Transcript Introduction to Film Studies

Introduction to Film Studies
Mise-en-scène
Framing
• How to frame a frame
• ANGLE (of framing)
• In what angle a frame is composed: from which
angle the subject is filmed.
• Of a wide range of angles, three more common
angles
• STRAIGHT-ON, HIGH and LOW ANGLES
Framing
• The camera is placed at the eye-level of the
subject of the frame or look straight on with it Straight-on Angle shot
Framing
• In this shot the camera is physically placed higher
than the subject and thus looking down upon it –
High Angle shot
Framing
• A shot is taken from below the subject and the
camera is looking up it – Low Angle shot
Framing
• LEVEL (of framing) – the degree to which the
frame is level
• When the framing is level (horizontal), the
horizontal edges of the frame will be parallel to the
horizon of the shot and perpendicular to what is
standing in the shot.
Framing
• If horizon and what is perpendicular are at
diagonal angles, the frame is canted
• The canted framing is relatively rare. The
framing in The Third Man is an example.
Framing
• HEIGHT – the height on which the framing is
fixed – the height on which the camera is
positioned
Framing
• To frame from a high angle entails a vantage
point higher than the material in the image.
Framing
• Yasujiro Ozu positions his camera close to the
ground to film characters and objects. This is
because he wants a low angle because the angle is
straight on. The matter of Ozu’s stylistic choice
Framing
• DISTANCE from the subject (camera distance) is
categorized according to the scale of the human
body – long shot, medium shot, close-up shot etc.
Framing
• Extreme Long Shot – the shot taken from a high
angle and a high position allowing the viewer
to observe the character in the setting.
Framing
• Long Shot – the camera distance in which
human figures are shown in full from head to
feet. The background dominates more than
human figures.
Framing
• Medium Long Shot – The human figure is framed
from about the knee up. As very common in classic
Hollywood film, it is also called American shot.
The human figure is prominent but so is the
background
Framing
• Medium Shot frames the human body from the
waist up, while Medium Close-up Shot frames
the body from the chest up. Human figures
dominates the frame.
Framing
• Close-up shot
• Shows just the
head, hands, feet,
or a small object
and emphasizes
facial expression,
the details of a
gesture, or a
significance of
the object
Framing
• Extreme Close-up Shot singles out a portion of
the face, isolates a detail, and magnifies the
minute.
Framing
• Camera distance, height, level and angle often
take on narrative functions. A shot framing helps
emphasize the psychology of a character. David
Lean’s Brief Encounter. A house wife’s attempt
of suicide shown in a canted framing.
Framing
Camera angle, level and distance develops to
show film actions efficiently. The complicated
combination of high-angle, low-angle, long,
medium, and close-up shots In Hitchcock’s
Saboteur and Scott’s Blade Runner. Statue of Liberty
Framing
• Camera height, distance, angle and level can
be changed within the shot – mobile framing –
a unique aspect of film
• The change of framing is achieved by moving
the camera during filming.
• Several kinds of camera movement
• Pan, Tilt, Tracking, and Crane
Framing
• The pan turns the camera on a vertical axis.
• On screen the pan gives the impression of a
frame horizontally scanning space
• City of Sadness
• The tilt moves the camera on a horizontal axis or
vertically Bride Wore Black
Framing
• In the tracking (dolly or trucking or traveling) shot,
the camera as a whole change position
• 8 1/2
• In the crane shot, the camera moves about above
the ground level, being carried by a crane.
Framing
• Example of tracking shots Martin Scorsese’s Age
of Innocence
• Behind the Scene
Framing
• Analyse the framing, the camera angle, height,
distance, movement of Arthur Penn’s Bonnie
and Clyde
Framing
• Analyse the mastery framing in The Tales of the
Taira Kuran by Kenji Mizoguchi
• Framing in long take