Camera Angles and Editing

Media Language

Establishing shot

The establishing shot, is ordinary the opening to a scene it sets the scene.

It gives the audience the idea of where they are. This can also be seen in the opening credits to Eastenders or Coronation Street. Establishing shots are exactly what they say; they establish where the program is set and gives information to the viewer in a short space of time.

They are usually exterior shots, and give a general view of the surrounding.

They are usually followed by a mid shot and a close up shot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyHB767JgsU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-WGVmeNBo8

Establishing shots are also used as part of continuity editing system (the Hollywood style) to present continuity and to move the story forward.

Master Shot Is a long continuous shot that

captures all the action from start to finish.

A master shot is usually filmed as a opening shot of a scene and is often a long shot, which is made up of other shots that reveal other aspects of actions i.e. the groupings of two or three of the actors at crucial moments, close-ups of individuals and various props, and so on.

Key: Continuous, one long shot and does not cut to other shots.

EXAMPLE The film Atonement uses a master shot to film the Dunkirk beach sequence. Look at how a master shot works to connotate emotion in this sequence. Consider why the director has chosen this shot, and also the use of a stedicam and a dolly. Why does this make the audience feel part of the action rather than using a mixture of different shots to create a sequence?

CLOSE-UP A picture which shows a fairly

small part of the scene, such as a character's face, in great detail so that it fills the screen

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large.

In a close-up a person's head, or some other similarly sized object, will fill the frame.

Can also be used to show a mobile on a table ringing.

Connotation: This shot creates intimacy between the characters.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP A framing in which the scale

of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small object or a part of the body usually shot with a zoom lens.

Again, faces are the most recurrent images in extreme close-ups.

However, this shot can also be used to show an extreme close up of a text on a mobile phone.

Connotations: ECU’s show emotion, usually fear or happiness.

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP The medium close up is

half way between a mid shot and a close up.

A medium close up is framing the shoulder, chest to head. It would fill most of the screen.

Conventions: Medium shots are frequently used for the tight presentation of two or three actors.

Connotations: Intimacy, coming together.

If there are a series of shots which show two people in an MCU and then one person in a sequence using MCU . This may co notate the closeness of the two characters against the distance they feel to the characters shown in a single shot.

LONG SHOT/ WIDE SHOT

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would appear nearly the height of the screen.

It makes for a relatively stable shot that can accommodate movement without reframing

Allows the audience to see a large number of components of the arena

MEDIUM LONG SHOT

Framing such an object four or five feet high would fill most of the screen vertically.

Also called plain américain, given its recurrence in the Western genre, where it was important to keep a cowboy's weapon in the image.

Gives clear sense of character in a given location and emphasises body language.

EXTREME LONG SHOT A framing in which the

scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or crowd of people will fill the screen.

Usually the first or last shots of a sequence, that can also function as establishing shots..

Mid shot Its from the waist and usually

used in conversations and is a common shot.

In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. The dividing line between "long shot, and "medium shot" is fuzzy, as is the line between "medium shot" and "close-up"

Top shot mid shot, left shot medium close up right close up

Aerial shot A camera shot that

is filmed from an airplane, helicopter.

Point of View shot (POV) Point of view shows what

the character sees. These are often freehand and are used in horror films.

The editor may change the audience’s point of view to create certain effects.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U66WpOELiBI&feature=related

Over the shoulder shot   Shot filmed from behind

character's shoulder: a cinematographic shot taken from over the shoulder of a character whose back can be seen at the side of the frame.

This type of shot is very common when two characters are having a discussion and will usually follow an establishing shot, which helps the audience place the characters in their setting.

High Angle A high angle is a power position. Not so extreme as a bird's eye view. The

camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture. These shots allow you to see more of the picture the mise en scene. A high angle shot, can make a character seem more superior and the subject more subject more vulnerable.

Low Angle These increase height (useful for

short actors like Tom Cruise or James McAvoy) and give a sense of speeded motion.

Low angles help give a sense of confusion to a viewer, of powerlessness within the action of a scene. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling, the lack of detail about the setting adding to the disorientation of the viewer.

The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V1uE1-wTPs

Canted Angle Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not

placed horizontal to floor level), to suggest imbalance, transition and instability (very popular in horror movies).

