Today, we continued with our film study notes. I have pasted them below for you if you were absent.
Focus
Now obviously, when we think of focus, we really just want to say to the director, "Yes, please put it into focus for us, thanks." But there are ways for a director to play with the focus in order to communicate something to the audience.
Soft Focus
When we look at family pictures from the Grand Canyon, there is always at least one that is ruined by being out of focus. But to filmmakers, there are varying degrees of focus. Without giving the audience a headache, a director can film his or her subject just ever-so-slightly out of focus, which creates a texture called soft focus. Classic Hollywood actresses used to insist on this type of focus for their close-ups (they would have hated high definition). Today, it is common to see soft focus in romantic films to help create a lighter mood, but it can also be used to blur an image slightly in order to communicate uncertainty.
Rack Focus
Imagine a scene from a film where the character is in focus in the background of the shot. He is nervous and pacing. Suddenly the phone rings. The character goes out of focus and the phone in the foreground is now in focus. We know this call is important. The director of this silly scene used rack focus to force viewers to direct their attention where he or she wanted them to look. A director can use this technique to bring either the background or the foreground suddenly into focus. If not overused, rack focus is a very effective way of combining the languid pace of a continuous take with the power of a close-up that directs the audience's attention.
Deep Focus
This allows for all objects in the foreground as well as in the background to remain in focus.
Some critics argue that deep focus gives a greater sense of reality, since in real life we can choose what to look at. Even if it is not more realistic than normal focus, a director using the deep focus concept can literally fill his or her frame with information and create interesting compositions.
Angles
Another consideration that the director must take into account is where the camera will be placed in relation to the subject. He or she may choose to use a low, high, eye-level, or Dutch angle.
Low Angle
Imagine shooting a scene upward, say, from the point of view of a child looking up at an adult. When the camera looks up at us, the camera is below the subject and we have what's called a low-angle shot. How do you look when viewed through that camera below you? You appear to be huge, powerful, dominating, and in control. Characters shot with a low angle are often the more powerful ones in the film. Size and strength can be exaggerated and commented on by
the use of the low angle.
High Angle
Now, imagine looking down at a child. This time the camera is above the subject in what is called a high-angle shot. The child you are looking down on would now appear small, weak, powerless - trapped? Characters presented with a high-angle shot in film are the ones who appear a little weaker and less in control.
Eye Level
This is what it is… the camera sees the subject at eye level. Obviously this is a shot, like the medium shot above, that carries no immediate, readily apparent significance on its own, and it can best be considered another sort of "neutral shot." Characters are on an even balance with this type of angle. That said, however, if a director uses an eye-level shot of a character after setting him or her up with a series of high-angle shots, the director may be commenting on the growing
strength or confidence of this character.
Dutch Angle
To create a real Dutch or "canted" angle, the camera itself tilts slightly, but the effect is the same. The image appears sideways, to one extent or another, within the frame. This type of angle is often used in horror or gangster films to show an evil character or a dangerous situation. A Dutch angle can create tension or peculiarity in an otherwise static or normal situation, thus implying
danger or moral uncertainty
Camera Movement
Many of the earliest films were short documents of daily life: people going into a factory, a blacksmith's shop, and, to the reported shrieks of the audience-unused to the perspective-a train pulling into a station.
These images were captured by an immobile camera fixed upon a tripod, but camera operators quickly designed ways for the camera to move, or appear to move, in order to keep getting those audience shrieks.
Pan
When the camera pivots along the horizontal axis, the movement is called a pan, which is often used in film to introduce the setting. This left to right pan. A pan is often used from the point of view of characters as they take in their surroundings or situations. Think how often you have seen characters in a horror film, for example, look around in the old, decaying mansion in which they have found themselves, and the camera pans around to reveal the source of their fear.
Tilt
A tilt is the opposite of the pan. Instead of left to right, the movement is up and down, thus, in effect, tilting-along the vertical axis. Technically, as with the pan, the camera did not move, only
the camera's head moved.
The tilt is an extremely effective way to communicate distance, size, and strength. Another great use of a tilt is to show power. In Citizen Kane, the young Charles Kane has been given a sled by his guardian, whose voice we hear off-screen, but only the lower half of his body is visible. The camera catches the boy looking up and then tilts up for quite awhile until it finally reveals the face looking down upon the child. The tilt also has quite a history of being part of the objective male gaze toward female sexuality. Think how often you have seen a film in which the camera, following a man's gaze, focuses on the leg or foot of a woman and then slowly tilts up to reveal the rest of the woman.
