Cinematography

Cinematography
• cinematography: "writing in movement”
• Digital Cinematography and Computer-Generated Imagery have
brought changes in Cinematography, which was traditionally
based on chemical/photographic images and effects.
• However: many terms and concepts in digital/computer-aided
cinematography are based on, and often replicate, those of
film-based cinematography.
• Learning about film-based cinematography is very helpful to
understanding digital/video cinematography.
• Commonly, Cinematography = Everything that has to do with
cameras and lenses, with film/film stock (and its digital
equivalents), exposure and processing of film/digital images.
 Cinematography vs. Mise-en-Scene
• Thus, cinematography can be contrasted to “mise-en-scene”
(staging), which refers to “what is filmed”; while
cinematography refers to “how it is filmed.” (see Bordwell &
Thompson)
• Question areas?
– Visual Special Effects? Often done in post-production (esp. digital
effects). So, is that Cinematography?
– Lighting? Effects exposure, lens setting, focus, etc., Usually under
control of Cinematographer (Director of Photography). But Lighting,
since it is part of “what is filmed,” could also be seen as part of a film’s
“mise-en-scene.”
• For simplicity’s sake, follow Bordwell & Thompson’s distinction
between what is filmed (mise-en-scene) and how it is filmed
(cinematography). I.e.: special effects: part of
cinematography; lighting: part of mise-en-scene.
 Elements of Cinematography
• (1) Composition or Framing and Mobile Framing
• Frame shape (aspect ratios), camera distance
(types of shots: e.g., CU, Medium Shot), angle,
level, height, & mobile framing (camera
movements and zooms), perspective, pov.
• (2) Camera, Lens, & Exposure Choices & Techniques
(what used to be called “photographic elements”)
• Camera Choices (speed of motion, shutter speed),
Lens Types (e.g., telephoto, wide angle), Lens
Settings (focus, aperture, depth of field, etc.),
Exposure issues.
 Framing: Aspect Ratios
ratio of width to height

Rules of the Game, Jean Renoir, 1939 Aliens, James Cameron, 1986
1.33:1 (4 to 3) actually 1.37:1 1.85:1

Rebel Without A Cause, Nicholas Ray, 1955

2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
 Framing: aspect ratios
• Academy ratio = 1.37:1, but often said to be 1.33:1
• Note how framing affects balance, visual
information,
• & relationship of on- & off-screen space

2.2 to 1 Pan & Scan; 1.33 to 1

 Video Transfers

• When Widescreen Films transferred to “full-screen” 4:3 frame (video or

television) see pp. 87-95 A&P on aspects ratios & transfers.
• The “controller”
– The person responsible for transferring a film to 4:3 video format
– Becomes ‘default editor’
– What stays within the frame, and what is cut
• Letterboxing
– blacked-out bands at the top and the bottom of a screen
– approximate the wider cinematic screen
• Can limit cinematographic possibilities when filmmaker has to “shoot for
the box” (See also: TV Cutoff, p. 331 A&P)
• Fortunately, newer 16:9 Monitors are much closer to widescreen aspect
ratios. 16:9 = 1.78 to 1.
 Widescreen vs. Pan and scan in
Blade Runner, Ridley Scott, 1982
 Aspect Ratios (when shooting digital)

– A. 4:3 - composition well

suited for a close-up
– B. 16:9 - loss of focus - i.e.,
frame includes “extraneous”
information
– C. 16:9 - letter boxed - face is
smaller
– D. 16:9 - to command attention
fig. 2-16 (A&P, 96)
- i.e., fill-up the frame - face is
cropped
 framing
Camera Angles
high angle
Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958)
 framing
Camera Angles
straight angle; straight on
Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)
 framing
Camera Angles
low angle
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
Tokyo Story (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
 framing
level of framing:
canted framing (a.k.a. Dutch angle)
Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale, 1935)
 Canted Framing

• Canted framing
– Camera not level / not
horizontal
– Often suggests
tension, trouble,
distress, etc.

