Cinematography, editing, sound, and mise-en-scene are the four micro features covered in the document. The document provides detailed definitions and examples for each feature. Cinematography covers camera shots, angles, movement, and composition. Editing covers how shots are joined together to deliver mood and pace. Sound covers music, dialogue, effects and their uses. Mise-en-scene covers visual elements within a shot like setting, props, lighting, and color schemes.

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St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: ___________________
Candidate Number: _____________________________________
Candidate Name: _______________________________________________________________________
AS Media Studies
Unit G322: Key Media Concepts –
TV Drama
Micro Feature booklet

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In the exam YOU WILL refer to EACH of the 4 features above and YOU WILL have to make
notes on each feature before answering any questions.
The sequence will be 3-5 minutes in duration and YOU WILL be shown it x4 times.
 Camerashots,angles, movement and composition – Cinematography
This covers the photographic elements of the film camera movement, angles,
framing and stock
o The use of colour or black and white footage – films may mix both, black and
white is sometimes used for period feel or for flashbacks
o Choosing a multi or monochromatic palette – where a single colour is emphasised
only in terms of purity and lightness e.g. shades of grey
o Exposure – over exposed film tends to be harsh and bleached, underexposed film
is dark and muddy
o Filters – can be used to change the colour composition of the film by draining
colours out or emphasising a particular colour
o Rate of projection - slows down or speeds up the film for effect
o A shot may contain single, multiple, or overlaid images for effect e.g. by
juxtaposition – a man thinks of his past love and her face is overlaid on the screen
o Camera position can suggest lots of different things;
o High or low angles can suggest power or inferiority
o Pan – when the camera moves from right to left or left to right on a pivot - a high
speed pan is called a whip pan

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o Tilt – when the camera moves on a pivot to look up or down an object
o Zoom – a way of moving in and out on objects without moving the camera – this
has an amateurish feel to it as the camera tends to shake or the zoom may be
uneven and jerky – often used to suggest the use of binoculars
o Tracking /dolly shot – when the camera moves to follow or track a person or
object – often this may involve the camera moving on a trolley or dolly, sometimes
on rails in order to minimise camera shake
o Crane shot – used to suggest scale or to track in or out on objects
o Helicopter shot – common in chase sequences or to convey landscape or
cityscapes
o Steadicam – a portable handheld camera system which minimises camera shake
when the camera is moved
o Static camera – the camera is in a fixed position and does not move
o Head on shot – shooting from the front
o Oblique angle – shooting from the side
o Range of shots - Close up/medium/long shot/ECU/ELS/overhead/from below
o Choice of Lens – the standard aspect ratio for most films is 1.33 – 1. A lens may be
standard or special/distorting –perhaps to suggest a no human eye or a peephole in
a door. Panoramic may be used to suggest space and perspective - widescreen for
action epics
Other aspects to consider
o Colour motif/palette – directors may choose to repeat a colour motif or a narrow
range of colours in a shot
o Space – screen space is two-dimensional but must usually suggest three dimensions
to the viewer – compositional balance of colours and objects is important here.
Colour and light shape our understanding of on screen space
o Aerial shots – directors may shoot from a plane, helicopter or gantry to open up
the space in a scene and suggest scale

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o Size diminution – aerial shots may make objects appear smaller than they are and
seem more vulnerable
Terminology
 ELS - Extreme Long Shot – bird’s eye view of a landscape
 LS - Long Shot – background dominates image
 MLS - Medium Long Shot - shots of the human figure from the knees up
 MS - Medium Shot –the human figure shot from the waist up
 MCU - Medium Close Up – from the chest up
 CU - Close Up – e.g. of head, hands or feet
 ECU - Extreme Close Up – of a detail e.g. an eye
 OTS – Over The Shoulder
 Editing
1) Editing is about how the various shots in the film are joined or cut together,
ordered and juxtaposed in terms of duration and number of edits in order to
deliver the films mood or message through pacing
2) Editing dictates the pace of the film – action may be speeded up or slowed
down for emphasis by the number of edits
3) As the Russian filmmaker Lev Kuleshov discovered, we have a natural tendency
to link images together and interpret them, we project our own meanings onto
the visual ‘clues’ we see. For instance, if we see a shot of a man's face and
then a shot of a woman we assume he is looking at her or is, perhaps, in love
(this is called The Kuleshov effect). We interpret them according to our
mental perceptual set.
Different Edit techniques
 Cut - to new shot; Cut in – when an object in or part of a previous scene is
shown again in close up e.g. a cigarette lighter in a man’s hand. Cut away –
when an object visible or potentially visible outside the scene is shown e.g. a
man sat at a campfire followed by a shot of the moon (but if he looks as if he is
looking at the moon it is an eyeline match!)
 Fade out - at the end of the shot to a colour – usually black

