3 Brilliant Moments of Blocking (in Kurosawa's High and Low)
Summary
TLDRこのスクリプトは、映画監督がどのように俳優を空間内で動かして物語を伝える手法である「ブロックング」を分析しています。特に、アキラ・クロサワの作品「高と低」を通じて、ブロックングがどのように登場人物の内面を外に表現し、個々の要素を一つの絵画に結びつけ、視聴者の注目をコントロールするのかを詳述しています。クロサワの精緻な演出と俳優の動きは、登場人物の動機を明らかにし、全体として強烈な視覚効果を生み出します。このスクリプトは、映画芸術における「ブロックング」の重要性と効果を理解するのに役立ちます。
Takeaways
- 📽️ 脚本讨论了电影制作者如何通过移动场景中的角色来讲述戏剧性的故事,即所谓的“blocking”(舞台布局)。
- 🎭 Blocking一词源自戏剧,指的是在空间中人物的摆放和移动,用以讲述戏剧性的故事。
- 🌟 通过分析黑泽明的电影《天堂与地狱》中的三个精彩瞬间,展示了blocking在戏剧叙事中的不同功能。
- 🚶♂️ Blocking可以展现人物的内在特质,通过他们的行动和移动来揭示他们的性格和情感。
- 💡 好的blocking应该基于人物的真实行为和所处情境,同时具有可信度和启发性。
- 🤔 Blocking不仅仅是为了营造氛围,还需要让人物的动作显得自然而合理。
- 🎨 通过精心设计的blocking,可以将个别元素组合成一个整体,创造出可以作为单一感人画面的tableau。
- 🔍 Blocking的第二个重要功能是控制观众的注意力,引导观众在特定时间关注画面的特定部分。
- 👀 通过对比、人物的相对位置和动作,可以有效地引导观众的视线,而无需使用特写镜头。
- 📐 在《天堂与地狱》的一个关键时刻,通过将所有人物汇集在画面中,展示了blocking如何用来集中焦点。
- 🧐 通过人物的自然行为和位置,观众可以感受到角色的动机和他们之间的紧张关系。
- 🎬 黑泽明通过细致的blocking,使得每个角色的动作和位置都充满了意义,为观众提供了一个引人入胜的视觉叙事。
Q & A
「ブロック」という用語は、どこから借用された用語ですか?
-「ブロック」という用語は、演劇から借用された用語です。これは、空間内の人物の配置と動きを目的に、ドラマティックな物語を語るためのものです。
カメラが持つ能力がブロックを時代遅れにしているという考え方はどうですか?
-カメラが持つ能力は、ブロックを時代遅れにすることではなく、追加の技術を提供します。多くの傑出した監督は、カメラと俳優の動きを組み合わせることで創造的な演出を実現しています。
アキラ・クロサワ監督の「ハイアンドロー」で見られるブロックの3つの機能は何ですか?
-「ハイアンドロー」で見られるブロックの3つの機能は、人物を動かし彼らの本性を明らかにすること、個々の要素を一つにまとめることで一つの絵を描き、そして優れたブロックでフィギュアを整えることで、特定の画像に焦点を合わせることです。
アキラ・クロサワ監督はどのようにしてキャラクターの動きで彼らの内面を表現するのですか?
-アキラ・クロサワ監督は、キャラクターが実際に動くべき方法で彼らを動かすことで、彼らの内面を表現します。これは、キャラクターがその場に応じた自然な動きで自己を明らかにすることができるように、監督の創造的な工夫が必要です。
映画「ハイアンドロー」の冒頭で見られるシーンは何を物語っていますか?
-映画「ハイアンドロー」の冒頭のシーンでは、キャラクターがそれぞれの立場と感情を通じて、平行した物語の糸を完璧に表現しています。それぞれのキャラクターの注目点と目が、彼らの主要な関心を明らかにしています。
映画の中でのブロックの重要性は何ですか?
-映画の中でのブロックは、個々のキャラクターの物語を伝えるだけでなく、全体として一つの絵として読めるように、個々の要素を一つにまとめる力を持っています。また、カメラの動かし方と同じように、観客の視線をコントロールする力も持っています。
アキラ・クロサワ監督はどのようにして映画のシーンの焦点をコントロールするのですか?
