Camera directing for lenghty single character scene talking

Question

I am an absolute amateur regarding directing, but have been reading up on the subject and been paying close attention to filmworks, both real and animated.

The thing is, I have about one and a half minute of a single character speaking to the viewer(introduction and world story building). But I haven't encountered such scenes during other films so i'm not really sure how to pull it off.

I have tried looking for the fundamentals of lengthy and rather static scenes but have come up quite empty.

The scene in question looks a bit like :

And the scene itself:

I figure there should be plenty of room for different shots, but i'm unsure how to fill them.

Just to clarify, I guess I'm looking for perhaps a scene of a real film that has similar conditions to this or a technique explained which helps in directing a rather static scene.

Answer 1

There are two main things you want to do here. First, use a lower camera angle for your main camera. You are shooting from substantially above your speaker which makes them seem diminished and small, but you want them to be the focus of attention. Shoot from eye level or slightly below eye level to give them a feeling of more importance in the scene.

Second, use multiple camera angles. You can easily break up a long scene with one speaker by cutting between multiple angles of the same individual. Be aware of the axis of action however. You don't want to have your left and right sides get suddenly reversed, but cutting between a close up of them talking vs a wide shot or a mid shot from a different angle can help the video feel less static.

As far as an example of this in action, look at any kind of news or public speaking footage (such as political debates or church sermons). You will see a variety of different camera angles to try and methods and timing of cuts to help make the footage feel less static from these kinds of sources.

Answer 2

I think it all comes down to what this person is actually talking about and what the overall atmosphere of that movie should be.

I'm not a professional director myself, but I can think of some ways to do this:

Option one: Let this person do something. Have a look at the opening scene of Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in the west:

Those guys weren't even talking. Just waiting for minutes. Use a lot of inserts / close shots of whatever is happening. (flies, water drops, drinking etc.)

Option two: Let something happen in the background. Let this interfere with the person. Think of some subtle jokes.

Option three: Use flashbacks, if you like it.

Option four: Make a dialog instead of a monologue. That easily gives you lots more creative freedom.

Option five: Don't show the monologue in chronological order. Make it harder and more interesting for the viewer to figure out what is going on.

Option six: Don't reveal too early, where that person is. Give some wrong hints, and keep the viewer busy figuring out, what the context of the monologue is.

Surely, there are tons of other options.

I am convinced - if the only thing that is interesting for the viewer is what the person actually says, it will be boring. You have to find something else that makes the scene visually appealing.