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Hi, my name is Tony,
and this is Every Frame a Painting.
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There's a quote that I love
from Alexander Mackendrick. He said :
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"What a film director really directs
is the audience attention ...
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... Directing is a matter of emphasis ...
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... You emphasize what is important ...
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... by under-emphasizing
what is less so."
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These days, most directors create emphasis
by cutting from close-up ...
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... to close up ...
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... to close up.
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But too much coverage is exhausting,
especially for the actors.
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- And say, oh, so now,
you're gonne be a mechanic,
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so you should master close, close, closer,
over, over, over ...
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I go hard lining, and say "Look,
I'm not gonna do that.",
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because you already got
everything you need to tell the audience
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what they need to know
about what's happening here.
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So today, let's consider a different option.
Instead of standard coverage,
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let's put all the actors
in the same frame,
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and let them perform together.
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In other words, let's talk about
'ensemble staging'.
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Ensemble staging is all about
creating emphasis without using a cut
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The first thing to remember is that
we naturally look at whoever is speaking ...
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and whoever is being spoken to.
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This is often combined with
a second technique :
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if someone is more important,
put them closer to the light,
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or closer to the lens.
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If you want someone to be less noticeable,
move them further away,
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maybe out of focus.
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Of course, attention is relative.
Sometimes, you can get the audience
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to look at something,
even when it's out of focus.
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By having it move.
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We're especially aware
when somebody moves their hands ...
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or moves their eyes.
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You can also guide the audience by putting
something close to the center of the frame.
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In fact, this is one of the film's
running jokes.
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Characters in the middle of the shot ...
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... who keep attacking the suspects.
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Which brings us to #5 :
the body position of the actors.
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How are the characters turned
in relation to the lens ?
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Do we see their whole face ...
or 3/4 ?
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Is it a profile ... or another angle
where we don't see the face at all ?
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When you have multiple actors in a shot,
it's important to have some variation.
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The audience doesn't need to look at
a character right now : turn him around.
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Notice how by doing this,
you're creating contrast.
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The 3 cops on the right face each other,
while detective Seo looks elsewhere.
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In fact, for the first half-hour, he's
constantly placed away from the main group,
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looking at documents
that everyone else is ignoring.
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This bring us to #7 :
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Subtly moving the camera.
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Here watch out the shot
narrow our focus from 4 characters ...
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... down to 2.
While here, our attention moves
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from one side of the argument, to the other,
fore-settling on the eventual winner.
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And last of all, don't forget that
human beings are social creatures :
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We look where other people are looking.
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So with all that, let's consider why Bong Joon-ho
would stage something as an ensemble.
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This is my favourite shot
in the entire film.
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At first we think it's one story,
an argument between two cops.
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And Bong seems to do very little.
He just lets our attention move
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from detective Park ...
to detective Seo.
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But in the center of frame,
something catches our eye,
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and we realize another character,
detective Cho, is making out
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with the hostess in the back.
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So now we have 2 stories :
foreground & background.
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And Bong plays them against each other,
to contrast the serious ...
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... with the silly. As the scene builds,
he slowly pushes the camera in,
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which hides the 2 women,
and focus our attention on the main pair.
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And he lets the actors use their hands
to tell the story,
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especially when the argument
reaches his breaking point.
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But suddenly, the chief enters the scene.
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This is the moment when
the ensemble staging pays off.
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We have an unexpected third story, and
it interrupts both of the others.
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With a joke.
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From now on, the rest of the scene
is the third story,
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as the chief outlines his plan
to catch the serial killer.
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But why do this in one shot ?
I think it underscores the theme.
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The first story is a petty argument.
The second story is just lust.
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None of these cops is doing work,
they're all being selfish.
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It's not until the third story that
they think about the victims and the case.
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The chief literally provides
the moral center of the frame.
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And if Bong had shot this scene
with coverage,
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we wouldn't see the connection
between the first story ...
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... and the second.
And from both stories ...
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... to the third.
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This is the kind of directing that is
unbelievably rare today,
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and it shows the value of
playing a scene as an ensemble,
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rather than cutting
from one face to another.
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- Because sometimes, I just want to stay
in that particular place, with the actors,
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and let the actors settle it,
and not let you help me tell the story
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by getting closer to my face.
Just let me do it.