Part IV: Film Language
(1) Shot Length
Camera length refers to record distance with the camera from the photographed object. There are two main types, WIDE and TIGHT. These following are some typical types of camera shots.
Wide shot: The distance of the camera from its subject also reflects their emotional distance. In a way, it makes viewers casual something is happening, but they can’t sure what it is. In a distant scene, the frame figures’ size is usually less than half of the frame’s height, which is used to represent an open scene or a wide space.
Extreme wide shot: Typically used to show subjects of relatively massive scale. The extreme wide shot is conveying the relative. Large distances are farther than telephoto views and appropriate for showing more expansive backgrounds and vast nature expanses. This type of shot, either without characters or with characters occupying only a small space, focuses on the entire environment. A large, distant film is mainly used to introduce the environment and produce a suit atmosphere.
In the big scene, the screen has a large spatial capacity. The environmental scene is mainly of the picture’s modeling. At the same time, the characters are an embellishment of the screen composition. This kind of picture is mostly scenery-based, scenery lyrical, scenery ideological. The characters become a constitutive element of the image. The grandeur of the scene itself and the subject’s smallness make the scene around the picture appear grand and majestic. Most of the large distant scenes are done with a still frame or a slow panning shot. Even if the subject moves violently, it does not affect the composition of the image.
Medium Shot: Due to the wide range of views, several people and their activities can be filmed in the same frame. So it is helpful to explain the relationship between people. Medium shot accounts for a large proportion in the film and is mostly used to identify the background or to explain the action route. The use of medium shots not only deepens the depth of the picture or shows a specific environment and atmosphere, but also, through the grouping of shots, it can narrate the course of a conflict in an orderly manner. This shot is often using to narrate the plot.
Two shot: This shot is often using to express the intimacy or behaviors between two characters.
Close Up: A close-up camera will be put on each character’s shoulders or above, focusing on the actors’ faces’ details. It’s also an important object. Cause the visual range of close-up images is smaller, and the observation distance is closer. If the size of the characters and scenery is large enough, the details will be more clear. It is helpful to express the expressions and gestures of the characters or other parts of the face and the local state of the scenery, which are not available in large scenes.
In the creation, we often call the picture representing human figures between the middle and close scenes “Middle Close Up.” The picture represents the figure’s part about the waist or lens, so sometimes it is called a “Half Body Shot.” This scene is not a conventional sense. In general, when dealing with such a scene, it is based on the scene and fully considers the character’s posture’s performance. Because this shot can take into the narrative and medium scene. So in the production of various TV programs, this kind of scene is more useful.
Extreme close up: Created by early American film director David Griffith (1875-1948). The close-up shot is the closest to the film shots cause of its small field of view, the content of a single frame. This object’s performance from the surrounding environment, resulting in a clear visual image, gets the effect of emphasis. A close-up shot can show subtle changes in the characters’ emotions, revealing the human mind’s movements momentarily so that the audience is visually and psychologically strongly infected. The use of close-up shots with other scenes combined with the scenes can be through the lens length, distance, intensity changes, resulting in a special montage rhythm effect.
(2) Focus and Lenses
Deep focus: Deep focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique using a large depth of field. Depth of field is the front-to-back range of focus in an image—that is, how much of it appears sharp and clear. In deep focus, the foreground, middle-ground, and background are all in focus.
Rack focus: A rack focus is the filmmaking technique of changing the focus of the lens during a continuous shot. When a shot “racks,” it moves the focal plane from one object in the frame to another. Also known as a “focus pull” or “pulling focus,” the technique can include small or large changes of focus.
Tilt-shift: “Tilt–shift” encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift.
Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF), and hence the part of an image that appears sharp; it makes use of the Scheimpflug principle. Shift is used to adjust the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; this is often helpful in avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings.
Shallow focus: Shallow focus is a photographic and cinematographic technique incorporating a small depth of field. In shallow focus, one plane of the scene is in focus while the rest is out of focus. Shallow focus is typically used to emphasize one part of the image over another.
Fisheye lens: A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. Fisheye lenses achieve extremely wide angles of view. Instead of producing images with straight lines of perspective (rectilinear images), fisheye lenses use a special mapping (for example: equisolid angle), which gives images a characteristic convex non-rectilinear appearance.
Wide-angle lens: In photography and cinematography, a wide-angle lens refers to a lens whose focal length is substantially smaller than the focal length of a normal lens for a given film plane. This type of lens allows more of the scene to be included in the photograph, which is useful in architectural, interior and landscape photography where the photographer may not be able to move farther from the scene to photograph it.
Telephoto lens: A telephoto lens, in photography and cinematography, is a specific type of a long-focus lens in which the physical length of the lens is shorter than the focal length. This is achieved by incorporating a special lens group known as a telephoto group that extends the light path to create a long-focus lens in a much shorter overall design. The angle of view and other effects of long-focus lenses are the same for telephoto lenses of the same specified focal length.
Another use is where the photographer wishes to emphasise the difference in size or distance between objects in the foreground and the background; nearby objects appear very large and objects at a moderate distance appear small and far away.
(3) Angle
Eye-level: The most neutral camera angle is the eye-level shot. The camera points straight ahead at about the same level as the subject’s face. This is how you would shoot an interview scene if you wanted to maintain a sense of objectivity. The goal is to let the viewer follow the action without manipulating their emotions. While it’s called eye level, it doesn’t have to be a shot of the character’s face. You can get an eye-level shot of an object by maintaining a neutral camera angle.
Low angle: A low-angle shot adds some subjectivity to the scene. Instead of facing straight ahead, the camera looks up at the subject from a low angle. This can make a character appear threatening, dominant, or in a position of power relative to another character. As with some of the other shots we’ve looked at, you can vary the intensity of it. A slight low angle might be used to convey a sense of authority. An extreme low angle shot might be used to show a monster like Godzilla or King Kong bearing down on other characters.
High angle: The reverse of the low angle shot is the high angle shot, which creates the opposite impression, and makes the subject of the camera seem small. You can also take this to the extreme with a top angle or bird’s eye view. This shot looks down on the character from above and can be used indoors or outdoors.
Dutch angle: A Dutch angle is one of the most common ways to convey disorientation. For this shot, simply tilt the camera to one side so it isn’t level with the horizon.
Over the Shoulder: An over-the-shoulder shot is another angle that can shift a viewer’s perception of the scene. An over-the-shoulder shot is generally a close-up of another character’s face from over the shoulder of another character and is used to convey conflict or confrontation.
(4) Camera Movement
360 degree: Showcase the subject by moving around it.
Zoom: When you want to get closer or further away without making an emotional statement.
Pan and tilt: When you want to observe the space from a single vantage point, follow the subject so you feel like you’re a spectator observing. The movement happens on a pivot.
Tracking shot, crane, dolly: When you want to follow the subject and be more involved with the space and location. The audience is drawn into the world.
Random: Camera shake or motion to provide energy.
(5) Compound Motion
The two most popular examples are:
Dolly Zoom or Vertigo Shot: Where the camera dollies in/out and zooms in/out (the opposite direction to the dolly movement) at the same time.
Single Shot: Where the action is a complex choreography of different camera angles, shot sizes and motion. The toughest and most time consuming to pull off.