Building a scene! Shot's build the scenes. Scenes according to how they're organised/ arranged build the plot as well as story for the 'Narrative' When it comes to building a scene, a lot of different shots are used by the editor to create a sequence. Shots are generally put together into sequences but then are turned into a collection of scenes. The difference between a good and bad film that the use of shots and how they are turned into a scene, and then how they are ordered together.
Moving the Story Forward: Every scene should be, in some way, set up by the previous scene, and should move the story forward for both the plot and the development of the characters. Each scene sets up the next scene, until the screenplay reaches its climax. This cause and effect relationship hooks in the audience. Every scene should have a payoff - can think of this as being the: Constructing a scene: Scenes should be made as tight as possible. - Guidelines for scene construction: A scene should be begun as close to its end as possible. It should increase either the drama or the comedic effect. It shouldn't include anything superfluous. A scene's length should not run more than two pages. Action scenes should be contrasted with dialogue scenes; heavy scenes with light scenes. The audience needs time to breath: varying the texture of scenes afford them this. Pacing: As a writer builds towards the climax of the screenplay, the pacing of scenes should increase or decrease accordingly. What the mood should entail within a scene: Each scene should convey a sense of the dominant mood or emotion. This can be tied into the character's goal, emotional state, and attitude at that particular moment. Tying what the character thinks and feels and what he/ she wants out of the particular unit of action the scene encompasses will give the scene direction and the dialogue subtext. SHOWING VS. TELLING Avoid using talking heads to move the story forward, for exposition of the plot, or even backstory. Always use visuals over straight dialogue. Film-making's strongest draw is what we can see on screen, using strong visuals will have greater impact. Conflict: Some sort of conflict should always exist, even in less dramatic scenes. The conflict can be subtle; there should be enough emotional subtext to make it interesting. When filming it is important to use more visuals then dialogue to tell the overall story this can be more appealing to the audience and engage them more. Lastly there must be some sort of conflict that the character must overcome.
Scripting! The film script: In the vast majority of cases, a screenplay or script will be developed as part of the preparatory work prior to filming. In many cases the script represents the very first stretch of a film's journey. A script of screenplay can be an original work or an adaption from an existing piece of writing. In the film script, the action of the scene is described together with the movement, actions, expressions, and dialogues of the characters. Industry film scripts observe strict formatting rules. Within film industry scripts are generally known as the first part of a film journey, it is one of the first envisions of film. Scripts can be original work or previous work that has been adapted. An example of this would be 'Charlie and The Chocolate Factory' (2005) which was a remake of 'Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory' (1971).
There are usually six types of paragraph in a screenplay: - Scene Heading - Action - Character - Parenthetical - Dialogue - Transition Scene Heading: - A scene heading always consists of at least three elements: 1. an interior or exterior indicator (INT. EXT.) INT. EXT. 2. a location or setting INT. Classroom EXT. Yard 3. a time of day INT. Day EXT. Night - Space When together: INT. CLASSROOM - DAY EXT. YARD - NIGHT
Action: The action tells the reader what happens on the screen. A well written script tries to create in the reader's mind the three-dimensional experience of the film. This means describing images, sounds, actions and speech in such a way that scenes unspool in the reader's mind's eye in a fashion that is as close as possible to the way they will on the screen once the film has been shot and edited.
Character: - The character element introduces the character about to speak. Parenthetical: - Occasionally words appear in brackets beneath the character name and above the character's dialogue which provide extra information relating to the character's delivery of that dialogue. Dialogue: - The dialogue element is selected to present the words spoken by a character in a scene. Transition: - Transitions are used to indicate special information about the nature of the change from one scene to another, for example a straight cut, a dissolve, a fade to black.
Editing! In a somewhat contradictory sense, editing begins some time before the first day of principal photography. Normally, during the pre-production phase some sort of blue print is created envisaging how the visual and aural parts will assemble to make up the whole. For many filmmakers this is the storyboard, a document which imagines how every unit of action will happen in sequence thus constituting the entire visual and aural narrative.
The storyboard for many filmmakers is the edit imagined in advance. The storyboard thus constitutes a highly functional document, signposting key editorial techniques which are going to be put into effect in the post-production phase, such as shot-reverse-shot sequences, eye-line matches, graphic matches, super impositions, elisions etc.
