Chapter 8 Cinematography for Screenwriters

Screenwriting Logo The True Art of Screenwriting Blake Harris

Chapter Eight

Cinematography for Screenwriters

Screenwriting students are often told to

think visually. This is good advice. But it might be

even more correct to say, "Think cinema."

Modern practice calls for specific camera

angles and shots to be left largely up to the director.

Directors (and therefore producers) do not want scripts

filled with camera shots specified. Only if it is

important to understanding the action should a camera

shot be put in a script.

However, this does not mean that a

screenwriter should not understand something about

cinematography.

Screenplays are often described as blueprints

for films. Imagine an architect trying to draw a

blueprint for a building without knowing anything about

the materials it was to be constructed from.

To effectively design a script, a

screenwriter should know something about cinematography

and editing. Only then can he write knowledgeably for

the medium.

Film Is Shot By Shot Storytelling

A film is composed of many shots.

For the cinematographer and editor, the job

is to pick the right shots which will, at any given

moment, best convey the story clearly to the audience

as well as heightening the impact of the action and

characters.

In choosing any particular shot, there are

two factors to consider: the type of shot in terms of

the area to be shown and the angle or viewpoint of the

shot.

In a script, the screenwriter will very

occasionally have to specify both of these to make

clear his vision. But he should do this only when

absolutely necessary for the simple reason that

directors tend to ignore camera cues in a script and

think the writer is trying to do their job for them.

However, as mentioned previously, the writer

can write his scene descriptions in such a way as to

suggest the cinematographic treatment of his action.

And doing this will help the reader better visualize

the film.

So thinking visually is only part of a

screenwriter's skill. He must also be able to think

cinemagraphically.

This condenses action down to a shot by shot

telling of the story. When you visualize the action,

consider how the camera can show this action. And then

write your scene descriptions so they capture the

flavor of this.

Learn to think cinemagraphically in

visualizing your scenes.

#####

Take a look at the scene description

previously mentioned from Doctor Zhivago:

INT. CATTLE CAR -- NIGHT

The red-hot stove in the cattle car sheds a cheerful
glow on the filthy straw which is trampled and sticky,
strewn with garbage. In the straw lie sleeping
figures, fully clothed under ragged blankets and coats;
hairy faces, mouths agape; men, women and children
mixed promiscuously. The scene gives the illusion of a
sort of basic comfort; we feel at any rate the
passengers must be warm enough. Filthy cooking
utensils swing and slop in the movement of the train.

[(c) Copyright 1965 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., New
York, New York]

This scene description suggests many

different shots. A long shot of the whole car. Close-

up shots on cooking utensils and on the faces of the

sleeping passengers.

No shot is specified. Yet we get a feel for

how this scene could be shot. The vivid images that

the director might capture are clearly conveyed to the

reader.

Types Of Shots By Area

Where a camera is placed in filming the

action and the characters determines the amount of area

shown to the viewer as well as the image size.

Types of shots are first specified by where

the camera is placed.

An EXTREME LONG SHOT (ELS) captures a very

large area from a great distance. It is used to

establish a locale, especially when the view is grand

and impressive. A city skyline and the panoramic

desert and mountain scenes in westerns are frequently

used examples of the Extreme Long Shot. They are often

used in opening shots of a film to help capture

audience interest and to establish the setting of the

story. They are also used as a transition to a

different part of the story.

The LONG SHOT (LS) orients the audience to

the general scene of action and reestablishes the scene

of action after a number of Medium and Close Shots. It

might take in the entirety of a room, the outside of a

house, someone walking down a street. Usually when

action is occurring inside a building, a quick

establishing Long Shot of the exterior of the building

helps to orient the viewer to where the action is

taking place.

The MEDIUM SHOT (MED SHOT or MS) usually

shows characters from just below the waist or just

above the knees. Two or three characters are sometimes

filmed together in a Medium Shot. These are also

sometimes called a Two-Shot (with two characters) or a

Three-Shot (with three characters). Arrangement of

characters and lighting of a Medium Shot can make one

character more predominant than the others.

