I. Filming Techniques
The camera gives the audience the illusion that they are involved in the story, and is so important that cinematography has the ability to make or break a film. As soon as that suspense of reality is broken, the audience immediately disconnects with the story. Therefore, the camera should not only be considered as important as the action itself, but should be thought of as a character- the audience’s “mind’s eye”. The shots dictate to the audience where the scene is taking place, when and how they feel about it, and a talented director can add mystery or surprise by filling the audience in on those details at his or her own discretion. In order to discuss filming techniques, first it is vital for an aspiring media producer to understand film syntax.
Shot Techniques
Shot length refers to the distance that the camera is placed from its object. A wide shot refers to a shot that is further away from the subject, whereas a tight shot would frame most of the subject- example of a medium shot would be a knees or waist-up shot. Two Shot would refer to two subjects in a frame, for example one character looking at another while we view the scene from behind the first’s back. A closeup shot refers to a portrait, whether of a character or object, and an extreme closeup is an exaggeration of this- perhaps a character’s eyes or small print on a piece of paper.
A sequence shot is one long, running shot, often about a minute in length. Obviously this poses difficulties as many mistakes can be made in this time and requires a lot of work to correct. An eyeline shots shows the character looking at something offscreen, then the object or person the character was looking at from the angle at which the character is situated. A good example of this is the one we saw in the video from The Silence of the Lambs in which Hannibal Lecter stares at Clarice (into the camera) and Clarice stares back. Although both are looking at us, we know they are looking at each other without having to have both be in the shot or any kind of description of where they are- plus, we get the added bonus of uneasiness and uncomfortable intimacy as Anthony Hopkins, for a moment, stares into our “eyes”.
An establishing shot is a shot that shows where a scene takes place. Following the previous example, rather than the closeup on Hannibal and then the reverse closeup (or “reverse angle”) of Clarice, we would see the prison visitation center with both sitting in the room. This would give us less of an uncomfortable, tense, intimate feeling and instead a slower introduction to the conversation as we have time to get used to the setting. A master shot shows the characters together, allowing us to know who and what is in the room. A very common (as the narrator says, “bread and butter”) way to film is an establishing shot showing us the setting, then a master shot showing us the scene, then a closeup of one character beginning dialogue, a reverse closeup of the response, closeup back to the first character, and continuing as needed.
A cut transitions between one shot and another. Most commonly this is just one shot jumping to the next, but there’s also a dissolve cut- in which one shot transforms into the next, a wipe cut- in which the shot slides up off the screen, and fade in/fade out, which is a common way to begin and end a movie. Personally, I find that “fancy” transitions should be used sparingly, because I find that they often give the impression of “I just installed iMovie” and sometimes break that reality barrier.
The best way to avoid breaking that barrier is with good continuity editing. Continuity editing refers to the way a filmmaker will place multiple shots so that they seem to appear within a continuous timeline. For example, in a scene that takes place at wedding, the actual scene may have taken hours or days to film, but good continuity editing will show guests arriving, talking, and sitting down despite multiple different shots and angles and seem to take place within a matter of minutes. Good continuity editing is invisible, and the audience should never notice or think about it. For example, match on action, or continuous action, allows movement to carry from one shot to another. Perhaps the characters were filmed leaving a building and the next shot is them entering the door from the other side. The timing must be just right so that the audience feels no disparity in the movement. A mistake in continuity editing is called a continuity error- not to be mistaken with discontinuity editing, which is when a filmmaker purposefully breaks the rules to create a paranormal, surreal, or confusing effect, and there are several ways to do this.
A match cut, for example, is when a shot ends and the next begins with two related themes. A great use of this was shown in the video with a character lighting a match and a wide shot of the bright orange sunset in the next shot. An overlay refers to one shot being played over another at half opacity, often to give the impression of it occurring in the character’s mind. A montage is a series of shots that are related through theme or time, which sounds tricky but is actually pretty common. This could be a series of training routines meant to take place over a series of time like in Rocky, or the of the characters in Up running in the park repeatedly but aging each time to give the impression of decades passing.
A split cut refers to two or more cuts spliced showing simultaneous action. This is another one that I personally feel often gives an “iMovie effect”, the exception being when it is used comedically, for example the scenes in Mean Girls when multiple characters are on phone calls with one another.
Many filmmakers still follow the 180 degree rule based on stage direction. This means that the camera stays on one side of the action during a take. Crossing the axis is when this is broken intentionally to create a jarring effect. A way to prevent this from being unintelligible is by returning to the same shot repeatedly.
Focus
Rack focus refers to a technique in which the filmmaker would change focus mid-shot in a shallow depth of field, in order to give the impression of an object or character in the peripheral becoming more important. This can also be used comedically- one of my favorite examples of comedic cinematography is in The Devil Wears Prada when the protagonist’s boss insists that she book her a flight from Florida to New York that same evening, despite very few airlines flying due to the ongoing hurricane. As she screams into the phone “It’s just drizzling!” the focus then changes to her hotel window where we see lightning illuminate the palm trees being ripped violently from their roots.
