Film Appreciation Notes

The following notes are from a Film History and Appreciation class at UNO probably in 2003. — Brian Wiese 2007/10/25 22:57

• Formal Balance - seriousness, importance, order and simplicity. e.g. the dollar bill, has symmetry, with the one subject in the middle

• Informal Balance - lets the viewer relax as they view, also provides a great feeling & motion - is interesting to look at. provides a sense of movement in the picture, places the subject away from the center of the picture, e.g. near one of the intersections on a tic-tac-toe board.

• Colors (self explanatory)
  • Red: warmth, e.g. sunset
  • Green: serenity, calmness
  • Blue: cold, isolation. e.g. middle of the day = blue side of spectrum
  • photographers should be aware of feelings present when viewing that picture

• Motion
  • Place subjects in picture so they have room to move into it, if moving. Prevents “falling off of page” appearance. Place them entering the picture.
  • static - not moving: more formal
  • dynamic - always changing: informal, provides room to move, gets viewers attention
  • blurring - provides a feeling of movement, excitement
  • stop - subject is frozen in their tracks
  • views - if the subject is looking to the side, so will the viewers. if subject is looking at the camera, viewers are studying the subject

• Camera Angle - realize the angle in which the subject is photographed plays a major role in the relationship between the subject and viewer. Viewing buildings, since they are so big, they always seem to dominate, looking normally from 1 mile away or straight up at 10 ft away. A bird’s eye view would make it seem minuscule, from the view of God.
  • bird’s eye - isolates the subject, viewer feels important, subject is under the photographer
  • worm’s eye - view from laying down and the subject dominates, subject is position of power, viewer is subordinate
  • normal - common but good, can be far distance away, level terms, subject and viewer are equals

• Horizon Line - commonly in the middle, best thing to reposition. If up top = more foreground. To the bottom = less foreground and more sky.

• Distance - camera to subject distance add/subtracts surrounding information. Film is cheap, shoot a lot of images, all angles, close & far. capture all necessary image area.
  • Human eye ~ 150 degrees (including peripheral vision) = normal lens.
  • less vision = telephoto, more vision = wide angle
  • With a fixed focal length lens/camera, the viewer must move closer, possibly crop the image.

• Foreground & Background
  • Framing - with something in the natural surrounding is a technique that allows the image to contain a realistic feeling from the location. i.e. allow a tree branch to hang on top, a doorway or window sill.
  • Merge - something in the background growing out of the subject’s head is undesirable.
  • Background - frame into subject that is closer
  • Foreground - frame into subject that is further
  • For a strong subject, place them in a simple background. If subject is strong enough to hold viewers attention, then don’t place in a busy background.

• Filming (p67)- film is light sensitive, the properties of film change forever, film becomes blacked out. not exposed film is clear and transparent. The light makes black, therefore you have negatives.
  • Light sensitive particles - silver halide (can be changed to silver w/ chemicals, temperature, and time)
  • Visible images on film is a latent image, nto visible until the film is developed.
  • Film has standard film sensitivity (ISO) 35mm ISO from 25 to 3200
    • Higher the ISO → the more sensitive it is to light, therefore less exposure time
  • Grain refers to image quality. Everyday use of ISO from 100-400 is normal.
  • The less sensitive the film is to light, the finer the resolution of the image
  • can change: ISO rating (sensitivity), shutter speed, aperture hole size (f-stop)

• Lighting
  • Quarter lighting - light level with camera softens harsh shadows
  • Rembrandt lighting - raise the light and to the side, butterfly shadow on nose. shadow should stop between lip * nose.
  • Ghoul lighting - light focusing up to the subject, between the camera and subject
  • Side lighting - for textures, details surface, lightness and darkness
  • Front lighting - adds little value to the photo
  • Back lighting
  • Fill flash

• Checklist
  • Balance: _ Formal _ Informal
  • Motion: _ Static _ Dynamic
  • Subjects attention: _ into image _ out of image
  • Camera angle: _ bird _ worm _ normal
  • Framing: _ foreground framing _ background framing _ none
  • Lighting; _ front _ side _ back _ quarter _ fill flash