15
Staging
Introduction to staging
If light is the dominant influence on picture composition, staging performance, action, actors and props in relationship to a setting is at the heart of all film and television production. What people do as well as what they say is equally important in a visual medium. The interpretation of a narrative is initially the combined task of writer, director and performer. Making it all meaningful within a frame is often achieved by the combined skills of director and cameraman. It is difficult to separate out the distinctions between a performance and the visual treatment of a production. A successful project is seen as a succession of significant images and action but there are also many other craft skills in the realization of a production such as editing, sound, design, costume, make-up, etc. They all have a essential input in staging and composition and to adequately cover their role would require many books.
The relationship between people can be established quickly by their position in a frame and how they are staged in depth. In many ways, using pictures to tell a story is the quickest and most effective way to establish motive, response, mood, point of view, and all the other myriad feelings that can be expressed by the face or body attitude. All these aspects of staging are in the director's domain but camera movement, camera position and choice of lens all influence production decisions. This chapter deals with a few considerations when staging for shot composition, but it far from exhausts all aspects of production decisions when staging action.
Where shall I stand?
Throughout this book, phrases have been used such as pictorial unity, balanced composition, emphasizing the main subject of inter est, etc. Nowhere is this search for picture integration more commonplace and exacting than in the figure/background staging dilemma. As many film and television images consist of faces or figures in a setting, much of the time, cameramen are involved in finding solutions to the visual problem of combining a foreground subject with its background.
We discussed in the figure/ground section (Chapter 13) how the main subject of interest in an image cannot exist without a background and that often there must be some visual design method to connect the main subject to its ‘ground’ even though this may be featureless. A plain backing may be sufficient to emphasize the subject, but more usually there is a need to set the subject in context – to provide a setting that will reinforce or comment on the subject. The content of the setting provides atmosphere, mood and information and acts as a powerful reinforcer of the presentation of the main subject of interest. A low camera angle often helps to make the foreground subject dominant and cuts the presenter away from his/her background but it can be unflattering. Equally important is the integration of the background with the main subject to provide a unified image.
What is staging?
Blocking movement or staging action refers to the initial setting up of a shot where actor/presenter position and movement is plotted. With the single camera/single shot technique, the complete action for the shot can be seen before camera position, camera movement and lens is decided and the final framing agreed. This should achieve the precise composition that is required because a great deal of control can be exercised in the positioning of actor/presenter to background and the control of background. Essentially, the visual elements that make up the shot can be arranged to achieve the objective of the shot.
This is not dissimilar to the methods painters use to achieve an integrated image. Apart from those few artists who strive for a perfect replication of the scene in view, the design of a painting is achieved by control of the chosen visual components, placing every element where it works for the complete composition.
Although there has always been a great deal of discussion on what constitutes good design, artists have more control over the design of their painting than a cameraman because they have the ability to fashion each visual element to enhance the unity of the image.
Unless the style of painting requires a literal record of the field of view, artists have the ability to arrange and rearrange the painted area so that overall, they achieve the composition they are searching for. Although a great deal of image manipulation can be achieved with lens and camera position, in general, cameramen have to deal with a ‘found’ visual situation and attempt by lighting and actor positioning to achieve visual control of the whole frame.
In the mid-nineteenth century, early photographers had ambitions to control all the elements of a photographic image and spent a great deal of time setting up and copying academic compositions borrowed from painting. The results were unconvincing, posed freeze frames that soon dropped out of fashion along with the style of paintings they were attempting to emulate.
Film and television have the added compositional element of subject movement and the tradition of recording the ‘real’ world. With a few exceptions, the majority of narrative film and television productions stage the dreams, fantasies and desires of the protagonists in the dramas against recognizable slices of location or set. Even though the plots may involve bizarre and fantastic developments, in general, they are played out against settings that contain solid, known objects easily identified by the audience.
Visual storytelling therefore has the requirement for tightly designed images created in the choice of set design, costume, makeup, staging, lighting and camera angle. With such a degree of control, the implication is that every image chosen is the result of a production decision. There should be no lucky accidents, although the history of film and television camerawork has numerous examples to the contrary.
