Everything Is Artifice: The Key Elements Of Film Form
The main factors used in film to create the intended responses
There are 4 key elements of film form in GCSE film studies which are Mise-en-scène, Cinematography, Editing and Sound.
Mise-en-scène is a french term which literally means placing on stage, basically this is what the camera sees in the scene and where everything and everyone is purposefully positioned in it, this focuses on explaining what is happening in a literal ‘show not tell’ sense. Generally Mise-en-scène is classified as everything that the audience can see, however many factors go into this including, but not limited to : set, costumes, colour, lighting, framing, camera lenses, music and make-up. Generally though there are 7 main factors used in Mise-en-scène: Aesthetics- this is the the artistic sense on set as seen through set dressing and colour schemes, Symbols- This is the iconography, motifs and signs in film which is practically the uses of images with meanings and themes behind them, Blocking- this is the placement and movement of actors within a shot, this can be seen through factors such as how actors are positioned in ways such as the composition, Make-up- This is cosmetics that alteration of one’s appearance which includes many factors ( naturalistic ,expressive ,prosthetics and aging ) which alter how the actors are seen and how mainly there faces are edited to change views on them, Setting- this is the where the scene is for example interior or exterior as where the set is, with the location being where this exterior or interior is with a soundstage being how sounds diegetic or non-diagetic sounds are added in post-production, Props- these are any moveable items in film which are used by the characters or seen by / focused on by them, Costume- The garments in which the characters wear, these can be used to show characteristics of characters moving the story along, period in this means that a piece represents the time in which a film is based, contemporary means that the pieces are of the same time in which the film is based or of a modern period and finally expressive means that a piece is clear in it’s meaning, usually with bright factors.
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Cinematography is the use of the camera and the lighting used in a scene, generally this can be separated into 7 sectors: Aesthetics, Focus and depth of field, Composition, Lighting, Camera shots, Camera movements and Camera angles.
Aesthetics: the colour scheme and types of film stock used to alter colourations of the film and the mood around it created from. This colouration, for example a scene could be tinted red to signify the anger of a character .
Focus and depth of field: how much clarity or sharpness the camera lense has, where this is positioned towards and how strong it is.
Composition: the placement of characters and objects in a scene relative to the camera, there are certain placements in this sense that allow focus to be targeted in certain places, and in certain proportions, some composition types include the rule of thirds, golden triangles and symmetry, this also refers to how high/low and far away the camera is from the subject, also if the subject is off centre it known as an unbalanced shot, this can create a feeling of unease and seem off putting for the audience.
Lighting: the colour of lighting, intensity with means the power emitted from lights, light positioning, for example background light is a usually dimmer light at the back of the scene, key light is the main light in a shot, fill light is when the light covers the scene, limiting any spotlight, backing light is a more intense light in the back of a scene which creates contrast by strongly highlighting whatever is infront of it, there are certain source is where a light comes from with it being natural or artificial, expressive effects are when a high or low contrast is created through light exposure with chiaroscuro being the balance of lightness and darkness in a scene.
Camera shots: where and how a camera I positioned and it’s movement in a scene, there are 12 different main shot types : Extreme close up- a very close and almost unnatural shot of a character’s face, Close-up- a shot that is near a character’s face usually the convey emotion, Medium shot- a shot which goes from the knees/waist of a character to the top of the subject’s head, Mid-shot- this is just another term for a medium shot, Wide shot- a shot that shows an entire object or person compared to the environment, Long shot- this is the same as a wide shot, Extremely long shot- a camera angle that will make the subject seem small compared to their environment, Aerial shot- a camera angle from a high altitude, Point of view- a character’s perspective, Two shot- when the frame encompasses 2 people inside of it, Over the shoulder- when the camera is behind the shoulder and the head of a character, Underwater- a shot that is beneath the surface of water or partially submerged.
Camera movements: Pan- when a camera moves vertically from left to right, Tilt- when the camera is fixed but moves up and down on a vertical plane, Pedestal- the vertical camera movement up or down relative to the subject, Tracking shot- when the camera follows or tracks the subject, Hand-held- when the camera is held by the the operator, usually purposely creating uneven movement, Dolly- when a camera is moved on any sort of track to create a smooth horizontal movement, Crab- when a camera moves sideways like a crab, Arc- when the camera rotates in a circle around the subject, Steadicam- a camera system that stabilises held camera movements, a lot like a chickens head. Which can stay stabilised, Zoom- a camera system that can edit the camera’s focal length and therefore it’s perceived closeness to a subject.
