Film Study - Film Aspects

Tone in Film:

What else can we call tone in film?
The tone in a film can also be called brightness.
What are the 3 main elements of tone?
3 main elements of tone are lighting, exposure, and art direction.
How and why does Coppola use tone in the classic film 'The Godfather'?
With the exposure of lighting, the exposure was used to manipulate brightness and tell the story of the film.
How can directors control the feelings of the scenes?
Directors can control the feelings of the scenes by changing the tone of the scene. They can control the feelings of the scene by using different amount of brightness, darkness and the contrast of colours in scenes.

Contrast in Film

What are the ways directors can contrast in film?

Directors can contrast in tone, art direction, blocking, camera movement, and in colour.

What is contrasted in Spike Jonze's ad?

Spike Jonze ad contrasted the world on the person. How the world is dull and dark and how colourful the person's personality was.

Why did he contrast these things?

 He contrasted these things to indicate that anyone can be free from the boring and dull world by buying the product.

Over the shoulder

What is the effect of an over the shoulder shot?

An over the shoulder shot can connect or disconnect characters in the film.

What film aspect shows a disconnection between characters?

By using a dolly shot into a single close up, it indicates that the characters are no longer connected. 

How does the director of this scene show the disconnect of the characters?

The director of this scene shows the disconnect of the characters by using a combination of film aspects. The director used a dolly shot to slowly focus on the man and take away the focus from the woman and used a single close up of the woman to imply to the audience that both characters are now disconnected.

What eventually totally isolates the female character?

After being connected by the visual presence of the waiter, the director used a close-up shot on the female character indicating that she is now completely isolated.

Dutch Angle

The Dutch angle does what?

The dutch angle creates an uneasy feeling for the audience.

What is a dutch angle?

A Dutch angle is a camera shot that has a noticeable tilt on its horizontal axis.

Who and when created the dutch angle?

The dutch angle is a camera technique used by German expressionists in the early 1900s.

What 3 things do directors need to consider for the dutch angle?

Directors need to identify the moment in the film, consider the moment and lastly, enhance the moment to consider the dutch angle.

What 4 things can enhance a dutch angle?

To enhance a dutch angle, you need to consider the following: 

The tilt of the camera, the more you tilt, the more unsettling it becomes.

Camera angle, by using a dutch tilt at a low angle, it will give a different feeling.

Lens choice, by using a wide-angle lens, it will create a different look and feel in comparison to the standard or long lens.

Lastly, the depth of field.

Production Design

What is production design?

The production design is the overall visual look of the production

What makes up production design?

Set design, prompts and wardrobe makes up the production design. 

What are the 3 main things production design can help reveal?

Production design sets the scenes' mood, it can reflect a character's state, and lastly, it can articulate stories themes.

Film Blocking

What are 3 ways directors use blocking in film?
Directors use space, shapes, and lines when blocking a scene.

What are the 3 basic shapes for film blocking?
The three basic shapes for film blocking are circles, triangles, and squares.

What are the emotions associated with these shapes?
For circles, it feels safer and inclusive. For squares, it creates limited space. Lastly, for triangles, they feel aggressive and it also has an apex.

What two things can blocking help with?
Blocking can help with subtext or blocking. You can create an underlying meaning by using contrast, blocking with what's being said or done.

Visual Motifs

What is a motif?

"A motif is any recurring element that has symbolic significance in a story" - Bill Watterson, the person narrating the video.

Why are they important?

Motifs are important because they ensure the story is able to operate on more than one level.

What makes a great work of art?

Motifs make a great work of art because you can come back to it over and over again and find a greater depth of understanding a film.

Insert Shot

What is an insert shot?

An insert shot is an isolated shot that focuses on a specific detail in a scene.

What is the purpose of an insert shot?

The purpose of an insert shot is to communicate crucial and narrative information.

What are the 3 main aspects of the insert shot?

Three main aspects of the insert shot are composition, colour and timing.

What 3 things help the audience feel about the insert shot?

Shot size shot angle, and camera movement helps the audience feel about the insert shot.

Composition of the insert shot helps with what in a film?

The composition of the insert shot helps create context and importance in a film.

Colour in the insert shot helps with what in a film?

The colour in the insert shot helps draw attention to an important narrative point or details.

How long you dwell on the insert shot helps show what?

How long you dwell on the insert shot will have an effect over the viewers' interpretation of its importance

Colour in Film

How does colour in film affect people?

Colours draw out emotions and have a phycological effect on people. 

What are the 3 factors in determining colour?

The 3 factors in determining colour are hue, saturation, and brightness.

Why is the hue in 'The Matrix' mostly green?

The hue in 'The Matrix' is mostly green because the movie takes place inside of a digital Matrix and green is associated with code. In addition to that, the green and the Matrix has a certain sickly quality to it that reflects the world with its overall state of affairs.

Why do some films desaturate?

Some films desaturate which give a cold, rude, and gritty kind of look in the movies' world.

What can brightness and lack of brightness show in a film? 
By using bright images, it creates an atmosphere that seems lively and exciting. On the other hand, lack of brightness can create an atmosphere that seems dramatic.

 Camera Movement

What are the purposes of the whip pan and the slow pan?
The whip pan is the equivalent of quickly turning to look at something, creating a jolt of energy. While the slow pan gives the viewers time to look at the landscape.

