FILM TECHNIQUES
The goal of this assignment is to determine various components of film techniques.
Assignment Part 1
Assignment Part 1
Cinematography
A well planned cinematography is essential in film making as it creates great impact and enables audiences to engage with the film better. The following are some basic rules of composition according to Heiderich (n. d.):
- Rule of Thirds- It's a technique of dividing the frame up into 3x3 grid to split the frame into 9 boxes. Instead of placing subject in dead center of the frame and makes it boring, it would be more natural and pleasant-looking by locating subject at any of the four intersections of the grid so that it creates a nicely balanced frame in the film.
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- Head Room and Look Room- Head room and look room give the subject extra room in wherever directions they're facing, and sometimes the opposite direction, depends on the film requirement. Subconsciously, we tend to treat the edges of frame as a wall, hence giving subject more head room and look room to provide more space for them to speak into and 'breathe'. Insufficient head room and look room would create a sense of suffocation in the frame and make subject looks like talking to a 'wall'.
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- Depth- By adding depth to composition, such as the presence of foreground, midground, and background within the frame, it creates a visually rich composition with dynamic feel rather than a flat scene which is less exciting. Audience can feel that the subject in foreground appears to be closer to them while subject in background appears to be further away from them while watching the film.
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Besides some basic rules of composition, different types of shots conveys different tones to a scene. According to Heiderich, setting different tones enables audience to interact with the scenes and experience different feelings as they watch the film. The following are different shots used in film techniques as suggested by Heiderich (n. d.):
- Extreme Long Shot- It's also known as an establishing shot to show the majestic and massive scale of particular scene. Extreme long shot also conveys the relative insignificance of the character struggling against their environment such as a small sized human in a mountain area or ocean.
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- Long Shot- Distance of camera from subject makes audience doesn't get as emotionally involved in what's going on as they would if they're closer. From the distance, audience would know something is happening or about to happen next, but not sure what it is yet.
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- Medium Long Shot
- It falls between long and close shot, but it is more informative rather than emotional. It is too close to establish epic scale of a long shot and too far away to convey intimacy of a close up, hence making it neutral.
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- Medium Shot- This distance is where audience are able to engage with the characters on a personal level as it's an approximation of how close someone would be during a casual conversation.
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- Close Up
- This shot is more intimate than medium shot because it shows more emotion and expressions to engage the character in a direct and personal manner. Audience will start to loose the visual information about the surroundings.
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- Extreme Close Up
- This shot amplifies emotional intensity when the camera is set right in the actor's face. Even the smallest emotional cues huge.
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- Dutch Angle
- It can be achieved by tilting camera to create or warns that an unstable situation is about to happen, and show the unstable emotional state of character.
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- Bird's Eye Shot
- It's similar to extreme long shot but shot from top view, this starts to get into the abstract realm of shapes and lines.
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- Worm's Eye Shot
- It mimics extreme low angle view from the ground as if it's a worm's view.
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- Point-of-view (P.O.V.)
- Shot from the view of the character in the film as if audience sees things through the character's eyes.
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Lighting
In film, there are three types of lighting styles which included high key, low key and available light. These lights can affect on emotional responses of audiences (Poland, 2002).
- High key light can also be known as soft light. High key light shows no shadow, and the scene seems lit flat. Audiences may see all the visual space clearly, which also gives a sense of safety and positivity (Poland, 2002). This type of lighting created low contrast of visuals which can bring out the feelings of positive emotions like happiness, joy and humor, usually used in comedy. For example, “Kong Fu Yoga” and “Beauty and the Beast” used more high key light throughout whole movie. High key light is used to show happiness and joy in these two movies.
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- Low key light is also one of the lighting styles that is often used in film. Low key light is usually only set on a particular angle, which only shine on a particular angle of the object or in the scene. Low key light can also known as hard light, it shine hard but without or less dispersion. Low key light created high contrast of visuals, also brings feelings of suspense and mystery (Poland, 2002), sometimes also gives gloomy feeling to the scene. For example, movie “In the Mood for Love”, used a lot of low key light to create high contrast of visuals, and helped in portray the mystery feeling of the plot. Mulholland Drive contains a lot of mystery elements.
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- Available light usually used in reality show or documentary. Normal lighting with variety of lights, create natural light to increase the realness of the scene.
Mise-en-scene
Mise-en-scene
is a French word which translated as a term for film, meaning “placing on
stage”. “Placing on stage” can be defined as what are show on screen, which
included setting, costume and make up, lighting, and actors’ behavior.
- Setting included place, decoration and props. Costume and make up is to build up and enhance the feeling of the setting. Lighting is not only used in enhancing the feeling of the scene, but also portray different meaning when using different lighting. Actor’s behavior is the physical movement of the characters, including actions and gestures to express the emotions and feelings. The mixtures of these components may help in expressing meanings and may bring good visual for the scene.