For instance, if one character is angled so

he is facing the camera more than the other character

(who is more in profile), the one angled more toward

the camera will dominate the scene. So while there

many be two or three characters, the audience's

attention can be subtly focused on one of them as the

center of interest.

In filming conversations, the director and

editor can cut back and forth between two Medium Shots,

each one favoring the character who is talking at the

moment.

The CLOSE-UP (CU) or CLOSE SHOT selects a

small portion of the action in a scene and shows it

full-screen size. It can capture a small scale action

such as loading a gun. And it can capture facial

expressions, giving more impact to the actors.

Close-Up shots are actually broken down

further. A MEDIUM CLOSE-UP will show a character from

about midway between the waist and shoulders to above

the head.

A HEAD AND SHOULDER CLOSE-UP covers from just

below the shoulders to above the head.

A HEAD CLOSE-UP shows just a persons neck and

head.

A CHOKER CLOSE-UP shows just below the lips

to above the eyes, but not the whole head.

An EXTREME CLOSE-UP shows small objects or

sections of objects in great detail. A bullet being

put in a gun might be shown as an Extreme Close-Up.

The viewer would not see all of the gun. Also focusing

on a single feature of a person such as his eyes or

lips would be an Extreme Close-Up.

The OVER-THE-SHOULDER CLOSE-UP is frequently

used in feature films. This is a Close-Up shot of one

person shot over the shoulder of a second. Directors

and editors can cut back and forth between two Over-

The-Shoulder Close-Ups during a conversation.

In writing your script, you may call for a

close shot simply by saying:

CLOSE ON THE GUN

Or:

CLOSE ON BILL

Point Of View Shots

POINT-OF-VIEW CLOSE-UPS are usually filmed

with the camera positioned at the eye-level of the

character whose point of view is being taken. A tall

man looking down at a small boy would have a P.O.V.

Close-Up angled down on the small boy.

Subjective Close-Ups are filmed with the

camera at the eye-level of the characters being filmed.

By subjective is meant a shot which seeks to

get the audience further involved by making the

audience a part of the action. A rollercoaster ride,

where the camera captures what the audience might see

if they were on it would be a subjective camera angle.

Most of a movie is usually filmed from an

objective viewpoint, as if the audience is on the

sidelines looking on. People appear unaware of the

camera. They never, for instance, look directly into

the lens as this would give the audience the impression

that the character is suddenly looking at them.

The POINT-OF-VIEW (P.O.V.) shot is actually

not a true point of view. If two characters were

looking into each other's eyes, a true P.O.V. shot

would have a character looking into the camera lens the

way news broadcasters do. The audience would suddenly

feel that the person is looking at them.

So instead, a P.O.V. shot is positioned at

the side of the character whose point of view is being

represented. In this way, the audience still maintains

the feeling that they are an observer looking on, and

not an actual character in the action. A P.O.V. shot

is as close to a subjective camera angle that one can

come and still maintain objectivity. It allows the

audience to identify more with a character and yet does

not have the jarring effect that a true subjective

camera angle causes for the audience because it tends

to make them suddenly aware of the camera.

You want to get the audience emotionally

involved with a story and P.O.V. shots help to achieve

this. At the same time, with P.O.V. shots, the viewer

is not asked to become actively involved with the

characters the way subjective camera angles demand that

they do.

To understand this jarring effect, imagine

that a group of characters were staring suspiciously at

one character. A subjective camera shot would show

this group of characters staring directly into the

camera lens. As a member of the audience, you would

feel that they were staring at you. You have switched

places with the character whom you had just seen in a

previous shot. That is startling and doesn't work well

in most circumstances.

So making it a P.O.V. shot, the audience sees

almost what the character sees, but doesn't suddenly

find that they have switched places with the character.

Entire films have been shot with subjective

camera angles. But in this case, the audience never

sees the protagonist unless he is looking into a

mirror. This is not what audiences are used to,

however, and it doesn't necessarily get the audience

emotionally involved with the story. And that is what

you are going for as a screenwriter--the emotional

involvement of the audience.