The American cinematographer Conrad Hall, for example, noticed when setting up a shot for ‘In Cold Blood’ (1967), that light passing through artificial rain dripping down a set window threw a shadow of a ‘tear’ rolling down the cheeks of the artiste in close-up who was remembering his past (sad) life. This simple visual accident was immediately incorporated into the shot. Gordon Willis shooting ‘The Godfather’ (1972) used top lighting to help reduce Brando's heavy jowls. This resulted in Brando's eyes being in shadow and intensified the menace of the character.
Staging action for a number of television cameras to shoot continuously, however, often requires a great deal of compromise between the ideal for each shot and what in practice can be achieved. Multi-camera television coverage requires pre-planning of set or location set design, lighting and a camera script with details of all planned shots. For complex programmes such as drama, there will also be extensive pre-rehearsal of artistes involved where interpretation and action is devised and plotted.
Once in the studio or at the location, each shot will be blocked and then a run through of the scene will test the practicalities and the problems of the camera script. With continuous multi-camera shooting, there is not a great deal of adjustment available for the optimum positioning of actor and background. Any repositioning of the actor for one camera will affect the framing of another camera. Reasonable compromises are sought but the perfection of the single shot/single camera framing are often not a practical option. A dozen small corrections that would have been made for single camera shooting such as lighting, background set changes and artist positioning are not always possible if continuous action is covered by multi-cameras. The tendency in multi-camera television shooting is for shot size to have greater importance and precedence over the search for the integrated image that is possible with single shot recording.
Framing up a shot of inanimate objects is easier and involves finding the right position in space for the lens with the right lens angle and then devising the lighting, balance and frame. If the visual elements in the frame are small enough to rearrange, then good composition can be achieved by placing each item in an optimum position for visual unity.
Staging people and staging action
If good composition can only be achieved by control of the visual elements, how is it possible to reorder the visual elements in a shot to create a dynamic composition? In the chapter on perspective (Chapter 4), we discussed ways of adjusting the camera-to-subject relationship in order to produce dynamic compositions. Control of the skeleton of the picture can be ordered by choice of lens, camera position and camera distance from subject.
Frequently, in television and film, the principal subjects in the frame are people. In a controlled situation where the artiste can be positioned in relationship to the lens, there is frequently an optimum position that gives the best composition with that specific background and artiste. Best in this context means the most appropriate relationships for the message that is to be communicated.
A common relationship in television news/factual programming is the reporter with the ‘over my left shoulder World War Three has just broken out’ shot. This combination of reporter delivering a piece to camera with the suggestion or flavour of the content of the piece in the background is commonplace but frequently produces awkward framing.
If the reportage concerns a civil catastrophe or strong visual activity in the background, then a combined image will result in divided interest between reporter and the background event. What may be intended as background ‘atmosphere’ for the ‘piece to camera’ often develops into a split screen with a double shot obliging the viewer to constantly shift their attention between foreground and background. The two centres of interest – reporter and background – are usually caused because of the tight framing of the reporter. The close size of shot and the talking to camera creates a separation, a detachment from the glimpsed events taking place outside the intimacy established between reporter and viewer. Talking to the lens creates the effect of standing outside the situation being reported, of taking a detached, objective view of the type of extraordinary event that would normally have overwhelmed and involved an observer.
Journalistic values are claimed to be based on the search for objectivity, of the seeking after fact as opposed to comment or opinion but paradoxically, this ‘objectivity’ is often accompanied by powerful, emotional images that are intended to grab and involve the audience's attention. The subjective, emotionally involving images of human suffering or despair are sometimes combined, in an uneasy alliance, with a ‘factual’ piece to camera.
The most neutral and objective image would appear to be the fashion for posing the journalist against a sign or logo. Over the shoulder of the reporter is seen a notice which may say ‘Home Office’, ‘Scotland Yard’, ‘Treasury’, etc.
