Director Greg Beeman on “Distractions”
Greg Beeman’s blog Beaming Beeman is always a good source of spoilers and insights into how the episodes get developed. In a previous post, I commented on how lame I thought Hiro’s scenes were with his dad (George Takei).
Here’s how Beeman (and episode director JEANNOT SCWARCZ) put me in my place:
GB: Let’s talk about the Japanese sequence, with Hiro and his father. It fits into the HEROES “look” very well, yet it is also different.
JS: Nate, the D.P. is a real film buff, as am I. We had a lot of conversations about taking that sequence into a Kurasowa style. Meaning that we played with depth and composition. Besides being spoken in Japanese, the scenes had a very Japanese content and conflict. They were formal in nature with lots of changes in the power dynamics between characters. So, beyond the dialogue, Nate and I said, “let’s do a Kurasowa style.” A very full frame. Not much camera movement. Instead the characters walk into their close ups. People move within the frame as the power dynamics change. Whoever has the power in the scene in any moment is also the largest in the frame. As the dynamic switches the composition switches. Also we used a lot of negative space, meaning the space between the characters and to the left and right of the characters. Nate and I were both very versed in this film language. We discussed it in prep, and we had shorthand about it on the set. At the end of the day, I think the sequences work well because they are supported by the very Japanese theme.
No big wonder they’re THE directors and I’m just a fan. :-)
Tags: Heroes, Distractions, episode 1.14, commentary, Beaming Beeman, Greg Beeman, Jeannot Szwarc, director
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POSTED IN: Behind-the-scenes, Blogs and Websites, Heroes, Recap and Review
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