AS G321: Media Language - Mrs Mallet

Media Language - Mrs Mallet 

Camera shots

• Extreme long shot (ELS) - A wide view of the complete setting.
• Long shot (LS) - Closer than the extreme long shot but still shows the complete scene. Human figure is visible.
• Medium Long shot (MLS) - Human characters can be seen in detail.
• Medium shot (MS) - Gesture, expression/dialogue - clearly visible.
• Medium close up (MCU) - Head & shoulders fit comfortably in the frame. 
• Close - up (CU) - Shows the detail of a subject. Shows emotion. 
• Extreme close up (ECU) - Portion of detail or magnifies something that is minute.

Camera Angles

• High angle - When the audience views the subject from above, looking down. 
• Low angle - The opposite of above, where we look upwards toward the subject. 
• Eye Level - We view the scene as if we were the spectator. 
• Point of view - The camera is used as if it is the eye of one of the characters. 
• Crane - The camera is attached to a crane and we are shown the scene from above it.
• Dutch - When the camera is canted or tilted to one side so that the horizon is on an angle.

Editing

• Straight cut - Creates a natural movement between shots and in many ways emulates the audiences own eye movements. 
• The fade - Where the old image gently disappears usually to a black screen before the new image appears. 
• The dissolve - Bringing the new shot into focus as the old on disappears from focus. At some point in a dissolve, both shots are on screen at the same time. 
• The wipe - Where the new image comes onto the screen with a distinct shaped edge and seemingly pushes the old one off the screen.

Lighting

• Coloured lighting - To give a particular effect to a scene - golden glow where a soft, flattering effect is required. 
• Diegetic lighting - Lighting that appears to emanate from a source within the scene e.g. lamp. 
• Location of light source - Up-lighting/Overhead lighting.
• Key light - Hardest/brightest light, main source of illumination. 
• Fill light - Softer, more diffuse light that is placed slightly to the other side of the main subject. Same angle as key light, fills in the shadows cast by the key light.
• Backlight - Placed behind the subject, creates 3D distance or separation. Usually hard lights to better create an outline around the subject. 

Sound

• On screen sound - Diegetic sound that comes from objects observable within the frame.
• Off screen sound - Diegetic sound that comes from objects not seen within the frame. 
• Asynchronous sound - Sound which does not match the action on the screen. 

Special Effects (SFX)

• Added after filming to enhance images. 
• Used to create images the camera cannot create. 
• Blue/green screen technology is used to place an action in a location - to superimpose images. 

Computer Generated Images (CGI)

• Could be used for a futuristic location/science fiction. 
• Motion capture. 

AS G321: Media Language - Mr Kerrigan

Media languages refers to the ways in which meaning is created in media texts. Below are some of the terms we have been learning about in our AS Media study lessons.

Camera

• Two-shot: A shot in which two figures appear in the frame.  

• Point of view shot: A camera angle in which the viewer seems to see with the eyes of a character in the scene.

• Over the shoulder shot: A camera shot in which the subject of the shot is filmed from behind a person's head and shoulders, which are framed to one side in the foreground.

• High - angle shot: A camera shot taken from a higher level than the subject, and angled down towards them, making them look weak sometimes.

• Low - angle shot: A camera shot taken from a lower level than the subject, and can enhance the authority of the subject, making them look more powerful. 

• Canted Angle: A cinematic device where the camera is physically placed at an angle so that vertical and horizontal surfaces appear diagonal.

• Establishing shot: The opening shot in a dramatic scene that establishes the disposition of people and objects in the mist en scene. As such it is usually a wide shot, and is likely to be followed by a succession of closer shots. 

• Pan: 'Panoramic movement'- horizontal camera movement left-to-right or right-to-left.

• Tilt: A camera movement up or down on a horizontal axis.

 Tracking Shot: A camera movement achieved by mounting the camera on a dolly and moving it along a track. Used to follow characters or objects in motion.

Sound

• Diegetic sound: Sound that can be heard by the characters in the world of film.
• Non Diegetic sound: Sound that cannot be heard by the characters in the world of film.
• Synchronous sound: Sound is directly matched with what is being viewed.
• Sound Bridge: Editing technique in which visual cuts are deliberately not matched with audio cuts. 
• Dialogue: The conversation that happens between characters in a work of fiction, or the lines spoken by actors. 
• Voiceover: A type of non-diegetic, asynchronous sound in which the audience hear a voice that does not have a source either within the frame or within hearing distance and which is not heard by the people on screen. 
• Incidental music: Music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere. 
• Stings: A short musical phrase primarily used as a form of punctuation. 
• Ambient sound: Sound which is natural to a setting.

Mise En Scene

• Mise-en-scène: The look of a film, derived from its use of sets and settings, lighting, colour, costumes hair and make-up, props, actor movement, and the overall placement and visual composition of these elements by the director.    
• Location: A ‘real’ place, as opposed to a studio, in which something is filmed or otherwise recorded. A location might be a New York City street or a desert. 
• Set: An interior that has been constructed to look like a real place when filmed; the set helps to identify the time and place in which a narrative will unfold. 
• Costume: The clothes worn by characters in a fictional text. The costumes are part of the mise en scène and as such are an important part of signification (for example, as a generic or period identifier). 
• Make-up: Cosmetics used to change the appearance of a performer. 
• Prop: Short for ‘property’. A small item used in a film or TV production to add realism, assist with the narrative or act as a motif. 
• High-key lighting: Lighting which eliminates most of the shadows. 
• Low-key lighting: Lighting which emphasises shadows.                   

Editing

• Cut: The commonest form of edit in moving image texts, this is the instantaneous change from one shot to another in an edit. 
• Shot/reverse shot: A convention for showing a dialogue sequence. We cut between the two speakers, showing each person’s point of view. 
• Eye-line match: A visual code used to make it clear what the subject is looking at. 
• Graphic match: A compositional device onscreen, whereby objects of common characteristics of shape or colour are used in successive shots. 
• Match on action: Two shots in which an action begun in the first is completed in the second, thus disguising the fact that there has been a cut. 
• Dissolve: In editing, a cross-fade between two shots: one fades out as another fades in. 
• Wipe: A shot transition in which the new image wipes over the previous one. 
• Long take: Not to be confused with a long shot, a long take is a shot of comparatively long duration. 
• Montage: The production of a rapid succession of images in a motion picture, usually accompanied by music, to illustrate an association of ideas or a passing of time. 
• Post-production: The various processes that take place after filming in order to create the final cut of a film.