Cinematography
Camera Shots:
Long Shot:- This is when the camera is viewing something or someone at a far distance, for example, a large area of landscape or a large group of people.
Medium Shot:- This is when the camera is viewing something at normal distance, for example, a single person (about from the waist up).
Close-Up:- This is when the camera is viewing something at close range, for example, a person's face.
Extreme Close-Up:- This is when the camera is viewing something at a very close range for extreme emphasis, for example, a person's eye.
Point of View:- This is when the camera is viewing something from the point of view of a certain character, for example, when that specific character is actually looking through a camcorder.
Low Angle:- This is when the camera is viewing something at a low angle, for example, when a character is looking up at a stained-glass ceiling. This is usually used to portray might and power.
High Angle:- This is when the camera is viewing something from a high angle, for example, when a character is looking down a hole in a cave. This is usually used to portray fear and weakness.
Camera Movements:
Pan:- This is when the camera is moved from side to side.
Tilt:- This is when the camera is moved up and down.
Crane Shot:- This is when the camera is zoomed in or out using a crane instead of the zoom function on the camera.
Tracking Shot:- This is when the camera is focused specifically on a character or a moving object.
Rolling Shot:- This is when the camera is tilted sideways. This is usually used to portray mental instability.
Steadicam:- This is a special piece of equipment in which the camera is attached to a harness worn by the cameraman. This is used so the camera can follow the character or a moving object in a steady manner instead of the camera "wobbling".
Sound
Diegetic sound:- This is sound which is heard by the characters within the "world of the text" (e.g. a film) and the audience. For example, dialogue, a radio playing music, footsteps, etc.
Non-diegetic sound:- This is sound which cannot be heard by the characters within the world of the text but can be heard by the audience. For example, background music, narration, etc.
On-screen sound:- This is sound in which the audience can see the source of said sound. For example, a radio playing music, one or more people talking on-screen, etc.
Off-screen sound:- This is sound in which the audience cannot see the source of said sound. For example, background music, distant sound, sound effects happening off-screen, etc.
Parallel sound:- This is sound that matches the action in a scene of a film. For example, happy actions, e.g. laughing, while happy music or sound effects play, e.g. happy background music, tweeting birds.
Contrapuntal sound:- This is sound that doesn't match the action in a scene of a film. For example, happy singing while intense music or sound effects play, e.g. the schoolhouse scene in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".
Sound bridge:- This is sound that helps to create a smooth transition between two scenes; the sound "bridges" two scenes together. For example,
Lighting
Key Light:- This is the first of the 3 main lights on a movie set. This is usually put to the right of the subject. This is the brightest, most influential and most prominent light.
Back Light:- This is the second of the 3 main lights on a movie set. This is usually put behind the subject. This is used to limit the beam from the Key Light and create an outline or silhouette of the subject.
Filler Light:- This is the third of the 3 main light on a movie set. This is usually put to the left of the subject. This is used to soften the shadows created by the Key and Back Lights.
Underlighting:- This is when the source of light is shone below the subject. This is often used in Thrillers and Horror movies as it makes the subject look scary and intimidating.
Top Lighting:- This is when the source of light is shone above the subject. This is often used to give the subject a glamorous look.
Back Lighting:- This is when the source of light is shone behind the subject. This is used to produce a silhouette or an outline of the subject.
Low-Key Lighting:- This is when only the Key and Back Lights are used. This is used to create a sharp and more noticeable contrast between light and darkness as the shadows produced are very deep and distinct. This is also known as Chiaroscuro (meaning light and dark in Italian).
High-Key Lighting:- This is when more Filler Lights are used. This is used to make the lighting more realistic.
Mise-en-scene
This is the french term used to refer to "what is in the scene/ frame". There are 5 elements in mise-en-scene:-
- Settings and Props
- Costumes, Hair and Make-up
- Facial Expressions and Body Language
- Lighting and Colour
- Positioning of Characters and Objects in the Frame
The setting refers to where the media text is set in, e.g. a Western town, Starship Enterprise. Props are the objects used in the setting, e.g. tumbleweeds, a ray gun.
The costumes make the characters match the genre, e.g. a Cowboy costume in the Western genre, an Alien costume in the Science-Fiction genre. These also depend on the archetypes of the characters, e.g. heroes/ heroines generally wear bright colours and clothes that make them look strong and courageous, villains/ villainesses generally wear dark colours and clothes that make them look scary, evil and cunning. The make-up is often used as special effects, e.g. blood. Genres like Horror and Sci-Fi tend to use the most make-up and special effects.
