The document discusses various film techniques for shot composition including close-up shots, medium shots, long shots, over-the-shoulder shots, lighting, filming dialogue, depth of frame, open and closed framing, point of view, and panning. It provides examples of when and how each technique is conventionally used. It concludes with noting some of these techniques that could be useful for the filmmakers' upcoming production, such as depth of frame, open and closed framing, panning, and over-the-shoulder shots.

1. Form Research
{ Shona Traynor & Xavier Vale
Katz, Steven D., Film Directing: Shot by Shot, Michael
Wise Productions, 1991

2.  A close-up shot has connotes an image of
vulnerability, intimacy or an intrusion of the
character’s privacy.
 The objects can be positioned dead-centre,
which would connote an image of importance
to the film, or off-centre, displaying more of the
background in the shot.
 The use of off-centre shots are more
conventional in films, as the take advantage of
the wide screens.
The Close Up

3.  The medium shot works well if there are
between one to five characters in a frame. Any
more than this, however, requires a full shot.
 The camera shot is used mainly in dialogue
scenes, capturing both the actor’s facial
expressions and clear gestures.
The Medium Shot

4.  The long shot has not been used as much in
recent years, ‘relegated to the function of an
establishing shot’.
 These are used to establish both a character and
a specific location in the same frame, but needs
dialogue to work effectively.
 A positive of having a long shot is that the
audience can see the full body language of the
actor.
The Long Shot

6.  These shots are useful for dialogue
scenes between two people. These are
places ‘just inside…the line of sight of
the subjects.’
 They also enable a different perspective
to be given, allowing the mis-en-scene
to be shown in a slightly different
angle.
Over the Shoulder Shots

7.  The position of lighting can greatly influence
the connotations a certain shot has.
 For example, the villain in an action movie
would have shadows constantly on
him, highlighting his dark and evil personality.
Lighting

8.  To film dialogue, there are several
different ways of composing it.
 Face-to-Face
 This allows for the juxtaposition of
characters, to be squared off against
one another.
 Over the Shoulder
 These can vary from low level shots,
capturing the majority of the actor’s
body, and tight OTS, resulting in the
isolation of the character’s face. The
closer it zooms in, the more intimate
the shot becomes to the audience.
Filming Dialogue

9.  Shoulder-to-Shoulder
 This enables the actors to ‘be seen in full face or
in profile’ within a single shot., allowing the
audience to see the relationship between the two
or more characters in the shot.
Filming Dialogue

10.  For interior scenes, there are only three
positions the camera can be in, and
conventionally, only the middle ground
and background shots are used.
 MIDDLE GROUND: The camera is placed
out of the action, but is positioned in such
a way that all the actors have a different
depth. This reduces the amount of cutting
needed.
 BACKGROUND: More cutting would be
applicable for this camera shot, as the
majority of actors in the frame have
approximately the same depth of field.
Depth of a Frame

11.  This is constantly in films,
as the subjects are
positioned very carefully
to portray a specific
message to the audience.
 It brings the audience into
the circle of action, used in
this way to create a certain
level of intimacy.
 CLOSED: In this situation,
it is closed framing
because we cannot see
both character’s
expressions.
Open Framing

12.  This gives an even higher
level of intimacy to the
audience.
CLOSED: In this situation,
where you can see both of
the character’s expressions
clearly.
Closed Framing

13.  First-person POV
 These have been awkward in
narrative-based films because we are
deprived of the actor’s facial features
and expression.
 Omniscient POV
 This only works if we have some
insight into the character, eg.
Point of View Voiceover

14.  The Pan shot is used to:
 Include a wider range of space
not available through a fixed
frame
 Follow the action/subject as it
moves.
 Connect two or more points of
interest to the audience.
 It is also used to signify the
emphasize the depth of a specific
shot.
The Pan

15. FOLLOWING IS A
SUMMARY OF THINGS
WE WILL TAKE
FORWARD IN OUR
PRODUCTION

16.  Depth of a Frame
 The positioning of the cameras will be important,
especially in the bedroom scene.
 Open and Closed Framing
 We could use this in a bedroom scene – the female
character lying in bed - the other side is empty. This
could connote her loneliness.
 The Pan
 It could take in the surroundings as she goes to post the
letter in the post-box.
 Over-the-Shoulder
 This could be used in our preliminary tasks as there
might not be a lot of conversation in our final
production.
Summary