Today was our final film language lesson, as the next two weeks will be individual tutorials with Mhairi, and we looked at the different transitions, so the different ways a filmmaker moves from one scene to the next and how they are used to communicate the story.
The different transitions we looked at are:
A cut - the most common transition, it is the the replacement of one scene with the next.
A wipe - can be either horizontal,vertical, diagonal, or even a shaped wipe, and is when one scene is pushed into frame whilst it pushes the other scene off.
A fade - used to show the passing of time and can be shown as a fade to black. Fades can also use an image to fade in on before moving/ fading into the next scene.
A dissolve - This is when one image dissolves into the other, which creates a mix of both scenes for a second before the new scene. Dissolve is commonly used for passing of time or flashbacks.
A morph - a technique used mainly by animators, it is when one object changes shape and transforms into another.
After looking through the basic transition we looked at the variations of cuts and match cuts. The cut transition has a variety of ways that it can be used, as well as the simple way of going from one scene to the next. One such variation is the balanced cut used when two or more characters are having a conversation, the camera will cut from one face to the other characters face when either of them talk, this type of cut shows the audience who is in scene and who is talking.
Another cut technique is the cut on action, where the scene will change/ cut to another scene as an action is happening/ or after and action has happened. There is also the cut away which is when a continuously filmed scene is interrupted by the camera quickly focusing on something else in the scene (usually this object will have some importance) and then usually focus back on the first shot.
The last type of cut we looked at was match cuts, where the camera will be focusing on an object or character before cutting to a new scene with the focus on an object or character of similar shape. There are also shapes cuts where the filmmaker will try to match the shape of an object in one scene with a shape in the next scene. Filmmakers also do cuts with sounds, such as the J-cut, where the sound from the next scene is heard in the first scene before a transition, and the L-cut, where the audio from the previous scene transitions into the new scene.
Following this discussion we looked at some youtube videos on the previously talked about topics.
(skip to 5.27 in the above YouTube video to see dissolve/ match cut)Â
Before we finished for the day we briefly discussed the requirements for the essay that is to be written for submission and the topic. We are to analyse a sequence of shots, roughly six shots, of a scene in our chosen movie, looking at the timing, colour, framing, type of transition, pacing, and then compare it to another sequence of shots that are either in the same movie or a different movie, for example, a hero introduction compared to a villains introduction.
The film/s can be live action or animated and of any genre that we choose, and it is to be 1000 words, or -10% +10%. Mhairi also ran through how this essay should be structured, so the intro should consist of providing context for the essay, as well as what movie/s we have chosen to analyse. Then for the main body of the essay we are write the analysis of the shots and explain why the filmmaker has done this. Then the ending we must conclude the essay by writing what we think about the shots, for example say if we think they work well or not.
The briefing concluded our lesson today, and I must say that I feel a lot more confident about writing the essay now that Iâve heard the specifics and some examples from Mhairi. My main focus after today for film language will now be to try and find a film to analyse and then try and write it without sounding like Iâm rambling.
