For most of us living in the 21st Century, the majority of our daily experiences are inseparable from interactions with electronic or digital media. We are constantly communicating with someone or something or being communicated to by someone or something. Texting or speaking via mobile telephones, watching television, using the internet, listening to the radio, playing networked video games, reading books, newspapers and magazines, looking at billboards and advertisements, going to the movies, and on and on it goes. Our ability to understand these communications and gain further meaning from them is reliant upon our education – can we read, write, and speak a language, recognize images and sounds, decipher symbols, etc.?
This education, whether it is from schooling or just living life, helps determine how well we can compute what we take in, and there is a lot to take in. Collectively, over time, we have learned to codify our visual communications – from pictographs to written words, to paintings, photographs, and now motion pictures. What we depict has a recognizable meaning. Viewers know how to decode the images that they are shown. Understanding, or clear interpretation of what is viewed, stems from the established grammar or rules of depiction that have evolved over time.
It is this concept of grammar – meaning gleaned from structure – that motion picture creators rely upon so heavily. Fictional narrative films, documentaries, news reports, situation comedies, television dramas, commercials, music videos, talk shows, “reality” programming, and the like, all use the same basic visual grammar to help communicate to the viewer. As a filmmaker, when you “speak” the common cinematic language, you will be able to communicate your story to a global audience. They will see it. They will hear it. They will get it.
This text, Grammar of the Shot, third Edition, has been redesigned and expanded. Most of the figures that illustrate the concepts have been replaced or refreshed. Each chapter begins with an outline of that chapter’s contents. Each chapter ends with a detailed review section highlighting the main concepts covered by that chapter. New sections called Exercises & Projects and Quiz Yourself conclude each chapter. They present ways in which you can immediately put into practice the techniques and guidelines discussed in the chapter, and offer a gauge to see how well you absorbed the information. Many new topics have been added, and most recurring topics have been rewritten and restructured for clarity and flow.
Some of the major changes or additions are highlighted per chapter:
- Chapter One now contains information on the Master Scene technique of planning and shooting coverage for film scenes. You will read about script analysis and scene breakdown for shot lists and storyboard creation. A short practice script has been included for you to plan coverage, shoot, and edit. The three phases of film production are outlined.
- Chapter Two gets an overall rewrite and restructuring of expanded topics in camera angles, and shots covering multiple subjects (the 2-shot, Over-the-Shoulder, etc.).
- Chapter Three sees a new discussion of the use of diagonal and curved lines in frame composition. Sections on prime and zoom lenses, focal length, and lens perspective have been augmented. An all-over rewrite and restructuring has also been done.
- Chapter Four is a new chapter covering light and the art and craft of film lighting.
- Chapter Five is a refreshed and reorganized presentation of the Shooting for Editing topic. These sections inform you about the key issues within the visual material that face an editor during post-production. You are advised on how to think about your shots and see how they will cut together.
- Chapter Six finds a new section on slow and fast motion playback of your images. The moving subject and moving camera sections get a rewrite and restructuring.
- Chapter Seven, the largest and most diverse, is refreshed, totally reorganized, and contains many new topics and working practices to help you meet the challenges of production. The new photographic illustrations help clarify, visually, the numerous shooting guidelines and techniques discussed.
- Chapter Eight provides some concluding advice with rewritten and restructured topics that can apply to anyone working in motion picture production.
- Appendix A is an all-new listing of helpful resources and references found on the internet and in other book titles available from Focal Press.
- Appendix B is an all-new listing of the essential crew positions found on a film set and their brief job descriptions.
- The Glossary of Terms is expanded to reflect the new topics, and many of the existing terms have been rewritten or augmented for clarity.
This book is designed for those of you who are new to the realm of visual storytelling but who wish to be well acquainted with the basic rules, conventions, and practices of the global visual language of motion pictures. It will take you from the basic shape of the frame, to the different types of shots, to the ways to compose visual elements within those frames. You will be exposed to the basics of shot lighting, screen direction, depth elements, camera movement, and many general practices that make for a richer, multi-layered visual presentation. Most importantly, it will provide you with essential information to expand your visual vocabulary and help jumpstart your motion imaging career in this non-stop world of motion media communications.