written workshops in this extremely useful reference and instruction manual off the
page and into the studio. Both Digital Video aficionados and students will find this information
especially handy to add feature-film level design and polish to their staging.”
“There are a precious few ways to learn the subtleties of filmmaking and challenges of
cinematography: watch great movies repeatedly; go to a great film school; read Steven D. Katz’s Film
Directing: Shot by Shot and Cinematic Motion. The practical and pragmatic information is balanced
by the insights of great filmmakers Allen Daviau, Ralph Singleton, and John Sayles. Cinematic
Motion is the definitive workbook for both the aspiring as well as the accomplished filmmaker.”
“One of a handful of scrupulous tomes on the subject, Cinematic Motion gracefully sidesteps the
quicksand of marketing hype and plots a course on the solid ground of craft and methodology.”
“Although budding filmmakers soon learn to toss around terms such as ‘mise en scene’ — with a
vague sense of what that means — in Cinematic Motion Katz gives you the real thing: He succeeds in
breaking down the daunting tasks that a director faces when choreographing actors and the camera on
set. Interviews with leading directors, production managers, and others add crucial examples to the
book’s lessons.”
by
steven d. katz
Published by Michael Wiese Productions,
11288 Ventura Boulevard,
Suite #621
Studio City, CA 91604
(818) 379-8799, (818) 986-3408 (FAX).
mw@mwp.com
www.mwp.com
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the
author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
Several of the most knowledgeable filmmakers in the movie business shared their ideas and insights
with me during the writing of Cinematic Motion. They are featured individually in several chapters,
but the interviews could only include a small portion of their hard-earned experience. Thank you,
John Sayles, Harold Michelson, Ralph S. Singleton, Dusty Smith, Allen Daviau, ASC and Emily
Laskin of the American Film Institute.
Many thanks to my friends at Virtus Corporation for creating Virtus Walk Through, a magical
visualization tool that allowed me to create illustrations that would otherwise have been impossible. I
am particularly indebted to Alan Scott at Virtus for his technical support.
Finally, I would also like to thank cinematographer Kevin Lombard for his thoughts on camera
movement and equipment and other photographic aspects of staging.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3D Interactive Storyboards
Glossary
NOTES ON THE NEW EDITION
Cinematic Motion was written in 1991, a very long time ago in technology years. Over the past
decade the computer, or, more accurately, desktop production, has changed the way movies are made
and the way filmmakers work. While the purpose of the book, illustrating staging solutions and their
practical implications, is still the same, it was necessary to add a chapter on how digital technology
can be used to visualize scene and staging design.
As a counterbalance to the chapter on technology a second new chapter has been added that covers
script breakdown, a critical process that owes nothing to technology and everything to storytelling
and character development. So, while the chapter on digital film design points to the future, the
foundation for using the new tools is firmly rooted in timeless concepts. This balance between
science and art has been part of filmmaking since the turn of the century and continues to define the
craft of a director.
INTRODUCTION
Cinematic Motion started out as a reference manual for filmmakers. It was described to the
publisher as “A collection of blocking strategies covering a wide range of dramatic situations and
camera styles, an easily-accessed resource for directors at every level.”
This would be fun to write, I thought, with lots of opportunities for dreaming up camera moves and
complex sequence shots. Naturally, I wouldn’t have to worry about overtime or meal penalties
because in the story-board panels of my imaginary movie, the budget was unlimited. On this best of
all possible sets, the sun would shine through perfect clouds, the crew would never grumble about
lunch and magic hour, when needed, would last for as long as there was film.
But before many pages were typed, I realized something was missing from the staging examples. They
were too easy to create. Perhaps I should add a few practical words about equipment failure or some
comments about the long hours required for rigging lights and, Oh, let’s not forget about shooting in
105 degree heat... .
As reality crept into the designing of the staging diagrams, my role became that of a production
manager. Like the muse in reverse, I found myself pointing out the potential difficulties of each staging
strategy and asking whether all that coverage was really necessary. At last, I began to appreciate the
production manager’s unenviable task of giving the director all he wants—at a price the producer can
afford.
This is how the reference manual on staging became a survival guide for filmmakers. In its final form,
the primary focus of the book remains the staging ideas chosen for their artistic merit, but now there
are practical evaluations of the staging examples so that directors can better develop a sense of what
is the right solution for any given situation.
Hopefully, this is a fairer book. Fairer because, by including the cost in time and artistic energy
attached to any staging approach, a filmmaker will not place impossible demands on himself or his
collaborators. In the movies, it is important that your artistic aims be true as well as high.
