Film and the Moving Image
Film is a language with its own grammar. A shot is not a neutral window on the world; it is a choice about distance, angle, movement and time.
The basic shot sizes
| Shot | What it shows | Common effect |
|---|---|---|
| Extreme wide | Landscape or setting with a tiny figure. | Isolation, scale, vulnerability. |
| Wide | A full figure in a space. | Relationship between person and place. |
| Medium | Head and torso, or a small group. | Conversation and body language. |
| Close-up | Face or object filling the frame. | Emotion, detail, pressure. |
| Extreme close-up | Eyes, hands or a small object. | Intimacy, obsession, threat. |
Camera movement
- Pan: the camera turns horizontally.
- Tilt: the camera turns vertically.
- Tracking: the camera moves with a subject.
- Push in: the camera moves towards a subject.
- Pull out: the camera moves away, revealing context.
- Handheld: the camera is held, creating instability or immediacy.
Editing
An edit joins two shots. The join can create a comparison, a shock, a passage of time or a change of place. A cut on action hides the join; a jump cut makes it visible; a montage compresses time. Ask what the edit makes the audience assume between the two shots.
Sound
| Track | What it includes | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Dialogue | Words spoken by characters. | Who speaks, who is silent, who is interrupted? |
| Diegetic sound | Sound that belongs to the world of the film. | What does the character hear? |
| Non-diegetic sound | Music or narration added for the audience. | What is the audience told to feel? |
| Silence | The absence of sound. | What becomes audible in the silence? |
Mise-en-scène
Mise-en-scène is everything in the frame: setting, costume, lighting, props, colour, blocking and performance. It is the world the camera records. Ask why the frame is arranged this way. What is in the foreground? What is pushed to the edge? What is missing?
Storyboard task
Ask students to storyboard a short sequence of six to eight shots. Each panel should include a simple drawing, the shot size, the camera movement, the sound and one sentence of action. Then ask them to explain how the sequence creates tension, sympathy or surprise. The storyboard is an argument about how the scene should be seen.
Reading a sequence
- Watch once for what happens.
- Watch again with a focus on one track: camera, editing, sound or design.
- Make a shot list with times or descriptions.
- Choose two or three choices that shape the audience's response.
- Explain the effect and link it to the sequence's purpose.
The frame is an argument. Every shot decides what the audience can see and what remains outside the edge. Ask what the choice includes, and what it hides.