Further CinematographyFurther CinematographyFraming, The Rule of Thirds and Depth of Field

The temptation is to read every high angle shot looking down as suggesting vulnerability and every low angle shot looking up as a sign of dominance.

You need to be very careful, think about what the sequence is about and what is happening and then consider whether these conventional readings apply here or whether the shots are there to add interest and variation.

A similar thing can be said of level: if you can make valid points about an audience identifying with characters whose eye line appears a third of the way down the screen then do. If a villain appears higher in the frame then mention that too. If the hero and villain both seem to have the same eye line then explain that this is the case because radical stepping up and down from shot to shot as we cut between the two would interfere with the smooth running of the scene.

Camera angle and level:

FramingFramingCharacter position within a frame

can say a lot about their status, power and personality.

Because we read from left to right characters who, usually, occupy screen left or are positioned centrally are seen as the most dominant character at that moment in time. The same rule applies to characters who are positioned higher in the frame.

Watch the following clip from the Inbetweeners.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3cXbrk4aIs&feature=channel

Discuss the status of the characters in shots that follow

Furthermore framing can be open or closed.

In an open frame the character will be surrounded by a lot of open space, possibly suggesting that the character is free, whilst if the frame is closed the character will be boxed in, prompting feelings of entrapment.

Closed framing – character appears boxed into the frame

Open framing – it’s easy to imagine what is beyond the frame

The Rule of Thirds

The basic principle behind the rule of thirds is to imagine breaking an image down into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) so that you have 9 parts. As follows.

Eyeline can help to convey the emotions of a character and their psychological state of mind, their status and power and finally their relationship with the viewer (encouraging or discouraging identification and empathy)

Notice the range of emotion the following clip. How do Framing, eyeline and distance work together to generate meaning?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M3moEeErr8&feature=related

Depth of FieldDepth of FieldDOF is how sharp images are

within a frame. The frame for this purpose can be divided into the foreground, middle ground and background.

FG MG BG

TV dramas usually adopt a standard depth of field (FG & MG sharp) or deep focus where everything in the frame (FG, MG & BG) is sharp and in focus. Doing this allows the viewer to register everything in the frame as important in the process of making meaning.

However, on occasions a shallow dof may be adopted where only the FG is sharp, focussing the viewers attention on something particular.

The following pictures are examples of shallow focus, standard focus and deep focus. Can you work out which is which, and for what reason have they been employed.

Notice the subtle use of depth of field in the following clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bnSW2a_H80&feature=channel

For what purpose do you think it has been used?

Extension TaskExtension Task

Follow up this presentation by making more detailed notes from the following source.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematography#Aspect_ratio_and_framing

Then locate clips of British TV dramas from you tube and practice, individually, cinematographic textual analysis by making detailed notes.