None of this would matter if the staging examples in this book were formula solutions for simple
coverage. They’re not. This book is for risk-takers. Some of the staging examples are technically
simple, others require substantial choreography. But the underlying assumption is that the filmmaker
wants to explore the dramatic potential of the camera to the fullest.
Every day on the set a director asks himself, “How can I best stage this scene?” And every day the
production manager asks the director, “Can you get all this shot by the end of the day?” The success of
any movie is greatly dependent on how these questions are resolved and ultimately it is up to the
director to find the right answers. Knowing how to get all your camera setups within the day’s
shooting schedule comes from experience, experience which ultimately affects a director’s creative
success.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
Even though storyboards have been the accepted way of illustrating shot-flow design in the movies
for nearly sixty years, there is no standard system of notation. Each production illustrator develops
his own way of representing the complex moving action in a shot using arrows, panels within panels,
multiple positions of moving figures, written description and any other technique that makes a
sequence clear.
Oftentimes, 4 or 5 separate panels are required to describe just a few seconds of action and there is
always the danger that the overall feeling of a scene is lost when too much description is used. Even
so, the prime purpose of a storyboard is to convey specific and technically-accurate descriptions of
cinematic technique. While every storyboard artist hopes that his work “reads” well, it is often
necessary to look over the panels more than once to understand the choreography, which brings us to
the notational method used in this book.
For the sake of clarity, every storyboard in this book is accompanied by a diagram of the scene space.
The story-boards show what the audience will see on the screen, while the diagrams show the camera
path and choreography required to stage the action taking place in the story-boards. Some of the
choreography is complex so you will probably have to look through a storyboard more than once to
understand how the scenes were staged.
To help you better understand the illustrations, I’ve included a description of how the storyboards and
the various symbols are used throughout the book. If you spend some time familiarizing yourself with
the techniques shown below, you will find it much easier to use the book.
STORYBOARDS
The storyboards used in this book are drawn in the 1:1.85 wide screen aspect ratio which is the
typical release format for most American films.
The page layout for the staging illustrations is a two-page spread with top and bottom pairs of
storyboard/diagram illustrations.
Description of each shot is printed directly underneath the storyboard panel. When dialogue is used, it
appears underneath the description, as shown below.
All storyboards are numbered and the accompanying set diagram will have the same number
following the letter D. The number for storyboards and diagrams refers to the shot. Sometimes
several storyboards are required to explain sequential stages of a dolly shot and in this case the shot
number won’t change. Instead, the various panels are distinguished alphabetically.
For instance, the first of four panels showing an uninterrupted crane shot would be numbered. In this
example shot 1 is the crane move and storyboard panels 1a through 1c show different stages in the
shot. Ellipsis... is included in the description as an added reminder that the shot is continuing as
shown below:
2 A change in number indicates a shot change.
To make a shot change clear, Cut To: appears at the beginning of the new shot description.
Arrows appearing on the right side of the storyboard frame indicate the movement of the camera. The
arrows are drawn in perspective to show if the camera is dollying in or out, dollying left or right.
If the camera movement is a lateral pan, the arrow will not be drawn in perspective. Examples are
shown below.
ARROWS INSIDE THE FRAME
If a subject enters the frame from off-screen, the arrow will pass through the border of the frame.
Similarly, if a subject exits the frame, the arrow will pass beyond the border of the frame.
An arrow path that begins at a subject, indicates the path that the subject takes.
SET DIAGRAMS
A perspective overview of the set or scene space will be included to help clarify the choreography.
These diagrams are based on computer models created in Virtus Walk Through, a computer program
that is rapidly becoming a director’s best visualization tool.
In most cases, these diagrams will show the entire set or location from the perspective of a person
standing behind the camera. If a moving shot is being illustrated, the set diagrams will include the
path of the camera.
D1
There are two types of camera symbols. The first shows the outline of the camera. This indicates the
beginning of a camera move. The second type of camera symbol is solid black. This indicates the
final position of a move.
In a few cases, when the camera movement is complex, intermediate stages of camera movement are
shown. This will be indicated by multiple outline cameras.
A pan move is indicated by a camera symbol with a curved arrow through the middle.
The path of moving actors is shown by broken lines connecting outline and solid figure symbols. As
with the moving camera, outline symbols indicate the starting point of an actor’s move while a solid
black symbol indicates the final position for an actor.
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAMS
Accompanying some of the storyboards are aerial views of the set or location; The general rule for
symbols already established will also apply to the set diagrams. This means that outline symbols (for
camera and actors) indicate the beginning of a move while solid black symbols indicate the end of a
move.
