Introduction to Film Studies 5: Cinematography
Introduction to Film Studies Lesson 5: Cinematography
Part of the Introduction to Film Studies course.
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The Camera’s Consciousness
Prerequisite: Lesson 4: Mise-en-scène
Introduction: The All-Seeing Eye
In the previous lesson, we looked at what was in the room (Mise-en-scène). Now, we turn our attention to the eyes through which we view that room.
Cinematography is the art of photography and visual storytelling. It is not merely about making a "pretty picture"; it is about controlling the viewer’s relationship to the subject. The camera is never neutral. It is an active narrator. It has a personality, a bias, and a specific consciousness.
Consider a simple script direction: "He enters the room." The Cinematographer must answer a dozen questions before filming this: Do we see him from below, making him a giant? Do we look down on him, making him an insect? Does the camera shake to show his anxiety, or does it glide smoothly to show his confidence?
By making these choices, the Cinematographer (or Director of Photography) dictates how the audience feels about the action before the actor even speaks a word. We analyze this "Camera Consciousness" through four primary controls: Framing, Angle, Movement, and Focus.
1. Framing: The Distance of Emotion
The most basic choice is the Shot Size: how much of the human body do we see? In cinema, physical distance equals emotional distance.
The Extreme Long Shot (ELS) Here, the human figure is reduced to a speck in the landscape.
- Function: This shot strips the character of their individuality. It emphasizes context, isolation, or insignificance.
- Example: In Lawrence of Arabia, the desert dominates the frame, and the men are just dust. The frame tells us that the environment is more powerful than the individual.
The Close-Up (CU) Here, the face fills the screen, often cutting off the top of the head or the chin.
- Function: This shot removes the context of the world. It forces the viewer into an uncomfortable intimacy with the subject. We are no longer looking at the person; we are looking inside them.
- Example: The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) is composed almost entirely of Extreme Close-Ups. The director refuses to let us look away from the spiritual suffering on Joan's face, creating a transcendent, almost claustrophobic empathy.
2. Camera Angles: The Hierarchy of Power
If framing determines intimacy, the Camera Angle determines power. The vertical placement of the camera creates a subconscious hierarchy between the viewer and the subject.
The High Angle The camera looks down on the subject.
- Meaning: The subject appears weak, small, trapped, or threatened.
- Classic Example: In Hitchcock’s Psycho, when the detective climbs the stairs, the camera is placed high in the ceiling—the "God's Eye View." We are suspended like a bird, looking down on a rat in a maze. The angle tells us he is doomed before the killer even strikes.
The Low Angle The camera looks up at the subject.
- Meaning: The subject appears powerful, heroic, or threatening.
- Classic Example: Darth Vader or the T-Rex in Jurassic Park. We are forced to literally "look up" to them.
The Dutch Angle (Canted Angle) The camera is tilted to the side so the horizon line is not level.
- Meaning: The world is out of balance. This signals madness, confusion, or drunkenness.
3. Camera Movement: The Kinetic Eye
Early cameras were heavy objects bolted to the floor. Today, the camera can fly. How the camera moves changes the "personality" of the narration.
The Tracking Shot The camera physically moves through space, usually on tracks (a dolly). We travel with the characters, sharing their journey. This creates a sense of realistic participation.
The Steadicam Invented in the 1970s, this is a harness that isolates the camera from the operator's footsteps. It creates a smooth, floating, almost unnatural motion.
- Case Study: In The Shining, Stanley Kubrick uses the Steadicam to follow the young boy on his tricycle. The camera hovers just a few feet off the ground, moving with a fluid, ghostly grace. It feels as if a spirit is following him. The movement itself creates the horror.
The Handheld Shot The camera is held by a human operator, creating a shaky, jittery image.
- Case Study: Saving Private Ryan. This mimics the chaos of a newsreel or a documentary. It feels "raw" and "immediate," breaking the polished illusion of Hollywood to give us a sense of gritty truth.
4. Focus: The Director's Bias
The lens functions like the human eye—it chooses what to focus on and what to ignore.
Shallow Focus The foreground is sharp, but the background is blurry. This dictates our attention. It tells us: "Look at this hero; ignore the world behind them." It is a dictatorial style of filmmaking.
Deep Focus Everything from the front to the back is sharp. This style, championed by Orson Welles and André Bazin, is more "democratic." It allows the viewer to scan the frame and choose what to look at.
- Case Study: In Citizen Kane, Welles uses Deep Focus to show relationships. In one shot, we see a poisoning attempt in the foreground and the victim entering the room in the deep background. We see the Cause and the Effect simultaneously, connected by the invisible line of the lens.
The Philosophical Horizon: The Gaze
Why does Cinematography matter to philosophy? Because it defines Subjectivity and The Gaze.
When you watch a film, you surrender your eyes to the director. You can only see what they want you to see. This raises deep ethical questions about objectification.
The theorist Laura Mulvey famously coined the term "The Male Gaze." She argued that classic Hollywood cinema unconsciously forces the audience to view the world through the eyes of a heterosexual male. The camera lingers on women’s bodies (legs, lips) rather than their faces, treating them as passive objects to be looked at, while men are treated as active subjects who do the looking.
Every time a cinematographer chooses a lens or an angle, they are making a political choice about who is a "Subject" (a person with agency) and who is an "Object" (a thing to be consumed).
The Seminar Room
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Today's Prompt: The Power of the Angle Think of a scene where a character seemed incredibly powerful or incredibly weak.
- The Scene: (e.g., The opening of The Godfather).
- The Angle: How was the camera positioned? Was it looking up or down?
- The Effect: If the camera had been placed at eye-level, would the scene have lost its power?
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