Category: Research

The second component in this is Sound, one of the most main component is Sound. Although film is sometimes thought of as a purely visual art-form it also relies heavily upon audio.

Even in the days of silent film, movies were usually screened with live performances from musicians who would play in time with the action on screen.With the invention of sound, film-makers in the late 1920’s were suddenly able to add a new dimension to their stories.

Actors could be heard to speak, actions could be highlighted with the use of vivid sound effects, and music could be used to give extra emotional life to films.It is now impossible to analyse cinema or to make films without understanding how film-makers use sound.

Different types of film sound include:

Diegetic Sound

The word ‘diegetic’ means to come from the world of a story.

It is sound which the characters on screen can hear and can include sound effects, the sounds made by movements and actions of characters, background noise and spoken dialogue.

Non-diegetic sound

Non-diegetic sound is any sound which does not come directly from the world of the story onscreen.

Traditional film music and voice-over narration are typical examples of non-diegetic sound. The characters in the film are unaware of these sounds, because they don’t exist in their world.

Music and musical scores

Music plays an important role in cinema. It can make action scenes feel more exciting, happy scenes more joyful and frightening scenes more suspenseful. Film scores are non-diegetic and cannot be heard by the characters on screen.

Sometimes, however, films will feature diegetic music. If a character is listening to music playing on a radio or if characters are singing or playing a musical instrument, then that music is diegetic.

Sound effects

A sound effect is any sound, other than speech or music, which has been recorded specifically for the film.Sound effects are usually tied to specific actions on-screen and recorded during post-production to enhance a scene.

A director might, for example, ask their sound designer to record high impact punching sounds to make a fist fight feel more exciting.

Some examples and thorough explanation is done in the following videos about how some of these sound effects are made.

How The Sound Effects In ‘A Quiet Place’ Were Made | Movie Insider by
Insider

How Animal Sounds Are Made For Movies And TV | Movies Insider by Insider

Dialogue

The term dialogue simply means the words that are spoken by the characters on screen. The amount of dialogue in any given film can vary. An action film may have very little spoken dialogue but a character based drama may have a lot.

For film-makers it is important that dialogue is always well recorded and clearly audible.It’s also important to never used dialogue if the story information being discussed can be shown visually.

How Character and Story are Hidden in Dialogue by James Hayes

Foley sound

Foley is the word used to describe replacement sounds recorded in post-production. Foley artists can also enhance or replace an original sound – if a character’s footsteps were not loud enough they might record the sound of their own footsteps and have that audio inserted into the film instead.

The Magic of Making Sound by Great Big Story

Sound bridge

A sound bridge is a technique in which the sound from a previous scene carries over into the opening of the next one.

In a horror movie, if one scene ended with a character screaming, the director might use a sound bridge to have that scream extend into the opening of the next scene.

A sound bridge can also be used to have audio from the next scene begin before the film-maker has cut to it.

Wild track

The term ‘wild track’ refers to sound that is recorded during a film shoot, but separately from the main production audio and without any accompanying film footage being shot.

Examples of wild track might include:

• recording a loud scream which might be heard off-screen during a scene
• re-recording sections of dialogue which may not have been recorded clearly during the day’s filming

The most common use of wild track is to capture ‘room noise’ or ‘atmos’ which is short for atmosphere.

Atmos is the background noise which can still be heard in a room or location even when no-one is speaking.

Recording a minute or more of this noise allows film-makers to edit audio more effectively by using that background track to cover gaps which might otherwise be noticeable.

One of the integral parts of every film is camera work, without which no film can be made. To make a film you need to shoot its scene and well, you cannot do it without a camera of any sort. However, shooting a scene/s is not so simple, you need to thoroughly think the camera angles, camera movements and shot types and maybe later on change them if the ones you thought of don’t give the desired impact.

Camera movement, angles and shot types can greatly influence every frame and even completely change the tone and sometimes even the meaning of the scene. Therefore, it is very important to know about the different shot types, camera movements and the impact that different angles create. Since I have got to make a film opening, it is necessary for me to be aware of them.

The different Shot Types:

The Distance Shots:  These shots are divided according to the distance between the camera and the character/s or object/s of focus in the frame. Usually the mid-shots and close-ups are utilized for the purpose of showing character driven scenes whereas, the long-shots and wide-shots are used to convey more about the action and themes.