Camera Movement

In filming, the camera can be static or it

can be in motion.

There are various descriptive terms which

describe this motion.

A PAN shot has the camera swinging

horizontally while remaining in one fixed location to

follow some action. A shot of a plane touching down on

a runway and moving along the runway might be handled

with a Pan Shot.

A TILT shot has the camera tilting up or down

while filming in a fixed location so that the lens

moves through a vertical plane. A shot taken from a

fixed position on the ground and moving up a tall

building would be a TILT shot.

A camera can also be placed on a dolly--a

camera mount on wheels. Often, tracks are laid down

for the camera dolly to move on. This is called a

TRACKING SHOT.

The camera can also be mounted on a crane.

This allows the camera position to move up and down,

sideways, and to or away from the subject all at the

same time, all while the camera is continuously filming

a shot. This is called a CRANE or BOOM SHOT.

Tracking and Crane shots are more expensive

to make. Tracking shots usually take more time to set

up. And a crane must be hired for a Crane Shot.

Unless there is an important reason for having such a

shot, you are better not calling for these in your

script.

The camera can also be mounted in a helicopter,

giving an AERIAL or COPTER SHOT. You wouldn't have

many of these in you script, again for expense reasons.

Miscellaneous Calling Of Shots

The INSERT is a full-screen Close-Up of

printed matter such as a letter or newspaper that can

be read by the audience. INSERTS should be specified

in your script so that it is clear that the audience

can read what is being shown them.

The DUTCH ANGLE is a shot where the camera is

tilted so that vertical lines are at an angle. A

person standing would not be perpendicular when this is

shown on the screen. They might be used to provide

P.O.V. shots of a person who is drunk or mentally

unbalanced. They might also be used in a montage for

effect. A screenwriter would rarely have need to call

for a Dutch Angle shot.

In covering some complicated action, a writer

might call for a SERIES OF SHOTS and then describe what

each shot shows. For example:

SERIES OF SHOTS

A) Police car turns sharply into ally.

B) Drunks in alley scatter when they see the oncoming
police car.

C) The villains on the roof above prepare to fire
an anti-tank rocket at the police car.

D) etc.

The same format is used for the MONTAGE.

There is sometimes a confusion between a series of

shots and a montage. A montage, in British and

American definition and usage, is a series of shots

which quick impressionistic sequence of disconnected

images. Montage shots are not connected by subject

matter or action, but rather by theme or feel. A

montage operates on a different plane of reality from

the straight narrative series of shots and is almost

always accompanied by music.

A montage might be used to capture the

character of a city by showing buildings, different

unconnected people going about their business, and so

on. A montage might also show troops in general going

into battle in a war film.

You might also call for high-angle and low-

angle shots on occasion. In a high-angle shot, the

camera tilts downward. (It doesn't mean that the

camera is necessarily high up. The angle is in

relation to the subject being filmed.)

In a low-angle shot, the camera is shooting

upward.

High-angle shots are useful to present

characters who are dominating or authoritarian. A low-

angle shot can help to portray a character as beaten or

degraded.

Low-angle shots can also position characters

against the sky and otherwise intensify dramatic

effect.

You normally would not specify low or high-

angle shots in a script. This, like other shots, would

be determined by the director. But there may be an

occasion when you want to specify a shot to accurately

communicate an image. Or you can suggest the angle in

description.

For example, you might write:

Tom stares off into the distance, his weather-beaten
features profiled by the billowing clouds in the sky.

This would suggest a low-angle shot.

Writing In Master Scenes

Theatrical films and television programs

which are filmed with a single camera are generally

filmed using the master scene technique.

In this, a scene is first filmed in one

continuous take. A single shot takes in the whole

scene from beginning to end.

Then portions of the scene are repeated and

filmed again to give the editor closer shots which he

can intercut with the master scene.

The alternative is to use a number of cameras

to film the action from different angles all at the

same time. This might be done in a theatrical film for

a spectacular bit of action which could not be easily

restaged--such as a building blowing up.