CONSISTENCY
In the majority of illustrations the format and symbols shown here will be followed, however, there
are exceptions. In these special cases, notes will appear alongside illustrations. For example, there
were times when a solid black camera would have been difficult to see in front of a dark background
and in those instances the outline of the camera was used instead.
My aim in Cinematic Motion was to write a book accessible to both new and seasoned directors.
Therefore, the stagings presented in the following chapters are explained with the expectation that the
fundamentals of editing, photography, cinematic technique and motion picture production are familiar
to the reader. This includes a knowledge of shot types, the use of the shot, reverse shot pattern, the
line of action and other stylistic conventions of the continuity style.
Chapters 1, and 3, however, offer an overview of staging theory which is not absolutely necessary to
understand the staging examples if you are already familiar with basic camera movement.
The ideas presented here tend to emphasize camera choreography and the master shot rather than
cutting as a way of varying the viewing angle and directing the viewer’s attention. You will, however,
find both approaches covered in the book, since in actual practice, they are complementary
techniques.
If you are interested in the staging possibilities of the static frame, the subject has been covered in
many books on film including my own, Shot by Shot, which, in an informal way, lays the groundwork
for the stagings in Cinematic Motion.
part 1
staging: the process
STAGING: THE DIRECTOR
Staging is at the center of the director’s craft. It is the point of contact for acting, cinematography and
editing, the three areas for which a director is expected to provide the finished design.
No one on the set, from the cinematographer to the prop master, can begin work until the director
makes two decisions—first, where the camera will be placed and second, how the actors will move
in front of the camera.
Any director who looks beyond just getting two or three pages of script in the can per day, that is, a
director with a vision, will at some moment stand on the set or location with a case of butterflies
thinking about the staging possibilities. Every director knows (or soon learns) that staging is not a
series of individual decisions, but is really a plan that determines the work of the entire production
team on any day of principal photography.
Some directors discover the plan on the set without much preparation. Others, with the gift for
previsualizing entire sequences, can organize their ideas into detailed shot lists or storyboards. But
no matter what method a director uses, his ability to work with the camera and the actors will
improve with experience. Experience on the set, however, is hard to come by if you are starting out,
and even working directors spend more time waiting for the next project than on the set practicing
their craft.
One way that directors can sharpen their staging skills when they are not at work, is to simplify the
seemingly endless considerations that go into staging on a set by conceptualizing them as patterns of
movement, and as a vocabulary of techniques. That, simply put, is the method we will be using here.
Basically, a director is dealing with three factors when he composes a scene for the camera:
Narrative considerations
Dramatic considerations
Pictorial considerations
Narrative considerations are the specific actions described in the script. For example, a man drives
into a self-service gas station and exits his car to pump gas. In this case, the action is straightforward
and there is little room for staging interpretation. But if the scene takes place at a party and the
characters are free to move through the rooms of a house, the director and the actors are free to move
anywhere.
Dramatic considerations include the elements which color our emotional understanding of a scene.
They fall into two categories: point of view and dramatic emphasis.
POINT OF VIEW
The manipulation of point of view in a scene is the single most significant decision in determining
camera placement. While a single, consistent narrative voice is typical of a short story or a novel, a
fluid point of view is common in narrative film. Point of view can change rapidly from one character
to another in a scene, favoring one or the other, or it can maintain a neutral stance.
A director controls point of view by manipulating narrative logic, eye-contact and shot-size.
Narrative logic means that we learn about the story by following the actions of one or more
characters. If a scene opens in a liquor store and follows a clerk for several moments before two
teenagers enter, we are being encouraged to see the scene from the shopkeeper’s point of view.
Conversely, if we follow the teenagers outside the store before being introduced to the clerk, when
the teenagers go inside, we will tend to identify with the teenagers.
Eye-contact is a more subtle cue in the control of point of view, but is still a very potent factor. For
example, when an actor is looking toward the camera, we are placed in a closer relationship with that
subject. Even if the actor has his back to us and the camera frames the actor’s field of vision, we are
being asked to share his point of view. Framing this same action so that we see the actor in profile has
the opposite effect, placing us in a more neutral relationship with the subject.
Shot-size is another way in which a director can guide our identification with a character. Generally
speaking, the tighter the shot, the greater our sense of intimacy with a subject. This enhances our sense
of identification.
