Camera, Editing, Sound, Mise en scene - What I've learned so far

Throughout these past few weeks I've learned a lot of areas that must be covered in order to properly analyse any film or TV drama extracts.

Camera
Shot types-

• Establishing shot- to establish usually the location/set where the action takes place. 
• Closeup shot- to focus and increase attention on a specific thing. 
• Extreme closeup shot- same purpose to a 'closeup shot'. 
• Mid-shot- shows the general action. 
• Wide shot- broader shot to show more of the set, etc. 
• Shot, reverse shot- usually used to show a conversation or reaction between two characters. 
• Point of view shot- used to show what the character sees through their own eyes. 
• Aerial shot- shot from high or above the action. 
• High angle shot- shot looks down on an action. 
• Low angle shot- shot looks up at an action. 
• Over the shoulder shot- shot where camera faces a character behind another character. 

Movement-

• Pan- shot that moves steadily across the action. 
• Tilt- when the camera looks up/down. 
• Track/dolly- shot filmed from fixed track camera. 
• Zoom/ reverse zoom- when the camera gets close or moves away from the action. 
• Crab- movement on the horizontal (left or right) 
• Crane- camera fixed on crane so it can move dramatically up or down. 
• Handheld- camera filmed by a person, shaky movement. 
• Position- the distance between the camera and the subject/object. 

Composition (Depth of field)- Refers to the focal length. A frame that shows everything sharp, or in focus is called 'deep focus'. When a particular part of the frame is picked out and the rest is blurred, the term for that is called a 'selective focus'. When the focal point changes within the frame it's called 'pull/rack focus'.

Editing- The process of cutting and assembling film footage.

Functions of editing: connects action together. maintain rhythm and pace. elimination of dead time.

• What is the pace of the sequence? 
• How does the pace affect the sequence? 
• How does the editing distribute narrative information 
• Transition- process of cutting one shot to another. 

• Straight cut
• Fade to black
• Wipe
• Cross fade 

Shot Duration- the duration of a shot reflects the narrative context.

• Short shot duration usually conveys action and urgency. 
• Long shot duration conveys intensity and intimacy. 

Sound
"Sound is used to create a more involving and believable narrative."

• Diegetic- any sound that the characters in the film would hear. e.g. 
• Dialogue- speech. 
• Sound effects- footsteps, gun shots, etc. 
• Ambient sound- background noise, wind, traffic, etc. 
• Non-diegetic- sound that is added to create a certain mood or tone, which characters can't hear.
• Music- ominous music 

Mise en Scene French term -means 'everything in the scene'

• Setting and location 
• Props 
• Costume
• Performance and movement

Performance and movement -refers to actors and their physical performance

• Facial expression
• Gaze
• Posture
• Gesture
• Body contact (proxemics)
• Appearance
• Spatial behaviour