A third method using just one camera is to

break a scene down to exact shots beforehand. Using

what is called the triple-take technique, the action is

overlapped at the beginning and end of each shot so the

film editor has a little leeway with his cut. Even so,

there is little room for error using this method, which

is why most directors today tend to mostly use the

master scene technique.

A modern screenplay is written in master

scenes. For the writer's purpose, all the dialogue and

action taking place in one setting at one time comprise

a master scene.

So while the director, cinematographer and

editor are thinking in shots, the writer is mostly

thinking in terms of scenes. But this doesn't mean

that he is ignoring shots.

There is another aspect to a writer's

thinking in terms of master scenes. In a good film,

every scene works as a scene. It is usually

interesting and dynamic in itself, complete with a

beginning, a middle and an end.

In novice scripts, you will sometimes see

many scenes where characters are just getting from an

earlier scene (which is important for the plot) to a

later scene (which is important to the plot). These

in-between or tie-together scenes are frequently weak

and uninteresting and this greatly lessens the impact

of a script. The audience during these scenes find

themselves waiting for something to happen and will

become conscious of this waiting. This is one thing

that you usually don't want. Your aim is audience

involvement and holding the audience's attention from

start to finish.

To do this, as we have covered earlier, every

scene should have a specific purpose and should play a

direct part in forwarding the plot and developing the

characters. But it should be dramatic in itself and

should work to further involve the audience in the

characters and the story. If one watched a scene from

a good film on its own, out of context, one would

probably still find the scene interesting and moving.

When writing a scene, always ask yourself if

the scene works as a scene, quite apart from the role

it plays in the whole.

Great scenes make great motion pictures.

Continuity

In the early days of motion pictures,

shooting scripts were sometimes called continuity

scripts. This is because they consisted of the plan

for shooting a script so that continuity was maintained

for the audience.

Continuity is the way a film is shot and cut

together so that, for the audience, it will have the

appearance of a smooth, logical flow of action.

As soon as the continuity is not maintained,

this will distract an audience and lose their

attention. A film with good continuity is designed to

attract and keep the audience's attention.

For the director, the cinematographer and the

editor, action must be planned in a series of shots

which make up a sequence. These shots must cut

together so that edits are not jerky or jarring to the

audience.

While this is not a major concern of the

screenwriter, it is nevertheless to your advantage to

understand at least a few of the rudimentary rules of

continuity:

1) The time frame of a movie must be preserved for the

audience. Flashbacks (or the occasional flashforward)

must be filmed in such a way that the audience knows

there has been a shift of movie time. They must

immediately realize that they are not in the present

movie time, but in some other time. Flashbacks should

generally be used sparingly, if at all, because they

disrupt the film's time.

2) The space continuity of the film must also be

preserved. This includes establishing and then

maintaining screen direction. A car seen traveling

left to right on the screen can not in the next shot be

traveling right to left. The audience would interpret

this as the car having turned around and headed back in

the opposite direction.

If one had two groups headed towards each other, one

might have one traveling from left to right and the

other traveling from right to left. The audience would

interpret this as the two groups heading towards each

other.

Similarly, someone facing toward the left cannot, in

the next shot, be facing toward the right if they are

supposed to be in the same position. This will jar the

audience and cause a slight bit of confusion.

3) Cuts must be matched in terms of actor positions,

looks and movement so that the audience does not notice

these cuts. A minor mismatch may go unnoticed if the

camera has shifted angle as well as position. Editors

will often try to cut on action rather than static

shots, as the motion will sometimes help to mask a

slight mismatch.

Editors will also use a technique known as the cut-

away. In this, an editor cuts to something which was

not a portion of a previous shot. Then cutting back to

the character again does not have to match the previous

shot on the character and the audience will not notice

the jump.

Cutting from a long shot to a close-up also allows a

certain amount of "cheating."

The size of the image and the angle of the

camera have a great deal to do with acceptable

continuity. A cut between one image to a very similar

shot of the same image with only a slight change in

size will be noticed by the audience. There is

insufficient contrast between succeeding images to

allow for a smooth transition.

