Mise-en-scene

The representation of space affects the reading of a film. Depth, proximity, size and
proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera
placement and lenses, lighting, decor, effectively determining mood or relationships
between elements in the diegetic world.

Section 1 - Decor
An important elememt of "putting in the scene" is décor, the objects contained in and the
setting of a scene. Décor can be used to amplify character emotion or the dominant mood
of a film. In these shots from 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1969) the
futuristic furniture and reduced color scheme stress the sterility and impersonality of the
space station environment. Later, the digital nature of the HAL computer is represented
by the repeating patterns and strong geometrical design of the set.

In Senso (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1954) décor emphazises the social difference between
a wealthy married woman in her richly furnished apartment and her soldier lover in the
barren military barracks. Ultimately, she finds the contrast so appalling that she ruins her
reputation and financial standing in order to satisfy her lover's desire for a luxurious
lifestyle.

REAR PROJECTION
Usually used to combine foreground action, often actors in conversation, with a
background often shot earlier, on location. Rear projection provides an economical way
to set films in exotic or dangerous locations without having to transport expensive stars or
endure demanding conditions. In some films, the relationship between scenes shot on
location and scenes shot using rear projection becomes a signifying pattern. In other
films, it's just cheap...

Rear projection is featured extensively in Douglas Sirk's lush melodrama Written On The
Wind (1956). Specifically, almost every car ride is shot in this way, a common feature in
Classical Hollywood films, due to the physical restrains of shooting in the studio. In
addition, by speeding up the rate of the projected images in the background, or quickly
changing its angle, rear projection allows for an impression of speed that involves no real
danger.

Even if one of the protagonists of Written On The Wind is a fast-driving alcoholic

millionaire (and therefore there are multiple instances of careless driving), rear projection
is preferred to stunts both for economic and aesthetic reasons. For example, physical
spectacle is not as important in a melodrama as it would be in an action film..

Section 2 - Lighting
The intensity, direction, and quality of lighting have a profound effect on the way an
image is perceived. Light affects the way colors are rendered, both in terms of hue and
depth, and can focus attention on particular elements of the composition. Much like
movement in the cinema, the history of lighting technology is intrisically linked to the
history of film style. Most mainstream films rely on the three-point lighting style, and its
genre variations. Other films, for example documentaries and realist cinema, rely on
natural light to create a sense of authenticity.

THREE-POINT LIGHTING

The standard lighting scheme for classical narrative cinema. In order to model an actor's
face (or another object) with a sense of depth, light from three directions is used, as in the
diagram below. A backlight picks out the subject from its background, a bright key light
highlights the object and a fill light from the opposite side ensures that the key light casts
only faint shadows.

Illustration courtesy of http://www.tcf.ua.edu/TVCrit/

These shots from Written On The Wind (Douglas Sirk, 1956) demostrate the classical use
of three-point lighting. Laurel Bacall and Rock Hudson are rendered glamorous by the
balanced lighting. Compare this to the manipulation of lighting for expressive purposes
on the high-key lighting and low-key lighting pages.
HIGH-KEY LIGHTING

A lighting scheme in which the fill light is raised to almost the same level as the key
light. This produces images that are usually very bright and that feature few shadows on
the principal subjects. This bright image is characteristic of entertainment genres such as
musicals and comedies such as Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, Tsui Hark, Honk
Kong, 1986)

LOW-KEY LIGHTING

A lighting scheme that employs very little fill light, creating strong contrasts between the
brightest and darkest parts of an image and often creating strong shadows that obscure
parts of the principal subjects. This lighting scheme is often associated with "hard-boiled"
or suspense genres such as film noir. Here are some examples from Touch of Evil (Orson
Welles, 1958.)
Section 3 - Space
The representation of space affects the reading of a film. Depth, proximity, size and
proportions of the places and objects in a film can be manipulated through camera
placement and lenses, lighting, decor, effectively determining mood or relationships
between elements in the diegetic world.

DEEP SPACE

A film utilizes deep space when significant elements of an image are positioned both near
to and distant from the camera. For deep space these objects do not have to be in focus, a
defining characteristic of deep focus. Staging in deep space is the opposite of staging in
shallow space.

Deep space is used throughout many Iranian films such as The Color of Paradise (Rang-
e Khoda,1999). Director Majid Majidi likes to integrate the characters into their natural
surroundings, to map out the actual distances involved between one location and another
in order to emphasize just exactly how hard it is for a particular character (especially
children) to move from one place to another.
In this composition, Mohammad's father looks in apprehension at the school where his
blind son is visiting.In the far background, Mohammad is playing with his sister and
other "normal" children, but his father does not believe Mohammad should try to mingle
with them since he could never be their equal, due to his disability. On the other hand,
Mohammad enjoys the company of his new friends in the countryside much more than
the School for the Blind in Tehran, where he spends most of the year. The distance
between the two points of view, as well as the impossibility of communication between
Mohammad and his father (the son is too respectful of his father, the father finds his son's
situation too painful), is reflected in the deep use of mise-en-scene.

FRONTALITY

Frontality refers to the staging of elements, often human figures, so that they face the
camera square-on. This arrangement is an alternative to oblique staging. Frontal staging
is usually avoided by the invisible style of continuity editing, since it supposedly breaks
the spectator's illusion of peeking into a separate world, by having characters look
directly into the camera as if they were aware of the viewers' presence. Some films may
go even further and have the characters speak to the camera, in what is called a direct
address. Accordingly, frontality is often used in films that are more willing to play with,
or openly defy, the distance between the screen and the spectator. In this shot from The
Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Italy, 1996) Dario Argento exploits the
iconicity of frontal staging in multiple ways.
First, he situates his characters on a parallel plane with the famous profile portraits of The
Duke of Urbino and his wife by Piero Della Francesca. Then, he flattens the characters by
making the space between them and the paintings shallow with the use of a zoom lens,
while keeping all planes in focus. As a reflexive auteur, Argento thus uses frontality to
equate his characters with the paintings: both are fictional creations, the product of an
artist's work. As a final self-referential pun, Argento has his Japanese tourist taking a
picture of us!

MATTE SHOT

A process shot in which two photographic images (usually background and foreground)
are combined into a single image using an optical printer. Matte shots can be used to add
elements to a realistic scene or to create fantasy spaces. In these four examples from
Vertigo (1958), director Alfred Hitchcock uses all possible combinations. In the first
image, the white belfry is a model added on the foreground of a shot of the roof; in the
second image, the sky in the background is clearly a painting, with the purpose of making
us believe the scene takes place on a bell tower's top floor, rather than on the studio's
ground.

The other two shots belong to the fantasy sequence of Scottie's dream. In the first one his
face is superimposed over a campy "unconscious" image; the last one reverses the
process, having a mixture of "real" and matted elements in the background (the roof and
the belfry) with the added silhouette in the foreground.

Matte shooting is one of the most common techniques used in studio filmmaking, either
for economical reasons (it's cheaper to shot a picture of the Eiffel tower than to travel to
Paris) or because it would be impossible or too dangerous to try to shot in the real space.
Sometimes, as when animation and real figures interact, that space may not even exist. In
recent years, however, special effects and computer generated images have taken over the
function of matte shots.

OFFSCREEN SPACE

Space that exists in the diegesis but that is not visible in the frame. Offscreen space
becomes significant when the viewer's attention is called to an event or presence in the
diegesis that is not visible in the frame. Offscreen space is commonly exploited for
suspense in horror and thriller films, such as The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di
Stendhal, Dario Argento, Italy, 1996)

As discussed in the offscreen sound entry, this scene from Life on Earth (La Vie sur
Terre, Abderrahmane Sissako, Mauritania, 1998) explores the difficulties of establishing
communication in a postcolonial space that still depends on the former colonial master
for its technology and even its calendar.

