Film Visual Aspects: Mise-en-Scène and Motivation

Visual Aspects

• Motivation justifies creative decisions and inspires character actions in a film.
• Mise-en-scène encompasses all elements placed in front of the camera.
• These elements include setting, props, lighting, costumes, makeup, and actors.
• Setting establishes the time, place, and mood, providing context for characters and immersing the audience.
• Props enhance realism, support character development, and symbolize deeper themes.
• Lighting sets the tone and mood of a scene.
• High-key lighting creates a bright and cheerful atmosphere.
• Low-key lighting, with heavy shadows, evokes suspense, drama, or mystery.
• Costumes reflect character personalities, social status, historical periods, and emotional states.
• Costumes helps the audience understand the characters.
• Makeup enhances realism, distinguishes characters, and symbolizes transformation.
• Acting brings characters to life through body language, facial expressions, and vocal delivery.
• Performance involves actors embodying characters through physical movement, facial expressions, vocal delivery, and emotional depth.
• Blocking is the placement and movement of people on the screen.
• Blocking choices engage the audience and making the story feel authentic.

Film Rules & Lines

• The 180 Degree Line Rule maintains screen direction.
• A camera is placed on one side of the imaginary line drawn between two characters or subjects.

Controlling Color

• Hue is the actual color.
• Saturation refers to the intensity of a color.
• Brightness/Value indicates the darkness or lightness of a color.
• Warm colors are warm/yellowish-toned.
• Cool colors are dark/blueish or black-toned, often seen in shadows.

Color Schemes

• Monochromatic Formula uses one color with different hues, brightness, and saturation.
• Analogous Formula uses colors next to each other on the color wheel, like dark red, red, orange, and yellow.
• Complementary Formula uses opposite colors on the color wheel, for example, blue, royal blue, orange, and light orange.
• Triadic Formula uses colors forming a triangle with straight lines on the color wheel like light purple, dark purple, orange, and green.
• Discordant Color is a color that stands out and does not fit in with the overall color scheme.
• Associative Color is a recurring color or scheme that represents a particular theme or character, for example, good/right = blue/green; bad/wrong = red.
• Transitional Colors in Film occur when a color scheme shifts, representing a change in the story's character plot or themes, equaling a transformation.

Color in Storytelling

• Color creates an emotional response and sets the mood, consider warm versus cool.
• Discordant colors focus attention.
• Associative colors represents character traits.
• Transitional colors show change in characters or story.

Types of Transitions

• Cut is when a shot ends on one frame, and a new shot begins on the next without a transition.
• Dissolve is a transition where one shot visually overlaps and fades into another, indicating an internal subjective space or time-passing, and bridges characters, shots, and locations.
• Fade In/Out involves dissolving to or from black, it can indicate a beginning or ending, signposting a significant transition or time-passing.
• Wipe is a transition that moves from one shot to another with a sliding animation, indicating a shift from one story sequence to another.
• Match on Action Cut connects two different shots with the continuation of an on-screen action.
• Graphic Match Cut connects two different shots with similar visual styles through colors, shapes, or patterns.
• Jump Cut breaks continuity, making it appear that time jumps forward, can imply time-passing and express emotional distress, often feeling raw and authentic.
• Smash Cut abruptly cuts from one scene to another for aesthetic, narrative, or emotional impact, usually occurring unexpectedly.

Editing Concepts

• Kuleshov Effect describes the mental phenomenon where viewers derive meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots, using the same footage to give different meanings based on the shot.
• Cross-Cutting or Parallel Action is an editing technique that switches back and forth between sequences, giving the impression that actions in different locations are unfolding simultaneously.
• Continuity Editing seamlessly combines shots to create consistent appearance.
• Elliptical Editing omits parts of a scene, implying a passage of time or suggesting a character’s feelings, creating a sense of mystery or intrigue.
• Montage Concept is an editing technique that sequences short shots to condense space, time, and information.
• Pacing Concept refers to the speed at which a film's story unfolds through the timing and rhythm of cuts, scene transitions, and shot lengths, crucial for emotional response and engagement.
• Effective Cuts seamlessly connect shots to maintain visual continuity, enhance storytelling, and evoke the desired emotional response.
• Establishing Shot introduces the spatial relations among important figures and settings.
• Shot/Reverse Shot shows both perspectives by alternating between characters, typically in conversation.
• Eyeline Match Shot presents a character looking off-screen, followed by a shot of what they are looking at.
• Constructive Editing creates meaning through the juxtaposition of shots, rather than relying on traditional continuity editing, letting the audience infer relationships, emotions, or concepts.
• Analytical Editing breaks down a scene into multiple shots to guide attention and emphasize details.
• Flashback Editing takes the audience back in time to reveal past events shaping the current narrative.
• Flashforward Editing jumps ahead in time to show possible or inevitable future events.
• Flash-Frames are single or very brief frames inserted into a sequence for dramatic or psychological effect.
• Nondiegetic Insert is a shot or series of shots inserted into a scene but exist outside the film’s story world.

Shot Duration

• Long Takes are extended shots lasting longer than the conventional editing pace, creating real-time progression, building tension, and immersing viewers in the scene.
• Short Takes accelerate the narrative pace, heighten urgency, and emphasize specific details within a scene.

Visualizing Sound

• Amplitude indicates loudness and volume, measured in decibels (dB).
• Wavelength determines frequency and pitch, measured in hertz (Hz).
• Timbre (also known as "Tamber") comprises tone, texture, and harmonics.
• Attack is the time it takes for a sound to reach its peak volume after being played.
• Decay is the time it takes for a sound to reduce from its peak to a steady level.
• Sustain is the level at which the sound holds after the decay phase until it is released.
• Release is the time it takes for a sound to fade to silence after it stops being played.

Types of Sound

• Diegetic Sound has a source in the story world and can be onscreen, offscreen, internal, or external.
• On Screen sound is anything visually present within the frame.
• Off Screen sound elements exist outside the camera frame affecting the scene.
• External Diegetic Sound has a physical source in the scene, audible to all characters.
• Internal Diegetic Sound comes from the character’s mind, not audible to other characters.
• Nondiegetic Sound comes from outside of the story world.

Effects of Sound

• Cocktail Party Effect is the brain’s ability to focus on a specific sound while filtering out background noise.
• Foley involves creating and recording everyday sound effects.
• Foley enhances realism and immersion.
• Sound Perspective is how audio is designed to reflect spatial relationships between sounds and the audience, creating depth, distance, and direction.
• Synchronous Sound is matched to on-screen action, occurring simultaneously with visuals to maintain realism and continuity.
• Asynchronous Sound does not match a visible source, often used for dramatic effect or suspense.
• Simultaneous Sound occurs at the same moment as the action on screen, with a realistic sense of time and space.
• Nonsimultaneous Sound's time frame does not match on-screen action; often used for flashbacks, memory sequences, or foreshadowing.