This technique is used to suggest POINT-OF-View shots (ie when the camera becomes the 'eyes' of one particular character, seeing what they see — a hand held camera is often used for this.

TILT The camera body swiveling

upward or downward on a stationary support. Scans the space vertically.

A tilt usually also implies a change in the angle of framing;

High angle view – inferior

Low angle – superior

PAN . The pan shot is more often used,

however, for the purpose of following action or of giving movement to a scene that otherwise would be static. When made rapidly it is called a whip shot, a manoeuvre that is better reserved for special occasions, such as a dramatic shifting of interest from one character or thing to another.

Camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it produces a mobile framing which scans the space horizontally.

A pan directly and immediately connects two places or characters, thus making us aware of their proximity. The speed at which a pan occurs can be exploited for different dramatic purposes.

HANDHELD CAMERA, STEADYCAM The use of the camera operator's

body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or using a gyroscopic stabilizer and a harness. Can be attached to a dolly, is used to stabilises footage. Generally used in certain genres such as documentaries.

Used by newsreel and wartime camera operators. Recently, they are extensively used in music videos and in the films like the Shinning, and in Atonement and the battle of Dunkirk.

TRACKING SHOT A tracking shot also known as a dolly

shot. mobile framing that travels through space forward, backward, or laterally. Usually follows a character or object as it moves along the screen.

However there are a few variations of both definitions. Tracking is often more narrowly defined as movement parallel to the action, or at least at a constant distance (e.g. the camera which travels alongside the race track in track & field events). Dollying is often defined as moving closer to or further away from the action.

Some definitions specify that tracking shots use physical tracks, others consider tracking to include hand-held walking shots, Steadicam shots, etc.

Dolly A camera dolly is a specific piece of

equipment designed to create smooth camera movements. The camera is mounted to the dolly and the camera operator and camera assistant usually ride on it to operate the camera. The dolly is operated by a dolly grip who is a dedicated trained operator.

CRANE SHOT A shot with a

change in framing rendered by having the camera above the ground and moving through the air in any direction.

It is accomplished by placing the camera on a crane (basically, a large cantilevered arm) or similar device.

Zoom and reverse zoom A zoom is technically not a camera

move as it does not require the camera itself to move at all. Zooming means altering the focal length of the lens to give the illusion of moving closer to or further away from the action.

The effect is not quite the same though. Zooming is effectively magnifying a part of the image, while moving the camera creates a difference in perspective — background objects appear to change in relation to foreground objects. This is sometimes used for creative effect in the dolly zoom.

Zooming is an easy-to-use but hard-to-get-right feature of most cameras. It is arguably the most misused of all camera functions.

WHIP PAN An extremely fast

movement of the camera from side to side, which briefly causes the image to blur into a set of indistinct horizontal streaks.

Commonly used in flashy action genres such as kung-fu movies from the 70s, like Fists of Fury

Editing

180 degree rule

Shot reverse shot Shot reverse shot is a where

one character is shown looking at another character and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, generally used in a conversation situation.

Over-the-shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse-shot editing.

Shot / reverse shots are one of the most firmly established conventions in cinema, and they are usually linked through the equally persuasive eyeline

matches,

EYELINE MATCH (MATCHES) A cut obeying the axis

of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person off in one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees.

GRAPHIC MATCH (MATCHES) Two successive shots

joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements (e.g., colour, shape).

Used in transparent continuity styles to smooth the transition between two shots

MATCH ON ACTION (MATCHES) A cut which splices two

different views of the same action together at the same moment in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted.

Quite logically, these characteristics make it one of the most common transitions in the continuity style.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4k4r41a0NQ

JUMP CUT Jump cuts — which are

confusing cuts from one shot to the next that do not follow the obvious rules of cause and effect. These cuts are usually used to disrupt the

audience’s attention in order to create shock. In Steven Soderbergh’s lm The Limey

(1999), jump cuts are used intentionally to suggest the main character’s unbalanced

state of mind.

CROSSCUTTING, aka PARALLEL EDITING

Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places, usually simultaneously. You would see this when you are showing parallel events.