This type of shot often fails to work as the background rectangle sign fights the foreground reporter as the main subject of interest. Divided interest seems to appeal to literal minded journalists accustomed to working with print. The background sign appeals to them because they believe it reinforces the story whereas in fact a divided interest image is often a distraction to the viewer.
The same divided interest is carried over into the news bulletin where the newsreader is pushed out of the frame by a programme logo or generic title. This stale visual arrangement is an awkward composition that has achieved acceptability by constant repetition (see Figure 6.4).
Interviews
A recurring news and feature item is the location interior interview. It usually requires shots of the interviewee seated in their office or house being questioned by a presenter. There are a number of factors in deciding camera position and interview position including:
Figure 15.1 The same size of foreground subject achieved with a narrow angle lens (a) and a wide angle lens (b)
Does the interview position allow variation in shot size to sustain a long interview if required?
Can the participants positional relationship be established?
Is the environment around the interviewee important to the inter view? Does the background to the shot give more information?
Is there a comfortable distance between participants for them to relate to each other?
Avoid the bottom frame line coinciding with someone seated – i.e., seat of chair and frame line correspond so that it looks as if the person is sitting on the bottom frame. This also applies to leaning on a vertical that coincides with right/left frame edge.
Is there sufficient space and how convenient is it to relight and reposition for reverses? Before cross-shooting on a subject ensure that all angles have compositional potential. When setting up an interview, eyeball the reverses before deciding on the main shot.
Do windows need to be in shot?
The colour temperature difference and balance between daylight entering from windows and the light provided by added lamps.
If there is complete control over the subject position then look for a background that will draw attention to the subject, will balance out the main subject (e.g., offset framing) and will hint at an explanation of the subject either by mood, atmosphere or information.
Control of background
A small area of background can be controlled by lighting or by limiting the depth-of-field by an ND (neutral density) filter in the camera, but the greatest control is by choice of camera position, lens angle, camera distance and foreground subject position. Consideration must also be given to how the shot will be intercut and often a matching background of similar tonal range, colour and contrast has to be chosen to avoid a mismatch when intercutting.
Too large a tonal range between intercut backgrounds will result in obtrusive and very visible cuts. Visual continuity of elements such as direction of light, similar zones of focus and the continuity of background movement (e.g., crowds, traffic, etc.) in intercut shots have also to be checked.
Figure composition
Single figure composition
The single figure occurs constantly in film and television framing. There appear to be two aspects that affect its relationship with the setting (other elements will be discussed in the appropriate sections). With a simple or plain background, the figure should be in contact with one or two edges of the frame in order to achieve unity with the image. With a shot closer than full figure this is obviously inevitable. If the context of the shot allows, a side-lit portraiture enables the darker side of the face to set up a relationship with the background. Another visual solution is to find a balancing relationship with background forms or light (using shadow), similar shapes or colour. A single figure is often used to show scale in a landscape and will be identified by movement even if the figure is dominated by the location.
The most useful staging to integrate offset figures with their background is to get the presenter to stand with his or her body turned into the frame rather than square-on to camera. If the shoulder line points into the background then there is a natural lead-in that connects background to foreground.
Two figure composition
Two people in a frame can quickly lead to a ‘divided interest’ composition unless one of them is made more dominant. This can be achieved by unequal size or position in frame or simply having one person with their back to camera. There are many standard two shot stagings ranging from a larger foreground figure contrasted with a smaller background figure, over-the-shoulder two shots, three-quarter two shot, etc. Other methods of switching attention between two figures in the same frame is by dialogue, movement or lighting.
Multi-figure compositions
Circles, pyramid and oval groupings are classical solutions to binding together three, four or more subjects. Five subjects are often easier to combine into a composition than four. Using the outline shapes of heads and arms and legs to guide the eye around the simple geometric forms, individuals are merged into a coherent composition. It is important to set a focus point (the main subject) within the group and then build the most appropriate shape to emphasize that point.
