12 Angry Men- A Lesson in Staging
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- čas přidán 26. 07. 2017
- So, let's say you've got a 90-minute movie that features twelve characters and is all set in one location. How on earth can you shoot it in a way that's unique and exciting, and not just an endless series of mids and closeups? Let's dive into Sidney Lumet's 12 Angry Men, and study what it has to tell us about scenic density.
Six Ways to Build Scenic Density:
1) Move your characters through the spaces inside the frame
2) Have the background and foreground interract
3) Let characters take over shots
4) Move from one story to the next instead of cutting
5) Allow conversations and reactions to play in the same shot
6) Hold off on closeups for moments of prime emphasis
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Sources/Further Reading:
Walk the Talk by David Bordwell- bit.ly/2vNbqfv
You Are My Density by David Bordwell- bit.ly/2tGYGG9
Making Movie by Sidney Lumet- amzn.to/2vbOV7f
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The Royal Ocean Film Society I
I feel like they should make everyone on a jury watch this film first.
Instablaster.
Great video as usual, Andrew! But don't forget the difference lenses and camera position can make. Here's what Sidney Lumet said on '12 Angry Men' in his book 'Making Movies' (and here's why this man was a genius):
It never occurred to me that shooting an entire picture in one room was a problem. In fact, I felt I could turn it into an advantage. One of the most important dramatic elements for me was the sense of entrapment those men must have felt in that room. Immediately, a "lens plot" occurred to me. As the picture unfolded, I wanted the room to seem smaller and smaller. That meant that I would slowly shift to longer lenses as the picture continued. Starting with the normal range (28 to 40 mm), we progressed to 50 mm, 75 mm and 100 mm lenses. In addition, I shot the first third of the movie above eye level, and the last third from below eye level. In that way, toward the end, the ceiling began to appear. Not only were the walls closing in, the ceiling was as well. The sense of increasing claustrophobia did a lot to raise the tension of the last part of the movie. On the final shot, an exterior that showed the jurors leaving the courtroom, I used a wide angle lens, wider than any lens that had been used in the entire picture. I also raised the camera to highest above-eye-level position. The intention was to literally give us all air, to let us finally breathe, after two increasingly confined hours.
Very much so!
czcams.com/video/mrEzH1rwpfE/video.html
Watched this film the other day. I expected it to be dated and dull by today's standards, but I found myself completely transfixed. I couldn't look away. And after 90 minutes seeing a man burst into tears and declare not guilty was absolutely cathartic.
It kind of makes you wonder how a movie like this would look if it was done today. If 12 Angry Men got the Hollywood reboot, how many directors could make 90 minutes of people talking in a room interesting? You absolutely need good composition and staging for that.
I have never seen a man burst into years before.
Edit: he fixed his typo
I was expecting the most boring movie possible and it turned into one of my favourites lol
suncu91 touché
+FigN01Actually it was remade by William Friedkin with Jack Lemmon and George C Scott. It's very interesting to compare this two.
One of my teachers had us watch this movie when we were ten. I think it was my first experience with a film of this caliber, and it has really stuck with me. The same teacher then took us to see a real murder trial and that DEFINITELY stuck with me.
This is a well-done overview of one of the great American films. As a filmmaker, I would like to add a couple of thoughts. One, director Sidney Lumet came out of a theater background (specifically, NY's Yiddish Theater) and he employed many of those theatrical practices of actor movement into his films. Secondly, he remained one of the few directors who demanded an extensive rehearsal period before principle photography began on all of his films. He did not dream up these great shots in 12 ANGRY MEN on the spot. They were rehearsed for weeks in advance, first with the actors, and later with the actors and cinematographer, Boris Kaufman, who would map out a lighting scheme that allowed the actors and camera to work in unison. Equally important is the sound. These were the days before lavalier body microphones, so the boom operator also had to rehearse his movements so the overhead mic would never intrude into the frame - not an easy task with actors moving around, sometimes yelling, sometimes whispering; and this film has a conspicuous amount of live - not dubbed - dialogue, which makes it all the more exceptional (Compare this to another one-set film, ROPE, where almost all of the dialogue is dubbed). By the time cast and crew arrived on the jury room set everyone knew their jobs and were able to perform them with confidence.
