Positioning of Characters and Objects in the frame
Props:
Short for Property
Artefacts that can be used in a number of ways
Convey a sense of the time-period, and confirm the genre
Iconography - Props associated with a certain thing
The tardis is possibly the only times many fans of Doctor Who since 2005 know what a Police Box is since they aren't in use any more. Most people nowadays associate them more with Doctor Who than with history. It shows how The Doctor sees himself as policing the universe and space-time continuum. Whenever a character familiar with The Doctor sees it's silhouette, they instantly recognise it, regardless of which model it is.
Setting:
Sets or on-location
Build up expectations then subvert them
Costume, Hair & Make-up:
Instant indicator as to a character's personality, status and job
Telling of the time-period and society it's set in
Certain costumes can signify a certain kind of individual
Darth Vader's costume is mostly black, showing him as a dark force, with no light, aside from the electronics on his suit.
Facial expressions & Body Language:
Clear indicator of what someone is feeling
Expression + Music can create a mixed message
Body language can indicate different character's relationships with each other
Darth Vader is a character who we never see their face except for the ending of Episode 6. This adds to the mystery of the character, not knowing what exactly he's thinking or is about to do. All we see is his body language, which is never flinching. This cements him as a strong and foreboding authority figure in the empire.
Positioning:
Draw our attention to important aspects of the frame
Can indicate character's relationships with each other
Lighting and Colour:
Used to achieve a variety of effects
Highlights important aspects of the frame
Shadows can increase the mystery of a character
Can reflect a character's mental state / hidden emotions
In The Matrix the colour indicates whether a scene takes place in the real world or the titular Matrix. Blue is for the real world where the green is for the matrix. this ties it to computers from around that era of the movie, which used green text on a black screen.
This opening scene from Star Wars Episode 4 begins above a planet, looking over at another plant and what could be a moon. Both the other planet and moon have a clear dark side. The scene begins calm, before the rebel ship and a star destroyer move across the screen. This mirrors how the dark side is behind the light at all times, this being our first scene ever in a star wars movie. This is important to note as at the time, the prequel trilogy wouldn't be around for another 30 years. This means that all the choices made here, aren't based upon established canon, they are for a brand new movie and story. We see the much smaller ship fire at the much larger, sharper, almost spear-like ship, showing that they are far from friendly. The small ship becomes almost insignificant in the frame by the time we see the star destroyer, highlighting the sheer size of the ship, and the empire in general. This highlights how much more powerful than the "good guys" they are. The star destroyer, by the end of the shot, takes up the whole of the upper frame.
Our first interior shot comes with C-3PO, R2-DS, and another droid, each of which standing out against the white backdrop of the ship. This establishes these as good characters, being shrouded in white light. Of note is C-3PO's right leg, as below the thigh it is silver, whereas the rest of him is gold, both being precious metals. This helps establish that he is one of the driving forces of the film, helping R2-D2 to lead Luke to "Old Ben Kenobi" later in the movie. Though there are audible and visible quakes, R2-D2 doesn't seem phased, whereas the other 2 droids are moving violently, as though they are scared.
Following this, we see men, visibly armed, all in a uniform, as though they are a military of some sort, rushing somewhere. They don't appear to be afraid, suggesting they have seen combat perhaps more than once before.
We then cut back to the droids, with C-3PO appearing to worry, flailing his arms as much as his robotic limbs would allow. R2-D2 still, seems unphased. This is based on his prior experience with Kenobi, as we learn later in the film.
The soldiers take aim at a door, as we hear clinking, and see the ship being absorbed by the other ship, the light being absorbed by the darkness, hinting at the oncoming onslaught in the next few minutes. We get a shot of a soldier following the sounds with his eyes towards the doorway, with his gaze changing as it reaches the door. This shows that he is now possibly afraid of what'll come through that door, knowing the size of what has just taken his ship.
We get 2 shots of the door accompanied by sounds, and in-between we get a shot of the soldiers, and then another shot, tighter on a specific soldier, who looks very young, contrasting with the older soldier we saw a few moments ago. This highlights their desperation and need for more soldiers.
