Camera Angles, Camera Movements and Shot Types! (camera workshop)

Over the past few days I have been learning about different camera angles, camera movements and shot types. All of which I will state and demonstrate below: 

For Camera Angles

These include:

Eye level

This angle involves the camera being positioned as though a human was observing the scene so that the heads of the actors are in the same position as the focus. For the majority of the time when this angle is used the camera itself is often placed either 5 or 6 feet above ground level.


High Angle

This is not as extreme as a Bird's eye view. The camera is elevated slightly to give an overview of the scene and action, a crane is used to produce this shot. This makes what is being shown on screen smaller, less intimidating and less scary (significant). This angle is used when a character is being swallowed up by there surroundings and they become part of a wider picture.


Low Angle 

This angle is used for short actors and give a sense of speeded motion. It gives a sense of powerlessness within the scene and provide a sense of confusion for the viewer, because of this the backdrop for this particular angle always seems to be an object with little detail such as a ceiling or a wall to help disorientate the viewer. The additional height of the object may inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is dominated physiologically by the on screen figure.


Low-Level

This angle gives head on views of ground level subjects.


The Bird's-Eye view

This is a very strangle and unnatural angle, this angle is used to show a scene that is directly overhead. Normal objects could seem unrecognisable upon first glance, however this angle provides positives as well as negatives, from this angle the audience are put in a 'GOD' like position by looking down on the action in the scene. This angle could make characters in the scene seem insignificant to there surroundings and ant-like. People who like to use this angle include English film producer and director Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.


The oblique angle

To suggest and symbolise imbalance, instability and transition on occasion the camera is tilted such as in Titanic. This angle is used to suggest POV (Point Of View) shot, for example when the camera becomes the eyes of one particular character. A hand held camera is often used to achieve this angle. 





For Camera Movements
These include: 


Hand-Held Shots

This movement unlike it's title name actually involves a heavy, awkward piece of machinery strapped to it's operator via a harness. The movement was first invented  in the 1950's and it allowed the cameraman or operator to move in and out of scenes at speed. The effect this movement produces is jerky and raggedy which is totally at odds with the organised smoothness of the dolly shot. This movement is favoured by a majority of film makers who look for a gritty realism.


Dolly Shots

This is sometimes called a tracking shot, the movement involves the camera being placed on a moving vehicle which moves alongside the action in the scene, the action for this form of camera movement often involves following a moving object or figure. Advanced dolly shots involve a track being laid alongside the set for the camera to follow , hence the alternative name 'tracking shot'. The camera may be mounted on a car, a shopping trolley or even a plane to achieve the correct movement. A dolly shot is a good way of both saving money (the particular type of movement is often used by independent film makers to save some money) and for portraying movement. This could be for example following a characters journey, or from moving from a long shot to a close up.


Zoom Lenses 

This particular lens means that the camera does never need to be moved which saves a lot of trouble and time. The lens means that the camera is able to zip in and out of a scene quickly with minimal effort. The negatives for this type of movement include the lens not being able to make a steady movement whilst zooming in much like the human eye. This lens is only able to focus whilst zooming if used very slowly, and if not zoomed slowly the lens tends to be jerky and it causes objects to be distorted making the objects and images in the scene seem closer together than they really are.


Steadicam

A steadicam is a type of hand held camera which is worn as a harness by the cameraman or operator. To ensure the camera remains level and smooth as the cameraman moves a gyroscope system is used. This form of camera movement can be seen in the beginning of 'Gladiator' to film the battle scenes, this was done so that the camera could be within the action and engage the audience more directly. Another example of where this was used first was in Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'.


The Aerial Shot

This is a variation of a crane shot and this movement is usually taken by a helicopter. This type of movement is good for establishing setting and movement which is why it is usually used at the opening of a film. You could think of a helicopter as a taller and bigger crane which is able to preform any movement a crane can preform, it can keep up with anything, convey real drama and and exhilaration, move in and out of scene and go anywhere with relative ease. 


Crane Shot

A crane shot is basically a dolly shot in the air, a crane is a practical and useful way of moving a camera due to it being able to move up, down, left, right, moving diagonally out of action or moving in on action.


Pans

This is a movement which scans horizontally, it involves the camera being placed on a tripod which operates as a stationary axis point whilst the camera turns, often to follow a moving object and therefore keeping it in the middle of the frame.


Tilt 

This is a movement which is similar to a pan, it scans a scene vertically.


Pedestal up/ Pedestal down: (Ped up/ Ped down) 

This movement is often used to show dominance, submissiveness or the lack thereof in a shot, this shot involves raising or lowering the camera.

