Film Techniques

 

Film Techniques for Dr. Vrooman’s Pop Culture Classes   by Steven S. Vrooman, 2004-2023
special note: This is just the beginning of film knowledge. Please avoid overclaiming. Especially avoid the common assumption of college students when they first undertake this kind of analysis that in the “olden days” they couldn’t or didn’t know how to do x, y or z. The majority of film techniques, from shots to sound to editing are all created in the 1930s. About the only thing that “gets better” is special effects. When looking at a film, do not assume that the edits are slow or the film is grainy or the camera is stationary (or whatever) because they didn’t know any better. In almost every case this is an aesthetic choice by the filmmakers to create a certain effect. In other cases it is a question of budget constraints.
category		name				definition					example
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.
focal depth/ implied proximity		Closer to people’s faces seems more intimate and “about” the character, usually.
		extreme long shot/ establishing shot (XLS)				Bigger than characters. Places. Cities.					Lord of the Rings: Return of the King  (2003)
		long shot (LS)				Bigger than characters, but they are in the space.					Pride and Prejudice (2005)
		medium long shot (MLS)				Knees up. Often action scenes.					Wonder Woman (2017)
		medium shot (MS)				Waist up. Common “two shot” (see) à					Captain America: Civil War (2016)
		medium close up (MCU)				Chest up.					Moonlight (2016)
		close up (CU)				Face.					A Fantastic Woman (2018)
		big close up (BCU)				Some of the face is out of frame.					Smile (2022)
		extreme close up (XCU)				A feature of the face.					The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966)
		close on				Close up of an object.					Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
angle		Looking up gives them power. Looking down disempowers them.
		bird’s eye				90° down.					The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
		high				Looking down.					Parasite (2019)
		eye level				Straight on from level.					La La Land (2016)
		low				Looking up.					Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
		worm’s eye				90° up.					Psycho (1960)
		canted/Dutch				Tilted off axis.					Raging Bull (1980)
movement		tilt				Stationary camera person, moving camera, vertical.					basics video
		ped/dolly				Stationary camera, moving camera person, vertical.
		pan				Stationary camera person, moving camera, horizontal.					Star Trek (2009) (You can see both here, crabbing and then fast pans)
		crab/truck				Stationary camera, moving camera person, horizontal.
		crane/drone				Extremely mobile camera.					Touch of Evil (1958)
		POV/subjective/”I”/eye camera				Camera is a character as it moves.					Jaws (1975)
		handheld				Lack of steadycam rig for jumbly effect.					The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
		dolly zoom/Vertigo shot				Camera zooms in while it is begin physically trucked backwards.					Jaws (1975)
plane		foreground				Many shots use these three focal planes.		The kid à			Jurassic Park (1993)
		midground						The raptors à
		background						Windows (escape!) à
						Some shots reduce to foreground & background.		The joker à			The Dark Knight (2008)
								The world à
space		onscreen	vs.			Seen in frame.		The kid à			Jaws (1975)
		offscreen				Out of frame, but still existing.		Jaws à
		open	vs.			The top of frame feels free.					Star Wars (1977)
		closed				The top is closed in.					Train to Busan (2016)
						A mix…					Pride and Prejudice (2005)
diagonals		balanced/centered				The diagonals converge in the center, giving a sense of balance.		Large scale example à			Star Wars (1977)
								Medium scale ex. à			Meet Me St. Louis (1944)
								Small scale ex. à			Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
		oblique/unbalanced				The diagonals pull to the sides, creating motion and lack of balance.		Large scale example à			LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
								Medium scale ex. à			Parasite (2019)
								Small scale ex. à			Vast of Night (2020)
lighting	Note the way 3-point lighting works, first. The fill light removes shadows. The back light makes figures pop from the background.
low contrast/high key						The typical Hollywood bright lighting style.					Clueless (1998)
high contrast/low key						The fill or backlight is brighter than usual:
		sidelit									No Country for Old Men (2007)
		underhead									Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
		overhead									Silence of the Lambs (1991)
		backlit									Aliens (1986)
		frontlit									John Wick (2014)
		“Obie” or eye light				Bright light across the eyes, named for Merle Oberon’s use of it to disguise her scars after a car accident.					Dracula (1931)
oddities		diagetic lights				“diagetic” is stuff inside the fictional world of the film					Citizen Kane (1941)
		lens flare				Optical effect when camera hits a light source					Star Trek (2009)
photography
aspect ratios		See this diagram – the top 3 traditonally used 35mm film.
		1.33:1 (4:3)				Dominant size for pre-1950s films and pre-1990s TV. The natural, whole frame of 35mm film.					Citizen Kane (1941)
		1.78:1 (16x9) & 1.85:1				Dominant size for 1950s-current films. Only a portion of the 35mm film is used.					North by Northwest (1958)
		2.39:1				Anamorphic widescreen. Film is recorded by a lens that squishes the print down by half on width and it is restored in post-production. This made widescreen cheaper and easier than 70mm (see before and after [*almost* the same moment] of Spartacus [1960]). But the stretch can create odd visual artifacts à					LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
											The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
		2.75:1				Panavision. Larger 65mm film stock. No distortions.					2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
lens		Films often use various lenses.
		wide angle				Allows for deep focus (multiple planes in focus).					Citizen Kane (1941)
						Can result in fish-eye distortion.					The Favourite (2019)
		telephoto/zoom				limited focal depth					Casino Royale (2004)
						flattened space					Casino Royale (2004)
						Allows for rack focus					The Host (2006)
image quality		Film is a sandwich of light-sensitive particles in fluidic emulsion sandwiched between harder layers of acetate. Less expensive and/or faster film leaves more unresponsive particles in the emulsion, leading to speckly grain. This can be an aesthetic choice (gritty, realistic, etc.)