Purple sparks then start to fly through the door, accompanied by the sound of a saw. These bounce off of the walls, giving the room a purple tinge, disrupting the light of the ship we saw before. We get shots of the soldiers bracing, as the door gets blown open with a large explosion, causing one soldier to hide behind a corner for the duration of the blast. through the smoke, we see white figures with black accents, firing off the first shots as they breach and clear, a tactic used by many military forces. We then get shots of the soldiers returning fire. As the shots continue to be fired, the hallway retains it's purple tinge. This could be up to the film this was shot on, but it could show the disruption to the ship. These shots are now also darker than before, showing the dark side is slowly infiltrating.
Following this, we get a shot of the storm troopers turning a corner, and killing more rebels than they kill storm troopers.
Sound in Media can be both what you hear, and don't hear.
The 3 main categories of sound in Media are:
Dialogue
Music
Sound Effects
Dialogue - This is anything spoken, verbally or otherwise (i.e. sign language).
Music - This is the soundtrack, but can also be from a source in scenes.
Sound Effects - These are usually put in after the fact, to help ground the actor's performances.
Dialogue can be used to establish various aspects of a character, and can be used for exposition. When using dialogue, it's important to consider both the content and delivery, as the meaning could be misinterpreted by the audience if proper thought isn't put into it.
Music is there to compliment, or contradict the scene. It can heighten emotion and drama, and some songs/notes can indicate a character's allegiance. It can also be used to develop the atmosphere, highlight a change in time or place, advance the action, describe a character, transition and act as continuity.
Sound Effects are used to highlight sounds that perhaps they may not have been able to capture during production. For example, if someone pulls out there phone and says they got a text, you would want to know that they are about to do it, so a small sound or vibration will be added to show a phone is going off as that sound is familiar to the audience and they understand what it means.
Diegetic / Non-Diegetic:
Diegetic sounds have their origins in the scene, i.e. if a character is listening to the radio, then it is diegetic, coming from the radio but still being heard by the audience.
Non-diegetic sounds are added in post-production, usually music or narration, these are there to compliment visuals, not necessarily distract from them.
In Shaun of the Dead, there is a scene that starts with the news report from the television playing, this is diegetic, as is the sound of the object Nick Frost's character throws at Mary. When they turn around and there is another zombie there, there is a sharp booming sound effect, which is non-diegetic as there is nowhere for it to have come from in the scene.
Within sound, there are 2 common types: Contrapuntal and Parallel.
Contrapuntal sounds oppose/contradict the mood/tone being presented. These can be ironic moments, or emphasise the point the creator is putting to the audience.
This is done in the documentary Bowling for Columbine, where it plays Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World over some of America's worst moments.
Parallel sounds run with the mood/tone and compliment them.
In the opening scene in the pilot of Chuck, the music switches between the upbeat music of the party where Chuck is, and the music that accompanies Bryce Larkin's high-octane infiltration of the Intersect computer. This helps to separate Chuck's quiet life, going to parties, and Bryce's life as a spy. Coupled with how Chuck describes Bryce in the opening scene, it's clear that Chuck sees Bryce as an enemy. Chuck's statement that Jill "found him more exciting" is followed by Bryce's high-octane music, which is running parallel to Chuck's own mind. This moment shows how these are truly the characters' themes: Chuck is dull, muffled, but trying to get out there, but Bryce is truly living life to it's fullest, with small breaths before he ramps up again. This highlights their dynamic throughout the first season, until Chuck realises that Bryce "ruined his life" to protect him from the life of a spy.
Extreme long – Wide, complete view of the space and isolation with insignificant people.
Long - Smaller but still shows the scene in it’s entirety, whole person in-frame, establishes location, showing the audience where this is all happening.
Medium Long – Gives information about the setting and the character(s), from the knees up, clear view of body language and relationships/interactions with other characters.
Medium – Waist up, shows gestures, expressions, their outfit, often links long and medium close-up shots.