What is the purpose of the tilt shot?
The purpose of the tilt shot often reveals something, suddenly redirecting the attention of the audience.

What does the reverse dolly zoom help show?
With the reverse dolly zoom, it helps show a character having an intense internal experience.

What is the difference between a Steadicam and dolly shot?
A dolly shot is often taken on a track, moving the camera through a space. While the Steadicam is taken with a camera stabilised on an operator, gliding gracefully within a space. 

What can the hand-held shot help create for the viewer?
Using the hand-held shot creates anxiety in the viewer with a shaky feeling while moving through space.

What should directors ask themselves with their camera movement?
Director should ask themselves if they have insurance, in case something wrong happens, such as dropping the camera. Directors should also ask themselves how does their camera movement support the story of the movie

Camera movement should be doing what?
Camera movement should be manipulating a viewers' point of attention, telling the stories of the film though each camera movements.

POV or POT

What is a POV shot?
A POV shot is a shot that shows the audience exactly what a character sees.
What is a 'point of thought' shot?
A 'point of thought' shot is a shot that shows how a character thinks of the world rather than how they see it.
Why are they important?
They are important because they show us what a character sees and they help us understand and feel what the character is going through in a film.

Establishing Shot

*The tone in this clip has a different meaning.
What is an establishing shot?
An establishing shot establishes a scene in a film. Establishing shot not only establish a new location, but they also establish the tone of the film; tone being the emotions or feelings the audience would feel on a scene.

Why is it used?
Establishing shots are used because it is the perfect opener for transitioning to a new scene.

Why are establishing shot usually the most expensive?
Establishing shots are usually the most expensive because it shows everything to the audience.

What is film theory?

Creative Writing - Post Creative Writing Task

What is my learning objective?
I am learning to write better sentences using language features and to write them properly.

How am I learning it?
I am learning language features by applying them to my creative writing.

Why am I learning it? 
I am learning to apply language features to my writing to hook the audience with my writing and to write a good creative story.

Creative Writing link:
A Story for the Next Generation

Choose and complete 6 tasks on this slide. You need to either show where the examples of the task are in your writing, or you are to write them out into our writing and then show them into your blog.

Use time-related specifics:

A part of Paragraph 2:

It was a burning afternoon when she asked me to hang around the park. The park was full of thick, towering trees with dark green leaves.

A part of Paragraph 6:

3 years later. I proposed to her at the beach. I planned it for about a month with the help of her friends. The anticipation of her saying yes to me gave me butterflies every time I think of it. 20/04/85, the sun was setting, the clouds painted orange, it was breezy.

Figurative Language for the sense of sound:

“Whooshhhhh”, the trees whispered as we walk on the soil mixed with gravel. “Scrunch, scrunch”, the ground crunched as we both wander around the park, holding hands, feeling the smooth, chill breeze.

Describe characters through action:

A part of Paragraph 4:
While eating, we talked about what recently happened in our separate lives. Oh boy, the way her face glows, her smile widens, her eyes, her hazy, brown eyes distracts me from listening to her story.

Paragraph 7:
With tears rolling down her eyes, jumping with excitement she said yes. At that moment I felt like I was the luckiest man in the world. Adrenaline rushed through my body, my heart pounding, it felt like it was about to explode. I couldn’t stop smiling, it was the highlight of my day.

Show Characters through what they say and omit:

A part of Paragraph 6:

She was distracted by the sunset on the horizon which gave me enough time to kneel on one knee on the fine sand. It took her a minute to notice me kneeling down. I took the ring out and said in the most heartfelt and truest words in my life “Will you marry me?”

Replacing Words

Nouns - 3 years later. I proposed to her at the beach. - 3 years later, I proposed to her in Palawan, Philippines.

Adjectives - 2 massive doors opened 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen processed down the aisle. - 2 massive doors opened 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen processed down the bright, red aisle.

Verbs - After walking around the park, we both decided that we should eat at our favourite restaurant nearby. - After wandering around the park, we both decided that we should eat at our favourite restaurant nearby.

Inserting Words

I took the ring out

I took the diamond ring out.

I took the glistening, diamond ring out.

I took the glistening diamond ring out, slowly.

Chop Suey

During yesterday's practical, we ensured that we limited the chance of contamination by:

- Using different chopping boards.

We used green chopping board when we were cutting vegetables. We also used the red chopping board when we were cutting red meat which in our case was beef. We did this to prevent cross-contamination from the blood of the red meat into our vegetables.

- Using tongs and a tray when collecting the beef.

 When we were collecting our beef, we used tongs rather than our hand. This is to prevent bacteria from our hands contaminating into the beef.

- Using separate knives. 

We used separate knives to cut our ingredients. We also made sure that the knives we used are clean and free of food particles. We used the red-handled knife to cut our beef and use the green-handled knife to cut vegetables. This also prevents cross-contaminating from the blood of the beef into the vegetables.

- Washing vegetables

After collecting the vegetables, we ensured that we washed them before cutting or putting them into our food. We did this to wash away any bacteria from the vegetables we used.

- Clean and sanitised work area

Before starting our practical, we ensured that we wiped our workbench with anti-bacterial spray. By doing this, we are changing the ph level of our workbench higher than ph level 7 which is the optimal growth of bacteria. Changing the ph level higher than the optimal level for bacteria means that the environment for the bacteria was changed therefore killing them.