-アキラ・クロサワ監督は、キャラクターの配置と動きを通じて、シーンの焦点をコントロールします。カメラのクローズアップと同じ効果を広角ショットで実現するほどのスキルを持っています。
映画「ハイアンドロー」の最後のシーンでは、どのような効果的なブロックが使用されていますか?
-映画「ハイアンドロー」の最後のシーンでは、8人のキャラクターが一度にフレーム内に入る中で、複雑なブロックを使用して、シーンの焦点を移動させています。これは、キャラクターの自然な行動と、全体として物語が展開されるように、時間をかけて慎重に計画された結果です。
アキラ・クロサワ監督の映画でブロックはどのように物語に寄与するのですか?
-アキラ・クロサワ監督の映画では、ブロックはキャラクターの動かし方で彼らの動機を明らかにし、個々のキャラクターの位置づけが一つになることで、一つの絵として物語を伝え、さらに焦点をコントロールすることで物語を展開します。
映画「ハイアンドロー」のシーンで、キャラクターの配置がどのように物語を進めるのですか?
-映画「ハイアンドロー」のシーンでは、キャラクターの配置は彼らの感情や動機を物語るだけでなく、全体として一つの絵として読めるように、物語を進めます。また、キャラクターの動きと配置によって、観客の視線がどこに注目すべきかをコントロールして物語を進めます。
アキラ・クロサワ監督の映画でブロックを使用する意図は何ですか?
-アキラ・クロサワ監督は、ブロックを使用してキャラクターの内面を外に表現し、個々のキャラクターが持つ物語を一つにまとめることで、全体として強力な視覚的な影響を与えます。また、ブロックを使用することで、観客の視線をコントロールして、物語を効果的に伝えます。
映画「ハイアンドロー」のシーンで、キャラクターの動きがどのように彼らの感情を物語るのですか?
-映画「ハイアンドロー」のシーンでは、キャラクターの動きは彼らの感情や欲求、欲望を行動に移し変えて、観客が理解しやすい形で自己を明らかにします。これは、キャラクターがその場に応じた自然な動きで、彼らの動機を物語るための創造的な工夫が必要です。
Outlines
🎬 カメラと俳優の配置:映画「ハイ アンド ロウ」の舞台構成
この段落では、映画作りにおいてカメラだけでなく、画面に映る人物の配置と動きにも注目している。特に、アキラ・クロサワ監督の「ハイ アンド ロウ」を通じて、俳優を空間内でどのように配置し、カメラと組み合わせることで物語を語る手法について学ぶ。クロサワは、キャラクターの内面的な感情や欲望を外在化し、彼らが状況に応じた自然な動きで自己を暴露させる方法を巧みに描き出している。また、キャラクターの動きと配置がどのようにして物語を進め、観客に情報を与えるかについても触れている。
🎭 個々の要素を一つの画像にまとめる:ステージ構成の美しさ
ステージ構成の第二の重要な機能として、個々の要素を一つにまとめることで、一つの絵として読めるようになる。個々のキャラクターがそれぞれのストーリーを語る一方で、全体として一つの統一された物語をもたらす。映画の最後の一瞬では、主人公が二つの選択肢に挟まれている状況が、画面に分かれるように描かれている。また、観客の注目をどこに集中させるかをコントロールする手法も紹介されており、カメラの使用を避けながら、画面内の人々を通じて焦点を移動させる方法が説明されている。
👀 視線の誘導:シーン全体を通じた焦点の管理
ブロックの第三の機能として、キャラクターを配置することで、物語が展開するにつれて私たちの注目をどこに集中させるかを細かくコントロールできることが強調されている。シーン全体を通じて、クロサワ監督は視線を正確に誘導し、感情的な障害がビジネスマン同士の間に積み重なる様子を描いている。キャラクターの動きと配置が、彼らの動機を明らかにし、一つの強烈な一画像を作り出す。この手法は、物語を伝えるだけでなく、観客に感情的な投資を促進する効果も持っている。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡ブロック割り
💡カメラワーク
💡アキラ・クロサワ
💡劇場
💡内部化と外部化
💡シーンの統一
💡フォーカス
💡サスペンス
💡キャラクターの動機
💡シーンのクライマックス
💡視覚的な物語
Highlights
在2019年,我们开始关注电影制作者如何移动他们面前的对象,而不仅仅是摄像机。
探讨了舞台与屏幕的联系,以及如何通过“blocking”(舞台调度)来讲述戏剧性的故事。
Blocking是源自戏剧的术语,指在空间中人物的摆放和移动。
在舞台上,视觉呈现非常有限,而电影可以通过移动摄像机来讲述不同的故事。
伟大的导演如斯皮尔伯格和塔伦蒂诺理解并运用Blocking技巧,而不仅仅是依赖摄像机。
通过分析《天堂与地狱》中的三个精彩瞬间,探讨Blocking在戏剧叙事中的不同功能。
Blocking可以通过人物移动的方式揭示他们的身份和内心世界。
所有Blocking都应该基于人物的真实动作,同时具有可信度和启发性。
通过Mr. Gondo的故事,展示了Blocking如何巧妙地揭示人物的动机和情感。
Kurosawa通过人物的位置和视线,巧妙地勾勒出了他们各自的角色和主要关注点。
Blocking能够将个体元素结合成一个整体,创造一个可以作为单一感人图像阅读的画面。
在《天堂与地狱》的关键时刻,通过人物的摆放和移动,形成了一个充满紧张感和期待的戏剧性画面。
优秀的Blocking能够控制观众在任何给定时间关注图像的哪一部分。
通过智能的群组Blocking,可以在宽镜头中实现通常只有通过移动摄像机才能达到的观众注意力控制效果。
在《天堂与地狱》的一个场景中,Kurosawa通过复杂的人物移动和摆放,引导观众的视线并推动故事发展。
Blocking的第三个功能是焦点控制,通过人物的移动和位置来引导观众的注意力。
Kurosawa的作品展示了如何通过Blocking来揭示人物的动机,创造感人的画面,并控制观众的注意力。
通过Blocking,Kurosawa在屏幕上展示了人物的内心冲突和道德抉择,创造出了戏剧性和紧张感。
Transcripts
We spent a lot of time last year looking at how filmmakers were moving their
cameras.
But in 2019,
we're starting things off checking out how they move what's in front of them, too.
We're reconsidering the stage and its connection to the screen.
