Eduqas, Film Studies, Film Language

1. Learning Objective
To recap technical codes
To understand visual codes

2. Point of view shot
High angle shot
Low angle shot
Over the shoulder shot
Big close up shot
Low angle shot/wide
shot
Medium close up
Bird’s eye view
Establishing shot
POV shot/close up

3. Point of view shot
POV shot/
close up
Over the shoulder
shot
Bird’s eye view
Big close up
Low angle shot
High-angle shot
Medium close up
Establishing shot
Low angle/ wide
shot

4. Task
• Look at the following images and identify the technical
CODES you learned last lesson (e.g shot size and angle)
• Consider the PURPOSE - why has it been used?
• What is the EFFECT?

8. Write down words/phrases/ideas associated with it
1 minute
Draw a star

9. Denotation Connotation
Celebrity or famous person
Ace or champion
Fate
Wishes
Witches
Communism
Religion
Dreams
Guiding lights
A luminous ball of gas, mostly
hydrogen and helium, held
together by its own gravity

10. Denotation and connotation
• Denotation is the everyday meaning of a sign
e.g. a red rose is a garden plant
• Connotation is the associated meaning that it
carries e.g. a red rose can symbolise love,
England or pride.

11. Film Language
KEY TERM: Semiotics
Definition: The study of SIGNS/CODES
• Examines how visual (inc written), audio and
technical codes construct meaning
• Looks at how meaning is made and understood

12. Theory: Roland Barthes
• Theorist: Roland Barthes
• Theory: Semiotics – the study of signs
• Barthes argued that: “The audience look
for signs to help them interpret the
narrative…these deeply rooted signs are
based on expectations the audience has
due to their prior knowledge (of old tales
or myths)

13. Theory: Roland Barthes
• Signifer Signified
• (The object) (The meaning)
Semiology
The relationship between the
signfer and signified
Sign
The total of the signifer and signified
e.g. how we interpret the combination
of the signifer and signified

14. Theory: Roland Barthes
DENOTATION CONNOTATION
Signifer Signified

15. Key Term
• Means “put in scene”
• The idea is that everything is in the
scene for a reason.
• This includes props, lighting, music,
setting, characters
Mise-en-scene
Pronunciation:
mee-zon sen

16. Mise-
en-scene
Things to consider:
1) Setting and props used
2) Costume and make-up used
3) The way objects and people are positioned.
4) Lighting and colour
5) Actors – their expression and movement
6) Actor Performance

17. 1. Settings & Props
• Settings & Locations play an important part in film-making
and are not just ‘backgrounds’
• Sets are either built from scratch or a great deal of time is
spent to find a setting which already exists
• Settings can manipulate an audience by building certain
expectations and then taking a different turn
• What settings and props you would find in:
1. A Science Fiction Film
2. A Romantic Comedy
3. A Horror Film

18. 2. Costume, Hair & Make Up
• Costume, Hair & Make Up act as an instant
indicator to us of a character’s personality, status &
job
• It tells us immediately whether the film is set in the
present and what society/or culture it will centre
around
• Certain costumes can signify certain individuals (i.e.
black cloak of a vampire, Spidey’s Spiderman suit)

20. 3. Positioning of Characters & Objects
within a frame
• Positioning within a frame can draw our
attention to an important character/object
• A film-maker can use positioning to indicate
relationships between people
• What does the positioning in the following
images reveal about the characters/film:

21. IMAGE 1

22. IMAGE 2

23. IMAGE 4Image 3

24. 4. Lighting
• Lighting helps to create mood and atmosphere.
• If there is very little light it can be quite scary
• Low key lighting – less light creates areas of dark
and light and lots of shadows.

25. • High key lighting – is bright lighting
used to make the scene look like it
is natural light.

26. Three Point Lighting System

27. Back Light

28. • Under lighting –light source comes from
below, can make a person look
threatening.

29. Spotlight – light that highlights a specific
area

30. Colour
• Producers deliberately use certain colours
to create the right tone.
• Colours invoke feelings and emotions in
the reader.

31. • Power
• Fire
• Passion
• Love
• Danger
• Communism
• Anger
• Blood/Violence

32. • Decay
• Death
• Mystery
• Authority
• Evil
• Night
• Sinister
• Strength
• Hard

33. • Innocence
• Purity
• Perfection
• Clouds
• Weddings
• Surrender
• Christenings
• Salvation
• Snow

34. • Colour filters –can be placed over lights
reveal something about the characters,
setting or genre (however, this is an
editing technique).

35. Actor performance
• Another key part of any film is the actors
chosen to act as certain characters.

36. 4. Facial Expressions & Body Language
• Facial Expressions provide a clear indicator of how someone
is feeling
• If someone is smiling broadly, we assume they are happy but
we may get a different feeling if this is accompanied by scary
music
• Body Language may also indicate how a character feels
towards another character or may reflect the state of their
relationship
• TASK: What meanings/emotions do the following images
convey:

37. IMAGE 1

38. IMAGE 2

39. Language and mode of address
• How does the text speak to the audience?
• The language used gives clues to the
audience, genre and purpose
• Language
• Colloquial – chatty slang
• Vocabulary – polysyllabic, technical jargon
• Hyperbole - exaggerated

40. Mode of address
• Informal
• Formal
• Direct mode of address
• Indirect mode of address

42. Homework
• Chose an extract from any film and discuss the
micro elements that we have looked at so far.
• Also discuss the effect of the actor’s
performance and why it wouldn’t have been
the same for another actor to have played the
part.