Film Language

Theresa DawsonJacob Burns Film

CenterMonday 20 July 2009

Mise-en-scenePut into the scene / staging an action

• Setting• Props• Costume• Performance• Lighting

Put into the scene / staging an action

• Setting• Props• Costume• Performance• Lighting

Mise-en-scene and film authorship

Mise-en-scene central to auteur discussion i.e.film authorship. During classic Hollywood studio period control of the director was limited to those processes recorded during filming.

The quality of a director’s work could be read through his control over mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene central to auteur discussion i.e.film authorship. During classic Hollywood studio period control of the director was limited to those processes recorded during filming.

The quality of a director’s work could be read through his control over mise-en-scene

Setting

Location: What is the significance of the natural setting in this clip? What is the significance of the house set?

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Props

What is the key prop in this sequence?

How do we know it is not just an innocuous part of the setting?

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Costume

What is the significance of costume in this clip?

How does the costume echo in other elementsof the mise-en-scene?

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Performance

Look at ‘Bruno’s’ performance in this clip.

What suggestions are made about him?

How do other elements of the mise-en-scenecontribute to our ‘reading’ of him?

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3 point lighting or ‘high key lighting’

3 point lighting or ‘high key lighting’

Uses 3 light sources: a key light -the main light for the subject, a back light - picks subject out from background, and a fill light, to fill in shadows

Designed to be unobtrusive

How does 3 point lighting work in this clip?

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A beautifying light

Lighting from belowA distorting light

Side lightingA selective light that conceals/reveals

Top lighting

How is Marlene Dietrich lit in this clip?

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Low key lighting ‘noir lighting’

Uses 1 source light, light is limitedImages have high contrast‘chiaroscuro’Few mid-tonesA very noticeable lighting effect

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Exercise

What do we learn from the mise-en-scene in this opening sequence

from Hitchcock’s Rear Window?

What do we learn from the mise-en-scene in this opening sequence

from Hitchcock’s Rear Window?

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Cinematography

• Frame dimension• Lens• Camera angle• Camera movement• Focus• Film stock

• Frame dimension• Lens• Camera angle• Camera movement• Focus• Film stock

Frame dimension

Aspect ratio 1: 1.33 ‘academy’

Cinemascope 1: 2.35

Widescreen 1: 1.85(in Widescreen Europe 1:1.75)

Identify frame dimension for the following 2 clips

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Lenses: wide angle

What effect does shootingwith a wide angle lens have on the image in this clip?

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Lenses: long lens

The following clip of Dustin Hoffman

desperately trying to halt a wedding

was shot using a long lens -- whatimpact does this have on how we see

his actions?

The following clip of Dustin Hoffman

desperately trying to halt a wedding

was shot using a long lens -- whatimpact does this have on how we see

his actions?

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Angle: low angle

This character is shot from a low angle.

What is our response to him?

This character is shot from a low angle.

What is our response to him?

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Angle: high

Why is the camera positioned above

The female lead in this sequence?

How do we respond to her basedon this framing from above?

Why is the camera positioned above

The female lead in this sequence?

How do we respond to her basedon this framing from above?

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Angle: canted or ‘dutch’

This framing starts out as framed withthe horizon but then goes askew.

What is the reason for the askew or ‘canted’ framing in this clip?

How does the askew framing makeyou feel?

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Moving camera: the track

This is one of the most famous track shots in film history.

Why does the filmmaker use a track shot?

What effect does this shot have?

This is one of the most famous track shots in film history.

Why does the filmmaker use a track shot?

What effect does this shot have?

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Moving camera: steadicam

What is the purpose of this very long shot?

How does it make you feel?

Why did the filmmaker choose to film in this way?

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Moving camera: pan

cranePan: Camera moving from side to side

Crane: Camera is mounted on a crane and can float through the air

How is pan and crane used in this shot?

Pan: Camera moving from side to side

Crane: Camera is mounted on a crane and can float through the air

How is pan and crane used in this shot?

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Focus: rack focus

In this sequence we shift focus from one character to the other

What is the effect of this change in focus?

In this sequence we shift focus from one character to the other

What is the effect of this change in focus?

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Film stock

Comment on the color used in this

clip?

Comment on the color used in this

clip?

