Mrs. Paugh - Film Composition and Literature
Film Composition and Literature
Course Expectations and Policies
Binder Assignment and Projects
Book and Film Comparison Paper
WRITING IT DOWN
1. FILM TREATMENT: Description of film in narrative (story) form as if the writer were seeing the film.
2. SHOOTING SCRIPT: Shot-by-shot description of film with action/camera directions down one side, sound directions down the other; written breakdown of movie story into its individual shots, often containing mechanical instructions. Used by director & staff to film.
3. STORYBOARD: A series of sketches that lays out the set-ups of the shots. Pre- visualization technique; shots sketched in advance like a comic strip. Drawing of each shot in the script identifying kind, angle, brief description and length in seconds of the shot.
THREE BASIC TERMS
1. FRAME: Dividing line between the edges of the screen image and the enclosing darkness; single photograph from the filmstrip (using a writing metaphor, the frame is "a word.")
2. SHOT: Basic unit of film structure; an unbroken strip of film made by an uninterrupted running of the camera. (Using a writing metaphor, the shot is "a sentence")
3. SEQUENCE (SCENE): Number of interrelated shots unified with common concern, location, etc.; action takes place in a single space at a single time. The film's smallest dramatic unit. (Using a writing metaphor, the sequence/scene is "a paragraph")
DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHOTS
1. ESTABLISHING SHOT: L.S. (long shot) or E. L. S. (extra long shot) giving the setting and context of the action. OFTEN at the beginning of a film and/or many scenes.
2. LONG SHOT: Audience's view of area within the proscenium arch of the live theater. (what the director wants you (the audience) to see as if you were viewing a stage play)
3. MEDIUM SHOT: Relatively close shot, revealing figure/person from knees or waist up.
4. CLOSE SHOT: Head shot; detailed view of person or object
5. LOW ANGLE: Filmed from below (camera low and shooting up)
6. HIGH ANGLE: Filmed from above (camera high shooting down)
7. ONE-SHOT (Two, three): One figure in the shot, etc. usually at a medium distance
8. UNDEREXPOSURE: Insufficient light enters camera aperture (opening); dark images
9. OVEREXPOSURE: Too much light enters camera aperture; bleached out images
10. FAST or UNDERCRANKED: Film speed run slower than normal 24 fps (frames per second) to make action run faster
11. SLOW or OVERCRANKED: Film speed run faster than normal 24 fps to make action run slower
12. RACK FOCUS: Blurring, forcing viewer's eye to travel to in-focus areas of the frame. It is used to get YOUR attention on what the director wants you to see by blurring "unimportant images" and keeping the important image in focus
CAMERA MOVEMENT
1. ANGLE: Camera's angle of view relative to subject. High angle shot from above; Low angle shot from below; Tilt (Oblique) angle shot by fixed, tiled camera creating a diagonal. (These various angles can symbolize/represent various emotional or psychological responses)
2. PAN: Fixed camera revolves horizontally from left to right or vice versa
3. DOLLY (tracking/trucking): Moving/mounted camera follows action; may be on tracks for smoother movement
4. BOOM (Crane): Mounted camera/cinematographer moves any direction through space
5. ZOOM: Fixed camera; entire scene magnified equally often plunging viewer in or out of scene rapidly as focal length of lens is changed. Zoom in, Zoom out (telephoto lens)
DIFFERENT EDITING TECHNIQUES (Organizing the film within a scene and from scene to scene)
1. CUT: Simple break where two shots are joined together. Jump-cut: abrupt transition between shots, sometimes deliberate, disorienting in terms of continuity of space and time. CROSSCUTTING: Cutting back and forth between two or more separate scenes suggesting simultaneity and eventual convergence of the actions (heightens tension and adds suspense)
2. FADE: Gradual darkening of the image until it becomes black (fade-out) or gradual brightening of a darkened image until it becomes visible; gains proper brightness (fade-in)
3. DISSOLVE: Simultaneously fading out on one shot while fading in on the next so the first shot gradually disappears as second appears; during the dissolve, two shots will be briefly superimposed.
4. IRIS: Rare in contemporary cinema, but used as a major transition in silent film; a masking device (adjusted diaphragm or iris) placed over the camera lens will gradually open (iris-in) or close (iris-out) to widen or narrow the field of view. This is surrounded by blackness.
5. WIPE, FLIP WIPE: Somewhat dated transition in which second shot appears to push/pull the first shot off the screen.
6. MATCHES: Transitions within a scene to provide continuity of action:
Graphic matches - major compositional features in one shot continues in the next shot
Matches on action - carry over of physical movement from one shot to next to conceal cuts
Eye-Line Matches - important in continuity, character exposition and psychology. Involves two shots: character in first shot looks offscreen at another character or object and next shot shows objectively what is seen in shot one
7. FREEZE FRAME: Single frame is reprinted a number of times on the filmstrip; when projected, it gives the illusion of a still photograph
SOUND
1. SYNCHRONOUS SOUND: Image and sound correspond; recorded simultaneously, or seem so in the finished print. Sound appears to derive from an obvious source in the visuals. (Miking of dialogue always takes precedence determining actual mike positions. Overall realism and directionality of sound is combined with "star miking".)
2. M.O.S.: Without Sound; images but no sound (often builds suspense).
3. DIALOGUE: the spoken lines
4. VOICE OVER NARRATION: nonsynchronous, spoken commentary, often used to convey a character's thoughts or memories.
5. SOUND EFFECTS: Aural (relating to the sense of hearing) atmosphere, sounds added to provide realism (Natural Sound/Wild Sound)
6. MUSIC: Musical score written by film's composer functions as commentary on action; directs audience's attention to specific characters or details, info about action, establishes mood
LIGHTING
Tool for "reading" contents of a scene
1. THREE-POINT LIGHTS: Standard lighting setup referring to the dominant sources of illumination:
a. KEY LIGHT - Chief, directional light sources -- above, front, side, rear
b. FILL LIGHT - Weaker light sources fill in the shadows cast by the key light
c. BACK LIGHT - Minor lights used to light the space between the back of the set and the characters to separate them from the background, delineates important features, creates illusion of depth
MISCELLANEOUS
1. CREDITS: Who produced, directed, acted, and performed jobs of film's crew, contributors
2. RUSHES/DAILIES: Selected footage of previous day's shooting, usually evaluated by director and cinematographer before start of next day's shooting.
3. OUTTAKES: Shots, pieces of film not used in final cut; leftover footage
4. ROUGH CUT: Crudely edited footage before editor tightens up slackness between shots; a kind of rough draft.
For further explanations consult the glossary section in your textbooks.