G321/G322 Technical Aspects of Moving Image

Mise en Scene

Mise en scene is a French term meaning ‘everything in the frame.’ Elements that make up mise en scene include:

Setting and Location Props Costume Performance and Movement

Cinematography

Refers to the visual aspects of a films language.

Camera shots and movements can give us clear indicators of emotion, motive and give audiences clues as to things that may be about to happen.

It is important that you can identify shots and consider how the choices made impact on the narrative.

PERFORMANCE AND MOVEMENT.

This refers to the meanings conveyed by actors through their physical performance. Meaning can be conveyed through the following means:

Facial expression Gaze Gesture Posture Body Contact Appearance Spatial behaviour

Analyse the Mise en Scene of this image

Analyse the Mise en Scene of this image

LIGHTING

There are two main approaches to the use of lighting in film these are:

Realistic lighting (high key). This involves the use of a key light (the main source of light), fill light and back lighting to create a natural look to the scene (this is called three point lighting).

Lighting can be adapted to suggest different times of day eliminate shadow and pick the subject out from the background

Lighting

Expressive lighting is predominately low key.

A key light is used with little or no fill to create high contrast and shadow to convey a dark expressive mood.

Subjects are sometimes back lit only to create a silhouetted figure.

Expressive lighting may also involve the use of single hue ‘gels’, filters and other optical effects to create a specific mood.

three point lighting

Click here for more on three point lighting

High key lighting The Virgin Suicides (Coppola, 1999)

Low key lighting Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

Red hue Mean Streets (Scorsese, 1973)

CameraIn looking at camera work the following areas need to be considered:

Angle Movement Position Composition Depth of field

ANGLE

High and low angle shots can be used by a filmmaker in order to convey meaning. A filmmaker may also use a titled angle (sometimes called ‘dutch’ or ‘canted’) to create a skewed frame.

High angle Fargo (Coen Bros, 1996)

Low angle Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

Dutch angle Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai, 1995)

MOVEMENT The use of camera movement allows the

filmmaker to alter the framing of an image whilst filming. Different types of camera movement include:

pan – horizontal movement of the camera from a static position.

tracking – camera moves on tracks to follow a subject at close proximity. This effect can also be created using a dolly (a platform on wheels) or a steadicam (a camera mounted on the body which uses weights and balances to create smooth movement). Click here to see a steadicam used in The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)

tilt – a subtle movement on the vertical (up or down)

MOVEMENT

crab – a subtle movement on the horizontal (left or right)

crane – the camera is mounted on to a crane so that it can move dramatically up or down and from side to side. Sometimes cranes are put on tracks to create spectacular tracking and craning movement. Click here to see a tracking and craning shot from Touch of Evil (Welles,1958)

handheld – a shaky movement the follows the movement of the camera operator. Often used to create realism, urgent and sudden figure movement or to create a point of view shot (we are seeing things through the eyes of a character). Click here to see the use of handheld camera in The Blair Witch Project (Myrick/Sanchez,1999)

zoom lens – creates the illusion of movement by altering the lens length.

PositionPosition The distance between the camera and the

subject. The position selected relates to the information the filmmaker is trying to communicate. Camera distances can be defined as follows. All the examples below are from Fargo.

extreme long shot

long shot

medium shot

close up

extreme close up

COMPOSITION

The way a frame is composed can help to convey important information. A basic convention of composition dictates that a framing should be balanced according to the principle of the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a compositional rule of thumb in photography.

The rule states that an image can be divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines.

The four points formed by the intersections of these lines can be used to align features in the photograph.

Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points in mind creates more tension, energy and interest in the image than simply centering the subject would. Click here to find out more about this technique.

Rule of thirds Dead Man (Jarmusch, 1995)

DEPTH OF FIELD

A frame’s depth of field refers to the focal length.

Where a frame shows everything sharp or in focus this is called deep focus.

When a particular part of the frame is picked out and the rest of the frame is blurred or indistinct it is called selective focus.

When the focal point changes within the frame this is called pull or ‘rack’ focus.

To get an idea of how this works put your finger in front of your face and concentrate on it. The finger will appear in focus and the background blurred. Now concentrate on the background, the human eye ‘pulls’ focus from the foreground to the background.

Selective focus Elephant (Van Sant, 2002)

Deep focus Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

EDITING

Editing in film is a process of cutting and assembling film footage to produce a finished product.

The role of the film editor includes organising transitions between shots making decisions about shot duration and maintaining continuity.

TRANSITION

The process of cutting from one shot to another usually involves a simple straight cut. However there are other means of transition available to a film editor

Fade to blackDissolve/cross fadeWipe

FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT FADES INTO BLACK FROM

WHICH THE FOLLOWING SHOT EMERGES.

FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT FADES INTO BLACK FROM

WHICH THE FOLLOWING SHOT EMERGES.

FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT FADES INTO BLACK FROM

WHICH THE FOLLOWING SHOT EMERGES.

DISSOLVE OR CROSS FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT MERGES INTO THE FOLLOWING SHOT, RESULTING IN THE TWO SHOTS BEING SUPERIMPOSED. THE LONGER THE DISSOLVE THE MORE NOTICEABLE THE SUPERIMPOSITION BECOMES.