This is a bizarre. Comment. You know you aren't a film maker. You know you're regurgitating crap you've read or watched elsewhere.
Are you still the same person who left this reply 3 years ago?
'Twelve Angry Men' was originally a live TV broadcast, essentially a stage play with TV cameras. Then it was a stage play and then it was a film. No doubt all those previous incarnations informed the film version, especially the stage play. Lumet had a theater background, being an actor and director. That's why the staging of this drama is so well considered.
Seeing the stage adaptations from that era is like a cool drink of water.
The difficulty of stage adaptations is that the director has to have a very strong visual concept otherwise it will look like a "stage play with TV cameras". Interestingly Glengarry Glen Ross taught me that, where despite the awesome written material and the loads of talented actors it never really looks like a good film because the director lacks visual strength. Lumet on the other hand had one, he was one hell of a director!
12 angry men is an absolute masterpiece thats used to this day in psychology
I was perplexed how a 90min movie about 12 (angry) men talking in a room gripped me so much.
And a standard dialogue scene in a modern movie put me to sleep. Thanks mr.salad
edit: i just remembered, for more on this subject check out the geometry of a scene by EFAP and The Fine Arts of Blocking and Composition by Dan Fox
Every Frame a Painting has covered about all of this.
Thanks for the recommendation!
pikapaku on the subject of gripping stories out of nothing but men talking , honorary mention to the before trilogy and Locke.
I don't mean to take it there, but please never use that acronym again. It sounds like mail-order masturbation.
thank you!! sincerely!!!
The clips from the movie you were using were so visually engaging that I had to go back a few seconds every time I realized you had been talking!
Same here - I had difficulty concentrating on the commentary because the little bits of the movie we were shown would immediately grab and dominate my attention. Incredible staging, camera work, acting.
Sydney Lumet was a genius and will always missed ; (
There are a lot of Kurosawa-esque shots in 12 Angry Men where the reactions of the group in the background emphasize the emotion of what is happening in the foreground. For example, the scene where #3 is demonstrating the stabbing on #8 and everyone in the background stands up in shock.
As an animation enthusiast, and knowing how important staging is to the medium (being one of the 12 principles), I do wish more animated movies would apply these kinds of techniques. It'd be nice to see more animated flicks apply these sorts of ideas in their cinematography.
Couldn't agree more. The principles of staging apply regardless of the format. You can definitely tell the difference between the work of people like Pete Docter or Brad Bird versus the guys at Dreamworks just through staging alone.
Not to say it's a requirement for the film to be enjoyable, of course, but those subtle techniques really do push the storytelling effect to be more immersive to the viewer. Whether it be live action or a cartoon.
I may come up with the good old controversial advice: if you want to watch animation with strong visuals, watch anime! Particularly the works of Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Hosoda, Masaaki Yuasa, Naoko Yamada and of course Miyazaki (though visually he is more like a very good craftsman instead of being a genius like Kon).
If I may, one vintage anime television series I'm currently revisiting used quite a few dramatic high and low angle shots, "focus pulls", and other interesting composition techniques in many of its episodes. I'm talking about "Jungle Emperor" (aka, "Kimba the White Lion"), and this is especially notable considering the time it was made (1965), the other animated television series that were airing around the same time, and the very tight budget and schedule it was made with. The dramatic and dynamic composition techniques used in this anime were really a natural extension of similar composition techniques that creator Osamu Tezuka used in drawing his original manga that the anime was based upon. (Thank you.)
@@andrasnelhiebel6726: Yes!! Hear, hear! (I hope you might also include some of the anime adaptations of Osamu Tezuka's works despite their flaws, limited animation and rushed productions. Thank you for mentioning this! 😃
Fantastic film. Saw it for the first time a few months ago.