The two actions are therefore linked, associating the characters from both lines of action.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enZO6iMGNQ4

Cutaway A cutaway shot is usually something that

is away from the main action, it could be someone’s hand often seen in interviews. Cutaway shots can often be sometimes be used to show someone’s reaction to an event in the previous shot.

MONTAGE An approach to editing

developed by the Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s such as Pudovkin, Vertov and Eisenstein.

It emphasizes dynamic, often discontinuous, relationships and shows the passing of time.

Wedding Crashers

Transitions

DISSOLVE Dissolves — which show one

image slowly disappear as a new image is introduced. Dissolves are used to indicate the end of one event and the beginning of a new event or scene.

Can be used as a fairly straightforward editing device to link any two scenes, or in more creative ways, for instance to suggest hallucinatory states. Cross dissolves used in emotional films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymsj-XepyFM

Fade in Fade outhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-8SYA6rfbs

A video fade is when a shot gradually fades to (or from) a single colour, usually black or white.

A fade is different to a crossfade, which is a transition directly between two shots rather than one shot to a colour.

The "fade from black" and "fade to black" are used in film and television. They usually signal the beginning and end of a scene.

The timing of the fades indicates the importance of the change in time and/or location between scenes — a slower fade with more time spent on black indicates a more significant end/beginning.

A fairly quick fade to and from black could indicate a time lapse of a few minutes or hours, whereas a long drawn-out fade indicates a much bigger change.

Sometimes, two quick fades together can form a single transition similar to a crossfade. For example, a shot fades very quickly to white before fading back into the next shot. Such transitions usually last less than a second and are called a dip, e.g. dip to white or dip to black.

Fade-downs — which show the screen fade from an image to a black screen.• Fade-ups — which show the screen fade from black to an image. Both fade-ups and fade-downs are used to suggest the passage of time and generally work to give the audience a chance to take a breath in preparation for the next scene.

EDITING - WIPE Show one part of the screen

literally wipe over the rest of the screen. One image disappears as it is replaced by a new image. This kind of edit is not often seen in movies, largely because it looks comic-bookish. For this very

reason, wipes were used throughout Star Wars to suggest the comic-book origins of the movie.

See: ‘Star Wars’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJJICINf9zg

Superimposition

SUPERIMPOSITION The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip. Unlike a

dissolve a superimposition does not signify a transition from one scene to another. The technique was often used to allow the same performer to appear simultaneously as two characters on the screen.

http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/Superimposition-Neighbors.wmv

OVERLAPPING EDITING (DURATION) Cuts that repeat part or all

of an action, thus expanding its viewing time and plot duration.

Most commonly associated with experimental film making.

It is also featured in films in which action and movement take precedence over plot and dialogue.

http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/Overlap-MI2.wmv

LONG TAKE, aka PLAN-SEQUENCE (DURATION) A shot that continues for an

unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot.

The average length per shot differs greatly for different times and places, but most modern films tend to have faster editing rates.

Generally, any shot above one minute can be considered a long take.

http://classes.yale.edu/film/videos/LongTake-Player.wmv

slow motion Slow motion can also be used for

artistic effect, to create a romantic or suspenseful aura or to stress a moment in time. Often action films use slow motion, for instance in the film the Matrix they used multiple cameras, as well as mixing slow-motion with live action in other scenes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSzWn8s9KtM

ELLIPTICAL EDITING Shot transitions that omit

parts of an event, causing an ellipses in plot and story duration.

In this clip from Traffic a drug party is rendered through elliptical editing (achieved with a plentiful use of dissolves and jump cuts) in order to both shorten the time and suggest the character's rambling mental states.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DivPsjOi8jU

Post-Production and special effects CGI

CONTINUITY EDITING A system of cutting to

maintain continuous and clear narrative action. Continuity editing relies upon matching screen direction, from shot to shot.

The film supports the viewer's perception that space and time are contiguous between shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ0Lnyt4m84

RHYTHM (DURATION) The perceived rate and

regularity of sounds, series of shots, and movements within the shots.

Rhythmic factors include beat (or pulse), accent (or stress), and tempo (or pace).

Rhythm is one of the essential features of a film, for it decisively contributes to its mood and overall impression on the spectator.