Contextual studies L4- Camera Work
Contextual studies Camera Work
Basic elements of camera work
The shot-affects our emotional and psychological relationship with character and setting through composition and speed.
Movement-how you move the camera
Why do we use shots?
The basic building blocks of visual grammar
The visual equivalent of sentence structure
If shots are words, miss on scene is meaning and editing narrative structure.
The basic shots
Wide shot- establishes location, setting or characters context in setting.
Medium shot-characters dominate the frame
Close up-face or specific object dominates the frame
Extreme closeup-selected part of character or object fills the screen.
Short film clip from Blade Runner:
Establishing shot
Camera lowers
Extreme closeup
Breaking bad-
video camera effect-vlog
Documentary
Basic over head
Establishing shot
Wide shot
GVs-(General Views) is an industry term for establishing shots
The size of the image is important to the emotion.
In a documentary the eye line is usually off
We also have rule of thirds then the image is divided into a grid. where the lines intercept is usually a good place to keep the camera. The closer the shot the more detailed there is going to be.
The Thomas Crown affair
Close up of chequer board
Birds eye
Low angle
She's cheating by distracting him-mind games
Extreme close ups
Implicit not explicit
No dialogue
Different camera angles and speed.
Breaking Bad
High angle shot-Birdseye view has a very alienating view. It diminishes character or subject in frame, emphasising vulnerability or isolation.
Low angle shot-emphasises character or subjects dominance in the frame. It is often used of hero shots.
Expressionism
Angled shots are a common feature of expressionism, particularly the classic German Expressionist films of the 1920s-30s. It often prevents the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality.
Slow motion/fast motion alters the audiences perceptual response to dramatic action.
Motion and Emotion
How motion affects the emotion of a scene. We use cameras to heighten action or emotion.
Michael Bay moves the camera so often because he can. This has not real emotion so it's figuring out if there should be a point to moving a camera. As director it shill be about you being able to convey objective or subjective viewpoints. A good technique would be to move the camera to refocus the audience attention within the scene. Explore or change setting/environment.
Hitchcock said I believe in using the camera movement when it helps tell the story more effectively... I think one of the first essentials of moving camera is that the eye should not be aware of it.
Hitchcock Frenzy (1972)
Moves camera back to show how helpless she is
Creates fear
After outs for story boarding because he was such an artist.
He plays on the audiences natural empathy
Post censorship so it's more graphic.
He gently removes from the murder.
What is the creative artistic expression trying to be?
Alienation-not psychological alienation but artistic distancing. It distances the audience from what's going on. Very skilled filmmakers will hire good actors and pretty much let them get on with it.
Contrastingly an alienated audience remains removed from the media, critically considering the signs, narrative and so on. ThIs is often constructed in relation to artifice, with alienated media not attempting to hide the constructed and artificial nature of the production; showing scaffolding, using minimal staging etc.
Key Camera movement technique
Pan, tilt and zoom
Handheld/steady cam
Dolly/crane
Drones
Filming Halloween (1978)
Use of movement to draw audience into action
Handheld
Visual storytelling with POV shot and we don't find out its s young boy (Michael Myres) until the end. It refocuses the audiences attention
Elements of visual style
-denotative (directing attention)
-expressive (bringing out or magnifying feelingful qualities)
-decorative (flourishes or stylistic patterns that are independent or semi-independent of narrative design).
-symbolic functions (invoking abstract concepts)
Use of handheld in a documentary
Heightens action and emotion (convoys urgency)
Dynamics of transition (moving from one location to another)
Places character in context (life on the streets)
It seemed very urban and made the audience relate more to the documentary rather thank it being a high-end made up drama.
Keeps the story moving when the people move- they've been in a journey
Narrative storytelling
Aesthetics-frames the Mis-en-scene
Psychology-insight into and identification of the character
Analysis/interpretation
Basic elements of camera work
The shot-affects our emotional and psychological relationship with character and setting through composition and speed.
Movement-how you move the camera
Why do we use shots?
The basic building blocks of visual grammar
The visual equivalent of sentence structure
If shots are words, miss on scene is meaning and editing narrative structure.
The basic shots
Wide shot- establishes location, setting or characters context in setting.
Medium shot-characters dominate the frame
Close up-face or specific object dominates the frame
Extreme closeup-selected part of character or object fills the screen.
Short film clip from Blade Runner:
Establishing shot
Camera lowers
Extreme closeup
Breaking bad-
video camera effect-vlog
Documentary
Basic over head
Establishing shot
Wide shot
GVs-(General Views) is an industry term for establishing shots
The size of the image is important to the emotion.
In a documentary the eye line is usually off
We also have rule of thirds then the image is divided into a grid. where the lines intercept is usually a good place to keep the camera. The closer the shot the more detailed there is going to be.
The Thomas Crown affair
Close up of chequer board
Birds eye
Low angle
She's cheating by distracting him-mind games
Extreme close ups
Implicit not explicit
No dialogue
Different camera angles and speed.
Breaking Bad
High angle shot-Birdseye view has a very alienating view. It diminishes character or subject in frame, emphasising vulnerability or isolation.
Low angle shot-emphasises character or subjects dominance in the frame. It is often used of hero shots.
Expressionism
Angled shots are a common feature of expressionism, particularly the classic German Expressionist films of the 1920s-30s. It often prevents the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas. Expressionist artists sought to express the meaning of emotional experience rather than physical reality.
Slow motion/fast motion alters the audiences perceptual response to dramatic action.
Motion and Emotion
How motion affects the emotion of a scene. We use cameras to heighten action or emotion.
Michael Bay moves the camera so often because he can. This has not real emotion so it's figuring out if there should be a point to moving a camera. As director it shill be about you being able to convey objective or subjective viewpoints. A good technique would be to move the camera to refocus the audience attention within the scene. Explore or change setting/environment.
Hitchcock said I believe in using the camera movement when it helps tell the story more effectively... I think one of the first essentials of moving camera is that the eye should not be aware of it.
Hitchcock Frenzy (1972)
Moves camera back to show how helpless she is
Creates fear
After outs for story boarding because he was such an artist.
He plays on the audiences natural empathy
Post censorship so it's more graphic.
He gently removes from the murder.
What is the creative artistic expression trying to be?
Alienation-not psychological alienation but artistic distancing. It distances the audience from what's going on. Very skilled filmmakers will hire good actors and pretty much let them get on with it.
Contrastingly an alienated audience remains removed from the media, critically considering the signs, narrative and so on. ThIs is often constructed in relation to artifice, with alienated media not attempting to hide the constructed and artificial nature of the production; showing scaffolding, using minimal staging etc.
Key Camera movement technique
Pan, tilt and zoom
Handheld/steady cam
Dolly/crane
Drones
Filming Halloween (1978)
Use of movement to draw audience into action
Handheld
Visual storytelling with POV shot and we don't find out its s young boy (Michael Myres) until the end. It refocuses the audiences attention
Elements of visual style
-denotative (directing attention)
-expressive (bringing out or magnifying feelingful qualities)
-decorative (flourishes or stylistic patterns that are independent or semi-independent of narrative design).
-symbolic functions (invoking abstract concepts)
Use of handheld in a documentary
Heightens action and emotion (convoys urgency)
Dynamics of transition (moving from one location to another)
Places character in context (life on the streets)
It seemed very urban and made the audience relate more to the documentary rather thank it being a high-end made up drama.
Keeps the story moving when the people move- they've been in a journey
Narrative storytelling
Aesthetics-frames the Mis-en-scene
Psychology-insight into and identification of the character
Analysis/interpretation
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