Where do I put the camera?

covering scene events

John Clement

Watch a lot, learn a lot

In prep for our series we watch a lot of movies and television drama series (sometimes whole seasons) on DVDs from more than a dozen countries. Most we just watch and enjoy (or not). But some we watch and enjoy but then go back to watch and learn. Temple Grandin is one of those. Temple Grandin is a 2010 HBO biopic about an autistic woman who became one Americas top scientists in the humane handling of livestock in the food production industry. Its not a great movie, just a good movie made-for-television within constraints of budget and time but wellcrafted in every way. What we learned re-watching Temple Grandin came from the actor-friendly blocking and staging of the scenes and the economical, motivated scene coverage by a very experienced Director, Mick Jackson. The coverage throughout was so fit and right that at the end of our first screening we had some questions; one was: Why did he expend so much time and energy on the coverage of part of a scene (really just a simple action) early in the film Temple climbs over a fence? Preparation is the most important thing a Director does What I do mostly is a shot list and a lot of floor plans of all the sets. I map out where everybody is and I map my coverage out so I know where Ill be at any given moment. I do it so, if I had to cut that scene that night, I could. Joe Chappelle, Director and Co-Executive Producer, The Wire

Three questions
David Mamet says there are three questions a director asks him- or herself: Whats the scene about? What do I tell the actors? Where do I put the camera?

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As a director, these are not the questions to be asking yourself on the day. You start asking somewhere around your third or fourth read-through of the script (you need to grasp the story and the needs and wants of its characters before anything else). You continue working on the answers in collaboration with your actors through rehearsals, during locations recce, and in discussions (started early on) with the cinematographer (with an eye to budget and time constraints) and dont forget the editor!

Every scene has its own rhythm

You want to search for any little way to heighten the reality without wrecking it, and taking the audience out of the film. John Seale, Cinematographer Cinematographer Ed Lachman said in an interview that every scene has its own rhythm. At the time he was warning against inappropriate use of hand-held camerawork, but the statement every scene has its own rhythm stands true on its own. Rhythm is discovered in a scene, not stamped on it. The rhythm of a scene originates from, among other things, the script beats, the actors beats, and the physical actions and activities (the events) done by, caused by and affecting a character. In the end it all comes down to coverage and editing. Inappropriate or inadequate coverage cannot be fixed in post. The job of coverage is to place the camera in the right place(s) at the right time for the right reasons to capture and to give visually appropriate meaning to the actions of the characters and the events of the story* as it unfolds.
*See our post: What we mean when we talk about story

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Narrative cinematography is not about pretty pictures. Every shot/scene/sequence must do one of two things: reveal character or advance the action. Both at the same time? Thats golden.

Temple Grandin climbs over a fence

The Temple climbs over a fence event occurs (minus opening title sequence) about 10 minutes into the film. The running time is a bit over 36 seconds (represented in the frame-capture storyboard above and the shot list below). Its close to real-time coverage with no repetition of actions to extend time or editing out of actions to compress it. Were 10 minutes into a near 2-hour movie. Some of whats been established so far about Temple is that shes in her late teens; shes autistic; shes come from the city of Boston to a new and strange environment (her aunts cattle farm in the rural Southwestern US); people make her uncomfortable; and she doesnt like to be touched or held. (All of this, and more, has been shown, not told.) The activity (first two unnumbered shots in the storyboard above) preceding the covered event has Temple characteristically alone working on a gate opening contraption of her own design when her attention is drawn to the kraal* by the sound of a cow mooing.
*What Americans call a corral.