These are three brilliant moments in blocking from High and Low.
(Music)
When we say blocking, we're using a term originally borrowed from the theater.
That refers to the placement and movement of figures in a space for
the purpose of telling a dramatic story.
Think of it like the rough outline of a performance,
blocking in the general shape of it, before all the nuances of emotion and
facial expression, and dialogue are added in.
It's where everyone stands or sits, or moves, or turns.
On stage, the visual presentation of any given moment is incredibly limited.
The frame is set and unmoving.
Usually defined by the proscenium arch, and
the perspective of each individual audience member is fixed.
So without changing the set or installing motorized seats, the only way to create
visual variety in the stage picture is to move people around.
And this is important.
In any drama, pictures are a big part of telling a story.
That's why it's a film or a play, and not a radio show.
But on screen, you can tell eight different visual stories without anyone
getting up because you can just move the camera.
And many, many films do this.
Oftentimes, it's the right choice.
But the fact that the camera can be used to do the composition
doesn't make blocking obsolete.
It adds a technique.
It doesn't replace it.
And many of the great directors understand this.
Spielberg, for one, is pretty famous for his creative and
complicated combination of camera and actor movement.
So should be Tarantino.
And Ophuls, and Renoir, and Welles, and Bergman.
But today we're talking about Akira Kurosawa and
his genuinely superlative clinic on how to block actors in a space with a camera.
We're going to look at three of our favorite moments from just the beginning
of the film so as not to spoil too much.
And we're going to focus on the different ways blocking can function in a dramatic
narrative.
Function number one, blocking can move people in a way that reveals who they are.
It is an excellent vehicle for taking the internal and rendering it external.
Forcing people to act out their feelings and wants, and
desires in a way that helps the audience understand.
You see this all over the place in musicals.
Characters practically dance out their feelings at each other.
The heightened expressivity of the form gives them permission to reveal themselves
even more transparently than normal.
But in a non-musical, you can't quite do that.
And this function comes with an important caveat.
All blocking should move people how they would actually move, given who they are,
and the situation they're in.
And that's the trick of it,
finding good reason to force characters to reveal themselves in their movement.
The blocking can't just be evocative, it has to be believable at the same time.
And that takes major ingenuity.
Enter Kurosawa, High and Low is started with Mr.
