Film Making Techniques

On Wednesday, we researched different film making techniques that we could possibly use in our Prelim exercise and our 2 minute film beginning. 

Camera Shots
A variety of camera shots are essential so that the layout does not become boring for the viewer but can also assist on creating suspense.

Establishing shot - An establishing shot is used to set the scene and show the audience when a new scene is beginning.

Long shot - A long shot is used to focus in on a character while still showing most of the scenery. It is often used to portray the characters feelings using pathetic fallacy, usually sadness or loneliness.

Full shot - A full shot is one that focuses mainly on the main character standing up.



 

Mid shot - A mid shot is taken of a character from the waist up and enables the viewer to pick up on the characters gestures easier. This is used when a person is speaking with concentration and the dialogue is important to the plot.



Close up - A close up is used to accentuate essential dialogue that the audience must not miss due to the vitality of it to the plot.

Camera Angles
Film uses many different camera angles to create a variety of effects and help tell the narrative. Camera angles are used to show different POVs (point of view). The low angle is used to make the audience aware of the characters positioning and also, shows the viewers a different angle of the scenery. A eye-level angle
A high angle is often used to show the vulnerability of the character by making the POV higher than the characters.
A birds-eye angle is used to focus on the characters movements and the surrounding people who walk by.

Camera Movements

• Pan
• Track
• Dolly
• Zoom
• Tilt
• Point of View (POV)
• Dolly In, Zoom Out

Focus Techniques

Manual Focus - Manual focus is used is cinematography to manually adjust the focus of the shot. This is used because it means that the focal point can change in the same shot.

Continuous Auto Focus (CAF) - This is used in film to ensure the focus stays on the same object/person even as it moves. It automatically does this so the camera man does not have to keep manually focusing the shot.

Depth Of Field - In filmography, you can use two types of Depth of Field; short and wide. Short depth of field means the focus point is on one particular object/person and the mise-en-scene is blurred out. This is used to attract the audiences attention to one specific thing that may be important to the plot. On the other hand, you can use wide depth of field which is when everything in shot is focused.