For example, the setting of the movie “In the
Mood for Love” is in 1960s’ Hong Kong. The costumes of the characters are
mainly Cheongsam and Western suits, with light make up. The lighting of the
movie is more on using yellow-orange low key light, which can shows the feeling
of the old times, and the warmth feeling. The actors’ behavior is in slower
pace, to express the feeling of ambiguous between two of the main characters.
Another example of mise-en-scene, the setting
of the movie “Children of Heaven”, is a 1997’s Iran movie. The main characters
are born in poor family. The costumes of the characters are tattered, specially
their shoes, to show that they are really poor. The movie is using natural
light as light source, soft light and available light are also used to create
realness and make it closer to the audiences. The movement of the actors are in
fast pace as they have to run every day in the film, this movement brings out
the struggle and the feeling of helpless of the characters, Ali and Zahra.
Audio
Sounds are
the essence of every film. Sounds included the human voice, sound effect and
music (Marshall, n.d.). Three tracks are mixed together and in company with the
scenes to produce complete film. Sounds may help in increasing the effects and
the feelings of the visual, in order to make audiences get into the situation
more easily.
The Human Voice is the dialogue of the film. It is
important in film is because dialogues are used to convey the meaning of the
film and communicate with the audiences at the same time. Not only the messages
must be useful and convey meaning, the tone when the speaker is speaking is
also important in delivering emotions to the audiences. In a film, normally
conflict happens when the person is angry, or when the person is angry,
conflict happens.
There are two types of sound effects which are synchronous sounds and asynchronous sounds.
Synchronous sounds are when the
sounds are synchronized with the visual (Marshall, n.d.). Like when a character
in the scene is turning on the light, a “CLICK” sound is to show that the
character has pressed the button.
Asynchronous sounds are not matched with the visual,
like the sound is not showing what the character in the scene is doing. This
type of sound is used as to provide emotions, also to create tension to the
scene. Audiences will feel curious about the scene when it is using
asynchronous sound.
Music also known as background music is
used to add emotion and rhythm to the film. It can show the tone and pace of
the scene. Background music normally used to let audiences notice the changes
of the mood. Lively songs give a sense of joy and sad songs give a sense of
sadness.
Editing and Transitions
Editing works by putting different video clips together with transitions to establish pace, rhythm, and flow of a film. Different techniques suits different kind of situation in film.
- Cutaway
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- Dissolve
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- Montage
- Split Screen
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Assignment Part 2
Synopsis:
A young man woke
up in the morning, found the white black strips shirt is place in front of his
face. This white black strips shirt was reflecting to his personality, mocking
the real him for being a loser in his life, his only reply was ignoring it. With
the glow of light on another door, he was trying to stand up again with
confronting the hope outside the door. But in reality, he is weak on
interpersonal skills and the people with strong interpersonal skills stay
connected, that’s why he had been ignored. When he went back home, he saw the
white black strips shirt recalling him again, he is struggling to let the inner
self to take full control over his real life, maybe this can manipulate the situation.
The merging between him and his inner self, he was cautious of it. He thought taking
medicines would help him to control another him. But at last the conflict between him and the inner self, the inner self succeeded in convincing the merge, the inner self feel the same as he do, hence he started from smiling to
voiceless crying. The merging was a success, now the only color of his life was between black and white, no more magnificent blooming of the new flowers.
Concept:
This video is inspired by Batman movie, character of Joker
combined with Pierrot and multiple personality disorder. The character had
second distinct identity, A winner Pierrot. It was a big contrast with his
characteristics in reality which was a loser and a winner. This video shows the
battle between his own self with his
another identity. It shows the struggles weather he want to stay or to let his
soul, body to be controlled by another identity forever.
Art Direction:
The art in this video is based on life of normal
young adults. The Orange lighting of the background is to show how tired and
desperate his life in reality. It was to make the mood of the whole setting to be down
and moody. POV technique was used as to show how tired he was with his life. In
the bathroom scene, the props composition was to show that he lived on his own,
with the help of the mirror, it reflected how his second personality is. Next ,
the hard light that used in the third scene showed he didn’t give up, he'd still
be himself although still being isolated by
the public. The outdoor scene was shoot in low angle and high angle. It gave the power of being left out by the society and being look down by them too. It
makes the young men to come in an explode time, the hard light shines the
strips shirt on the sofa where give the audience a focus on he deciding. The pierrots showed how lonely he is. He tried to battle his second identity.
The expression of the talent himself and
the winner show how his sarcastic feeding as to be a winner pierrots. The jump cut of pills scene is to show how hard
he wanted to change his life. The silhouette at the last scene show the
movement and giving out a feeling of hope but desperate at the same time. Tracking, lighting and composition are required to set up .
Reference
Heiderich, T. (n. d.). Cinematography Techniques: The Different Types of Shots in Film. Retrieved from https://www.oma.on.ca/en/contestpages/resources/free-report-cinematography.pdf
Marshall,
J. M. (n.d. ). An Introduction to Film Sound. Retrieved from:
Poland, J.
L. (2002). Lights, Camera, Emotion! An Examination on Film Lighting and Its
Impact On Audiences’ Emotional Response. Retrieved from:
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