5Cs of Cinematography

Movie - Baby
The storytelling of the movie Baby is quite exciting. Babys actions are very realistic,
hardcore and has a lot of hand-to-hand combat. The premise is around contemporary current
affairs and the characters and setting is very real. So, every scene has to be made believable.
This film has a certain gritty look; one can see a little style within the realism. All this have
been achieved with the 5Cs of Cinematography as explained below:Camera Angles
Camera angle refers to the angle at which a camera is positioned when filming. High-angle
shots look down on a subject. Low-angle shots aim up at a subject to make the subject appear
big and dominant in the screen. Wide shots are used to capture a subject's surroundings and
often are used when establishing a scene. The various angles are chosen to help explore a
film's narrative development. The movie has a lot of long shots with many aerial shots. There
are some sequences with beautifully choreographed aerial shots particularly one scene where
the camera is getting closer to sand dunes and grazing it.
Continuity
Continuity is the consistency of a film's static and dynamic elements. A film must flow
naturally to make sense to a viewer and shots are recorded avoiding inconsistencies in
characters, plot or subject matter. Continuity means that clothing, sets and objects are not
suddenly altered between shots in the same scene. It also means that characters sustain
consistent personalities and that objects do not suddenly change, appear or disappear. For
instance, there is a shot that starts at one place, goes through a corridor, turns up a dark
staircase, then comes out into the exterior and so on. So there was a lot of lighting in a single
shot.
Cutting
Cutting is how shots are organized in sequence. It's important to create a series of shots that
flow naturally into each other. This means viewers are unlikely to follow or be affected by a
film when its shots do not follow naturally. One example of a cutting technique is crosscutting. This is when a camera moves from one scene of action to another to show two events
taking place simultaneously. Cutting on action is another technique where one shot finishes
on an action that leads to the next shot.
Closeups
Closeups are detailed shots of a subject. Small details in these shots appear large on a movie
screen. There are different degrees of closeups, including medium closeups and extreme
closeups. Over-the-shoulder shots are a type literally filmed over a subject's shoulder toward
another subject, usually done during a conversation. Closeups also move away from the
action of a shot to show intimate details of a subject's emotions or draw attention to specific

objects. Closeups are used very frequently in the movie for dissemination of important
information with zero noise in the background, for building up climax, for revealing the
significance of the scene or for the turning points in the movie.
Composition
Composition refers to how images in a shot are arranged and organized. In other words,
composition is the visual order of a shot. This includes how a shot is balanced, or arranged in
the frame, to draw viewers' attention to particular subjects or objects. The space, colors,
balance of light and dark and other visual elements are other important aspects of a shot's
composition. There is not much complication with the frames. It is simple, straight frames
that tell the story directly. There is a sequence where Akshay and Danny are discussing
something and walking in the corridor. The shot has a lot of headroom and thats how it is
composed. Another sequence at Army airbase, where huge Air Force airplanes can be seen.
So, when Akshay is running next to the plane, he appears like a dot. Thats how shots are
composed. There are scenes which have passed through many light zones. Every space has
lighting of its own and it is reflected that a lot of work is put into selecting the locations to
achieve a lot of variation within the shot.