The distance shots are;

• Close-ups: This shot shows the character or object up close, usually in the case of a character, only the head or head and shoulders fit in the frame. This is used to put more focus on the expression or reaction of the character and the details of the object, in case the close-up is of an object. They reveal the character’s feelings and thoughts and are used to reveal the truth about the character.
• Extreme Close-up: This is when a specific body part or a specific part of an object is shown up close. It is used to give more significance to the body part or the detail/part of the object which is shown in the frame. It also increases the emphasis the audience puts on the part.
• Mid-shot: This is one of the most common shot types, and it, while focusing on the character or object, also gives background information. In case of a character, it is usually from the waist to the top of the head.
• Long-shot: This type of shot is from a distance and is mostly used as an establishing shot to set the scene in the film. In case the long shot is of a character, it includes the full body of the character.
• Wide-shot: This shot is usually captured with a wide angle lens and packs a lot of visual information into the scene for the audience to properly comprehend it and get a good idea of what’s going on.

The Movement Shots: In these shots, the camera moves and the movements can be of multiple different types. The camera can also be static, which means that it doesn’t actually move. Such shots are usually of a short duration but highly effective.

The different types of movement shots are:

• Zoom Shots: The camera stays static but gives the impression that it is moving either towards or away from the object/character in focus, this is done through either zooming in or zooming out. These shots can have several purposes and also, they can be kept very subtle or made very obvious as well.
• Pan Shot: In a pan shot, the camera moves horizontally while staying in one place; it is just like standing in a place and then turning your head from left to right.
• Tilt Shot: This is like a pan shot, the difference being that instead of a moving horizontally, the camera moves vertically. They are sometimes used to move between low and high angle shots.
• Tracking Shots: In a tracking shot, the entire camera moves and to keep the movement smooth, the camera is usually mounted on a dolly, earning them the title of dolly shots as well. There are different types of Dolly Shots;
  • Character Dolly: this is most often used to focus on one or more characters in a scene. It also has a secondary name, push-in. the shot begins with a full or sometimes mid-shot and the camera pushes forward. It can be sometimes pushed all the way to an extreme close-up as well, if the scene requires it. They increase the seriousness of the scene and highlight a character’s emotions and feelings as well. By keeping the pace of the movement high, comical impact can be delivered as well.
  • Pull-Back Reveal: This is the reversal of a Push-In or character dolly, in a pullback reveal, the camera is set in a close-up and the shot pulls back to reveal the surrounding and it is mostly used to show the enormity of the situation
  • Expand Dolly: In an expand dolly, the camera is following a character whose pace is faster than the pace of the camera. This gives the impression that the character is moving away and creates a sense of distance as the audience feels distanced from the character. It can be used to end a scene and can be reversed to introduce a character.
  • Contract Dolly: In a contract dolly, the camera moves forward, with the character simultaneously moving towards the camera. This increases the drama in even a simple effect due to the usage of two opposite actions.
• Crane Shots: In these shots, the camera is either mounted on a crane or a mechanical arm that is able to lift it above the ground. It is not necessary that they must be very high shots but have great flexibility for shots. They can be used dramatically to simulate flying or swooping through a scene.
• Canted Angle Shots: The camera is placed at a specific angle to record the action. It can be used as a point of view shot or to create interesting speed images
• Aerial Shot: They are used to give a bird’s eye view of the scene, the sensation of flying or to create extreme long-distance establishing shots. They are usually shot through a helicopter or plane.
• Handheld Shots: In these shots, instead of being on a stable surface, the camera is held by a person. Such shots are used to create a bumpy look and were made popular by films like ‘the Blair Witch Project’. They are mostly used to give a sense of reality and for point of view shots.

Moving on to the different Angle Shots, they are;

• Eye Level Angle or Straight on Angle: Such shots create a real life effect. The camera is on the same level as the subject and this brings the audience on the same level as the subject as well, involving them in the action.
• High-Angle Shots: These shots are used to make someone look weak, inferior or intimidated. This is done by keeping the camera above the head and making them look upwards to look at the camera
• Low-Angle Shots: These are the opposite of the High-Angle shots, both literally and figuratively. They are used to make someone look powerful, superior and intimidating to the audience. This is done by placing the camera below their head level and making them look down on the camera.