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 Fade in – new shot gradually lightens in
 Dissolve – the end of shot A is superimposed over shot B giving a sense of
continuity.
 Lap dissolve – the image changes in steps instead of smoothly
 Wipe - a line goes across the screen replacing one shot with another
 Black and white shots may be used to underline that we are in the past and
are flashing back (we dream in black and white apparently). Now watch the
example edited from a student film
Classical continuity editing
 Continuity editing involves cutting shots to tell a story in the smoothest,
simplest and least challenging way for the audience - ensuring narrative flow
and continuity. For instance keeping figures in continuity so that they match
from shot to shot, lighting remains constant and action stays central to the
frame (e.g. we do not see half of someone’s face)
 The 180 degree rule - everything happens in the half circle in front of the
camera, which marks the centre line this stops the actors look as if they are
looking in different directions from shot to shot for no apparent reason. This
rule is only broken when the progress of action is clear.
This ensures the same space is described in every shot and the characters positions
are not reversed
 Titles - between scenes or overlaid to give information
Thecameracannot move
to this sideof theline
Thecameracan be
anywherethis sideof the
line
180o
Shot -
reverse
shot line
30o rule - thecameramust move
by morethan this angleto
prevent ajump cut
180o rule – thecameracannot cross thelineor the
positions of theactors and objects in theshotwill
appear to bereversed

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 Opening shot e.g. of a landscape or cityscape without figures, gives a sense of
place.
 Establishing shot – establishes the space in which action is to happen and
shows the physical relationship between characters
 The 30 degree rule - that the camera must move by more than this angle to
stop subsequent shots looking as if they have been shot from almost the same
angle and distance
 Shot/reverse shot - one shot looks down one end of the central line between
two characters the next shot is from the other end, this is commonly used
when characters talk to each other (see Pulp Fiction or Rear Window) Often
employed as an ‘over the shoulder’ shot
 Eyeline match – when character looks off screen the next shot shows us what
they see (see Rear Window)
 Match on action – a character begins to move in one shot, we see continuation
of this movement in next shot. This can also help to create the illusion of the
lapse of time e.g. we see a shot of a car leaving then cut to a shot of it
‘arriving’ at its destination
 Cross cutting – when we move via editing from one set of actions happening in
one place to events happening elsewhere (see Sabotage)
 Flashback or flash-forward – moving backwards and forwards in time (see
Memento)
 Temporal elliptical editing – missing out events to compress time e.g. we see a
car pulling away from a house then cut to it arriving at its destination
 Film speed - slow motion or speeded up – film may be slowed down or
speeded up during production to expand or contract time or for comic or other
effect
 Non-diegetic insert – insertion of something from outside the plot, i.e. A
metaphorical image, intertitle, etc. to break up the action, organise it for us or
comment on it e.g. a rowing couple intercut with a nuclear explosion
 Sound

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Sound is an extremely important aspect of the film – music can convey emotion and
enhance action, consider Star Wars or Indiana Jones without their music. Dialogue
anchors the meaning of the image
Areas could include;
 Music
 Dialogue
 Sound effects
We can consider
 Loudness – volume of music, dialogue and effects
 Pitch – high or low
 Timbre – bass or depth, the tone or musicality of the sound e.g. of a voice
 Fidelity - how accurate is the sound and how directly does it relate to the
image
 Sound perspective – how does sound suggest the space on the screen – e.g.
sound can convey the sheer scale of a spaceship
 Synchronous sound/asynchronous – how far is sound synchronised with the
image is the sound simultaneous with, before or after the image?
 Diegetic sound - Sound may be contained within the text of the film itself for
instance sound effects, dialogue or one of the characters playing music.
 Non-Diegetic Sound – Sound may then be dubbed onto a film in post production
e.g. a soundtrack this is called non diegetic sound as it is not a part of the
action.
 Ambient sound – the general background sound that goes on in a scene is
described as ambient sound
Music can convey a number of things
 To mirror, comment directly upon and relate to action
 To punctuate and signpost action and to dictate pace of film and mood
 To counterpoint and contrast with action and be used ironically – jolly music
contrasting with a tragic scene
 To provide direct mise en scene e.g. in a nightclub