Gondo, a national shoes executive approached by the other executives at his
company with an offer to band together and push the president out and take control.
He refuses and risks his job in the process.
He quickly takes steps to secure his own control of the board,
leveraging his entire fortune to the tune of 50 million yen.
When suddenly he receives a call from a mysterious man demanding 30 million yen in
ransom for his son who he claims to have kidnapped while he was outside playing.
But as Gondo is preparing to pay the ransom and save his son, the boy appears,
very much not kidnapped, only he's alone.
And his friend, Gondo's chauffeur's son, he's missing.
The cops are called, and they're all waiting around for
another call when we get this.
(Foreign) >> Everyone in this
image is perfectly embodying their part in the developing parallel plot threads.
Kurosawa has basically sketched it all out for us to look at at once.
Consider that even if we strip this down to its component blocking basics,
there's still a ton of information available to us.
Everyone is revealing their primary focus with their attention in their eyes.
There are two central figures to the conflict.
One in the midst of it exercising his agency and
the other held off at a distance.
And lastly, there are two witnesses.
One here to mediate this primary conflict between central figures, and
one off to the side under the radar, not participating in that central conflict but
surreptitiously attended to the primary figure.
And that's really the whole story of this moment.
Everyone is dying to hear from the kidnapper, especially Gondo,
who has the money and the power, and is driving the ship dead center.
Watch how this contrasts with where he positions himself
later when he realizes this power comes with an ethical dilemma.
Always on the edge of frame trying to avoid this focus.
Aoki the father of the kidnapped boy hovers in the liminal space
at the periphery as a helpless witness.
Pushed away by his lack of station in relevance in the negotiation, but
brought closer by his emotional connection to the outcome.
And lastly, there's Gondo's right-hand man, Kawanishi.
He has $50 million burning a hole in his pocket that he would
very much like to spend on a company and not a boy.
So he's positioned himself off to his boss's other side away from the inspector
and Aoki so that he's available for his own private sidebar.
And we don't think anybody has time to get anywhere close to all this while
they're watching.
Sure, there's a ton of thought behind it.
But while the movie is playing, an audience member only sees something like
this just long enough for their subconscious to go powerful, pathetic.
Chilling, sneaky before it's time to move on and make its next judgement.
But over time, we really believe that hints like that do add up and
tip the scales of our experience.
Put Gondo and his telephone elsewhere in the frame and
its no longer announcing itself as the object of central important.
Let Aoki lurk anywhere else and
he is no longer tearing at our attention in our heartstrings.
Put Kawanishi on the other side and
he seems less like he has his own separate motivations.
But here, in these specific positions,
their natural behavior reveals the nature of their behavior.
Which is why it's so brilliant, but it goes a step further.
They're not just positioned in a way that reveals their individual motivations.
Their individual positions coalesce into a single image
that takes on a life of it's own and says something more.
And this is the second important function of blocking we want to look at today.
Good blocking takes individual elements and combines them into a whole
to create a tableau that can be read as a single evocative image.
The parts of the picture each tell their own story, but
the entire arrangement as a grand unifying story too.
In the last moment, that grand unifying story is crystal clear.
Our main character is trapped between two options.
Pay a ransom and save a boy, or buy a company and save himself.
And it is written right into the image, split down the middle.
These two options practically hover over his shoulders like his two consciences.
And if you like that, our next moment a few minutes later is even more palpable.
After the kidnapper calls, realizes his mistake but reasserts his demands.
It becomes clear that Gondo will not be able to escape this financial Sophie's
choice.
No decision has been made yet and everyone is preparing for
the next call when we get this.
(Foreign)
>> And wow, when the inspector finally
walks out of the shot, leaving us with this incredibly dramatic composition.
The resulting image hits us like a hammer.
We didn't even see it coming at all.
Kurosawa has clearly been building up to this moment.
Putting all his pieces quietly into play like a chess master
before finally ripping the rug out from under us.
And the resulting stage picture has an almost palpable
chasm of the unspoken in it.
There's all this empty space in the frame, in the room, and in the unsaid.
Like an unmade decision and it just consumes us with anticipation as we wait
to see how the vacuum will be filled.
The first blocking function is clearly being utilized here.
Kawanishi keeps himself by the door because he wants to leave and
buy those shares, and we feel that.
Gondo has sequestered himself in the corner because he does not want this moral
responsibility.