For Camera Shots 

These include: 

Extreme Long Shot (ELS)

Very Long Shot (VLS)

Long Shot (LS)

Medium Close Up (MCU)

Close Up (CU)

Extreme Close Up (ECU)

Cutaway (CA)

Cut In (CI)

Two Shot (2-Shot)

Over-the-Shoulder Shot (OSS)

Point of View Shot (POV)

Here are some self made videos demonstrating:

Camera Shot Types:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW98anv-mTY&feature=plcp 


Camera Movements and Angles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg8wrYpQ_pQ&feature=plcp

Stop Motion Pioneers

                                To explore the 5 Stop Motion Pioneers I have made a powerpoint

                                  presentation thus giving more in depth knowledge about all 5

                              pioneers. In the powerpoint I have covered topics on each individual,

                                                                     these topics include:

     A short bio about each pioneer!

     How they created 'The illusion of movement'! 

     The techniques they used and how it has effected Stop Motion animation today!

      Intended audience!

    My opinion on the technique!

Stop motion animation, what I have learnt!

Stop Motion animation

What I have learnt!

During the last few lessons we have been focusing on stop motion animation and from this we have learnt different factors of this type of animation, and how this can effect the final product, for example:

Frame Rates: Frame rates are the rate (or frequency) at which film or video frames run, this can be altered manually, or it can depend on the device you happen to be using at the time and the automatic frame rate it is set too. For instance the most common and standard frame rate being 24fps which is considered to be a full-motion video. When making a stop motion animation frame rates are really important, by increasing the frame rate you can speed up your film and vise versa by lowering the frame rate.

Another important factor when making a stop motion animation is the illusion of movement, for example from watching videos and conducting my own experiment by making my very own thaumatrope, your eyes can illude you in to thinking you can only see one image, when in reality there are two images playing simultaneously at speed causing your eyes to see them as one. One of the ways in which you can do this is by using an instrument called a Thaumatrope, this is a small disc held by pieces of string. On either side of the disc an image is drawn which when spun, superimposed on to the image on the opposite side. If used properly the device is flawless, for example you can have an image of a bird on one side and on the opposite side there could be an image of a cage. When spun rapidly the images superimpose to what seems to be an image of a bird in a cage. 

 The thaumatrope can be seen in the following diagram:

And you can see it in action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yv6QArYoHik


Here is a self made video whereby me and a partner have our own attempt at making a stop motion animation using a flip book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOGhkef42AU&feature=plcp 

The 3 Developers!

                                       Here is a powerpoint presentation that explores
                                      3 very famous stop motion animation developers, 

                      what and how they have developed there techniques and the different 

                                            techniques they have used over the years. 

                               Willis O' Brien

                                Ray Harryhausen

                               Jan Svankmajer

Aardman, Burton and The Brothers Quay

Tim Burton was born on August 25th, 1958 in Burbank, California. Burton was never very good in school, and was not a bookworm. Instead he found pleasure in painting, drawing and in movies. In 1979 Burton had been brought into work on 'The Fox And The Hound' he did not enjoy it one and he claimed it bored him. After realising Burton's talents were not fully being utilised, they made him a conceptual artist on designing characters which would then, later on be used in films. The unique style of his concept drawings did not go down to well with Disney and were not used. Failing working at Disney he then went on to producing his own projects. This included artwork and a poem which would eventually, years later become 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', the live action short 'Frankenweenie' and the animated short 'Vincent'.




During Burton's various animations, he has used many different techniques, these include things such as Rotorscoping and Claymation. Rotorscoping involves drawing over film footage of live actors, and claymation involves having clay models slowly being moved whilst pictures get taken to seem as if they are moving. Both of these techniques were used in the making of 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.


   


This big production was initially thought up by Burton as a child, years later the image which was once in the head of one man, could be seen by millions, but not without a lot of hard work and teamwork.  Peter Crushing and Christopher Lee were two big names in stop motion and played the roll of Burton's influence for his stop motion films. This film is difficult to put under any genre, but a Burton-esque, horror, fairy tale type genre would fit the bill here. This film took 3 years to complete, 230 sets were used and 200 puppets were used throughout the film. Before making sets he would first have to think about scale. Once the set was built he would then spread clay on the set, and draw lines over the top, thus adding more detail, he would then make the armatures for the puppets, coat them with clay and then work into them with more detail before bringing them on set. Since Burton's main challenge was keeping things consistent, he did not like to move his models by hand, so therefore mounted them on small poles, which in this case had a 2 foot reach for maximum manoeuvrability. He would then pre-make the movie, sequence by sequence before the movie starts and start taking photos when he feels everything is good.

This movie is aimed at a young to mid age generation since the film is quite playful and filled with animation, which in general is more younger based. The movie had mixed reviews, the majority more positive than negative, yet despite the negative reviews did quite well earning over $50 million in the US on it's first theatrical run and a total box office gross of $74.7 million.

