RESEARCH INTO CINEMATOGRAPHY
Cinematography is the art of camera placement and photography in a film, being managed by the cinematographer who is also known as the D.O.P (Director of Photography). The cinematographer has control over what the audience sees, or doesn't see, through how they light the scene and how they angle the camera. Being able to set a scene to create a certain mood to the audience is powerful in the use of cinematography as it can make mystery to the audience with the use of lighting and camera angles.
Rule of Thirds is a technique which is used by cinematographers to help frame the shot correctly and to present the audience with what they want the audience to see. It helps them to line up the scene and character in the frame. 'When we place our subject on a third of the frame, the remaining 2/3 of the frame balances our subject with context. When you have 2/3 of the frame to use, you can fill it with all sorts of beautiful visual aesthetics.' as stated by Cha, J. (2018), shows that the cinematographers are thinking about the amount of frame filled and what is in the empty space. One technique is to take up 2/3 of the frame to be able to see the background, as stated beforehand, which allows the audience to focus on the character but also being aware of their surrounding area and what is happening behind them.
Three point lighting is another technique used by cinematographers to highlight or darken certain areas of a scene, allowing the audience to focus on the character or object that they want the audience to pay attention to whilst also making the surrounding area fitting to the scenario. There are three main lights than can be used for three point lighting, the key light, fill light and back light, which all carry out separate jobs in the scene and illumination.
Key light, also known as the main light, is usually the strongest and has the most influence on the look of the scene because it is the brightest light. It is placed to one side of the camera/subject so that one side of the subject is well lit and the other side has some shadow. This gives it more natural looking lighting in the scene.
The Fill light is the secondary light which is placed on the opposite side of the key light. It is used to fill the shadows created by the key light. The fill is softer and lighter than the key light. To achieve this, you could move the light further away to decrease the size of the shadows projected onto the background and to make your shot much more clean.
The back light is placed behind the subject so it lights the subject up from behind. Rather than providing direct lighting, the purpose of the back light is to provide definition and highlights around the subject, making an outline around the subject. This helps separate the subject from the background and provide a three-dimensional look. A fourth light can be used placed diagonally to the key. This can make the background lighter and brighter, evicting any left over shadows on the background.Three point lighting is used as it illuminates the person in shot, making them stand out from the background and much clearer to the audience.
Cinematographers do use three point lighting but also have been shown to experiment with their lighting techniques to make the scene more memorable or to alter the atmosphere to the audience. Lighting is the illumination of the objects and characters in frame, being able to highlight or shadow characters to amplify their emotions or inner characteristics such as in ‘Batman: The Dark Knight’ where the lighting is used to make the Joker seem mysterious and unpredictable to the audience. Lighting can also set the mood for a movie, whether to bring tension or dramatic tendencies, an example of this being from ‘Blade Runner’ as the light shines through the wooden planks on the door, creating tension for the audience as the character tries to escape. By implementing different lighting techniques they are able to alter the audience's emotions towards the scene or what they are seeing in the frame.
Using the correct shots with the correct meaning is also a technique that cinematographers focus on to present the correct meaning and emotions to the audience. An eye level angle makes you feel comfortable and on the same level as the character on screen, setting a feeling that you should focus on this person and that you will understand them well, being able to focus on the character without feeling intimidated or out of place in the scenario.
There are specific angles that work to make the audience feel weaker, fearful or uncomfortable of the character on the screen. A low angle makes the audience look up to a character or object, making it more superior and powerful to the other characters, which normally used in super hero movies to make one character weaker than the other. High angle is aimed to make the audience higher than the character, making the character look vulnerable and weak in comparison. This angle is normally used in super hero movies to make one character weaker than the other and is classically known as the opposite to a low angle, giving off the opposite techniques to each other.
Extreme close ups focus on one part of the body or an object, such as an eye, to show emotion, detail and a level of importance and is classically used in western films. Extreme close ups are able to get a message across to the audience through the detail of focusing on one body part and allowing the audience to analyse it. Birds eye view is commonly used to establish the setting to get the audience to understand where the film or show is set, being the opposite to an extreme close up. This sets the scene to the audience and is most commonly used in action movies to establish to the audience where they are.
An extreme is used to set the scene or to show a group of characters in a situation. This is normally used in a battle sequence to show the setting and what all characters are doing, allowing the audience to understand what is happening in the scene. Long shots are normally used to show the whole body of a character as well as the surroundings of that character. This can be used to show the isolation of the character and give the character space to move in the shot. Medium shots show a character from the waist up, being used to make the audience more emotionally involved in an interaction between two characters or the situation happening around them. Another camera technique that follows similar principals for the audience is a close up which only focuses on a small part of the character. This engages the audience emotionally and is used to give emphasis on the character.
A pull focus is used to make the audience to focus on one subject to another and it can be used to priorities importance to two characters, blurring out the background whereas over the shoulder is used to show a conversation between two characters to the audience. It is used to make the character feel involved in the conversation and to pay attention to the conversation.
A dolly shot is used to follow a character or the action happening in the scene as this keeps the character involved in the scene, also being known as the tracking shot by many people.
Being able to set a scene to create a certain mood to the audience is powerful in the use of cinematography as it can make mystery to the audience with the use of lighting and camera angles and understanding this will help me exectuse the scenes that I want to be effective to the audeince.
References
Cha, J. (2018). Rule Of Thirds: Context and Balance | Cinematography Compositions. [online] SLR Lounge. Available at: https://www.slrlounge.com/rule-of-thirds-context-and-balance-cinematography-compositions/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
Mediacollege.com. (2018). Three Point Lighting. [online] Available at: https://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
Oma.on.ca. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.oma.on.ca/en/contestpages/resources/free-report-cinematography.pdf [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
StudioBinder. (2018). 30 Cinematography Techniques You Didn’t Learn in Film School. [online] Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/cinematography-techniques-no-film-school/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
Thecrimson.com. (2018). What is Cinematography? | Arts | The Harvard Crimson. [online] Available at: http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/2/8/what-is-cinematography/ [Accessed 10 Apr. 2018].