Camera angles- Birds Eye view- a 90 degree angle view above the subject/scene, High angle- when the camera is above the subject, looking down on them, Low angle- when the camera is positioned low on the vertical axis looking up at the subject, Eye level shot- when the camera is positioned at the subject’s eye level, 60 degree angle shot- a narrow shot which has a range of 60 degrees camera wise or when the camera is positioned at a 60 degree angle, Canted angle shot/Dutch tilt- when lines are positioned in a shot not parallel to the edges of the camera shot, Worms-eye view- a 90 degree camera angle facing upwards which is the practical opposite of a Birds Eye view
Sound has 4 different parts that make it up : Aesthetics, Sound editing, Diegetic sound and Non-diegetic sound.
Aesthetics: this is contrapuntal sound is which is a sound’s contrast with the imagery on screen, pleonastic sound which is how exaggerated a sound is made, Unmotivated sound which is sound that doesn’t match the actions in the scene but adds emotional impact to the scene and silence which is the absence or faded removal of sound to grab the audience’s attention.
Sound editing: Mixing- the combination and editing of audio compared to each other, Layering- adding depth to sound by combining several elements, Synchronous sounds- when the sound is recorded at the same time as the filming of a scene, Asynchronous sound- when the viewer cannot see where a sound comes from in a film due to it being off screen, Sound bridges- when sound from one scene transitions to another scene before that scene is shown, J-cuts- when audio from a following scene plays before the scene, L-cuts- when audio from a previous scene carries over to the next
Diegetic sound: this is defined as sound that purports to come from the world of the scene which basically means sound that exists in the film, There are four main factors in this which are ambient sound which is background noise/ environmental noise, Dialogue which is phrases spoken by characters, parrallel sound which atmospherically matches the scene and foley which is sounds added in post production for example using aluminium foil to make lightning sounds.
Non-diegetic sound: this is defined as sound added in post production to have an effect on the viewer, this can be split into 3 sectors which are score, sound effects and narration. Score is split into compiled and composed score, compiled is pre-existent music used in the score, a composed score is music composed specifically for the film, sound effects are artificially made non speech sounds and narration which is commentary that compliments the film.
Editing has 9 sectors which are Aesthetics, Transitions, Pace and Visual effects, Continuity editing, Discontinuity editing, Cross-cutting, Sequencing and Stylised editing.
This Aesthetics is the atmosphere created from features such as colours and composition, filters are coloured lens pieces which can change colours of the film such as making the film monochromatic, repetition is the re-use of features to create a sort of motif which alters the effects of scenes, cutting to the beat is when the film is editing so that the shots are swapped in rhythm of sound in the film.
Transitions: cut- a fast change from one scene to another, dissolve- when one scene blends out to another by lowering its transparency, fade- when an scene dissolves to or from black, wipe- the progression from one scene to another vertically or horizontally, graphic match- the connection of scenes through matching motifs which allow a smoother transition, superimposition- putting one image on top of another so the audience can connect them and see them combined, j-cuts and l cuts as previously mentioned are ‘ J-cuts- when audio from a following scene plays before the scene, L-cuts- when audio from a previous scene carries over to the next’ these combine audio which video editing, adding more cohesion to the transition.
Pace: how fast a scene is, for example Slow motion is when a scene is slowed down to create an effect, Fast motion is when a scene is sped up to create an effect, Long take- when a shot is a lot longer than it would usually be.
Visual effects: when images are created in film / for film, CGI is computer generated imagery, this animated imagery in film which can be manipulated to look like part of the film’s universe, Captioning- audio being turned into text on the screen with closed captions or cc also explaining other factors happening on screen, Intertiles- text that appears in film which can for example name the setting
Continuity editing: cut- a fast change from one scene to another,hard cut- a direct sharp and instant cut, cutaway- when a scene is interrupted with another unrelated scene, master shot- an entire scene recorded from one angle which exists all characters, shot-reversed shot- a shot that alternate from one character looking at another to that character looking at the original character, match on action- when one shot with an action in shot before another with a matching action following one from the previous shot, the 180 degree rule- the rule that when two characters are shown they should be shown opposite / 180 degrees away from each-other.
Sequencing: the organisation of scenes relative to each other, establishing shot- usually a long shot which shows the environment of a scene, juxtaposition- using two shots combined to create an emotion or effect, kuleshov effect- the sequencing of one shot to two others with are used to convey a specific message, continuity- the editing of scenes together to add cohesion between them, eye-line match- when a character I shown to be looking at something to intrigue the viewer, glance-object- a shot of a character looking at something with a close up shot afterwards.
Discontinuity editing: prolepsis which is also known as a flash-forward is going after a scene chronologically usually to assist understanding of plot, analepsis which is also known as a flashback, this is when a scene is followed by a scene which is in the past relating to the other scene chronologically.
Cross-cutting is the repetitive swapping between different scenes, this can be also known as parallel editing.
Stylised editing: jump cuts- a fast cut from one scene to another , montage- a set of images in a film put together to create a sequence.