Week 1 Introduction and Assignment

Have a look at what this camera can achieve:

Basic Camera Angles

Green: Short test Film Using Panasonic HMC 151

Handbook For HMC151 Camera

www.resource.holdan.eu/manuals/Panasonic_AG-HMC151.pdf

Shot types: Overview

The term 'Shot type" refers to the distance from camera to  subject matter within the frame.

Shot types relate to the way that humans instinctively react to visual information.

We identify with the lens.

 For example: Close -ups imply that the subject is very significant, just as someone or something would seem if it were dominating our field of vision in every day life.

 Shot types have communicative functions.

They can:

Communicate a state of mind of the character.
Elicit an emotional response from the viewer.
Shape the information and the way in which the story is being told.

 Watch the following short overview of shot types and their significance in terms of telling a story.


 

Framing and Composition : The Rule of Thirds

The Rule of Thirds The rule of thirds divides a frame into nine sections. The rule of thirds is a concept in video and film production in which the frame is divided into into nine imaginary sections, as illustrated on the right. This creates reference points which act as guides for framing the image.

Points (or lines) of interest should occur at 1/3 or 2/3 of the way up (or across) the frame, rather than in the centre. Like many rules of framing, this is not always necessary (or desirable) but it is one of those rules you should understand well before you break it.

The eyes are placed 1/3 down the frame. In most "people shots", the main line of interest is the line going through the eyes. In this shot, the eyes are placed approximately 1/3 of the way down the frame. Depending on the type of shot, it's not always possible to place the eyes like this.





 In this shot, the building takes up approximately 1/3 of the frame and the sky takes up the rest. This could be a weather shot, in which the subject is actually the sky.

Research has indicated that in Western Cultures, people will look at sections of the image frame for the amounts of time indicated.

Q? How might these findings be different in non-western cultures?

Q? Why











Take a look at this short video on the 'Rule of thirds'

Hitchcock's Rule

Hitchcock's Rule:

Film director Alfred Hitchcock articulated the following rule of filmmaking:
"The size of an object in the frame should equal its importance in the story at that moment."

 Orson Welles applied the Hitchcock Rule to the famous three-minute opening shot for his 1958 film "Touch of Evil"

The first frame is filled with a ticking time bomb. Then the camera pulls way back to set the scene, and closes in on the main characters as they kiss...and then...well check it out.


Blain Brown explains Hitchcock's rule and much more in his excellent book:
 Cinematography: Theory and Practice: Image Making for Cinematographers and Directors

Camera Angles: Low Angle.

Camera Angle:

Camera angle refers to where the camera is placed in relation to the subject of the image.
In general, the camera is placed approximately at eye level, or up to six feet off the ground.

 Low angle refers to when the camera is placed below eye level.

The viewer is therefore looking up at the subject. the subject.
"Low Angle Discussion" scene from Film: Citizen Kane (1min., 22sec) Dir: Orson Welles, 1941.

 

TASK :  Write a few lines about why you think that Welles decided to film this discussion using the camera placed at a low angle?

Sound: Introduction

Sound on film really came into play after the 1927 film "The Jazz Singer"

It was Warner Bros that took the 1st leap into the all-talking movie with the Jazz Singer in 1927. Though there are instances of sound being used earlier this film is the 1st feature-length motion-pic with synchronized dialogues. Directed by Alan Crosland, it starred Al Jolson performing the 6 songs in the Movie. And as the saying goes the rest is history.

Camera Angles: High Angle

Most of the time you want to shoot people at their eye level. 

It makes the camera a neutral observer. Shooting down towards your subject gives the impression that they are submissive. This is called a "High Angle" shot.

High angle shots also make the figure or object seem vulnerable or powerless.

High angle shots are usually used in film to make the moment more dramatic or if there is someone at a high level that the character below is talking to.

Camera Angles: Dutch Tilt

The Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of camera shot where the camera is set at an angle on its roll axis so that the shot is composed with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is not parallel with the bottom of the camera frame.


The Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed : The canted angle was a motif used throughout this film.

The atmospheric use of black-and-white expressionist cinematography by Robert Krasker, with 
harsh lighting  and distorted "Dutch angle" camera angles, is a key feature of The Third Man. 

Combined with the unique theme music, seedy locations, and acclaimed performances from the cast, the style evokes the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical, post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War. 

Some critics at the time criticised the film's unusual camera angles. C. A. Lejeune in The Observer described Reed's "habit of printing his scenes askew, with floors sloping at a diagonal and close-ups deliriously tilted" as "most distracting". American director William Wyler, Reed's close friend, sent him a spirit level, with a note saying, "Carol, next time you make a picture, just put it on top of the camera, will you?" 

Sound: Foley (Creation of sound effects for film)

Sound is a very important aspect of moving image production.
A foley artist is a crucial part of the sound design team creating sound to accompany filmic images.


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Sound: Contrapuntal (anempathetic)

Contrapuntal (anempathetic) Sound:

Definition:  sounds which are opposite to the emotion expected from the narrative. So for example, to put it plainly, fun music over a sad scene

For example: Reservoir Dogs,
The song 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is introduced as diagetic sound which is introduced  by the tuning of a radio. What follows makes the relaxed nature of the song and its lyrics, which include the line 'hard to get out of my chair', into a piece of music which seems to mock the victim, with the same level of sadistic sarcasm as is evident in the mindset of Mr Blonde.

The song 'Stuck in the Middle With You' is used in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 debut film Reservoir Dogs, during the scene in which the character Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) taunts and tortures a bound policeman while singing and dancing to the song. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Tarantino recalled

"That was one of those things where I thought [the song] would work really well, and [during] auditions, I told the actors that I wanted them to do the torture scene, and I'm gonna use 'Stuck in the Middle With You,' but they could pick anything they wanted, they didn't have to use that song. And a couple people picked another one, but almost everyone came in with 'Stuck in the Middle With You,' and they were saying that they tried to come up with something else, but that's the one. The first time somebody actually did the torture scene to that song, the guy didn't even have a great audition, but it was like watching the movie. I was thinking, 'Oh my God, this is gonna be awesome!'

Look at the example from Reservoir Dogs (Dir: Quentin Tarrantino, 1992)

Sound: Sound Recording Tutorial

 Here is the primary product that we are going to be using to capture sound.