The Actor’s Process Step 4: Blocking your scene 

“Blocking:” ​The theatre term for planning out your movement on set. Blocking should be memorized and
repeatable.

BLOCKING GUIDELINES FOR AN ONLINE “ZOOM” PERFORMANCE 

 
Environmental Setup: 
 
❏ Your location should allow you to perform uninterrupted by other people, pets, and noise. 
❏ Choose a location in front of a plain wall. 
❏ Do not use a virtual background. 
❏ Be sure the lighting is adequate. Always use natural daylight as much as possible. 
❏ Raise your laptop to eye level. You will have to put it on top of something higher than a 
tabletop. 
 
Establishing your acting space: 
 
❏ Know where the midpoint of your X Y Z axis is. That’s center stage. 
❏ Enter the camera frame at the beginning of the scene to establish your 3-dimensional space. 
❏ Moving towards the camera means getting closer to your partner. 
❏ Moving further away from the camera means getting farther from your partner. 
 
Eye Contact: 
 
❏ Your eyeline (what you’re looking at) determines who you’re talking to. 
❏ Looking into the camera lens means looking directly at your audience members (avoid this). 
❏ Look just below the lens (at the person in the zoom box below the lens) to look at your 
partner. 
❏ Looking to either side of the screen is looking away to one side from your partner (who is “in 
front of you.”) 
❏ Looking below the midline of the screen is looking at the ground (avoid this if it’s not 
purposeful). 
❏ Looking above the camera shows you thinking, talking to yourself, or looking for something. 
Created by Karah Janssen, Marie Murphy School (Wilmette, IL), 2020 
 
  See this diagram to illustrate where to look, and what it communicates: 

 
 
Acting Techniques: 
 
❏ Make sure you’re always in frame, including gestures and important actions. 
❏ If you’re close to the camera, you don’t need to project your volume. The further away from 
camera you are, the louder you need to speak. 
❏ Enter the space at the beginning of the scene so you establish a 3-D space. 
❏ If you are handing an object to your partner, both partners’ hands should extend past the 
camera frame (out of frame) and the partner’s hand should “receive it” out of frame.   
❏ If they need to touch, the person touching should reach out of frame and the other partner’s 
body part should be out of frame when “touched” and show response to the touch so the 
audience understands what happened.   
Created by Karah Janssen, Marie Murphy School (Wilmette, IL), 2020