Film Terminology

Cinematography Cinematography literally means “writing with movement.” It is the art of making motion pictures The cinematographer (different from the director) uses the camera as a maker of meaning, just as the painter uses the brush or the writer uses the pen. While the director’s vision shapes the whole production of the film, the cinematographer makes the very specific decisions about how the movie will be photographed.

Shooting a Movie The three key terms used in shooting a movie are shot, take, and setup. A shot is one uninterrupted run of the camera. It can be as short or as long as the director wants, with the obvious condition that it not exceed the length of the film stock in the camera. Take indicates the number of times a particular shot is taken (e.g. shot 14, take 7). A setup is one camera position and everything associated with it.

Film Stock The two basic types of film stock – one to record images in black and white, the other to record them in color – are completely different and have their own technical properties and possibilities. Which stock is right for a particular film depends on the story being told; but with only a few outstanding exceptions, virtually all movies are now shot in color, since that is what the public is accustomed to and expects. In 1936 only 1% of the feature releases from major studios were in color; by 1968, virtually all of them were.

Black-and-White Films Famous films deliberately shot (at least partially) in black-and-white: Martin Scorcese’s Raging Bull (1980) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiVOwxsa4OM Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W74jGQ-CDTE Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyaj2P-dSi8

Black-and-White Films Take a moment and think about why the director may have chosen to shoot the following films in black-and-white, rather than color. What moods are created as a result? Raging Bull Mood: ____________________________ 2. Schindler’s List Manhattan

Black-and-White Films Audiences have come to associate black-and-white photography and cinematography with a stronger sense of “gritty” realism than that provided by color film stock. The distinct contrasts and hard edges of black-and-white can express an abstract world (i.e. a world from which color has been removed). Black-and-white film stock is most often used for the kind of tales told in westerns, film noirs (detective stories), and gangster films.

Color in Films While most films are shot in color nowadays, the color we see on the screen isn’t always natural. Film artists and technicians can manipulate the colors in a film just like any other element. Color can be used to evoke a specific mood or tone in a film. In Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989), colors are heightened to call attention to the heat of the day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpDzd5Sw5HU

Lighting Lighting shapes the way a movie looks and it helps tell the story. As a key component of the composition of a film, lights create the audience’s sense of space by illuminating people and things, creating highlights and shadows, and defining shapes and textures. Filmmakers can employ either natural or artificial light while shooting.

Types of Shots The most commonly used shots employed in a movie are the long shot, the medium shot, and the close-up. The names of these shots refer to the distance between the camera lens and the subject being photographed.

Long Shots The long shot (LS) shows the full human body, usually filling the frame, and some of its surroundings. The LS can be used to diminish the size of the character in relation to some larger force. The extreme long shot (ELS) occurs when the human figure is placed very far away from the camera.

Medium Shots The medium shot (MS) shows the human body, usually from the waist up. The MS is the most frequently used type of shot because it reproduces the level of closeness we would ordinarily have when talking to a person face-to-face and it provides more detail of the body than the LS. The medium long shot (MLS) is taken from the knees up and includes most of a person’s body.

Close-ups The close-up (CU) often shows a part of the body filling the frame – traditionally a face, but possibly a hand, eye, or mouth. An extreme close-up (ECU) is a very close shot of some detail, such as a person’s eye, a ring on a finger, or a watch.

Camera Angle and Height The camera’s shooting angle, the level and height of the camera in relation to the subject being photographed, is another element of filmmaking that offers many expressive possibilities. The five basic camera angles – eye level, high angle, low angle, Dutch angle, and aerial view – must be used appropriately with a movie’s storytelling.

Camera Angle and Height An eye-level shot is made from the observer’s eye level and usually implies that the camera’s attitude toward the subject being photographed is neutral. A high-angle shot is made with the camera above the action and typically implies the observer’s sense of superiority to the subject being photographed.

Camera Angle and Height In contrast to the high-angle shot, a low-angle shot is made with the camera below the action and typically places the observer in the position of feeling helpless in the presence of an obviously superior force, as when we look up at King Kong on the Empire State Building or up at the shark from the underwater camera’s point of view in Jaws. Even a slight upward or downward angle of a camera may be enough to express an air of inferiority or superiority.

Camera Angle and Height In a Dutch-angle shot, the camera is tilted from its normal horizontal and vertical position so that it is no longer straight, giving the viewer the impression that the world in the frame is out of balance. An aerial-view shot (or bird’s-eye-view shot), an extreme type of point-of-view shot, is taken from an aircraft or very high crane and implies the viewer’s omniscient point of view.

Scale Scale is the size and placement of a particular object or a part of a scene in relation to the rest, a relationship determined by the type of shot used and the position of the camera.

Special Effects Special effects create images that would be too dangerous, too expensive, or, in some cases, simply impossible to achieve with traditional cinematography. Such illusions are accomplished in essentially three ways: through in-camera effects created in the regular camera used for shooting on the original negative, through laboratory effects created on a fresh piece of film stock, and through computer-generated effects created by digital technology.