SHALLOW SPACE

The opposite of deep space, in shallow space the image is staged with very little depth.
The figures in the image occupy the same or closely positioned planes. While the
resulting image loses realistic appeal, its flatness enhances its pictorial qualities. Striking
graphic patters can be achieved through shallow space. In these frames from My
Neighbor Totoro (Tonari No Totoro, Japan, 1988) Miyazaki fills the entire background
with a lamp-eyed, grinning catbus. Shallow space creates ambiguity: is the cat brimming
with joy at the sisters' encounter, or is he about to eat them?
Shallow space can be staged, or it can also be achieved optically, with the use of a
telephoto lens.This is particularly useful for creating claustrophic images, since it makes
the characters look like they are being crushed against the background.

Section 4 - Costume
Costume simply refers to the clothes that characters wear. Costume in narrative cinema is
used to signify character, or advertise particular fashions, or to make clear distinctions
between characters.

In this example from Life on Earth (La Vie sur Terre, 1998) filmmaker and actor
Abderrahmane Sissako uses "similar" costumes (long loose clothes, big hats) to further
stress the cultural and psychological implications of a nomadic existence, split between
the cold affluence of France and the colorful poverty of Mauritania.

Section 5 - Acting
There is enormous historical and cultural variation in performance styles in the cinema.
Early melodramatic styles, clearly indebted to the 19th century theater, gave way in
Western cinema to a relatively naturalistic style. There are many alternatives to the
dominant style: the kabuki-influenced performances of kyu-geki Japanese period films,
the use of non-professional actors in Italian neorealism, the typage of silent Soviet
Cinema, the improvisatory practices of directors like John Cassavettes or Eric Rohmer,
the slapstick comedy of Laurel and Hardy, or the deadpan of Buster Keaton and Jacques
Tatí, not to mention the exuberant histrionics of Bollywood films.

TYPAGE

Typage refers to the selection of actors on the basis that their facial or bodily features
readily convey the truth of the character the actor plays. Usually associated with the
Soviet Montage school, these filmmakers thought that the life-experience of a non-actor
guaranteed the authenticity of their performance when they attempted a dramatic role
similar to their real social role. Typage is related to the use of stereotype in commuicating
the essential qualities of a character. Although current casting practices can no longer be
described as typage, the use of performers with experience in the role they played is
common to most films, whether they rely on the star system, or on non-professional
actors. In Pudovkin's Storm Over Asia (Potomok Chingis-Khana, USSR, 1928),
professional and non-professional actors are used alike. The cast was selected not on
terms of their skills or reputation, but on their physical ressemblance to the following
types:

the hero of the Mongol people... and the explotative English capitalist

the partisan's leader, noble and stoic in his deathbed...and the pompous and greedy
general
 the partisan woman, strong mother and fighter... and the decrepit general's wife with
royal ambitions

Part 3: Cinematography
Section 1 - Quality
This section explores some of the elements at play in the construction of a shot. As the
critics at Cahiers du cinéma maintained, the "how" is as important as the "what" in the
cinema. The look of an image, its balance of dark and light, the depth of the space in
focus, the relation of background and foreground, etc. all affect the reception of the
image. For instance, the optical qualities of grainy black and white in Battle of Algiers
(Gillo Pontecorvo, Maarakat madinat al Jazaer, Algeria, 1965) seem to guarantee its
authenticity. On the other hand, the shimmering Technicolor of a musical such as Singin'
in the Rain (Stanley Donen, 1952) suggests an out-of-this-world glamor and excitement.

COLOR

Early films were shot in black and white but the cinema soon included color images.
These images were initially painted or stencilled onto the film but by the 1930s
filmmakers were able to include color sequences in their films. Apart from the added
realism or glamor that a color image could provide, color is also used to create aesthetic
patterns and to establish character or emotion in narrative cinema.
In Federico Fellini's extravagant Juliet of the Spirits (Giulietta degli Spiriti, 1965) colors
separate the bourgeois reality and the fantasy daydreamings of the title character, who
partyhops between black and white and reds and purples.

Juliet of the Spirits was the first Fellini film in color, and he intended to make full use of
it. In order to further enhance the contrast with his previous work, he cast his favorite
actress and wife Giulietta Massina, the protagonist of Fellini's earlier successes such as
Nights of Cabiria (Le Notti di Cabiria, 1957) in which she plays a destitute hooker in a
grim suburban environment. Now Fellini has the same actress play a rich housewife in
luscious technicolor, obviously signaling a clear turning point from his early Neorealism-
inspired films.

Contrary to popular belief (and Goethe), colors do not necessarily carry exclusive
meanings. Compare the use of red in Ingmar Bergman's Cries and Whispers (Viskingar
Och Rop, 1972),

and Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou (1990), for example.

While Zhang exploits red as a cliched signifier of unrestrained passion, Bergman
associates the color with stagnation and contaminated blood.

CONTRAST

The ratio of dark to light in an image. If the difference between the light and dark areas is
large, the image is said to be "high contrast". If the difference is small, it is referred to as
"low contrast" Most films use low contrast to achieve a more naturalistic lighting. High
contrast is usually associated with the low key lighting of dark scenes in genres such as
the horror film and the film noir. A common cliche is to use contrast between light and
dark to distinguish between good and evil. The use of contrast in a scene may draw on
racist or sexist connotations.

For instance, this shot from Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958) employs high contrast to
further emphasize racial differences between a blonde American woman and a menacing
Mexican man.

DEEP FOCUS

Like deep space, deep focus involves staging an event on film such that significant
elements occupy widely separated planes in the image. Unlike deep space, deep focus
requires that elements at very different depths of the image both be in focus. In these two
shots from Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) Besieged (L'Assedio, Bernardo
Bertolucci,1998) all of the different planes of the image are given equal importance
through deep focus, not only to the characters (like the man peeking at the window in the
first image), but also to the spaces (Shanduray's basement room in the second).

While deep focus may be used occasionally, some auteurs use it consistently for they
believe it achieves a truer representation of space. Directors like Jean Renoir, Orson
Welles, Hou Hsao-Hsien, or Abbas Kiarostami all use deep focus as an essential part of
their signature style.

SHALLOW FOCUS

A restricted depth of field, which keeps only one plane in sharp focus; the opposite of
deep focus. Used to direct the viewer's attention to one element of a scene. Shallow focus
is very common in close-up, as in these two shots from Central Station (Central do
Brasil, Walter Selles, Brazil, 1998).

Shallow focus suggests psychological introspection, since a character appears as

oblivious to the world around her/him. It is therefore commonly employed in genres such
as the melodrama, where the actions and thoughts of an individual prevail over
everything else.

DEPTH OF FIELD

The distance through which elements in an image are in sharp focus. Bright light and a
narrow lens aperture tend to produce a larger depth of field, as does using a wide-angle
rather than a long lens. A shallow depth of field is often used as a technique to focus
audience attention on the most significant aspect of a scene without having to use an
analytic cut-in.

Depth of field is directly connected, but not to be confused, with focus. Focus is the
quality (the "sharpness" of an object as it is registered in the image) and depth of field
refers to the extent to which the space represented is in focus. For a given lens aperture
and level of lighting, the longer the focal distance (the distance between the lens and the
object that is in focus) the greater the focal depth. For a given focal distance, the greater
the level of lighting or the narrower the aperture, the greater the focal depth. For that
reason, close-up shooting and shooting in low light conditions often results in images
with very shallow depth of field. An image with shallow depth of field, as this frame
from Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, Tsui Hark , 1986), has some elements in focus,
but others are not.

