Research On: Camera Shots/Angles/Movement/Composition/Cutting/Sound/Mise-en-scene

Definitions Which We Were Taught In Class:
I Will Make Sure To Use A Good Mix Of These In My Trailer, To Create Various Effects.

Camera Shots

• Establishing Shot: A shot which services to either introduce the audience to a location and context, or remind them of it.
• Master Shot: Film of an entire scene shot with all characters included in the frame.
• Wide Shot: The subject takes up the entire frame from top to bottom.
• Two-Shot: A shot that includes two people (Used to establish relationships).
• Ariel Shot: Taken from directly above, often by a helicopter.
• Point-Of-View Shot: When the camera takes place through a characters eyes.
• Over The Shoulder Shot: Looking from behind a person at the subject, cutting off the frame just behind the ear. The person facing the subject should occupy about 1/3 of the frame.

Master Shot

Establishing Shot





Wide Shot

Two Shot













Ariel Shot

Point-Of-View Shot





Over The Shoulder Shot

Camera Angles

• High Angle: The camera is set high up and looks down on the subject.
• Low Angle: The camera is set low (Knee Level) and looks up at the subject.
• Canted Angle: The camera is set at a tilted angle often to suggest a point-of-view.

Camera Movement

• Pan: A movement which scans a scene horizontally.
• Crane: Using a crane, the camera can move up, down, left, and right, swooping in on action or move diagonally.
• Zoom: When the camera moves close to the subject.
• Reverse Zoom: Moving away from the subject.
• Tilt: A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.
• Dolly: The camera is placed on a moving vehicle and moves alongside the action, generally following a moving figure or object.
• Steadicam: A heavy contraption which is attached to a camera to an operator by a harness. The camera is stabilized so it moves independently.
• Handheld: Often used for documentary or fly on the wall films.   

Camera Composition

• Framing: The deliberate way subjects are organised so we focus on them.
• Focus Pulls: Whatever the photographer/camera operator wants the audience's focus to be drawn to.
• Deep Focus: When only a small part of the image is in focus.
• Rule Of Thirds: Imagine the frame is made up of 9 squares, the eye is always drawn off centre so avoid the centre square.
• Depth-Of-Field: The area of an image that is in focus (sharp).

Cutting

• Shot Reverse Shot: Where one character is shown looking (Often Off Screen) at another character and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing the opposite directions the viewer unconsciously assumes that they are looking at each other. (180 Degree Rule).
• Jump Cut: A transition between 2 shots which appears to "jump" due to the way the shots are framed in relation to each other.
• Parallel Editing: An editing technique that allows 2 or more simultaneous sets of action to unfold within a single film sequence.
• Insert: Part of a film that is filmed from another angle.
• Eye-Line Match: The first shot shows a person looking towards an off-screen object. There is a cut to the second shot, which shows the object of the person's gaze and the space surrounding the object.
• Cross-Cutting: Editing between 2 scenes that are happening at the same time, manipulating space for the audience.
• Cutaway: The interruption of continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.

Transitions.

• Dissolve: To fade out one shot or scene, while simultaneously fading in the next, overlapping the two during the process.
• Wipe: A gradual shift from one image to another.
• Superimposition: When one image or video is placed on top of an existing image or video to "cover" something up.
• Ellipsis: What is left out of a narrative, but remains in the story.
• Post-Production: The editing stage, where material is manipulated using software and transformed into a finished media product.
• Fade In/Fade Out: When an image appears from a darkened screen or disappears into the dark.
• Long Take: An uninterrupted shot which can be used for effect.
• Slow Motion: A sequence where time is slowed down.

Sound

• Synchronous: Sounds that match with the image on screen.
• Asynchronous: sounds that are not matched with a visible source on screen.
• Dialogue: What characters say:
• Voice Over: A non-diegetic voice that gives information, characters view, ECT.
• Mode Of Address: How a text in any medium speaks to its audience.
• Diegetic Sound: Material that exists in the world of the text. (Ex, Dialogue).
• Non Diegetic Sound: Material added for the audience. (Ex, Atmospheric Music).
• Sound Perspective: The apparent distance of a sound. (Ex, Horse Hooves Coming Close Matched With Action On Screen).

Soundtrack

• Score: The music arranged for a film/TV programme.
• Themes: The main or initial piece of music used. (Often Reoccurs Throughout A Film Or TV Show).
• Ambient Sound: Background noise. (Sets A Scene).
• Incidental Music: Can add to a scene perhaps to introduce a dramatic event, create a particular atmosphere between scenes, or to enhance story telling sequences.
• Stings: A short sequence of music used in films and TV as a form of punctuation.

Mise-En-Scene

• All the elements that the director/photographer choose to make up a media production. These Include:
• Set Design
• Costume
• Props
• Colour Design
• Location
• Studio
• Make-Up
• Lighting.