We feel that too, but
it's the Gestalt of the entire picture that carries all the power here.
When the composition opens up,
the image almost crackles with electricity between twin lightning rods.
It isn't a picture of one man and also another man apart from it,
it is a picture of their separateness, of the space between them.
Of a gap that will need to be filled with something, with a decision, but
it gets even better than this.
Kurosawa is going to bring back almost all the characters we've met so far for
an act ender that demands even more complicated blocking.
With eight people in frame at once, he's going to have to use blocking to yet
another effect.
Our third function, focus.
Excellent blocking arranges figures in a way that tells their own stories,
in a way that tells an overall story.
But it also arranges figures in a way that controls exactly what
part of the image we're paying attention to at any given time.
Moving the camera is an essential technique for
filmmakers to control where they want their audience to look.
There's nothing that says look at this quite like a close up.
But if you're very, very good, you can do it in a wide shot,
just like they have to do on stage with smart ensemble blocking.
Consider these groups of unblocked people.
They are diffuse, a little messy and there's no clear place to put your eye.
Now consider this group of blocked people, and this one.
Your eye almost certainly goes here first, and here, and here.
And there are tons of ways to control focus like this.
Closer figures get more natural attention than further figures.
Taller figures get more attention than shorter.
Figures facing the camera get more attention than those facing away,
all else being equal.
The center of the frame is a more natural focal point than the sides.
We will look at whoever talks, whoever is looked at, whoever moves.
We will follow shapes and lines.
Contrast can also control our gaze.
In our first example,
Kurosawa put all of our focus on the telephone by pointing everyone at it.
In our second example, Kawanishi stood up to bring the focus to him and
then turned himself towards Gondo to send our attention that way.
There are 30 example, Kurosawa is going to put it all together to move
her eye around exactly where he needs it over the course of an entire scene.
The kidnapper has called back, has proved how serious he is and set a timeline.
Aoki is finally formally asked Gondo to pay for his son on his behalf.
Cornering him in another beautiful moment of blocking,
and the time for Kawanishi to leave for Osaka to make a deal is approaching fast.
A decision needs to be made, and it's all coming to a head when we get this.
(Foreign)
>> Papa (Foreign)
(Foreign)
>> And this is just the only shit moment
of the whole thing.
There's just so much going on all in the exam frame in all at once.
It all looks real, and it all looks right, and yet
we are all looking exactly where we need to.
Kawanishi's begging forces an answer from Gondo who wants to help but
says he just can't.
He gives an answer and we pull back to the entire room as they receive it.
Us and everyone hearing his decision for the first time.
Kawanishi seizes on that answer and our attention by speaking and moving.
He's going to take the answer and put it into action.
But he walks our attention right into Mrs.
Gondo standing in the way, who grabs it and says, stop.
She walks our attention over to Aoki and forces it to sit there.
Forces us and her husband to consider his pain
as our attention keeps getting pulled there to the guilt.
Another moving element enters the frame which Mrs.
Gondo walks to bringing our attention with it to another source of guilt.
And by this point,
the emotional obstacles are stacking up between the two businessmen.
Literally in the form of human figures, and it's threatening everything.
So Kawanishi grabs the initiative and tries to run it out the door away
from all the guilt with nothing else standing in his way.
But in doing so, he activates Gondo on the other side of the room.
Flinging our attention from one side of the frame to the other, and
forcing us, and him, to take in the entirety of the picture.
And having looked at the whole thing,
unable to hide from it anymore, he decides to wait.
The entire frame freezes for just a second, and
we get to take in the entire image, the tableau of it all.
Gondo forced into a corner with too much guilt between him and
his money to send it out the door.
The unspoken gap between the two men we established earlier has become
their undoing.
Too much guilt has filled it to let their denial continue unhampered,
all right in front of us on screen.
It is simply sublime.
Everyone is behaving as you would expect them to.
Everyone is moving in a way that reveals their motivations.
They're adding it all up to an evocative single image that we get the time and
space to digest as a whole.
And our eyes are guided over it in a way that tells the story as it's unfolding,
truly masterful blocking.
(Music)
So what do you think?
Have a different take on High and Low?
Any other movies with awesome blocking we should take a look at next?
Any other lists you'd like to see?
Let us know in the comments bellow and be sure to subscribe for
more Cinefix movie lists.
(Music)
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