		film		grain		high grain/grainy					Ghostbusters (1984)
						low grain/smooth					Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
		condition				Film degrades over time and needs restoration. Some films are left behind and forgotten.			degraded/unrestored		Mrs. Pollifax, Spy (1971)
									restored		Wizard of Oz (1939)
		quality				smaller film stock			16mm		El Mariachi (1992)
									8mm		The found footage in Sinister (2012)
		video		“quad” tape		Videotape was standard for many TV shows from the 50s-70s, and some kids shows are still shot on it.					Watch a few seconds of General Hospital (1981)
		Hi8				Home video cameras are used, but rarely.					Watch a few seconds of The Blair Witch Project (1999)
		digital		high res							The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)
		degradations added/virtual grain				For aesthetics and/or to make it seem more “believable.”					The Joker (2019)
		low res				Using simpler tech (phones, Zoom, etc.)					Host (2020)
exposure	The amount of overall light.
underexposure		extreme									Halloween (2007)
		somewhat									Hereditary (2018)
		“day for night”				Old trick to make daytime look like night.					The Leopard Man (1943)
“correct” exposure						You can see lights and darks.					La La Land (2016)
overexposure		in darkness				Creates a glow or halo.					Lost Highway (1997)
		in light				Washes everything out.					White (1994)
editing	The joining of shots together.
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	XLS à … à … à character				LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
						inside out	character à … à … à XLS				Captain America (2011)
						master shot & coverage			This is a ubiquitous style by which a director provides material to editors to give freedom to shape the film in the editing room. A master LS of the shole scene is filmed, and the MS or closer of each character is filmed; again the whole scene each time. It can all be put together in many ways. For example: The Dark Knight (2008)
						cross cutting/ parallel editing			Cuts back and forth between characters geographically separated and/or doing different tasks. Often these scenes have little to do with each other, and it is like we are watching mini movies woven together, but here’s an example where they are so connected the sounds lap over into the cross-cut scenes: Lord of the Rings: Return of the King  (2003)
		montage				A quick cutting style that uses the Kuleshov effect (the same shot gets different meaning based on what it is edited in montage with). See here. Eisenstein developed it for films like Battleship Potemkin (1918). Watch 3 minutes of the famous Odessa Steps sequence. It is often used for effect in films like Psycho’s (1960) shower scene. In addition to horror, musical numbers and action sequences are the most common times these techniques are used. Take Moulin Rouge! (2001).
	some cut types	For the examples below, look sharp! The edit is pretty immediate (and indicated by the “X” in my descriptions below.. And because edits can be quick, make sure you see the first one, otherwise 3 or 4 edits will go by and you’ll wonder which it is.
invisible (ish)		match on action				Morpheus throws him X Neo flies through the air.					The Matrix (1999)
		eyeline match				Romeo looks X Juliet’s there.					Jurassic Park (1993)
		graphic match				Maria’s back X Maria’s front (she is in red in center of both – graphically similar)					West Side Story (1961)
		shot reverse shot				Aileen cusses him out. X He reacts					Monster (2004)
		the hook				“The garbage will do” X The Millennium Falcon. (The hook is where a question is answered by the edit) - note this is an error as there is no cut here! I will find another example soon!					Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2016)
		lapping/sound bridge/ J or L cut				Electronic ticker X Chest beating. (The sound for next scene starts before the visual. It can be vice versa [J or L are about the shape of this edit on editing software screens])					Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
visible		jump cut				Standing around X Differently (Jump cuts draw attention to themselves).					Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
		flash/smash cut				Karen reacts to alarm X Mid radiation shower.					Silkwood (1983) [the cut at 15 seconds]
		symbolic match				Murder bone thrown in air X Space ship.					2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
		dissolve				Norman/Mother looks to camera X Car in swamp.					Psycho (1960)
		fade				Frodo on eagles X Frodo recuperating (Fade to black is most usual, but white happens also).					Lord of the Rings: Return of the King  (2003)
		wipe				Okay, look, here’s just a bunch of ‘em.					Star Wars (1977)
		iris				“Look,sir, droids.” X Sandcrawler (sorry this is of some dude’s TV recording…)					Star Wars (1977)
		animation				Minas Tirith X Map X Hobbiton					Lord of the Rings: Return of the King  (2003)
sound	These 5 pairs of terms can overlap and serve to differentiate kinds of sounds. For example, a voiceover is diagetic…
		diagetic			Supposed to be in fictional world.					This is like 99% of film sound.
		non-diagetic			Not supposed to be in the fictional world. Usually the soundtrack.					Music (most of the time). Rare other possibilities. A narrator might be, although if they turn out to be a character in the world, no.
		onscreen			We can see the source that is supposed to be making the sound.					This is like 99% of film sound.
		offscreen			We can’t see it at the moment.					Let the Right One In (2008) The sound of the door opening a second in.
		simultaneous			Sound takes place at the time of the action onscreen.					This is like 99% of film sound.
		nonsimulataneous			Sound takes place at another time/place than the action.					A Christmas Story (1983) (watch to :15 to see hos the narration is synchronous, though)
		synchronous			Matching the action on screen.					This is like 99% of film sound.
		asynchronous			Not matching.					Think of sound delays for long range explosion or a character who is dazed.
		external			In the shared “real” diagetic world.					This is like 99% of film sound.
		internal			Inside a character’s mind.					Psycho (1960) (she is imagining these bits of dialogue).