the staging of a scene
where the action unfolds
the overall look and feel of a movie
the sum of everything the audience sees, hears, & experiences
Setting
Actors (and their performance)
Lighting
Composition
 Can be: general or specific, real or
imaginary
 sets, on location, CGI
 All are creative and $ challenges
 Visual and spatial attributes of setting
 Inside/outside, bright/dark, open/closed
 eg: open spaces can be limitless (Red River, Sound of Music)
or show dread (Castaway Open Water)
 Contextual use of setting: qualities of what’s included
 Cultural meaning, insight into characters
 Function of setting
 estb. time and place, themes, ideas, create mood
 Casting
 (type-casting, A-listers)
 Acting style
 (impersonation, personification, method, character
actors)
 Actor placement
 Props, costume, and
make-up
 Illuminates set /actors; used to create mood
and effects
 Three attributes of light:
 Quality (soft/hard)
 Placement (direction the light hits
subject)
 Contrast (high/low)
 Looking at Movies (ch 6, 10min)
 Hard: small light source positioned close to the subject
 Unflattering (deep shadows, shows imperfections)
 Soft: large light source that is diffused/scattered over a
bigger area or reflected off a surface before it gets to
the subject
 Minimizes details, actors look more attractive
http://www.photomatters.org/hard-light-soft-light
 Available light (natural)
 Can be hard or soft, depending on time of
day/season/location
 Lighting in front of subject creates flat effect
 washes out details, shadows only behind
 Lighting from either side of subject creates a
sculpted effect
 3-dimentional with volume/texture
 Lighting from behind separates subject from
background
 Three-Point Lighting
 Diagram:
http://www.mediacollege.com/lighting/three-point/
 Video:
http://vimeo.com/25449708
 one of most important factors in estb. mood
 Depends on the relative intensity of key light to fill
light (lighting ratio)
 High-key lighting (fairly equal key light to fill light ratio)
 Eliminates most shadows, most details washed out
 Creates hopeful mood (comedies, musicals)
 Natural-key lighting (‘normal’ light)
 Key-light is more intense than the fill (cannot eliminate
every shadow)
 Low-key lighting (high key light ratio to fill light)
 Fill light cannot eliminate shadows – lots of shadows
and high contrast
 Somber and forbidding mood (crime drama, film noir,
gothic horror)
Counter –intuitive:
higher ratio of key
to fill is a low-key
light set up
 High-Key Lighting
 Brighter picture, fewer shadows = upbeat, hopeful mood
 Key light with lots of fill light
 Low-Key Lighting
 Lots of shadows, high contrast = somber, forbidding
 Key light with very little fill light
 visual arrangement of objects, actors, and space in the
frame
 Balance and symmetry:
 Essentially a two-dimensional space
 Horizontal (left to right) and vertical (top to bottom)
 Rule of Thirds (video)
 Balanced composition: equal dist. of bright/dark areas,
colors, objects, figures (classical Hollywood)
 Unbalanced – leads viewers to a
particular direction
 Lack of equilibrium
 Lines
 Framing:
 Open/loose framing: open space around subject
 freedom or isolation
 Closed/tight framing - lack of space around subject
 Sense of constriction or intimacy
 Foreground/background focus
 Can highlight significance of object/subject
 Use of light and dark
 Chiaroscuro
 Color
 Color palette to go with movie – appropriate to mood
 Cool, warm
 Colors in sets, props, costumes
 May function as motif
… Color
 Saturation (strength of hue) and desaturation (colors
are less pure, contain more white than saturated colors)
 Highly Saturated:
 Desaturated:
 David Fincher
The Godfather