This document provides an overview of key cinematography techniques used in filmmaking, including: framing, lighting, depth of field, camera shots/angles/lenses, and camera movements. It discusses techniques like high and low angles, close-ups, tracking shots, pans, tilts, and zooms and how they are used to convey meaning and influence audience perception. The document emphasizes that cinematography is a dynamic, essential part of film language that has evolved with camera technology to tell visual stories and efficiently communicate information through shots and lighting.

1. CINEMATOGRAPHY
Presentation by:
Amaljith NK
15386040
2nd MA Mass
communication

2. INTRODUCTION
 Cinematography is the act of capturing
photographic images in space through the use
of a number of controllable elements. These
include the quality of the film stock, the
manipulation of the camera
lens, framing, scale and movement.
 Some theoreticians and film historians
(Bordwell, Thompson) would also
include duration, or the length of the shot, but
we discuss the long take in our editing page.
 Cinematography is a function of the relationship
between the camera lens and a light source,
the focal length of the lens, the camera’s
position and its capacity for motion.

3. CINEMATOGRAPHY:
LIGHTING

4. LIGHTING
 Quality
 Placement
 Contrast

5. Quality
Hard Vs Soft

6. Quality
Soft, Diffused

7. Placement

8. Contrast
High key =Low
contrast

9. Contrast
Low key =High
contrast

10. FRAMING
 Character 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 at that moment of time.
 The same rule applies to characters who
are positioned higher in the frame.

12.  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.
 If the frame is closed the character will be
boxed in, prompting feelings of character.

13. Closed framing
Characters appears
boxed to the frame.
Open framing
It’s easy to imagine
what is beyond the
frame.

14. DEPTH OF FIELD
 DOF is how sharp images are within a
frame. The frame for this purpose can
be divided into the foreground, middle
ground and background.

15.  TV drama's 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.

16. Standard focus as the flowers in
the
BG are slightly out of focus.
Shallow focus making the
flowers the main focal point and
ensuring that the viewers
attention is focussed on them.

17. CAMERA SHOTS
Long shot
A long shot is essentially the same as a wide shot.
When referring to a person, a long shot means they take up almost
the full frame height.
In other situations it means a wide shot of the whole scene, placing
the subjects in their environment.

18. Medium shot
A camera shot in which the subject is in the middle distance,
permitting some of the background to be seen.
A value of framing in which the subject is a bit smaller than a
medium close-up; a human figure from the waist up.

19. Close-up shot
Close up shots typically contain just the face and shoulders of a
subject, with a little head room above. This prevents 'floating head
syndrome' as the shoulders suggest to the brain that there is a body
below.
These shots are the most common of all as they can convey a real
sense of emotion and help the audience to connect with the subject.

20. Extreme
close-up
shot
An extreme close up is a shot used in filmmaking, television
production and photography in which the camera focuses on a
particular detail of the subject.
Extreme close ups are extremely intimate and are best used
sparingly, according to Serif Ltd.

21. CAMERA ANGLES
Birds-eye-
view
A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object from above,
with a perspective as though the observer were a bird, often used in
the making of blueprints, floor plans and maps.
It can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing.

22. High level
high angle
A high-angle shot is a cinematic technique where the camera looks
down on the subject from a high angle and the point of focus often
gets "swallowed up.”
High-angle shots can make the subject seem vulnerable or chicken
when applied with the correct mood, setting, and effects.

23. Eye level shot
An eyelevel angle is the one in which the camera is placed at the
subject's height, so if the actor is looking at the lens, he wouldn't
have to look up or down.
Eyelevel shots are incredibly common because they are neutral

24. Low angle
shot
Low-angle shot, is a shot from a camera angle positioned low on
the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up.
Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes
the subject look strong and powerful.

25. CAMERA LENS
Deep focus
Deep focus is a style or technique of cinematography and staging
with great depth of field, using relatively wide-angle lenses and
small lens apertures to render in sharp focus near and distant planes
simultaneously.
A deep-focus shot includes foreground, middle-ground, and
extreme-background objects, all in focus.

26. Shallow focus
Shallow focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique
incorporating a small depth of field. In shallow focus one plane of
the image is in focus while the rest is out of focus.
Shallow focus is typically used to emphasize one part of the image
over another.

27. Racking focus
A rack focus in filmmaking and television production is the
practice of changing the focus of the lens during a shot. The term
can refer to small or large changes of focus.
If the focus is shallow, then the technique becomes more noticeable

28. Zoom shot
Zooming in filmmaking and television production refers to the
technique of changing the focal length of a zoom lens (and hence
the angle of view) during a shot – this technique is also called
a zoom

29. CAMERA MOVEMENTS
Crane shot
In filmmaking and video production, a crane shot is a shot taken
by a camera on a crane or jib.
The most obvious uses are to view the actors from above or to
move up and away from them, a common way of ending a movie.

30. Steadicam shots
Steadicam is mostly used to track actors as they move around
obstacles or rough ground. Typically, the operator will walk ahead
of the actors, shooting them from the front as they walk and talk.
For this sort of shot, the operator may walk backward through the
scene, with the help of other crew members. Or he or she may walk
forward, with the camera pointing behind him or her.

31. PAN shots
A pan shot is a camera movement which follows the action, or
reveals previously unframed space, as it moves horizontally. Pans
occur in varying speeds for dramatic purposes.
Although the most basic concept of a panning shot adheres to the
movement below, a pan can also incorporate zooms, tracking of
action shots and/or movement of the camera base itself

32. Tilt shots
A tilt shot is essentially a vertical pan, where the camera moves up
and down rather than from one side to another. Tilt shots often
heighten an audience’s level of suspense as they are unaware what
the shot will uncover.
Tilt shots, like pans, serve to reveal some previously unseen space
to the viewer. These shots may include zooms, tracking of action
shots and/or movement of the camera base itself.

33. Tracking shots
A tracking shot follows action through space in a variety of
directions. As the action, or character, moves along the screen the
tracking shot enables the audience to feel as if they are moving with
the action through space.
This sensation is achieved by mounting the camera on a track,
dolly, or moving vehicle to smoothly follow the action along a
choreographed course.

34. Whip PAN shots
A whip pan follows all the same rules as a normal pan. However, a
whip pan involves a quicker movement that may momentarily blur
the images onscreen.
Whip pans are often abrupt and imply a rapid unfolding events (i.e.
action movies).

35. ANALYSING CINEMATOGRAPHY
 Framing: Where is the camera? Is it
moving?
 Lighting: How do colour and light
effect the image?
 Focal depth: What is in focus? How
deep or shallow is the image?

36. SUMMARY
 The art of cinematography has evolved since the
birth of cinema to become a dynamic and
essential part of any film.
 The cinematic language developed alongside
camera technology and enables audiences to
read a form of storytelling shorthand- filmmakers
can convey lots of information in a short space of
time through visuals alone.
 Establishing shots are a part of the cinematic
language and are used to switch locations in a
film and inform the audience of where the action

37. THANK YOU