Prior knowledge that such techniques will be in operation at the editing stage, causes directors, script continuity supervisors and DOPs to give due consideration to these elements during filming. In order for an action match to be possible in the edit, a piece of action, filmed from different camera angles and with different shot sizes must be identically realised in each. The rhythm and pacing of the movement must be the same; position of body parts and items of costume must be the same; other mise-en-scene elements also visible in the frame must be the same. Inter-cutting can set up juxtaposition between parallel story lines, strengthening the impact of each by highlighting difference. When used to draw two story lines together, this can be structured to create tension and heighten identification with a character. When an action match is used for inter-cutting, it can highlight parallels/ contrasts between characters in different situations. Eye-line matches provide insight to a character's point of focus and give clues to interior thoughts. When a character is shown in the final shot of a scene, it is often the character with whom the audience is expected to identify.
I generally feel that the video above is a perfect example oh how to add in transition effects to make your editing look better.
When it comes to building a story for your film you have to ask yourself certain questions, they are What is the story really about? What kind of setting are you going to want to establish? Will the setting help with the meaning of the film? When asking yourself these questions can further your overall knowledge on your own story, which can overall add deeper feeling and connection to it. Furthermore when creating/ building a story you must keep to certain codes and conventions, such as having the main character interesting, as well as the opposite character also being interested so that the audience wants to stay involved. You can have an external antagonist, as long as you are still creating initial conflict for the main character.
Carrying on when building a story you should not include too many locations, because it can generally become confusing for the audience. Plus there should not be too many events happening because once again it can become quite difficult for the audience to follow and understand, it would be quite easy and structurally right for you as an individual to use one key event. Furthermore, you should be placing your character within an unpleasant position, you would do this so that they would then be able to resolve it, which would inevitably make up the story. The best way to actually engage your audience would be by placing the main character within a difficult position, which would make the audience feel the overall emotion which would be compassion for the actual character which would then generally connect the film and the audience together. A way of putting a character within some difficult situation would or could be by using dilemmas, this means that the character would have to choose, this generally could be done with anything for example family friends, jobs etc. You would be able to make it personal for a individual character, which would inevitably entice the audience. Dilemmas, when using them you should definitely make both routes difficult this would be so that it makes the decision more intense. Another way into engaging towards the audience would be by using conflict, such as arguments/ disagreements, these are generally a perfect way into engaging the audience because it is very realistic, and everyone generally likes drama.
Sound! Sound is such an important and fundamental part of a production, it can enrich the sensory experience of art. The reason behind why sound is used is generally so that the sensory experience can be increased for the viewer. When bringing sound and video both together this generally creates different emotions, for example classical music would give off a sad, scary emotion and feel etc. With emotion to the scene, and this is called parallel music. As well as the sound enhancing the overall footage, it can also do the complete opposite, by this I generally mean that wrong sounds that are used at certain points can create irony and jar the audience, which some directors would want, this tends to be known as contrapuntal music.
Within the clip it shares intimidating, powerful music which is played to add a scary or just a pattern which fits with the footage in that particular scene. When watching how this is done where different sounds are being heard, this generally means that there is sound that the audience can hear, sounds that only the character within the film can hear. The two names to separate the two are diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is generally what both the audience and the character can hear, it is sound that is within the story world. An example of this would be character dialogue. Non-diegetic is basically sound that the audience can hear, examples of this would be narrator voice, mood and music etc.
Camera! This is generally one of the most important elements within filming, the reason for this would be because the camera is used to capture each individual scene within film, directors would say that variation of shots are crucial for a film, this would be because the editor would work with many different shots such as angles and different sizes to then be able to capture the whole scene and keep the viewer interested. Shot sizes/ distances - Extreme close-up, Head Closeup, Big Closeup, Closeup, Close Shot, Medium Close shot, Medium Shot, Medium Full Shot, Full Shot, Medium Long Shot, Long Shot, Extreme Long Shot. Extreme close-up:
An extreme close-up would generally be used by a director to give that intimate feeling between the character and the audience, plus this would generally increase the suspense. The camera shot which would be used within all genres because within most of the genres you would want the character as well as the audience to have some sort of connection.
Head Closeup:
Big Closeup:
Close up:
Close Shot:
Medium Close Shot:
Medium Shot:
Medium shots would potentially be used by all directors so that they would be able to capture the characters overall facial expressions as well as body language which would then tell the audience a lot just by looking at the shot. An example of this would be sarcasm would be shown through facial expressions which would cut out the dialogue and therefore increase the overall visual experience.
Medium Full Shot:
Full Shot:
Medium Long Shot:
Long Shot:
Long Shots are used for directors to be able to capture pretty much a whole scene, not just a character, a long shot makes the audience understand the location and exactly what is happening in terms of the setting in which the character may be in. This is one of the most used camera shots generally due to the fact that it is crucial for the actual director to be able to make the audience understand the overall setting.