This is one of my favorite films since the first time I saw it but I never knew exactly why.
Now I know.
Excellent point, Edger. I hadn't thought about it that way, but you're exactly right. Good story, but it's all the other stuff that made it a great movie, in spite of some serious legal flaws that have been pointed out elsewhere, most obvious of which was Henry Fonda doing his own research and buying a knife to bring to the jury room!
This was my first proper Noir movie, as I wanted to get into the genre. I knew the movie would have to be good because it was so respected but thought it might be one of those slow, bad audio, cliche old movies.
I was so incredibly wrong, this movie moves at a lightning pace - everything about it is done so right. What an incredible film.
Every second in the 90 minute run time is used to develop each character's very distinct personalities - all of which still exist today. Just fantastic as to how 12 talented actors in one room can make history.
The way this guys talking about how thankful he'll be for patreon just hits different & seems more genuine then other youtubers
I actually really loved that because the whole movie is in a single room, one could much more easily focus on the brilliant screenwriting, directing, camera shots, and acting.
The whole movie was so well played out, but I think by far the most telling, tense, and emotion filled moment was that moment when the last guy to change his vote mimes stabbing the architect, and everyone reacts like they think he’ll really kill him. The emotions on the face of the angry guy, the architect, everyone in the background… what a moment.
One of my fav channels and video essayists, talking about one of my fav films of all time. Thanks for this.
Great that you set up a Patreon. Doing this videos take time and resources and we enjoy it and it's the least we can do to be a part of them. 12 Angry Men is the absolute dialog-movie. There is no other, really, and your video just explained why.
Great piece on a great film. Lumet was a master of staging, but this was only possible because he was also a master planner: When he shot 12 Angry Men budget and time constraints meant he circled the room only 3 times, meaning that some shots and counter-shots were seven days apart. He also used a "lens plot" where he plotted not only the angles, but the lens focal lengths for their psychological effect. His book "Making Movies" should be required reading for anyone interested in cinema.
Excellent video! I think this video is better than a week of film school education.
I never went to film school, just jumped into the industry and learned as I went.
Over 40,000 hours worked on-location in every department, almost all real film, not digital video. Now, I'm finally working on my own feature film. If I could offer just one tip to young filmmakers: do dolly shots, avoid use of the zoom lens. There's a huge difference. As well, a traveling dolly shot is much richer visually than a tripod mounted camera pan shot.
Fantastic video. Already loved this movie but understanding how much effort they put into the staging has made me love it more. Thank you!
Thanks for talking about one of my favorite films (I watch it 4 or 5 times a year)! I don't think enough attention is ever really paid to the small details like the way it is in this video.
Planning for a short film later this summer, and this video just gave me a whole new sense of how to film it. Holy cow, dude. Thank you!
Keep rocking it!
The Verdict is love. Just as amazing. Very still yet engrossing.
Love this film and love your analysis of the direction.
Thank you so much for this. I'm with you 100% on this because my main beef about contemporary films is all the cutting that just winds up distancing myself from the story. As a dancer, I notice this particularly when dance and fight scenes are shot these days. "12" is at the top of my favorite films list and as a teacher I have shown it many times in different courses and it never failed to impress students (they all like Henry Fonda's knife scene!). You are on point!. .
So glad someone talked in depth about this movie and it's AMAZING use in staging 🙏🏻
Hello Good Sir, Thank you for analyzing this film/movie as it is easily the most suspenseful, thrill filled film/movie ever made .All the best for your Patreon and your CZcams channel.
Great job, as usual. Hope hour channel gets the support it deserves.
love this episode.. never knew my drama / theater knowledge had something to do with film technique. Thanks ROFS :D
I’m currently working on writing and directing a feature length film that has a similar set up to 12AM (a large cast in a small room), so this video was incredibley helpful!! Thanks for making this!!
excelent. A great movie and the right subject. Good luck man, keep the good work
Extremely well done.
