All language subtitles for MasterClass Ron Howard Teaches Directing - 123 - Frost Nixon Alternate Staging Possibilities

okay so we're going to go through that

version of The Blocking uh again and

every once in a while we're going to

stop I'll walk in and explain the

reasoning for that staging and talk

through some of the other possibilities

that we might have been able to consider

and then we'll Carry On from there and

action what Revolution David you just

let Richard Nixon claim the country was

in a state of Revolution with

protesters with protesters uh bombing

and assaulting police officers that's

not what I remember what I remember was

people protesting peacefully and

legitimately about the Vietnam War

that's what I Remember music off plays

music off by the end okay great so this

is a position that the actors first and

foremost and very importantly fell into

very very naturally it it also lent it

self to a good wide shot an establishing

shot uh that we could that we could do

to establish the room particularly the

moment when he chases out the uh

imaginary uh actor who would one day be

there playing playing the radio it also

creates some space and it gives an

opportunity for a shot here that we did

uh where you have David in the

foreground and you see that he's he's

trying to ignore the pressure that's

being put on him by everybody

uh and uh and it also gives a kind of a

a space as though he's he's surrounded

by three individuals who have a you know

a strong point of view or upset with him

so it it it spatially uh you know I felt

it created different lines that we could

also work with over the shoulder here I

remember we did and over the shoulder

here that we did so again it's this idea

of um of David being ganged up on by

everyone so this first stop again is

where they organically landed when we

did the first rehearsal um and maybe I

tweaked it a little bit just in order to

position for the cameras but this is

where you guys naturally felt inclined

to go yeah um which is oh you know

always a good sign it's a good idea by

the way to let actors um begin to Stage

it on their own you might have one or

two principles that you know you need

for example it needs to play near a you

know a window or a light source or you

know you know you wanted the Sun at

their backs or just some basic idea like

that but having been an actor I've

always found that when when anytime the

actors can can establish the staging on

their own it's it's very helpful because

it's organic to them and then sometimes

they'll have an instinct about something

that is different from the one that you

had as the Director while you were

making out the shot list that works very

very well or might give you an idea like

I remember at one point you sort of

moved or you I could tell you you wanted

to begin to move and then you didn't and

then I just that gave me the idea that

well that that would be a good spot for

a very organic walk away from from David

so those are the kind of things anyway

this is where this staging landed and

that's sort of our our first stop in the

scene okay Carry

On and action by the end wiretapping

students and breaking into journalist

homes was beginning to sound like a

rational response well I'm sorry feel

this way but I simply cannot share your

view

about what about any of it

frankly I thought today was a huge

Improvement are you

nuts let me tell you how bad things were

today after the taping finished I

overheard two members of the crew say

that they never voted for him when they

had the chance I'd love to stop there if

we can okay and and just taking it back

a little bit go go back to where you

were here and you were here in fact do

it one more time and if we if we can i'

