film theory - shot selection, storyboard, and montage

Year 8 - Film TheoryFrom shot selection, to storyboards, through to

editing techniques

Thursday, 25 September 14

Filmmaking and ShotsIn film, it is essential to understand that each scene is made up of multiple shots. A single shot is the continuous footage or sequence until the camera cuts off or a cut is placed in during editing.

Think of the film as one long continuous strip, interrupted at certain points by cuts - bringing different shots, angles and points of view.

The above image shows multiple shots indicated by breaks along the timeline


Shots In Sequence

This sequence of shots is from a scene Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece Psycho (1960). The first shot is an Extreme Long Shot in which we see a car stopped on the side of the road in the near distance. The second shot is a long shot of a policeman getting out of his vehicle behind the stopped car. The following frame reveals the police officer looking into the car as a Mid Shot, or Medium Shot. We then gain a Point Of View shot of a lady sleeping inside the car. This is then followed by a reverse Point Of View shot from the lady looking up at the Policeman, who appears quite scary, particularly with his sunglasses on. The final shot in the sequence is of the lady who appears quite shocked and scared.

The sequence to the left shows a short sequence of film using only 6 shots in order to tell part of the story. However, these 6 shots are only one part of a much longer scene, which can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9o433ZMOYo

The Point Of View of the Policeman is known as a Low-Angle Shot. It is when the subject in the shot is higher up than the Point of View of another character (more on angles later)




Shot Selection

In the previous slide we mentioned Mid-Shots and Long-Shots, but what do they mean?

The following is an explanation of what shot types are called, what they look like, and the purpose in which they are used.


Film: Shot Types and Angles

Uses and meanings in film and videoYear 8 Media Studies

Ellenbrook Secondary College


Medium ShotShows a partial view of the subject/s. Mainly shot from the waist-up when focused on a character as the subject.Shows facial expressions in the context of the character’s body language. Also known as a Mid-Shot.


Long ShotShows the entire object or subject, and is intended to place them in relation to their surroundings. It gives the audience a greater sense of the context of the character’s setting. Sometimes referred to as a Full Shot or a Wide Shot.


Close UpThis is a shot which tightly frames a person or object. They display the most detail of a character’s facial expression but do not give the audience any context of the broader scene.


Extreme Close UpThe frame is so tight in this shot that only a detail of someone’s face can be seen, such as their eyes.


Extreme Long ShotUsed to set the scene and as an establishing shot. This shot normally shows the exterior and is used notably in epics such as war films, fantasy, and disasters movies.


Low Angle ShotThe Low Angle Shot comes from a camera positioned low and facing upwards towards a subject or object. It can usually make characters appear dominant, threatening and much larger.


High Angle ShotA high angle shot places the camera high above the eye-line of a character and points downwards towards them. It can cause the subject to appear inferior, weak, and threatened.


Eye-Level ShotThe camera is placed at the characters height and is not tilted at all. This is a neutral shot and the most common angle used.


Birds Eye ShotThis is an elevated view from high above an object, subject or an entire setting as if the point of view were from a bird flying above. Used also as an establishing shot or to make the subjects seem very small and insignificant.


Storyboards

Once we know what all the basic shot types and angles are and why they are used, we can then begin to look at creating a storyboard.

A storyboard is a blueprint for what will eventually be your completed video. It is a drawing, frame-for-frame, of every single shot that you plan, film and edit in your production.


The purpose of storyboards

This video will explain the origins of storyboards and why they were first used. It describes the reasons why they are so important to a production of almost any scale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSOJiSUI0z8






What It Looks Like

A sample storyboard from The Empire Strikes Back

(1980)


Storyboards At ESC

Key: CU=Close Up, MS=Mid Shot, LS=Long Shot, XLS=Extreme Long Shot, XCU=Extreme Close Up, HA=High Angle, LA=Low Angle, CA=Cut Away CI= Cut In, Z=Zoom, PL=Pan Left, PR=Pan Right

Storyboard Name Title

Storyboard Year Teacher

Ellenbrook Secondary College Media Department

Shot: Duration: Angle:

Distance: Description:












MontageThe following segment of the presentation focuses on Montage and how to create Shortened, Extended and Simultaneous time in a sequence of film


YEAR 8 MEDIA STUDIESMontage - A study in Shortened Time, Extended Time and

Simultaneous Time


MONTAGEMontage is a technique in filmmaking when a sequence of short shots are edited into a sequence to condense space, time, and information.

It is used mostly to suggest passage of time.

The training sequences from the Rocky films are famous examples. This scene from Rocky 3 intersperses many different shots of Rocky training over a long period of time and is condensed into just 3 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s28vNyjOlbc


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s28vNyjOlbc




SHORTENED TIME

Montage is mainly used in order to shorten time. For example, rather than showing a slow, long process of something occurring (such as someone getting ready for work in the morning) a montage would only show short clips of it. As in this example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnPyat1BKQs




EXTENDED TIME

Time can also become extended in a film by using techniques such as cut-aways and cut-ins. Extended time may be used in scenes where there is a showdown between two characters or when something serious or vital to the plot occurs.


SIMULTANEOUS TIME

Simultaneous or parallel time is when the exact same sequence of time is running while we are shown two separate locations involving two different characters. An example may be when one character is waiting for another to show up, meanwhile we are also shown shots of the other character making their way. It can also be used to show contrasting or contradicting characters.

The following is an example of simultaneous time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yvJPTcMqc

And this example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMEIsSaork


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yvJPTcMqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-yvJPTcMqc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMEIsSaork

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMEIsSaork

Editing Techniques

Editing is the post-production process of placing each usable shot in order so that a final production can be rendered.

For example, when you film a chase scene, each shot you filmed would then be put in an appropriate order (according to your storyboard) on Adobe Premiere Pro.


Cut-AwayA Cut Away is the interruption of continuously filmed action by inserting a shot showing the view of something else. It is mostly from a character’s Point of View, as in this example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYMFUo8wLiw

This is a good technique to allow the editor to film a longer sequence and to EXTEND time.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYMFUo8wLiw




Cut-InA Cut-In is the camera cutting away to the same subject but with greater focus - for instance, a tighter frame to create a close up.

An example would be a character’s point of view looking at a tree and then a subsequent shot showing a bird’s nest on that same tree.

Example of a cut-in on a storyboard


film theory - shot selection, storyboard, and montage

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