Blocking | Research/Development ~ SP

As part of my directors job I have to block out each of the different sequences, so the camera operators know where they will be standing, and also so everyone on the set knows where they need to be at certain times during the production.

Before doing this, I decided to do some research to help me. We explored blocking in the first year during the directions unit, which has helped me when knowing the basics of blocking, but I wanted to look into it a little further.

Within blocking there are 5 main steps in order to block effectively.

1. Block - this is where you determine where the talent will be stood and what actions they will be doing and where. This is also where you set up the camera positions in order to get the best shots. 
2. Light - This is where you decide where the lighting spots will be and what needs to be lit. The cameras may be adjusted slightly based on the lighting set up, but these first few steps will help create the best shots in terms of camera positioning, lighting positioning and talent positioning.
3. Rehearse - This is where you test what you have just prepared with the talent on set to see if everything works out the way it should, and you can actually see what it looks like on the cameras.
4. Adjustments - This is where the lighting or the cameras or even the talent will be adjusted if they need to be.
5. Shoot - This is where the actual scene will be shot.

https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/the-5-stages-of-blocking-a-scene/

Within a studio production, this is still the same process however there are some differences. In our experience, we will block the different sequences of the show and work out where the cameras should be and where the talent will be stood for each round.

Then we will rehearse with stand ins to see how the framings of each camera looks and make adjustments along the way. Then we can rehearse with the actual host once we get them into the studio. Then once all of the blocking and the camera shots and positions are set in stone, we will have the lighting department come in and work out where the lights should be in terms of what we want. This might cause a few changes in terms of where the talent stands but hopefully it shouldn't be too drastic. 

There are a few different blocking methods that can be done. One is blocking from the gallery, after briefly going through everything on the floor, and work it out as you go along. There is also a method called 'Floor Blocking'. Within this method, the director works out all of the blocking on the studio view and sees the camera positions and can see the shots on the monitors on the floor. The director will use the intercom to give instructions to the Vision mixer to see the different shots. Using this method will help the director see where all of the equipment is in relation to everything, and also it will get the crew working with each other and everyone having some opinions on the blocking of the show.

.........................................................................

When it came to me blocking the scenes for our own production, I decided to look through the script first and get an idea as to how the different shots would potentially look. I noticed, when reading through the script, that it was broken up into different sequences, so I decided to block each sequence within the script, even though some of them would potentially be very similar to each other. 

At first I found it tough picturing where the cameras would go and what the scenes would look like in a blocking sense, so I used photoshop and created a diagram to help.

The second and third sequence have two potential blocking ideas, depending on whether we are going to have the autocue or not. I have blocked out both potential ideas, however I am going to focus more on the idea of not having an autocue as we there are quite a few ways as to how we can work around that.
Round 1 & 2 are very similar in terms of how it is blocked as the host and contestants will be behind the podiums throughout each round. However, Round 3 & 4 are both very different compared to each other and the first two rounds. Some of the props will be taken out and new ones will be put into place onto the set, which will be done by the floor manager and the runners that we assign.

I found that blocking Round 3 and 4 were quite tough in terms of knowing where to put the cameras and in relation to where the props will be on the set.

Due to where the Producer originally wanted the boards to be positioned, it meant it was harder for the cameras to get good shots. I stuck with the cross shooting ideas and had Camera 1 & 4 cross shoot to the contestants, and Camera 3 would be on a LS. Then Camera 2 would be handheld and would get some CU's of the board.

I'm not sure if this will work, but we can always try it out and see.

As you can see, Round 4 was a round that I wasn't sure on how to block.

There were many thoughts on where the boxes would go, as originally they were in the centre of the set, however this would potentially affect the positions of the contestants.

I will think more on this round as I want to block it in the best way possible.


As the weeks go on, the show will change and no doubt the blocking will change, meaning there won't be a definite blocking image for each round until we actually get into rehearsals. I just want to do these images to help me visualise it and also to help the others in the group visualise and know roughly where everything will potentially be.