Camera Techniques Production elements continued..

Questions & Answers

• Name 5 story/production elements

• Name 5 different genres

• What are several key terms used when describing 'lighting' as a production element

Visual Composition

• When analyzing various story/production elements (apart from sound) we are essentially studying the "visual composition"

• Actors, lights & camera angles have been purposefully chosen to represent/symbolize something

• This screen capture from Black Balloon exhibits the intimacy between two young people. This is created from the actors, but also the close-up camera angle

Camera techniques

• It is said that the best films are those in which every shot is a beautifully composed photograph.

• The camera is rarely neutral- it's positions the audience to read a character, location or event subjectively

• It controls not only what we see but how we see it

Shot selection

• Extreme long shot

• Long shot

• Mid-shot

• Medium close-up

• Close-up

• Extreme close-up

Camera techniques

Common conventions -

Close-ups are about emotional engagement and revealing secrets

Camera angles suggest dominance or submission

The more the camera lingers on a subject, the greater the importance of that subject is in the

narrative

Smooth camera movements - pan, tilt, track, zoom - indicate control and/or order.

Jerky handheld camera movements indicate

disarray

What does this camera angle say about the character? Why do we think this?

Symbolic Codes and Conventions

Media texts use various codes or production elements to construct a representation.

Conventions in media

Movie Trailers