Some shots serve a specific purpose and can be attained by different shot types; therefore, they are described by the purpose they serve instead of the type of shot. They are;

• Point of View Shot: This shot is a first person shot and is what the character would be seeing in the scene or frame. It can be any kind of shot and it puts the audience into the mind of the character and the camera usually moves according to the movement of the character’s head.
• Over The Shoulder Shot: This shot is used for the purpose of filming conversations. The camera films from over the should of one person and it films what the other person is saying to him. It is usually combined with a reverse angle shot to show what the person whose shoulder we saw replied.
• Two Shot: This is the shot of two people talking to each other and it shows the relation between them. It can be used to show the dialogues with Over the Shoulder Shots and/or close-ups.

These are the main camera angles, shot types and camera movements which one should know if he plans to make a film, or in my case, a film opening.

Some important facts to know about the shots in a film or TV Show is that each shot has a specific reason for being chosen and each shot has a certain effect on the audience. The effect of the shot can be about understanding the theme, characters or the story. The effect can be discovered and analyzed for its role to the audience’s understanding of the the scene and of the idea of the film as a whole.

In A1, we get to choose what project are we going to work on the whole year. We get two choices to choose from, a magazine cover or a film opening. I, as stated previously, chose film opening.

The main question is, what is a film opening?

It is a way which the film production gives credits to cast and the crew while utilising sounds and visuals. It introduces us to the main story and characters and the upcoming confilict.

Why?

Film opening, unlike magazine cover, establishes and introduces the whole mode and the setup of our story. Albeit, the cover does the same job, but film opening gave me a wider variety and a better way to convey my message. The moving images and characters infatuates me more than a still photograph and hence, I also wanted to do the same.

Now to the most important question, What is the Importance of the Film Opening in a movie?

The film opening establishes the tone and the mode of the whole film. It is the part of the film which has the most pressue to captivate the audience. The chance to introduce myself via my cinemetography and my means of communication. It also introduces the characters and It gives a chance to touch upon important themes and elements, and apply certain techniques, such as foreshadowing and juxtaposition.

This is mainly why I chose Film Opening as my project for this year.

Some examples :

Codes :

Codes generally means signs and symbols in a film which creates meaning. These codes can be divided into two main parts. Technical and Symbolic.

Technical Code means how an equipment or a gadget is used in a film to convey a message. For example, the camera work in a film. Symbolic codes show what is beneath the surface of what we see. For example, a character’s actions show you how the character is feeling.

Some codes fit both categories – music for example, is both technical and symbolic.

Conventions :

Convections are the ways the media is generally accepted. There are general conventions in any medium, such as the use of interviewee quotes in a print article, but conventions are also genre specific.

Both, Codes and Conventions are used together to decipher the meaning, because we cannot discuss the technical code, like using a camera, without explaining it’s use and convention symbolically.

For example, the technical code of lighting is used in some way in all film genres. It is a convention of the horror genre that side and back lighting is used to create mystery and suspense – an integral part of any horror movie.

The conventions of a genre are the elements that commonly occur in such films. They may include things like characters, situations, settings, props, themes and events. For example, a convention of the science-fiction genre is that the story often includes robots, aliens, time-travel or genetic manipulation.

The difference between Codes and Conventions:

The difference between codes and conventions, is that codes might be individual to the media text you are analysing for example, a film might use high angle shot to show vulnerability whereas in a music video it may be complete irrelevant . On the other hand, conventions are something they all share within a genre.

Why are Codes and Conventions important:

At a more critical level, knowledge of codes and conventions invites prediction, sets up expectations and allows ways of navigating complex texts. The patterns provided by codes and conventions in a text are cues for our understanding.

To study Media Studies, it is important to first understand the meaning of Media. From the Language of Media to the Institution, for this I referred mainly to this YouTube video

The Media Insider

The first post of the blog should be learning about the history and evolution of media. For this I relayed mainly on different youtube videos.

The Evolution of Traditional to New Media by Jo Marchianne Pigar

A Brief History of Media – Dan Gillmor by O’Reilly

These two videos are the ones which summed up the evalution and histroy in an understandable manner, and got me the idea of how media helped the way indivuals communicate thorugh different means of media.