DRAMATIC EMPHASIS
Dramatic emphasis is related to shot size. It can heighten or diminish an actor’s performance,
physical action, and dramatic events. Any actor can be made to control our attention merely by how
he is placed in the frame.
Lighting, art direction, the choice of lens and editing all help control dramatic emphasis, but in terms
of staging, our primary concern is shot size and the placement of subjects in the frame. Contrast is a
major factor. For instance, moving from a medium shot to a closeup of a subject is normally
perceived as a way of emphasizing the importance of a subject. But it is also possible (though less
common) to achieve emphasis by moving from a closeup of a subject to a wide shot.
The last staging category includes the pictorial considerations. These are the graphic elements such as
composition, framing, lighting and the photographic properties of the lens. The pictorial qualities of a
shot are the easiest to visualize because they are less dependent on other shots in a sequence for their
full effect.
When a director looks through the viewfinder of the camera, he sees all the pictorial qualities that
will appear on the screen. He doesn’t have to imagine how they will change when edited into a
sequence of shots. In this sense, pictorial considerations are less cinematic than dramatic emphasis
and point of view. A director will take all three factors into consideration (narrative considerations,
dramatic emphasis and pictorial considerations) when staging a scene. The way in which a director
chooses to emphasize these factors defines his staging method.
In staging there are essentially two approaches to space. One is to place the camera in the action; the
second is to place it outside the action. Since action can include anything from an angry mob to an
intimate conversation between a couple in bed, a director has to define what part of the action he will
include in the frame. The space in which the action takes place is called the dramatic circle of action.
A camera can be placed in the circle of action or outside the circle of action, and an edited sequence
can combine shots photographed from either placement. A moving camera can go inside the circle of
action and out again or vice versa. It is also possible to move the dramatic circle of action since the
subjects of a shot are frequently mobile.
A director can stage a scene for a single camera setup or cut together shots of the scene taken from
different angles. In a single camera setup, a director can choreograph his actors so that different
views of them are seen, even though there is no editing. Camera movement can be added so that
several views of the scene are included in one uninterrupted shot. A highly choreographed shot that
covers lots of action is usually referred to as a sequence shot, though it is really a version of a master
shot. Regardless of how it is labeled, the distinguishing factor is that a single shot is employed to
cover most of the action in the script for a given scene.
Because editing means taking an action and breaking it into shorter segments of time, it may seem that
camera movement and complex choreography are not as necessary as they would be in a long,
uninterrupted shot of the same action. While it is true that both styles are capable of achieving the
same results—multiple viewpoints—they are by no means mutually exclusive. There are many
instances when complex staging is combined with fast cutting, merging the sequence shot style and the
multiple-setup style of staging.
Related to the stylistic approaches of the sequence shot and multiple camera setups is the director’s
approach to the scene space. Some directors stage action for the camera, while others stage action
and photograph it. This recalls the classic opposition of realism and expressionism in film theory.
Realism argues for the integrity of the scene space and linear time, and advocates documentary
techniques with little intrusion of editorial commentary. Conversely, expressionism advocates the
dramatic use of the camera and cinematic technique to illuminate the truth. In recent years there has
been a healthy reconciliation between these views since neither approach offers a truly objective
view.
There is no question, however, that realism and expressionism are different styles of filmmaking that
relate to how a director views the action in front of the camera. In narrative film, it is the difference
between rehearsing a scene in strict accordance with the actor’s choices and the events in the script—
and the direction of actors to achieve dramatic effects through the use of the camera. As with any
generalization there are numerous exceptions and contradictions. Still, directors do tend toward one
approach or the other.
In practice, a director who is closer to the realist style will most likely allow the actors considerable
freedom to move in the scene. This is usually best accommodated by a hand-held camera, Steadicam
or a light camera on a tripod.
A director who is closer to the expressionistic style will carefully plan his shots and take a great deal
of time to control every aspect of the frame. Actors will be required to precisely hit certain marks and
to keep to exact timings of specific actions. Often it is necessary to position the actors in ways that
look unreal on the set, but which will seem natural on film.
Of course, no director is tied to any one approach and can call upon either style to achieve his
interpretation of a scene. In fact, all the factors discussed in this chapter are highly flexible. When a
director begins to visualize a script, the imagination takes over, and a series of shots begin to emerge.
It is not until a production begins that a director is required to consider the practicality of any given
staging approach. This is when a director learns to be flexible, to call upon his craft and
resourcefulness. At this time, the production manager and line producer become the director’s most
important support team. Because all staging styles require different amounts of time to shoot, a well-
prepared director should have more than a passing familiarity with the process of scheduling a movie.
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