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 Suggest the mood of a film tragic, optimistic etc
 Symbolic use e.g. military style music, national anthems or songs with
particular associations
 Themes and motifs related to characters
 Convey Genre e.g. stereotypical horror music, romantic music
 Suggest a particular historical time period or convey a culture or to suggest
ethnicity and social class
 “Mickey Mousing” – when characters move in time to the music (cartoon rather
than dance style)
 Sound Effects- are very important in creating suspense, suggesting action or
conveying off screen space
Other Terms
 Dialogue – two people speaking
 Monologue – one person speaking
 Multilogue – a group of characters speaking over each other
 Direct address to camera – breaks realism
 Paralanguage and style of delivery – tone of voice, pitch, speed, hesitation
phenomena, volume
 Sound Motif - Sound that is associated to a character or shape the Narrative
 Sound Bridge – when the sound carries over from one scene or shot to another
to provide continuity
 Voiceover – a common device to fill in details of the plot and introduce
characters thoughts and feelings
 Overlapping dialogue – a realistic effect - people talk over each other in real
life, dialogue may also, less realistically, overlap from scene to scene
 Improvised dialogue (improv) – made up on the film set to suggest realism and
interplay of character
 Silence – to create tension or draw attention to the visual image

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 Mise-en-scene
Mise en Scene - ‘putting in the scene’
 This covers the visual aspects of what we actually see in a single shot; objects,
movements, lighting, colour, shadows. We can break it down into a number of
areas.
Mise en Scene covers the non-verbal (Visual) codes of a moving image text
(Film, TV)
Setting
 What is the significance of a particular geographical and temporal location
used in a film? Is the setting real or fictional?
How ‘realistic’ is it?
Is the film shot on location or in a studio on an artificially constructed set?
 Is the environment claustrophobic or open?
 Is the setting utopian (a wonderful world) or dystopian (a nightmare vision of
the future)?
 Colour schemes and themes may be significant within the film, as particular
colours may recur or be repeated and contrasted in the setting – harmony or
disharmony
 Art direction is the process of setting up the sets and location settings ready
for filming placing props and objects and arranging space
Props
 What are the key props in a text and what is their significance to the narrative?
 Genre - props may provide genre iconography (an image associated with a
genre) e.g. gangsters usually have guns and cars, cowboys have saddles and
spurs. This ‘repeated’ use of props conforms to Steve Neale’s “Genre’s are
instances of repetition and difference” ideology.
 Props can be used to anchor characters and act as a signature or trademark -
such as Indiana Jones’ whip and hat or James Bond’s cars
 Hitchcock called key props the ‘McGuffin’ - something that sets the plot in
motion.
Lighting

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o Hard or soft lighting – is the image harsh and glaring or soft and romantic?
o High key lighting – bright lighting with little contrast between light and shadow
creates a sunny mood e.g. in a musical or a romantic comedy
Low key lighting – dark shadowy and atmospheric e.g. in a thriller or horror movie
o Side lighting – self explanatory – shapes the characters face and creates shadow
o Back lighting edge or rim lighting – creates silhouette shapes - suspenseful
o Under lighting – can be quite sinister e.g. under a face
o Top lighting – casting shadows on the floor quite glamorous
 Single source lighting e.g. a torch, or spotlight
 Natural lighting- sunlight
 Artificiallighting– light bulbs, interiors
 Shadow – used to suggest mood, character or hide objects
 Lighting effects – shadow, movement

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Camera shots, angles, movement and
composition – Cinematography
 Editing
 Sound  Mise-en-scene
Practice! - Revision
In pencil, write down as many key terms that you can in relation to the Micro features
above.