Film Crit Hulk: Cinematic Affectation 101

The list below comes from an article by Film Crit Hulk that he wrote in 2013. The article is about the cinematography in Tom Hooper's Les Miserables. Basically it is a masterclass in which Hulk explains why he fels that Tom Hooper doesn't know what he is doing when it comes to cinematography. 

I am a fan of Film Crit Hulk's writing, I don't agree with him all the time but that guys knows what he is talking about and has an unbelievable knowledge of the art and techniques of cinema. 

In the article I'm quoting from, Hulk stops in the middle to give a basic breakdown of what defines cinematography. He also advices 'newbies' to print that list out and put it up somewhere. Guess what, for the last years this list has been up on the wall of my studio. It makes sense to put it up here too. 

(Note: I transformed it from its original ALL-CAPS-HULK-SMASH format.) 

Okay. So no one ever actually explains what makes good and bad cinematography and why a choice will work in one setting and not in another. So let's talk cinematography theory basics with a little mini-column that Hulk will call: "Cinematic Affectation 101." Hulk isn't going to explain the shots in detail or anything because you can supplement that information anywhere. Hulk's point is to discuss the way those shots affect you.

Note: If you're a newbie, stick this list somewhere. and let Hulk know if you have any questions in the comments.

a) First up Hulk is going to explain basic concepts of "shots." One judges what constitutes "a shot" by the size of the subject, how much we can see of it and how close we are. a wide shot covers a lot of space whether it be a landscape or a room, and it establishes the needed scope, geography, space and context.

b) Meanwhile, a close-up is one of the most powerful tools filmmakers have at their disposal. It brings us close to an actor to see every bit of emotion on her or his face... But there's a delicate art to it. Letting us close to an actor's face makes for such a uniquely intimate moment that if you do it for too much time it loses its effect. But if you're too far away in a given moment where you need to connect, it can be equally damaging. But while finding the balance is difficult to perfect, most filmmakers and cinematographers still understand the remarkable power of the close-up and how it must have context within a movie.

c) A static shot is the base language of all filmmaking. It presents the subject plainly, but that plainness is its own language if used correctly (think of how films build up "normalcy" by not stylizing their films and bring the subjects to the forefront).

d) A hand-held shot is akin to "God's eye" suddenly being off-kilter. Now. It doesn't necessarily lend itself to an automatic docu-like affectation, where the intent is to make god's eye human (though it can if that's the intention), hand-held is more of general way to characterize that we lose the stability of the static shot and embrace a wilder sense of our cinematic world. It is the sense of things now being somewhat out of control and uneasy. What Hulk hopes to convey is that hand-held does not automatically = real. Cool? Cool.

e) A dolly shot (camera on a rig with tracks) puts the camera's eye in motion, but just on the horizontal plane. It puts the entire world in motion and gives the viewer a sense of control, believe it or not. We feel less like we are watching and more like we are investigating if that makes sense. While our perspective can move, without the y-axis it is more of the voyeur traveling with other people.

f) A steady-cam /crane shot functions like a dolly, but with even more  fluidity and use of the y-axis. it is the true God's eye view. All-seeing, but ornate and quite powerful. Almost dream-like power. Like the close-up there is a dichotomy. Not enough steady-cam or diving into that kind of shot without a good reason can feel like a sudden break in how you see the film's universe. But since most Hollywood films shoot as much as they can on steady-cam these days, they fall victim to the opposite effect and lose the power of the shot's real purpose.

(Note: Now is as good a place as any to talk about this, as points d through f can all constitute a similar term for a camera move called a "tracking shot." People use this term all the time and the whole usage issue secretly drives Hulk fucking nuts. And the reason is that people mistake "tracking shot" for meaning "a shot that tracks the subject," but that's not where it comes from at all. History! Once upon a time all moving shots had to be done on dollies because there was no other equipment. And for dollies you needed to lay down actual "track," hence "tracking shot." The problem is once we started making rudimentary cranes and eventually steady-cams, a lot of people kept calling it "tracking shots," but you will find cinematographers who only use the term meaning dolly shots, ones who use the term for just when a shot "tracks the subject from behind" and not anything else, and ones who use it to mean anything. Just a tip cause it's silly so Hulk never uses the word ever. Dolly. Steady-cam. Crane. That's it).

