Cinematography
3 Words which came in your head watching the cinematography video?
-Minimalism
-Focus
-Blend
What is Cinematography?
The art or technique of motion-picture photography.
A micro element in the film industry.The use of camera positions and movements in order for the director to establish changes of situation and mood.
Who is in charge of Cinematography and what do they do?
Director of Photography
1.They are a key Heads of Department on film productions and provide a film with its unique visual identity,or look.
2.DoPs must discover the photographic heart of a screenplay.
3.They create the desired look using lighting, framing, camera movement. They manage the Camera and lighting teams.
4. After reading the screenplay, DoPs work with the Director to discuss the visual style of the film, help create the Directors Vision. They research and prepare for shooting at the location, prepare a list of required equipment.
5. During post production, DoPs attend the digital grading of the film
What is cinematography and who is responsible for it?
‘The art or technique of motion-picture photography.’
Micro element in film making using lighting framing and camera movement.//The director of photography (DoPs).
Roles under the DoPs
Each of the roles play a big part in producing an outstanding cinematography in one movie.
On Set Crew Positions Chain of Command
Camera Work
Camera Shots
Camera Shot Angle
Camera Movement
Group Activity-30 second film
The video needs to consist of the following camera techniques:
Medium Long shot, Worms eye view, Canted angle, Tilt up, Zoom out
Evaluate how effectively the meaning,situation and mood is communicated through the cinematography from the following "Jaws Clip".
The scenes have effectively communicated the meaning,situation and mood by using several camera techniques.At the beginning and through out the middle part of the clip there have been many repitition in some of the scenes such as the over the shoulder shot and also a transition shot slowly changing the size of the shot towards the sea e.g long shot to medium shot.The repitition of the over the shoulder shot for instance, was repeated in order to show the protagonist ignoring his conversation and looking out into the big vague sea/can be considered as a PoV shot as well which suggests and create an anxious mood to the audience that something dangerous is out there in the sea and it is unknown.Having the rule of third included in the over the shoulder is also a very smart way from Steven Spielberg to make the audience clearly focus and seperate 3 things at the same time in one shot which in this scene is the sea,person talking and the protagonist.
Moreover,the repitition of the camera shot at the sea and changing it's size to becoming closer every time with the whole frame gradually being covered more with the sea every time it cuts to the shot again implies that some sort of situation will be happening in the sea.The fact that the sea is slowly repeated and what's on the sea is currently unknown causes fear vicariously to the audience and effectively implants the increasing tension and intensity to audience's mind.All the fear and tension solely built up based onto an objective related to the sea further make sense and comes into a clearer meaning as the danger from the sea was revealed to be a shark.
In the further beginning part of the clip a dog was missing and it's playing stick was found floating on the sea by it's owner.After the boy on the sea was killed/attacked by the shark and the mother of the boy found her son's clothes floating to the shore with blood it now made a clearer meaning to what happened to the missing dog before as one of his/her belonging was floating too suggesting that it could also be attacked by the shark.The repeated similar types of scenes surely made a good a reference and act as a great metaphor to foreshadow and clarifies clearer meaning of all the incidents that occured in the scenes,also enabling the audience to understand and follow the story effortlessly and authentically.
Key shots from the "Jaws-Get Out of the Water clip".
Jaws key shots// techniques// 3 Vs
-two shot-protagonist having the conversation
-Over the shoulder shot-the protagonist being anxios
-Reverse of the shoulder shot
-depth of field
-vicarious-getting anxious because the girl is on the water by her self
-close up/tilt
-long shot-see the actions
-foreshadowing
-medium close up shot
-eye level view
-Pov
Verisimilitude-the appearance of being true or real.
-repitition
Insecurity Commentary - Cinematography
I have created my commentary on Cinematography for my short film opening "Insecurity".
Lighting
‘The use of various light sources, both artificial and natural, to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect while illuminating a scene.’
Lighting in film is a micro element that helps convey the narrative, theme, mood, characters and genre.
Who is the cinema team and what is the chain of command?
What do we have to think when we're lighting our film?
Who is in control of the lighting of the film set and why is it important?
