Flim

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Major Visual Components of Mise- en-scène

• Design – the process by which the look of the settings, props, lighting, and actors is determined

• Composition – the organization, distribution, balance, and general relationship of actors and objects within the space of each shot

Planning a shot’s mise-en-scène

• Placing people, objects, and set elements

• Setting up the lighting

• Figuring out the camera angles and determining the initial framing of the shot

• Choreographing camera movement

• Accounting for the sounds that emanate from the shot (at UO we do not include sound itself in the definition)

Functions of Design

• Creates a convincing sense of time, space, and moods

• Suggests a character’s state of mind

• Relates to developing themes

Principle Responsibilities of the Production Designer

• Responsible for the overall design concept

• Supervises the heads of the many departments that create a movie’s look

• In the studio era this was the “art director”

Design Departments * art,

• costume design and construction,

• hairstyling,

• makeup,

• wardrobe,

• location,

• properties,

• carpentry,

• set construction and decoration,

• greenery,

• transportation

Elements of Design

• Setting, decor, and properties

• Lighting

• Costume, makeup, and hairstyle

Setting, Decor, and Properties

• Setting – the spatial and temporal environment (realistic or imagined) in which the narrative takes place

• Decor – the color and textures of the interior decoration, furniture, draperies, curtains

• Properties (props) – objects that help us understand the characters by showing us their preferences in such things

The Role of Lighting

• Guides viewer’s eyes through the moving image

• Calls attention to shapes and textures; shadows may mask or conceal things

• Light is controlled and manipulated to achieve expressive effects

Costume, Makeup, and Hairstyle

• Contributes to the setting and suggests specific character traits

• Costumes (wardrobe) – the clothing worn by an actor in a movie

• Many directors favor natural and contemporary make- up and hairstyles

Two Fundamental Styles of Design

• Realistic (Lumière brothers) – short, realistic depictions of everyday activities

• Fantastic (Georges Méliès) – invented the film set and a variety of film illusions

German Expressionism

• Gave objective expression to subjective human feelings and emotions through the use of design elements

• Aimed at heightening reality by relying on nonobjective elements such as symbols, stereotyped characters, and stylization

• Created a unified mise-en-scène to increase the emotional impact of the production on the audience

German Expressionist Films

• Extremely stylized mise-en-scène

• Shot in the studio even when the script called for exterior scenes

• Deliberately artificial lighting, emphasized deep shadows and sharp contrasts

• Actors externalized their emotions to the extreme

Framing: What We See on the Screen

• The frame is the moveable border between what the filmmaker wants us to see and everything else

• Framing implies point of view (POV).

• POV can be omniscient or subjective or ambiguous

Open and Closed Frames

• Open frames – depict a world where characters move freely within an open, recognizable environment; generally employed in realistic films; frame as “window”

• Closed frames – imply that other forces have robbed characters of their ability to move and act freely; generally employed in antirealistic films; the frame encloses or limits the world by closing it down and providing only one view

Kinesis: What Moves on the Screen

• Movement of objects and characters within the frame

• Apparent movement of the frame itself

• The kinetic quality of many movies is determined by their genre

Movement of Figures within the Frame

• Figure – anything concrete within the frame (object, animal, person)

• Blocking – planning the positions and movements of the actors and the cameras

Black-and-White Cinematography

• Distinct contrasts and hard edges

• Texture and spatial depth

• Can have moral or ethical implications

• Tonality

Properties of Lighting

• Source

• Quality

• Direction

• Style

Lighting: Source

• Natural (sunlight) – reflector boards

• Artificial (instruments) – focusable spotlights and floodlights

Lighting: Quality

• Hard lighting – shining directly on the subject, creating crisp details

• Soft lighting – diffused; light hits the subject from many directions

Lighting: Direction

• Three-point system (key light, fill light, and backlight)

• Low-key lighting – ratio between lights and darks is harsh

• High-key lighting – very little contrast between darks and lights

• Lighting ratio – balance between key and fill

Properties of the Shot: Lenses

• Basic properties of all lenses – Aperture, focal length, depth of field

• Depth of field – distances in front of a camera and its lens in which the subjects are in apparent sharp focus

– Rack Focus

– Deep Focus vs. Soft or single-plane focus

Four Major Lenses

• Short-focal-length

• Long-focal-length

• Middle-focal-length

• Zoom

Implied Proximity to the Camera

• Extreme long shot / Long shot

• Medium long shot / Medium shot

• Medium close-up / Close-up / Extreme close-up

Depth

• Deep-space composition – a total visual composition that can place significant information or subjects on all three planes of the frame and thus creates an illusion of depth

• Deep-focus cinematography – using a short-focal length lens, keeps all three planes in sharp focus

Rule of Thirds

• A convention that takes the form of a grid pattern that, when superimposed on an image, divides it into horizontal thirds representing the foreground, middle ground, and background planes and into vertical thirds that break up those planes into further elements.

• Helps achieve onscreen distribution and balance, and visual continuity between shots.

Camera Angle and Height

• Eye level

• High angle

• Low angle

• Dutch angle

• Aerial view

Scale

• Size and placement of a particular object in relation to the rest

• Relationship is determined by the type of shot used and the camera position

• The type of shot affects the scale of the shot and thus affects meaning

Camera Movement

• Pan shot / Tilt shot

• Dolly shot / Zoom

• Crane shot

• Handheld camera / Steadicam

Pan Shot

• The horizontal movement of a mounted camera

• Offers a larger, more panoramic view

• Guides our attention to characters or actions that are important

Dolly / Tracking Shot

• Shot taken by a camera fixed to a wheeled support (dolly)

• Dolly-in – Subject grows larger in the frame, gaining significance

• Dolly-out – Moving away from subject; often used for slow disclosure

Zoom

• A zoom lens does not move through space

• Provides the illusion of the camera moving toward or away from the subject

• The image is magnified or demagnified

• Movement can appear artificial or self-conscious

Crane Shot

• Made from a camera mounted on an elevating arm that is mounted on a vehicle

• Has horizontal and vertical movement

• Can lift the camera high off the ground

• Movement appears omniscient or voyeuristic

Handheld Camera

• Small, portable, lightweight instrument

• The inherent shakiness can be exploited to convey a loss of control

• Audiences associate the look of handheld camera shots with documentary realism

Framing and Point of View (POV)

• Framing implies POV

• Camera’s POV depends on the physical position from which the camera shoots

• Single character POV / Group POV

• Omniscient POV

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Special Effects (SPFX / FX)

• Technology that creates images that would be too dangerous, too expensive, or simply impossible to achieve with traditional cinematographic materials

• General goal is to create verisimilitude within the imaginative world of even the most fanciful movie

Special Effects (SPFX / FX)

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In-Camera, Mechanical, and Laboratory Effects

• In-camera effects – created in the production camera, on the regular negative

• Mechanical effects – created objects or events mechanically on the set and in front of the camera

• Laboratory effects – created on a fresh piece of film stock

Special Effects (SPFX / FX)

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Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)

• First used in early 1970s

• Process shot – combines action in front of a rear- projection screen of images

• Allows movies to be set in wholly imagined places Special Effects (SPFX / FX)

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