The same principle applies to a change of

angle between two shots cut together. Cutting from a

medium shot to a close-up usually requires a change of

camera angle to cut smoothly. Otherwise the image will

seem to jump to the audience.

In a more general sense, a script has to

maintain continuity by following a logical sequence.

When you specify cross-cutting between two

different scenes, this must be done to increase the

impact, tension and contrast. The action in the two

scenes obviously must relate in some way. Otherwise,

the cross-cutting will just be distracting.

If you think in sequences, you will tend to

write a script where continuity is preserved and which,

therefore, allows the audience to become involved with

the story.

Editing

"Editing is the foundation of film art," said

Vsevolod Pudovkin, one of the most influential pioneers

of motion pictures. That is as true today as it was 70

years ago.

"Only good editing can bring life to a motion

picture," wrote Joseph Mascelli in his classic text,

The Five C's of Cinematography.

The various shots are just so many odd pieces

of film until they are skillfully assembled to tell a

coherent story. Both a diamond and a film are enhanced

by what is removed, he said. What remains tells the

story.

A screenwriter should have at least a general

understanding of the principles of editing. It is

editing which helps to create the pace and texture of a

film.

The fundamental principles of editing were

developed during the early days of silent films. The

introduction of sound brought some minor changes. The

determination of pace, which in the silent days

depended entirely on the rate of cutting, was augmented

by the volume and urgency of the sound-track.

In fact, the main change that the advent of

sound brought was to increase the realism of films. In

editing, this change saw certain editing techniques

fall out of general use--those styles which tend to

distract from the realism, such as masking of part of

the image so that the viewer only saw a character

surrounded by a distinctive masked border.

The use of close, medium and long shots for

different emphasis has not changed. However, with

stars having become a commodity to increase box-office,

sometimes too many close-ups are used to capitalize

upon the presence of the star at the expense of the

film's pace and movement. A close-up has a specific

purpose and a specific time to be used.

There has been little change in the role that

timing or tempo of cuts plays in helping to produce

dramatic tension. The faster the cutting, the more

urgent the pace will seem to the audience.

Cross-cutting increases tension by alternate

cutting between two events which have a direct bearing

on each other. Events can also be cross-cut to achieve

contrast or comparison. A rapid cross-cut sequence is

often saved to coincide with the climax, to heighten

the tension and suspense at this point.

In film, there is the possibility of

lengthening or shortening the duration of an event.

This makes possible the cutting down of unnecessary

intervals. This is what is meant by screen time being

different from real time.

As well, film editing enables the director

and editor to present a series of consecutive events in

such a way that each new development is revealed at the

dramatically appropriate moment.

The pace of a scene is determined both by its

content and by the speed with which various shots are

cut. By increasing the speed of cutting within a

sequence, the impression of fast, exciting action can

be created. But to really work well, the pace of

cutting has to match the content and the amount of

information being conveyed in each shot.

A writer who understands a little about

general editing principles will have more control over

the pacing of his script.

For instance, in a fast and exciting action

scene, he should write it so the cutting can be rapid.

Lengthy pieces of dialogue would not fit here.

Transitions

Transitions are devices used to bridge time

or space in a film.

The simplest transition is simply a title on

the screen indicating a different time or place.

There are also optical effects which can help

to bridge a change in time or place. A FADE-IN begins

a story and a FADE-OUT ends it. A fade-out and then a

fade-in can be used to end one sequence and start a

new.

A DISSOLVE, fading-out one scene while

another is fading-in at the same time, can also cover

time lapses, change of locale or be used to soften an

abrupt scene change that would otherwise jar the

audience.

MATCHED DISSOLVES are those where the two

connected scenes are similar in form, motion or content

and can further enhance the smoothness of the

transition.

Sound can also be used to effect a smoother

transition. Narration or dialogue can cover a switch

in location or can explain a time change.

For instance, a line of dialogue may say, "Let's

go." Then the cut is to the going.

Chapter 9

Table of Contents

Glossary