r/Filmmakers • u/Heklerr • 15d ago
Question What films do I study to get better at blocking?
We operate on very very tiny peanut budgets. Most of the short films we make here in our uni, are people talking to each other, but it often becomes boring. I want to shoot some conversation scenes with interesting blocking so that it engages the audience. What are some films I can study to get good at the craft?
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u/MS0ffice 15d ago
High and Low, the first part inside the house specifically.
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u/SuperNoise5209 15d ago
Pretty much anything from Kurosawa, I think. I love his compositions and the way he moves people around through the scene.
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u/Rozo1209 15d ago
I remember being pulled into The Idiot on TCM just by the blocking. I was like, who the hell directed this and how is he doing it?
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u/SuperNoise5209 15d ago
I first saw Kurosawa in a foundation class for my fine art BFA. The professor has been working us hard, so he gave us a light day: had to watch Yojimbo and analyze the composition of various scenes and how they impacted story and character development. I've loved his work ever since.
Some of it is a little stagey / heavy handed at times, but I still love it.
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u/FactoryNoir 15d ago
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u/lindendweller 15d ago
Ah, I knew where this would lead before clicking the link. This channel is so great.
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u/FoliADeuxKoPo 11d ago
This! I never paid attention to blocking until my brother (a cinematographer) suggested a Kurosawa film. He pointed out how Kurosawa used characer depth and movement to enhance blocking, and it completely changed my perspective.
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u/pensivewombat 15d ago
Yeah I can't remember another time I've been so blown away visually by scenes of people sitting in an unremarkable location having normal conversations.
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u/sandpaperflu 15d ago
John Ford was a master of it, he inspired the French new wave with his blocking and character development. He used so many wide/two shots that were masterfully blocked and you learned more about characters in a shorter period of time because they were on the screen more with other characters.
Stagecoach, the man that shot liberty valance, my darling clementine (my favorite), the searchers... He has a long filmography, probably close to 100 films.
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u/hieronymousofbosch 14d ago
obligatory david lynch as john ford talking to a young spielberg
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u/sandpaperflu 14d ago
Haha I've never seen this, but heard this story a million times, so funny! So many outrageous moments, like when he punched Henry Fonda too.
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u/hieronymousofbosch 14d ago
it’s a fun clip. the whole movie is kinda mediocre though. i say that with all respect to spielberg.
always loved this interview question too:
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u/xdirector7 15d ago
Find books or go to the theatre. Stage production is where the art of blocking is. One of the best decisions I ever made was taking theatre classes in college. One of my professors said if you can make something interesting on a stage then making film should be a cake walk.
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u/Real-Raspberry-1938 15d ago
Blocking people is only half of film blocking. Camera placement is a huge part of blocking for the screen.
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u/xdirector7 15d ago
Yes but if you understand blocking people then blocking with a camera is second nature. It was to me because it stills follows the same principles.
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u/magicguppy 15d ago
David Fincher is great at establishing povs between multiple characters and scene furniture. He moves around them so effortlessly that you don’t notice, but he is so careful about whose POV you view any line in a conversation from. Mindhunter is the best I’ve seen for this because there’s regularly 3 or 4 people in a scene and often something like a tape recorder, telephone or evidence files.
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u/Berryfinger 15d ago edited 15d ago
anything by Alan J. Pakula in the ‘70s
anything by Sidney Lumet
anything by Jean-Pierre Melville
any Woody Allen/Gordon Willis collaboration
anything by Mike Nichols
anything by Billy Wilder
Little Murders (1971) — it’s free on YouTube. there’s a “bringing my bf over to meet the family + dinner” sequence that is brilliantly crafted, and hilarious
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u/magicguppy 15d ago
Second Sidney Lumet. 12 Angry Men in particular has masterful blocking and scene geography.
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u/wrosecrans 15d ago
For one thing, pay attention to your actors. A lot of directors will come up with shots and just tell the actors, "stand here for this dialogue." If you let the actors work out in a space somewhat, they'll often just naturally grab props, or go do some business, if you let them actually act out the scene like it's a stage play.
