We're Nothing But Tone Deaf - And More Film Aspects

Tone - 
Tone in film, which can also be known as brightness, is made up of lighting, exposure and art direction. For example, in The Godfather, Coppola uses exposure to define the contrast of our characters. While a bright, highly exposed wedding happens outside, a dark, underexposed Mafia meeting happens inside. This shows us, as the audience, the surrounding mood of each situation.

Production Design -
Production design in a film is the design of the set between the actors and the background - the over visual design of a film. This is made up of the props, middle ground set etc. It can dictate the mood and the themes and it can reflect the state of a character.

Visual Contrast - 
Ways directors can use contrast in their films are as follows; tone, blocking, camera movement, colour and art direction/production design. In a specific "Homepod" ad, Spike Jonze uses contrast in many ways. At the beginning, we're shown a set of dark, desaturated scenes in which Jonze uses things like rain and the visual feeling of claustrophobia to show a more melancholy feel. As soon as our protagonist starts to interact with the Homepod, things start to brighten up, literally, to give the bright feeling from visuals. She is soon in a more spacious set, the tone changes entirely. It's obvious Jonze does this to show us, the viewers how the Homepod can lighten up our lives.

Film Blocking -
Directors use space, lines and shapes when deciding how to block a scene to make it... well, interesting. When blocking in film, directors tend to use three shapes. Circles. Squares. And Triangles. Simple as that. Each is used to portray different emotions or feeling. Like, circles make you feel more included, safe. While squares create a boundary, setting up a scene to make you feel trapped. Triangles are sharp, ergo; more aggressive. blocking helps contrast and subtext really come through in any given scene.

Camera Movement - 
When you see a whip pan in a film, it's not going to give you the same feeling or reaction as a slow pan. And that's exactly what a director intends when they use either of the above. A whip pan, where the camera moves from one shot to another very quickly gives a jolt of energy, a feeling similar to quickly turning your head when you hear a door open behind you. A slow pan, on the other hand, gives the audience time to take in a scene. A tilt shot is a very common way to open a film. It's often used to direct our attention to something in a scene. A zoom shot is usually used in a more comedic sense, due to its sudden nature. A dolly shot is a smooth tracking shot, giving a different experience than a pan or a tilt. Directors often combine a dolly shot with a zoom shot to create a reverse dolly zoom. This is then used to show an intense internal moment in a character. A Steadicam, while similar too, is not the same as a dolly shot. A Steadicam is stabilized on a camera operator and is moved by the operator. On the other hand, a dolly shot is moved along a set track on the floor of a set. Throwing out the idea of a stable Steadicam shot is the handheld shot. While it also allows the viewer to move through space, it builds more anxiety due to how rough or shaky it usually is. Before using any of these shots, a director should be aware of how they can combine different shots to really hook a viewer. Like if you used a bunch of dolly shots and Steadicam shots but suddenly use a handheld shot, people are already going to be on the edge of their seats. But something directors should always ask themselves 'how does this support the story?' because the cinematography isn't just there to be fancy, it's there to hold a story. Camera movements should be directing the viewer to where you want them.

Colour -
Colour in film is probably more important than you'd think. Colours are psychological, they emit emotions, even if it's subtle. Three factors go into deciding colour: Hue, Saturation, and Brightness. You can see a purposeful use of colour in the movie, the Matrix. The film can find itself being quite monochromatic with the colour green. This has an effect on the way we watch. For example, when we see green, we associate, whether consciously or not, it with coding. Or the fact that in scenes it's a very desaturated green, emitting an almost sickly feeling to the world. This reflects the overall state of the world throughout the film. Some films desaturate their image to give us a vintage photograph feel, or sometimes even a raw, gritty presence. High brightness and low brightness in specific colours is used to contrast particular scenes, similar to when it's used in tone. Bright images are more exciting or fun while darker images are more sombre and serious.

Motif - 
A motif is any visual element with a significant meaning that is also a reoccurring image in a film. They are used in films to create a bigger depth than what's at face value. This ties into the idea that a great piece of art is one you can go back and watch and find even more depth.

