Film Techniques

Film techniques is the term used to describe the ways that meaning

is created in film.

By Katie, Hamza, Eman, Lucy

Types of ShotA camera shot is the amount of space that is seen in one shot or frame. They are used to demonstrate different aspects of a film's setting, characters and themes. As a result, camera shots are very important in shaping meaning in a film.• An extreme long shot contains a large amount of landscape. It is often used

at the beginning of a scene or a film to establish general location (setting). It’s also known as an establishing shot.

• A long shot contains landscape but gives the viewer a more specific idea of setting. It may show the viewers the building where the action will take place, for example.

• A full shot contains a complete view of the characters. From this shot, viewers can take in the costumes of characters and may also help to demonstrate the relationships between characters.

• A mid shot contains characters from the waist up. From this shot, viewers can see the characters' faces more clearly as well as their interaction with other characters. This is also known as a social shot.

• A close-up contains just one character's face. This enables viewers to understand the actor's emotions and also allows them to feel empathy for the character. This is also known as a personal shot.

• An extreme close-up contains one part of a character's face or other object. This type of shot creates an intense mood and provides interaction between the audience and the viewer. It’s often used in horror films.

Extreme long shot

Long shot

Full shot

Mid shot

Close-up

Extreme close-up

Camera MovementThere are a variety of different ways in which the camera can move during film. Many camera moves use a combination of these techniques:Dolly – the camera is mounted onto a cart which travels along tracks in order to keep movement smooth. It’s known as a tracking/trucking shot. Dolly zoom - the camera moves closer or further from the subject while simultaneously adjusting the zoom angle to keep the subject the same size in the frame.Follow – the camera physically follows the subject at (more or less) a constant distance.Handheld Shooting - sometimes the action is moving too quickly or too unpredictably for the camera to be on a tripod and this calls for making the camera more mobile and able to follow the action of a scene. Most times the camera will simply be held by the operator, who will then employ a number of basic camera moves by moving the feet - trucking in and out, dollying in one direction or another, tilting, panning, zooming - and combinations of all of these.Jib - A crane can be used to lift a camera (and operator, if it's big enough) from low to high shooting positions, allowing high and low shots to be taken without movement, but also shots moving from high to low angle, or visa versa, to be taken too. Less expensive jibs can support the weight of a camera and lift it several feet off of the ground. Pan – a horizontal movement during which the camera moves left and right. Pedestal - moving the camera position vertically in relation to the subject.Track - roughly synonymous with the dolly shot, but often defined more specifically as movement which stays a constant distance from the action, especially side-to-side movement.Zoom – although technically not a camera move, it’s a change in the lens focal length which gives the illusion of moving the camera closer or further away.

Managing TimeWhen producing a film, it’s important to manage your time because time is money in the film industry! It’s also important not to miss deadlines, otherwise the film will take longer to create and keep distributors and the audience waiting, and this will also cost the film company more in hiring any equipment and locations and paying the crew for a longer period of time than expected. Because of this, our group is going to plan our time before we start filming for our short, but mainly so that we don’t miss our deadlines because our short film will be low budget. This will be useful for us and will also ensure that we don’t miss out filming any scenes, otherwise our short won’t make sense. Moreover, planning our time will help us with continuity because we will be able to film scenes that go together at the same time. For example, we will try to film all of the scenes on the moorland at the same time so that the natural lighting and setting is the same. Failing this, we will plan to film on the moorland at the same time on days very close together to try and recreate the same lighting and setting, and then use editing techniques to blend them together.

LocationsWhen choosing locations, it’s important to make sure that they convey the right message because they will be a main part of the mise en scene. Therefore, as we have been choosing the locations for our film, we have been considering everything that will come across in the scene before deciding if they’re right or wrong for us to use in our film. One of the locations that we have considered the most is David and Eve’s house, as the furniture, decoration and overall feel of the house will reflect both of their personalities.

Actors and ActressesActors and actresses are one of the main focuses of a film, so it’s important to hire the right ones. To make sure our group does hire the right ones, we are producing character profiles for each of our characters and matching appearances of potential actors and actresses to them, and we are also allowing our potential actors and actresses to read them to allow them to get into character. Once they are in character, we are going to conduct a screen test, where they all get to read a few lines from the script in front of the camera to see how well they portray our characters and how comfortable they are in front of the camera, with an audience.