Movies (pictures) can be broken down into three basic building blocks:
- story
- sound
- visuals
Remember what we're going for here…
DRAMA and CLARITY = GOOD!
BOREDOM and CONFUSION = BAD!
What are the basic visual components?
SPACE, LINE, SHAPE, TONE, COLOR, MOVEMENT, RHYTHM
- Space
- physical space in front of the camera
- space as it appears on screen
- size and shape of the screen itself
- Line
- lines exist in our head as a result of other visual components that allow us to perceive lines
- Shape
- shape goes hand in hand with line, because all shapes appear to be constructed from lines
- Tone
- brightness of an object in relation to gray scale
- Color
- hue of an object in relation to the color spectrum
- Movement
- the first visual component to attract the eye.
- Includes moving objects, characters, the camera, and the viewer's eyes
- Rhythm
- patterns in movement and/or editing
THINK OF THESE BUILDING BLOCKS AS ACTORS IN YOUR PROJECTS. Whether you like it or not, they are present in every shot, communicating moods and emotions to the viewer. This is why understanding and controlling these components is so important.
Terms
- The screen
- Foreground, mid ground, background (FG, MG, BG)
- Picture plane
Visual progression
- point > line > plane > cube
- =
- simple > complex
- progression is fundamental to story and musical structure
CONTRAST AND AFFINITY
- Contrast = difference
- Affinity = similarity
- Contrast = greater visual intensity, more dynamic
- Affinity = less visual intensity, less dynamic
- More intense visual intensity/dynamic = more intense audience reaction
- AzAzAzAzAzAz = all contrast - too intense (maybe)
- mmmmmmmmm = all affinity, too boring (maybe)
- AzAzmmmAzmmAzmmAzmmAzAzAzmmmmmmmAzmmAzAzmmAz (maybe)
SPACE
- Deep
- offers illusion of 3d depth on a 2d screen
- no real depth in screen space, illusion is conveyed through depth cues
- perspective - 1, 2, and 3 point (draw buildings)
- perspective creates VANISHING POINTS and LONGITUDINAL PLANES
- Audience's eye will be usually drawn to and on-screen vanishing point (
- draw railroad tracks)
- draw two vanishing planes, with actor on outside, then actor on inside, at VP. Compare the two.
- size difference
- separating objects/actors into FG, MG and BG helps create depth
- movement
- moving parallel to the picture plane:
- objects further away will appear to move slower across screen
- objects closer will appear to move faster
- draw track runners to demonstrate
- moving perpendicular to picture plane
- objects appear to move faster the closer they are to the camera
- camera movement
- dolly in/out = moving camera closer or farther from the subject
- draw scene with FG actor and two BG actors, then dolly in
- FG actor will get larger faster
- tracking shot - camera dollies left/right
- with one FG and three BG actors, FG actor appears to move faster horizontally in screen space.
- crane shot - camera is moved vertically up or down.
- same FG/BG actor combo - FG actor will drop out of frame faster than BG guys
- Textural diffusion
- objects that are closer to the camera will have more visible texture
- Arial diffusion
- fog
- must have objects affected and unaffected in both the same shot in order to be an effective depth cue
- Tonal separation
- light objects generally appear closer, dark objects generally recede
- can also be reverse, depending on lighting and arial diffusion
- Color seperation
- warm colors generally appear to be closer
- cool colors generally appear to be further away
- Up/Down position
- objects lower in the frame appear to be closer than objects higher in the frame (maybe because they appear more accessible?)
- Overlap
- overlapping objects in the frame create depth
- Focus
- blur vs sharp
- Flat
- emphasizes the 2d aspects of the screen space
- flat cues:
- frontal planes and NO LONGITUDINAL PLANES
- size consistency
- movement
- movement parallel to picture plane = good
- camera movement - pans, tilts and zooms
- help emphasize flat space because the relative distance between/size of objects does not change in the shot.
- textural affinity
- same amount of textural detail
- reduced tonal seperation
- reduced color separation (affinity of color)
- reduced overlapping shapes
- inverted depth cues
- inverting or reversing depth cues can help flatten deep space
- tone: placing brighter obis in the BG and darker ones in the FG
- color: warm BG, cool FG
- textural diffusion: make BG obis have more texture and FG ones have less
- size difference: place larger objs farther away, and small ones closer.
- Limited
- combo of deep and flat space cues, with little to zero longitudinal planes
- Ambiguous
- occurs when viewer is unable to understand the actual size/spatial relationships between objects in the frame
- lack of movement -
- objects of unknown size or shape
- tonal and textural camouflage
- mirrors and reflections
- disorienting camera angles
- DEEP SPACE
- dramatic
- exciting
- edgy
- can be used to release tension
- FLAT SPACE
- calming
- comedic
- disarming
- can be used to build tension/claustrophobia and awkwardness
- wes anderson!
- LIMITED
- combo of both
- AMBIGOUS
- mysterious
- disorienting
- chaotic
GRAPHING VISUAL INTENSITY WITH STORY INTENSITY
- TWO GRAPHS
- STORY INTENSITY GRAPH
- VISUAL INTENSITY GRAPH
- FOUR OPTIONS
- CONSTANT
- keeping visual elements constant through the film can be an excellent visual structure if it fulfills the needs of the story.
- Solid performances by the actors will be responsible for building conflict and tension, as the visual elements will remain the same
- VISUAL PROGRESSION
- CONTRAST AND AFFINITY
- ALL OF THE ABOVE!
- TOUCH OF EVIL
- lots of deep space everywhere
- first camera shot - deep/limited/ambigous sp ace everywhere
- 1:06 - Vargas investigates his boss' nefarious past
- WITNESS
- alternates between deep and flat
- flat (rural amish life) -
- 6:29
- 7:10
- 58:00
- 1:27:00
- deep (urban city)
- 10:25
- 12:08
- 23:00
- DARK CITY - AMBIGOUS + DEEP + occasional flat!
- 6:23
- 12:00
- 28:00
- 37:00
- 1:43:00 - ending contrasts ambiguous space with recognizable deep and flat space.
- AMERICAN BEAUTY - lots of flat space
- 29:11- emphasizes awkwardness in family
- 8:40 - emphasizes awkwardness in family
- MATCH POINT
- 10:00 - tom and claire meet, flat space
- 1:38:00 - claire's space is largely flat, tom's is deep and dramatic
Beat sheet and script planning
EX = exposition
CO = conflict
CX = climax
R = resolution
BEAT SHEETS NEXT WEEK!!!
