Shot Design in prep

[jeff791107]

Hi Roger,

I am curious about your approach to framing shots and shortlisting in your works with Directors.

Now I am in the prep of a feature. I felt like it would take a huge amount of time on the storyboard of every frame and shot. However, it looks like we don’t have enough time for that.

How exactly does your working process look like? Do you do storyboarding with directors? Or is it more like the directors work in advance and then you come in to discuss the blocking and refine your shot? Do you only plan shots for some important scenes? Does the production hire storyboard artists?

I would like to hear your advice. Thank you.

Topic

[Roger Deakins]

It varies from film to film. On ‘Empire of Light’ Sam and I only worked out our camera shots with the actors on the day of the shoot, whereas on ‘1917’ we decided on the ‘shot’ months before shooting started. On ‘Blade Runner 2049’ Denis and I shot listed and boarded much of the film months in advance but on ‘Sicario’ we focused only on specific scenes. I usually work with a director on shot listing during prep but that is not always the case. Joel and Ethan would often do a pass of their storyboards before I became involved and then we would do a final pass together.

[Frank]

Mr. Deakins, could you talk a bit more on why you and Denis Villeneuve chose to board much of Blade Runner 2049 but only select scenes for Sicario?

[Roger Deakins]

As I said, ‘Blade Runner 2049’ was a far more complicated film. The overall world that the film was to be set in had to be imagined and, within that whole, there were many sets that required specific looks of their own. Whereas on a film like ‘Sicario’, in which scenes took place within existing locations or could be combined with relatively simple sets, for ‘BR2049′ we needed to combine any number of sets and locations to create a composite environment.

The night scene where the spinner crashes against the sea wall was just one instance where we needed to conceptualize the scene before the film could be scheduled. After much consideration as to how and where the sequence as imagined would be shot it was decided to build of a large open air tank, some 160′ square and 15’ deep, on a studio backlot in Budapest. That takes time.

[Stip]

Do you like working like you did on “Empire of Light”, where you figure it out on the day of shooting? (I feel a stressful pressure to deliver ‘right here, right now’ if I cannot ponder ahead of shooting)

[dharmawanwilly]

I second Stip’s question. Do you have a predetermined or go-to shot lists of your own that you have probably built for years and act like your “safety net” when the shot is “determined after blocking?” Just to ease the stress of “deliver right here, right now” a little bit?

[Roger Deakins]

A ‘go-to shot list’!!!! Perish the thought! I like working a scene out with the actors on the day. Of course, that can be stressful but its part of the challenge and the fun of the job. The reason to have some sort of shot discussion prior to the shoot is to have the right equipment available on the day. I don’t like to carry more equipment than I will need from day to day and certain shots might require some lead time.

[Stip]

Interesting, thank you!

[Frank]

Mr. Deakins, have you ever worked with a director who went the Sidney Lumet route and did extensive blocking rehearsal with the cast in pre-production and then committed to that blocking for the shoot?

[Roger Deakins]

We did extensive blocking rehearsals of ‘1917’ with the main actors but that was a very particular challenge. Norman Jewison did blocking rehearsals before we shot ‘The Hurricane’ and also on evenings within the schedule, but probably nothing as extensive as Sidney Lumet did.

[Frank]

You mentioned before that your preference was for blocking rehearsal on the day. I’m curious, do you ‘feel’ the restrictions of extensive pre-visualization when you do it? Do you notice that the actors do? I remember you once talked about how the Coen brothers were willing adapt their boards to what was going on the day of the shoot whereas on ‘The Village’ you stuck pretty assiduously to what was already boarded.

[Roger Deakins]

I have worked with storyboards but never with any extensive pre-vis, if you are referring to an animation of the action. We did do a pre-vis for the opening of ‘Skyfall’ as we were working with a second unit and wanted to be very specific as to what we wanted. Personally, I would just as soon discuss a script with a director in a more general way and leave specific shot choices for location scouting and blocking rehearsals.

[Frank]

Did the way you worked on ‘The Hurricane’ split the difference at all, was it any worse than blocking on the day?

[Roger Deakins]

Blocking during prep or on the night before can work well if the location or set are available, but a problem can arise when an actor comes in the next day with a different idea. Mind you, that can happen when they come back from their make up trailer or after take one! There is no ‘right’ way!

[Frank]

The way Lumet worked has always interested me because apparently he would do blocking in pre-production without using the actual location, putting marks down to indicate the space and set dressing, and then have the actors recreate that on the day, like a stage play. You’d think a lot of film actors would find these working methods frustrating but he had a reputation as ‘an actor’s director’.

[dmullenasc]

I think it makes sense (Lumet’s method of working on taped-out empty rehearsal rooms like stage plays do) because 80% of the time ends up being taken up of discussions with actors over meaning and motivations, not the blocking. So it’s good to get that out of way in prep.

[Author]

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