Welcome to Media Language and Cinematography
CINEMATOGRAPHY
"Cinematography can be defined as a technique or art form of motion-picture photography"
Cinematography is an important micro element in the film industry. The various different uses of camera positions and movements in the film. This is for the director to establish the changes of situation and mood towards the audience who are watching the film.
How effectively the meaning, situation,mood is communicated through the cinematography of JAWS
= The cinematography in Jaws gives us the feeling of suspense and excitement. Through the use of fast-pace/fast-cut scenes, especially when the Shark is coming for the child. The POV shot of the shark going for the child is exciting yet horrifying at the same time for some audiences. The scene then switches to a long shot of the child getting mauled to death by the shark, giving us a sense of danger and urgency as blood gushes out of the child.
Throughout the first half of the video, the cinematograph keeps up the suspense by showing us hints foreshadowing an attack, whether it will be the girl screaming (before being picked up as a prank), the lifeguard searching for his lost dog (who’s collar is shown in the sea) and the lone child (foreshadowing the victim). The cinematography shows this by cutting in and away rapidly from each hint, and always having a close up or medium shot of the lifeguard.
When the child (“Ollie”) gets bitten, there is a long shot of everyone around him (in the sea) quickly scattering towards land, while in the background he is getting devoured by a shark with blood everywhere. This scene is important as it shows the panic, the mood of urgency among the beach-goers during the incident which we transfer towards our own feelings. After seeing Ollie get eaten, every-time we see the sea it’s a sense of danger because of the camera shots used during the incident are low angles.
Yellow Floaty-Yellow Hat-Red Shorts-Yellow Shirts→ Foreshadowing Danger
Foreshadowing death---> Lost dog with floating stick ---> Female screaming while in water (fake shark) ---> Paranoid Lifeguard (Main Character)
YELLOW and RED in the film portrays danger as all the camera shoots involving death and the shark has YELLOW and RED in it.
Cinematography: Lighting
Lighting in cinematography uses light from different sources whether artificial or natural to create different moods for the scene and audience.
Key Terms:
Highkey - Bright Conditions
Lowkey - Dark Conditions
Contrast: The extremes, very very white and very very dark at the same time.
Grain: Small black particles in the frame
Quality of Light: The softness and harshness of how bright/dark the light is.
Perception: This is the breadth and depth of the image, can be manipulated with the choice of lens.
Focus: Sharp and clear image of the main object or character in the scene.
Contrast: Different various tones of black and white.
Depth Of Field: How far the objects in the scene are far from the screen or characters.
Look: This is the visual feel of the movie. Everything is put together to give the “Look” of the film.
In GRATIFLY, I am the Director of Lighting or the Gaffer who is responsible for the shades of colour presented in the scenes, but more importantly, the perspective, focus, brightness and the depth of field to create meaning. For example, I have advised the cinematographer who is Ryu, to focus on the knife Richy was holding over his own face, in a big close up and concerning the depth of field in which the forks are accentuated with the hall’s artificial lighting for brightness. This makes the scene clearer of our intentions to show a symbolic ‘trapping’ of the protagonist through focus on mise en scene, and blurring of the character to become irrelevant.
Sicario (2015): Tunnel entering scene lighting analysis.
The Sicario tunnel clip effectively creates meaning, situation and mood through lighting. One of these scenes is the scene that the Delta Force operators entering the tunnel. Which was mostly Silhouette Lighting, filmed in the golden hour. This was a low brightness environment which creates a menacing, scary feeling for the film. The growing darkness hints to possible combat and tension. The black silhouettes as they disappear into the darkness represents how mean and frightening these delta operators are, and it feels as if they are entering into a dangerous labyrinth as they dissapear off-frame, blending in with the darkness of the scenery. They are a part of the environment, part of the growing night as they blend in perfectly. Low-key lighting is used to achieve this along with low contrast.
Lighting during night vision goggle test, makes the audience more anxious, showing black and white thermal imagery gives us the feeling to be el toro character as it was a pov shot. The black and white shot brings out the focus on Emily Blunt’s character, who’s facial expression can be seen even through the high contrast of the black and white of the thermal imagery. (Also grainy) Place the audience into the perspective