Reblocking without Crossing the Line: MARS EXPRESS

We’ve already looked at five of our favourite shots from this 2023 animated sci-fi noir, but this scene’s complexity deserves a more detailed breakdown.

It may be ‘just’ two people talking, but using a reflective surface while the characters and the camera keep moving mean shots and blocking need to work together in keeping everything clear for the audience.

Here are three fundamentals to use in both live action and animation: insert shots; moving camera and/or characters; cutting on movement.

Insert Shots

Insert shots are often used to draw the audience’s attention to something — hey, see this key a character is holding? notice it! cut it’ll be important later! — but they can also help ‘reset’ blocking.

In this case the insert is merely bubbles rising in the tank, which crossfades into a reflection of Chris Royjacker walking up behind Aline Ruby.

We didn’t need this shot to ‘reset’ anything, because there’s a closeup of Ruby in between, and Royjacker is still (even with the double caused by reflections) Frame Left and Ruby Frame Right.

The egg-sac-like bubbles, however, are more visually compelling than simply watching Royjacker walk across the room, and the principle would still work to cover changes in blocking.

Moving Camera or Characters

You can move both camera and characters at the same time, but consider two things:

1. Does it fit your overall style? This applies to live action like Succession which relies on a documentary-esque, multi-camera, handheld style, but also some animation such as Arcane where the camera constantly moves and scenes often have angles which don’t repeat.

2. Will it be unnecessarily confusing? The whip-back-and-forth [0:20-0:25] keeps both characters stationary while the camera moves; this keeps scene geography clear for the audience, and helps lines land with more impact because there’s less to mentally ‘keep track of’ in these short sharp cuts.
   
   Only once the exchange is done and the camera is still does Royjacker move.

Side note, I *love* how the whip-pan between the two is on an angle, which emphasises the height/power differential between Ruby and Royjacker as he’s trying to bully her into letting a subject drop.

Cutting on Similar Movements

After the impact of the whip-pan, the camera holds, Royjacker moves L-R, the camera pans L-R, then the movement is the impetus to crossfade into the next setup, where the camera is also moving L-R.

Takeaways

The clearer you keep everyone’s movements and location in relation to each other, the freer your audience’s mind is to absorb the content of the scene . . . but that doesn’t mean you need to keep everyone stationary, or don’t have room for dramatic whip-pans, fancy crossfades, or gorgeous cutaways!