Last week we looked at exposure and at lighting. This week, we will look at how shots are framed.
Warmup: Answer the following questions, in a Powerpoint slide. Create a file and name it "Framing Exercise." Then, choose a film you like. Make sure it is easy to find in a Google search. Tell me why you like it in your first slide, then look for still images from that movie.
Next, we will watch the Cropduster scene or the Cornfield scene from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. We will examine the ways in which shots are composed along certain rules created by Hollywood filmmakers. In order to make shooting easier, directors and cameramen settled on seven types of shots:
EXTREME CLOSE-UP: A small object or part of the body fills most of the screen.
CLOSE-UP: A person's head, or an object of a comparable size, fills most of the screen.
MEDIUM CLOSE-UP: A person's head and chest would fill most of the screen.
MEDIUM SHOT: A person seen from the waist up would fill most of the screen.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT: (also called THREE-QUARTER SHOT and PLAN AMERICAIN): A person from the knees up would fill most of the screen.
LONG SHOT: The full figure of a standing person would appear nearly the height of the screen.
EXTREME LONG SHOT: A building, landscape or crowd of people would fill the screen.
CLOSE-UP: A person's head, or an object of a comparable size, fills most of the screen.
MEDIUM CLOSE-UP: A person's head and chest would fill most of the screen.
MEDIUM SHOT: A person seen from the waist up would fill most of the screen.
MEDIUM LONG SHOT: (also called THREE-QUARTER SHOT and PLAN AMERICAIN): A person from the knees up would fill most of the screen.
LONG SHOT: The full figure of a standing person would appear nearly the height of the screen.
EXTREME LONG SHOT: A building, landscape or crowd of people would fill the screen.
As we go through the cornfield scene, see if you can find examples of each shot.
Exercise 2: in your slide show, copy and paste an example of each shot scale into a slide. You should have eight slides total, your intro slide and one for each of the seven shot types listed here. Use the slide template which has a title box and a photo or object box.
Part 3: Using the cameras, each student should take seven shots of