Film Language: Image, Camera Angles, Shots and Production Roles

Features of Screen Image and the Written Word

Features: front screen, the word — the image is concrete, specific and direct; the word is abstract. The image reaches sensibility first, then the intelligence. The word follows the reverse route: it engages intelligence first, then sensibility. There is a predominance of sensibility and feeling.

Unidirectional Messages

Unidirectional messages are those that travel in only one direction: from the sender to the receiver without the possibility of response from the latter. In general, these messages occur across different media.

Image as a Dynamic Language of Space and Time

Image — dynamic language of space and time: the visual language is expressed through camera movement and angulation, which organize how space and time are perceived on screen.

Film Production Roles and Responsibilities

Movie: A film process begins with the screenwriter, who writes the situations and dialogues. But before this, a main idea is needed around which the story revolves. The director is responsible for making the film — that is, for turning what the writer has put on paper into images. The director chooses sets, casts actors, determines the shots that will carry the movie and gradually constructs the various situations.

Key Production Positions

• Director of Photography (Cinematographer): Heads the camera and lighting department; its mission is to build, with light and composition, the aesthetic required by the director for each environment.
• Camera Operator: Records each shot. The operator's assistants replenish and manage recording material.
• Producer: Enables the film to be made by securing or investing funds and organizing production resources.
• Actors: Represent the characters written in the script. Under the director's orders they perform the actions on the page and interpret characters as if they had their own lives.
• Sound Engineers, Voice Actors and Effects Specialists: Responsible for creating and recording all sound, voices and sound effects in the studio or on set.

Camera Angulation

Angulation: The point of view or angle that the camera takes relative to the eye level of the person being recorded. Common angulations include:

• Normal (eye level)
• High-angle
• Low-angle (contrapicado)
• Overhead
• Nadir
• Subjective (point-of-view)
• Aberrant / canted (tilted) angle

Frame and Composition

Frame: The well-organized configuration of all elements that are part of the image content; framing determines what the audience sees and how they interpret relationships in the scene.

Plano (Shot) as a Basic Unit

Plano: The basic unit in the language of images; it consists of a fragmentation of reality, taking the human figure as a primary reference.

Shot Types and Variations

Shot types include a wide range of formats and scales. Key examples (translated and clarified) are:

• Extreme long shot / great shot
• Long shot
• Medium shot
• Close-up / detail
• Foreground and background composition
• Impossible sequence shot (long continuous or complex effects sequence)
• Reverse shot (shot/counter-shot)
• Eye-level (level) shots
• Field and counter-field (campo y contracampo)

Take

Take: The complete recording from when the operator presses the camera shutter or record button until it is stopped.

Camera Movements and Traveling

Traveling / Camera movements: Optical traveling (a false movement) is achieved with the zoom; traveling produced by physical displacement (dolly or tracking) occurs when the camera mount or rig moves. Crane movements move the camera up, down and vice versa.

Lighting Types and Placement

Lighting: Different lighting qualities and placements shape mood and readability. Variations include:

• Direct lighting
• Diffuse lighting
• Mixed lighting
• Contrapicado (listed here as a traditional term sometimes referenced in staging/lighting)
• Lateral (side) lighting
• Dorsal (back) lighting
• Composed / complex lighting setups