EXPOSURE

A camera lens has an aperture that controls how much light passes through the lens and
onto the film. If the aperture is widened, more light comes through and the resultant
image will become more exposed. If an image is so pale that the detail begins to
disappear, it can be described as "overexposed". Conversely, a narrow aperture that
allows through less light will produce a darker image than normal, known as
"underexposed". Exposure can be manipulated to guide an audience's response to a scene.
In his film Traffic (2000), Steven Soderbergh decided to shot all of the sequences in the
Northern Mexico desert overexposed. The resulting images give an impression of a
barren, desolated land being mercilessly burnt by the sun, a no-man's land over which
police and customs have no control.

RACKING FOCUS

Racking focus refers to the practice of changing the focus of a lens such that an element
in one plane of the image goes out of focus and an element at another plane in the image
comes into focus. This technique is an even more overt way of steering audience
attention through the scene, as well as of linking two spaces or objects. For instance in
this scene from Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, Tsui Hark, Honk Kong, 1986), a
connection is made between an activist in hiding and a police officer who is pursuing
him.

Racking focus is usually done quite quickly; in a way, the technique tries to mimick a
brief, fleeting glance that can be used to quicken the tempo or increase suspense.

RATE

A typical sound film is shot at a frame rate of 24 frames per second. If the number of
frames exposed in each second is increased, the action will seem to move more slowly
than normal when it is played back. Conversely, the fewer the number of frames exposed
each second, the more rapid the resulting action appears to be. The extreme case of frame
rate manipulation is stop-motion, when the camera takes only one frame then the subject
is manipulated or allowed to change before taking another frame.

In this clip from Vertov's Man with the Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom,
USSR, 1929) stop motion is used to give the impression than the chairs open up by
themselves.
In Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai, Japan, 1954), slow motion is used
to contrast the emotional rescue of a child with the death of the man who kidnapped him.

TELEPHOTO SHOT

An image shot with an extremely long lens is called a telephoto shot. The effect of using
a long lens is to compress the apparent depth of an image, so that elements that are
relatively close or far away from the camera seem to lie at approximately the same
distance. In this first shot from Payback (Brian Helgeland, 1999), we can clearly see
there is a considerable distance beteen the fallen body and the red car.

Yet, when a telephoto lens is used for a close-up of Mel Gibson, his face looks like it is
pressed against the car! Here a telephoto lens create a shallow space, which combines
with extreme canted framing to suggest the physical and psychological disarray of a man
who has been betrayed, shot, and left for dead.
ZOOM SHOT

The zoom shot uses a lens with several elements that allows the filmmaker to change the
focal length of the lens (see telephoto shot) while the shot is in progress. We seem to
move toward or away from the subject, while the quality of the image changes from that
of a shorter to a longer lens, or vice versa. The change in apparent distance from the
subject is similar to the crane or tracking shots, but changes in depth of field and apparent
size is quite different. Zooms are commonly used at the beginning of a scene, or even a
film, to introduce an object or character by focusing on it. In the initial sequence of The
Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario Argento, Italy, 1996), the camera
zooms from a medium long shot of people cueing up at a museum's entrance to a medium
close-up of the female protagonist.

Few cinematic techniques are used in isolation. Notice how the woman "helps" the zoom
to achieve its purpose of singling her out by moving around.
In another clip from the same film, a zooms is used to offer a more detailed view of an
object. Furthermore, as we move closer and closer to the painting (Caravaggio's Head of
Medusa, 1590-1600) , both our attention and tension are increased.

Section 2 - Framing
In one sense, cinema is an art of selection. The edges of the image create a "frame" that
includes or excludes aspects of what occurs in front of the camera -- the "profilmic
event". The expressive qualities of framing include the angle of the camera to the object,
the aspect ratio of the projected image, the relationship between camera and object, and
the association of camera with character. In Cruel Story of Youth (Seishun zankoku
monogatari, Oshima Nagisa, 1960) the radical decentering of the character in relation to
the frame marks their failed struggle to find a place in their world.

ANGLE OF FRAMING
Many films are shot with a camera that appears to be at approximately the same height as
its subject. However, it is possible to film from a position that is significantly lower or
higher than the dominant element of the shot. In that case, the image is described as low
angle or high angle respectively. Angle of framing can be used to indicate the relation
between a character and the camera's point of view. Or can simply be used to create
striking visual compositions.

Camera angle is often used to suggest either vulnerability or power. In The Color of
Paradise (Rang-e Khoda,1999) the father, who rules absolute over his family, is often
portrayed from a low angle, therefore aggrandizing his figure.

On the other hand, his blind son Mohammad and his elderly grandmother are often shot
from a high angle, emphasizing their dependence and smallness. These interpretations are
not exclusive, however. The relation between camera and subject can be rendered ironic,
or it may suggest more the subject of perception than to the state of the object. The father
in this film is so busy smiling at his fiancee that he falls off his horse, while Mohammed
and her granny seen from above may also indicate that God is watching over them, and
keeping them under protection.

ASPECT RATIO

The ratio of the horizontal to the vertical sides of an image. Until the 1950s almost all
film was shot in a 4:3 or 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Some filmmakers used multiple projectors to
create a wider aspect ratio whereas others claimed that the screen should be square, not
rectangular. Widescreen formats became more popular in the 1950s and now films are
made in a variety of aspect ratios -- some of the most common being 1.66:1, 1.76:1,
1.85:1, and 2.35:1 (cinemascope).

Widescreen films are often trimmed for television or video release, effectively altering
the original compositions. Some DVD's have the option of showing the film in its
original format and in a reduced ratio that fits the TV screen. Compare the same frame
from Bertolucci's Besieged (L'Assedio, 1998). Objects appear much more cramped with
the reduced aspect ratio, giving an impression of physical (and psychological) space
different from the theatrical release.
LEVEL OF FRAMING

Not only the angle from which a camera films but the height can also be a significant
element in a film. A low-level camera is placed close to the ground whereas a high-level
camera would be placed above the typical perspective shown in the cinema. Camera level
is used to signify sympathy for characters who occupy particular levels in the image, or
just to create pleasurable compositions. Camera level is obviously used to a greater
advantage when the difference in height bewteen objects or characters is greater. In The
Color of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda, Iran, 1999) Majid Majidi uses different camera height
to emphasize the difference between Mohammad and his father.

In the first image, the camera concentrates on Mohammad as he recognizes his father's
hand, after patiently waiting for him for hours. The father is almost absent from the
scene; only the part of him that Mohammad touches is visible, therefore increasing our
empathy with the blind boy. On the second image, camera level is adjusted to the father's
size, making Mohammed a puny, defenceless figure in a world that overcomes him. The
first shot is on Mohammad's School for the Blind, while the second is on a shop in
Tehran. Through different camera levels, the director makes clear where Mohammad's
fits and where he does not.

CANTED FRAMING

Canted Framing is a view in which the frame is not level; either the right or left side is
lower than the other, causing objects in the scene to appear slanted out of an upright
positon.Canted framings are used to create an impression of chaos and instability. They
are therefore associated with the frantic rhythms of action films, music videos and
animation.
Many Hong Kong films of the 80s and 90s blend elements of the genres mentioned
above, for instance Tsui Hark's Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, 1986). These films
employ unconventional framings to achieve their signature dizzing, freewheeling style.
Canted framings are also common when shooting with a Steadycam.

FOLLOWING SHOT

A shot with framing that shifts to keep a moving figure onscreen. A following shot
combines a camera movement, like panning, tracking, tilting or craning, with the specific
function of directing our attention to a character or object as he/she/it moves inside the
frame. In this shot from Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999) the camera pans slightly
to accompany a couple into the ballroom floor.

