"Nowhere to Run" by Martha and the Vandellas

Yes, you know what I mean.

Hi my name is Tony and this is Every Frame a Painting.

Today I’m going to honor the incomparable Robin Williams.

There have been a lot of moving tributes over the last month,

but I’d like to sidestep what others have said

and focus on something else: how he moved in a scene.

--You do an eclectic celebration of a dance. You do Fosse, Fosse, Fosse

You do, Martha Graham, Martha Graham, Martha Graham!

Blocking is the choreography of the actors and the camera.

To put it bluntly, the actors move. How they move tells us something

about the characters, the scene and the story.

--but you keep it all inside.

Good blocking is good storytelling. If you’d like to see this for yourself,

pick a scene and watch how the actors move.

--We're all gonna sit down and we're gonna finish it.

Three minutes later, this is how he makes her sit.

--Anybody up for iced tea? I'm gonna make some tea.

You could watch this film with the sound off and still understand

most of the story. That's good blocking. Everything you need to know about

the characters, their relationship and how it changes

is presented to you through physical movement. Blocking is a collaboration

between actor and director. Even though the director approves it, the actors are

ultimately the ones who have to perform it.

And that's why Robin Williams work is so dynamic

--You move with it!

--Lead with something!

Few actors could express themselves as well through motion

Whether that motion was big

or small

Even when he was doing the same movement in two different scenes

you could see the subtle variations he brought to the arc of the character.

Sometimes he would move and the camera would be still.

Other times... --You're just a kid.

he would be still and the camera would move. This shot lasts

2 minutes and 45 seconds and is the first time these two characters connect

which Gus Van Sant shows by having the camera literally bring them together.

--You don't know about real loss because that only occurs when you love something

--more than you love yourself.

And in other films, he moved with the camera, creating an elaborate dance

--And all the time he's mumbling. --What's he mumbling?

--Mumbling truth.

Or a less elaborate one.

To watch his work is to see the subtle things an actor can do with his hands.

his mouth

his right leg

and his facepalm.

Robin Williams' work is an encyclopedia

of ways that an actor can express himself through movement and he was

fortunate to work with filmmakers who used his talents to their fullest.

--I want you to find your own walk right now, your own way of

striding, pacing, any direction, anything you want, whether it's

whether it's proud or silly. Anything.

I can't talk about how he pulled off so many different characters

because I have no idea.

But I can talk about a few things that directors did to help his performances.

Here are five.

#1: They let him play it straight through. Movie acting is weird because

it’s hours of preparation to shoot one angle.

And sometimes the actors only get a few seconds to really act.

--My God, the children.

Many directors here have a history of shooting scenes in 1 or 2 set-ups

which helps the actors keep their rhythm

Some preferred elaborate camera moves. Others liked it very simple

But no matter what, they shared a common desire to let all the actors perform

uninterrupted, as much as possible.

--It's me, Alan, mom and dad! I'm home! I'm back!

#2: They gave him something physical to do.

Open the window. Pick up the apple. Put the cans back in the right spot.

--I said, well, you know what I'm dealing with here?

These gestures sometimes repeated later in the film

giving us a nice before-and-after portrait of the character.

--Eleanor? --Yes?

Other times they were just one-off moments.

As an editor, I can testify that when I’m looking at 12 takes of a scene,

these little gestures make all the difference.

#3: They used blocking to tell the story visually. Human beings are wired

to respond to subtle changes in body language.

We often derive more understanding from a person’s movements and tone

than from the actual words they say.

--You forget the girl.

One of the great things about good blocking

is that it’s universal and doesn’t need to be translated or explained.

--you playing Dear Abby --I know, because she's my sister!

Even if you can't speak English, you understand exactly what's happening here

--Come on! --I don't like you, sir.

--Why not? I got a great personality, you ask anybody.

#4: They let him listen. --That started with Peter Weir

where he said, if you just listen there's a great power in that.

A good percentage what you think of as acting in a movie is actually listening.

Sometimes that’s what happened in the moment. Other times,

we editors find those moments and move them around in the edit.

As they say, acting is reacting.

And lastly: They didn’t let perfection get in the way of inspiration.

There’s a real desire sometimes to film it exactly the way it was in your head

or on the page, but working with Robin Williams was about opening yourself up

to sudden bursts of inspiration.

--She used to fart in her sleep. One night it was so loud, it woke the dog up

So be open. This man improvised many of his most iconic moments.

Maybe he was onto something.

--There's great moments that obviously people have rehearsed and gone over

and gone over and gone over, but literally when the stuff really hits you

it's usually something that happened and it happened then

and that is what film is about: capturing a moment.

Farewell, Robin Williams.

--He is an editor's nightmare though, editors see him and they go "AGH!"

because he shows up, you cut on him all the time, you can't cut on half a phrase

--Like it's hard to get a two-shot right now right?

--Dammit I can't hold it! Dammit Jim, the camera's too wide! Bones, go wide!

--I'll be back. --We love you.

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