Most Movies Are Just Two People Talking (Here's How to Make It Not Boring)

__Usually, when you’re writing a film, a lot of your focus is ondialogue. You're making characters talk about stuff. They share their feelings, goals, and exposition, so the audience gets to know them and can follow the story.

When it comes to actually shooting those pages, you’re probably not doing the talking against high-octane explosions or car chases. It’s probably just two people in a room or sitting down somewhere.

The challenge of making that visually interesting is one of the most underrated problems in directing. Empathy Machines just made a video essay on it, looking at examples to help guide filmmakers. Most dialogue scenes, he says, fail visually, not because directors don't care, but because of time and money.

But you don't need an exotic set or a Steadicam-level budget. All you need is intention and a plan. Before you default to two over-the-shoulders, consider your blocking.

By how you position the actors, can you tell the audience something about who has power, who's checked out, who's moving toward something? Even one meaningful choice per scene adds up.

Watch the full video here.

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What Is Blocking?

Blocking is a fundamental element of making a film or TV show. Blocking is the arrangement of actors in relation to each other and their environment.

When it's working, it tells you story without any dialogue. Is one character above the other, denoting power over them? Is one on the ground, suggesting they’ve hit rock bottom? Are they side-by-side as equals? Do they move around? What actions are they trying to perform at the same time? Does the scene need momentum or silence? Does the positioning lend tension?

Blocking also relates to your shot choices. A wide establishing shot reads differently from a tight close-up. Are we with the characters, or a distant observer?

And where your actors are positioned within either of those frames changes the meaning further. This is the kind of thing that operates on audiences subconsciously, and it's where directors can do their most invisible, effective work.

The Default (And Why It Exists)

The go-to move in a dialogue scene is to start with a wide establishing shot, then two over-the-shoulder close-ups that you intercut. Done.

It's a production reality that this setup is fast and fairly easy. You only have to place lights a couple of times; there is no movement, and everything falls into place with these positions set.

Empathy Machines makes the case that TV has become an audio medium first, and viewers are expected to be distracted. These days, it’s rumored that executives literally note-give for "second screen" compatibility at streamers—writers are supposedly told to have characters state their goals and feelings multiple times so viewers can come in cold.

The easy setup means less movement and fewer distractions for already-distracted viewers.

The same habits sometimes bleed into big-budget cinema, even when there's no excuse. The question is what to do instead.

Shōgun Credit: FX

The High-Budget Example

The video's main case study is a scene from FX's Shōgun. It was a masterpiece of period storytelling. It did have action and big set-pieces, but it also featured characters at odds in mental games. They often shared tense conversations, hiding their true motivations and feelings.

In the example scene, John Blackthorne is bathing at a cliffside hot spring at night. He’s surprised when Mariko, his translator, walks up. There is already some romantic tension between them; John is naked in this scene, heightening that tension.

Mariko sits at the edge of the cliff with her back to him, talking without facing the spring. John is positioned below her, looking up. The blocking maps the entire relationship for us, and we see who has power, who's emotionally present, and who's somewhere else entirely.

John is physically below Mariko in the shot, and Mariko is alone in her own frame. As the scene progresses, he moves into her shot. First, he’s a blur, but he steps up and gets out to sit beside her, back-to-back. By the end, when the framing goes back to John's close-up, they're at the same level and together.

They haven't said anything about their relationship. But things have shifted between them, and that’s told visually.

This is intentional visual storytelling that elevates a well-directed scene from one that's just gotten the coverage and moved on.

Shōgun Credit: FX

The No-Budget Example

Not all filmmakers who are working with Shōgun money (most of us, probably). In comparison,Star Trek: TNG had to shoot an episode per week and spent most of its budget on specific effects. So they filmed dialogue in single, continuous shots with no extra setups and no relighting.

To achieve this, you need good performers who can deliver many lines in one go. If they are comfortable, the actors can do a little movement through the space and express themselves more through that movement. It’s still blocking if the camera pans with them. It’s just more efficient.

It can also help keep actors in a more natural, performance-friendly headspace. Fewer cuts mean fewer interruptions to their rhythm.

It looks a little old-school, but it works.

When Blocking Is Just About Motion

Not every scene is about subtext. Sometimes, blocking's job is just to keep things moving, literally.

People sitting around can be, let's face it, a little dull. Things can start to feel leaden if it's all your characters are doing. (I’ll even add some motion to a scene in the writing just to make it feel a bit more kinetic, at times.)

West Wing ’s famous walk-and-talk is the extreme example. Aaron Sorkin would write 70 information-dense pages, nearly all dialogue. When they got on set to make the show, they shot it with relentless Steadicam.

If you want to do this, know that it can be more expensive. You have to light more and have sets that can handle multiple camera perspectives as characters move through them. You have more continuity concerns, and the reset can be a bear.

But it can be worth it! The result is just about visual interest, but it can lend a sense of energy, space, and rhythm. Walking also gives actors something to do with their bodies, which tends to loosen up their performances.

In The West Wing , even scenes without deep power dynamics felt alive because people were moving through space. Sometimes you just have to get characters out of their chairs.