CMA 1410 Cinematography Lecture Notes Nov 7 2024 PDF

LECTURE 9: NOV. 7 /2024 Cinematography Part 1: LIGHTING RECAP & CINEMATOGRAPHY Part 11: FRAMING & ANGLES Visions of Light documentary about the history & craft of cinematography in Cinema (screened Oct. 31)  James Laxton (the DP for Moonlight) was interested in using the best lighting...

LECTURE 9: NOV. 7 /2024 Cinematography Part 1: LIGHTING RECAP & CINEMATOGRAPHY Part 11: FRAMING & ANGLES Visions of Light documentary about the history & craft of cinematography in Cinema (screened Oct. 31)  James Laxton (the DP for Moonlight) was interested in using the best lighting to accentuate black skin on screen. He was also intent upon using cinematography to expose hidden biases within technologies of representation, which echo and reinforce mainstream cinema’s aesthetic conventions of what is considered ‘beautiful’ or worthy of privileging Moonlight  Moonlight was a coming-of age story of a young black man who wrestles with his identity and sexuality, as the son of a drug addicted single mother. It featured an all-black cast and utilized lighting and cinematography to foreground both race and black queer sexuality. The film opposed a white-washed and heteronormative Hollywood representation of race and sexuality. Moonlight (made by black queer director, Barry Jenkins) won 8 Oscars, best picture, director, cinematographer, film editing & supporting actors etc.  Moonlight clip: diner scene https://nofilmschool.com/james-laxton-cinematography- moonlight These comments are from the nofilmschool.com website: “How 'Moonlight' Uses Cinematography to Wreck Us Emotionally.” “How do camera placement, lighting, and eyeline all cooperate to create emotion in a movie?” Moonlight clip  Framing is the process by which the cinematographer uses the boundaries and dimensions of the moving image to determine what we see on screen. (LM. 193) Framing is reliant on composition and vice versa, composition involves: the organization, the distribution, balance and the general relationship of actors and objects within the space of each shot as they appear on screen. Framing & Composition of the frame (the boundaries of the image) we see on screen  Framing is what determines the boundaries of the image (of what the viewer sees), the vertical and horizontal depth of the image, thus, framing is confined to the four walls behind the camera lens. (We can only see what the camera shows us on screen, but we can also infer off screen space through hearing a voice or sound). Framing can create vastness and expansive depth in an image- it requires conscious decisions by the director and cinematographer about the implied proximity (distance) of the camera to the main subjects, the depth of that composition, the camera angle and height, the space within and outside of the frame, point of view, and types of camera movement (if any). A camera can be mobile (moving) or static (fixed) and record from these perspectives. Framing and its aspects of composition  The Director & DOP (DP) work to create the lighting design for the cinematography in the overall film and also the framing of the image that we see on screen. Mise en scene/ Lighting and Framing are crucial to shaping the story’s world (diegesis), establish the characters’ psychology and emotional depth, and set the overall mood/tone of the story, all of which contributes to the overall look and visual impact of a film. The DOP, selects the film stock that would be used to best work with the story/lighting and demands of shot. Fuji film stock from Japan was regarded as the best for lighting people of colour, especially brown and black hued complexion since it had warmer tones of yellow and produced rich colour. Fuji Digital cameras now approximates this film stock rich look, by a film simulation setting. Adjusting skin tone for the desired look is now done digitally in post-production by a colourist (a specialist who colour balances a film or adds a colour treatment). However, some independent filmmakers may utilize warm natural sunlight and skip the colourist process (since it is expensive) or an artist might use lighting and colour in a creative way. I did not use a colourist for my experimental feature documentary, Queer Coolie-tudes since the doc was shot with entirely natural light. I opted for experiments with an orange filter and visually designed tinted colourized sequences in many part of the film to uniquely represent different subjects in the film with specific colour treatment. Cinematography & the lighting design of the shot for the camera & colour  Aspect Ratio: Square frame 35 mm flat (1.375:1) European widescreen (1:66:1) American wide screen (1:85:1) Super Panavision & Cinemascope (anamorphic lens) 2:2:1 (70 mm) Panavision & Cinemascope 2:35:1 (35mm anamorphic) Ultra Panavision (70mm -2:75:1) Wes Anderson Example p. 195 The Grand Budapest Hotel Aspect Ratio; the ratio of the width to the height of the frame -size of the frame & lenses used  P. 198 example of shot types from The King’s Speech opening sequence: pictorial example to consult. The Long Shot (shows the entire scene subject against a background, you see their full body and space in a LS) Basis shot is a medium shot or a two shot with two in he frame (shot from the mid torso to the head) in the frame. MCU: medium close-up/ CU: Close-Up and ECU: Extreme close-up Shot types: implied proximity distance between the camera (the viewer) and subject on screen  Screen: Opening of Parasite: poor family’s perspective: https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/creating- the-look-of-parasite/ Low angle medium shot and framing pov through a window.  Pictorial examples to use p. 201-203. LM Angles: high & low Dutch or canted angle bird’s eye view eye –level shot  Deep focus further popularized by American film director Orson Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland, Used to great effect in their first collaboration, Citizen Kane (1941). In this film, deep focus is used to convey the underlying emotional and psychological significance within particular scenes, and thus complex relationships between the various characters. E.g. Boarding House Sequence https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=HAHaRDlUrLw DEEP FOCUS  What the viewer sees ON SCREEN in the film frame is called on screen space. Off-screen space is space outside of the film frame that is inferred through sound, the voice of a character. Space: on-screen/off- screen  Long Shot is a Long Take is the property of framing, duration or length in in which the subject is which a shot stays seen full body against on screen (usually a landscape of setting. one minute or longer, see eclass example of Cache (film clip) Long Shot vs Long Take