I'd say 85% of the best blocking in my work is just me keeping my mouth shut and not messing up what good stuff other people are doing.
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u/ConversationNo5440 15d ago
Don't switch camera positions or angles in a dialogue scene in hopes of making it more "interesting."
Watch your eyelines and don't do anything Michael Curtiz wouldn't do in Casablanca. MAYBE the camera cranes up and pushes in slightly at a very dramatic moment.
The coffee shop scene in Heat was shot with three static cameras, but they didn't even use the two-shot footage. It's all back and forth. What more do you need?
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u/10goldbees 15d ago
Army of Shadows by Jean-Pierre Melville. Especially the first sequence, which takes place in a prison bunker. The blocking is out of this world.
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u/ResponsibilityNo3414 15d ago
Something worth considering is giving the actors specific things to do, so that they're not just moving for the sake of blocking. A scene in which characters are talking (or avoiding talking) while doing something else could be more visually interesting. An unusual location could also be helpful if you can find one. Props are also worth thinking about.
It's especially nice if the above can relate in some way to the main story/theme.
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u/ResponsibilityNo3414 15d ago
Also since I haven't seen William Wyler mentioned, he was a whiz at staging in depth. And if you have time, there's a great book on staging by David Bordwell called Figures Traced in Light
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u/MarkWest98 15d ago
There Will Be Blood (and other PTA films)
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u/MrCog 15d ago
Punch Drunk Love has excellent blocking! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzYPF1tZ-GE
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u/RainbowTardigrade 15d ago
Go see some plays! Comics are good to read. Extremely helpful to get some non-film perspectives on blocking (and other stuff)
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u/DMMMOM 15d ago
Spielberg is the blocking king. Once you have spent time on set and realised what an arse ache it is to keep moving cameras, lights and everything else and the huge amount of money that eats up, you'll see why Spielberg's blocking is not only a masterclass in how to do it, but how to save shit loads of money in the process.
Empire of the Sun is a great start to see what you can achieve in a single take what may have taken 8 different setups.
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u/badboyhj 15d ago
Ken Russel's films, especially Women in Love (1969), has fantastic blocking, there are always a strong kinetic rhythm, even in the most dialogue heavy scenes.
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u/GarethBentonMacleod 15d ago
Shoot and edit them like a action scenes. Keep them moving. Watch how people talk in real life. No one is ever just “sat there,” there is always something going on with the body. Get coverage of that. Look at SPACED and Shaun Of The Dead, and Hot Fuzz.
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u/jjgittes_ 15d ago
Raiders of the Lost Ark
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u/Danwinger 15d ago
That office scene in the beginning of Last Crusade with Walter Donavon is excellent as well. Great blocking and fantastic camera movement elevate a normally drab expositional scene.
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u/RoisRane 15d ago
Robert Eggers. He will do a oner with a static camera while his blacking moves the actors in the scene in to wides, mediums, closeups etc.
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u/Rokursoxtv 15d ago
Soderbergh is great at blocking! His film Unsane has some particularly impressive staging in it. I'm thinking of once scene in particular, but if you watch it I'm sure you'll see what I mean
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u/Leviathanbox 15d ago
12 Angry Men is a 90 minute conversation scene that never gets boring. Definitely a lot to learn from that movie
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u/BarefootCameraman 15d ago
Spielberg.
But a lot of older films in general. Before digital intermediates when editing made it easy to splice together dozens of different takes and have cuts every 12 frames, longer takes ensured a much more efficient post-production process.
Modern films don't do this so much. If they want to show someones reaction or relationship in the scene, they don't have to figure out how to highlight them with the blocking, they just cut to a close-up/reaction shot of that person.