Facial expressions and body language are one way everyone, as well as actors and actresses, communicate with one another. These are particularly useful with close-up and extreme close-up shots. These are also one way to convey emotions, e.g. anger can be portrayed through a person's frown, happiness can be portrayed through a person's smile, sadness can be portrayed through a person's sad frown and tears.
Where and how the characters and objects are placed in the setting is also important. The three main "zones" of a scene are the background, foreground and middle-ground. Where objects or characters are positioned in the scene (like how far away they are from the camera) can emphasise their importance, if they have any importance at all. Objects in the foreground are where they are closest to the camera and objects in the background are where they are furthest to the camera. When characters or objects are positioned evenly within the shot, it gives a balanced feeling to the scene. When characters are positioned on the outside ridges of the shot, it gives the scene a sense of distance between the characters.
Editing
This is the process of piecing together several pieces of footage to create a film or TV show. There are two types of Editing:-
The costumes make the characters match the genre, e.g. a Cowboy costume in the Western genre, an Alien costume in the Science-Fiction genre. These also depend on the archetypes of the characters, e.g. heroes/ heroines generally wear bright colours and clothes that make them look strong and courageous, villains/ villainesses generally wear dark colours and clothes that make them look scary, evil and cunning. The make-up is often used as special effects, e.g. blood. Genres like Horror and Sci-Fi tend to use the most make-up and special effects.
Facial expressions and body language are one way everyone, as well as actors and actresses, communicate with one another. These are particularly useful with close-up and extreme close-up shots. These are also one way to convey emotions, e.g. anger can be portrayed through a person's frown, happiness can be portrayed through a person's smile, sadness can be portrayed through a person's sad frown and tears.
Where and how the characters and objects are placed in the setting is also important. The three main "zones" of a scene are the background, foreground and middle-ground. Where objects or characters are positioned in the scene (like how far away they are from the camera) can emphasise their importance, if they have any importance at all. Objects in the foreground are where they are closest to the camera and objects in the background are where they are furthest to the camera. When characters or objects are positioned evenly within the shot, it gives a balanced feeling to the scene. When characters are positioned on the outside ridges of the shot, it gives the scene a sense of distance between the characters.
Editing
This is the process of piecing together several pieces of footage to create a film or TV show. There are two types of Editing:-
- Speed of Editing:- This term refers to how long each shot is.
- Style of Editing:- This term refers to how each shot is joined to the next.
There is also Continuity Editing, which is when one shot continues through into another so as to prevent confusion among the audience, e.g. when one shot that show a character walking through a door on one side of the door and then the next shot shows the character walking through the door from the other side of the door.
The shots in a scene from a film can last either a few seconds or a few minutes. The speed of editing sets up the pace of the scene and moves the action along. The speed also determines the mood of the scene, e.g. an action-packed scene has shots that last less than 2 seconds maximum, a calm scene has shots that last around 1-2 minutes minimum.
Action-packed scenes have incredibly short and fast-changing shots to portray anxiety, suspense and even thrill, e.g. the bathroom scenes in Casino Royale. This kind of editing is common in films like action movies and thrillers.
Calmer scenes have longer shots that change less frequently to portray a relaxing mood, e.g. when Marion Crane and Norman Bates are talking in Psycho. This kind of editing is common in films like romantic comedies.
However, it is not mandatory to use editing in films. For example, the movie "Russian Ark" was filmed in entirely one shot using a Steadicam. This required perfect and split-second timing and organisation of everything and everyone in view of the shot.
Trailers for a movie need to include scenes from said movie to summarise the basic plot of the film in a small amount of time. Therefore, the editing needs to be short and quick. The trailer for "The Man in the Iron Mask" has editing that is so extremely fast that it is extremely difficult to count how many shots there are in total. Try for Yourself!
The beginning of a film must be long enough to introduce and explain the premise of the film, like the setting and the situation. It also needs to be long enough to introduce the main protagonist(s). As the film progresses, the shots in the scenes might get shorter because the film is trying to focus on more than one storyline between each character at the same time. It also may depend on the genre, e.g. thriller, romantic comedy.
One example is that comparing the opening of the first Spiderman movie in 2002 with any other action scene afterwards later in the film shows that the length of each scene in the opening is longer than in the later action scenes to introduce characters like Mary-Jane Watson and Peter Parker (who actually introduces the characters into the plot). The shots in the later action scenes are much shorter as they don't need to much detail besides the fighting.
Also, the shower scene from Psycho has longer scenes before the attack than during the attack. During the attack, the speed of editing is fast-paced to match the action (a murder scene) and is so fast that you actually think you see Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) getting stabbed when in fact the "knife" stopped right before it "stabbed" her, but the editing was so fast that you couldn't see that at first.