I personally like Burton's style, although quite dark and sinister it appeals to me because of the sheer creativity and the ability to turn even the most boring situation into something interesting.


















Aardman Animations is a british animation studio based in Bristol. They are most well known for there claymation and have made very successful, high grossing films such as 'Wallace and Gromit' and 'Chicken Run' which to date is the highest grossing stop motion animated movie making $106,834,564 domestically with an additional $118,000,000 overseas for a worldwide total of $224,834,564. 








As mentioned above 'Chicken Run' was the highest grossing stop motion animation of all time. The main technique used for this film is Claymation, this is where a clay, or in this case plasticine model gets made and gets put on a set, the director then takes pictures of the model as it moves a few inches, these photos then get sequenced to give the impression that the model is moving. 

Chicken Run's storyline involves. "Chickens having been hopelessly repressed and facing eventual certain death at the chicken farm where they are held, Rocky the rooster and Ginger the chicken decide to rebel against the evil Mr. and Ms. Tweedy, the farm's owners. Rocky and Ginger lead their fellow chickens in a great escape from the murderous farmers and their farm of doom."

This film fits into the genre of adventure comedy, stop motion, animation and fantasy, the same could be said for both Wallace and Gromit and Flushed Away. These films don't have a specific age range of audience in which they fit into, the target audience is much larger and fits all ages since adults are drawn by the sophistication of the film, and children are drawn by the animation and the humour.


PREP  

A film such as this involves a lot of prep time, and a lot of effort in general, for example this film took 1 year prep and 3 years animation, the makers would run the camera speed at 24fps (standard) and the film had more than 80 mins running time along with over 100000 frames. 1 minute of film was shot every week, 900kg of plasticine was used along with 4000 litres of paint, with this props for the soundtrack were also used, these were every day objects but played a key role in the soundtrack. Soundtrack is important because it creates atmosphere and depth, along with that close up's of the face are key and this is why many different mouths were used to show speech.

In all this film is brilliantly done, appeals to all audiences and makes people happy, which is why I love these kind of films, they are cleverly done and attract a big audience and single out from any other kind of film.






















Timothy and Steven Quay (better known as The Brothers Quay) are identical twin brothers who are both American, and who are both influential stop motion animators. Once moving to England, the brothers made there first short films which are sadly no longer available due to the only print being irreparably damaged. After the 1970's after returning from the Netherlands after spending some time there, they returned to England where the teamed up with Keith Griffiths who was another Royal College student and from then on they produced all there films together. In 1980 the trio decided to form Konick Studios, this studio still exists today and can be found in Southwark, south London.



Influences 

The Brothers Quay had many influences when it came to producing there work, they would often follow techniques used by past animators and modernise it when it came to producing there work.
Some of the brothers main influences included:


For writing:

Franz Kafka
Bruno Schulz 
Robert Walser 
Michel de Ghelderode


For Animation:

Walerian Borowczyk
Jan Lenica


For Puppeteers:

Wladyslaw Starewicz 
Richard Teschner 


For Composers:

Leoš Janáček 
Zdeněk Liška
Leszek Jankowski

Leszek Jankowski as well as being an influence for the brothers also helped them create many original scores for their work.

Another BIG influence for the brothers was the Czech animator Jan Švankmajer, unusually they discovered Švankmajer's work late and by that time their characteristic style and preoccupations had been fully formed. The brothers discovered him in 1983 and decided he was such a major influence that they named one of there films after him. (The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer).



The brothers work:

To produce the brothers work puppets must often be used, these puppets are usually made from organic materials and when appearing on screen the puppets will be partially disassembled, therefore enhancing the dark atmosphere that is created in a number of Timothy and Stephen's films. A common trend throughout the films is that there will be no spoken dialogue or content at all, some of the films such as The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep) (1990) include occasional background dialogue in which the audience is not suppose to coherently understand. Due to there being so little dialogue in any of there pieces, the brothers rely heavily on their music scores in which the majority are written by the Polish composer Leszek Jankowski, the soundtrack or scores will be written specifically for them by the composer. 


Here is a list of some of the brothers short films:

- Street of Crocodiles which was voted by Terry Gilliam as being one of the ten best animated films of all time.

- The Comb (From The Museums Of Sleep) 

- Stravinsky – The Paris Years

- The Summit 

- Duet 


Along with short films the brothers were also responsible for some music videos, these include:

- 16 Horsepower ("Black Soul Choir")

- Michael Penn ("Long Way Down (Look What the Cat Drug In)") 

- His Name Is Alive ("Are We Still Married", "Can't Go Wrong Without You")


This year the brothers were commissioned to create in May 2012 a major city-wide art installation, OverWorlds & UnderWorlds, this would be the Arts Council England's flagship contribution to the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.