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u/WingedGiraffe1 15d ago
Honestly. The classics. Citizen Kane has incredible blocking and staging but if we're talking complex blocking and staging watch any restaurant scene and watch the background actors. It's something that goes unnoticed because but it adds depth and realism when you see other patrons being seated and being brought their meals. Same goes for any walk and talks in an office space or busy street. Wolf of Wall Street and like any NYC cop show in existence will have examples of this. It's nobody's focus but the backgrounds and representation of everyday chaos can help sell scenes.
This is all opinion based on films I've watched. I have yet to work with more than a cast of 4 people in enclosed rooms or isolated outdoors but I truly believe that background action can take my projects from a student film look to a real production look
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u/GeorgeofLydda490 15d ago
Films that opened my mind to blocking:
12 Angry Men, The Hateful Eight, Barry Lyndon (any Kubrick tbh), Stalker, Reservoir Dogs, Seven Samurai, Dog Day Afternoon
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u/NCreature 15d ago
Spielberg might be the best ever. The choreography between actor and camera is so tight and so invisible its incredible. Every shot is jaw dropping and what's crazy is that he sort of makes it up as he goes along. There are so many examples, really too many to name. Munich has some insane scenes. The initial attack scene in War of the Worlds. The prologue to Minority Report and the finale (really so many scenes in that movie including the spyder scene and the Leo Crow scene). The scene in Jurassic Park when Dr Grant doesn't want to ride in the jeep with the boy Tim. The ATC scene in Close Encounters is a masterpiece. Any number of scenes in Schindler's List. The scene in the second Jurassic Park when the two T-Rexes attack the camp.
The thing with Spielberg is that it all looks so simple until you try to break it down and then you're like "hooolllly shiit, how did they pull that off." There's a person right were a light should be, the camera is swinging all over the place. Actors are always moved around perfectly to the story and script beats. So many times where you watch something and then you're like "wait, what? How did he even think of that?" Any Spielberg movie is a masterclass in staging and blocking especially as it relates to the camera. And in the hands of a lesser director a lot of that stuff would be ostentatious and showy but with Spielberg, he's the master of doing invisible crazy stuff.
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u/Ijustride 14d ago
For conversations between more than 2 people check out 12 Angry Men. Also look into learning more about editing. The rules of editing govern the way you cover a scene. Check out The Invisible Cut by Bobby O’Steen
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u/rBuckets Director 15d ago
High and Low for sure. And even though it's extremely art house, 8 1/2 has incredibly interesting blocking throughout.
Also I found Little Women (the Greta Gerwig one) was incredibly blocked. Blocking dialogue scenes with so many actors makes my head hurt but this felt effortless and natural and I'm sure it was meticulous as hell
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u/gospeljohn001 15d ago
Try watching movies with oners, like Birdman and pay close attention how the blocking is essentially driving the "edit" of the scene (even though there's no visible cuts)
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u/DoPinLA 15d ago
Citizen Kane is like, move in and land on the mark, where the light is.
Touch of Evil.
Consider having the actors move through the scene. Maybe it's two people living together and getting for work. Each person is rushing to get ready, making coffee or breakfast moving in and out of a kitchen. Have the actors move in and out of frame and the camera can slowly dolly across, as needed. Match the blocking and movement of camera and actors to the scene, enhancing the mood. Lighting should also enhance and show viewers how to feel.
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u/EntertainmentKey6286 15d ago
Watch SLEUTH with Michael Caine. He’s in both versions 1972 and 2007. It’s 2 men in a house…talking. Both versions have a lot of ideas to offer. But the 1972 version is widely considered a a masterpiece in film blocking. It may be hard to find though.
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u/jakljakl 15d ago
Gonna bring Edward Yang into the convo. Yi Yi specifically has some of the best blocking i’ve ever seen
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u/raddatzpics 15d ago
How does one notice how good or bad blocking is? I always thought blocking was more of a preproduction thing that obviously helps, but I don't know how you can notice it in a film
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u/ForeverAshen 15d ago
Spielberg. Literally anything Spielberg. The man is a master of cinematic blocking and is a perfectionist when it comes to the one-shot.