REFRAMING

Short panning or tilting movements to adjust for the figures' movements, keeping them
onscreen or centered. An important technique of continuity editing, thanks to its
unobstrusive nature. The characters' actions take precedence over the camera movements,
as in this dancing scene from Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
POINT-OF-VIEW SHOT

A shot taken with the camera placed approximately where the character's eyes would be,
showing what the character would see; usually cut in before or after a shot of the
character looking. Horror films and thrillers often use POV shots to suggest a menacing
and unseen presence in the scene. Films that use many point-of-view shots tend toward
dynamic and non-naturalistic style. In this clip from Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan,
Tsui Hark, Hong Kong, 1986) the female impersonator's fear of the soldier who attempts
to procure him for his general is rendered comic by the cut to POV and wide angle.

POV is one of the means by which audiences are encouraged to identify with characters.
However, it is actually a relatively rare technique: identificatory mechanisms rely more
on sympathetic character and the flow of narrative information than on simple optical
affiliation.

WIDE ANGLE LENS

A lens of short focal length that affects a scene's perspective by distorting straight lines
near the edges of the frame and by exaggerating the distance between foreground and
background planes. In doing so it allows for more space to enter the frame (hence the
name "wide"), which makes it more convenient for shooting in a closed location, for
instance a real room, rather than a three-wall studio room. In addition, a wider lens allows
for a bigger depth of field. In 35mm filming, a wide angle lens is 30mm or less. See also
telephoto lens.
Since a wide angle lens distorts the edges of an image, as in this frame from Yi Yi
(Edward Yang, Taiwan, 2000), extreme wide lenses are avoided in naturalistic styles, or
they are used in unrestrained or open spaces, with no converging lines around the edges
of the frame.

Section 3 - Scale
If the same object were filmed at different shot scales it would often signify quite
differently. Shot scale can foster intimacy with a character, or conversely, it can swallow
the character in its environment.Orson Welles exploited divergent shot scales in Citizen
Kane (1941) to demonstrate the changing power relationship between Charles Foster
Kane and his lawyer. As a boy, his figure is lost in the snow at the back of the shot as the
lawyer arranges for his adoption. As a young man he rebels against Bernstein's oversight,
rising in the frame as he asserts himself.

EXTREME LONG SHOT

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very small; a building, landscape, or
crowd of people will fill the screen. Usually the first or last shots of a sequence, that can
also function as establishing shots.. The following examples of framing from Eyes Wide
Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999) and A Summer Tale (Conte d'Été, Eric Rohmer, 1996) well
illustrate the range of uses for this particular shot scale.
These two extreme long shots are also establishing shots. However, their primary
function is different. Whereas Rohmer give us a standard establishing shot that introduces
the locale where the main characters are about to meet, Kubrick uses the ballroom shot
mainly as a brief transition between two more important scenes. While the two shots
above have similar sizes, some extreme long shots can be significantly larger, particularly
if shot from the air with the help of cranes or helicopters. This kind of extreme long shot
is also called bird's eye view shot, since it gives an aerial perspective of the scene.

LONG SHOT

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is small; a standing human figure would
appear nearly the height of the screen. It makes for a relatively stable shot that can
accomodate movement without reframing. It is therefore commonly used in genres where
a full body action is to be seen in its entirety, for instance Hollywood Musicals or 1970s
Martial Arts films.

Another advantage of the long shot is that it allows to show a character and her/his
surroundings in a single frame, as in these two images from Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley
Kubrick, 1999) and A Summer Tale (Conte d'Été, Eric Rohmer, 1996).

MEDIUM LONG SHOT

Framing such than an object four or five feet high would fill most of the screen vertically.
Also called plain américain, given its recurrence in the Western genre, where it was
important to keep a cowboy's weapon in the image.

Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

A Summer Tale (Conte d'Été) France Eric Rohmer, 1996

MEDIUM CLOSE-UP

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is fairly large; a human figure seen
from the chest up would fill most of the screen. Another common shot scale.

Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick, 1999)

A Summer Tale (Conte d'Été, Eric Rohmer, 1996)

CLOSE-UP

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is relatively large. In a close-up a
person's head, or some other similarly sized object, would fill the frame. Framing scales
are not universal, but rather established in relationship with other frames from the same
film. These two shots from Eyes Wide Shut and A Summer Tale can be described as
close-ups, even if one starts at the neck and the second at the upper chest..

Framing scales are usually drawn in relationship to the human figure but this can be
misleading since a frame need not include people. Accordingly, this shot from The Color
of Paradise (Rang-e Khoda, Majid Majidi, Iran,1999) is also a close-up.

EXTREME CLOSE-UP

A framing in which the scale of the object shown is very large; most commonly, a small
object or a part of the body usually shot with a zoom lens. Again, faces are the most
recurrent images in extreme close-ups, as these images from The Color of Paradise
(Rang-e Khoda,Majid Majidi, 1999),

The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario Argento, 1996),

and My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari No Totoro, Miyazaki Hayao, 1988) demonstrate. With
regard to the latter, it should be noted that while all of these film terms equally applies to
animation, the technical procedure to achieve a particular effect can be very different. For
instance this last frame is a drawing of Totoro's teeth, not a zoom on his face, as it would
have been the case in a live-action film.

Section 4 - Movement
There are many ways to move a camera: in fluid long takes, rapid and confusing motions,
etc. that establish the rhythm and point of view of a scene.A film such as Man with the
Movie Camera ( Chelovek s kinoapparatom, Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) features a full
catalog of the creative possibilities open to the film camera. In one famous sequence, we
get to see the cinematographer using a car as a mobile support for a tracking shot.
Furthermore, one soon realizes that the whole process is probably being mirrored by a
second car, in order to film the first one.
Scenes taken from both cameras are playfully incorporated into the film. Was this image
of the car passing by taken by the first or the second car/camera unit?

CRANE SHOT

A shot with a change in framing rendered by having the camera above the ground and
moving through the air in any direction. It is accomplished by placing the camera on a
crane (basically, a large cantilevered arm) or similar device. Crane shots are often long or
extreme long shots: they lend the camera a sense of mobility and often give the viewer a
feeling of omniscience over the characters.

Crane shots can also be used to achieve a flowing rhythm, particularly in a long take, as
in this clip from The Player (Altman, 1992)
HANDHELD CAMERA, STEADYCAM

The use of the camera operator's body as a camera support, either holding it by hand or
using a gyroscopic stabilizer and a harness. Newsreel and wartime camera operators
favored smaller cameras such as the Eclair that were quickly adopted by documentarist
and avant-garde filmmakers, notably the cinéma verité movement of the 1950s and
1960s. They were also used by young filmmakers since they were cheap and lent the
images a greater feeling of sponteneity. At the time this challenge to prevailing standards
was perceived as anti-cinematic but eventually it came to be accepted as a style. Whereas
hand held cameras give a film an unstable, jerky feel, they also allows for a greater
degree of movement and flexibility than bulkier standard cameras --at a fraction of the
cost. Filmmakers now are experimenting with digital video in a similar way.
Gyroscopically stabilized "steadicams" were invented in the 1970s and made it possible
to create smooth "tracking" shots without cumbersome equipment. More recently, they
are extensively used in music videos and in the films of the Dogme movement, such as
Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (Denmark, 2000)

Ironically, while today's steadicams allow for a fairly stable image, Lars Von Trier and
his accolites prefer to exacerbate the jerkiness and unstability traditionally associated
with these cameras as a marker of visceral autorial intervention. In fact, combining
steadicam shooting with aggressive reframings and jump cuts , or even by shooting on
low definition formats, Dogme and other radical filmmaking movements attempt to create
a new cinematic look as further away as possible from mainstream Hollywood.