The person in charge of the lighting is the DoP and the gaffer.The DoP controls three mains part of the cinematography which consists of the Camera Team,Grip and the Electric.In the electric section the "Gaffer"is the head electrician, responsible for the execution.Rigger gaffer is the person under the gaffer followed by the best boy electric and electricians/sparks.
What types of lighting set ups are there in film production?
There're 5 main types of lighting
High Key
Low Key
Mid Key
Silhouette
Golden Hour
Three point Lighting
High key Lighting
Bright,even and balanced lighting that is similar to daylight. Shadows are less defined.It can be created using a three point lighting set up.
The picture is bright.
There is a lack of contrast.
There is a lack of shadows
High Key images are considered happy and most convey positive emotions
Low Key Lighting
High contrast,more dramatic lighting.Shadows and highlights are more defined.It can be created using a two point lighting set up by using only the key and back lights.
Lots of dark areas
Give special attention to contour lines,
emphasizing them with highlights.
The tone is darker, and the controlling
colour is usually black.
Low Key images are darker, more dramatic
and present a lot of atmosphere and tension.
Mid Key Lighting
Mid key keeps the photograph tones right in the middle of high and low key – not too bright and not too dark. Mid key lighting focuses on the middle tones in a photograph, while still keeping the subject brighter than the background.
Silhouette Lighting
Silhouette lighting is a type of lighting which create a dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background, especially in dim light.
Golden Hour
The golden hour is a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky.
Otherwise known as the Magic Hour.Broadly the first and last hours of daylight give warm,soft lighting.
What type of lighting do you want to use in your media product and why?
Considering the genre of my media product/short film opening is a psychological thriller and a little bit of horror it would be suitable to use a low key in more of the scenes than using the high key lighting.Many famous psychological and mysterious films all have the same tone and mood in their scenes of having the majority of the frame covered in black.Creating the colour black from the low key lightning technique causes the audience to feel that mood of tension and mystery due to the linkage of idea that the black part on the screen was something we don't know and unknown things tend to be mysterious and gratifying to find out.
Watch the following "Sicario" clip and evaluate how effectively the meaning,situation and mood is communicated through the lighting effect of the cinematography.
The silhouette lighting technique was used in the clip to create an intense mood and make the audience understand the situation in the scene.Silhouette lighting is a type of lighting which create a dark shape and outline of someone or something visible against a lighter background, especially in dim light. Many of the scenes in the beginning and middle part highlights the group of soldiers communicating and making plans before their attack by using the silhouette lighting technique created backlighting a subject in the scene which was the group of soldiers.Consequently,this allows the audiences to only focus on the actions of the soldiers rather than their feelings and thoughts on like the previous mid and close up shots before.Having to mainly focus on just the characters actions enables the audience to get a clearer meaning of what the characters were trying to do and also understand more of the situation around e.g whats going on in the scenes that time round since the all the emotions of the characters were eliminated through those shots.
Kate was never seen as a silhouette as she was the only one highlighted while the others were seen as silhouette.Everything in the scene such as lighting and clothing were set black to dehumanize other characters except Kate to suggests that she was innocent.
As the scene continues all the lighting gradually fades darker in order to implant the mysterious and unknown mood to the audience because the black/dark lighting was acting as a mystery to what is about to happen in the story.
The mysterious and suspense mood of the scenes was created through the golden hour lighting technique.
- The "Calm Before the Storm" mood was created which vicariously makes the audience feel somethings about to happen.
Sound
List all the sound you can hear from the following E.T clip
-Dialogue
-Sound effects
-Background music
What is film sound?
A micro element of film making.It uses the audiences sense of hearing (aural).
Sound refers to everything we hear in a movie e.g. words,sound effects and music.
It can be used to build or heighten up a mood,possibly providing information about the location,advancing the plot and tell more about the characters in the story.
Quote
"Sound and sound design has always been very important to my approach to film, because it is a more subversive and allusive aspect of the medium".
-Larry Fessenden
"Sound will make or break your film!"
-Dan Simpson
The two main categories of a film sound
Digetic:
Refers to all those audio elements that come from sources inside the world we see on the screen. It is basically everything the characters hear.