I am a film student right now and I love watching your videos. I wish I could support you financially but I'm also a broke college student at that. But thank you for a fresh look at one of my favorite dramas! :D
This was such a good video essay.
Lumet definitely knew how to use cuts and close ups
thanxs for share a little more knowledge about cinema! bless you forever!
Another great video sir. Blocking is a part of filmmaking (specifically directing) that is almost not even done anymore. Thanks for drawing attention to it.
This kind of film contemplation is worth a mug.
If you don't think that blocking isn't even done anymore, then I have a bridge to sell you.
Tell me more about this bridge. Do I have to pay shipping or is it only pick up?
I forget who it was, but I remember reading a quote from an old film director whose advice was that anyone who wanted to direct films should spend several years directing theatre first. Perhaps too few modern filmmakers (or at least those working in mainstream western cinema) have taken that advice. I am an aspiring filmmaker and, although I must admit that I have never yet directed any theatre, my experience as both an actor and a show photographer has massively informed how I would approach filmmaking. The question should always be how to create a varied and dynamic succession of images that communicate aspects/developments of character and/or plot, and really bring alive (visually) what is often just two hours of people talking about things. Creative blocking of the actors and the action makes for much more interesting images; a poorly blocked show is impossible to photograph well.
Some of the best directors today have had some experience in the theatre one way or another, even if they never actually directed a play, per se. David Fincher, although he has never actually directed a play, he worked under quite a few theatre directors. That influence shows in his work greatly.
Bless for this video
great, thanks!
Excellent!
This film, coupled with The West Wing helped me make 2 short films with impeccable dialouge
Film friend shared this with me. Subscription earned. Looking forward to more.
Sidney Lumet, and more recently Bong Joon Ho and Wong Kar Wai are brilliant when it comes o ensemble staging. Awesome video mate
Totally!!! What drives me crazy about most movies is that they think the only way to film a piece of dialog is a wide, two over the shoulders, maybe a close up, the end. It seems that old movies, even the not so good ones, pay way more attention to their cinematography and blocking. There are so many different ways to do this, but barley anyone takes advantage of it nowadays.
I thing that TAM is a masterpiece of film making. All you have is a script, actors and a room....oh and Lumet; actually, there's not much more to say.
Great video. All time great film. But, yes I'm the guy that came just to leave a pedantic comment; it's pronounced Loo-MET.
I have to see this movie now again
I think one of the reasons great staging is disappearing from modern filmmaking is the absence of the influence of stage plays on directors. Directors are referring to safer means of shooting a scene and aren't relying on actors to carry a scene for longer than a few seconds w/o a cut
Muito bom!!!
Damn Good video
I'd argue that the dialogue scene taken from 'Spotlight' is actually supposed to be this static (and also a little cringy). There are a lot of dialogues in the movie that I found too boring to watch but the exact one that you took - while uneventful to watch - had this certain feeling. When I saw it I felt like the guy at 1:24. Somehow involved but rather being somewhere else, worrying about something else if I had the chance.
In the last year I started to recognize this a lot more in completely different movies by completely different people. Usually it's one of those scenes that makes you feel uncomfortable or at least feels a bit odd. Sometimes you can't put your finger on it and sometimes you can. But in the end those scenes can be essential to the rollercoast ride of emotions a movie puts you through as each of those scenes serves a function. So the next time you stumble upon one of these, try to recap after the movie and find out what it did and why that's important.
The worst thing about youtubers with Patreons is that I can't contribute!!! I hope you get the support you deserve!
Need to start watching older movies. I love this one, and geez, a lot of films nowadays just don't use their camera interestingly!
Do you know what lens was used to keep all those actors in focus at different depths? Is the blocking improvised by the talent?
please do a video comparing Ed Wood and The Disaster Artist when it comes out. I feel like the differences in theme will show a lot about how filmmaking and society has evolved.
Yh I've always thought its staging is under appreciated
Thank you from #Egypt
THATS STARDUST BY DOC SEVERINSEN WAY TO USE SOME GREAT JAZZ AT THE END
ya know, I did this play in my school, I did Juror 8, I think I did pretty well
really need to pick up the criterion edition of this!