Tilt shift is blurring parts of the shot on purpose to create an artificial depth of field. In a handheld shot, a person is holding the camera, which gives it a jolting, unsteady feel. This is beneficial for a fast paced scene intended to give the viewer a sense of confusion or velocity. A Steadicam is also handheld, but streamlined, giving that dreamlike sense of floating into a scene with the actors. A tripod camera is placed on a stand and the camera does not move, as opposed to a dolly shot, in which the camera is put on tracks and moves with subject (or without). In a jib, or crane shot, camera is put on platform and raised or lowered. Another way to be artistic about this is the dolly zoom- camera dollied while zooming which changes depth of field and gives a surreal look to the shot.
II. Mise En Scène
Everything should contribute to the story, because the audience picks up on everything. The lighting, texture, lights, set, objects, all tell the audience something about the world that is being built. Mise en scène means “placing on stage”, and refers to this world building that is so vital to the story. Some elements to examine when discussing mise en scène are color, décor, lighting, and space.
Set Dressing refers to objects that are intentionally there but arenot used by actors. These can show character, texture, or evoke emotion. A teddy bear in a child’s room might add sympathy for the character and portray innocence, and scattered papers on a desk may give the impression that a character is coping with high levels of stress. Props are objects on the set that are used by the actors. These, obviously, can also add to the character, for example the red vs green lightsaber dichotomy example given to add to our perception of the characters’ spiritual alignment. What a character “owns” speaks to who they are.
Lighting is of the utmost importance. Just like filming techniques and set creation, lighting tells our audience how they are supposed to be feeling about a certain scene. The most common way to light a scene is by using three point lighting: key light, fill light, and backlight. Key lights point to actor, fill light fills in the shadows, and the backlight lights the actor to separate them from the background. These can be adjusted in innumerable ways to give the viewer a different feel for the scene. Hard lighting utilizes bright, harsh key lights on the actor, which feel uncomfortable and unflattering, whereas soft lighting diffuses through a filter and wraps around the subject, feeling romantic and calm- this is more high key lighting. Chiaroscuro (Italian for light and dark), refers to a high contrast, mysterious, melancholy light setup- this is more low key lighting.
Ambient lighting is light that is already there, for example if you are filming outdoors. Unmotivated lighting shapes the scene, as mentioned above, but is not a part of it, whereas motivated lighting is. Motivated lighting could mean that the character interacts with a light source, or just that a light source influences the plot- like the lightning bolt behind Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, indicating to us that the hurricane is gaining ferocity.
The use of color in film originated with filmmakers looking for a way around being forced only to use black and white film, in the early days of cinematography. One way to use color was to hand paint each frame. Another was to tint the film, to give the entirety of it a color- most commonly, sepia.
Color grading is when color is selectively adjusted for distinct look. Another good example in the video was O Brother Where Art Thou, which uses a warm, desaturated and dusty tone to give an extreme sense of heat, grit, and a lack of access to electricity. While we’re on the topic, I think it’s interesting to note that the scenes in O Brother Where Art Thou featuring the two candidates for governor are white, pastel, and sparse, despite the heinous deeds and/or negligence displayed by both politicians. I feel that a white, pastel color palette often signifies innocence and benevolent intent, and this contrasts very nicely with the physically and morally disgusting characters, in addition to reminding us how far removed these rich bourgeois men are to our filthy, impoverished protagonists in their gritty color palette. Not only do I love the movie, but I feel that those are great examples of how saturation and color palette can evoke different feelings about a scene and tell the viewers how they should interpret the characters.
Space is another way to communicate this. In deep space, the scene places elements both far from the camera and near to it, to draw the eye back and forth from action. In shallow space, the placements are flat with no depth, feeling physically close or constrained. Offscreen space mostly refers to the use of an actor’s performance to imply something is happening offscreen. All actors’ movements are heavily choreographed- this is called blocking- and the way they interact with the set can also imply space.
II. A Brief History of Film
Cinema began 1895 with moving pictures projected onto a screen. The first motion picture was projected by the Lumière brothers with their invention, the cinematograph, a device that could change from a camera to a projector. On opening night, the brothers showed a video of people walking out of a marketplace stall. Only 33 people attended, and the press rejected an invitation to appear.
Word spread, however, and only a few days later, two thousand curious people were lined up at the door dying to get a look at the motion picture. And so the Lumière brothers became very successful, and continued showing film to large audiences. One famous film was of a train coming into a station, which caused its audience to scream with fright. A parody of this was released in 1901, in which a countryman is terrified of a train movie. I think six years is not a very long time to go by to begin critiquing others of their reaction to a relatively new invention. But how did we get to the creation of this invention? Let’s take a quick look at some of its predecessors:
In 1891, Thomas Edison perfected the kinetoscope, which was a large device that allowed one viewer at a time to look through a peephole and see a series of images placed against a light source and a high speed shutter. Further back, in 1872, Eadweard Muybridge created a reel of separate stills that showed a horse in motion by using a wire to have the camera take photos at each frame. When played, this clip showed that there are moments when a horses’ feet leave the ground completely. This was a breakthrough in film and animation, as he successfully captured a clip that could never have been measured or witnessed by the human eye. Another important figure is Émile Reynaud, the inventor of the praxinoscope, which improved the zoetrope, a popular device which played many hand drawn images by rotating them quickly, creating a short, looping animation.
