Research into Cinematography - Miss Miller

Cinematography

Cinematography is the variety of camera angles used in a film. The camera angles are used to either show the background or the facial expressions and body language of a character and manipulate the audience to relate to that person. 

Camera Angle Terminology

Low Angle - Camera is positioned below the object, making it look bigger

High Angle - Camera is positioned above the object, making it look smaller

Canted Angle - Camera is tilted to suggest instability and imbalance

Eye Level - Camera is positioned at eye level with the audience to make them feel more engaged with the scene

Camera movement Terminology

Crane - Camera is mounted on a crane to move around above ground level, can also move up and down

Panning - Camera moves from side to side to follow a moving object

Zooming in - Camera moves in to an object to create importance and draw the audience in to a closer relationship with the subject

Zooming out - Camera moves away to create an emotional distance

Handheld - This is used to create jerky and on steady images to produce a sense of urgency or chaos

Point of View - used to create the audience the same image as a character within the film

Steadicam - Camera remains level and steady as it moves around.

Camera Positions Terminology

Close up - Shows a smaller part of the scene to emphasise on something ( characters face and neck, filling the shot) 

Extreme Close up - an image fills the screen so that no background is seen

Mid Shot - Camera frames the actor from waist up

Long shot - Shows all of a larger object (eg Actor and a large amount of background)

Shallow shot - used to show main subject in film focus whilst the rest of the shot is out of focus/blurry

Deep focus - The depth this the audience can see the foreground, middleground and also the background all in one scene. the purpose of this is to show the audience the mis-en-scene of the film and also the different representation of characters.

Extreme Long shot - Camera is positioned at a further distance to minimize the importance of the subject and increase the importance of the background. 

The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)

This is the scene from a classic Stephen King thriller 'The Shining' 1980 directed by Stanley Kubrick. I chose this scene to look at the cinematography because it has a large variety of shot types and uses them for different effects. It also uses editing as a way of creating drama. 

• Tracking shot - The director uses a tracking shot to make it seem as if you are on the back of the boys bike and you see what he sees only when he sees it. This is conventional to a thriller genre because then the film starts to feel more realistic (see Tracking Shots). This is to make the audience feel as shocked as the boy and experience what he is feeling as he is feeling it. It also helps to create tension as he cycles around the corners, as we (the audience) do not know what he is going to see until he see's it.
• POV 
• Close up - 
• Mid Shot
• ELS
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