The moment when Lee J Cobb demonstrates how the stabbing could have taken place, a lesser director would have cut to a POV of the other jurors - or the perspective/reaction of Fonda or Cobb - but he never cuts away. He keeps it in the AUDIENCE POV because he wants us to be present in the room - the viewer is the final juror ;
2:18 What that guy did to his face is cringe worthy as someone who actively limits how often one uses public bathrooms. Lovely video as usual.
Actually those old style roll towels are probably the most hygienic form of public restroom hand drying ever developed.
The used towels don't get reused. The towel is taken out and properly cleaned. It was more hygienic and better for the environment than what we do now.
Hey people I wanna learn staging and blocking is there any book for that so I could read and learn and practice or else recommend some films to learn from
every frame's a painting, boiiii
I know nothing about cameras and lenses, so this might be a stupid question; but do you need a specific type of lens to allow an actor to walk through all parts of the frame and keep them in focus, or is that job just relegated to the focus puller?
God I love this movie.
Someone else used this video of yours and uploaded it on there own channel, thought I should let you know so you can take action if needed.
Besides that, great video :)
Do you have a link to that channel that you can give me? Cause that's not cool at all.
Stardust by the U.S. Army Blues from Live at Blues Alley! I see we have similar taste in Public Domain music haha
DAWG, I HAD NO IDEA YOU WERE IN DALLAS!!!! I'M IN IRVING!!!!!!!
There are few films that are as flawlessly directed as 12 Angry Men.
Damn it, could you explain that to all the mediocre directors out there?!? David Fincher, and some Pixar directors get close to the classic style of filmmaking, but they are few and far between. This is where REHEARSING becomes essential - let the actors find their creativity, their timing, interactions, and guide them to experiment. Sidney Lumet did this, and it made Hollywood stars nervous as hell (and the theater actors as comfortable as ever), but they felt respected for exploring their characters as actors. I'm looking at you, Bill Holden
I thought you were leaving youtube for a second at the end of the video, got a mini-heart attack.
I agree with you 100% but the reason why they could do this is because they mostly shot in one room, it makes sense
anyone truly interested in details about how this was done should (must) read "Making Movies by Sidney Lumet." It's a masterclass in filmmaking...And by the way, the "Classically Trained Directors" you speak of, well, that "classical" training is called Theater. Which they ALL come from. It's not a coincidence.
Same thing with actors. The best actors usually started out doing some theatre. Theatre is marathon acting. Film acting is sprinting acting. Hope that analogy makes sense. Film acting becomes immensely easier once you've done some theatre.
And yep, directing in theatre is pretty much all about blocking and set design and the like. That carries over to movies very well.
This is why I hate so many modern movies. There is too much sitting and talking with the boring shot reverse shot style of editing, too many close up shots, as well as too much cutting. I prefer the old classics over modern movies any day.
KissMyAsthma There are a ton of great contemporary films that are intelligently crafted and showcase exciting filmmaking, but the thing is, people look at art from the past in a vacuum, people only remember films like Citizen Kane or the Third Man or The Rules of the Game and not films like Swamp Women or Cat-Women of the Moon. So we say "they don't make em like they used to" as if there aren't a ton of old films that are terrible and new films that are great and vice versa.
I believe that cinema has moved from art, to an easy entertainment. We just got lazy, and it's everyone's job to reverse this. Some modern films are truly amazing, but those are very rare, and are the more special for it. There's a great video about this called "The Three Spheres" on the channel _sideways_
Coll Drake I think it's partially that we no longer consider it in terms of theatre. The further back you go, the more the directors considered it to be nothing more that a filmed play. Now movies are their own things so much so that they don't employ the techniques of live shows. And partially yeah, because it's easier not to
Watch other than Hollywood movies.
