Directing 101: Coordinating Character Movement in a Scene

So, as the opening blog on my brand spanking new website I thought it would be good to set up an ongoing series of technical directing oriented blogs that each looks at a different element of the Directors job and how to get the best out of each.

One of the things that I continually see is a psychological chasm between character and camera movement. Instead of coordinating the two elements together as they are supposed to be, providing a fluid orchestral flow, there are many of us out there that focus on one or the other and then just bolt the other one on as an afterthought with the result that it feels as though the visual flow of the images jars our senses, leading to an amateur viewing experience or else one that the audience just wants to turn off!

One of the things to realise early on in the Directors process is that the camera is representative of the audiences eye and as such we are in the unique positions as directors that we need to anticipate what it is the audience will naturally want to see and secondly we have the ability to guide their senses to occlude their own desires for viewing.

First and foremost, to be able to structure this intensified experience we need to concentrate on the character movement first, because it is this that sets the environment and needs of everything that comes after.

When we come to place the cameras we may need to go back and adjust the character movement to facilitate the fluid coordination that we are looking for.

Deciding on character movement is almost like armchair psychology in that there are a group of conditions that a character obeys that determines when a character does and does not move.

In film it is a very well known maxim that you must show, and not tell and as such all of this character movement that we will be deciding upon is, to a certain degree, indicative of internal thought processes. In every day life this probably wouldn’t work so well but where drama and documentary is concerned our inherent understanding of the grammar of film has been instilled in us since our cradle days and therefore we inherently understand the meanings imparted perfectly.

Each character has motivations for movement and motivations for stopping and the list is as follows:

Motivations for Character Movement:

Characters will move for many of the same reasons that we all move in the real world and the vast majority of reasons are summarised with the following motivations:

i)              Initiative – This is a movement that any character can do in order to show a sense of purpose

ii)             Control/Territory – This is movement that a character will do in order to take a dominant position and become the centre of attention

iii)           Discomfort – This is movement that we may do when an uncomfortable situation is gnawing at us and we find it uncomfortable

iv)           Becoming more personal – This is movement that a character will undertake when they wish to forge a closer connection or relationship with another character and will often involve an invasion of the other characters personal space.

v)             Becoming more private – This is movement that is the opposite to the previous condition where a character may wish to reduce the personal connection with another character, and could indicate emotional withdrawal and rejection.

A lot of character movement within a scene is a mix of characters becoming more and/ or less personal.

Motivations for Character Stops:

Just as there are reasons for characters to instigate movement there are also reasons for a characters to end their movement.

i)              Stopping to End Movement – This stoppage occurs when the motivation for the original movement is no longer evident

ii)             Stopping to Think or Feel – As soon as something grabs the attention of the character in a lot of cases it may bring any movement to a halt or preclude the start of a new movement as the character chooses to focus on thinking on the thing instead

iii)           Stopping to Shift Gears – This is just a momentary stop as a character changes an emotional state from one movement to a higher or lower energy state in which he starts the new movement

iv)           Stopping for Clarity – This is a stoppage which serves to emphasize of underline something.

v)             Stopping for the Camera – This character stoppage is for the sole purpose of allowing the viewer a moment of analysis of the character and should as often as possible be used in combination with another stoppage motivation in order to disguise the mechanic.

The last option also covers a simple reaction shot or even a matching reverse where a character stands at the end of a scene which can be used for a detach. If the scene terminates with the character still standing there can be used to show intense and heavy internal reflection. It may however, only show a stoppage for a moment before the character in frame walks off frame indicating only a momentary internal reflection.

The directors job is to be able to portray visually an internal psychological story by utilizing character movements and frame juxtapositions but it is the decisions on the character movement that provides the foundations for everything that comes afterwards….