Cinematography
Versus
Mise-en-scene
Cinematography
• Cinematography: "writing in
movement”
• Digital Cinematography and
Computer-Generated Imagery have
brought changes in Cinematography,
which was traditionally based on
chemical/photographic images and
effects.
• Cinematography = Everything that
has to do with cameras and lenses,
with film/film stock (and its digital
equivalents), exposure and
processing of film/digital images.
Citizen Kane (Welles)
Cinematography vs. Mise-en-Scene
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Cinematography can be contrasted to
“mise-en-scene” (staging), which refers
to “what is filmed”; while
cinematography refers to “how it is
filmed.”
This difference raises questions:
– Visual Special Effects? Often done
in post-production (esp. digital
effects). So, is that
Cinematography?
– Lighting? Effects exposure, lens
setting, focus, etc., Usually under
control of Cinematographer
(Director of Photography). But
Lighting, since it is part of “what is
filmed,” could also be seen as part
of a film’s “mise-en-scene.” What
Is this cinematography or mise-en-scene?
is your opinion?
what is filmed (mise-en-scene)
how it is filmed (cinematography)
Main Elements of Cinematography
• (1) Composition of the frame and mobile framing.
Frame shape (aspect ratios), camera distance
(types of shots: e.g., CU, Medium Shot), angle,
level, height, & mobile framing (camera
movements and zooms), perspective, pov.
• (2) Camera, Lens, & Exposure Choices & Techniques
(what used to be called “photographic elements”)
Camera Choices (speed of motion, shutter
speed), Lens Types (e.g., telephoto, wide angle),
Lens Settings (focus, aperture, depth of field,
etc.), Exposure issues.
COMPOSITION OF THE FRAME
Camera Angles
High angle
Psycho (Hitchcock)
COMPOSITION OF THE FRAME
Camera Angles
Straight angle; Straight on
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
COMPOSITION OF THE FRAME
Camera Angles
Low angle
COMPOSITION OF THE FRAME
Canted framing (a.k.a. Dutch angle)
Man with a Movie Camera (Vertov) –
one of the first films to use Canted angles
• Canted framing
– Camera not
level / not
horizontal
– Often
suggests
tension,
trouble,
distress, etc.
Did you know?
• The term “Dutch angle” originates from the
term “Deutsch” which means German.
German expressionism used canted angled in
many films to denote madness and
uneasiness.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919)
Dir. Robert Wiene
Framing can become a director’s
signature
• There are other examples of framing, which
include using the natural framing occurring in
objects.
Tarantino’s
low angle
trunk shot.
CAMERA DISTANCE
Camera/Shot Distance or “Type of Shot”
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
extreme long (ELS)
long (LS)
medium long shot (MLS)
medium (MS)
medium close-up (MCU)
close-up (CU)
extreme close-up (ECU)
Extreme long shot (ELS)
Long shot (LS)
Medium long shot
(knees or shins to head; a.k.a. American shot or knee
shot)
Medium shot (MS)
Modern Times (Chaplin)
Nosferatu (F.W. Murnau)
Medium close-up (MCU)
Close-up (CU)
Extreme close-up (ECU)
Other "shots" that aren’t named for
their shot distance:
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Establishing shot
Master shot
Two and three shot
Reverse shot or reverse-angle shot
Point-of-view (POV) shot (a.k.a. subjective shot)
COMPOSITION OF THE FRAME: Aspect Ratios
(ratio of width to height)
Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, 1939
1.33:1 (4 to 3) actually 1.37:1
Aliens, James Cameron, 1986
1.85:1
Rebel Without A Cause, Nicholas Ray, 1955
2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
Framing: aspect ratios
• Academy ratio = 1.37:1, but often said to be 1.33:1
• Note how framing affects balance, visual
information, & relationship of on- & off-screen space
2.2 to 1
Pan & Scan; 1.33 to 1
Aspect Ratios (when shooting digital)
– A. 4:3 - composition well
suited for a close-up
– B. 16:9 - loss of focus - i.e.,
frame includes “extraneous”
information
– C. 16:9 - letter boxed - face is
smaller
– D. 16:9 - to command attention
- i.e., fill-up the frame - face is
cropped
Mobile Framing
1. Actual Movements of Camera
2. Zooms, where Camera doesn’t move, but
the frame changes as the lens focal length
is changed: Zoom In or Zoom Out.
(Magnifies)
3. Computer-generated shots: for ex: “flybys,” “rotations.” Computers, like
traditional animation, can potentially
generate any movement.
Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Pans = rotates horizontally, side to side
(“camera rotates on vertical axis”)
• Tilts = vertical pivot/rotation, up and down
• In pans & tilts, camera does not change
position, it pivots or rotates. Usually
tripod mounted.
• Dolly/tracking/traveling shots
• Crane (and “boom” or jib) shots
• Hand-held and steadycam shots
Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Dolly, Tracking, Traveling shots: all basically the same.
• Sometimes people use “tracking shot” to mean a
“following shot”
• But name “tracking shot” came from the “tracks” that
dollies moved on.
• So, dolly and tracking interchangeable terms.
• Traveling shot is generally reserved for more expansive
movements, taken from a vehicle.
• Dolly shots usually lead to LONG TAKES.
Dolly Shot, on Tracks
Dolly Shot
Jean Luc Godard’s Le Mepris (Contempt, 1963)
Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Crane and Boom/Jib shots:
• Boom/jib shots: Camera mounted on
counterweighted boom (similar to booms for
microphones); some booms can also telescope in or
out. Can use for combinations of pans & tilts,
horizontal (tracking), vertical or diagonal moves.
• Crane shots: Shots look the same as boom shot, but
often motorized or with hydraulics for movement.
Usually cranes have seat for operator, wheels. Some
can be driven.
• Motion-control techniques: computer programs to
direct elaborate camera movements.
Opening: Welles' Touch of Evil 1958
Opening: Robert Altman’s The Player
(1992)
Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Hand-held and Steadicam Shots:
• Hand-held & Steadicam shots can pan or tilt or
track.
• Hand-held movement is obviously “unsteady”-which is how we know it’s a hand-held shot.
• Steadicam: a patented device wh/ dampens
unsteadiness, producing a relatively smooth
movement, even when walking or running.
Operators must be trained to use.
• Steadicam first used in Rocky (1976).
Early prominent use in Kubrick’s The Shining (1980).
Tracking Shot –
Children of Men (2006)
Alfonso Cuaron; Steadicam example
Mobile Framing
• When viewing a film, mobile framing can be hard to
spot, because we often follow what is being
photographed, rather than how.
• And often, multiple combinations of camera
movements:
• Ex: Tracking shots often include some panning.
• And combinations of camera movements can
become quite complicated, as in some Crane Shots.
• Also, can combine camera movements with zooms.
Mobile Framing
Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958
Dolly Zoom
Mobile Framing
• Famous shot from Jaws (1975), which uses both forward tracking
and a zoom out.
• Reverse of Hitchcock’s Vertigo shot, which zoomed in while
tracking out. Both forms are often called “dolly zoom” shots.
Tracking Vs. Zooming
– Left:
• move the camera (track in)
• short focal length lens
• Note: Relation of back/foreground,
changed angles
• distortion at edges
– Right:
• Camera stationary
• Change of focal length (i.e., zoom in)
• Relation of back/foreground closer
(telephoto effect of flattening)
• No distortion at edges
• Zooming is unnatural to the human
eye
Emotional Framing
• Like the Dutch angle, using mobile framing can
denote a particular psychological effect.
• In Vertigo, the motion represents a sudden
rush of adrenalin much like what you feel
when you’re bungee jumping.
• These types of framing are cinematic
depictions of a highly psychological feelings.
Cinematography and
Perspective
M (1931; Fritz Lang)
Black Swan (2010; D. Aronofsky)
Who is the audience looking at, and from who’s perspective?
What perspective does the camera put the audience in?
Subjective shot
(or point-of-view shot)
• Subjective Shot/Camera: from the position/point of
view of a character--as if seeing through character eyes.
Also called POV shot. Cinema equivalent of “First
Person” in writing.
• Some people make distinction between subjective
shots & POV shots: use “POV shots” to include “overthe-shoulder” shots--which give a sense of POV without
actually being from the position of the character.
• But easier & better: treat POV and Subjective as the
same; over-the-shoulder as different.
Subjective shot
(or point-of-view shot)
• Subjectivity/POV is crucial to Classical Hollywood
style: shot/reverse shots & eyeline matching are
based on the idea of seeing from character’s
POV.
• But, shot/reverse shot shows both "subjective"
and "objective" views: Hollywood (most
cinema) mixes both together.
• What happens if subjectivity is taken to
extreme? If we see only subjective shots?
How many camera techniques can you find?
John Carpenter’s Halloween trailer (1978)