I agree. Too many directors now a days don't actually focus on where they're putting the camera and why
While I love this video, and 12 Angry Men, I don't know why you play a clip from Fences while talking about movies depending on basic staging. I thought that movie had great staging, and while it uses shot/reverse shot more then 12 Angry Men or other classics that also take a lot from plays, it did have good moments of staging and allowing actors to chew up scenery by moving around and emoting.
Andrew Mowbray I agree, and I think Denzel used Lumet as a model for his staging. There's a lot of power to just leaving the camera on Viola Davis's face and he knows how to do that and NOT to cut. I'm not sure how else he was supposed to stage and cut a lot of that film.
Spotlight, much as I like that movie, is a little static at times though
I wish studios allowed directors the time/money to create complex shots.
You know what sad that a 1957 movie is way ahead of its time instead of the 2015 Best Picture(which I like btw)
Tbh 12 Angry Men is a good movie in general.
so instead of rewatching 12 Angry Men for the 18th time..........
any companion pieces Royal Ocean himself would recommend?
I originally had it in the essay and ended up cutting it for time, but rewatch Inside Out bearing in mind all that I talked about in the video. It's an absolute masterclass of staging, especially a lot of the early scenes with all the emotions together in the same room.
The best part of this film are the character's emotions. Every man thats part of the jury has such a clear, easy to read mindset. You'd think following along the emotions of 12 men AND keeping up with the court case is too much, but the film does everything with such ease and fluidity
Tbh this is what something Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino in some of their movies
i miss tony
Saying "you don't need the new X or Y to make this happen is a little disingenuous I think. All the moving shots in this film are done with precision, with a whole crew on a sound stage with dollies that move height, and/or on cranes. The only cheap way to do most of these shots nowadays is to get a gimbal.
Love Twelve Angry Men. Love ROFS. THERE IS NO WAY I AM NOT GOING TO LIKE THIS FUCKEN VIDEO.
Great moment in the film when Number 3 nearly strikes 8 with the knife, everyone reacts except 8 who doesn’t flinch for a second as he knows perfectly well he would not stab him.
As much as I love your videos I don't have that much money to spend right now, sorry.
I want a video on Lawrence of Arabia
I wish I could convince my mom that this movie is better than Transformers 2
lu-met, not lu-may
Lu-meT with a "T" -- not Lu-may..
First
Very insightful - and yet so annoying that he calls the great director, LumeT Loo-May 🤔
Yep. And I say Brigitte BarDOT.
Deal with it.
Shitting on good movies in order to bring up a movie that we all know is good demonstrates nothing but poor argument skills.
i wish Jury Duty was actually as interesting.. doing it for a civil case is boring
Who is Sydney LuMAY?
please stfu
cyrix007 Lumay! Lu-MAY!! "Hello, I'm Sydney LU-MAY. Not Sydney Lument, the director, but Sydney Lu-MAY the gay lighting man. People often confuse us. They mispronounce my name, but it's Lu-MAY! Okay, let's all try it together: LU-MAY. Like, LOOOOOO-MAAAAAY" See?
Now GFY.
@@LazlosPlane
cyrix is right.
Stfu. Putz.
@@LazlosPlane
LozersLowPlain...
Love how you mock several Oscar winning films in this. Old movie swere so much better, and some few current movie makers are so much better than the rest, it's out right sad !!
Not really. People tend to only remember the greatness of each era. Every era of film is VASTLY outnumbered by a LOT of trash films by trash directors. Each generation has a few crown jewel directors and then a slew of very good ones and then some pretty decent ones and then the rest are garbage. This day and age is no different from any other time, really.
The only films we'll remember from this time are the ones that managed to stand the test of time and achieved some level of greatness. Then we'll look back and say, "man, what a great time of film that was. So much better than it is today. So sad!"
There might be more good films being made today that back in the day, but the ratio between good and bad has gone way down. The art of staging taken up in this film, for example, seems to be a forgotten art, replaced by a metric tonn of cuts. And this one thing alone seems to invade eveything (f.ex. stunts & actionscenes) "So sad" !