Category: composition

High angle.
This angle reduces the size of the objects photographed. A person photographed from this angle seems harmless and insignificant, but to a lesser extent than with the bird’s-eye view.

-> Eye-level shot.
The clearest view of an object, but seldom intrinsically dramatic, because it tends to be the norm.

Low angle.
This angle increases high and a sense of verticality, heightening the importance of the object photographed. A person shot from this angle is given a sense of power and respect.

Oblique angle.
For this angle, the camera is tilted laterally, giving the image a slanted appearance. Oblique angles suggest tension, transition, a impending movement. They are also called canted or dutch angles.

What is the dominant color?

The use of color in this shot is symbolic. The scene is set in warehouse. Both the set and characters are blues, blacks and whites.

This was intentional allowing for the scenes and shots with blood to have a great level of contrast.

What is the Lens/Filter/Stock?

Telephoto lens.
A lens that draws objects closer but also diminishes the illusion of depth.

Wide-angle lens.
A lens that takes in a broad area and increases the illusion of depth but sometimes distorts the edges of the image.

Fast film stock.
Highly sensitive to light, it can register an image with little illumination. However, the final product tends to be grainy.

Slow film stock.
Relatively insensitive to light, it requires a great deal of illumination. The final product tends to look polished.

The lens is not wide-angle because there isn’t a great sense of depth, nor are several planes in focus. The lens is probably long but not necessarily a telephoto lens because the depth isn’t inordinately compressed.

The stock is fast because of the grainy quality of the image.

Subsidiary Contrast; where does the eye go next?

The two guns.

How much visual information is packed into the image? Is the texture stark, moderate, or highly detailed?

Minimalist clutter in the warehouse allows a focus on a character driven thriller.

What is the Composition?

Horizontal.
Compositions based on horizontal lines seem visually at rest and suggest placidity or peacefulness.

Vertical.
Compositions based on vertical lines seem visually at rest and suggest strength.

-> Diagonal.
Compositions based on diagonal, or oblique, lines seem dynamic and suggest tension or anxiety.

-> Binary. Binary structures emphasize parallelism.

Triangle.
Triadic compositions stress the dynamic interplay among three main

Circle.
Circular compositions suggest security and enclosure.

Is the form open or closed? Does the image suggest a window that arbitrarily isolates a fragment of the scene? Or a proscenium arch, in which the visual elements are carefully arranged and held in balance?

The most nebulous of all the categories of mise en scene, the type of form is determined by how consciously structured the mise en scene is. Open forms stress apparently simple techniques, because with these unself-conscious methods the filmmaker is able to emphasize the immediate, the familiar, the intimate aspects of reality. In open-form images, the frame tends to be deemphasized. In closed form images, all the necessary information is carefully structured within the confines of the frame. Space seems enclosed and self-contained rather than continuous.

Could argue this is a proscenium arch because this is such a classic shot with parallels and juxtapositions.

How much space is there between the characters?

Extremely close, for a gunfight.

The way people use space can be divided into four proxemic patterns.

Intimate distances.
The intimate distance ranges from skin contact to about eighteen inches away. This is the distance of physical involvement–of love, comfort, and tenderness between individuals.

-> Personal distances.
The personal distance ranges roughly from eighteen inches away to about four feet away. These distances tend to be reserved for friends and acquaintances. Personal distances preserve the privacy between individuals, yet these rages don’t necessarily suggest exclusion, as intimate distances often do.

Social distances.
The social distance rages from four feet to about twelve feet. These distances are usually reserved for impersonal business and casual social gatherings. It’s a friendly range in most cases, yet somewhat more formal than the personal distance.

Public distances.
The public distance extends from twelve feet to twenty-five feet or more. This range tends to be formal and rather detached.