The Dinner Scene — How to Direct Dinner & Dialogue [Director's Playbook]

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Best Dinner Scenes in Movies and Why They Work ►►

Chapters:
00:00 Can Dinner Scenes Be Cinematic?
01:14 The Table — Set Design & Mise en Scéne
01:51 What's On the Table (Goodfellas Dinner Scene)
02:14 What's in the Room (Django Unchained & Manchester by the Sea)
02:40 The Blocking — Seating Arrangements
02:48 Distance & Opposition (Citizen Kane Dinner Scene)
03:19 Alliance (Django Unchained Dinner)
03:32 Who's in Control (Inglourious Basterds Dinner Scene)
03:53 The Camera — Emphasizing Power Dynamics
04:11 Singles vs Group Shots (Goodfellas & Manchester)
04:58 Lens Choice — Grow or Shrink Distance
05:24 The Key to a Dinner Scene: What's Shared and What's Not
06:16 Learn More about Table Scenes

The dinner scene — sometimes considered the least cinematic and yet most common scene in many movies. Two characters sitting, eating, and talking can be found everywhere in cinema. From every decade and every genre, the eating scene is almost always about something other than the food. We’ve seen these scenes countless times but only a few are memorable. So, how do the best dinner scenes in movies give these obligatory moments life and personality?

In this video essay, our focus is how directors can use production design and set design, blocking and staging, and cinematography to craft cinematic dinner scenes. Consider the Hereditary dinner scene and how the blocking and framing of the characters purposefully enhance the drama.

What are we to make of the dinner scenes from Goodfellas and Jojo Rabbit, where the abundance or lack of food on the table gives us character and story information. How about the infamous breakfast montage from Citizen Kane where the camera pulls back to reveal the literal and figurative distance between Kane and his wife?

We can find one of the most awkward dinner scenes in Manchester by the Sea. As Patrick dines with his estranged mother and her new husband, the disconnect between them is all captured in the framing. As you start storyboarding your next dinner scene, remember to keep these considerations in mind — who is where, what is there, and what’s being shared. Because the best dinner scenes are rarely, if ever, about dinner.

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