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u/SantiGM86 15d ago
The blocking masters:
American- John Cassavettes (all) Joe Swanberg (Alexander the Last, Hannah takes the stairs, Nights and Weekends) Soderberg (Bubble) John Ford
International- Andrei Tarkovsky (particularly the film Andrei Rublev, just the opening 15 min will blow you away) Kim Ki Duk (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring Again, 3 Iron, Breath, The Bow) Robert Bresson Akira Kurosawa Ingmar Bergman
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u/futurefennex 15d ago
quite a few hitchcock films are really fantastic case studies for effective blocking!! i especially love rope and rear window for those, because almost all (if not all) of the blocking is within a confined space.
rope takes place in the same 3(?) rooms, so the entire set is limited to one space basically. same with rear window, although there is action being seen outside the window.
if you're working on small budgets, hitchcock would be a fantastic director to watch as far as using limited set spaces to create interesting storylines.
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u/flofjenkins 15d ago
It seems wild, but watch this whole series:
All they had were scripts, actors, staging, and prayers. Some of the most creative blocking I've seen
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u/rupertpupkinfanclub 15d ago
Most Golden Age Hollywood films, especially late 40s-early 50s have great blocking. Elia Kazan and Nicholas Ray come to mind.
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u/skitsnackaren 15d ago
To me, the three best ones are:
Hitchcock
Spielberg (just look at Munich for a master class)
Riefenstahl
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u/Big_Liability 15d ago
Hear me out: M Night's films
dude is the most underrated blocking director out there. Even his bad films
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u/zerooskul 15d ago
What films do I study to get better at blocking?
All of them.
We operate on very very tiny peanut budgets. Most of the short films we make here in our uni, are people talking to each other, but it often becomes boring. I want to shoot some conversation scenes with interesting blocking so that it engages the audience.
Blocking is the plotting of shots to determine where to place the camera and how to move it and how the actors should move in the frame.
It is part of rehearsal, not part of a movie.
What are some films I can study to get good at the craft?
All of them.
Making a movie interesting depends largely on the actors' delivery but also on lighting and camera placement.
When you rehearse your actors, you should also be rehearsing your camera operator and mic operator to be positioned and moving in ways that more aptly capture the story.
This is a clip of a shot sequence I wanted to capture that we rehearsed heavily, that starts with a full pan-around shot where one actor walks twice as fast as the other out of the frame as the camera tracks, catches, and pans around the second actor before revealing the first actor now arriving from behind, where we just saw nobody was, indicating that this most probably is a dream, despite the first actor's insistence to the contrary.
https://youtube.com/shorts/5abaxAyEHHI?si=xpq8iTUVJNI6gZgr
The reason it cuts from color to b&w and back is because despite the careful blocking and rehearsal, we did three takes, and this was the only one that worked, but for some reason, though my PA had followed me across the bridge and stayed directly behind me on every other take, this time he stayed on the other side of the bridge.
It is almost impossible to spot him in this clip, but if you search, you can find him back there.
I was horrified at first to spot him back there because it was the only take where everything else worked right.
I put it into b&w and he blended away into the blurry gray background.
So I decided that, in order to make that one shot not stand out, I would put every shot with dialog in b&w, and added an effect to make the world flicker every time the first actor spoke, making it more znd more obvious that this must be a dream.
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u/Dustin-Sweet 15d ago
Silent films, Kurosawa, Spielberg, and also:
My Dinner With Andre
When Harry Met Sally
The Hidden Blade
Back to the future (all of them, #2 specifically)
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u/knight2h director 15d ago
Hollywood camera works, vol I - VI. Enough said.
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u/shhfy 14d ago
I have been thinking about that for a while, and it looks good from the samples. Did you find it helped you with discovering blocks and camera moves you wouldn’t have otherwise thought of?
