LANGUAGE OF THE CAMERA

Have you ever wondered what ingredients go into making

the movie experience so enjoyable & satisfying? Well, to
be honest there are many: story structure, plot, Music
score etc. But the ingredient that goes into making a film
interesting are the visuals of the movies. Visuals not only
have the energy compel audience’s instant attention, but
they also create an emotional impact and sustain this
impact throughout the movie.

This brings us to the art of cinematography.

Cinematography is a deep art with infinite possibilities
which is you ever master. Will take years of experience
and at most diligence and you may still not call yourself
mestaero.

But definitely there are some basic conventions which

have emerged as the Art & Craft of filmmaking has
evolved over the past century.
In this film, we will discuss the basic conventions of
cinematography for you.

Let us first start with the basic product of

cinematography.

A SHOT: a shot is the basic building block – the smallest

unit that constructs the narrative structure of the film.
Although, technical a shot is created by the camera but
derives its meaning from many other factors like
LIGHTING, SETS and more important the art of
CAMERA PLACEMENT . Therefore, let us begin to
understand the fundamental concepts of the art of
camera placement.
Camera is always placed in a specific position, at a
specific height and orientation in relation to its subject
i.e. at a specific camera angle. Film Directors often shoot
their characters and situations using different angles in
order to convey different meanings at different times. If
the angle is slight, it creates a subtle emotional impact
and if the angle is extreme it represents a major meaning
of the image. To put it simply - a specific camera angle
conveys a specific meaning.

BYTE: Prof. B. DIWAKER’S (AJK-MCRC)

“If you look at right from the day we are born, we are
able to turn our head to the left and we are able to
turned our head to the right & why do we turn head to
the left & why do we turn head to the right, its basically
because there is a certain limitation is our angle of view
we are not able to see beyond certain fix angle & that is
varies from individual to individual & because of these
limitations, if we have to look at the vehicle coming on
the left . We have to turn our head to the left. If i hear
voice on the right hand side, its human nature to turn my
head to the right. And similarly so, the camera is just
doing the function of the human being.”

LANGUAGE OF THE CAMERA #02

As a director you have many camera angle at your

disposal that can shape the look and feel of the film but
conventionally speaking there are five camera angle use
to shoot scene in a film they are:
Bird’s eye view
High angle
Low angle
Eye level and the
Oblique angle or Dutch Angle

Let us discuss the each angle one by one

Bird’s eye view

In birds eye view camera is poisoned directly above the
subject photographing the subject directly from over
head the subject this view of the camera perhaps the
most disorienting of all angles as we seldom view even
this perspective that’s why filmmaker tend to avoid this
camera setups how ever this setups can be use very
effectively at times.
Low angle
A low angle is the one in which the camera is placed
below the subject angled upwards it make the character
environment look intimidating and all powerful for
example: in TROY Bredpit was photograph in a low angle
introductory shot to bring out his omnipotence. The low
angle shot can also give the distorted perspective
background which producing the sense of foreboding a
good example which can be seen in Alford Hitchcock
VERTIGO where james stivert is filmed low angle making
the stipple and the trees in the background appear
omenace.

High angle
In the high angle camera is placed above the subject
looking down it tense to diminish subject making it look
insignificant.
Eye level
Eye level is the most common angle seen in movies in
these shot the camera is placed at the eye level or
roughly near the eye level of the character they put the
viewer on equal footing with subject being filmed. These
shots are not dramatic but neutral in nature. Moreover
they are extremely effective in the development in the
film story. The famous Japanese master O’zoo used only
eye level on his film he believe the uses of any other
angle may amply value judgment by the director against
its character.

Oblique angle
Oblique angle or the Dutch Angle is a shot in which a
camera tilted latterly on the tripod it is generally used to
give an overwhelming sense of the world being
unbalanced it may also suggest a sense of forkedness or
in some cases a sense of playfulness.

Byte: Dr. Syam Benegal (film maker)

Your shots and your sequences they are the vocabulary

of your film in a cinematic vocabulary consist of shots
and sequences know there is like say for instance
semyonology like say for instance if you have abstract in
language you have words you have alphabets and words
now alphabets put together make for words like C A T it
becomes cat but C has no connection with cat; A has no
connection with cat, and T has no connection with cat but
you put them together it becomes CAT. They are abstract
sound comes together and form a meaningful definition
or description correct. Now when it comes the cinema
each image is actually concrete it has a meaning by itself
because it has a recognizable meaning by itself.
Therefore the semyonology of film is different from the
semyonology of language, so you have if you have an
image of something and how it works in combination with
other images making for a larger meaning you know
making for a larger meaning that is how you use cinema
to tell story or create a narrative but when you doing that
you will find that you can do many kind of different
things. You can use; you can use like Eisenstein you use
montage as a concept to tell to use a narrative, you can
use other kind of technique also and use the grammar
you know different kind of grammar in order create a
narrative.