I'd love to stop a little bit earlier

okay go ahead and action by the end

wiretapping students and breaking into

people's homes was beginning to sound

like a rational response and I'm sorry

you feel this way but I simply cannot

share your view about what about any of

it frankly let's freeze there so now

again we've got um a really good axis a

set of angles which we can look at at

David Frost feeling this pressure from

different directions we can look at him

this way he's got the window behind him

which is good we can look at him this

way and you know the pressure is on see

it past his friend we also are set up

for a good reaction shot here where he

looks to his friend for some support and

you know and his friend clearly doesn't

support him so again this is a it's a

shift and it it it also suggested very

much that David's growing a little bit

more uncomfortable and trying to you

know find a reason to not confront these

guys and moves from here over to here

here um as I explained earlier I also

wanted to Stage the scene uh and David

over here by this window because in a

moment there's going to be a

confrontation um and I also wanted David

to have plenty of space uh more real

estate to cover to leave giving Reston a

chance to chase him so the next thing

that happens is you guys move together

right and this is Reston really bearing

down he's his chief antagonist in this

scene and really pressuring in which

makes everyone uncomfortable gave me a

good chance for some reaction shots as

well um and reactions are very important

in scenes like this because they can

really intensify a scene sometimes a

reaction shot when you're doing a comedy

is everything that you need to extend

the laugh by the way too not that we

were going for any laughs really in this

scene but um you know if there if if

there's a joke and you're staging a

comedy scene and there's anyone else in

the scene get that reaction shot they go

all the way back to the silent movies

those are always the things that could

could put the laugh over anyway so uh I

like the way this worked with this

pressure pressing in on D on David and

then uh him having all of the space

which uh to try to escape with okay

let's carry on so and

action are you

nuts let me tell you how bad things were

today after the taping finished I

overheard two members of the crew say

they wish they had voted they never

voted for him when they had the chance

but if he ran for office again today

he'd have their support you made him

look presidential for Christ's sake and

forget about the trivia David who cares

whether Nixon took the White House to

Europe when he traveled well it's

irrelevant and it's just a sort of Bal

anecdote that would distract

a

what go on

you're about to say talk sh host and I

think we should freeze

there and uh so now we've moved outside

David was trying to escape but we had an

opportunity for um you know a dramatic

moment a turn he's caught and finally

he's going to confront these guys um and

he does and this is where David reclaims

his role as the leader and um you know

and doesn't Bend to to uh you you know

to their their criticism and and so it's

uh I remember we when we were making the

movie I really liked when we found this

practical location that could begin in

the garage and then carry out into this

kind of confined space because I felt

like it was private and yet you know you

think of a lot of things happening in

alleys getting beat

up for

example and so it just even though it

wasn't not a dark scary alley it still

suggests pressure and I wanted to try to

create that pressure and yet see David

work his way out of it and uh so this

staging Falls in nicely again because

you got the pressure of the chief um you

know antagonist here pressing on David

and then you've got this opportunity to

have um cutaways close-ups of you know

two other significant characters in the

scene okay let's continue

right and action

say it you're about to say talk your

host yeah I

was look it's useless me trying to

answer your

point frankly I don't share any of your

sense of pessimism or alarm and this

this ridiculous self- flagellation in my

view was just depressing and it's

threatening to derail the whole

Enterprise if anyone of you really

believes we are going to fail You' best

leave right now or it'll infect everyone

else no

one right good now I suggest instead of

festering around the hotel for the next

5 days we go our separate ways over

Easter but before we go Caroline and I

would like you to join us for a little

celebratory dinner over at Patrick

Terrell's Place celebrate to celebrate

what David the fact that we're all going

to be working at Burger King what are we

celebrating my birthday

it's my

birthday and uh I'd like to celebrate it

with a few

friends if you could just go back for

one second at the end I like this

composition as well this was very useful

um because again I'm looking for ways to

keep looking at at David Frost he's

under attack and to keep tying him to

his team because his team is

disappointed in him and he knows that

and I thought uh so you know this kind

of space is good but it also allows the

the over theh shoulders that we did that

tie him with to his you know his these

characters these important characters

and it gives each me a chance to have a

different look at David Frost based on

the close-up or the reaction shot that

we'd be cutting off of so it means I

don't we don't have to keep cutting back

to the same shot over and over of David

we get a slightly different Vantage

Point that's connected to one of our

characters and a lot of what you're

trying to do with staging is create a

kind of a connection and an ongoing uh

shifting of the

relationships um with the actors and

then if you can allow the audience to

sort of share that shifting vantage

point it's very subtle but it it it sort

of broadens um I think their sense of uh

of those relationships uh and and it

also keeps the the images fresh even

though they might be very very simple

just over the

shoulders okay okay thank

you all right so we're going to do it

we're going to go through again we're

still going to stop at some places and

I'm going to talk about um camera

options a little bit more I'm going to

talk about some camera options here as

we review the staging yet again okay

ready and we got one camera leading

David in another camera following

alongside Reston in profile and action

what Revolution David you just let

Richard Nixon claim the country was in a

state of Revolution with protesters

bombing and assaulting police officers

that is not what I remember what I

remember is is people protesting

peacefully and legitimately against the

Vietnam War that's what I remember and

stop let's stop there okay great so what

we have now is it the shot that I was

talking about earlier we've we' got uh

David in the foreground trying to avoid

all of this conflict and pressure we've

got another angle over here let's just

see what we've got a loose single on

Reston and as he moves around we can see

Bert in the background and now let's now

let's talk about some of the other

staging that we did for example let's

get one this way why don't you come

around here this is another example of

the kind of shot we can get that can

break this up uh and you can come in

tighter unresting and make sure the Bert

is a profile this is another angle that

we have you know we also wound up

getting a clean single on rest in here

come to your left we would be doing that

in a different take right we would also

get a reaction here on Bert and we would

we came in eventually around this way

and did a single on oh

sorry uh we did a single onto uh onto

zelck as well so that was the General

coverage be we also did as I recall a

wide shot from back there and coming

over

here we used

this and I think you did a shot from

