Blow Up is a 1966 film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.
In this scene note the choreography of the actors, camera, frame and focus. As covered in the lecture describe the things Antonioni would have have to consider when directing the actors and the camera.
Almost every shot in this Blow Up scene involves movement – largely actor and camera movement. This would have been an extremely complicated scene to direct. Alongside storyboards, Antonioni would have drawn up diagrams of blocking and camera setups. He would have carefully choreographed each shot. Actors would be rehearsed prior to shooting on their performances and timing of action. But Antonioni would also have had to maintain close communication with them during the shoot in order to achieve his desired performances. He would have also taken the actors and camera operators through rehearsals on set. Well, not just the actors and camera ops. The sound crew, lighting crew, art department, etc. too. Continuity would also be an important consideration.
For example, at about 2.00 there is a shot that involves very careful choreography. It begins with a medium close-up of the woman. Then the woman walks left of frame and the camera tracks left with her momentarily, while also panning right. The woman has exited frame. But she is replaced by the man who walks from the right of frame into her former position. This scene would have had to have been rehearsed a number of times in order to achieve Antonioni’s desired timing within the shot. (Not to mention his desired actor performances, framing and focus-pulling accuracy, lighting, and so on.) The camera not only moves and reframes (tracks left and pans right onto the man) but refocuses from the woman to the man. There would be a whole crew behind the camera, attempting to time themselves to perfection – the boom op, focus puller, camera op, perhaps even gaffers working on the fly to light the moving subjects.