Midterm - Camera Flashcards
Cinematography
The way a shot is filmed and the way the image is manipulated
Film Stock
Type of film used; affects contrast and color
Color Timer/Grader
Person who processes film in a lab; has control over how film is processed and can affect coloring in this way. Also can be done on computer.
Exposure
How much light passes through the lens
Filters
Slices of glass/gelatin that change the coloration of a shot
Shot Types; Long-Extreme, Long, Medium, Close-Up, Extreme Close-Up
Humans are barely visible and can’t see faces; Can see full body (not just people) and some space, can make out clothes and faces; can see about half of body of subject; can usually see only face; can only see part of a body part
Establishing Shot
Shot that establishes place, time, the subjects and the arrangement of a scene
Tracking/Dolly Shot
Shot that follows something/one around a scene, maintaining a certain distance
Low vs high angle
Below subject; above subject
Tilt Shot
Camera literally tilts up and down while shooting, up = camera tilts up, down = camera tilts down
Pan
Short for panorama, camera turns left or right, i;e pan left = camera turns left
Crane Shot
Whole camera moves up and down
Canted/Dutch Angle
Camera is tilted so the shot appears to be on a diagonal
Telephoto Lens
Compresses space front-to-back; 75 to 250mm or more; “flattens” a scene and makes large distances appear small
Wide-Angle Lens
Emphasizes size and distance in a scene, but makes center appears curved and bulbous; less then 35mm in focal length
Zoom
Camera magnifies in on something in a shot
Shallow vs Deep Depth of Field
Shallow means only one thing in focus; deep means everything is
Expressionism
Formal elements of cinema that create psychological connection in viewers
Film Stock Speed
32-3200; fast is sharp and low is grainy; 400 would be fast
Available Light
Light in a scene that exists without equipment
Shutter Speed
1/1000 very sharp and quick to 1/60 which is the limit and very slow and blurry
Aperture
How much light hits film; F22 is small and F2.8 is big
Low vs High Contrast
Low = colors don’t stand out against each other as much and involved grey in black and white films; high uses sharp differences and lots of black and white
Day-For-Night Shooting
Making shots appear as if they are at night
Film Flashing
Exposing film to light before shooting; lowers contrast
Speed of Motion
How fast something on screen appears to move; depends on frames per second
Rate of Film Speed
Two kinds; rate at which film was shot and rate of projection; standard is 24 FPS but silent films used 16-20
Fast vs Slow Motion
Fast = something moves unusually quickly; slow = everything slowed down
Ramping
Adjusting film speeds in post for an effect
Normal/Medium Lens
Does not affect film appearance; 35 to 50mm in length
Time-Lapse Cinematography
Filming that rapidly speeds up events; shows long-term events very quickly i;e a flower blooming; very low shooting speed
High-Speed Cinematography
Filming that shows a quick event very slowly in detail; shoots extremely quickly
Stretch Printing
Reprinting frames in a film to slow down motion
Lens
Part of a camera that takes in the shot
Zoom Lens
Allows varying focal length while shooting and enables zoom shots
Focus
How sharp a shot is; low focus is blurry and fuzzy
Rack Focus
Changing focus in one shot
Special Effects
Effects imposed upon a film that are not in the scene while filming
Superimposition
Laying one image over another
Process/Composite Shots
Combining shots into one for an effect
Rear vs Front Projection
Projected behind actors, not very convincing; projected using a mirror frontally, more convincing
Matte Work, Traveling Matte and Matte Line
A portion of the image being added separately from filming to the actors; traveling mattes cut the actors out of background and insert them into the mattes; contour around matted-in actors
Glass Shot
Old SFX technique that filmed the scene through painted glass
Framing and Mobile Framing
How a shot is fit into the bordering of a film frame by positioning of the camera; mobile framing involves movement in the framing of the scene mid-shot
Aspect Ratios
Ratio of width to length in frames; old-school Academy ratio was 1:33:1, today most common in North America is 1:85:1; some European ratios include 1:66:1 and 1:75:1; 2:35:1 was anamorphic and 2:2:1 is usually used for 70mm film
Anamorphic Process
Process that squeezes image during shooting and is unsqueezed during projection
Masking, Film Masks and Iris
Adding black bars to image to create widescreen; can be digital or physical; film masks change the shape of the frame by putting objects over the lens; Irises are circles that open or close on a scene
Multiple-Frame/Split-Screen
Shot that has multiple images ongoing at once
Six Zones of Offscreen Space
Around four edges of the image and behind the set and camera, this space can be used for surprise, suspense, comedy and more
POV Shot
Shot as if from a character’s perspectivr
Steadicam
A special camera mount that allows movement without affecting shot
Motion-control
Techniques and programs that plot and control camera movement
Hand-held Camera
Camera that is very unsteady and shaky as it has no mount or stabilizing equipment; used in action scenes, documentaries, found-footage, etc
Reframing
Adjusting a shot via motion to account for movement of a character or subject
Following Shot
Shot that follows the movement of a character or object, includes pans, tracking shots, crane shots or any shot that follows something
Track-out and Zoom-in Technique
Shooting trick that makes image change distance, framing and more quickly; famously used in Vertigo and Jaws
Long Take
Unusually long shot in time without cuts
Plan-Sequence
French term for a scene done entirely in one shot
