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The Language of Film Film, as a medium, is the effort of the artist to reproduce the mind's eye on a screen. It has a language and a structure all its own, and in order to tell a story effectively using film, you need to speak that language and understand its structure. Ideally, when producing your cutscenes, you should hire an experienced film director and cameraman or camera team to work on them. However, many game developers don't have the budget for that, and will have to make do with their own internal resources. In that case, you should try and learn as much about film and its creation as possible -- you won't be able to achieve quickly the level of knowledge of an experienced director, but you should be able to learn enough to avoid embarrassing yourself! The tips that follow are just that -- tips -- rather than anything even remotely resembling a complete guide. For further information on cinematic language, check out some of the references at the end of this article, and read Hal Barwood's 2000 GDC presentation. Above all, watch and analyze as many films as you can. Basic Shot Conventions The first element of film is framing: just like in static photography or painting, one of the key aspects of camerawork within a film is the positioning of its characters within the frame of the monitor, television, or screen. As a 2D representation of a 3D world, and more importantly as a fixed-viewfield representation of the panoramic view afforded by the human eye, film has developed a number of standard shots and techniques used to represent the world it is portraying as naturally as possible. The screen is actually considered to have two frames within it: the actual edge of the screen, which is rarely considered, and a "virtual" internal frame, 1/10th of the way into the image (see Figure 1). No important part of the shot (characters, for example, and specifically characters' eyes and mouths if they are in any way the focus of the scene) should be allowed to stray outside this boundary. Within this frame, the angle of the shot and the position of the character on the screen (to the left, the right, the top or the bottom of the shot) serve as vectors to convey more information about the scene.
Angles of shot on characters, in particular, are used to convey their place in the story and the feelings the audience should have for them: a character seen head-on, for example, will appear threatening, challenging the audience (by breaking out of the internal world of the film and appearing to look straight at the audience -- as in The Silence of the Lambs, for example), whereas a character shot from a slight angle is meant to be part of the internal world of the film -- the viewer is looking at them from behind a "one-way mirror," and is an observer rather than a direct participant. (This is one of the more common mistakes made by inexperienced cutscene directors: I frequently see characters shot from head-on in cutscenes, provoking an inappropriate response in the audience and hence breaking them out of the intended mood of the film.)
Other angles of shot, such as profile or three-quarters behind view, signal different things again about the character we're watching, while the pitch of the shot is used to signal, among other things, the character or characters' place in the world: Are they in charge (we're looking up at them, as a child would), or is fate and the plot at large? Placement of characters in a shot is a different beast altogether. One of the primary uses of varying placement of characters is to facilitate conversation shots via eye lines and "talking room," which I will discuss below. Standard Cinematic Shot Placement The other element of framing within a shot is that of choosing cut-off points within the frame, and hence choosing placement and zoom of a camera on a character. There are a number of standard points at which to "cut" the image on a human character, derived largely from the language of painting. There are natural-seeming and unnatural-seeming points to place the edge of a frame on a character, based mostly on the shape of the human body and mathematical ratios of distances to the edge of the frame (which, in turn, are based on the way the human eye and brain focus on a flat plane). Most of these shot conventions are also based on the fact that the eye will naturally tend to focus about two-thirds of the way up a screen or other rectangular object: hence, the focal point of your scene (generally a character's eyes) should be placed here. Shot framing is another very complex topic, and one which I don't have the expertise to talk about at any length. However, for reference and to get you started, here are the basic shots used in most modern cinematography: Establishing shot. Anything you like, generally a wide shot, although close-ups of a key item can be used (the hotel sign in The Matrix, for example). It is used to establish the location of a scene. Wide Shot. A shot that encompasses all the members of a conversation. The wide shot is used to establish position of characters in relationship with each other, and also to show changes in position of characters in relationship with each other (someone gets up and walks to other side of room, for example). Long Shot. Includes full body of character. The long shot is generally used to introduce a character that was not present in the initial wide shot, although it can also be used to imply emotional distance from other characters. Medium long shot. Shot from just above or below the knee to the top of head and head room This shot is most commonly used for same reason as the long shot. Mid-medium shot. A shot from just above or below the belt line. This is a very neutral conversational shot and is often used to imply emotional distance. Medium close-up. A shot from just above or below the nipples to above the head. One of the most common conversational shots, it is often used during casual conversation and is generally considered to be neutral. Close-up. A shot from just above or below the shoulders. Another common shot in conversational camerawork, it adds more weight to the statements or reactions than a medium close-up. Very close-up. A shot from just above or below the chin to the top of the head, often not including headroom. Adds a lot of weight to a statement or reaction. This shot is generally only used in moments of extreme emotion. Extreme close-up. A shot consisting of a single, generally facial, feature. The extreme close-up is rarely used without the intention of focusing all the viewer's attention upon the feature shown. Over-the-shoulder shot. Generally an medium or wider shot that focuses on one character while having part of the other character in the shot. Over-the-shoulder shots help establish the positions of characters relative to each other and as such is often used when the focus is on changing positions. Two-shot. A closer version of the wide shot that allows some emotion to be shown while establishing position. The two-shot is most often used when characters are side by side while conversing. Conversational Camerawork It's arguable that most storytelling in film is based on a dialogue between two or more characters: whether it's a conversation, a fight scene, a chase, or virtually any other possible activity, the drama and tension in a film comes from the interactions of the characters. Again, film has developed specific syntax for shots and shot sequences following such interaction, to settle the viewer within the world of the film and provide the unspoken information that helps make the spoken conversation intelligible. This, of course, then interacts with the