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During the lecture, we discussed several parts that make up a shot. Here are seven different technical ways of thinking about shots that you might find helpful.

In addition to this page, the wiki entry on cinematic techniques is quite useful. While this site is not as helpful, this one is a classic, and you'll it's really good description of shot size below. Several of the examples are used from this site, as well.

Mise en scène

The term mise en scene is one set of items to look at, though there is much debate about what this set might constitute. Some might even argue that the other sections here are part of the mise en scene. The wikipedia defines it thusly:

"The term stems from the theater where, in French, mise en scène means literally "putting into the scene" or "setting in scene." When applied to the cinema, then, mise en scène refers to everything that appears before the camera and its arrangement – sets, props, actors, costumes, and lighting. Mise en scène also includes the positioning and movement of actors on the set, which is called blocking." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_scène).

That definition seems to be a useful starting point, and the wikipage has some additional useful information.

Duration

A shot's "duration" is how long it lasts. This is a pretty straight forward way of thinking about shots-- every shot, being a continuous set of still images, has a duration to it. After the advent of sound technology, this duration is even standardized according to how many frames can be show each second. In isolation, it is difficult to assign meanings to duration, but once we begin to notice that a scene's pacing is dependant on how fast it switches between images, we can start to argue about assigning meanings to the duration. An example form our class would be the extremely long shot from "Triumph of the Will" that Leni Reifenstahl uses to depict the massive size of the crowd attending the Hitler Youth rally, in which the camera rolls slowly past the crowd seated in the stands of the stadium.

Angle

"Angle" refers to the angle between the camera and its subject. Basically, there are four angles we generally think about: Bird's eye, high angle, eye-level, and low angle.

If the camera is higher than its subject and looks down on that subject, we have a high angle:

If the camera's lens is lower than the subject and looks up at the subject, then we have a low angle:

Most commonly, if the camera is about even with it's subject, then we have an eye-level shot :

Finally, if the camera is placed far above the subject, then we have a bird's eye view of the subject:

Distance/Size

Well, there are a number of ways of describing how a shot frames it's subject. Here is a good reference of terms taken from another site:

The abbreviations are as follows:

• XLS - Extreme Long Shot
• LS - Long Shot
• MLS - Medium Long Shot
• MS - Medium Shot
• MCU - Medium Close-up
• CU - Close-up
• BCU - Big Close-up
• XCU - Extreme Close-up / Detail

Motion

Often, the camera does not stay still for the duration of the shot. There are a number of ways of describing this motion. Unfortunately it is difficult to describe them without examples, but these terms are trivial to define.

A "pan" generally refers to lateral, side to side movement of the camera in relation to the camera's position. You have probably seen this effect if you have stood in one spot while turning a camera.

A "dolly shot" is a different kind of side to side motion, where the camera moves along a path rather than around a point in space (though certainly these motions often are used together). A dolly is some kind of mechanical platform used for moving the camera on the horozontal plane-- in this example, it is the rolling cart the camera's tripod sits on:

"Tilt" refers to the up or down, vertical motion of the camera.

A "crane" or "jib-arm" shot refers to mechnaically moving the camera on a long arm such as the one shown below:

"Hand Held" refers to the unsteady camera motion that occurs when the camera is moved by hand. This is ususally an obvious (or at least deliberate) effect epitomized by its use in horror films such as Halloween, where the hand held camera represent's the killer's point of view.

Depth

There are a variety of ways of creating a seemingly deep image, just as there are ways of maintianng a seemingly flat image. Since film is generally composed of pictures projected on a flat surface, all depth is an illusion. So there are a myriad of techniques that make the screen appear to have depth. In this discussion it is sufficinet to note that filmmakers make chioces about shots that create depth. IN this example below, the attempt to create depth is done with theaterically oriented flat painting:

Other filmakers might create depth by placing object very far apart within the field of view, or by breaking the edges of the frame to signify the fact that space extends off screen behind the camera.

Focus

Due to the nature of the way a lens operates, it is possible to have part of the camera's field of view in focus while parts of the field of view are out of focus. Here is an example of that effect:

Notice how the people are in focus while the background is out of focus. There are several effects that can be achieved based on this fact. First, you can create pictures that select just a portion of the field of view, which forces the viewer to view a specific subject. Second, filmakers often manipulate the focus while the camer is running-- one obvious example is when a filmmaker has two people conversing and the shot-countershot ocnvention is replaced by pulling the focus between two subjects.