PAN

A camera movement with the camera body turning to the right or left. On the screen, it
produces a mobile framing which scans the space horizontally. A pan directly and
immediately connects two places or characters, thus making us aware of their proximity.
The speed at which a pan occurs can be expoited for different dramatic purposes. For
instance, in a Mizoguchi or a Hou film, two characters may be having a conversation in a
room, and after several minutes, the camera might pan and reveal a third person was also
present, thus changing the whole implication of the scene. In a film like Traffic (Steven
Soderbergh, 2000), on the other hand, pans are usually very quick, suggesting that
characters have no time to waste, and that decisions must be taken fast, therefore
contributing to the sense of imminent danger and moral urgency that the films tries to
communicate.
In the clip above, the defense lawyer has just finished a long, clever speech, yet the judge
has no second thoughts on his verdict, nor any pity for the (presumably guilty) accused
and their rich legal cohorts. Lastly, a pan does not necessarily mean that the camera
moves along an horizontal line. This clip from The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di
Stendhal, Dario Argento,1996), illustrates what we could call a 360° pan.

TILT

A camera movement with the camera body swiveling upward or downward on a

stationary support. It produces a mobile framing that scans the space vertically. Its
function is similar to that of pans and tracking shots, albeit on a vertical axis. In this clip
from Besieged (L'Assedio, Italy, 1998) Bernardo Bertolucci uses a tilt to establish the
social (and even racial) distance between an African housemaid and her wealthy English
employer.
A tilt usually also implies a change in the angle of framing; in this clip the camera starts
with a high angle view of the woman and ends up on a low angle view of the man
--which obviously reinforces the social inequality of their relationship. Lastly, a tilt is
also a means of gradually uncovering offscreen space. This can be exploited for suspense,
since a sense of anticipation grows in the viewer as the camera movement forces her/his
attention in a precise direction, yet never knowing when it will stop, nor what will be
found there.

TRACKING SHOT

A mobile framing that travels through space forward, backward, or laterally. See also
crane shot, pan, and tilt. A tracking shot usually follows a character or object as it moves
along the screen. Contrary to the pan, which mimicks a turning head, a tracking shot
physically accompanies the entire range of movement. It therefore creates a closer
affinity with the character or object moving, since the spectator is not just watching
him/her moving, but moving with him/her. A standard tracking shot, as it was devised in
the Classical Studio filmmaking, consisted in placing the camera on a wheeled support
called a dolly, and moving it along rails or tracks to ensure the smoothness of movement
associated with the continuity editing style. As cameras became lighter and steadier,
tracking shots became more flexible and creative: bycicles, wheelchairs, roller skates, and
many ingenious wheeled artifacts augmented the range of movement of tracking shots. In
this clip from Central Station (Central do Brasil, Walter Salles, Brazil, 1998), one
ininterrupted movement is rendered with two different tracking shots, linked by a match
on action.

The first is a classic tracking shot, with the camera on rails sideways to the character that
is moving, following the child as the trains departs. The second uses the train as a dolly,
as it moves away from the running child. Indeed, tracking shots are one of the most
suggestive and creative camera movements, one that can be accomplished in a number of
clever ways. Not surprisingly, some auteurs like Max Ophuls or Orson Welles made
virtuosistic tracking shots a staple of their films, often in conjuntion with long takes.
WHIP PAN

An extremely fast movement of the camera from side to side, which briefly causes the
image to blur into a set of indistinct horizontal streaks. Often an imperceptible cut will
join two whip pans to create a trick transition between scenes. As opposed to dissolves,
action or graphic matches, and fades --the most common transitions of the continuity
style-- whip pans always stand out, given their abrupt, brisk nature. Commonly used in
flashy action genres such as kung-fu movies from the 70s, like Fists of Fury (Tang Shan
Da Xiong, Wei Lo, Honk Kong, 1971).

Editing
Section 1 - Devices
a) TRANSITIONS
The shot is defined by editing but editing also works to join shots together. There are
many ways of effecting that transition, some more evident than others. In the analytical
tradition, editing serves to establish space and lead the viewer to the most salient aspects
of a scene. In the classical continuity style, editing techniques avoid drawing attention to
themselves. In a constructivist tradition such as Soviet Montage cinema, there is no such
false modesty. Vertov's Man with the Movie Camera (Chelovek s kinoapparatom, USSR,
1929) celebrates the power of the cinema to create a new reality out of disparate
fragments.
CHEAT CUT

Cheat cut. In the continuity editing system, a cut which purports to show continuous time
and space from shot to shot but which actually mismatches the position of figures or
objects in the scene. In this sequence from Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minelli, 1944)
the editing sacrifices actual physical space for dramatic space. As we can see in the first
shot, there is a wall behind the telephone.

However, that wall magically disappears in the third shot in order to show both the
telephone and the family seated around the dining table (an important element in the film)
from an angle that would had been impossible in an actual room. Cheat cuts were also
often used to disguise the relatively short stature of leading men in relation to their
statuesque female co-stars.

CROSSCUTTING, aka PARALLEL EDITING

Editing that alternates shots of two or more lines of action occurring in different places,
usually simultaneously. The two actions are therefore linked, associating the characters
from both lines of action. In this extended clip from Edward Yang's Yi Yi (Taiwan, 2000),
father and daughter go out on dates at presumably the same time, and go through the
same motions, even if the father is in Japan and the daughter in Taipei.
To further stress the similarities, the father is actually reliving his first date with his first
girlfriend (whom he has just met again after 20 years), while his daughter is actually on
her first date! Yang uses parallel editing across space and time to suggest that history
repeats itself, generation after generation.

CUT-IN, CUT AWAY

An instantaneous shift from a distant framing to a closer view of some portion fo the
same space, and vice versa. In Lars Von Trier's Dancer in the Dark ( Denmark, 2000)
Selma and Bill have a dramatic conversation in Bill's car that is framed by a cut-in and a
cut-away.

The two cuts neatly bracket Bill's anguished confession as a separate moment, private and
isolated, that only Selma knows about. This editing-constructed secrecy will ultimately
have drastic consequences for Selma.

DISSOLVE

A transition between two shots during which the first image gradually disappears while
the second image gradually appears; for a moment the two images blend in
superimposition. Dissolves can be used as a fairly straighforward editing device to link
any two scenes, or in more creative ways, for instance to suggest hallucinatory states. In
this series of shots from The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Dario
Argento, 1996), a young woman becomes so absorbed by Brueghel's The Fall of Icarus
that she actually dives into the painting's sea! (at least in her imagination, in "real life"
she faints).

IRIS

A round, moving mask that can close down to end a scene (iris-out) or emphasize a detail,
or it can open to begin a scene (iris-in) or to reveal more space around a detail. For
instance, in this scene from Neighbors (Buster Keaton, 1920), the iris is used with the
comic effect of gradually revealing that the female protagonist is 1) ready for her
wedding and 2) ready for her not-too-luxurious wedding.
Iris is a common device of early films (at at time when some techniques like zooming
were not feasible), so much so that when it is used after 1930 it is often perceived as
charminlgly anachronistic or nostalgic, as in Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960).

JUMP CUT

An elliptical cut that appears to be an interruption of a single shot. Either the figures seem
to change instantly against a constant background, or the background changes instantly
while the figures remain constant. See also elliptical editing, steadicam.. Jump cuts are
anathema to Classical Hollywood continuity editing, but feature prominently in avant-
garde and radical filmmaking.When the French Nouvelle Vague films of the 1960s made
jump cuts an essential part of their playful, modern outlook, many directors from around
the globe started to use jump cuts --either creatively or in a last ditch attempt to become
"hip". More recently, jump cuts are more commonly associated with music videos, video
or alternative filmmaking, like Lars Von Trier's Dogma films. Here is an example from
Dancer in the Dark (Denmark, 2000).
Jump cuts are used expressively, to suggest the ruminations or ambivalences of a
character, or of his/her everyday life, but they are also a clear signifier of rupture with
mainstream film storytelling. Rather than presenting a film as a perfectly self-contained
story that seamlessly unfold in front of us, jump cuts are like utterances that evidentiates
both the artificiality and the difficulties of telling such a story.

