Hollywood Camera Work Directing Actors
Takeshi Krueger
There are certain categories of thoughts at the heart of every good acting technique. On Volume 2-8, we not onlymap every every Active Idea that's known to work, we add a new level of understanding, and we re-evaluatemany myths, for example that result directing is bad or that active verbs are good, which is not that simple.
We're now working on the set in super slow-motion, and we're interested in the entire conversation, what yousay when, what you don't say when, how to motivate, and how to criticize constructively. We're also interestedin solving every problem that comes up, like nervous actors, or pulling the scene back from a bad place.
A groundbreaking learning tool used by everyone from beginners to Academy Award winners, the course teaches high-end camera work through over 9 hours of 3D animated instruction on 6 DVDs.
Besides working with actors, blocking is one of the most important things a Director does, and should be really good at. Yet most books, videos and many film schools barely touch the basics.
The course was created by director Per Holmes, who spent over half a decade developing an all-inclusive language of high-end feature camera work for personal use, and then realized how much others would benefit from these techniques.
The course also deals with the problem that blocking often grabs so much of our attention that we're forced to choose between doing camera work or nurturing great performances. If we choose acting, the camera work suffers. If we choose camera work, the actors are often left to direct themselves. One of the key goals of the course is to have great camera work become so automatic that we can do both at the same time.
The higher purpose of the course is to do as meaningful and expressive camera work as possible. While the course spends a lot of time getting good at technical things like complex line-issues, the deeper goal is to have a profound understanding of the how and why of everything. Ultimately, the goal is to have as clear and precise an emotional impact as possible. All the hot moves we can create (and we do create a lot) are really means to that end.
Models are not just the most patient actors, there's a very particular reason The Master Course uses them: They are completely expressionless. As we work with dynamics between the characters and blocking camera moves, all emotions must be coming from the camera work.
Working with models is incredibly educational, because the effect of every technique becomes so clear. As soon as we separate the acting performance from the camera work, we get a much deeper understanding of how the camera work infers thoughts and feelings.
Learning Directing in 3D is a unique approach that is superior to any current method. Blocking techniques become extremely clear, we can quickly superimpose visual aids such as lines and field-of-view, and visualize many cameras at once when they're designed to work together.
3D is really the ideal environment for learning camera work, and makes advanced techniques obvious. Without the need for wrestling with diagrams in a book, we immediately get to see every technique, both from the camera's perspective, and how it fits into the mechanics of the scene.
It's not uncommon for Actors to feel creatively restricted by meticulous camera work and having to hit marks to the millimeter. But the truth is that good camera work can bring a depth to the character that is simply impossible to achieve by the performance alone. A deep understanding of camera work allows an Actor to really know what is being communicated, and take control of his or her performance in a whole new way.
A script is a blueprint for a movie, and a Writer with blocking skills is able to create writing that translates seamlessly into camera work without necessarily cluttering the script with stage directions. Writing that's done with blocking in mind is very easy to Direct - or hard to Direct wrong - and ensures that more of your vision ends up on screen.
"Thank you for teaching me how to direct actors. Taking your classes made me believe I could direct. Taking your classes gave me a base, a foundation, a framework to find my own style. To step out on faith. I'm forever grateful. Love and respect to you, magnificent Judith Weston."
"I really enjoyed the seminar, and found it hugely valuable. I'll be sitting down withmy crew at our shoot next week and explaining exactly what we're going to shoot...with a much greater degree of confidence than ever before!
Coming from a stills photography background, the seminar was hugely helpfulfor me in bringing to life the great store of knowledge on the DVDs. I've never hadproblems storyboarding (after all, finding a good set of framings is whata stills photographer does!)
What has always been lacking is the methodologyto stage and film the fluid, motivated movements of actors and cameras in theco-ordinated ballet that makes things look truly cinematic. And that's what I gotfrom the seminar -- a way to choreograph that camera ballet reliably, efficiently,creatively and confidently. (I was going to write some PR-friendly blurb but realised that the above may do?) I'm very happy to have my email address on the circulation list so please keep meon it!!"
"Great seminar! Mandatory for people interested in filmmaking. I really enjoyed it. Full of usable inputs. No B.S.! Very practical and to the point. Gives you the keys to go from theory of blocking & staging to actual shooting in only one week-end. Don't miss it. It's a fantastic opportunity to get to the core of camera work."
"Excellent seminar, with both theory and practice in the right amounts, I think this knowledge is essential in any director's toolbox, enabling them to concentrate on the actors and not on the camera direction."
Yes. The course builds a complete understanding of camera work from the ground up, and is intended to be useful for filmmakers on as many levels as possible. Our users range from people just starting out, to Academy Award winners. However, the course requires a high level of commitment, especially for those newer to filmmaking. It's also highly recommended to stop often and practice.
Additionally, learning camera work from a book is very hard, because one is grappling with trying to visualize the diagrams and storyboards. Doing camera work in 3D is a novel approach that enables us to discuss advanced techniques quickly and easily. Storyboards also preclude the use of a lot of techniques simply because they can't be drawn, which is never a problem in 3D.
Film school provides a general education in a production environment, and the course does not aim or claim to do that. But from a pure camera work and blocking perspective, The Master Course is considerably beyond what is taught in film school. We've heard from countless users that they learned in The Master Course what they thought they would have learned in film school./Does the course teach you how to work with actors?Some sections of the course deal with the psychology of body language, which is an integral part of blocking, and determines how actors need to move or stand. But the course is primarily concerned with telling an effective visual story, and how to bring out emotions and meaning with the camera work, and does not deal with crafting acting performances as such. Check out our other course Directing Actors.
One note: Without good blocking skills, it's very (very) hard to concentrate on the actors. This often leaves us with an unfortunate choice: to work with the actors, or to do camera work. One of the major goals of the course is for great blocking to become so automatic that we don't have to sacrifice one over the other.
Yes, blocking literally has nothing to do with which medium you're working in. The decision-making process for excellent camera work is exactly the same whether you're framing a Panavision camera, or a 3D camera in software.
Per Holmes used to be a music producer with platinum-selling acts, Grammys and a World Music Award to his name. Using the music industry as a springboard to transition into high-budget music videos, he realized that he was better at narrative filmmaking, and set out to train himself "properly", including really learning the language of camera work.
Like many other directors, Tarantino works with actors extremely well, trying to pull the performance he needs from them in order to make the best movie. This is a collaborative effort that Tarantino says cannot be done if you become part of the audience and forget you're making a movie.
As far as directing actors is concerned, Tarantino has a very unique outlook. Don't spend too much time in video village. Framing is important, but you can get lost in just watching TV and becoming part of the audience, and not becoming a director.
Hollywood shoots movies relatively slowly and gets things right. They use good screen actors to convey the subtleties of the dialogue. They use cameras with experienced operators to convey all the subtleties of the story. There are hundreds of these camera moves, a large part of the extensive screen craft a good director needs. To acquire this knowledge, you could spend many years of working on set close to camera figuring things out for yourself what no-one will ever have time to teach you.
We accept purchase orders from all major universities, K-12 schools, Community Colleges and professional schoolsin Europe, the US, and Canada. We require an email address on all purchase orders, or we can't complete the orderform on our end. Please email purchase orders to sa...@hollywoodcamerawork.com. Please do notsnail-mail them, it's much slower.
Blocking a shot is the process by which a director determines where the actors stand, where the lights will shine, and how the camera will be positioned. Generally, a director will block a shot before bringing the actors on set to actually film.
A child actor is any actor who is under the age of 18. Macauley Culkin and Drew Barrymore were famous child actors. Because they are minors, there are special rules for working with child actors.
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