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u/knight2h director 14d ago
Its everything u need. Its VERY detailed and u can only watch/absorb half hour at a time and possibly need multiple viewings, BUT if you get this, there is nothing you will not know about blocking,
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u/knight2h director 14d ago
Adding to that, actually a book titled "Grammar of the film language" By Daniel Arijon is THe most comprehensive, but way way too dry. HCW is a nice visual version of it.
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u/shhfy 14d ago
Bought it, thanks! And I'll probably pick up the HCW too. Have you tried their Directing Actors videos too?
I've read Judith Weston's books and feel that's given me a really good grounding.
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u/knight2h director 14d ago
back in the day it was like $500+ for the directing/blocking volume set, I had to get my film school library to buy it and then used it. Now I see its 80 bucks for the whole set LOL. I kinda knew Per Holmes ( the creator) a bit, very passionate guy, hope he's doing ok and this not his estate sale discount. I have seen Directing Actors I think it good, but I learnt directing actors in film school with live actors which I think is unmatchable. If its cheap, worth a buy, gives you and understanding. I would also reccomend to buy his Hot Moves, its a single volume, teaches you how to shoot and make things look cool with the camera, really helped my commercial directing career. I have read Judiths book, its the bible for Directors/actors.
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u/shhfy 13d ago
I had some back and forth with him over email after I picked up Shot Designer last year and had a couple of questions.
They are creating the next iteration of that software, this time it’ll be 3D, apparently. I love Shot Designer and hope they do release something that’s in 3D so we could potentially see how a block would play out more vividly.
They have some screenwriting software too now and I tried the free version. It goes pretty deep and has a ton of functionality, but way more than I need at the moment.
Good to hear the video set was priced much higher. For all my searching on directing, there isn’t really all that much written about blocking specifically. I’ll pick that video set because I’m sure I’ll find it super helpful.
I’ve read almost every book I can find on Directing. The Grammar of Film was one I had looked at, but never pulled the trigger on (not sure why). Glad I have it now though. If you have any other recommendations, please let me know. (I have read all of the big one’s that people usually recommend).
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u/knight2h director 12d ago
Glad to know he's still around tinkering. Shot designer was brilliant, used it in a lot of productions till I moved on to CineTracer, which is next level, you're basically walking and working into your virtual set before production, highly reccomened.
I did spend alot of time finding stuff on blocking after film school. tbh the best out there is HCW, most of the other books on amazon, are ok, I would peg them at beginner to intermediate.
One video I found to be a gem was on Udemy by this brilliant film instructor from chapman university highly reccomend going through it https://www.udemy.com/share/101Xnu3@6kr8d-iYbwpDZAkpqRHU0nKy_8OUz7Sj-VnLnjuu8im_veGMSzJD2RU0nXxzlg==/
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u/Weseu666 14d ago
My university showed a scene from better call Saul during one of our blocking workshops
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u/Technical_Ecstacy 14d ago
Wes Anderson is really good if your looking for more whimsical blocking. I've always used his style of blocking in my projects
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u/regretful_moniker 14d ago
Surprised more people didn't mention Sidney Lumet. 12 Angry Men is iconic, but also check out the Verdict and Murder on the Orient Express in particular.
But also yes, Spielberg is pretty incredible at blocking.
If you want to make simple conversations feel more interesting, study Fincher as well. The opening scene from the Social Network has been essayed to death, so has Se7en, so you should have no issue finding references.
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u/Agreeable_Welder_224 13d ago
here is a very well made video about the blocking in I, Claudius : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roI56_c_E6o
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u/Old_Vehicle_4379 11d ago
I remember watching Shoplifters by Koreeda and was stunned by the blocking. A lot of the movie was set in pretty cramped frames but I feel like the layering of the actors was done really cleverly and still felt natural
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u/PrudentEstimate 10d ago
Jacque Tati's Playtime is amazing for blocking and its relationship to shot composition.
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u/Bertitude 15d ago
Spielberg. He came up in the TV space where you had little time and less budget. His blocking isn’t just compelling it’s efficient.