ESTABLISHING SHOT/REESTABLISHING SHOT

A shot, usually involving a distant framing, that shows the spatial relations among the
important figures, objects, and setting in a scene. Usually, the first few shots in a scene
are establishing shots, as they introduces us to a location and the space relationships
inside it.

In the initial sequence from Peking Opera Blues (Do Ma Daan, Honk Kong,1986),
director Tsui Hark uses three shots to establish the locale. In the first one, three musicians
are shown against a fireplace in what looks like a luxurious room. Our suspicions are
confirmed by the second establishing shot, which shows us the other half of the ample
room (shot/ reverse shot) and reveals a party going on.

After this introduction, the camera moves forward with several close-ups of both the
musicians and the spectators. At the end of the sequence, Hark shows us the entire room
in a larger shot. This final establishing shot is called a reestablishing shot, for it shows us
once again the spatial relationships introduced with the establishing shots.

SHOT/REVERSE SHOT
Two or more shots edited together that alternate characters, typically in a conversation
situation. In continuity editing, characters in one framing usually look left, in the other
framing, right. Over-the-shoulder framings are common in shot/reverse-shot editing. Shot
/ reverse shots are one of the most firmly established conventions in cinema, and they are
usually linked through the equally persuasive eyeline matches. These conventions have
become so strong that they can be exploited to make improbable meanings convincing, as
in this sequence from The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Italy,1996).
Director Dario Argento has his protagonist Anna looking at Botticelli's The Birth of
Venus (c1485)...

...but with the use of successive shot/ reverse shots, eyeline matches and matching
framings, it soons begins to look as if Venus herself is looking at Anna!

SUPERIMPOSITION

The exposure of more than one image on the same film strip. Unlike a dissolve, a
superimposition does not signify a transition from one scene to another. The technique
was often used to allow the same performer to appear simultaneously as two characters
on the screen (for example Son of the Sheik), to express subjective or intoxicated vision
(The Last Laugh), or simply to introduce a narrative element from another part of the
diegetic world into the scene. In this clip from Neighbors (Buster Keaton, 1920), the
resentful father of the bride looks at the wedding ring and immediately associates in his
mind with a five and dime store. The subjective shot gives us a clear indication of his
opinion of his soon to be son-in-law.
WIPE
A transition betwen shots in which a line passes across the screen, eliminating the first
shot as it goes and replacing it with the next one. A very dynamic and noticeable
transition, it is usually employed in action or adventure films. It often suggest a brief
temporal ellypsis and a direct connection between the two images. In this example from
Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Sichinin No Samurai, Japan, 1954), the old man's words are
immediately corroborated by the wandering, destitute samurai coming into town.

As other transitions devices, like the whip pan, wipes became fashionable at an specific
historical time (the 1950s and 1960s), so much so as to became stylistic markers of the
film of the period.

b) MATCHES
Editing matches refer to those techniques that join as well as divide two shots by making
some form of connection between them. That connection can be inferred from the
situation portrayed in the scene (for example, eyeline match) or can be of a purely optical
nature (graphic match).

EYELINE MATCH

A cut obeying the axis of action principle, in which the first shot shows a person off in
one direction and the second shows a nearby space containing what he or she sees. If the
person looks left, the following shot should imply that the looker is offscreen right. The
following shots from Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal,
Italy, 1996), depict Anna looking at a painting, Brueghel's The Fall of Icarus. The scene
takes place inside Firenze's most famous museum, the Uffizi Gallery.

First we see her looking... then we see what she looks at.
As her interest grows, the eyeline match (that is the connection between looker and
looked) is stressed with matching close-ups of Anna's face and Icarus's falling into the
ocean in the painting.Again, this implies that Anna is looking directly at Icarus's body.

Ironically, even if Argento managed to film inside the real Uffizi gallery, the painting he
wanted to use, The Fall of Icarus, is not part of the museum's collection! The painting
that we see is probably a reproduction, shot in the studio, and edited together with Anna's
shots in the Uffizi to make us believe that they are both in the same room. As this
example demonstrates, eyeline matches can be a very persuasive tool to construct space
in a film, real or imagined.

GRAPHIC MATCH

Two successive shots joined so as to create a strong similarity of compositional elements

(e.g., color, shape). Used in trasparent continuity styles to smooth the transition between
two shots, as in this clip from Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres
al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, Almodóvar, 1988).
Graphic matches can also be used to make metaphorical associations, as in Soviet
Montage style. Furthermore, some directors like Ozu Yasujiro use graphic matches as an
integral part of their film style.

MATCH ON ACTION

A cut which splices two different views of the same action together at the same moment
in the movement, making it seem to continue uninterrupted. Quite logically, these
characteristics make it one of the most common transitions in the continuity style. Here is
an example from Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000)
A match on action adds variety and dinamism to a scene, since it conveys two
movements: the one that actually takes place on screen, and an implied one by the
viewer, since her/his position is shifted.

c) DURATION
Only since the introduction of editing to the cinema at the turn of the 20th century has
not-editing become an option. The decision to extend a shot can be as significant as the
decision to cut it. Editing can affect the experience of time in the cinema by creating a
gap between screen time and diegetic time (Montage and overlapping editing) or by
establishing a fast or slow rhythm for the scene.

LONG TAKE, aka PLAN-SEQUENCE

A shot that continues for an unusually lengthy time before the transition to the next shot.
The average lenght per shot differs greatly for different times and places, but most
contemporary films tend to have faster editing rates. In general lines, any shot above one
minute can be considered a long take. Here is an excerpt from the initial shot of Robert
Altman's The Player (1992) which not only runs for more than eight minutes, but it is in
itself an hommage to another famous long take, the first shot of Welles's Touch of Evil
(1958).

Unless shot at a fixed angle, with a fixed camera and no movement, long takes are
extremely hard to shoot. They have to be choreographed and rehearsed to the last detail,
since any error would make it necessary to start all over again from scratch. Sophisticated
long takes such as this one from The Player, which includes all kinds of camera
movements and zooms, are often seen as auteuristic marks of virtuosity. Aside from the
challenge of shooting in real time, long takes decisively influence a film's rhythm.
Depending on how much movement is included, a long take can make a film tense,
stagnant and spell-binding, or daring, flowing and carefree.Indeed, directors like Altman,
Welles, Renoir, Angelopoulos, Tarkovski or Mizoguchi have made long takes (usually in
combination with deep focus and deep space) an essential part of their film styles.

OVERLAPPING EDITING
Cuts that repeat part or all of an action, thus expanding its viewing time and plot duration.
Most commonly associated with experimental filmmmaking, due to its temporally
disconcerting and purely graphic nature, it is also featured in films in which action and
movement take precedence over plot and dialogue: sports documentaries, musicals,
martial arts, etc. Overlapping editing is a common characteristic of the frenzied Hong
Kong action films of the 80s and 90s. When director John Woo moved to Hollywood, he
tried to incorporate some of that style into mainstream action films, such as Mission:
Impossible 2 (2000).

RHYTHM

The perceived rate and regularity of sounds, series of shots, and movements within the
shots. Rhythmic factors include beat (or pulse), accent (or stress), and tempo (or pace).
Rhythm is one of the essential features of a film, for it decisively contributes to its mood
and overall impression on the spectator. It is also one of the most complex to analyze,
since it is achieved through the combination of mise-en-scene, cinematography, sound
and editing. Indeed, rhythm can be understood as the final balance all of the elements of a
film. Let us compare how rhythm can radically alter the treatment of a similar scene.
These two clips from Deconstructing Harry (Woody Allen, 1997) and Cries and
Whispers (Viskingar Och Rop, Ingmar Bergman, Sweden1972) feature a couple at a
table, and both clips feature a moment of fracture between the two characters. Still, they
could not be more dissimilar. Allen employs fast cuts (even jump cuts), pans, quick
dialogue and gesturing, as he concentrates exclusively on the two characters, shot from a
variety of angles but always in medium close-up and close-up.