Extreme Long Shot:
Angles - High angle, low angle, slanted/canted/dutch angle, eye level, bird's eye view, worm's eye view, over-the-shoulder, POV High angle: High angles tend to be chosen to use by the director to generally symbolise weakness, this this camera angle it is normally used from another characters POV. The Director would usually use this on smaller victims or heroes.
Low angle: Low angles would generally be used to show dominance, the shot is generally often used when the characters are bigger and stronger to the opponent character. Within the image you can pretty much see the two characters looking down at something, this shows at the time within the film that they were dominant in that specific moment in time, as the roles could potentially change later on within the film. Slanted angle: Canted angle: Dutch angle: Eye level: Bird's eye view: Worm's eye view: Over-the-shoulder: POV (Point of View): POV shots are used by directors to show the overall character's point of view which normally directs the attention of the audience to one particular subject. Within the image in which I have chosen the Director is generally wanting the audience to look into the distant blue sea and through the visual would give the audience the experience in which the characters are feeling. Movement in-camera - Zoom in, zoom out, pull focus Zoom in/ out:
Pull focus: Camera movement - Crane, Jib, track/dolly, pan, tilt, Steadicam, handheld
Lighting! I feel that within filming lighting needs to be considered as crucial as it generally sets the mood for scenes, plus it also can give a more in-depth and emotion to the overall shots. When filming it is crucial to understand that lighting must be used, by this I generally mean that natural lights cannot always be as practical, so mechanical lights would be used a lot. Furthermore, when creating the script ensure that you can identify the time of year and the weather patterns, otherwise the scene would not look as you would of envisaged them to look like. When shooting you have to take into consideration that without light there is no image, but you have to be careful with the light in which you are using. Carefully controlled lighting can direct the attention of the viewer onto a certain object, character and or event etc. Furthermore it is generally important to understand how lighting can change the emotion and mood of a scene, hard light shapes sharp shadows, for example sun, candles, unfiltered tungsten lamps). With soft light casts softer shadows for example, an overcast weather, lamps with diffusers, and certain surfaces which would reflect light.
Contrast latitude is the actual film of different contrast densities. For example with low key lighting this is when high light contrast is being used with dark shadows as a pool of light. However, with high key lighting this consists of low contrasts of light, which when evenly spread, the lighting so that the whole set would be lit, this tends to be linked with daylight, comedy and vast majority of studio shows.
The lighting used within film doesn't always consist through natural sources, mechanical light plays a huge part which generally matters depending on the overall situation of the scene and light needed within that scene, there is different types of equipment which can be used for example; Tungsten Lamps, these are quite common use of a professional standard light, with a range between 150W to 24,000W and with a consistent colour temperature of 3200 degree K which generally generates a lot of heat. You can also get reflectors which will change how the overall light appears for example when the reflectors softens the light, silver reflectors harden the light, mirrors harden the light and gold reflectors would add warmth to the lighting. As well as all the equipment in which you have, different set up's you can use to provide the most efficient and best lighting. An example of a good set up would be the 'three point lighting set up'.
Key light is generally the brightest light which casts the main shadows which can be hard and or soft. Fill light tends to be used to fill out the shadows by doing this you must ensure that it doesn't create its own shadows. Back light is generally used to create bright outlines around certain subjects, it tends to be used mainly for the use of being able to separate a subject from the background. Clothes lighting is used to add additional key lighting which adds shape and brings out the different textures of the costumes as well as make-up. Kicker adds additional back light. Eye light which adds shine to the characters eyes. Background light is generally used to cover light that isn't wanted/ working within the background. With motivated light this is just like motivated shots, by this I literally mean that each light used must be justified, so if the use of the lighting motivated certain shots then this would add depth to the scene. However if it is not motivating then the shot would seem unrealistic. De-emphasise areas without light, this would make the viewer focus on certain subjects, this would show that you can be as telling when you aren't using light as you do when you are using light.
Within this shot the lighting is directed to the main character but in theory there isn't enough light to then show the character which is in the background, this would then be used to show who is good or bad. The light on the women is generally to show that she is good or that she is about to be a victim with the darkness on the male to show that perhaps he is bad or an antagonist. In this particular shot the lighting is directly onto the eye of the character, this is generally used to show emotion and create suspense for the audience. The lighting is mainly used for the emotion when a character is sad or depressed. But within some films it is generally used to create suspense by the eye of a character you don't know, meaning you also have no idea what they look like. Within this shot of Leonardo DiCaprio the lighting is used within the picture to centre the attention towards the main character, but with general clear emotion and overall body language of the character within the background.
