{"id":32808,"date":"2015-12-13T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2015-12-13T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/?p=32808"},"modified":"2016-09-02T17:24:10","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T22:24:10","slug":"modest-virtuosity-a-plea-to-filmmakers-old-and-young","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidbordwell.net\/blog\/2015\/12\/13\/modest-virtuosity-a-plea-to-filmmakers-old-and-young\/","title":{"rendered":"Modest virtuosity: A plea to filmmakers, old and young"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Long<\/a><\/p>\n

Panic in the Streets<\/strong> (1950).<\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s where you put the camera and what’s in front of you [that’s important],” Deakins said<\/a>. “There’s too much obsession these days about digital film…it’s becoming so technically-orientated, and that’s just distracting from what’s actually being put in front of the lens.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

DB here:<\/p>\n

Every now and then I get worried by the repetitive look of recent films. I want to beg filmmakers (young ones especially) to try something else.<\/p>\n

What could they do? Start with what to avoid. They could suspend the walk-and-talk<\/a>, the tendency to rely on singles, the bumpy handheld takes<\/a>, the swoopy crane shots, and the urge to cut on every line of dialogue. They could back off, in other words, from intensified continuity<\/a> and go for something more daring and original.<\/p>\n

More positively, there are some relatively unexplored areas of film style that yield results that are forceful and graceful. Today\u2019s example: ensemble staging that minimizes camera movement and cutting. Minor spoilers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Some basics<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a demanding technique. Essentially the filmmaker has to shape a scene among several actors in ways that guide our attention to the key pieces of information. That guidance is done through performance, framing, lighting, and other tactics. Beyond highlighting the major points of the scene, staging can create what critic Charles Barr called \u201cgradation of emphasis.\u201d<\/a> Because several elements of the action are all visible at once, some can become primary, some secondary; and this interplay enriches our understanding of the scene.<\/p>\n

So take this scene from Elia Kazan\u2019s Panic in the Streets<\/em> (1950). A dead man has been found to carry the Bubonic plague virus, and Dr. Clinton Reed is investigating people who have come in contact with him. A restaurant owner and his wife have\u00a0denied knowing the victim, but now Reed and Police Captain Warren have learned that the wife has come down with the plague. They visit the apartment, too late\u00a0to save her. Her husband Mefaris comes in and learns that she has died\u2014and that she might have lived had the couple told the truth.<\/p>\n

The two-minute scene plays out in just two shots, both with slight panning\u00a0movements. The scene\u2019s impact owes a lot to the performances: the line readings, facial expressions, and gestures, including the wonderful way that Richard Widmark rips off his surgical mask in angry frustration. But the scene also benefits from small but significant rearrangements of the actors in the frame. This staging ties together the performance elements in a smoothly rising flow.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the scene. I\u2019ll try to indicate some practical directing principles at work.<\/p>\n