The French Over

À bout de souffle (Godard, 1960)

Camera goes where?

Working out where to place the camera is one of the fundamental tasks a director needs to grapple with. Of course, the cinematographer will bring their creativity and technical skills to the table but the dramatic intention behind camera set-ups should still start with the director. Dialogue scenes can be particularly challenging and it’s easy to fall back on the fail-safe classical continuity style of Wide, Over-the-Shoulder, Reverse-Over-the-Shoulder, Close-Up, Reverse-Close-Up but this is simple coverage. Understanding more advanced directorial composition is a key component of The Art of Directing course and workshops we offer and one interesting set-up discussed is the French Over.

What is a French Over?

Like a lot of arcane cinema language the origins of the term ‘French Over’ are not exactly clear. One suggestion is that it originated in the disruptive French New Wave period of the 50s and 60s. During this time, passionate young French film critics and artists - such as François Truffault and Agnès Varda - took the opportunity to make their own films with newly available cheaper and lightweight 16mm film cameras. The lack of experience of these young filmmakers worked to the advantage of cinema and they inadvertently opened up the possibilities of the form through a mixture of financial necessity (run and gun shooting on location) and mistakes (breaking established formal norms). One of the classic scenes from the French New Wave is a dialogue exchange in the back of a car from À bout de souffle (Godard, 1960). Whether it’s true that the term ‘French Over’ originated here or not, it is a great example of the technique.

What this landmark scene shows amongst other things - such as the origin of the jump-cut technique - is the basic set-up of the French Over. This composition style, which places the camera behind characters, offers a vantage point that can enrich the narrative. In essence, the camera setup occurs on the opposite side of the usual 180-degree line (see diagram at bottom of page). The same grammatical rules apply - in that you have to stay on the same side of the line in a dialogue exchange - but the effect is distinctly different. French Overs can be attention-grabbing as they subtly manipulate the viewer’s perspective, placing them in a distinctly voyeuristic position that evokes a sense of intimacy and participation.

We feel, as a viewer, that we are not just a witness but participating in the scene with the characters. It also solves a practical problem with car scenes i.e. where do you place your cameraperson? Particularly true on a low budget. Using a French Over setup you can simply film from the back seat. As limiting and simple as this setup may feel, it provides different options depending on the drama. For example, through the windscreen you have a second screen which can be used to show not just a location - but a location with dramatic intention. We are moving towards the same dramatic moment as the protagonists. That hooks an audience. In this scene from Sicario (Villeneuve, 2015) we feel the tension of the protagonist as we move towards the border. Importantly, we get to see BOTH the source of potential danger and the character’s reaction to it in the same shot.

Sicario (Villeneuve, 2015)

One other aspect of the French Over that can be used in a car scene is placing the spectator in the position of a child in the back seat. The experience of being driven by our parents - an event over which we have little control - is almost universal. Common emotional situations such as this can be quickly tapped into by filmmakers with psychologically motivated camera set-ups. Spielberg does that here in The Fabelmans (2022). This shot not only places us in the position of the child character but emotionally places us back in our own experience of being a child.

The Fabelmans (Spielberg, 2022)

Ratcheting up the tension

One other aspect of French Overs you can use is the sense of vulnerability they can convey. Mammals are most exposed to danger from behind and this is rooted deeply in our psychology. As a filmmaker, you can use this to your advantage by placing the camera behind your characters when you want to heighten vulnerability. This can be accentuated in a couple of ways. Firstly, when we are behind a character their face is at least partially obscured from us, making their intentions difficult to read. Secondly, you can use dramatic irony (knowledge we have that the characters do not ) to ramp up suspense by alerting the viewer to information characters haven’t spotted. At the start of the iconic elevator scene from Drive (Winding Refn, 2011) the French Over is used to increase our tension by placing us in the same position as Irene (Mulligan), the target of the hitman standing in front of her.

Drive (Winding Refn, 2011)

Use Your Vista

Not only are we a witness to the characters in French Over set-ups but, as mentioned above in driving scenes, we also see what they see. French overs work well to bring a location to life as a third character in a scene. If you can choose your location wisely at this point it can be used to reinforce the underlying subtext of the drama, as shown in this scene from Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (McQuarrie, 2015). Here, the backdrop of the UK Houses of Parliament allows for an ironic contrast between the nobility of the architecture and the manipulative intrigue of the plot.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (McQuarrie, 2015)

I Spy

French Overs are commonly used in scenes that involve espionage or clandestine activities. By placing the camera behind characters we are simultaneously positioning the spectator as an unseen eavesdropper whilst also evoking a sense of paranoia and surveillance through that very eavesdropping. In this scene from The Girl in the Spider's Web (Álvarez, 2018) the French Over set-up is used in an art gallery to show a secret rendezvous between the protagonist Salander (Foy) and whistleblower Balder (Merchant). Galleries are a perfect place to put your visual subtext in the artwork on the walls but be careful. This is increasingly common and the most important rule of being a visually literate director is not to simply copy common approaches but to find your own unique visual voice motivated by emotion, psychology and theme. To find out how to develop your unique directorial voice and make your work stand out look at our online course The Art of Directing

The Girl in the Spider's Web (Álvarez, 2018)