The Dutch Angle - 
The dutch angle, a significant tilt on the camera's x-axis, is used to create a sense of fear or visually represent that something is wrong. It was originally used by German-expressionists in the early 1900s. Before using it, directors must identify the right moment to use a dutch angle - one that identifies that something wrong or unsettled, consider the scene when storyboarding and writing shot lists, and then enhance the scene and the use of the dutch angle when filming. To enhance a dutch angle you should consider: how much you are tilting (the more you tilt, the more unsettled the scene is), where you place your camera on the y-axis (a downward angle opposed to eye level), the lens focal length (a wide-angle opposed to a regular shot), and the depth of field.

The Over The Shoulder - 
An over the shoulder shot will simply connect your characters. To contrast that, a single shot will disconnect your characters. In a scene given to us, we can see the characters connect when they are framed in an OTS, mid close-up shot, and we watch them suddenly disconnect when the focus is pulled in, isolating the characters in a single shot. After being connected again by a third party waiter, Theresa, one of our two characters, is framed in a single close-up shot. This completely isolates her.

Point of Thought - 
A point of view shot is a camera shot used to see through the eyes of a single character. However, a point of thought shot is a shot that, at first, you may think is a point of view shot but when you really look into it, it doesn't always seem to line up with the characters vision. Instead, it aligns us, the audience, with a thought. For example, in a lot of films, directors build suspense by showing us a character's reaction without showing us what the character is looking at. This is a point of thought shot. Usually, the thing that we're not able to see is somewhat mysterious or unknown to our character, which is exactly why we do not get to see what they are looking at. We get to share that emotional experience with the character and are therefore hooked further into the story.

Insert Shot - 
An insert shot is a shot that isolates a specific object within a scene. This is usually shot by some variation of a closeup or even a pov shot. They are primarily used to convey important information. Three things to pay attention to when planning an insert shot are: Composition, colour, and timing. Composition, made up of camera movement, angle and size, plays a part in how your audience feels about a scene. A close up of an empty scorecard at the beginning of a scene represents the plot of a film - it has not begun to build up just yet. Colour is important in insert scenes. Specific colours can draw the audience to certain points in the shot. You can also use contrast and other colour theory matters to aid in the telling of your story. Using timing to your advantage is quite important too. The less time you linger on an insert shot of something shocking happening, the more urgency the audience will feel alongside a character. Longer shots will allow the viewer to process what's happening.

Establishing Shot - 
An establishing shot is a wide shot that shows the landscape of a scene. It's usually used to declare the place, and sometimes time, a scene is taking place in. It establishes the scene, its location and its tone, showing a relationship between the character and the location. It's usually the most expensive shot in a film due to the fact you see everything.

What is Film Theory?
No, not the multipart show from The Film Theorists over on Youtube. Despite the fact I love MatPat and the theorist crew, I'm actually just talking about film theory. The act of pulling apart a film at the seams. To theorize a film, theorists (wow how many times am I going to have to say theory) break down the aspects in a film to analyze their depth and meaning. One would do this by breaking down the film's: editing, sound, colour, mise-en-scene, the type of film it is, lighting, shots, and angles.

What is Film Criticism?
Believe it or not, film criticism is actually different from film theory. Though I said before that film theory is the act of pulling a film apart at the seams, that statement is more accurate to film criticism. While film theory (word count - 7) is breaking down a film and it's key aspects to see how and why it works together, film criticism is literally picking the entire thing apart to find it's worth or just for the general population. Think Cinema Sins but like, with scholars.

What is the Auteur Theory?
Don't worry, I've never heard of it either. Auteur Theory is the idea that a director is the main author of their film. That each 'auteur' has their own voice that comes through within their film. This very directly stems from the fact Auteur is quite literally a French translation of the word, you guessed it, author. It falls into the idea that a director holds their camera like an author holds their pen. The main ideas of Auteur theory come from two essays from two authors. One essay, from Francois Truffaut, was written in 1954. The other, an Andrew Sarris piece, was written in 1962 America. There is one complaint surrounding these theories, and that's the fact that 'Auteur' is very much an idea focused on an individual, rather than acknowledging the work of the surrounding crew and craftsmen.