Film language: basics of camera, editing, sound and mise en scene

1. G321/G322 Technical Aspects of Moving
Image

2. 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

3. 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

4. Analyse the Mise en Scene of this image

5. Analyse the Mise en Scene of this image

6. 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

7. 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.

8. three point lighting
Click here for more on three point lighting

9. High key lighting
The Virgin Suicides (Coppola, 1999)

10. Low key lighting Citizen Kane
(Welles, 1941)

11. Red hue Mean Streets (Scorsese,
1973)

12. Camera
In looking at camera work the following
areas need to be considered:
• Angle
• Movement
• Position
• Composition
• Depth of field
• Camera Angles

13. Shot types
• Establishing shot – This ‘establishes’ the location/ set/ environment
where the action will take place - to create context, establish the
mood, rules, time and place.
• Master shot – This is the shot the director/editor returns to break up
the action – to provide a pause or change of direction.
• Close-up – This shot focuses and increases the attention of the
audience – intensity, intimacy, identification and voyeurism.
• Mid-shot – This shot shows the general action of the movie–
closeness without intimacy.
• Wide-shot – This is a broader shot, showing perhaps parts of the set
or externals – To emphasize size, scale, the dramatic or epic

14. Shot types
• Two shot/ Reverse shot – This shows a conversation/ link or reaction
between characters or hero/ villain / antagonist/ protagonist – a
connection, relationship or conflict.
• High angle – This shot looks down on the action from a superior
position - The observer dominates, power, higher status.
• Low angle – This shot looks up at the action from below, an inferior
position – the observer is vulnerable, weak and lower in status.
• Aerial shot – This is a shot from high or directly above the action –
suggests surveillance and observation.
• Point of view – This is a shot were we see what the actor sees through
their own eyes –identification/ sympathy with the viewer or a sense of
discomfort/ tension if the point of view is hostile.

15. High angle
Fargo (Coen Bros, 1996)

16. Low angle
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

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

18. extreme long shot

19. long shot

20. medium shot

21. close up

22. extreme close up

23. Movement
• Pan – This is a shot that moves steadily (or quickly – whip
pan) across the action – to survey or follow the action/ to
refocus and stimulate new interest.
• Tilt – This is when the camera looks up/down or is skewed –
to follow or disorientate.
• Track/dolly/steadicam – These shots are from a fixed track
camera/ wheels/ or harness – to follow smoothly predictable
or unpredictable action.
• Zoom/ reverse zoom – this is when the camera gets closer to
/ moves away from the action in a very quick movement – this
suggests surveillance, voyeurism and intense observation.

24. 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.

25. Position
Position
• 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.

26. 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.

27. Selective focus
Elephant (Van Sant, 2002)

28. Deep focus
Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)

29. 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.
• film editing techniques

30. 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 black
• Dissolve/cross fade
• Wipe

31. Fade – the preceding shot fades into black from which the
following shot emerges.

32. Fade – the preceding shot fades into black from which the
following shot emerges.

33. Fade – the preceding shot fades into black from which the
following shot emerges.

34. 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. 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)

38. 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)

39. Continuity
• 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.

40. 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.

41. 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)

42. Continuity Editing
• The classical style of editing ensures that
the edits are invisible and the images
appear to flow in a continuous fashion.
This advances the narrative, using such
techniques that keep the sense of
narrative flow such as matched or eye-
line cuts or shot/reverse shot.

43. 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.

44. Match on action
The Maltese Falcon (Huston,1941)
• a technique where two
different shots of the same
action together making it
appear uninterrupted.
• 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.

45. Editing techniques
• Parallel editing – This is cross-cutting
between two or more lines of action going
on in different places.
• Elliptical editing (ellipses) – Is to conceal
unimportant lapses in the narrative e.g.
when you see a person get in the car the
next shot is of them at their destination.

46. 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)
• Hollywood editing

47. Montage Sequences
• A montage sequence consists of a series of
short shots that are edited into a sequence to
condense narrative. It is usually used to advance
the story as a whole (often to suggest the
passage of time.
• Sometimes used in alternative filmmaking to
break continuity, or to build thematic and/or
symbolic links between shots.
• Rushmore
• butch cassidy

48. Kuleshov effect
• The way film editing evokes emotions from a viewer.
• the way in which images are cut together that can induce
a feeling from the audience.
Edited next to shots of different items he appeared to be
'looking at', (a bowl of soup, a girl and a coffin) the
emotion the character was feeling was interpreted in
terms of hunger, desire or grief.
alfred hitchcock
run lola run

49. 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)
• Silence of the lambs – cross cutting example
• IN THE TRENCHES clip CUTTING ON MOTION – YouTube
• Eyeline Match
• Amst 109 - shot reverse shot - YouTube

50. The main functions of editing are:
• 1 To connect actions together for the purpose of telling a story.
• 2 To identify and maintain spatial relationships.
• 3 Identify important lapses in time; conceal unimportant ones.
• 4 Maintain a rhythm and pace.
• You must consider
• 1 How do the frequency and timing of cuts fit the mood and purpose
of the scene?
• 2 How are editing and sound integrated?
• 3 Do the images juxtapose/contrast or complement each other? Are
there graphic matches?
• 4 How do we identify with a particular character and why?

51. Basic functions of editing
• Hollywood films are edited by the need to retain
continuity and use the following system.
• Spatial editing – using establishing shots at the
beginning of a sequence to explain important elements
of time and space, such as setting.
• Motivated editing – cutting dictated by the demands of
the narrative. Dialogue can determine this, such as
shot/reverse shot alternately cutting can represent
movements such as Match on action and Eyeline cuts.
Action or Pace can also determine the pattern of
editing.

52. Functions of editing
• Elimination of dead time – Cuts can also
be made to compress time so that the
narrative flows and ‘unimportant’ events
are removed. Examples include montage
and Jump cuts.

53. Editing techniques
• Trailer for 'Toy Story 3: Inception' –
YouTube
• Batman vs Iron Man trailer (Christian Bale
vs Robert Downey Jr.) – YouTube
• The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie
Editing (Abridged Version) Part 1 -
YouTube

54. Principles of Editing
• How is the pace of a sequence affected by
its editing?
• How does the editing create a point of
view in a sequence? e.g. which character
has the majority of screen time
• How does the editing distribute narrative
information? Does the audience know
more than the characters about events
unfolding on the screen?

55. Sound
• Sound has existed in film since 1927.
• Sound is used conventionally to create a
more involving and believable narrative.
• Beatrix burial – Kill Bill
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxbpAoWtqjA
There are two main types of sound in film:

56. 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.

57. 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