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Shot 1: Temples reaction look (not the O.S. cows moo) signals the start of this event Cut 1, Shot 2: Temples POV herd of cows in kraal (hand-held) Cut 2, Shot 3: Cow moos (eyeline match) Cut 3, Shot 4: Temple moves right to left out of frame (her right-to-left movement continues throughout) Cut 4, Shot 5: Slow DOLLY (Steadicam) forward on kraal; Temple enters frame-right walking forward, as dolly continues Cut 5, Shot 6: REVERSE on Temples approach to kraal fence Cut 6, Shot 7: right angle on Temple as she appraoches and begins to climb over fence; camera moves over fence just slightly ahead of her Cut 7, Shot 8: Temple wider, frontal; one leg over fence Cut 8, back to Shot 6: frontal; other leg over the fence Cut 9, back to Shot 5: slow Steadicam dolly forward contd as Temple begins to walk among the herd Cut 10, Shot 9: Temple walks forward into the herd then pauses at the sound of a male voice O.S. speaking to her Cut 11, Shot 10: Cowboy speaking to Temple Cut 12, Shot 11(?) or end Shot 9 (long follow pan?): Temple reaction look towards the Cowboy.

Does the coverage of this event reveal character or move the story forward? It does both. Without flash or trash the coverage of this event visually expresses a dramatic beat (sometimes called a directors beat). Temple leaves off what shes doing, crosses a distance, steps over the fence (a boundary/obstacle) between her and the cows, to stand among them. This simple event is covered simply, step-by-step, close to Temples own eye height, with no extreme angles, lens choices or camera movement. It also sets up the next dramatic beat.

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The next dramatic beat is cued by the Cowboy (O.S.) speaking and starts with Temples reaction look and 21-seconds later Temple reaches out to touch, then stroke, the cow. These two dramatic beats form a larger unit that both reveals character and moves the story forward. Whats revealed about character? Temple has made two choices: (1) Shes reached out and made gentle physical contact with another living thing; (2) shes interacted openly (though silently) with the Cowboy. Hows the story moved forward? What the story is about is referenced for the first time. The story being told is about Temples pursuit of a meaningful goal: the humane treatment of livestock as its processed through the US food production industry. Its not about her autism which is just one personal obstacle among the many external obstacles that she encounters and must overcome along the way.

Stuff happens
Our definition of event is any visible action or self-contained activity within a scene that has a beginning, middle and end. It can be as simple as climbing over a low, wood fence or as complex as the final phase of an emergency landing by the pilots of a passenger jet infested with mutant bunny rabbits. But lets stick with something within our budget, something dead simple: a hand opens a door. We could cover the action as a continuous action, lasting maybe three seconds, like so:

CLOSE ON DOORKNOB A hand reaches in, grasps and turns the knob, pulls the door open.
Then wed likely cut to a wider shot of the person fully opening the door and stepping through, or maybe a POV shot of whats revealed behind the door, whatever. But the event a hand opens a door is complete in itself and covered as continuous, self-contained action. Or, we can opt for fragmented coverage with the action broken down into mini-events, each with its own shot, like so:

A SERIES OF ANGLES CLOSE: A hand reaches for the doorknob. The hand grasps the knob. The hand turns the knob.
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The door latch moves. The door begins to open. The hand releases the knob. The door completely opens.
How many times have we seen some version of this highly fragmented coverage used as a device to stretch out time and suspense in a slasher flick? Go to our post Short Film the long view: LOVEFIELD by Mathieu Ratthe. Watch it without sound. Its entire dramatic impact relies on highly fragmented coverage and editing, with scene events often reduced to a single short discontinuous shot.
Lovefield's dramatic impact relies on fragmented coverage.

About Temple Grandin, the movie & the person

Temple Grandin was nominated for and won a host of awards including 15 Emmy nominations of which it won seven, including actress Claire Danes as Grandin, David Strathairn as her teacher, and Julia Ormond as Temples mother. Under the direction of Mick Jackson, Temple Grandin also won the Emmy for Outstanding Made for TV Movie. Screenwriters Christopher Monger & Merritt Johnson were nominated for their script based in part on the book Emergence by Temple Grandin & Margret Scariano, and Thinking in Pictures; My Life with Autism by Temple Grandin. _______________________ John Clement DramaLabs Botswana 12 April 2012

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