g) A Dutch angle is meant to make us and the world feel off-kilter.

h) As for character eye-lines, most of the time a character looks "within 45" (degrees), meaning they are communicating with another character either within the frame or just outside of the frame, and this gives us just enough visibility to see the full information of what their eyes are doing and communicate their emotions beautifully, while still having the added benefit of their not looking at the camera/audience and breaking that emotion.

i) When a character looks completely away from a camera they instantly become a mystery, and even if they are trying to hide something, it is important to remember that we are still missing the quality that best shows their emotional connection (their face). So if you turn a character away, please understand how much resonance you are losing (Hulk's looking at you, Eat Pray Love).

j) When a character looks directly into a camera, it is... unnerving. Off-putting. Creepy. Even scary. And that's because unless we're a stand-in for a character the person is talking to (think Silence of the Lambs) it is effectively "breaking the fourth wall" and the social contract with the audience. It automatically makes us the voyeur. And even if we are the literal stand-in for the character p.o.v. so that it doesn't break the fourth wall, it should still have the direct intention of creeping us out.

k) With lenses you are essentially talking about two arenas: depth and angle. A lens with a deep focus can show lots of information in both the foreground with the subject and deep in the background as well. It's good for landscapes or whenever you want to put a subject in detailed context with the surrounding area.

l) A lens with a shallow focus will make anything not on the plane with the subject seem out of focus, which has the benefit of just getting you to focus on what matters and everything in the background or immediate foreground seem unimportant.

m) Meanwhile the angle of the lens affects the size of the information depending how close it is. for instance, a "normal lens" will act like our eye does and effectively correct everything so that it both has a sense of depth, but appears "flat" to a certain degree (fyi - our eye, aka the way we see the world, is supposedly closest to a 50mm lens.)

n) But a "wide-angled lens" will make everything close to the camera seem huge and bulbous and everything far away seem small and tiny. It has a rather dramatic, surreal effect on the viewer.

Note: There's a reason cinematographers are obsessed with lenses and could kind of give fuck all about the camera: the lenses control what you see more than anything else. It's that simple. So mix and match lens angle and depth until you get the clarity and size of image you want and it conveys what you want your story to convey.

o) When it comes to tone and color, a warm summer palette makes things feel romantic and sumptuous.

p) A cool blue sheen makes things feel distant, cold and possibly unruffled or "cool."

q) Comedies, romantic or otherwise, are often shot in high-key light (meaning everything is really brightly lit and detailed and there's no contrast) which makes the actors look good, but it has the added benefit of making the audience feel comfortable. seriously, it makes us feel like nothing truly wrong could happen. it represents safety and "movie normalcy."

r) Drama is low-key lighting. high contrast. shadows. lots of shades of gray and gradient. it is essentially more "designed" and signifies to us a more serious, dangerous, tragic and sad world.

TA-DA!

That's it! Hulk could probably think of a s-z, but that's all the relevant stuff for today. Them's the basics and Hulk hopes that was fairly simple and self-explanatory. After all, this is not rocket science.

But what a director or cinematographer does that is truly remarkable and kind of like rocket science is to use these basics to their advantage to craft moments. Like how Eisenstein discovered story via edit, you can create story via camera information. Great directors make you feel one way and then push you in another direction with that basic language. For instance, if you're watching a scene where things are still for a period of time and suddenly the camera is hand-held and shaky, it gives the audience a worried feeling that something bad is about to happen. Or you can even use the exact opposite to the same effect, where a character will be in motion and we'll be comfortable with it and all of a sudden things may get rather still and quiet. We'll pause with them and feel unnerved that things are progressing in the same way. Cinema is a language and the way we use it, invert it and communicate with it is everything. And with that understanding you can stretch the limits of cinema, test the boundaries of art and juxtapose story and meaning and themes and symbols and shape our experience in the name of something better. To our highest possible selves.

But the basics have been, are and will always be the foundation of how we get there.