Scene scheduling is a special means of expression to create a film image on the screen. It refers to the unified processing of actor scheduling and camera scheduling. It is cited in the creation of film art. Its content and nature are different from those on the stage. It also involves camera scheduling. (Or called lens scheduling). The scene scheduling of the movie is finally reflected in the mirror language. In the most general sense of the mirror language, there are two kinds of scene scheduling: the first is the scene scheduling with large depth of field and long shots; the second is the small and medium scenes and short shots. Scene scheduling. The former is mainly used for scene scheduling in different performance areas.
"Twelve Angry Men" uses the first scene scheduling to the extreme, using the long shots almost invisible, and the skill can be described as profound. The director used a tracking long shot. The first shot of the film was a look up at the court on the steps outside the court. When the second shot was reached, it naturally transformed into a look down on the hall on the second floor of the court. There was a switch to the court, but the director did not do it. When the camera looks at the pattern in the center of the hall, a person passes in front of the camera, and the camera immediately shifts the center to him naturally. As he shook it, the person walked through the elevator, and a person came out of the elevator. The camera naturally followed the person who came out, and turned the hand three or four times naturally. The camera moved from a person to the door of the court he passed through, and then switched to the court. At the beginning like this, the use of long-shot scene scheduling to attract the audience has already laid the technical foundation for this work that uses cameras to speak. At the same time, it reminds me of the impeccable 7-minute long shot at the beginning of the Hong Kong police film "The Big Event", from the police ambush to the police and robbers going to war in one go, it is a classic. Usually this kind of difficult scene scheduling film will emphasize the naturalness of the actor's own performance.
Back to "Angry Man", the jurors entered the discussion meeting room. This was also shortly after the beginning of the film. The child's face on the dock and the meeting room were overlapped for a long time, suggesting that his fate is about to be decided here and enter the meeting room. A long shot in front of each juror will last for at least five minutes. In the first few minutes, the personalities of the 12 people have been fully presented through the clever movement of the lens. The lens cleverly shuttles past and behind the others, using different sceneries such as panorama, medium shot, close shot, and close-up to express the characters. Between the body movements and the basic posture, the scene finally freezes on a wicked person who opposes it, which also paves the way for the following article.
When the film approaches ten minutes, the long shot of the character is switched from the protagonist played by Henry Fonda. He is the furthest away from the table. If the camera moves to him near the window again, it will appear redundant and cumbersome, so the shot will be immediately Generate clip points to switch, so as to smoothly transition the next thing.
In fact, most of the old movies have single scenes, such as "Telephone Murder" and "Rear Window". So far, movies that can complete the narrative with one main scene are classified as "closed space movies" or "secret room movies." This type of film most tests the actors’ performance skills and the director’s and photographer’s ability to schedule scenes, because if they are bluntly scheduled, the film will be stagnant, with no highlights and no rhythm at all. The most extreme secret room movie in film history is the Spanish thriller "Buried Alive". The whole story takes place in a coffin with only one character. His purpose of action is to escape from the coffin. But what I want to say is that the scene scheduling of this ultimate secret room movie is not difficult. It uses a kind of visual illusion to arrange the layout of the camera and uses the actors' real and natural performance methods to maintain the movie. The progress. However, films like "Twelve Angry Men" are different with sophisticated characters, confrontations, and psychological competitions. It has many characters and different personalities, and it only relies on dialogue to generate dramatic conflicts. Therefore, in order to look good, the scene scheduling must also make the story conflict with drama. How does the director do it?
The film first handed the position of the camera leader to juror No. 8 who held an objection (that is, the child was not guilty). No. 8's walking and speaking lead the camera to move. About 16 minutes into the film, the camera takes turns to close-up the faces of the actors and asks them to narrate their views and reasons. When it is the next person to speak, they all start to speak. Suddenly, when he moved from No. 2 to No. 4, he inserted an opinion from an impolite old man, immediately highlighting his personality. This is the same as the function of switching the grumpy No. 3 in the long-shot movement, all to highlight the characters, speed up the rhythm, and strengthen the conflict. In about 23 minutes, the lens was pulled out from the photo in the wallet of No. 3, and the lens was pulled to the oblique side panorama, rendering the atmosphere full of gunpowder smell. At 26 minutes, the originally stated rule of expressing opinions in turn in the order of No. 1 to No. 12 was broken by No. 3. As a result, the film fell into a real controversy. One detail that has been handled very well is that when moving the long shot, although the focus is on the argument, but at the same time tracking the jury leader No. 1 to collect evidence, complete a complete account, and show the camera's highly difficult movement methods. , Which also allows the actors’ performance to be fully expressed.
In about 29 minutes, when No.8, who voted innocent alone, took out a folding knife exactly like the murder knife, the audience was shocked and stood up. Although this was only explained through a few short fixed pictures, it was enough to raise the rhythm. Increase the drama, so that the film began to have a tendency to turn. At 31 minutes, music appeared in the film for the first time. On the 8th, it was proposed that everyone vote again. He abstained from voting. If one of them holds a vote of innocence, the investigation will continue. As a result, at this critical moment, the movement of the camera slowed down, to be precise, it followed the rhythm of the music. Finally, in the secret written vote, one person really voted not guilty, which became the first turning point in the film. 37 minutes later, the 8th went to the bathroom to wash her face and talked with two jurors who had crime tickets. This scene was regarded as a scene to ease emotions or adjust the rhythm. It is not superfluous but not important. From the perspective of the plot layout, It happens to be the demarcation point of the story trend, allowing the audience to pay more attention to the following plot trend.
Nearly 40 minutes, only No. 8 was standing in the audience. At this time, he became the leader of the camera again. In fact, there are five main guides in the whole film: No. 1 head, No. 3 who is irritable, No. 7 who is rushing to watch the game, No. 8 who insists that the child is innocent at the beginning, and the rude and prejudiced No. Number 10. In other words, the focus of the camera's movement is on the people who vote against, especially those with bright personalities. As the "righteous" No. 8, from a person's insistence to making everyone reasonable doubts, this is a major figure with absolute opinion, and it has undoubtedly become the most prominent scheduling element in scene scheduling.
Although the whole film is mainly dialogue, there is a scene in the middle that can very well reflect the details of the choreography scene. That is, the 8th simulation demonstrates how a lame old witness walks out of the door from the room. The lens changed from a simple pan to a close-up and the lens, and then moved the lens, from low shot to elevated position to look down shots, an excellent completion of a complete character movement process, the actor's positioning is arranged very accurately.
This "real-time synchronization movie", which is almost the same as the real time sequence outside the film in terms of timing, accurately integrates space scheduling and time scheduling, has to be said to be a pioneer case of scene scheduling in movies. From arranging the position and movement of the characters in the play, revealing the relationship between the characters, analyzing the connotation of the conflict and highlighting the actions of the characters, it is natural and ingenious, and the scene scheduling as the soul of the image expressiveness can be manipulated to the point where it cannot be replicated. . From this technical level, "Twelve Angry Men" has already won.
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