Natural Born Killers,

Oliver Stone, 1994
 framing
Camera/Shot Distance or “Type of Shot”
Bordwell & Thompson Ascher & Pincus
1. extreme long (ELS)
2. long (LS) 1. long shot
3. medium long shot (MLS) 2. medium shot =
4. medium (MS) medium long
5. medium close-up (MCU)
6. close-up (CU) 1. close-up = med close-
7. extreme close-up (ECU) up
2. big close-up = CU
3. extreme close-up
extreme long shot (ELS)
The Conversation
 long shot (LS)
Bride of Frankenstein
 Medium long shot
(knees or shins to head; a.k.a. American shot or knee
shot) Ascher & Pincus call Medium Shot
 medium shot (MS)
The Big Heat (Fritz Lang, 1953)
medium close-up (MCU)
Touch of Evil
A & P call this a CU?
 close-up (CU)
Touch of Evil
(A & P: big close-up)
extreme close-up (ECU)
Dracula (Tod Browning, 1931)
 Other "shots" that aren’t named for
their shot distance:
• establishing shot
• master shot
• two shot
• reverse shot or reverse-angle shot
• point-of-view (POV) shot (a.k.a. subjective shot)
 Mobile Framing
1. Actual Movements of Camera
2. Zooms, where Camera doesn’t move, but the
frame changes as the lens focal length is
changed: Zoom In or Zoom Out. (Magnifies)
3. Laboratory and animated mobile framing.
4. Computer-generated shots: for ex: “fly-bys,”
“rotations.” Computers, like traditional
animation, can potentially generate any
movement.
 Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• pans = rotates horizontally, side to side (B & T
confusing: “camera rotates on vertical axis”)
• tilts = vertical pivot/rotation, up and down
• in pans & tilts, camera doesn’t change position,
it pivots or rotates. Usually tripod mounted.
• dolly/tracking/traveling shots
• crane (and “boom” or jib) shots
• hand-held and steadicam shots
 Camera Movement

• Tilt up
– Movement up or down -
vertical scan
• Pan right

Dial M for Murder,

Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
 Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Dolly, Tracking, Traveling shots: all basically the same.
• Sometimes people use “tracking shot” to mean a
“following shot” (one that follows an actor or action),
wh/ may be taken from a dolly, crane, handheld, or
steadicam.
• But name “tracking shot” came from the “tracks” that
dollies moved on (see next slide).
• So, dolly and tracking interchangeable terms.
• Traveling shot is generally reserved for more expansive
movements, taken from a vehicle.
Dolly Shot, on Tracks
 Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Crane and Boom/Jib shots:
• Boom/jib shots: Camera mounted on
counterweighted boom (similar to booms for
microphones); some booms can also telescope in or
out. Can use for combinations of pans & tilts,
horizontal (tracking), vertical or diagonal moves.
• Crane shots: Shots look the same as boom shot, but
often motorized or with hydraulics for movement.
Usually cranes have seat for operator, wheels. Some
can be driven.
• Motion-control techniques: computer programs to
direct elaborate camera movements.
 Mobile Framing: Crane Shot

• Crane Shot
– Note: Difference from
a tracking shot
– Movement through 3-
dimensional space

Carrie, Brian De Palma, 1976

Opening: Welles' Touch of Evil 1958
 Mobile Framing:
Camera Movements
• Hand-held and Steadicam Shots:
• Hand-held & Steadicam shots can pan or tilt or
track.
• Hand-held movement is obviously “unsteady”--
which is how we know it’s a hand-held shot.
• Steadicam: a patented device wh/ dampens
unsteadiness, producing a relatively smooth
movement, even when walking or running.
Operators must be trained to use.
• Steadicam first used in Rocky (1976).
Early prominent use in Kubrick’s The Shining (1980).
 Mobile Framing
• When viewing a film, mobile framing can be hard to
spot, because we often follow what is being
photographed, rather than how.
• And often, multiple combinations of camera
movements:
• Ex: Tracking shots often include some panning.
• And combinations of camera movements can
become quite complicated, as in some Crane Shots.
• Also, can combine camera movements with zooms.
 Mobile Framing

Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock, 1958

Mobile Framing
 Another Track and Zoom

Goodfellas,
Martin
Scorsese,
1990
 Perspective: Tracking vs. Zooming
• Fig. 4.3
– Left:
• move the camera (track in)
• short focal length lens
• Note: Relation of back/foreground,
changed angles
• distortion at edges
– Right:
• Camera stationary
• Change of focal length (i.e., zoom in)
• Relation of back/foreground closer
(telephoto effect of flattening)
• No distortion at edges
fig. 4.3 (A&P, 144)
 subjective shot
(or point-of-view shot)
• Subjective Shot/Camera: from the position/point of
view of a character--as if seeing through character eyes.
Also called POV shot. Cinema equivalent of “First
Person” in writing.
• Some people make distinction between subjective
shots & POV shots: use “POV shots” to include “over-
the-shoulder” shots--which give a sense of POV without
actually being from the position of the character.
• But easier & better: treat POV and Subjective as the
same; over-the-shoulder as different.
 subjective shot
(or point-of-view shot)
• Subjectivity/POV is crucial to Classical Hollywood
style: shot/reverse shots & eyeline matching are
based on the idea of seeing from character’s
POV.
• But, shot/reverse shot shows both "subjective"
and "objective" views: Hwd (most cinema)
mixes both together.
• What happens if subjectivity is taken to
extreme? If we see only subjective shots?
Ex: 1947 Detective film The Lady in the Lake
shot entirely from main character's point of view
Ex: 1947 Detective film The Lady in the Lake
shot entirely from main character's point of view
Note that moving camera often suggests someone's
subjectivity or POV.
Consider use of slow track in scene from Antonioni's
L'avventura: