Film Chapter 5

Four points of view employed in motion pictures (cinematic points of view)

1) objective; 2) subjective; 3) indirect-subjective; 4) director's interpretive

Blue/Green Screen Process

Adding the background in later digitally, filming in front of a blue or green screen. Ex. 300

Foreground Framing

Subject is framed by an object or objects in the near foreground. Deep focus important here.

Subjective Point of View

Takes the viewpoint and emotion of character; more intense and immediate viewing experience results

Director's Interpretive Point of View

The director wants us to see the action in an unusual way by using various techniques such as special angles, special lenses, slow or fast motion, etc. Classroom example: Psycho (water going down the drain dissolves into camera moving out from Marion Crane's eye in a circular motion to mimic motion of water)

Rotoscoping

The process of taking a live-action film and animating its imagery through the use of computer technology. Ex. A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life

Eye-Line Shot

The shot following the look of outward regard; shows us subjectively what the character is seeing.

Lighting and Color

Special uses of light and color draw the eye to the object of greatest significance.

Handheld camera and camera angles

Specialized Cinematic Techniques

Movement of Camera

A camera mounted on a truck or dolly may create the illusion of depth by moving toward or away from a relatively static object.

Zoom Lens

A series of lenses that keep an image in constant focus, allowing the camera to appear to glide toward or away from the subject without any movement of the camera.

Extreme Close-Ups

A shot of a person or object taken at close range.

Shot

A strip of film produced by a single uninterrupted running of the camera

Fish-Eye Lens

An extreme wide-angle lens, bends both horizontal and vertical planes and distorts depth relationships. Used to create unusual subjective states such as dreams, fantasies or drunkenness. Classroom example: Requiem For a Dream

Camera Angles

An important factor in shot composition. Communicate special kinds of dramatic information or emotional moods. They also add variety, or can create a sense of visual balance between shots.

Stop-Motion Animation

An object, such as Gumby, is meticulously manipulated for each frame of film. 24 frames of film equal one second of screen time. When the film runs at normal speed, it appears as though the object is moving. Classroom Example: King Kong, 1933, Ray Harryhausen, stop-motion animation pioneer

Look of Outward Regard

An objective shot that shows a character looking at something off-screen.

Matte Shots

Any special visual effects technique that uses some type of visual mask to allow more than one image to be photographed on a single frame. Classroom example: King Kong

Special Lighting Effects

By carefully controlling the angle, direction, intensity, and quality of the lighting, the director can further add to the illusion of depth. Shadows help.

Three-Dimensional Arrangement of People and Objects

By placing characters and objects in a shot in separate focal planes, the cinematographer has created a truly three-dimensional shot.

Fixed-Frame Movement

Camera remains in one position, pointing in one spot, as the subject moves lateral (from the left to right of frame), in depth (toward or away from the camera), or diagonal (a combination of the two).

Filters

Can give certain shots, scenes or the entire film a specific look. Classroom example: In the Cut (Flashback scene of parents getting engaged in ice rink)

Low-Angle Shot

Can make characters appear menacing or authoritative

High-Angle Shot

Can make the camera appear to be floating, as if an objective spectator, or it can say something about the character (small, insignificant). Ex. Citizen Kane

Guys in Rubber Suits

Classroom example: Godzilla

Telephoto Lens

Compresses depth so that the distance between foreground and background objects seems less than it actually is. Classroom example: The Graduate (Dustin Hoffman seemingly running in place)

CGI

Computer-Generated Imaging: Through the use of computers, makes the impossible come to life and seem real. Creatures and objects never dreamed possible. Ex. Jurassic Park

Movement of Subject (Fixed Frame)

Director creates the illusion of depth by filming the subject moving toward or away from the camera, either head-on or diagonally.

Foreground Framing

Director frames the object of greatest significance with objects or people in the near foreground. Usually the object is emphasized with the brightest lighting and the sharpest focus.

Indirect-Subjective Point of View

Does not provide a participant's point of view, but it does bring us close to the action so that we feel intimately involved and our visual experience is intense. Close-ups commonly used. Classroom example: Psycho (shower scene)

Editing and Movement

Editing creates the most vibrant visual rhythms in a film, as the editorial cuts and transitions can propel us from long shots (shots taken from a distance that show the subject as well as its surroundings to a close-up, from one camera angle to another, and from one setting to another.

Vertical lines, diagonal lines, curved lines, and shot

Elements of Cinematic Composition

Light Diffusing Filters

Ex. Nylon stocking, softens focus and subdues colors, giving the film the quality of an old master's painting.

Wide-Angle Lens

Exaggerates the perspective so that the distance between an object in the foreground and one in the background seems much greater than it actually is. Classroom example: Citizen Kane

Sharpness of Focus

Eye is automatically drawn to what it can best see.

Size and Closeness of the Object

Eye is directed toward larger, closer objects.

Movement

Eye is drawn to an object in motion.

Feature-Length Animated Features

First appeared in 1937, courtesy of Walt Disney: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Combination of animation and live-action includes Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Hayao Miyazaki, director of Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away

Arrangement of People and Objects

Focuses our attention by the director's arrangement of people and objects in relation to each other.

Motion-Capture

For example, The Polar Express, Gollum in Lord of the Rings

1) motion picture (stream of images, sound, and motion); 2) interplay of image, sound, and motion create rhythms; 3) communicates through images and sound, shows action from any vantage point, varies point of view at will, and manipulates time and space (makes maximum use of flexibility and freedom of medium); 4) creates an illusion of depth

Four qualities that make the cinematic film medium unique

Handheld Camera

Heightens the sense of reality. YOU ARE THERE. Often used for the subjective point of view. Classroom example: In the Cut (with Meg Ryan telling the story about the engagement of her parents)

By physical movements/ sounds of objects on screen, dialogue pace, rhythms of human speech, frequency of editorial cuts, length of shots, musical score, and pace of plot.

How are the complex and subtle rhythms created?

Look of Outward Regard and eye-line shot

How is the change from objective to subjective camera angles achieved?

Animated Shorts

Started as early as the 1830s as a series of drawings strung together and brought to life through Victorian zoetropes (Crank-controlled motion picture boxes). As films became popular in American in the 1920s, animated shorts would always appear before feature films. 1928-Walt Disney-Steamboat Willy, world first introduced to Mickey Mouse. Max Fleischer (Betty Boop), Walter Luntz (Woody Woodpecker), Chuck and Tex Avery and Fritz Frelong (Looney Tunes), all pioneers.

Use of Reflections

Mirrors, windows, etc.

Panning

Moving the camera's line of sight in a horizontal plane, to the left and right. Watch out for dead screen (screen area with no dramatically or aesthetically interesting visual information.

Tilting

Moving the camera's line of sight in a vertical plane, up and down.

The Mobile Camera

Steadicam (Portable, one-person camera with a built-in gyroscopic device that prevents and sudden jerkiness); Skycam (Small, computerized, remote-controlled camera that can be mounted on poles, wire cables, aircrafts.

Glass Shots

Photographing live action through a scene painted on glass. Ex. Gone With the Wind.

Computer-Generated Animation

Pixar. 1995: Toy Story

Change of Focal Planes

Rack Focus: In one continuous shot, focusing the camera lens on objects in different planes of depth.

Stop-Motion Animation

Ray Harryhausen (Clash of the Titans, Nick Park (Wallace and Gromit), Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline)

Reflection Mapping

Simulates reflection of real world images on three-dimensional objects that are modeled and rendered on a computer. Also referred to as Motion Capture. Classroom example: Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (Gollum)

Soft Focus

Slightly Blurred. Can also help to convey certain subjective states. Classroom example: The Natural

Direction of Light and Gradual Diffusion

Special Lighting Effects

Deep Focus

The use of special lenses that allow the camera to focus simultaneously and with equal clarity on objects anywhere from two to two hundred feet away. Cinematographer Gregg Toland invented and perfected its use on Citizen Kane.

Apparent Camera Movement (Zoom Lens)

The zoom lens gives us the sensation of moving closer to or farther away from the camera. Not as effective as a mobile camera in creating the illusion of depth, as the objects to the sides do not change their position in relation to one another as they do when the camera moves.

Miniaturization

Using small models in place of the real object or location. Classroom examples: King Kong, Godzilla

1) Focusing Attention on the Most Significant Object; 2) Keeping the Image in Motion; 3) Creating an Illusion of Depth

What three goals of cinematic composition does the cinematographer have in mind when designing each shot?

Optical Printers

When a primary image is super-imposed on another image and composited on one strip of film, an optical printer is used. Computers used nowadays for this process. Ex. Star Wars, Citizen Kane

Fast Motion

When a scene is filmed at less-than-normal speed and then projected at normal speed. Usually used for comedic effect. Classroom example: In the Cut (flashback scene with parents getting engaged in ice rink)

Time-Lapse Photography

When one frame of film is exposed at regular intervals that may be 30 minutes or more apart. Compresses into seconds an act that could take weeks or months. Classroom example: The Virgin Suicides

Curved lines

denote fluidity and sensuality; compositions that suggest a circular movement evoke feelings of exaltation, euphoria and joy.

Diagonal lines

suggest action and dynamic movement, the power to overcome obstacles

Vertical lines

suggest strength, authority, dignity

Objective Point of View

uses static camera to create "window effect"; emotional distance between camera and subject