Blocking in cinema is the use of movement and proportion of people and objects within the frame's space. The term comes from theater, but in movies, the camera can travel through cinematic space, making blocking a powerful tool. In this video essay, Evan Puschak (Nerdwriter) breaks down a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, and, as you can see, blocking shapes the scene dramatically.
As Puschak demonstrates, blocking gives subtext to a seemingly innocuous scene. Early in the film, Jimmy Stewart's character visits an old friend; while their encounter begins with Stewart controlling the space as he walks around freely and asks questions, the power radius slowly begins to shift and Stewart becomes the one who is controlled. Also of note: in the film, the camera is a sort of proxy character; its movement in the cinematic space is just as important as a character's, sometimes even more so.
from No Film School http://ift.tt/1q5UUEa
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