Understanding film! I was so looking forward to this week because film is my passion! Week three's lecture was all about shots (the shots taken to tell the story of a movie or television show, actually pretty much any piece with shots in it). There are various shots, the three main ones are: long shot, wide shot and close up. From these three shots other shots can be created such as a long long shot, medium long shot, mid shot, medium close up, big close up or extreme close up. Those in the business ( :) ) refer to these shots as ls=long shot, ws=wide shot or cs=close up, with m, l and e ect, standing for sizes. As with any written stiry a film must also show who, what, where, when and how. The w's (and h) can be shown through certain shots. Starting with who, as it is the most important part of a story (the characters make people want to follow the story), is usually shown by a close up. the close up shot shows the character in full detail. Secondly what is shown by a mid shot. this is because is shows the subject (who) performing an action. the mid shot can see the character and action in a single shot. where can be shown through a long shot. This shot is usually shown at the beginning and is commonly known as the establishing shot because it establishes where the next scene will be takiong place. The long shot is used because of distancing and because it can show the spacial relationships between characters (for example if they work together). When can be shown in various ways as it is hard to convey but the most common shots are the wide shot and the close up. A wide shot can show time through either displaying a setting sun (time of day) or by showing vechiles and buildings (time of year/ year). The wide shot can also convey a passing of time (camels walking over a horizon (jump shots can also be used to convey length of time (a person drinking coffee, eating, watch, drinking))). A close up can be used to show a watch of clock on the wall (time of day). Why can be show using the big close up. The big close up can focus of characteristics of the character such as their eyes, or on a photoframe. This can reveals the reasons (why) behind their actions taken throughout the piece. How can be shown by a single meduim close up or by a series of medium close ups. These close ups can show the method taken. There are four rules (guidelines) to keep in mind when shotting a scene. the first refers to headroom. The character must be put in the camera so that their head and body aren't cut off but so that they have some room to move. The second is talking room. It follows the same lines as headroom. In both of these guidelines they are used to allow the viewer to understand spacial relationships between characters and to make the scene more realistic. For example if the chacter is shown on the left edge of a shot they might seem to be talking to a brick wall or on the other side they may seem as if they are projecting their voices to far. simularly though these techniques can be used if two charcters are close or far away (to show distance). Next is the rule of thirds. If a shot has four lines drawn through it, two horizontally, two vertically, then there are four points of intersection. the subject should only ever cross two points of intersection and therefore will always be to the side of a scene as that is where the human eye is naturally drawn. lastly there is the 180 degree rule. This is important as ignoring it will confuse the viewer. when two characters share a scene there is an invisible line of sight. All of the scenes (camera angles) must be shot on only one side of this line. if is swaps over then the characters swap sides and confuse the audience. This rule can only be broken if the cameras movement to the other side is shown. In conclusion, each shot must serve a purpose, must drive the narrative in a way, each shot must say something new.
Sarmi Salami
No comments:
Post a Comment