DISSOLVE OR CROSS FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT MERGES INTO THE FOLLOWING SHOT, RESULTING IN THE TWO SHOTS BEING SUPERIMPOSED. THE LONGER THE DISSOLVE THE MORE NOTICEABLE THE SUPERIMPOSITION BECOMES.

DISSOLVE OR CROSS FADE – THE PRECEDING SHOT MERGES INTO THE FOLLOWING SHOT, RESULTING IN THE TWO SHOTS BEING SUPERIMPOSED. THE LONGER THE DISSOLVE THE MORE NOTICEABLE THE SUPERIMPOSITION BECOMES.

SHOT DURATION

The duration of a shot will usually reflect the narrative context.

Generally speaking short shot duration conveys action and urgency (say in a chase sequence). Click here for a chase sequence from Die Another Day.

Whilst long duration conveys intensity and intimacy within the narrative, it allows us to focus upon facial expression and other aspects of mise en scene which would otherwise be missed. Click here for a scene with long shot duration from Secrets and Lies (Leigh, 1996)

SHOT DURATION

A shot can be further lengthened or shortened by over cranking or under cranking.

Over cranking involves speeding up the camera so that when it is projected at normal speed the movement appears slower. Under cranking does the opposite slowing down the camera speed so that it appears faster when projected at normal speed.

The effects of this process are called slow motion and fast motion. Click here to see the use of slow motion in Blade Runner (Scott,1982)

CONTINUITY

In Classic Hollywood cinema the purpose of editing is to maintain continuity within the narrative. In other words the editing process is smooth and does not detract from the story. There are various techniques used by editors in order to maintain continuity including:

180 degree ‘rule’ – this convention helps to maintain continuity by ensuring that the action within a sequence takes place in front of an imaginary 180 degree line. If the line is crossed the change in perspective can be disorientating and confusing for the audience.

IN THIS EXAMPLE, THE TWO CHARACTERS APPEAR TO HAVE SWAPPED PLACES WHEN THE 180 DEGREE LINE IS CROSSED.

180 DEGREE LINE

Click here to see this ‘rule’ explained further.

30 DEGREE ‘RULE’ this convention dictates that when film is

cut the camera should move more than 30 degrees otherwise it creates an awkward abrupt cut known as a jump cut. Click here for an example from Breathless (Godard,1959)

eye line match

a common convention to maintain continuity, a character looks at something and in the next shot we see what they are looking at.

Match on action The Maltese Falcon (Huston,1941) a similar technique where

two shots are linked by an action. For example in the preceding shot we see someone walking towards someone and then in the next shot they are completing the movement. Shots can also be matched through dialogue, by cutting mid sentence.

Shot/reverse shot

where the camera cuts from one subject to another back and forth to follow the flow of a dialogue or interaction.

Eye line match during a shot/reverse shot sequence The Maltese Falcon (Huston, 1941)

Other continuity devices crosscutting – a devise used to convey the

impression that two or more events are occurring simultaneously. This involves cutting back and forth between different locations.

split screen – where the frame is split into sections so that we can see different events occurring at the same time. This technique was used recently on the TV series 24.

sound bridge – playing the same soundtrack over two or more shots is sometimes used to aid continuity. Sometimes a cut may coincide with a particular sound and then a similar sound occurs in the next shot.

Click here for more on continuity editing in the film V for Vendetta (McTeigue, 2005)

MONTAGE

Montage involves a rapid succession of shots used in conventional cinema to show specific detail within a context, show a rapid passage of time or to convey frenzy or panic. Sometimes used in alternative filmmaking to break continuity, or to build thematic and/or symbolic links between shots.

SOUND

Sound has existed in film since 1927. Sound is used conventionally to create a

more involving and believable narrative.

http://www.theidentgallery.com/player.php?id=E4-2007-ID-BARN

There are two main types of sound in film:

Diegetic Diegetic – ‘diegesis’ is the Greek term for

‘world’ and is used in film analysis to describe the ‘narrative world’ of a film.

Diegetic sound is any sound we would expect to hear if we were part of the ‘narrative world’, footsteps, doors opening and closing etc. Diegetic sound can be subdivided into:

dialogue – speech sound effects – footsteps, doors

closing, gun shots etc. ambient sound – background noise,

distant chatter, wind, traffic etc.

Non- Diegetic Non-diegetic sound is sound which has been added to

support the mood and atmosphere that the filmmaker is trying to convey.

This is usually in the form of added music, e.g. the ominous music that signals the approach of the shark in Jaws. Jaws (click here).

Non-diegetic sound is usually used to support what is going on in the narrative (parallel) although sometimes non-diegetic sound is used which contrasts the images (contrapuntal). Click here for an example of contrapuntal sound from A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick,1971)

Don’t confuse this distinction between sound that is recorded in production and sound that is added in post production! Sound effects e.g. the sound of gunfire, is often added in post production but it is still diegetic, i.e. we would here gunfire if we were there.

Click here for more on Sound