Cinematic Level

• The items that make a movie a movie!

• What you see on film cannot be seen anywhere else!

Shot

• A single, uninterrupted piece of film

• The image that is seen on-screen until it is replaced by another image through editing

• If the camera moves while still filming, but without breaks, that is still one shot

• Practice: Snap every time you see a new shot in these clips.

Rope

Mise en Scene

• Pronounced: meez en sen

• Visual arrangement of all visual elements within an area

• Used to be “stage”

• Now….the screen

Armageddon

American Beauty

Framing

• How the object in the shot will be positioned and filmed.

• How much of the frame of the screen the object will occupy

• Similar to cropping in photography

• 3 main types

Long Shot

• Object on screen appears small or far away

• Oftentimes used as an “establishing shot”• To show where the film takes place• Location, time

• Objects and characters may seem unclear or indistinct because of a lack of detail

Long Shot

Enemy of the State

Effects of a Long Shot?

• Show where the action will take place.

• Force the viewer to focus on one or two things in focus • Those must be important

• To show that something is weak or powerless • It’s so small physically and power-ly!

The Graduate

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Close-Up

• Object in focus takes up about 80% of the screen space

• Object appears very large

• Forces viewer to look at ONLY what the director intends

Close-Up

The Graduate

Effects of a Close Up?

• Object in frame is to be seen as important.

• Often used as foreshadowing.

• Can show characters’ reactions.

• Can show emotions.

• Can create tension since only a small portion of “the real world” is on screen (while other stuff must be happening!)

Mission Impossible

Cool Hand Luke

Psycho

Medium Shot

• From about the waist up

• The most common and most naturalistic framing choice

• A “neutral framing”

• Seems comfortable and unobtrusive• What does unobtrusive mean?

Medium Shot

• Effects?Dodgeball

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Camera Angles

• Where the camera will be placed in relation to the subject

• There are 4 main angles directors use

Low Angle

• Camera is below the subject being filmed

The Graduate

Effects of a Low Angle?

• Framed item is seen “from below.”

• Item looks large = powerful

• Item can be seen as• Powerful• Dominant• Important

• Could just be about location – looking UP at something!

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

High Angle

• Camera is above the subject being filmed

Fargo

Effects of a High Angle?

• Framed item is seen “from above.”

• Item looks small = weak

• Item can be seen as• Weak• Powerless• Inferior

• Could just be about location – looking DOWN at something.

Psycho

Mission Impossible

The Graduate

Psycho

Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World’s End

Eye Level

• Camera is at the same level as the subject being shot.

• This is a “neutral camera angle”

Dutch Angle

• Object in the frame is “canted” or angled

The Shining

Effects of a Dutch Angle

• Object in frame is “tilted.”

• Object is literally “off kilter”• Could imply that the scene is

emotionally off kilter or imbalanced.

• Situation is unstable

Do the Right Thing

Do the Right Thing

The Departed

Camera Movement

• Pan• When a camera pivots on a horizontal axis• Side to side!

• Tilt• When a camera pivots on a vertical axis• Up and down!

• Zoom• Focal length of a camera changes• More or less of an object is “framed”

• Tracking / Dolly Shots• Camera actually moves!• Could be around, into, above, or through a subject

Lighting

• The principle source of light for filming

• 3 main types

Low-Key Lighting

• Much darkness

• Many shadows

Double Indemnity

Effects of Low-Key Lighting

• Many shadows are created

• Ohhh….scary!

• Suspense

• Uncertainty

• Doubt

Shakespeare in Love

High-Key Lighting

• Brightness

• Openness

• Lack of shadows

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Effects of High-Key Lighting

• No shadows

• Everything is washed in full light

• Excitement

• “On the level” - honest

Bottom / Side / Back Lighting

• When the light source is either from the bottom, side, or back of the subject.

• Certain features are highlighted (no pun intended)

The Graduate

Frost / Nixon

Effects of Bottom / Side /

Back Lighting• Certain features are highlighted.

• Creates suspense

• Could signify that a character is multi faceted• “Two-faced”• Complex

Front Lighting

• From directly in front of the subject

• Creates a bit of a “halo effect”

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Sound

• An integral component of the film experience.

• Imagine a scary movie with the sound turned down; it just seems silly!

Diegetic Sound

• Pronounced - die-uh-je-tik

• Any sound that could be logically heard by a character within the film.

• If a character speaks or a cat growls

• The characters in the film and the audience hear roughly the same thing• (Or could hear the same thing)

Nondiegetic Sound

• Sound that cannot be logically heard by a character.

• Soundtrack!

• Intended only for the audience

• Voice-over narration is included in this categoryTrack 1

Track 2

Track 3

Track 4

Editing

• Methods by which a director chooses to move from one shot to another.

• The point is to make cuts but for them to be SUBTLE!

Fade

• When the on-screen image slowly fades away to white or black

• Slow transition

• Not realistic

• Effects?• Time has passed. • Amount depends on the length of time in black

Dissolve

• Image slowly fades out

• Before fading completely out – new image fades in

• Slow transition

• Effects?• The first scene leads to the next.• The two are connected in some way.

Crosscut

• Parallel editing

• Cut from one scene immediately to another

• Effects?• Scenes are happening at the same time.• Can create suspense!

Eye-Line Match

• Also called a point of view shot

• Camera cuts to what the person is looking at as if through their eyes

• Effects?• Puts viewer in the shoes of a character.