Medium Close – Usually for the news, hand and shoulders with space around them, conversations (including reactions).
Close-up – Social triangle – eyes and mouth, highlights the details.
Big close-up – Shows all details, forehead to chin, highlights emotion or prop details.
Extreme close-up – Small portion of the detail, enters the character’s personal space, highlights elements that would normally go unnoticed by those who aren’t looking, usually mystery and tension.
Angle Types:
High – Above the characters, looking down on them
Eye-level – At the character’s level
Low – Lower that the character, looking up to them looming, often taking up the frame far more than other elements
Pan - The camera moves left or right, often motivated by movement
Tilt – Camera looks up or down
Tracking – Moving
Tracking pan – Moving while remaining fixed on the subject(s)
Dolly – Back and forth
Analysis:
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Sherlock Holmes: Game of
Shadows Trainyard Shootout
Our first, second-long shot is that of an eye-level medium close-up to close-up of Sherlock Holmes, with Watson to the side of the frame, cutting to an eye-level long shot to show the men chasing Holmes and Watson. In the first shot, Holmes is framed mostly to the left, with the men chasing them coming in on the right of their shot. Because the camera is facing Holmes and he is on the left, the men being on the right suggests this is what Holmes is looking at. The camera follows Holmes, but it stationary for the shot of the men, showing that Holmes is extremely focused, not letting his vision wander or shake. It then cuts to a similar shot to that of the first, though with the characters reversed. This short shot links the next static, low-angle shot from underneath a carriage looking at Watson firing. This highlights him standing his ground, with the camera placement reminding the audience of where they are as in the background you can see a train/carriage. There is then a half-second static eye-level medium shot of a man ducking to avoid the gunfire. All shots up until now have been smooth, calm, and collected, whereas this shot has violent shaking, showing how this isn’t a calm situation for the man. We then get a repeat of the first shot, though the pair are far more over to the left, and then it changes to a high long shot, giving a birds-eye view of Watson continuing his gun fire. There is a pan that follows Holmes as he moves behind a carriage to meet another character, Watson however is static. The camera moves from high-right to low-left. For the shot of Watson being unable to fire, it starts with a high medium-long but moves to a lower shot, before panning quickly to the left, highlighting how the pace is now raised from their inability to fight back.
The shots of Holmes shooting are static and at his eye level for the most part, not flinching as matching him. Even amongst all the chaos and the camera movements speeding up, these shots have little movements, Holmes moves faster than the camera when he slumps down, reaching the ground before it does, but they are matched when he gets back up. There is a high-long shot to establish the transition to outside, then a cut to a medium shot, showing how they’re all coping at that moment. The camera pans at a medium shot at eye level, motivated by them all moving form left to right of the frame. The next shot is a static eye-level medium shot of a sniper peering round a train to shoot one of the characters that are running. This pays off the earlier static shot from a high-angle as it looked as though they were being watched. When Holmes and Watson return fire, the camera is calm, static at a medium shot at eye level. They are focused and aren’t allowing themselves to give their pursuers a chance to take another shot. A few shots later, there is a long shot of a man throwing a rope down for the characters to climb up with, this remains a low angle, but cuts to a high long shot of the characters reaching the wall. Following that, there are a series of shaky eye level shots ranging from long to medium-long, showing that they’re now cornered and the stakes are rising. The shot of the man climbing up to man the gun is a medium-long remaining at a low angle to show just how powerful he will be with the gun the next medium-long shot shows. This shot tracking pans upwards from a low angle to highlight the size of the gun. The following shots of the protagonists under fire are static, cutting from a medium-long to just a medium at a high angle for the first shot, then eye level for the second. We then get a shot from the POV of the gun, tilting down to aim at the carriage the protagonists are hiding behind. The following shots are all static, going from a shot of the gun to the shell tearing through a wall. The gun shot has a high angle, where as the wall shot has a low angle. This shows that the gun is as deadly as it could be, with the wall being the main focus of the second shot, asserting it’s dominance by assuming the whole frame. It being destroyed shows how even the protagonists have a real chance of death.
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