From the previous E.T all the dialogues and sound effects such as birds and water noises would be considered digetic because it is what the characters inside the movie hears.
Non-Digetic:
Refers to all those audio elements that come from outside of the fictional world we see on screen. Everything the audience hears but the characters do not. *Includes the musical score and sound effects.
The three aspects of sound
1.Sound effects
2.Music
3.Spoken Words
1. Sound effects
It sets a mood and a theme to the film outlining on how intense the atmosphere and the situation is.
What sound effects can you alter in film?
You can adjust the volume of the sound effects to create a certain mood.
Not only the volume but the tempo and pitch can also be adjusted too.
Meaning high-pitched and low-pitched sounds communicate
High-pitched sounds e.g. screams or squealing tires can help to create a sense of anxiety to the scene.
Low-pitched sounds e.g. the sounds of waves or the swinging of a door -can be used to create a sense of calm or mystery.
Silence - It can grab the audience’s attention to highlight some action or change in story direction.
-Building intensity
-Foreshadow impending doom
Moreover, the dialogue sound of the characters e.g. tone and pitch + momentum of their words can conveys different meaning and mood to the scenes.Talking about the volume/pitch if the character speaking decides to lower their voice or starts talking as if they're whispering it can grabs the audiences attention since low volume voices makes you want to use more concentration and focus more on what the talkers trying to say.
This technique was referenced from this video from the Ted talks:
The great momentum of and tone of voice used by Kevin Spacey + mild intensifying soundtrack in this iconic scene from The Usual Suspects grabs the audience attention although it's just a scene of a person talking on a couch.
2. Music
Listen to the following clip of music from movies and write how you feel
1. sad,emotional and important moment showing relationships
2. Strong and greatness nature E.T
3.Majestic,big something magical-Empire of the Sun
4. mysterious ,wants to find out more - Harry Potter
5.Intense ,somethings about to happen,Danger and anxiety
6. Superman - Epic and Big Majestic force
7.Detailed - very heart touching,sadness and sorrow,Beautifully Tragic
8.Indiana Jones-Brave,Good side
9.Start wars - Epic , big force ,many things have happened
10. Jurrasic Park- Calm and gentle - Ending
The name of the movies and their genre from the clip
1. Saving Private Ryan (War Drama)
2. E.T. (Sci Fi Fantasy)
3. Empire of the Sun (War Drama)
4. Harry Potter (Fantasy Drama)
5. Jaws (Action, Thriller, Horror)
6. Superman (Action, Adventure, Fantasy)
7. Schindler’s List (War, Historical Drama)
8. Indiana Jones (Action Adventure)
9. Star Wars (Sci Fi, Fantasy, Action)
10. Jurassic Park (Sci Fi, Fantasy, Action)
What does Music do?
Music can be used to create several effects in a movie. One of the most obvious way is using music scores to guide the emotional response of the audience. It enables filmmaker to convey how the audience should react on a certain scenes.
-To guide the emotional response of the audience
-Foreshadow upcoming events
-Sets a certain mood
-Affects how you view the movie
-Used to shape the ethnic or cultural context of a film.
3. Spoken Words
Other than giving giving dialogue in a movie.
Two of the more interesting ways the spoken word can shape a movie are through voice-overs and by providing subtext to a scene.
Voice-overs
A production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations.
-often read from a script and may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production
Typically used to provide background to a story or to help move a story from one set of events to another. If used well, they can be unobtrusive(not conspicuous or attracting attention).
However,if used poorly, voice-overs can often seem like “the voice of god”, bringing forth wisdom audiences are supposed to accept unquestioningly.
E.g. Shawshank Redemption (clip with voice-overs example)
Subtext
An implicit (hidden) meaning standing behind the language we actually hear.
Subtext can also refer to the thoughts and motives of the characters which are only covered in an aside.
From our own personal conversations we all know that there is often a subtext to the words we hear.
Example: (Movie scenes with subtext)
Despite, my short film opening not having any dialogue as we planned to use actions,objects and music to convey meaning and create a luxurious/solitude mood.We may add more non-digetic background music to intensifies some certain scenes and possibly use more nature noises to create an authentic feels/mood which vicariously makes the audience feel isolated like the characters + grabs their attention.