Film Techniques

Film Techniques

Today in class we watched two clips from the movie Pulp Fiction, we watched the dancing scene between John Travolta and Uma Thurman, just before she OD's and the scene with Christopher Walken talking about pulling a watch out of his behind- if you haven't seen it, you should its a really strange but awesome classic.

Before watching the clips we did a technique exercise and being the nerd I am I wrote down all of them  simplified by like a million.

Narrative- the way the story is told.
Plot- the story line.
Mise en Scene- the way everything in the scene comes together collectively ( props,costume, setting, the set up).
High Key Lighting - glossy and bright lighting.
Key Lighting-  main source of lighting for the scene.
Pan- the movement of the camera <--->
Tilt- same as pan but up and down ^
Tracking shot - moves on wheels/rails like a train following the character.
Crane shot- shot taken from crane used as an establishing shot which sets the scene or a shot to end the film.
High angle shot - shows vulnerability in a character.
Low angle shot - shows domination in a character.
Deep focus- lens focuses in and out for extreme close up, shows focus , emotion, intensity.
Montage- collage of shots showing development or to quickly establish a scene.
Dissolve- scene transition.
Fade in/ Fade out - scene transition.
Continuity editing - editing used to make the movie flow.
Ambient Sound - chatter/ birds/ wind used to create a natural setting.
Match on action- cuts out to action in the scene e.g. open door cuts onto hand turning mid action
Sound Bridge- when the sound bridge turns over to the next scene interrupting it.

  
These are some techniques that Miss Bell posted on her blog that I thought I would save for later for studying.

Selective sound is used to emphasise key sound elements within a sequence

Ambient sound is used to create a particular atmosphere or a sense of place

Sound bridges – the use of sound to help transitions between sequences pass more fluidly

 Sound effects – are these used to create a sense of realism or to create some psychological impact.

Theme music – This is the music that introduces, develops throughout and ends the film. It often indicates the ‘personality’ and mode of address of the movie. Characters can have their own theme music – this is used to indicate their presence or ‘emotional journey’.

Musical Score – used to create atmosphere, to link shots or sequences, to help create the narrative or to offer information about characters.

Silence – film/TV are very rarely completely silent, but this effect is occasionally used to provoke a reaction from the audience.

Voiceover – This is the ‘voice’ of a character. This voice often guides or informs the external audience but can be used to push them in wrong narrative directions.

Synchronous sound – This is when a sound effect is matched with another technical event or action – this reinforces the effect.

Asynchronous sound – This is when a sound originates from outside of the diegetic reality of the film; musical soundtrack.

Contrapuntal - noise or sound effect which doesn’t match the visuals, often juxtaposed to create alternative meaning