Zoom
Again, as with the pan and tilt, there was no real movement in a zoom. The focal length of the lens changes, thus making the object appear to move closer or further away. The zoom is a way
to direct the audience's attention to a detail that the director does not want us to miss. We move into the scene without leaving our seats.
Tracking or Dolly Shots
Imagine if two or three of you picked up another student in a chair…You then walked around the classroom as someone else filmed you. Now, for the first time, we have true movement of the camera itself.
Any time that the camera is moving like this, the shot is called a tracking or dolly shot. This is by far the most uniquely cinematic of all these movements since it can enter and actually move us through the imaginative space of the film in the way that the pan and tilt cannot because they are stationary movements, more reminiscent of watching a staged play. We can now go with the action, become part of it, or even go behind it, instead of merely watching as it passes us by. The camera may be on a track, a truck, or a helicopter, or it may even be held in the operator's hands-all of which can be referred to as a dolly shot or as tracking.
Though there are several types of tracking movements with specific names, they do not really concern us here,
Oftentimes it may be difficult to distinguish if a camera is zooming in on an object or whether it is dollying in. One way to tell is to look at the background to see if it changes in relation to the objects and flattens a bit, which means you have a zoom. The other way is to ignore it and just enjoy the movie.
Lighting
The principal source of light on a movie
set is called the "key light," and other lights balance, soften, and shade
the key light. Two general descriptors of film lighting are "low-key lighting"
and "high-key lighting," terms which are used to characterize the
lighting of an overall scene. Two others-"side/bottom lighting" and
"front lighting"-are used primarily on actors and actresses to editorialize
on some aspect of their characters.
Low-Key Lighting
Turn off all the lights in the classroom, but leave maybe just your overhead
projector and a flashlight on. As students look around, they will see an example
of a scene that could be called "low-key."Its chief characteristics
are its darkness, shadows, and patches of bright key light, provided in this case by the overhead projector and the flashlight. Obviously, lowkey lighting can create moods of suspicion, mystery, and danger. This type of lighting is great for horror films, film noir, and detective movies,
because things can be hidden or concealed in the depth of shadows.
High-Key Lighting (bright)
Switch your classroom lights on again, and open up all the blinds and curtains. As students look around now, they are looking at high-key lighting, unless, like my students, they are in Portland, Oregon, where,
during the winter, there is no such thing as high-key light anywhere.
This type of lighting is distinguished by its brightness, openness, and lack of shadows or contrasts between light and dark. Your romantic comedies, musicals, and costumed dramas are often filmed with highkey
lighting, since, with this type of lighting, characters and situations
are seen without misunderstanding or threat.
Neutral Lighting
Not every scene must be either high- or low-key; a scene could be sort
of average, or lacking in much to distinguish its lighting. When the lighting
is even and balanced throughout the shot, it might best be described as "neutral." Most television programs are shot with this type of evenness in mind. Notice a trend going? A medium shot with an eye-level
angle and neutral lighting might not be saying too much, though we know at least what it might not be saying.
Bottom/Side Lighting
Go ahead and return your classroom to that "low-key" effect again. Now take your flashlight and shine it about two inches underneath your chin, pointing upward. This is the same thing you did when you told ghost
stories around the campfire. How do you look? Well, I don't know how
you looked before, but now the light illuminates only parts of your face,
and the shadows distort it so you look a little scary. Take a volunteer
and shine your flashlight on the side of his or her face, so that only one
eye or the mouth receives any light. This type of lighting-bottom or
side lighting-has the effect of creating characters that may be evil, are
hiding something, are morally ambiguous, or are conflicted in some way.
Front Lighting
Getting another volunteer from your class, shine your flashlight evenly across the subject's face, so that no shadows appear; you have created the effect of front lighting. Look at the volunteer's hair: it probably takes
on a bit of a "halo effect." This type of lighting is often used to show
innocence or openness, and was considered absolutely essential for most
Hollywood actresses. A character who is honest with nothing to hide
will often be shot this way-the hero or heroine in particular.
Some of the most striking examples of these lighting choices come
from black-and-white films (see, for example, the shot from Othello in
Figure 7). The contrast between light and dark is just not as readily apparent
in color film, though each of these lighting decisions, and the
implications behind them, are still in use in today's films. Because the
way in which characters and scenes are lit can give an audience so much
information so quickly-and often without dialogue-lighting is one
of the most important tools that filmmakers have at their disposal with
which to assist the viewer in understanding characters, setting, tone,and theme.
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