Introduction To Film

INTRODUCTION TO FILM

Introduction Film is a multimedial narrative form based on a physical record of sounds and moving pictures. It is a performed genre in the sense that it is primarily designed in a public performance.

Basic Tools of Analyzing Film Use several codes of signification  Auditory and visual  Active role of the viewer 

Auditory Channel

From Seymour Chatman. Coming to Terms: The Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Films. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1990.

Visual Channel

From Seymour Chatman. Coming to Terms: The

From Seymour Chatman. Coming to Terms: Rhetoric of Narrative in Fiction and Films. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1990.

From Image to Scene Smallest unit: frame (24 per second)  Shot: a sequence of frames filmed in a continuous (uninterrupted) take of a camera  A sequence of shots makes up a scene: a sequence of action segments which take place, continuously, at the same time and in the same shot. 

Cinematography (lighting) Four terms needed to know:  hard light  soft light  high-key lighting  low-key lighting

Hard Light Light that has not been diffused (spread out) or reflected before illuminating the subject. On subjects illuminated by hard light, shadows are sharp-edged and surface details are more noticeable than with soft light. Example: midday sunlight on a clear day unreflected and focused light from a spotlight

Hard Light 

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Hard Lighting Illuminated by one direct, bright spotlight Produces bright illumination Reveals many details, including imperfections in the subject Sharp edges

Soft Light It obscures surface details and creates shadows that are soft-edged. Soft light has been reflected off something else before illuminating the subject. It is available during the so-called ‘magic hour,’ the time after sunset but before dark or the time of increasing light before sunrise.

Soft Light Soft Lighting •

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Produces smoother surfaces Faint shadows

High-key Lighting A high level of illumination on the subject. With high-key lighting, the bright frontal key light on the subject prevents shadows. Often used to create a cheerful mood.

High-key Lighting •

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Top Lighting Illuminated by single light from above Not flattering Hair looks lighter and imperfections can be accented Shadows under eyes

“Shawshank Redemption”

Low-key Lighting Lighting with predominant dark tones, often deep dark tones. Often used to contribute to a dramatic or mysterious effect, as in many detective, crime and horror films.

Low-key Lighting •

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Bottom Lighting Illuminated by a single light from below Often used in horror films Unflattering to skin

“Insidious”

Other types of Lighting •

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Back Lighting Illuminated by one light from behind Subject appears threatening Obscures subject’s identity

Other Types of Lighting •

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Side Lighting Illuminated by one light from the side Creates many shadows on the face, particularly under the eyes Suggests divided personality or someone with contradictory emotions

Other Types of Lighting Main, Frontal Lighting •

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Illuminated by single light from the front Presents subject in an attractive way

Other Types of Lighting •

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Key and Fill Lighting Presents the subject’s skin in the most appealing way Imperfections less noticeable Face and image generally smoother

Color Saturated color: intense, vivid, or brilliant color.  Desaturated color: drained, subdued color approaching a neutral gray. Often used to create or enhance an effect. 

Saturated Color

Desaturated Color

Camera (Movement)

Panning: Filming while the movie camera is pivoted horizontally on a stationary base

Camera (Movement)

Crab: The camera moves (crabs) right or left.

Camera (Movement)

Tracking (dollying): Tracking involves the camera itself being moved smoothly towards or away from the subject (contrast with zooming).

Camera (Movement)

Zoom: To use a zoom lens to cause the image of the subject to either increase or decrease in size. In zooming in or zooming out the camera does not move.

Camera (Movement)

Tilt: A vertical movement of the camera - up or down- while the camera mounting stays fixed.

Camera (Angles) The filmmakers can capture a subject (character), object of setting with the camera from various perspectives or angles in order to give the viewer various kinds of information and produce vastly different effects.

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Angles)

Camera (Distance) There are three main kinds of shot-size:  Long-shots  Medium shots  Close-ups

Camera (Distance)

Close up, close shot (CU, CS): Full view of, typically, a human face Detail/extreme close-up (DS, XCU): A small object or part of an object shown large

Camera (Distance) 

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Medium shot (MS): A view of the upper half of a person's body, showing his or her bodily stance American shot (AS): A three-quarter view of a person, showing her or him from the knees up Full shot (FS): A full view of a person

Camera (Distance) 

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Long shot (LS): A view from a distance, of a large object or a collection of objects (e.g., buildings, a bridge). Often used to establish a setting (establishing shot). People, when present, are reduced to indistinct small shapes. The term semilong shot is sometimes used to indicate a slightly closer view (e.g., the facade of a house). Extreme long shot (XLS): A view from a considerable distance (e.g., the skyline of a city). If people can be made out at all, they are mere dots in the landscape

Long Shot

Mise-en-scene French word meaning “staging”or the arrangemet of setting and subjects within the frame  In a film, the mise-en-scene is an image’s setting (its location in time/place), its subject or subjects (its characters) and its composition (where the characters are placed in the frame or in relation to one another in the setting) 

Mise-en-scene (setting) The place where filmed action occurs; it can be either a SET (built for the movie) or ON-LOCATION (a site left as is)  Depending on the needs of a scene, settings may be REALISTIC, NONREALISTIC, or LIMBO (indistinct) 

Mise-en-scene (framing) Tight Framing: A shot in which there is little visible space around the main subject (character). Uses for such framing include giving a sense of the subject’s confinement…

Tight Framing

Mise-en-scene (framing) Loose Framing: An image in which the main subject has ample space and does not seemed hemmed in by the edges of the frame and the background. Such framing can be used to give a sense of the subject’s freedom of movement or of its being lost in or engulfed by its environment…

Loose Framing

Mise-en-scene (subject) Another aspect of mise-en-scene is “subject,” or the “characters” in a film. How is “character” revealed through costuming in the following two slides?

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene (subject)

Mise-en-scene Method Acting: Acting in which the performer studies the background of the character in depth, immerses him/herself in the role and creates emotions using similar situations from his own life