Defining and controlling the space of the frame Aspect ratio Masking Camera placement Focus Perspective Mobile framing

André Bazin ( ) An aesthetic of realism built from critical readings of the films of Orson Welles, Jean Renoir, and the Italian neorealist movement. Founds ciné-clubs and begins writing on film during the German occupation of France during WW II. Founder of Cahiers du cinéma, one of the most important international journals of film criticism.

André Bazin’s film aesthetic Creative uses of screen space through... Composing action in deep space. Preference for the long take and moving camera. Preference for films that “interpret” the physical world Bringing out social connections between characters and their environments An existential link exists between the camera and pro- filmic space.

Deep space composition and deep focus photography Deep space a strategy of mise-en-scene where all the planes of the image--foreground, middle ground, and background--are in sharp focus. Staging action in deep space requires large depth of field. Deep focus a use of camera lens and lighting that keeps both close and distant planes in the photographic image in sharp focus.

André Bazin’s film aesthetic “The Camera and the Screen” The camera may transform our perception of the world by bringing out otherwise hidden or unnoticed aspects of reality. Deep focus composition as specifying “a point of view rooted within the set itself.... By uniting foreground, middle ground, and background, but not setting the planes off against each other, the actor is completely entwined with and works in a direct relationship to, his total setting. Every element of the reality on the screen, whether animate or inanimate, is interdependent.” The camera’s creative and critical interpretation of characters’ relations to their spatial environment.

Types of mobile framing PAN camera swivels right or left on a stationary base. TILT camera swivels up or down on a stationary base. TRACKING or TRAVELING SHOT camera moves horizontal to the ground. CRANE camera mounted on a crane above ground and can move in any direction, HANDHELD CAMERA camera is supported by the camera person’s body; Steadicam is controlled by a gyroscope.

Types of mobile framing Crane Dolly

Types of mobile framing Michael Snow, La région centrale

Know the difference between zooms and camera movements! Both are types of mobile framing. However, the camera does not move during a zoom; instead the frame is enlarged or reduced optically by varying the focal length of the lens. Zooming--for example, changing the focal length of the lens from a telephoto to a wide angle-- changes the perspective of the shot; moving the camera does not.

The appeal of the moving camera Organizes space according to cinema’s intrinsic qualities as an art of time and movement. Camera movement mobilizes and increases perceptual information. Provides multiple perspectives on dramatic action. Increases depth and volume of objects in frame. Produces perspectives freed from the physical constraints of the body.

Analytic editing in Sabotage

Andre Bazin’s film aesthetic The use of long takes and deep space encourages greater perceptual and mental activity in the spectator. Editing by its nature rules out a desired ambiguity of expression. The use of long takes and deep space intensifies a perception similar to our "natural attitude" to reality. The use of the long take promotes a temporal realism.

Rules of the Game Staging of action on multiple planes of depth. Movement through multiple planes of action counters “lateral” orientation of Hollywood films of same period. The moving camera as attentive observer and participant. Mobility of camera activates all six sides of off-screen space.