Visual Literacy Work Pack

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Creators of film… MARTIN
SCORSESE

1. DIRECTOR…. everything you see is a direct result of the THE DEPARTED

GOODFELLAS
director's choices, ideas and vision for his film. Auteur Theory1 tells us
Cinema is a matter
that a director is the author of their film: that their fingerprint (their
of what’s in the
style) should be clear in every film they make. A film director controls a frame and what’s
film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) out.

while guiding the technical crew and actors in the fulfilment of that
vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, costume,
lighting, camera angles, sound, production design, and the creative
aspects of filmmaking. Watch The Hurt Locker by Katherine Bigelow (2009)
to see the impact of the director on a dramatic turning point in a scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E2SrVlYue4

Quentin Tarantino

2 Oscars

Django Unchained, The Hateful Eight, Pulp

Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Basterds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGbwLLVIy8U

Wes Anderson

Fantastic Mr Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel,

Moonrise Kingdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv6o1K8lpBE

Steven Spielberg

3 Oscars

E.T, Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan.

Munich, War Horse

http://www.indietips.com/video-the-passions-and-
technique-of-steven-spielberg/

1
Read up on Auteur Theory here: https://indiefilmhustle.com/auteur-theroy/
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2. PRODUCER….a producer’s role is diverse. Producers plan and orchestrate
different aspects of filming: they have a hand in selecting the script, overseeing the script
writing, assist in directing and editing and locate financing for the production of a film.

Jerry Bruckheimer

Pirates of the Caribbean, Top

Gun, Pearl Harbour,
Armageddon

Brad Pitt

12 Years a Slave, The Departed, World War z

Angelina Jolie

Unbroken, First They Killed My Father

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3. Location Manager / Scout…is an important individual in the pre-production
and filming phase. Once the key decision makers (producer, script writer and director) have decided
the look and feel they want for their film, scouts look for a location to film. These are specifically for
scenes that cannot be shot within studio. Location scouts also compile a database of unusual or
interesting locations in case of request. It is also the location scout’s duty to negotiate access to these
territories, locations- especially if it is in a different country or if there are special needs for the land
(helicopter access, closing of roads, etc.)

FOR EXAMPLE, IN Game of Thrones, the location scouts gained access to countries such as Malta,
Spain, Croatia, Ireland, Iceland and Spain to get an authentic portrayal of the diverse Seven
Kingdoms.

4. Director of Photography
Director of photography are interested in the aesthetic aspects of the
film. They are involved in creating the visual identity, or ‘look’, of the film.
They work with the Director, camera crew and lighting department to
achieve this.

Watch http://burgerfiction.tumblr.com/post/156673746608/sunrise-a-
song-of-two-humans-192728-charles a clip on every Best
Cinematography winner ever: 1926 – 2016

5. Production Designer
Production Designers are in charge of creating the world in which
characters exist: namely, the costumes, sets, and make-up. They
oversee all the designers and artists needed.

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 6. Costume Designer
Costume designers communicate a message about the
character through colour, fabric and texture. How a character
is dressed can reveal a lot about their age, occupation,
social status and the era within which they live.

7. Make-Up Artist
This person heads up the make-up department, which
includes wigs, modelling and prosthetics (an important
part of special effects make-up).

8. Special Effects Supervisor

 This person manages a team who orchestrates aspects of film making such as bullet time,
Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI), digital Compositioning, Dolly Zoom, In-camera effects,
Match moving, Matte and Matte-painting and Miniature Effects.

9. Stunt Coordinator
This person casts stunt-doubles and works with choreographers, and advises actors who are
willing to do their own stunt work, in order to plan action sequences.

10. Film Editor

They collect, select, and assemble all the different shots of the
film in a cohesive way. They usually working closely with the
director. Often, the film editors remove shots/scenes that are not
necessary. The film editor is an important role as he/she is a
collaborator who works with cinematographers and sound
editors to bring sight and sound together convincingly. He/she is
an artist who captures a director's vision and tells a compelling story.
Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mwmy0awMZXY to get a feel of good editing during
an action sequence.

