A film is made up of various components, which are often referred to as production elements. When studying a film, you need to be able to deconstruct it in order to understand how the director has put the component parts together to create story, meaning, themes and emotion.
Camera Technique (angles, movement, lens, shot type) Acting Mise en scene (visual composition) Editing Lighting Sound
Camera Technique:
Angles: The angle of a shot can create the mood of a scene, reveal important information, establish relationships between characters and develop both the characters and storyline.
Camera movement: Camera movement can be used to create emotion within the audience or to draw the audience's attention to a particular object or character. The most basic movements of a camera are: Panning (side to side movement) Zooming (closing in on or pulling away from an object) Tilting (looking up or down) Tracking (the camera travels alongside the object being filmed) Hand-held (in the operator's hand and not on a tripod)
Camera lens: Camera lenses range from wide-angle to telephoto. The skilled director and cinematographer will choose the lens that best suits the telling of the story and the feeling or mood that they are trying to create within their narrative.
Camera shot type: The most basic shot types include: Extreme close up Close up Mid-shot Long shot Extreme long shot Point of view POV
Acting: Acting is perhaps the most obvious of the production elements used in film. How the actor portrays the character through body actions, posture, and delivery of lines develops the character and creates a relationship between the character and the audience.
Mise en scene: The french word for 'staging' or 'put in the scene' referring to the visual composition of the scene. Including production design, costume design and cinematography.
Editing: Editing is the process of placing images and sounds in an order that tells a story and creates emotion for the audience. At its most basic level, editing is the process of looking at the footage shot by the camera operator, selecting the most appropriate shots and then assembling them into a sequence that conveys the narrative to the audience.
Lighting: Lighting is perhaps the production element most taken for granted by the audience. At the most basic level, lighting allows objects and characters to be seen by the audience. However, lighting can also be one of the most creative elements of filmmaking. Lighting can be used to set the mood of a scene or describe a relationship between characters. In basic terms lighting can be either hard or soft. Follow the link below to see the effect lighting can have
Sound: Sound can be divided first into three main categories: diegetic, non diegetic and meta diegetic. Diegetic sound is the sound that occurs within the film world, what the characters would hear. Non diegetic sound comes from the outside of the film world only heard by the audience. Meta diegetic is imagined sound such as an internal monologue or singing songs in their heads, that both the individual character hears as well as the audience. Sound includes many elements such as dialogue, voice-over, music and sound effects (Foley). These elements combine to communicate story, character development, point of view, mood and emotion. Dialogue: what the characters say, it can be heard from the actor, voice-over, narration or off screen. Music (the score): is generally non diegetic and supports the action on the screen.