Shortly after the cinematograph brought movie-making technology to the world, Robert Paul shot “The Derby”, a silent black and white film of horse race, sensationalizing the audience. Even from the beginning of film history, the audiences loved thrilling, exciting, or shocking films, for example, ones that depicted danger or magic tricks.
George Meliés was a theater owner at the Lumière show who was interested in such magic tricks. His trademark style was surreal and fantastical film- a train flying into space, an actor pulling an object out of a two dimensional drawing, making objects disappear, throwing his own head, or doing any kind of tricks with double exposure. His films were popular and cutting-edge. Meliés could be considered one of the first to experiment with visual effects in film.
II. Brief History of Animation and Visual Effects
Back in 1609 the magic lantern was a popular form of entertainment. This a machine that projected images in a series, the most basic definition of animation. In 1800, a paddle children’s toy showed objects on different sides with strings, and when the child spun the device the images would animate, like a little flip book. And as mentioned earlier, the zoetrope or 1876 and praxinoscope spun several frames and the viewer would look through the slot to see this animation.
But the first animation in film didn’t come along until “Humorous Phases of Funny Faces” in 1906. It was a chalk-drawing video using erasure to animate little clips of faces changing expression. In 1914 there came Windsor McCay’s popular Gertie the Dinosaur. This was a smooth drawn animation show in which Gertie would “obey” the artist’s commands, who was onstage “interacting” with her. The show was accompanied by live piano entertainment. Gertie had a gender, name, and personality, and so may be considered the first animated character of all time.
In 1928 animation really started to develop with the birth of Steamboat Willie. In this short, Mickey Mouse is a sailor on a steamboat. This animation was created to go along with the orchestra performance shown simultaneously, but Walt Disney wanted to draw attention to the animation, and so Mickey would use characters and objects to “play along”. Another notable facet of Steamboat Willie is that he also used violence for comedic effect, which would end up staying in animation for a very long time.
After the Wall Street crash of 1929, Disney’s cartoon skyrocketed in popularity, as bored and hopeless moviegoers found entertainment and fun in the cheap cartoon showings. And so Disney set out to create what no one had ever done before: the first animated feature length movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, released in 1937. The movie used new techniques, like rotoscoping, to add more realism. Multi-depth camera allowed Disney to shoot in layers of translucent art cells to add depth of field. The animation team would review clips tirelessly and cut out any bad animation, replacing it. In addition to all this hard labor, Disney even created his own sound effects and music for Snow White with his team. The work paid off, taking in the equivalent of 1.2 billion dollars in the box office by today’s rate of inflation, an unbelievable amount not only by modern standards but especially during the Great Depression. This movie revolutionized the world of animation and caused animating and filmmaking teams globally to race to catch up.
Snow White, as well as most hand drawn animation, used cell animation, the practice of drawing each frame one by one and playing them quickly to create a moving image. As technology advanced, so have our options for creating animation.
CGI refers to Computer Generated Imagery. The first movie ever to use CGI was Westworld in 1973. In 1993, another Michael Crichton story Jurassic Park revolutionized CGI. Jurassic Park, as we all know, looks incredible even by today’s standards despite being almost thirty years old now, and the reason for this was a hardworking, inventive, and tireless animation team. The animators used armatures to create stop motion dinosaur animation, and then added CGI around that. They also filmed themselves and animals interacting with their environment as dinosaurs and acting out the scenes that would be animated to use as a reference. After this movie, computer animation boomed in a landslide of technological advancements, each year bringing leaps and bounds of progress.
Some notable computer animated films were Casper the Friendly Ghost, with the first computer animated title character. Pixar’s Toy Story, the first completely computer animated film, came shortly after in 1995. Dragonheart in 1996 was notable for its use of and actor’s facial reference in a computer animated character. Lord of the Rings won many awards for Gollum, which was created using motion capture and adding animation and CGI in on top. The Matrix, another film with incredible computer animation that still holds up today, created a 3D recording of the actor’s performance which could be played back from different angles and in different timing. Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean was so well done some audiences thought that the actor was wearing prosthetics, and in Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt’s face was scanned and digitally analyzed- aged backwards and forwards. He was able to “puppet” his own face with the aged up or down prosthetics. Most of these films were recognized by the Academy Awards by their achievements at the intersection of artistry and technology.
And so we continue to this day with new discoveries and rapid advancement. Not long ago, virtual reality shocked the masses, but now we commonly accept it in gaming and production design. The imminent introduction of revolutionary new technology that brings film, art, science, augmented reality, and immersive experience together is both beautiful and palpable.