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SCENES AND SEQUENCES
1. A scene… is a unit of story that takes place at a specific location and time, for
example a fight scene or a conversation between two characters. If one of these changes,
you have a new scene. Look at the still below. This is the famous Wingardium Leviosa scene
from Harry Potter

2. A sequence… is a series of scenes, like chapters, that form a distinct narrative

unit, which is usually connected either by unity of location or unity of time. Look at the stills
below. These are scenes that make up a chapter in the movie – a sequence.

3. A take… refers to each filmed “version” of a shot. It can be filmed a number of

times until a director is satisfied with the result.

4. A flashback… is a scene or sequence (sometimes it is the whole film), that is

inserted into a scene in "present" time and that deals with the events of the past. Flashbacks

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have different functions: they can illustrate a character’s back story as it applies to the plot
(called character origin flashbacks). Flashbacks can occur before the film’s narrative to fill
in back story or to fill in another character on what happened while they were not around to
witness the events for themselves.

On the other hand, a flash forward is a scene or sequence of future time.

Flash forwards and flashbacks are often introduced by text on the screen, reading something
like “24 hours earlier”, or “3 days later”. Often flash backs or flash forwards are implied by
the rushing pages of a calendar turning backwards, or the extreme close-up of a character’s
eyes as he stares wistfully into the distance (see the still from Saving Private Ryan)
below.

5. A STORYBOARD… is a series of
sketches and captions (it often looks similar to
a comic strip) that shows how the shots will be
ordered and divided- it is a way of pre-
visualizing the film. It can also show camera
movements. Storyboarding is one of the early
stages of production. Look at the storyboard
for Spiderman

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THEME/SYMBOL/MOTIF
1. THEME … If plot is what’s on the surface of a film (the obvious storyline), easily
visible to the audience, then the theme is what’s under the surface… Themes are often

-Quentin Tarantino

issues that humans,

universally, can relate to.
Often, themes in film are
not obvious: they are
subtle and can differ
according to viewer’s
interpretations. In the
Indie film 500 Days of Summer, the overriding theme is RELATIONSHIPS

2. ICON… is simply an image or an object taken at face value. For example, the green
light in The Great Gatsby is initially understood as being simply a green light at the end of
Daisy’s dock.

3. INDEX… However, as soon as a DEEPER MEANING is given to the icon, it

becomes an index. To continue, the green light in The Great Gatsby becomes significant
when Jay Gatsby reaches out to it…as if he is reaching out to Daisy. He moves directly
across the bay so that he can be
near to his lost love.

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4. SYMBOL… is when the green light (and EVERYTHING) that it represents is
repeated throughout the film so that you cannot see the green light without thinking:

GREEN LIGHT= JAY GATSBY’S DREAM OF DAISY

5. MOTIF… A motif is a repeated idea, image, or pattern that is seen throughout a film,
which helps reveal the theme. They are the clues that reveal the hidden or subtle theme
underneath the film’s obvious plot and storyline. Motifs are collections of related metaphors
or symbols used to represent a related concept. For example, Lights or flames going on and
off to show life or death states throughout a film.

One of the easiest motifs to identify is the colour of the costume that a character is wearing.
Although wearing black doesn’t always mean a character is evil, the Star Wars original
trilogy often employed the motif of good/evil through costume:

Darth Vader Princess Leia

wears wears white,
black, because she’s
because pure, noble and
he’s evil good.
and sinister.

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CHARACTERISATION… is the process where the film reveals the nature or
personality of the characters within it. This can be done implicitly or explicitly.

A. Explicit characterisation: is when the narrator or character themselves states outright

what they like/think/feel.

B. Implicit characterisation: is when the audience has to decode and infer character traits
based on: how they treat others, how other characters feel when they are with that
character, how the character behaves, what do they get involved in, how do they look, what
does their costume say about them, etc.