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Editing

• Continuity editing• 180 degree system• Match on action• Montage editing• Cross-cutting

• Continuity editing• 180 degree system• Match on action• Montage editing• Cross-cutting

Continuity editing

Dominant editing styleDesigned to be seamlessIncludes filming in 180 degrees of action

Varying angles by more than 30 degrees

Eyeline and other match shots

Dominant editing styleDesigned to be seamlessIncludes filming in 180 degrees of action

Varying angles by more than 30 degrees

Eyeline and other match shots

180 degree axis of action

This clip explains the 180 degreerule

Why is it important that you do not‘cross the line/axis’ in terms ofediting shots together?

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Match shots

This sequence contains a ‘match on action’ shot

Where does the match on actiontake place?

Why is a match on action shot used?

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Self-conscious breaking 180 degree

ruleOzu is a director who deliberatelybreaks the 180 degree rule

Where do we see a break in the 180degree rule in this clip?

What effect does this have?

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Self-conscious match on action

This sequence also contains a matchaction, however, it draws attention to itself

Where is the match on action?

What is the filmmaker implying herewith this match on action shot?

This sequence also contains a matchaction, however, it draws attention to itself

Where is the match on action?

What is the filmmaker implying herewith this match on action shot?

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Montage editingThe ‘Kuleshov’ effect

Cutting of neutral shots of an actor’s face with other shots (variously reported as shots of soup, nature, a dead woman, a baby).

The audience assumed that the actor’s expression changed but also that the actor was responding to things in the same scene as himself.

The ‘Kuleshov’ effect

Cutting of neutral shots of an actor’s face with other shots (variously reported as shots of soup, nature, a dead woman, a baby).

The audience assumed that the actor’s expression changed but also that the actor was responding to things in the same scene as himself.

Montage editing

How is montage editing used in this clip?

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Cross-cuttingCreates omniscience by alternating shots fromone place with shots from another event or place.Typically used to cause tension in viewer.First used extensively by D W Griffith in his lastminute rescue scenes.

How is cross cutting used in the openingof Strangers on a Train?

How is cross cutting used in The Godfather?

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Sound

• Speech• Sound effects• Music• Diegetic v non diegetic• Diegetic: internal / external

• Speech• Sound effects• Music• Diegetic v non diegetic• Diegetic: internal / external

Speech

How is speech varied in this clip?

Why does the filmmaker vary loudness timbre of the speaker?

How do you feel at the end of the clip?

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Sound effects

What sound effects are used in this clip?

What makes these sound effects more effective than the sound that might have been recorded on set?

What sound effects are used in this clip?

What makes these sound effects more effective than the sound that might have been recorded on set?

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Music

What sound effects and music do you hear in the opening credits of this film?

What do the sounds make you think of?

Why is sound so important in this opening sequence?

What sound effects and music do you hear in the opening credits of this film?

What do the sounds make you think of?

Why is sound so important in this opening sequence?

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Diegetic sound

Diegetic means emanating from a source in the story space

Non-diegetic sound means from outside the story space

Is music in the Strangers on a Train clip

diegetic or non-diegetic?

Diegetic means emanating from a source in the story space

Non-diegetic sound means from outside the story space

Is music in the Strangers on a Train clip

diegetic or non-diegetic?

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Internal v external diegetic

External diegetic sound is sound that can be heard by everyone else in the story

Internal diegetic sound exists in the

character’s mind

How is external and internal diegetic sound used in this clip?

External diegetic sound is sound that can be heard by everyone else in the story

Internal diegetic sound exists in the

character’s mind

How is external and internal diegetic sound used in this clip?

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Confused internal/externaldiegetic sound

This clip famously plays tricks on the audience about whether the sound is external sound coming from an

identifiable source, or whether it is internal and exists in the character’s mind

How does the filmmaker do this?

This clip famously plays tricks on the audience about whether the sound is external sound coming from an

identifiable source, or whether it is internal and exists in the character’s mind

How does the filmmaker do this?

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Exercise

How is sound used to create emotion and tension in Robert Bresson’s

‘A Man Escaped’?

How is sound used to create emotion and tension in Robert Bresson’s

‘A Man Escaped’?

Further information

This presentation is online at slideshare:

Reading: ‘Film Art: an introduction’, 7th edition, K Bordwell and D Thompson,

Mcgraw-Hill, New York, 2004

My contact: tdawson@burnsfilmcenter.org

This presentation is online at slideshare:

Reading: ‘Film Art: an introduction’, 7th edition, K Bordwell and D Thompson,

Mcgraw-Hill, New York, 2004

My contact: tdawson@burnsfilmcenter.org