Research: cinematography

cinematography

Cinematography is looking at the way the shot is framed, the angle it is taken in and the movement of the camera in a film, all these things give the audience different representations of the characters and allow the audience to respond in different.

Camera shot sizes...

• Establishing long shot

Gotham city

An establishing shot can be taken from as much as a quarter of a mile away, and is generally used as a scene-setting, establishing shot. It normally shows an exterior, e.g. the outside of a building, or a landscape, and is often used to show scenes of thrilling action e.g. in a war film or disaster movie. There will be very little detail visible in the shot, as it is meant to give a general impression rather than specific information. It is also normally used at the beginning of a new scene or movie to show that for scene-setting before showing character or other important elements.

• Extreme long shot
  
  
  

An extreme long shot is similar to an establishing because it’s not exactly supposed to capture as much detail, it’s also used for scene setting or for war, action scenes etc. this could be used at any point in a scene but mainly in the beginning to show everything that’s or to even capture large element like the over sized elephants above. An extreme long shot may involve some movement however some may be still such as showing an army standing completely still but in this picture the blur shows their movement.

• Long shot

A long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. It has been suggested that long-shot ranges usually correspond to approximately what would be the distance between the front row of the audience and the stage in live theater  In this shot it has a full view of the main element, the girl and also her surrounding, the bed and other objects in her bedroom such as the table and the lamp in the background. The long shot show how her face is facing a complete different way to body giving the audience a complete different reaction instead of having a close up on the girls’ scary face which wouldn't be as scary.

• Medium shot

This here is a medium shot because it has some detail of the background or the environment and it captures the characters body. This approximation of how you would see someone especially because of the fact that you are having a conversation face to face you will not have to pay attention towards the lower part of the body. The medium shot captures some detail of the background you know where they are for example you know that they're in rural conditions here in an arctic forest so you would know the location if there is no establishing shot at the beginning of the scene to show the location.

• Medium close up
  
  
  

A medium close up shot is usually a shot of half of someone’s body. It is usually used to shown in a scene where it’s best to show body or facial expression or even to show some detail of action. The detail in the background is minimal because at the beginning of the scene there should been an establishing shot; the audience know where they are so the medium close up will then be brought in to show dialogue and the detail of the character.

• Close up

A close up shot is usually a close up of an element or someone’s face almost as a portrait but to capture possibly a reaction or someone doing something. It takes up most of the frame cutting out the background so the location is remained anonymous. It emphasis on someone’s reaction. A film-maker may use this to make us feel extra comfortable or extremely uncomfortable about a character.

• panning shot 

Film makers and video cameras pan by turning horizontally on a vertical axis, but the effect may be enhanced by adding other techniques, such as rails to move the whole camera platform for example to follow a car or someone running. Slow panning is also combined with zooming in or out on a single subject, leaving the subject in the same portion of the frame, to emphasize or de-emphasize the subject respectively.

At 0:17 there is the panning shot where it show the bus for about 2 seconds to show that its moving and it also emphases the speed its moving as it basically show that its too fast for a still shot so the camera must pan in order to get a longer view of the bus.

• tilt shot

The tilt shot is similar to the pan shot, but the tilt shot moves vertically instead of horizontally. Tilt shots are often used to show the vertical significance of something. For example, imagine being at the bottom of a building and then tilting the camera upwards to capture the entire building structure (which obviously can’t fit in one frame).

From 0:12 to 0:15 the tilt shot appears as the man is looking for the girl he once looked after and the waiter points out where the long lost orphan is so we the camera shot slowly reveals her from head to toe giving the audience a more surprised reaction that she is now a stripper.

• crane shot

A crane shot is usually a camera on a crane or a jib. the obvious are to view actors from above or to move up and away from them which can be a common way of ending a scene or movie. The crane shot would normally give the audience a wide perspective of the character.

In this video the crane shot is shown at the end of the scene at 2:26 just after he kills the girl. the crane shot was used here because t makes us feel distanced from the character as he's just killed her it shows that the scene is coming to an end.

• zoom shot

zoom shot also known as a boom shot, the visual appearance for the viewer is that either the background suddenly grows in size and detail and overwhelms the foreground, or the foreground becomes immense and dominates its previous setting, depending on which way the zoom is executed

At 0:27 the camera immediately zooms into the teachers face also known as a reaction shot. This shows the audience that a problem has occurred because the zoom shot show that the persons reaction has changed and it also emphasis the person reaction so its clear to the audience.

• point of view

A point of view shot also known as POV shot or a subjective camera is a short film scene that shows what a character the subject is looking at (represented through the camera). It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character's reaction . 

In various points in this scene spider man is learning to jump buildings so hes then looking around whats in front of of him. the point of view shot is only used to show exactly what hes looking which relates to what happening or going to happen in the scene making the audience feel engaged with whats going on.

• hand held shot

a hand held shot is a camera mounted handheld the result of a hand held shot is often more shakier unless its placed on a tripod a steady cam which does not count as handheld is similar but creates more smoother shots

The movie clover field is recognized for it brilliant handheld creative shots where it follows characters and also creates a real life scene because we are so used to seeing steady cams in  movies constantly we are aware of how much a hand held camera can make an audience feel as if they're there and to actually feel the tension.