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SETTING: Setting is determined by two things: WHERE (the place) and WHEN (the
time and circumstances) the action takes place. Setting contributes a lot to the film: part of
the movie-going experience is being able to immerse yourself in the world that is created by
the director, in terms of space and time. Settings can be characters, too. Have a look at the
setting of Hunger Games, Avatar, and The Lord of the Rings, below

Panam from The Hunger Games

is a fictional post-apocalyptic
America.

Director, Peter Jackson used CGI and

Animation to create Middle Earth

The action of Avatar took place on the

fictional moon Pandora

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SETS… Sets are the environments built for the actors to perform in. A set can be a room,
an elevator, a spaceship, or even a forest. An enormous amount of detail goes into set
construction and decoration, because the environments have to be detailed enough to be
believable. The production designer or art director is the person tasked with building up the
world where the characters exist and making sure that there is visual consistency and
historical accuracy throughout the film. See the familiar F.R.I.E.N.D.S set below:

PROPS… are also known as theatrical property, are objects that actors use when on
screen. It can be anything portable that may be moved around the set. Props can be used by
the characters for characterisation, or to move the plot forward. Consumable food is also
considered a prop! A lot of props are just ordinary objects, but sometimes they are specially
made.
This is “Wilson”, Tom Hank’s ‘friend’ on Castaway

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 This is a poster of Raquel Welsh that was used in the film
Shawshank Redemption. Much like the volleyball from
Castaway, a lot of the film’s action revolves around the
poster.

The ‘ring’ from Lord of the Rings, around which the movies
are centred, had multiple versions. Two solid gold rings were
cast in addition to a version with lights inside it. At the end of
filming, Director Peter Jackson gave one gold ring each to
Elijah Wood (who played Frodo) and Andy Serkis (who
voiced Gollum). They both thought that they had the only one!
The WETA Workshop in New Zealand created over 45,000
props and set pieces for the three movies, including
weapons, armour, prosthetics, and miniatures.

COSTUME… is a critical part of creating authenticity, characterisation and establishing

a world within film. Costumes, like the characters they embody, must evolve within the
context of the story and the arc of the character within it.

In Fight Club, costume designer Michael Kaplan wanted to contrast the split (personality!) of
Tyler Durden by making Brad Pitt’s character (left) flashy, slick and colourful, whereas
Edward Norton’s (right) was serious, conservative and business-like.

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Costume is able to depict wealth and status:

Costume is able to show poverty and suffering:

Costume is able to shower strength and power:

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 MAKE-UP AND PROSTHETICS…

Make-up artists and prosthetic

technicians use the human body as
their canvass!

Make- up and prosthetics can be

used to:

Transform characters into the

opposite sex or animals, reinforce
their quirkiness, or even age them.

The original Planet of the Apes

(1968) used prosthetics, not CGI.
In preparation, prosthetics
designer John Chambers spent
numerous studying the facial
features and expressions of
monkeys at the zoo in order to
transform the actors convincingly
into apes.

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VISUAL TRACK… In order to do critical filmic analysis, we must know and
understand the terminology used in cinematography. Whenever you analyse a film, you must
be able to recognise the different technical aspects: such as angle, framing, focus,
proxemics distance, mise-en-scene, etc.

1. FRAMING… is how a subject is positioned within a shot. The subject (a character,

or object) can be framed by the boundary or perimeter of the film image, or by using other
objects or people in the frame (such as a door frame, a mirror, and a shadow) Camera
angles such as low-angle and high-angle shots contribute to the framing. Usually, framing is
important for establishing who or what is important in the shot.

Reframing refers to short panning or tilting movements of the camera to adjust to the
character's movements and keep them onscreen, centered, and in the frame.

Visit https://cinematography-howto.wonderhowto.com/how-to/frame-and-compose-shot-for-
film-244063/ to learn more.

