Film Language

Theresa Dawson
Jacob Burns Film Center
Monday 20 July 2009
 Mise-en-scene
Put into the scene / staging an action

• Setting
• Props
• Costume
• Performance
• Lighting
 Mise-en-scene and film
authorship
Mise-en-scene central to auteur discussion
i.e.film authorship. During classic
Hollywood studio period control of the
director was limited to those processes
recorded during filming.

The quality of a director’s work could be

read through his control over mise-en-
scene
 Setting

Location: What is the

significance of the natural
setting in this clip? What is the
significance of the house set?
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 Props
What is the key prop in this sequence?

How do we know it is not just an

innocuous part of the setting?
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 Costume

What is the significance of

costume in this clip?

How does the costume

echo in other elements
of the mise-en-scene?
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 Performance

Look at ‘Bruno’s’ performance in this clip.

What suggestions are made about him?

How do other elements of the mise-en-scene

contribute to our ‘reading’ of him?
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3 point lighting or ‘high key lighting’

Uses 3 light sources: a key light -the main

light for the subject, a back light - picks
subject out from background, and a fill light,
to fill in shadows

Designed to be unobtrusive

How does 3 point lighting work in this clip?

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Top lighting
A beautifying light

Lighting from below

A distorting
light
Side lighting
A selective light that conceals/reveals

How is Marlene Dietrich lit in this clip?

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Low key lighting ‘noir
lighting’

Uses 1 source light, light is limited

Images have high contrast
‘chiaroscuro’
Few mid-tones
A very noticeable lighting effect
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 Exercise
What do we learn from the mise-en-
scene in this opening sequence
from Hitchcock’s Rear Window?
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 Cinematography

• Frame dimension
• Lens
• Camera angle
• Camera movement
• Focus
• Film stock
 Frame dimension
Aspect ratio 1: 1.33 ‘academy’

Cinemascope 1: 2.35

Widescreen 1: 1.85
(in Widescreen Europe 1:1.75)

Identify frame dimension for the

following 2 clips
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Lenses: wide angle

What effect does shooting

with a wide angle lens have
on the image in this clip?
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 Lenses: long lens
The following clip of Dustin Hoffman
desperately trying to halt a wedding
was shot using a long lens -- what
impact does this have on how we see
his actions?
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 Angle: low angle
This character is shot from a low
angle.
What is our response to him?
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 Angle: high

Why is the camera positioned above

The female lead in this sequence?

How do we respond to her based

on this framing from above?
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Angle: canted or ‘dutch’

This framing starts out as framed with

the horizon but then goes askew.

What is the reason for the askew or

‘canted’ framing in this clip?

How does the askew framing make

you feel?
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 Moving camera: the track
This is one of the most famous track
shots in film history.

Why does the filmmaker use a track

shot?

What effect does this shot have?

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Moving camera: steadicam

What is the purpose of this very long shot?

How does it make you feel?

Why did the filmmaker choose to film

in this way?
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 Moving camera: pan
crane
Pan: Camera moving from side to side

Crane: Camera is mounted on a

crane and can float through the air

How is pan and crane used in this

shot?
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 Focus: rack focus
In this sequence we shift focus from
one character to the other

What is the effect of this change in

focus?
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 Film stock

Comment on the color used in this

clip?
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 Editing
• Continuity editing
• 180 degree system
• Match on action
• Montage editing
• Cross-cutting
 Continuity editing

Dominant editing style

Designed to be seamless
Includes filming in 180 degrees of action
Varying angles by more than 30 degrees
Eyeline and other match shots
180 degree axis of action

This clip explains the 180 degree

rule

Why is it important that you do not

‘cross the line/axis’ in terms of
editing shots together?
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 Match shots

This sequence contains a

‘match on action’ shot

Where does the match on action

take place?

Why is a match on action shot used?

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Self-conscious breaking 180
degree rule
Ozu is a director who deliberately
breaks the 180 degree rule

Where do we see a break in the 180

degree rule in this clip?

What effect does this have?

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 Self-conscious match on
action
This sequence also contains a match
action, however, it draws attention to itself

Where is the match on action?

What is the filmmaker implying here

with this match on action shot?
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 Montage editing
The ‘Kuleshov’ effect

Cutting of neutral shots of an actor’s face

with other shots (variously reported as
shots of soup, nature, a dead woman, a
baby).

The audience assumed that the actor’s

expression changed but also that the
actor was responding to things in the
same scene as himself.
 Montage editing

How is montage editing used in this clip?

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 Cross-cutting
Creates omniscience by alternating shots from
one place with shots from another event or place.
Typically used to cause tension in viewer.
First used extensively by D W Griffith in his last
minute rescue scenes.

How is cross cutting used in the opening

of Strangers on a Train?

How is cross cutting used in The Godfather?

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 Sound
• Speech
• Sound effects
• Music
• Diegetic v non diegetic
• Diegetic: internal / external
 Speech
How is speech varied in this clip?

Why does the filmmaker vary loudness

timbre of the speaker?

How do you feel at the end of the clip?

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 Sound effects
What sound effects are used in this
clip?

What makes these sound effects

more effective than the sound that
might have been recorded on set?
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 Music
What sound effects and music do you hear
in the opening credits of this film?

What do the sounds make you think of?

Why is sound so important in this opening

sequence?
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 Diegetic sound
Diegetic means emanating from a
source in the story space

Non-diegetic sound means from

outside the story space

Is music in the Strangers on a Train clip

diegetic or non-diegetic?
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Internal v external diegetic
External diegetic sound is sound that can
be heard by everyone else in the story
Internal diegetic sound exists in the
character’s mind

How is external and internal diegetic sound

used in this clip?
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Confused internal/external
diegetic sound

This clip famously plays tricks on the

audience about whether the sound
is external sound coming from an
identifiable source, or whether it is
internal and exists in the character’s
mind
How does the filmmaker do this?
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 Exercise

How is sound used to create emotion

and tension in Robert Bresson’s
‘A Man Escaped’?
 Further information
This presentation is online at slideshare:

Reading: ‘Film Art: an introduction’, 7th

edition, K Bordwell and D Thompson,
Mcgraw-Hill, New York, 2004

My contact: tdawson@burnsfilmcenter.org