The shot
| A shot is an uninterrupted sequence of film/video bounded by edits. Note that camera and/or actors can move or zoom, and any elements below can change as that happens. | ||||||||||
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focal depth/ implied proximity | Closer to people’s faces seems more intimate and “about” the character, usually. | ||||||||||
extreme long shot/ establishing shot (XLS) | |||||||||||
long shot (LS) | |||||||||||
medium long shot (MLS) | |||||||||||
medium shot (MS) | |||||||||||
medium close up (MCU) | A medium close up is used to show both of them together | Used only a few times | |||||||||
close up (CU) | A close up of their faces is used mostly to show them | majority of scene | |||||||||
big close up (BCU) | |||||||||||
extreme close up (XCU) | |||||||||||
close on | |||||||||||
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angle | Looking up gives them power. Looking down disempowers them. | ||||||||||
bird’s eye | |||||||||||
high | |||||||||||
eye level | eye level for both Monica and Quincy | :02-:32 talking before opening the letter | |||||||||
low | |||||||||||
worm’s eye | |||||||||||
canted/Dutch | |||||||||||
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movement | tilt | ||||||||||
ped/dolly |
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pan | |||||||||||
crab/truck | |||||||||||
crane/drone | |||||||||||
POV/subjective/”I”/eye camera | |||||||||||
handheld | |||||||||||
dolly zoom/Vertigo shot | |||||||||||
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plane | foreground | Many shots use these three focal planes. | |||||||||
midground | |||||||||||
background | |||||||||||
| Some shots reduce to foreground & background. | Switches between Quincy and Monica | Mostly the whole scene | ||||||||
The house and windows, blurred out not as important but still there | |||||||||||
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space | onscreen | vs. | |||||||||
offscreen | |||||||||||
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open | vs. | ||||||||||
closed | Both Quincy and Monica take up the screen as this is a serious situation | Switches back from both of them but stays closed through the whole scene | |||||||||
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diagonals | The diagonals converge in the center, giving a sense of balance. | ||||||||||
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oblique/unbalanced | The diagonals pull to the sides, creating motion and lack of balance. | ||||||||||
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lighting | Note the way 3-point lighting works, first. The fill light removes shadows. The back light makes figures pop from the background. | ||||||||||
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low contrast/high key |
| The typical Hollywood bright lighting style. | Clueless (1998) | ||||||||
high contrast/low key |
| The fill or backlight is brighter than usual: |
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sidelit | Monica's face is side lit, showing her emotions when she turns her head towards the light | Through most of the whole scene | |||||||||
underhead |
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overhead |
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backlit |
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frontlit | Quincy and Monicas body are front lit just enough to show their clothing. | entire scene | |||||||||
“Obie” or eye light | |||||||||||
oddities | diagetic lights | ||||||||||
lens flare | |||||||||||
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Exposure | |||||||||||
underexposure | extreme |
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somewhat |
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“day for night” | You can see correct exposure but the scene is tinted because it is at night | The entire scene | |||||||||
“correct” exposure |
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overexposure | in darkness | ||||||||||
in light | |||||||||||
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editing | The joining of shots together. | ||||||||||
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styles | “classical cutting” | The norm for editing for 100+ years. The idea is to explain scene transitions in and out of a space. | |||||||||
| outside in | ||||||||||
| inside out | ||||||||||
| master shot & coverage | ||||||||||
| cross cutting/ parallel editing | Used for basically whole scene. Constantly going back between the two when talking. creates tension and allows the audience to stay into conversation. | |||||||||
montage | |||||||||||
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| some cut types | ||||||||||
invisible (ish) | match on action | ||||||||||
eyeline match | |||||||||||
graphic match | |||||||||||
shot reverse shot | |||||||||||
the hook | |||||||||||
lapping/sound bridge/ J or L cut | |||||||||||
visible | jump cut | ||||||||||
flash/smash cut | |||||||||||
symbolic match | |||||||||||
dissolve | |||||||||||
fade | |||||||||||
wipe | |||||||||||
iris | |||||||||||
animation | |||||||||||
sound | These 5 pairs of terms can overlap and serve to differentiate kinds of sounds. For example, a voiceover is diagetic… | ||||||||||
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| diagetic | ||||||||||
| non-diagetic | ||||||||||
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| onscreen | The two talking about the letter and her getting in | This is like 99% of film sound. | ||||||||
| offscreen | The letter is the only other sound that is there besides there dialog. I believe this was done on purpose | when Quincy open up the letter to begin | ||||||||
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| simultaneous | ||||||||||
| nonsimulataneous | ||||||||||
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| synchronous | ||||||||||
| asynchronous | ||||||||||
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| external | ||||||||||
| internal |
The top line of this blog are the theory and techniques guides for COMM 273. Along the left column you can see links to student work. Students post their public work here for COMM 273, Media and Popular Culture class at TLU.
Thursday, September 7, 2023
Love and Basketball Analysis Riley Anderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uakZdiwU1nw
This scene is the opening of Monica's letter to USC. With them both wanting to go to USC to play basketball this is an important scene. A close up shot is used to film their faces and emotion. Showing them when they talk. The edits play a big part in this scene as well by switching person to person as they are saying something. For sound the two things are the two talking and the crinkle of the letter. This was done on purpose with my opinion because of how important the letter is. With them being outside the director had the option to put the noise of cars or crickets but chose to only do them talking and the paper which allows the scene to be serious between the two. The lighting is mostly front lit with some side light to their faces. This keeps it dark and only shows them sometimes hiding parts of their faces and emotions. The lighting is dark because it is outside but you are still able to tell what it going on.
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Riley, I agree with your ideas surrounding the importance of the letter using editing and sound techniques. A potential argument I see here is the exclusion of the outside world. This seen intentionally excludes all outside elements; perhaps this is more than to just show the significance of the letter, but to also showcase themes such as individualism.
ReplyDeleteRiley, I think this is an excellent show of what techniques are used in these scenes, an argument I could suggest is to add more of the sound/editing aspect to the initial thesis, the sound in this scene is extremely crucial along with the simple editing cuts that happen over and over.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your point about how the edits play a huge role in how this scene played out. I think an argument that you could create is about how this is an intimate scene. There could not be much sound in the background, because we are meant to focus on the importance of the letter. You could also go into more detail about the background during this scene.
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