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1. COMPOSITION AND LINE…
Once the director has decided who and what should be included in the shot (framing), he or
she has to decide how to place those things or people in the shot. This is called
composition. It often has to do with what kind of lines the director wants to create by placing
the characters in a certain way. Different lines can create different moods, and they can also
help direct the audience, i.e., tell them where to look. Here are some composition techniques
that directors can choose to use in films:

Rule of Thirds
This rule states that the “points of interest” in the shot must be in specific places so that the
viewer can see them “comfortably”. To follow this rule, you divide the frame into 9 sections
with 4 lines. The places where the lines intersect are the perfect spots in which to place
things that you want the audience to focus on immediately. Here is an example of the rule
from Harry Potter.

Static Composition

This is when the director has used lots of vertical and horizontal lines in the shot. It creates
symmetry, which has an ordered, calming effect. It can also symbolize perfection or
seriousness (think of a serious medical lab with long tables and sharp corners).

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In this shot from Hero (2002), the stairs and rows create many vertical and horizontal lines,
making it a good example of static composition. The composition highlights the perfection,
rigidity and order of the palace.

Dynamic Composition
In contrast, dynamic composition involves many diagonal lines, which are unusual and
unsettling, creating a sense of excitement and action. In this shot from The Final Flight of the
Osiris (2003), one of the short films from the Animatrix, the aerial view camera angle
transforms the natural lines of the environment into dynamic diagonals, creating instability,
uncertainty and tension for this fight scene.

2. LIGHTING AND COLOUR…

We need to look at the symbolism of colour…What does the director imply with his use of
colour about the time, envirnonmen, mindset that the character is in?

WARM COLOURS: yellow/green

palette creates a figuratively
warm (welcome, friendship,
security, and happiness)

COOL COLOURS: A blue/grey

palette creates a figuratively
cold (unwelcome, unhospitable,
and uncomfortable) atmosphere

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 DISCORDANT COLOUR: Discordant
colour is when a specific colour
stands out from the usual colour
palette. This is normally used to
bring the audience’s attention to
a detail in a scene.

SATURATED COLOUR: Saturated

colour is when the rich, full,
bright colour has been ‘drained’
from a scene. A greyish- blue
filter has been added. This is
similar to the use of cold colours.
It can connote a dreary,
hopeless place or a regression
back in time.

3. FOCUS…
Focus refers to the part of the shot that is in focus
(clear or sharp), as opposed to the part of the shot
that is out of focus (blurry or unclear). Camera
lenses can focus on things close by or on things far
away, and everything in-between.

A) Rack focus in filmmaking and television

production is the practice of changing
the focus of the lens during a shot. The term can
refer to small or large changes of focus – from in
focus to out of focus. The point of rack focus is
subtly to draw attention to different aspects
of the shot.

B) Deep focus
Deep focus is when the director deliberately
makes the foreground, middle ground and
background clear and in focus so that the viewer
is free to see everything. There is freedom to loo
anywhere and so it can enhance the business or
chaos of a scene.

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C) Shallow Focus

In shallow focus one plane of the image is

in focus while the rest is out of focus.
Shallow focus is typically used to
emphasize one part of the image over
another. When the focus shifts between
shallow focus on different planes, this is
called rack focus.

2. CAMERA SHOTS AND ANGLES…

A shot is a series of frames that run for an uninterrupted period of time. Film shots are an
essential aspect of a movie where angles, transitions and cuts are used to further express
the director’s vision in a creative way.

A. ESTABLISHING SHOT
This usually the first shot of a new scene,
designed to show the audience where the
action is taking place. It is usually a very
wide shot or extreme wide shot.

B. LONG SHOT

A long shot typically shows the entire

object or human figure and is usually
intended to place it in some relation to its
surroundings.

B. MEDIUM SHOT
This is also known as a waist shot is a camera
angle shot from a medium distance. In the shot
below, Katniss Everdeen is shot from the waist
up, in a medium shot, to force focus on her
torso, her bow and arrow and the surrounds of
the forest.