LANGUAGE OF THE CAMERA #03

Camera movement is a very integral part of camera

language apart from providing dynamic energy to a shot
camera movement to employed as a very critical story
telling device they can alter the audiences perception of
screen time, screen space and screen speed more over
they reveal conceal information on screen follow
character etc. camera movement can be broadly divided
into two categories:
1. In which the camera tripod fixed & stationary e.g.
Pan
Tilt
Zoom &
2. In which the camera setup is moving e.g.
Dolly
Track
Crane etc.
Pan & Tilt

Pan & Tilt are the camera movement on the tripod a pan
is a shot in which a camera turned left or right
horizontally on the stationary tripod. The pan is very
commonly used to reveal new element to the frame.
Elements which may have been concealed from the
audience it is also very commonly used to show locations
and follow characters. Tilt is very similar to Pan except its
movements upward or downwards vertically on the
stationary tripod. Although pan and tilt are very
commonly used in films its unnecessary uses may cause
problem as it does not make the duplicate of the human
eye. Very small pan and tilt are use to keep a subject in
the desired part of the frame when a character or
characters are moving within a frame. This is known as
reframing as this camera movement isn’t synch with the
character it is almost unnoticeable.

Zoom
During the zoom movement a camera does not move
atoll zoom is the movement of the camera lens in this
movement camera lens simply enlarges or reduces the
proportion of the frame that is being shot. Zoom is a very
useful device of the camera language when effectively
used it enhances the affectivity of the same. A good
zoom focuses the audience’s attention to a specific detail
in a shot or to show emotions to a character’s face or
eyes.

LANGUAGE OF THE CAMERA #04

Camera movement with a camera setup moving
Dolly
Tracking
Handheld
Steady cam

Apart from these camera movements, there are certain

specialized devices which are used to assist and inhance
these camera movements. These devices move and thus
the camera moves with them. Since the camera mounted
on these devices.

DOLLY
A dolly is the vehicle with a camera mounting device on
it. Apart from camera mounting device well designed
dollies have seats for the camera operator and an
assistant. Typically, dolly movement is a movement in
which the wheel device with the camera mounted on it,
moves towards or away from the object. It is one of the
most dynamic camera movements that dramatically alter
the space between the audience and the subject. The
camera moving in is called a push in and is common used
to attract attention to a specific detail in the scene or
emplify the characters emotions. Its opposite movement
is called push out in which the camera is moved out.
Push out gives the audiences a feel of wider and bigger
space. Dollies move on specially designed tracks to
eliminate the camera shake of uneven surfaces. Its track
can either be circular or straight.

TRACKING
In a tracking shot the wheel device moves along with, in
front of or behind a moving subject in the scene. In this
movement the character’s position within the frame
remains roughly the same, what changes is the back
ground. Several good examples of this movement can be
seen in Buster Keaton’s THE GENERAL.

CRANE
Camera cranes have a single moveable arm fixed on a
moving vehicle. The camera is mounted on this moveable
arm. The crane can accomplish almost the same thing as
the dolly except that wheel the dolly can move only
horizontally the crane can move both horizontally and
vertically. Crane shots frequently used to give a wide and
clear perspective of the location and creates a dynamic
movement. There are many examples of cranes shots but
a good example would be Hitchcock’s ‘NOTORIOUS’. The
scene starts with a wide shot of a party in a grand hall
below the balcony. The camera is placed in the balcony.
Suddenly the camera cranes down to an extreme closeup
of Ingrid Bergman’s hand holding a key. The technical
mastery with which this shot has been executed is breath
taking as the position of the key has to be coordinated to
be just in the right place in the final composition.

HAND HELD CAMERA

In the hand held shot the camera is carried by the
operator often creating an uneven movement while
filming. Simply the shot lacks the smoothness. Hand
held cameras give the viewers a sense of being a
participant the action and the audience feels completely
part of the situation. This also land a sense of urgency or
cious to the action. Although this kind of camera is very
commonly used in documentaries and experimental films.
The hand held camera has become common in feature
films since the 1960’s. A common visual metaphor that is
shaking or a trumbling effect in horror films is often
created by the hand held camera.

STEADY CAM
The study cam eliminate the shakiness of the hand held
camera while preserving its freedom of movement. One
of the first uses of the steady cam was in John
Shlisengers’s
AMERICAN MAN. In a scene Dustin Hoffman is chased on
foot throughout New York’s central park. He runs up and
down the stairs and the camera follows it every where he
goes. This gives the audience a feeling that they are
involved in the situation and thus lands a feeling of
authenticity to the entire sequence.
Cinematography has in finite possibility. It can stimulate
fear. It can stimulate joy. It can make you love. It can
make you cry. It is a universe in itself. The audience sees
the story through the cam. Although camera angle may
sound like a very simple idea but the affects are
dramatic. Our director can achieve wonders with his
camera and camera angle.