Film
Film
Film
Analyzing Film
Composition: The arrangement of all the elements within the screen image
to achieve a balance of light, mass, shadow, color, and movement.
Camera Work: This includes the details on where the camera is situated and
whether it moves or not.
Editing: The mixing of shots into a holistic movie
Lighting: The amount, intensity, color, and direction of the lights.
Sound: The sound effects and musical score of a film.
Composition
Scene : The basic thematic unit of a film. Definition: one of the subdivisions
of a film which presents continuous action in one setting.
Mise-en-Scene: In film, the term is used to describe the arrangement of
elements within the frame of a single shot.
Shot : The basic visual unit of a film is the shot.
: Shots are usually described in terms of camera distance with respect
to an object within the shot.
SHOTS
CLOSE-UP
In a close-up, the subject is framed by the camera, filling the screen. This connotes
intimacy.
MEDIUM CLOSE-UP
A medium close-up shows one or two characters framing the shoulders or chest
and head.
MEDIUM SHOT
Medium shots frame a character from the waist, hips or knees up. The camera is
sufficiently distanced from the body for the character to be seen in relation to his
or her surroundings.
Half way between a long and a medium shot. If it frames a character, the whole
body will be in view in the middle ground of the shot.
LONG SHOT
In long shots, the subject or characters are at some distance from the camera.
They are seen in full in their surrounding environment.
SHOT/COUNTER SHOT
Also known as a reverse angle shot, it is most commonly used for dialogue. It
consists of two alternating shots, generally in medium close-up, framing the two
speakers.
Camera Work
The shot angle is the direction and height from which the camera takes the scene.
CUTTING RATE
Lighting
Soft and harsh lighting. Soft and harsh lighting can manipulate a viewer's
attitude towards a setting or a character. The way light is used can make
objects, people and environments look beautiful or ugly, soft or harsh,
artificial or real. Light may be used expressively or realistically.
Backlighting: Lighting which comes from directly behind the subject,
placing it in silhouette.
Colors: Many directors use colored lighting in order to affect the mood
more viscerally (ex. The Crow in the flashback scenes.)
The Score: Music composed for the film. This music helps establish the pace of
the accompanying scene. The rhythm of the music often dictates the rhythm of the
cuts, and the emotional coloring of the music reinforces the mood of the scene.
Conventionally, background music accelerates for a chase sequence, becomes
louder to underscore a dramatically important action. Through repetition, it can
also link shots.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
ANALYZING FILMS
plot
characters
setting
themes
point of view
recurring images
symbols
Close Up (CU)
A relative term