other functions of the language of film, guiding the audience's eye and encouraging them to empathize with or otherwise feel emotion for or about specific characters at specific points. The line. One of the most basic and important elements of camerawork following any sort of dialogue is the concept of the "line." Between two characters having an active dialogue there lies an invisible line, over which the camera can very rarely cross without disorienting the audience and making them feel uncomfortable (as you would in real life, stepping in the way of two people having a conversation). This applies both within moving camera shots (although to a lesser extent) and sequences of cuts: once a line has been established, the camera should almost never cross it until that dialogue has finished or moved -- in other words, once the line has been erased. As I mentioned above, that doesn't just apply to conversational scenes, either. In a sword fight, for example, a line of communication exists just as clearly between the two people fighting (interestingly, the concept of the "line" is just as important in classical fencing as in film school, and for similar reasons). If the camera crosses that line while it exists, the viewer will become confused, as the protagonists appear to switch over places on the screen. In the case of a dialogue with multiple participants, the "line" becomes more difficult to judge. In most cases, there will still only be one "line", between the two most active participants at that point (the person speaking and the person he's speaking to), but that line will shift around as those people change. In general, if the line changes or becomes confused in a scene, the convention is to cut to a wide shot of the scene, which will re-establish in the viewers' minds the position of the line. From there, the shot sequence can continue based on the new line. Talking room and eye lines. In film, a 3D space is reduced to a 2D picture. Therefore, further cinematic syntax allows the filmmaker to place the protagonists within the 3D space of the story. At the most basic end of this syntax lies the concept of talking room, the placement of characters within a shot to show in what way the two of them are interacting in a dialogue. Put simply, any action on the part of a character, be it talking, firing a gun, or even looking in a certain direction, has a certain amount of space on-screen beyond the point from which that action emerges, to "balance" that action. So, for example, if you have a character talking, he cannot be placed center-screen (unless he's talking to the camera) -- the shot must be balanced, so he must be placed off to one side (the left side if he's looking right, for example), to allow his acton "space." Likewise, if the person he is talking to is looking left (towards him), they must have "listening room" to the right of the screen. In addition to this is the concept of the "eye line." This is the apparent line of sight of the person on-screen: if the two participants' eye lines do not match up so that they appear to be looking at one another, the shot sequence will look very wrong. Fortunately, there's a simple way to ensure that the eye lines do indeed match up. When the shot used in conversation isn't a two-shot or a wide shot, the camera should be placed so that the lines to both participants in the dialogue cross at the camera forming a right angle. Thus, the eye lines will look natural and the viewer won't be jerked out of immersion. Shot Sequences Beyond individual shots, the process of assembling shot sequences in a film is a totally different discipline, one that is traditionally the joint responsibility of the director and the editor. Amongst non-film-makers, the process of editing tends to be rather undervalued- it's a common belief that once the film's shots are set up, they just fall into sequence without any difficulty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ideally, as I mentioned in the first part of this article, if you're working on a Machinima cutscene you'll have some form of separate nonlinear editing system available for assembling your shots. Nonlinear editing facilities, where the user chooses from a library of preexisting shots, and can cut them together, change their length, and insert and delete them at will anywhere in the film without having to make changes anywhere else, have traditionally been one of the reasons why film (which is naturally nonlinear) produced much higher quality results than video. Nowadays, non-linear editing facilities are almost essential if you want to produce a high-quality film in a reasonable time span, in any medium. The first thing that will surprise many people about the editing process is the number of shots that are incorporated into any specific sequence. Action sequences in particular use a terrifying number of shots (often more than one per second in a complex sequence), but even conversational camerawork will generally cut to a new shot at least once every ten seconds. To see the reasons behind that, you need only watch a film where the shot cuts far less frequently (like some recent Machinima cutscenes): without a change in the shot, the image on-screen rapidly becomes very boring, and the viewer loses interest and is distanced from the story. This ties into another point. It's a common assumption that a camera will generally stay focussed on the protagonist in a scene, whether he's having a gunfight or an intimate moment. However, that's not the case. Why? Because the visuals in an scene give viewers additional information about the scene that they haven't already gotten from the soundtrack. In a conversation or dialogue, that information is frequently conveyed in the reactions of others to the action taking place. Thus, if you watch a conversation scene in any TV drama or film, you'll see that fewer than half the shots during a conversation are actually of the person talking: the majority of the shots will be showing the nonverbal communication going on, by showing the reactions of others to the actor's speech. If you want your Machinima to work as film, this is another convention you must follow. Of course, that means, as I mentioned in part one of this article, that your character models will need to be capable of simulating emotional reactions. So, where do we get all these shots from? Do we need to set up 20 or more camera positions for each minute of dialogue? No. In general, most filmed scenes will use a few shots repeatedly. This helps establish a sense of continuity in the scene, where multiple varying shots will confuse the audience. The standard setup for a conversational scene, for example, will use seven or eight different positions for a two-person conversation: a wide shot of the scene, a mid-shot and a close shot on each person, an over-the-shoulder shot on each person from the other's perspective, and perhaps one more shot (say, an extreme close-up for moments of emotion). This will provide all the shots you need for a two- or three-minute conversation, provided these shots follow the characters as they move. Lastly, it's important to remember just how far the audio track on a film is independant of the same film's visuals. Audio, such as voices or sound effects, frequently carries over shots focussed on something very different from the things producing the sounds. Indeed, in the case of a sudden sound, like a door crashing open, the sound effect will often begin a fraction of a second before the scene switches, to alert the viewer to the fact that there's a transition coming. ________________________________________________________ |
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