Even if both characters overtly disagree with each other, there is an overall feeling of
warmth and inmediacy between them, suggested by their proximity (established in short
pans and close-ups) and in the tone of their speech. The quick camera movements and
different camera placements suggest the uneasiness of both characters, as they budge on
their seats.
Cries and Whispers, on the other hand, present us with a scene of horrifying stillness.
Bergman accentuates the separation between man and woman by shooting them frontally
and almost eliminating dialogue. In this context, even the smallest sounds of forks and
knives sound ominous; a glass shattering resonates like a shot.

Furthermore, the mise-en-scene becomes as equally, if not more, important than the
characters, reducing everything to dour red, black and whites. The feeling of
claustrophobia is enhanced by the use of shallow space, having the characters become
one with the austere backgrounds. Pace is deliberately slow, and it only quickes when the
glass breaks and both characters lift up their heads, only to immediately return to normal.
Bergman accelerates the rhythm for a second, punctuating the moment of the glass
breaking so that a trivial incident is magnified into a clear signal of disaster.

Lastly, rhythm is, almost by definition, intrisically related to music and sound. Some of
the most striking examples of the use of music as a film's driving force occur in the
(endlessly imitated) spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, which were written in close
collaboration with composer Ennio Morricone. In fact, sometimes the music would be
composed first and then a scene that fitted that rhythm would be shot, thus reversing the
customary order.

The prelude to the final shotdown of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Il Buono, il
Brutto, il Cattivo, Italy, 1966) runs for several minutes (of which we only see the last
minute here), as three men face each other in a triangle, waiting to see who will take the
first step. One of the film's theme songs is played in its entirety, from a slow, elegiac
beginning to a frenzy crescendo that is abruptly cut off by the first gunshot. The slow
mounting crescendo is paralleled by an increase in the editing rate, and an intensified
framing (the sequence actually begins on a long shot similar to the previous one).

Section 2 - Styles
The patterned use of transitions, matches and duration can be identified as a cinematic
style. Editing styles are usually associated with historical moments, technological
developments, or national schools.

CONTINUITY EDITING

A system of cutting to maintain continuous and clear narrative action. Continuity editing
relies upon matching screen direction, position, and temporal relations from shot to shot.
The film supports the viewer's assumption that space and time are contiguous between
successive shots. Also, the diegesis is more readily understood when directions on the
screen match directions in the world of the film. The "180° rule," shown in the diagram
below, dictates that the camera should stay in one of the areas on either side of the axis of
action (an imaginary line drawn between the two major dramatic elements A and B in a
scene, usually two characters).

By following this rule the filmmaker ensures that each character occupies a consistent
area of the frame, helping the audience to understand the layout of the scene. This sense
of a consistent space is reinforced by the use of techniques such as the eyeline match or
match on action. In this sequence from Neighbors (Buster Keaton, 1920), continuity is
maintained by the spatial and temporal contiguity of the shots and the preservation of
direction between world and screen. More importantly, the shots are matched on Keaton's
actions as he shuttles across the courtyard from stairwell to stairwell.
In the Hollywood continuity editing system the angle of the camera axis to the axis of
action usually changes by more than 30 ° between two shots, for example in a
conversation scene rendered as a series of shot/reverse shots. The 180° line is not usually
crossed unless the transition is smoothed by a POV shot or a reestablishing shot.

MONTAGE

1. A synonym for editing. 2. An approach to editing developed by the Soviet filmmakers

of the 1920s such as Pudovkin, Vertov and Eisenstein; it emphasizes dynamic, often
discontinuous, relationships between shots and the juxtaposition of images to create ideas
not present in either shot by itself. Sergei Eisenstein, in particular, developed a complex
theory of montage that included montage within the shot, between sound and image,
multiple levels of overtones, as well as in the conflict between two shots. This sequence
from October (Oktyabr, USSR, 1927) is an example of Eisenstein's intellectual montage.
The increasingly primitive icons from various world religions are linked by patterns of
duration, screen direction and shot scale to produce the concept of religion as a
degenerate practice used to legitimate corrupt states.

Soviet Montage proved to be influential around the world for commercial as well as
avant-garde filmmakers. We can see echoes of Pudovkin in The Grapes of Wrath (John
Ford, USA, 1939), Mother India (Mehboob Khan, India, 1957), and The Godfather
(Francis Ford Coppola, USA, 1973). In a famous sequence from the latter film, shots of
Michael attending his son's baptism are intercut with the brutal killings of his rivals.
Rather than stressing the temporal simultaneity of the events (it is highly unlikely that all
of the New York Mafia heads can be caught off guard at exactly the same time!), the
montage suggests Michael's dual nature and committement to both his "families", as well
as his ability to gain acceptance into both on their own terms -- through religion and
violence.
ELLIPTICAL EDITING

Shot transitions that omit parts of an event, causing an ellipses in plot and story duration.
In this clip from Traffic (Steven Soderbergh, 2000), a drug party is rendered through
elliptical editing (achieved with a plentiful use of dissolves and jump cuts) in order to
both shorten the time and suggest the character's rambling mental states.

Elliptical editing need not be confined to a same place and time. A seven-minute song
sequence from Hum Aapke Hain Koun (Sooraj Bartjatya, India 1994) dances us through
several months in the life of a family, from a cricket match to a ritual welcoming a new
wife.

from scenes of the newlyweds' daily life... to the announcement of Pooja's pregnacy,
from a gift shower for the upcoming baby... to multiple scenes of celebrations, as Pooja's
approaches her ninth month.

Sound
Section I - Sound Editing
Sound in the cinema does not necessarily match the image, nor does it have to be
continuous. The sound bridge is used to ease the transition between shots in the
continuity style. Sound can also be used to reintroduce events from earlier in the diegesis.
Especially since the introduction of magnetic tape recording after WWII, the possibilities
of sound manipulation and layering have increased tremendously. Directors such as
Robert Altman are famous for their complex use of the soundtrack, layering multiple
voices and sound effects in a sort of "sonic deep focus." In this clip from Nashville
(1975), we simultaneously hear a conversation between an English reporter and her
guide, a gospel choir singing, and the sound engineers' chatter.

SOUND BRIDGE

Sound bridges can lead in or out of a scene. They can occur at the beginning of one scene
when the sound from the previous scene carries over briefly before the sound from the
new scene begins. Alternatively, they can occur at the end of a scene, when the sound
from the next scene is heard before the image appears on the screen. Sound bridges are
one of the most common transitions in the continuity editing style, one that stresses the
connection between both scenes since their mood (suggested by the music) is still the
same. But sound bridges can also be used quite creatively, as in this clip from Yi Yi
(Taiwan, 2000). Director Edward Yang uses a sound bridge both to play with our
expectations. The clip begins with a high angle shot of a couple arguing under a highway.
A piano starts playing and the scene cuts into a house interior, where a pregnant woman
is looking at some cd's...

...finally, the camera pans to reveal a young girl (previously offscreen) playing the piano.
It is only then that we realize the music is diegetic, and that the young girl was looking at
the window at her best friend and her boyfriend. The romantic melody she plays as she
realizes they are breaking up in turn introduces a now possible future relationship for her
-- which eventually happens, as she starts dating her best friend's ex-boyfriend later in the
film.

SONIC FLASHBACK

Sound from one diegetic time is heard over images from a later time. In this example
from Kurosawa's No Regrets for Our Youth (Waga seishun ni kui nashi, Japan, 1946), the
heroine Yukie hears the voices of her dead father and executed husband, voicing the
aspirations that sustain her continuing struggle.

Sonic flashback often carries this kind of moral or emotional overtone, making a
character's motivation explicit.