Individuals in the group may be active or passive in their relationship to the overall composition. Staging people with their backs to camera or in three-quarter profile weakens their importance. Placing people on the focus of a leading line formed by the group's outline shape or other strong directional line, will strengthen their importance. Balancing two people against one within a pyramid grouping is another standard solution to control attention.
Working at speed
Because of the wide range of techniques that are employed in film and television production it is not possible or desirable to itemize a set of compositional do's and don'ts that will cover all situations. Certain basic conventions can be identified that are in use across a wide spectrum of camerawork but in general, as with the choice of camera equipment, it is ‘horses for courses’. One specialist area of programming or film making will evolve a certain way of working which suits the requirements of that technique. Other types of production would find these conventions restricting or superfluous.
Actuality programming – working live or recording as live (i.e., no retakes) – have one technique in common Live action demands a stream of continuous pictures, which means that each cameraman is required to frame up their shots at speed. Occasionally they may have time to reposition the camera without haste and to take time out to consider the precise framing of a shot. This is a rare and infrequent luxury in many types of programming such as sport, music or group discussions. Most productions require a continuous variety of shots often linked to a specific event.
The live multi-camera coverage of an orchestral concert, for example, will be camera scripted in sympathy with the piece performed. Depending on the nature of the music and the television treatment decided by the director, there may be in excess of 200-300 shots shared between five or more cameras.
Each shot has its designated function in the score and must be ready and framed at the precise bar that it is required. The speed of the camerawork will therefore be synchronized with the music and at times this will entail rapid and continuous shot change. The tempo of the camerawork varies between extremely quick reactions ‘off-shot’ to find the next instrument, to slow camera movement ‘on-shot’ that reflects the mood of the music. Panning movements have to be synchronized with the number of bars allocated to that shot and must finish exactly on the instrument or group of instruments agreed because possibly, at that point in time, a solo or change of tempo may occur.
This reflex framing by the camera operator with no time to consciously consider composition, is achieved by relying on habit and the developed feeling for a good picture that instantly oversees the eye/hand coordination. If there is no time to consider the image, the only thing to do is to rely on experience and training. Live television continuously requires quick compositional decisions.
Camerawork that is carried out in the real time of the event covered often allows no time for any thoughtful consideration about the precise way of framing. There is no opportunity to re-order the visual elements. The most that can be done in the time available is to trim the shot by way of the zoom and a slight jiggle of the framing points.
An example of the instinctive response to movement can be seen in slow-motion replays of fast sporting action. In the UK, the square-on ‘slop mo’ camera position in cricket coverage is required to follow the ball as soon as it leaves the bat. Sometimes even the batsman does not know which way the ball went. Continuously during the game, the slow-motion replays reveal that the cameraman has instinctively followed the ball to a fielder who has gathered the ball and aimed it at the stumps in one fluid movement. The framing seen in slow motion belies the real speed and technique required to follow and keep the ball in the frame and the players involved. It has been judged that the speed of the action is sometimes too fast for the umpires on the field to assess what has happened and they call upon a third umpire in the stadium to adjudicate. He is able to do this by relying on the slow-motion replay of the debated incident. High technology does not provide this aid – simply the fast reflexes of cameramen.
In unscripted multi-camera working, one eye has to be kept on what other cameras are offering (through mixed viewfinder or a monitor) in order to provide alternative shots to the shot on transmission. Although most television sports coverage has designated roles for each camera, there are often accompanying incidents such as presentations at the end of the event or ‘celebrating’ spectator shots that require an ad lib coverage. In group discussion programmes, size of shot must be matched and alternatives available for cutaways.
Summary
Many film and television images consist of faces or figures in a setting. Much of the time, cameramen are involved in finding solutions to the visual problem of combining a foreground subject with its background.
The internal space of the shot is a subtle but important part of the look, mood and atmosphere of the shot. When three-dimensional objects are converted into a flat two-dimensional image, size relationships will be controlled by camera distance to subject and lens angle. The choice of the lens angle is therefore dependent on how the action is to be staged and the visual style that is required.