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C. MEDIUM CLOSE-UP

This type of shot rames a subject's head and cuts off around mid-
chest. The focus is on the subject: their expression. It reveals only a
little of the surroundings.

D. CLOSE-UP

Close-ups display the most detail but only of the subject’s neck and
face. They do not include the broader scene.

E. EXTREME CLOSE-UP
An extreme close up is of one or two features, for example the subject’s eyes, or hands.

F. TWO-SHOT

A two- shot is when two characters are placed next to each other in a shot. Normally this can
show comradery, or a close relationship.

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G. REACTION SHOT

This type of shot highlights and focuses a character’s emotional response to an event.

H. POINT-OF-VIEW SHOT

This type of shot is filmed from the perspective of the character, almost as if the viewer is
looking through their ‘eyes’. It is just like the perspective used in Call of Duty.

I. OVER-THE-SHOULDER SHOT

This shot taken over one character’s shoulder. The viewer can feel as if they are intruding on
a private moment.

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J. ARIEL SHOT
An aerial shot is a shot of a scene or photo taken from a higher vantage point than what is
being filmed. It can be taken from an airplane, helicopter or drone.

K. DOLLY SHOT
When the camera is placed on a dolly (a platform with wheels on a set of tracks) and the
camera moves in a smooth motion alongside the action taking place. This is also called a
moving shot or tracking shot.

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L. BIRD’S EYE VIEW SHOT

This refers to the shot being taken directly from above.

ANGLES: This refers to the position of the camera in relation to the position of the subject.
The camera can be “looking” from below or above, or straight on.

A. The Dutch angle, also known as Dutch tilt, canted angle, or oblique angle, is a type of
camera shot where the camera is set at an angle on its roll axis so that the shot is composed
with vertical lines at an angle to the side of the frame, or so that the horizon line of the shot is
not parallel with the bottom of the camera frame. The effect is disconcerting or unsettling.

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A. Low angle is a cinematic technique where the camera looks up at a subject who seem
strong and powerful

A. High angle is a cinematic technique where the camera looks down on a subject making
them seem weak, powerless or insignificant.

CAMERA MOVEMENT…
The movement of the camera is a very important part to note in film analysis. Directors can
move the camera slowly to create suspense or imitate a dream-like trance, or quickly to
make things seem more exciting or anxious.

Track
When the camera is placed on a dolly and moves either towards, away from, or alongside
the subject.

Swish / Flick / Zip / Whip Pan

When the camera pans, but it does it so quickly that everything in-between the first focus
point and the second focus point is a blur

Zoom
This is when the focal lengths of the shot changes while you are looking at it. Cameras can
zoom in (say, from a long shot into a close up), or zoom out (from a close up to a wider
shot).

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Pan
When the camera moves from side to side- from left to right. The camera stays still and is
turned on a horizontal axis. Don’t confuse this with a tracking shot!

Tilt
The camera is pivoted up or down on a vertical axis

Arc
When the camera moves around the subject in a circle or semi-circle.

SOUND…
The sound that you hear within a film has been added through the editing process – even if it
sounds natural. Directors use sound and music to create realism, suspense, nostalgia,
sentimentality, drama, humour. There are TWO terms you need to know:

DIAGETIC SOUND/SYNCHRONOUS: This is the ‘natural’ sound that has a direct link to the
action in the film like the sound of footsteps or a glass being put down or thunder. Although
some of these sounds are recorded while the acting is happening, a lot of them are added in
later by a “Foley artist”.

NON-DIAGETIC SOUND/ NON-SYNCHRONOUS: This is sound that is added and that the
characters cannot ‘hear’ An example of this would be a soundtrack, or voice-over narration.

VOICE-OVER: This falls under non-diagetic sound because the actors can’t hear it. It’s the
narrator’s voice, for the audience only.

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