Section 2 - Source
Most basically, this category refers to the place of a sound in relation to the frame and to
the world of the film. A sound can be onscreen or offscreen, diegetic or nondiegetic
(including voice over), it can be recorded separately from the image or at the moment of
filming. Sound source depends on numerous technical, economic, and aesthetic
considerations, each of which can affect the final significance of a film.

DIEGETIC/NON-DIEGETIC SOUND

Any voice, musical passage, or sound effect presented as originating froma source within
the film's world is diegetic. If it originates outside the film (as most background music)
then it is non-diegetic.

A further distinction can be made between external and internal diegetic sound. In the
first clip from Almodóvar's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al
Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, 1988) we hear Iván speaking into the microphone as he
works on the Spanish dubbing of Johnny Guitar (Nicholas Ray, 1954). Since he is
speaking out loud and any other character could hear him, this is an example of external
diegetic sound. This clip has no non-diegetic sounds other than the brief keyboard chord
that introduces the scene.

Sound and diegesis gets more complicated in the next clip, from Dario Argento's The
Stendhal Syndrome (La Sindrome di Stendhal, Italy, 1996). As Anna looks at Paolo
Uccello's famous painting of the Battle of San Romano (c1435), we begin to hear the
sounds of the battle: horses whimpering, weapons clashing, etc. These sounds exist only
in Anna's troubled mind, which is highly sensitive to works of art. These are internal
diegetic sounds (inside of a character's mind) that no one else in the gallery can hear.

On the other hand, the Ennio Morricone eerie score that sets up the scene and mixes with
the battle sounds, is a common example of non-diegetic sound, sounds that only the
spectators can hear. (Obviously, no boom-box blasting tourist is allowed into the Uffizi's
gallery!)
DIRECT SOUND

When using direct sound, the music, noise, and speech of the profilmic event at the
moment of filming is recorded in the film. This is the opposite of postsynchronization in
which the sound is dubbed on top of an existing, silent image. Studio systems use
multiple microphones to record directly and with the utmost clarity. On the other hand,
some national cinemas, notably Italy, India and Japan, have avoided direct sound at some
stage in their histories and dubbed the dialogues to the film after the shooting. But direct
sound can also mean something other than the clearly defined synchronized sound of
Hollywood films -- the Cinéma verité, third world filmmaking and other documentarist,
improvisatory and realist styles that also record sound directly but with an elementary
microphone set-up, as in Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e Guilass, Iran,
1997).

The result maintains the immediacy of direct sound at the expense of clarity.
Furthermore, incidental sounds (street noise, etc) are not mixed down, but left "as it is".
Impression and mood are favored over precision: not every word can be made out. The
final sonic picture is blurred and harder to understand, but arguably closer to what we
perceive in real life.

NONSIMULTANEOUS SOUND

Diegetic sound that comes from a source in time either earlier or later than the images it
accompanies. In this clip from Almodóvar's Women On The Verge Of A Nervous
Breakdown (Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios, Spain, 1988) Pepa adds the
female voice to the dubbing of Johnny Guitar, the male voice having previously been
recorded by Pepa's ex-lover Ivan. (You can see Ivan's dubbing here)
While Pepa's voice is diagetic and simultaneous, Ivan's voice is also diegetic, and yet it is
nonsimultaneous, since it comes from a previous moment in the film. Almodóvar uses
nonsimultaneous sound to establish a conversation that should have taken place but never
did (Ivan is not returning Pepa's calls and she is becoming desperate) when, with a
perverse melodramatic twist, he has the jilted lovers repeating the words of another
couple of cinematic jilted lovers. As in this example, nonsimultaneous sound is often
used to suggest recurrent obsessions and other hallucinatory states.

OFFSCREEN SOUND

Simultaneous sound from a source assumed to be in the space of the scene but outside
what is visible onscreen. In Life on Earth (La Vie sur Terre, Abderrahmane Sissako,
1998) a telephone operator tries to help a woman getting a call trough. While he tries to
establish a connection, the camera examines the office and the other people present in the
scene. Yet, even if the operator and the woman are now offscreen, their centrality to the
scene is alway tangible through sounds (dialing, talking, etc).

Of course, a film may use offscreen sound to play with our assumptions. In this clip from
Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de
Nervios, Pedro Almodóvar, 1988), we hear a woman and a man's voices in conversation,
in what it looks like a film production studio. Even if we do not see the speakers, we
instantly believe they must be around. Gradually, the camera shows us that we are in a
dubbing studio, and only the woman is present, the man's voice being previously
recorded. Moreover, theirs is not a real conversation but lines from a movie dialogue.

POSTSYNCHRONIZATION DUBBING

The process of adding sound to images after they have been shot and assembled. This can
include dubbing of voices, as well as inserting diegetic music or sound effects. It is the
opposite of direct sound. It is not, however, the opposite of synchronous sound, since
sound and image are also matched here, even if at a later stage in the editing process.
Compare the French dubbed, or post-synchronized, version of Mission: Impossible 2
(John Woo, 2000), with the sychronized original.

You can hear the original English version here.

SOUND PERSPECTIVE

The sense of a sound's position in space, yielded by volume, timbre, pitch, and, in
stereophonic reproduction systems, binaural information. Used to create a more realistic
sense of space, with events happening (that is, coming from) closer or further away.
Listen closely to this clip from The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942) as the
woman goes through her door and comes back.

As soon as she closes the door her voice sounds muffled and distant (she is walking
away), then grows clearer (she is coming back), then at full volume again, as she comes
out. We can also hear hushing remarks that gives us a sense of the absent presence of a
whole web of family members in the house. The stronger the voice, the closer his/ her
room. Sound perspective, combined with offscreen space, also gives us clues as to who
(and most importantly, where) is present in a scene. Welles' use of sound in this scene is
unusual since Classical Hollywood Cinema generally sacrifices sound perspective to
narrative comprehensibility.

SYNCHRONOUS SOUND

Sound that is matched temporally with the movements occuring in the images, as when
dialogue corresponds to lip movements. The norm for Hollywood films is to synchronize
sound and image at the moment of shooting; others national cinemas do it later (see direct
sound, postsyncronization) Compare the original English version of Mission: Impossible
2 (John Woo, 2000),

with the French dubbed version.

VOICE OVER

When a voice, often that of a character in the film, is heard while we see an image of a
space and time in which that character is not actually speaking. The voice over is often
used to give a sense of a character's subjectivity or to narrate an event told in flashback. It
is overwhelmingly associated with genres such as film noir, and its obsessesive characters
with a dark past. It also features prominently in most films dealing with autobiography,
nostalgia, and literary adaptation. In the title sequence from The Ice Storm (1997) Ang
Lee uses voice over to situate the plot in time and to introduce the subject matter (i.e., the
American family in the 1970s), while also giving an indication of his main character's
ideas and general culture.

While a very common and useful device, voice over is an often abused technique. Over
dependance on voice over to vent a character's thoughts can be interpreted as a telling
signal of a director's lack of creativity --or a training on literature and theater, rather than
visual arts. But voice over can also be used in non literal or ironic ways, as when the
words a character speaks do not seem to match the actions he/she performs. Some avant
garde films, for instance, make purposely disconcerting uses of voice over narration.

Section 3 - Quality
Much like quality of the image, the aural properties of a sound -- its timbre, volume,
reverb, sustain, etc. -- have a major effect on a film's aesthetic. A film can register the
space in which a sound is produced (its sound signature) or it can be otherwise
manipulated for dramatic purposes. The recording of Orson Welles' voice at the end of
Touch of Evil (1958) adds a menacing reverb to his confession.

The mediation of Abbas Kiarostami's voice through the walkie-talkie and the video
quality of the image in the coda of Taste of Cherry (Ta'm e Guilass, Iran, 1997)
underscore the reflexivity that is characteristic of his films.