Breakfast Club – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5IHNcpa7p0
The Breakfast Club (1985) is a classic coming of age film directed by John Hughes. I really enjoyed this films use of Camera Coverage. As 95% of the film takes place within one room, Hughes has used the positioning and movement of the camera to bring the film to life. I have chosen to analyse a scene in which central characters Andrew and Bender have a heated scuffle.
To Break down this scene I wanted to initially draw a floor plan to conceptualise the camera setups (see below). Within this scene there are 9 different camera setups, however I think they would have shot this scene in three distinct sections based around the location of the dolly track. In the first section they would have shot the dialogue sequence between Bender and Claire, then moved on and gathered all of the shots needed on the dolly track going across the desks. Finally getting the rest of the shots off the dolly track going through the desks. Of course this is just my theory, but it seems like a logical way to structurally shoot the scene with a minimal amount of moving equiptment.
As far as coverage goes the scene starts off with a dirty Close Up dialogue sequence between Bender and Claire. Featuring Medium Cutaways of both Allison and Andrew. The Scene then cuts to Andrew in a medium shot as he gets up and moves closer to Bender as the camera keeps the same size frame, dollying backwards. It then cuts to back to bender in a close up. Bender then moves forward into the space of Andrew and the camera follows. Tracking in behind Bender, stopping at a 50/50 confrontational medium shot as Bender and Andrew stand equally in the frame face to face. With Brian looks on. The pair begin to wrestle as the camera pans down and follows them onto the ground and back up again. The camera then dolly’s back into a wide as Bender pulls out a knife. It cuts to a close up of Andrews reaction showing his fear. Before cutting back to a Medium shot of casual looking Bender. The scene continues with these two shots before finishing on a MCU of Claire’s reaction to the situation.
The shot I appreciate the most in this scene is the 50/50 between Bender and Andrew. Although this specific shot has multiple frames in it, the frame of Andrew and Bender face to face is very good. Both are equally positioned within the frame showing the balance of power is with no one. Brian sits perfectly in between the two characters with a tense expression on his face. Brian’s reaction is perfect, and the audience looks to him to understand how they should feel about the fight. Hughes has utilized a number of framing techniques to tie the scene together and develop tension. While his use of Decoupage helps guide the audience’s emotions.
The eyelines also work really well in this scene. We are able to place every character in the scene without seeing the characters in the same shot until later in the sequence. Hughes’ use of eyelines allows the audience to build an image of the room and the characters placement within it.
