Characters sitting.
Eating.
And talking.
"- And you dress like a casual beach van
with flip-flops and everything.
I found that very very hot."
For filmmakers, dinner scenes pose a real challenge.
Is there any way to make these actions cinematic?
Instead of a series of standard medium
and over the shoulder shots,
what else can be done to bring these scenes to life?
A few filmmakers have actually crack the code.
So let's look at a few of cinema's great dinner scenes
and see what they bring to the table.
This is the "Director's Playbook".
"- Chilled monkey brains."
♪ Director's Playbook Intro ♪
If the recipe for scene is the script
the finished film is the meal.
Everybody seated.
Let's begin.
Every dinner scene has a table.
But no two tables are the same.
A rounder table can unite.
"- Start from the outside and work your way in."
While a squared table can divide.
"- Could you pass the salt?
- Sure."
And what does this shiny wood table
say about these characters.
"- You've barely even spoken with me for months."
Or this folding table
say about these characters.
"- So how was the first day of school?
- It was fine, I guess. I don't know."
But we can also learn a lot by looking at what's on the table.
How much food?
♪ ♪
Or how little?
"- You aren't eating.
- I am not that hungry.
I might eat later.
For now, I'm just going to chew on these grapes."
And even more, can be shown through the dining room itself.
♪ ♪
The dining room.
The food.
The table.
All of these things were choices made by characters.
So communicates a lot about who they are.
But after you consider what's there,
let's look at who's where?
Because the seating arrangement says a lot about the diners too.
We've already mentioned distance.
"- I absolutely adore you."
As Charles Foster Kane and his wife grow apart.
"- People will think... - What I tell them to think."
They sit further and further apart.
But sitting opposite
can mean more than just emotional distance.
In this case,
sitting directly opposite each other
represents their direct opposition.
"- Don't mess with me, man. I'm a lawyer."
The opposite is also true.
Two people sitting together can represent an alliance.
An alliance against those who have got them surrounded.
"- Lay your palms flat on that tabletop."
Or against someone alone whose outnumbered and powerless.
And speaking of power
think about who is the counter the controls
who can leave
and who can stay?
"- Actually, in my role as security chief of this
joyous German occasion, I'm afraid I must...
...have a word with Mademoiselle Mimieux."
All this and we haven't even talked about the camera yet.
The wides are important
because they call attention to the subtext in the seating chart
and establish the power dynamics.
But the close-ups communicate even more.
"- Don't you ever raise your voice at me? I am your mother.
Do you understand?"
And here connection is amplified
because these two share one close-up.
"- I settle down almost every night, but in the morning I'm free.
I love you, I want to be with you. - Won't you settle down?"
Well these two on outskirts
get their own singles.
" Henry, what's the matter? You don't talk too much."
"- For what we are about to receive,
let us give thanks."
And here everyone is so unwilling to be personal
and vulnerable with each other.
"- You can say amen, Patrick. Nobody's trying to recruit you.
- I did say amen."
That no one even gets a close-up.
It's a whole scene of awkward wide shots.
"- You know, what I'm going to be right back.
"Does anybody need anything from the kitchen?
- No, thanks. - I'm good, you know."
So the shot size says a lot.
But let's talk lens.
Depending on the lens used
the distance between characters can grow
or shrink.
Allowing a threat
to close in.
Or a friend to get closer to share a moment.
And when it comes down to it...
"- Surprise."
...that's what every dinner scene in all the film is about.
What's being shared?
"- Things you own end up owning you.
"- It says, "Ibuprofen."
And what's not.
"- That was my favorite mug."
The food is always shared
but his power.
"- That's it. Go to your room."
Truth.
"- Why can't you just tell me the truth?"
Or love.
"- You make me want to be a better man."
So the next time you shooting a dinner scene ask yourself
what's being shared?
And just as important what isn't?
"- Daddy?"
What other iconic dinner scenes did we miss?
Let us know down in the comments below.
"- I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?"
And if you enjoyed this
check out the StudioBinder blog
for more on the newest films and the greatest directors.
And hey, if you're ever on a film set
and someone tells you
it's just a dinner scene,
maybe it's time you are excused yourself.
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See you at dinner.