here that actually moved along with him

as he moved okay so why don't you do set

yourself for that position uh and we'll

carry on the scene ready and

action music off please music off okay

okay hold so again we're back in a wide

position which is probably where we

would use the wide shot in this scene

probably at the very beginning or in a

place like that where we we see this

kind of Showdown and we would also see

this character who's sitting here get up

and go and your your angle gets all of

that right and what lens are you on 28

that's a wide wide lens possibly in a in

in a location to make that even more

Visual and interesting you'd go even

wider

probably go off the zoom and go to a

prim lands maybe a 14 uh to make the

garage you know seem even bigger

probably put the camera down on the

ground and you know just push it

visually and make it a little more

distinctive all right let's carry on

thanks action uh music off please music

off by the end wiretapping students and

breaking into journalist homes was

beginning to sound like a rational

response um sorry you feel this way but

I simply cannot share your view about

what about any of it

corly okay it's freeze there now this is

again another place where it's all about

David trying to avoid

confrontation he's trying to feel good

about it and and they're they're being

negative they're you know they're

frightening him and they're angering him

so we had him leave one position and yet

there they are they're still uh you know

they're they're still encroaching and in

a minute they're going to go even

further so camera wise again we want to

use these different access points we

wanted to shoot you know over Bert's

shoulder this way we want to we want to

shoot past David you know of course we

wanted to get a single on David which we

did from over here right probably past I

think we did it over like that there's

David great we did all of that also very

important is an over the shoulder past

Reston he's going to be the primary um

antagonist here and when we carry on

we'll keep the cameras in this position

because Reston is going to move in on

him and the camera can move with him

which gives you know a feeling of

pressure uh you feel you feel David

being encroached upon because of that

camera movement and also the physical

movement of the actor all right let's uh

let's Carry On from

there and action I thought today was a

huge

Improvement are you

nuts let me tell you go in with him a

little bit about how bad everything was

today after taping finished I overheard

two members of the crew say they wish

they had voted for him when they had the

chance and let's stop so these are two

important angles uh again this camera

where where's where are my students uh

this time this time this camera moved in

with Reston very simple you know you've

we've all seen it you know a 100

thousand or a million times but it does

um you know it uses the grammar of the

medium it it is visually it's moving in

with him but there's also a very other

simple but important shot here and

that's this 50/50 it it's a profile of

the two of them and it's it's a good

confrontational angle and a great one to

have for a scene like this which is you

know a moment that's going to drive

David to finally leaving okay and carry

on I overheard two crew members say they

never voted for him when they had the

chance but if he ran for office again

today he'd have their support you made

him look presidential for Christ's

sake and forget about the trivia David

who cares whether Nixon took the White

House bed to Europe when he traveled

well it's irrelevant and it's just a

sort of Bal anecdote that would distract

a what okay let's stop there that was um

uh dynamic because you you're you see

David turn toward

camera remember in there we were

shooting over over David's shoulder when

he turned you can bring the focus

forward to him so that's that's powerful

and and then it energizes the scene uh

visually and with the staging because

he's he's leaving he's had it and he

comes out camera stays with him one

fluid move even though it's handheld has

some energy as a result of that you know

it seems uh unplanned and then David

stops because he's been

insulted um you know and it's it's gone

sort of one step too far and then using

the same shot you tie him back into his

adversary in this particular scene when

you're staging scenes it doesn't really

matter what the genre is it doesn't

matter if it's fantasy comedy or drama

it it it it's it's always about

objectives uh you know good scenes are

always written with with objectives

there there's conflict there and you

know there's usually one character

that's that's pushing the scene pushing

the conflict another character is

reacting to it strategizing it maybe

counter punching punching um and so you

want your staging to reflect that

whenever it can um sometimes it's just

as simple as two people sitting across a

table and it's all in the acting and you

may not want move the camera at all you

may want to let it be entirely an acting

moment but this this is a scene that

where I felt we just had been coming

from a an interview scene where they

were two characters in a chair for a

long time and so it was important to me

rhythmically in the movie that for this

scene that there's a kind of a flu you

know a fluidity and emotion and an

energy that differentiates it from the

scene that preceded it after this we go

into a real chaotic party scene that's

very festive and there's the irony that

he's trying to have you know a Hollywood

party uh but we know that you know that

he's really recently been confronted by

his guys in a dingy um garage and an

Alleyway okay so this is this is very

good staging um some of the angles that

we want here are what we've got here

with the over the shoulder uh of course

we're also going to want individual

reaction shots one should come

forward of each person now now we this

is uh important you see we're seeing off

the set now if we were doing this I

probably would cheat you over a little

bit to make sure that we we we not

seeing too much onto the wall because

those again flat walls are never

interesting you don't really want unless

it's making a point you don't really

want a shot like this look off that way

you know into a flat wall unless that's

you know the graphic that you're looking

for is somebody who's who's up against

the wall who's isolated or something

like that there may be a reason

but otherwise generally speaking it's

always good to try to search for as much

depth as you can in a shot and so we

have a version like that and likewise

when we would do a reaction shot of Bert

we we wouldn't shoot back into the wall

we'd rake along down the alleyway and of

course last but not least is going to be

this reverse back onto David which we've

talked about and then the other thing

are these connecting shots that we we

discussed so there's one over resting

there's come on back a little bit we'll

go over this

shoulder for this shot probably would

cheat it so if you come over that

shoulder I would do a separate setup for

it and I would make sure that we're we

open it up and clear and you'd never

notice those kind of subtle changes you

know those those little shifts are fine

in the editing if you especially you

would cut away to somebody uh a reaction

shot and then come back and you wouldn't

think about the fact that you know they

were really facing each others directly

now we just would open the shot up a

little bit so that we're seeing the

character that we want to see which is

what we would have here and this is the

shot that also connects him to his

entire

team that combined with the reaction

shots give you gives you a sense really

of the team the Dynamics and uh the

disintegration of that or at least the

the Jeopardy that the team is

facing okay great job okay thank you

much you want