Film Techniques – What a Director Paints With

Film techniques comprise all of the choices made by the director in the process of achieving the
vision he has for the film.

Technique Notes Example

Mise en scene Refers to everything in the frame. This includes:

● Location
● Props (an object that is physically used by a
character)
● Set dressing (an object that IS NOT
physically used by a character)
● Costume
● Hair and make-up
● Colour Palette - A limited number of specific
colours used or emphasised throughout the
film to subtly communicate various aspects of
character and story to the viewer.
● Action vehicle
● Weather

Acting ● The blocking of actors: Where the actors

Performances are positioned and move in relation to each
other and in relation to the camera.
● Their body language: An important code
used by filmmakers when constructing
characters. Body language becomes a
technique for informing the audience about
how a character feels about himself or
herself, others or an event or situation.
Consider facial expression, gestures,
posture, position of body or hands,
proxemics, etc.

Lighting ● Flickering light - Anger Spotlight:

● Lights turned out - Fear
● Lights fill the space - Happiness
● Grey light - Sadness
● Soft light - Romantic
● Low key lighting - Used to emphasise
shadows, e.g in horror films.
● Spotlight - Just like a real spotlight, this Backlight:
technique focuses the attention on one part
of the room at one time.
● Backlighting - The light source is placed
behind the subject, it creates silhouettes
and a glowing effect on the subject.
 Motifs and ● Motifs: Images, patterns, or ideas that are
Symbols repeated throughout the film and are
variations or aspects of the major theme.

● Symbol: A literal element (such as an object,

name, or gesture) in art, literature, and film
that also stands for an abstract idea.

Flashbacks and ● Flashbacks: An editing technique that

flashforwards suggests the interruption of the present by a
shot or series of shots representing the past.

● Flashforwards: A segment of film that

breaks normal chronological order by shifting
directly to a future time. Flash forward, like
flashback, may be subjective (showing
precognition or fears of what might happen)
or objective (suggesting what will eventually
happen and thus setting up relationships for
an audience to perceive).

Cinematography ● Frame: One image

● Film shot: Tells the story

Camera shots

● Long shot – A shot taken from a distance

that allows the whole subject and contextual
information to fit in the frame.

● Extreme Long Shot - A shot taken from an

even greater distance. When subjects are
present in the shot they are small.

● Wide Shot - A shot of a wider area than

normal.

● Medium Shot– Shows half body, and its

immediate surroundings

● Close Up Shot – A shot taken at close

range. Usually the head or head and
shoulders of a subject.

● Extreme Close Up – This shot is so close

that only a detail of the subject, such as
someone's eyes, can be seen. No contextual
information is included in this type of shot.
 ● Overhead Shot – Camera is directly above
and faces down on the scene.

● Point of View Shot – The camera becomes

the character's eyes.

● Handheld Shot - A handheld shot is one in

which the cameraman or -woman holds the
camera and moves through space while
filming.

● A tracking shot - is one in which a camera

is mounted on some kind of conveyance (car,
ship, airplane, etc.) and films while moving
through space. Tracking refers to the practice
in studio filmmaking of filming from a wagon
set on specially placed lengths of railroad
tracks.

● Crane shot - Is achieved by a camera

mounted on a platform, which is connected to
a mechanical arm that can lift the platform
up, bring it down, or move it laterally across
space.

● Pan Shot - A pan shot is achieved with a

camera mounted on a swivel head so that
the camera body can turn from a fixed
position. The camera can move left to right,
right to left.

● Still Shot - A photograph taken with a still

(versus motion) camera.

● Split Screen - Split screen is the

combination of two or more scenes which
appear in the same frame.
Arc Shot:
● Arc Shot - The simple definition of an arc
shot is a shot where the camera circles its
subject. In an arc shot, the subject is
typically still and the camera provides the
motion, tracking around the subject in at
least a semi-circle of movement.

Camera Angles ● High Angle – Camera looks down on the

subject to make it appear small and/or
insignificant.

● Low Angle – Camera looks up on subject to

make it appear larger and/or powerful.

● Eye Level Angle – Camera is at eye-level of

the subject to show them as they really are.
 ● Dutch Tilt Angle - Also known as the Dutch Dutch Tilt Angle:
Tilt, German Angle, canted angle, canted
camera, or oblique angle, the technique
consists of an angled camera shot where the
horizon line isn't parallel with the bottom of
the frame, and vertical lines are at an angle
to the side of the frame.

THE CAMERA MAY:

Pan - moves across

Tilt - move up and down
Push in or pull out

● Dialogue: Dialogue is speech delivered by or

Sound between characters.

● Non-Diegetic Sound: Non - diegetic sound

is sound whose origin is from outside the
story world. Voice-overs are typically
non-diegetic, since the narration does not
appear in the film's story world. Usually, the
music soundtrack of a film is non-diegetic.

● Diegetic sound: Diegetic can include

everything from the voices of characters to
the sounds of objects or music coming from a
radio or an instrument--anything that exists in
the story world.

● Voice-Over: Voice-over is dialogue, usually

narration, that comes from an unseen,
offscreen voice, character, or narrator. It is an
example of non-diegetic sound, which can be
heard by the audience but not by the film
characters themselves.