Cinematography Overview
As you view videos, keep these questions in mind:
- How is cinematography used to help to indicate an initial reaction to the film or video? How are visual cues used to tell viewers about what they are about to see?
- How do key visual aspects of the film or video—framing, exposure, contrast, color, movement—affect the portrayal of the people, places, and events of the story?
- How does the image help to set the style and tone of the movie in order to tell a story effectively or convey emotions and messages?
Cinematography: Using Light to Express Emotions
You will watch a selection of short movies, to answer these questions in discussion or writing:
- Story Elements:
- Who/what is protagonist?
- Beginning: What is the crisis or challenge that sets her/him on a journey? Begin with the crisis–in medias res
- Middle: What struggles does s/he face in confronting the crisis, and how do these struggles lead to change? This depends/develops the story.
- End: How has protagonist or situation changed? What s the “new normal”?
- Manipulating Light: How does the impact of light, color, and texture of the image help to set a tone with the movie? Consider the following:
- a. Use of focus and depth of field to establish style and communicate
- b. Qualities of brightness and darkness in the images
- c. Use of color in the frame
- d. Recording medium (film, digital, and so forth) and overall look of the images
- Framing: How does the framing and movement of shots and sequences serve the drama or visual artistry of the story? Consider the following:
- a. Screen aspect ratio and impact of the dimensions of the frame
- b. Movement of the camera
- c. Choices in composition and use of depth in framing
- Visual Style: Describe the overall effect of visual style in the movie. You may also imagine a contrasting approach to the cinematography and include a description of the effect of such a visual scheme on the finished movie.
—Adapted from Moving Images
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