Film Techniques – What a Director Paints With

Film techniques comprise all of the choices made by the director in the process of
achieving the vision he has for the film.

Technique Notes

Mis en scene Refers to everything in the frame. This includes:

● Location
● Props (an object that IS physically used by a
character)
● Set dressing ( an object that IS NOT physically used
by a character)
● Costume
● Hair and make-up
● Colour Palette - A limited number of specific colors
used or emphasised throughout the film to subtly
communicate various aspects of character and story
to the viewer.
● Action vehicle
● Weather

Cast Choices ● Movie Star (star factor), known actor, unknown

● What quality does the actor bring to the role? What is
the effect of this?

Acting Performances ● Naturalistic: ​The audience reads it as real.

● Theatrical: ​The audience reads it as fake - draws
attention to the fact the actors are acting, or that an
audience is there.
● The blocking of actors: ​Where the actors are
positioned and move in relation to each other and in
relation to the camera.
● Their body language:
 Lighting ● Flickering light - ​Anger
● Lights turned out - ​Fear
● Lights fill the space - ​Happiness
● Ugly grey light -​ Sadness
● Soft light - ​Romantic
● Low key lighting - Used to emphasise shadows, e.g
in horror films.
● Spotlight - ​Just like a real spotlight, this technique
focuses the attention on one part of the room at one
time.

Motifs and Symbols ● Motifs: ​Images, patterns, or ideas that are repeated
throughout the film and are variations or aspects of
the major theme.

● Symbol: ​A literal element (such as an object, name,

or gesture) in art, literature, and film that also stands
for an abstract idea.

Flashbacks and ● Flashbacks: ​An editing technique that suggests the

flashforwards interruption of the present by a shot or series of shots
representing the past.

● Flashforwards: ​A segment of film that breaks normal

chronological order by shifting directly to a future
time. Flash forward, like flashback, may be subjective
(showing precognition or fears of what might happen)
or objective (suggesting what will eventually happen
and thus setting up relationships for an audience to
perceive).

Animations ● Animations: ​a way of making a movie by using a

series of drawings, computer graphics, or
photographs of objects (such as puppets or models)
that are slightly different from one another and that
 when viewed quickly one after another create the
appearance of movement

Cinematography ● Frame: ​One image

● Film shot: ​Tells the story

Camera shots

● Long shot ​–​ A shot taken from a distance that allows

the whole subject and contextual information to fit in
the frame.

● Extreme Long Shot ​- A shot taken from an even

greater distance. When subjects are present in the
shot they are small.

● Wide Shot ​- A shot of a wider area than normal.

● Medium Shot​– Shows half body, and its immediate

surroundings

● Close Up Shot​ – A shot taken at close range without

including contextual information. Usually the head or
head and shoulders of a subject.

● Extreme Close Up​ – This shot is so close that only a

detail of the subject, such as someone's eyes, can be
seen. No contextual information is included in this
type of shot.
● Overhead Shot​ – Camera is directly above and
faces down on the scene.

● Point of View Shot​ – The camera becomes the

characters eyes.

● Handheld Shot ​- ​A handheld shot is one in which 

the cameraman or -woman holds the camera and 
moves through space while filming. 

● A tracking shot - ​ is one in which a camera is

mounted on some kind of conveyance (car, ship,
airplane, etc.) and films while moving through space.
Tracking refers to the practice in studio filmmaking of
filming from a wagon set on specially placed lengths
of railroad tracks.

● Crane shot - ​ Is achieved by a camera mounted on a

platform, which is connected to a mechanical arm
that can lift the platform up, bring it down, or move it
laterally across space.

● Pan Shot -​ ​A pan shot is achieved with a camera

mounted on a swivel head so that the camera body
can turn from a fixed position. The camera can move
left to right, right to left.

● Still Shot -​ A photograph taken with a still (versus 

motion) camera. 
 ● Split Screen -​ ​Split screen is the combination of two 
or more scenes films separately which appear in the 
same frame. 

Camera Angles
● High Angle​ – Camera looks down on subject to
​

make it appear small and/or insignificant.

● Low Angle​ – Camera looks up on subject to make it

​

appear larger and/or powerful.

● Eye Level Angle​ – Camera is at eye-level of the

​

subject to show them as they really are.

CAMERA MAY

Pan - moves across

Tilt - move up and down
Push in or pull out

Sound ● Dialogue: ​Dialogue is speech delivered by or

between characters.

● Non-Diegetic Sound: ​Non - diegetic sound is sound

whose origin is from outside the story world.
Voice-overs​ are typically non-diegetic, since the
narration does not appear in the film's story world.
Usually, the music soundtrack of a film is
non-diegetic.
● Diegetic sound: ​Diegetic can include everything
from the voices of characters to the sounds of objects
or music coming from a radio or an
instrument--anything that exists in the story world.

● Voice-Over: ​Voice-over is ​dialogue​, usually

narration, that comes from an unseen, offscreen
voice, character, or narrator. It is an example of
non-diegetic​ sound, which can be heard by the
audience but not by the film characters themselves.