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Elements of Film Structure. Elements of Film Structure. Structure —The audio-visual design of the film and the tools needed to create that design: camera, lighting, set, performance, editing, sound. Content —The story, theme, and characterizations. The Film-making Process.
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Elements of Film Structure • Structure—The audio-visual design of the film and the tools needed to create that design: camera, lighting, set, performance, editing, sound. • Content—The story, theme, and characterizations.
The director—coordinates and organizes the work of the cast and crew. The producer—has administrative control over budget and schedule.
Time components of film • Running time—the full duration of a film. (Feature films are generally 90-120 minutes.) • Story time—the amount of time the plot covers. (Could be hours or centuries.)
Internal structural time—the tempo of a film, which is affected by length of shots and editing of film. • A shot is the time occurring between the camera being turned on and shut off.
Spatial components • Frame—the projected area on screen, but also an individual image on a strip of film. • Camera positioning— • Long shot (often used as an establishing shot) • Medium shot • Close-up (may be used to show expressions)
Camera angles • Low (used to make figures appear to tower) • Medium (eye-level views) • High (used to diminish subjects in size) • Canted angle (gives an off-kilter effect) Angles must be used in context with scenes.
Focal length—the distance between the film and optical center of the camera’s lens. • Normal range lens is 50mm • Telephoto lens has greater focal length • Wide-angle lens has shorter focal length • Zoom lens
Depth of field—the amount of area from near to far that will remain in focus. (Wide-angles have greater depth of field than telephotos.)
Camera Movement • Pan and tilt • Dolly or tracking • Boom or crane • Steadicam • Motion perspective—the changing distances of framed objects due to the motion of a moving camera, such as one with a zoom lens.
Creative choices • Flashing—exposing film to a small amount of prior to filming in order to mute color and shadows. • ENR (Ernesto N. Rico)—a developing process that makes shadows darker and edges crisper.
Perception of film • Perceptual transformation—the ability of the camera to show things in a way that differs from human visual perception. • Perceptual correspondence—the camera showing things in a way common with visual perception