Mise-en-scene Part 2

This is the second part of the mise en scene blog. In this post, I will discuss camera position and composition. These two are among the most important things to focus on while filming any type of footage.

Camera Positioning Background/Info

First, we have the camera position. Camera position is critical because where you put the camera is the angle at which the audience will see what you are shooting. So for example, if you put your camera far away at a high angle facing towards a person, it will look like a bird's eye view. But if that was not what you wanted, putting the camera in a different place would have got the result that you wanted instead. There are, of course, numerous ways that you can position your camera. For example, you can put it in a close-up, extreme close-up, long shot, extreme long shot, over-shoulder, Dutch angle, and much much more. Depending on what you desire, any of these types of positions can help establish or demonstrate the purpose of your scene.

Camera Positioning within My Film

For my film opening, The camera position will be very important, especially if I want to demonstrate the character's expressions. My film is about a couple going through a rough patch to demonstrate that I must put the camera in certain positions so that the actor's emotions and body language are shown correctly. For example, doing a close-up or an extreme close-up could help show the emotions of the characters. A close-up shows facial expressions while an extreme close-up could show a facial expression closer like tears falling from their eyes. One shot that I am still trying to work out is one of the shots that I have in my storyboard, which is after their argument when each of them is having their alone time, Antonio comes to check on Camila but in this shot, I was planning on having a long shot but at the same time it being an over shoulder shot. I’m not sure if this is possible, but I feel that this type of shot would be good because it shows both characters but at the same time shows that Antonio cares for Camila even in their darkest times. Doing a normal over-shoulder shot would just blur Antonio and then focus on Camila when in this shot I’d rather focus on both, so that is why I chose to mix it with a long shot. My project does consist of lots of close-ups and mid shots, but I feel that the way that my film is structured those took the shots are very necessary. While shooting it could be possible that I come up with new shots that would look better.

Composition Background/Info

Now it is time to talk about composition. Composition is also another very important aspect when shooting. Camera placement is a beneficial factor when establishing composition. One of the most known types of composition is the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds is a frame divided into nine equal sections with two horizontal and two vertical lines. Placing key elements along these lines helps create a balanced and appealing shot. Besides the rule of thirds, there are many many more types of composition, but some that are very important are color and contrast, symmetry and balance, depth and layering, framing, and much more.

Composition within My Film

For my film, I would like to focus on using the rule of thirds, color, and contrast, depth and layering, framing, and possibly symmetry or other forms of composition. The rule of third though is one that I wanna focus on the most because that rule is something that must be followed whenever shooting. If you want a shot to look good, you must follow the rules. For example in the first shot of my film, the characters are having an argument. The characters are in an enclosed space which makes it a bit harder to film, but to make the shot look nice I have to try to make one character on one vertical line, and one character on the other. This way, the shot will look appealing as well as using the rule of thirds. This also will be used during various other shots. Depth is another thing I would like to focus on because I like explaining before my film focuses on the emotions and feelings of each of the characters and depth can help the audience focus on that. Framing is of course also very important because the way you frame a shot is the way your audience sees what you are focusing on. Framing cannot be messed up because you could frame a character and then their hair could be cut off due to the way that you framed the shot and of course that may not be what you want unless you did it purposely. Lastly, contrast and color are a good detail to incorporate into a film. Color can influence certain moods or give audiences a hint as to what the character or type of environment they are in. For example, red usually is used to describe anger, love, or lust while blue is used to describe sadness calmness, or even the future. Contrast on the other hand can make a certain thing or person seem dark/evil or heavenly/good.

Incorporating these elements will help make my film greater than it ever could’ve been without them. These elements help make all films as good as they are. I will try my best to use them to make my film the best that it can be.