Overall, in Speed of Editing, the speed and length of each shot are most important. One of the best examples of Speed of Editing is the final scene of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, in which the three main characters are having a three-way Mexican Stand-off. The speed of each shot is long in order to prolong suspense about who will shoot first and the shots all move between one of the three characters to another or all three in one shot to show their importance.
Style of Editing is how every shot is connected to each other. Every shot is moved onto the next through a Transition. There are several kinds of Transitions:-
Action-packed scenes have incredibly short and fast-changing shots to portray anxiety, suspense and even thrill, e.g. the bathroom scenes in Casino Royale. This kind of editing is common in films like action movies and thrillers.
Calmer scenes have longer shots that change less frequently to portray a relaxing mood, e.g. when Marion Crane and Norman Bates are talking in Psycho. This kind of editing is common in films like romantic comedies.
However, it is not mandatory to use editing in films. For example, the movie "Russian Ark" was filmed in entirely one shot using a Steadicam. This required perfect and split-second timing and organisation of everything and everyone in view of the shot.
Trailers for a movie need to include scenes from said movie to summarise the basic plot of the film in a small amount of time. Therefore, the editing needs to be short and quick. The trailer for "The Man in the Iron Mask" has editing that is so extremely fast that it is extremely difficult to count how many shots there are in total. Try for Yourself!
The beginning of a film must be long enough to introduce and explain the premise of the film, like the setting and the situation. It also needs to be long enough to introduce the main protagonist(s). As the film progresses, the shots in the scenes might get shorter because the film is trying to focus on more than one storyline between each character at the same time. It also may depend on the genre, e.g. thriller, romantic comedy.
One example is that comparing the opening of the first Spiderman movie in 2002 with any other action scene afterwards later in the film shows that the length of each scene in the opening is longer than in the later action scenes to introduce characters like Mary-Jane Watson and Peter Parker (who actually introduces the characters into the plot). The shots in the later action scenes are much shorter as they don't need to much detail besides the fighting.Also, the shower scene from Psycho has longer scenes before the attack than during the attack. During the attack, the speed of editing is fast-paced to match the action (a murder scene) and is so fast that you actually think you see Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) getting stabbed when in fact the "knife" stopped right before it "stabbed" her, but the editing was so fast that you couldn't see that at first.
Overall, in Speed of Editing, the speed and length of each shot are most important. One of the best examples of Speed of Editing is the final scene of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, in which the three main characters are having a three-way Mexican Stand-off. The speed of each shot is long in order to prolong suspense about who will shoot first and the shots all move between one of the three characters to another or all three in one shot to show their importance.Style of Editing is how every shot is connected to each other. Every shot is moved onto the next through a Transition. There are several kinds of Transitions:-
- Straight Cut:- The most common and most "invisible"/unnoticeable transition. This is when one shot immediately moves onto the next but the audience think of it as nothing special or they don't notice it at all. These kinds of transition give the scene a realistic feeling and they don't break the audience's concentration.
- Dissolves:- This is when one shot fades into the next. This way, the audience can see both shots on screen temporarily before the next shot fades in. Filmmakers often use this to imply to the audience a connection between two characters, places or objects, etc.
- Fades:- This is when the lighting in a shot lightens or darkens until the entire shot is completely black or white. Filmmakers often use this to indicate the end of a section of a movie's story and the passing of time in the narrative.
- Wipes:- This is when one shot is pushed off to the left or right side of the screen by the next shot. It is more common for a shot to get pushed off to the left of the screen by the next shot as it seems to convey the passing of time to the audience. Filmmakers use this to switch from one event in one location to another event in another location that is happening at the same time. The "Star Wars" movie series are famous for using these frequently.
- Jump Cut:- This breaks the rule of Continuity Editing, i.e. Discontinuity. This is when something is brought into focus in the next shot so abruptly and suddenly without the audience having any idea how it got there in the first place. Here, it becomes apparent to the audience that a section of a scene is completely missing. Filmmakers use this to startle the audience and attract their attention (mostly in confusion).
- Graphic Match:- This is when two matching shots are placed together in a sequence. This makes the transition smooth even though whatever is in the two shots might not be exactly the same but are exactly the same in shape. Probably the most famous Graphic Match is in the opening of "2001: A Space Odyssey" where one of the ape-people throws a bone in the air and then the next shot immediately afterwards shows a space station that is similar in shape in the shot to the bone from the last shot. Another example is after the shower attack scene in "Psycho" when one shot shows the plug-hole of the shower and the next shows Marion's eye, which looks similar in shape to the plug-hole.
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