BSA234 (Cinematography) Week 5 : Psychology of Shutter Angle and Perspective

This week we looked at the effect of shutter angle on the image as well as the psychological effects it can have on the viewer:

Shutter Angle is something that has bothered me for a long time now, because of the fact that I didn't really know what exactly it did to the image. I understood the theory but found myself unsure in what effect it actually had and subsequently I was incapable of using it.

That changed this week.

I am very happy that we talked more in-depth about Shutter Angle, because I feel like I've got a very good understanding of it, so much so that I can identify it accurately enough and am thinking of using it for our group horror film.

I would like to try this out myself and see what kind of quality image we can achieve with the gear we have access to, I'll probably get a camera out on Tuesday and Wednesday, my least busy days, and play around with the shutter angle then.

The examples we looked at in class demonstrated how shutter angle can help inform the point of view of the characters. We compared the John Woo film Windtalkers (2002) with Saving Private Ryan (1998):

This is the scene we looked at in class, it's a good example of taking an omniscient viewpoint for a war film. This is relevant because to achieve this the filmmakers chose not to change the shutter angle, adopting a standard 180 degree angle, leaving the movement and general style feeling normal.



Spielberg's film chose to use a faster shutter speed of 90 degrees, this gives each frame more detail and decreases motion blur. The effect this has on the audience is that of making the scene feel more jittery, visceral and jarring.

The smaller shutter can make the viewer feel uncomfortable but it is effective in emulating the emotion of war.



This sniper scene does a very good job of displaying the faster shutter, the illusion of movement is more apparent, each frame feeling like a separate image. It makes the scene feel hyper focused.

In general Saving Private Ryan takes a much more subjective viewpoint of the action:

The Omaha Beach scene demonstrates this well as we are always following the American side of the battle, even more specifically Tom Hanks. This is done by slowing the shutter speed, placing us in his shoes by showing what he sees and never showing the faces of the enemy. The shots that we get of the enemies hide them in shadow, serving mainly as a way to establish place. The filmmakers place us in the shoes of the characters by only showing us what they see.

This is opposite to Windtalkers, which in a collage-like fashion shows many different snippets of the battle, usually not relating to each-other. In the example there isn't even a main character that we are following and the two sides are hard to distinguish.

NOTES:

Shutter Speed

Watching the Omaha Beach scene is interesting because it jumps between frame rates quite a bit. Some of the scene was shot over-cranked so that slow-motion could be used for the part where Hanks' character has a moment of introspection. The notable thing about this is that not all of it is in slow mo, some footage is shown as they were shot - with the quick shutter.

This works extremely well in this scene as it emulates the way the character feels, his heart racing, but his mind unable to think.

Vignette

I like the way Spielberg leads the audiences eye, the use of this vignette is a good practice in technique as well as an example of how the film ensures that Tom Hanks is seen as the protagonist. By applying a vignette the film keeps the main character as the center of attention, a vital addition to the scene as this frame would otherwise be very confusing to the viewer.

Perspective is a very important part of film and a lot of the art of cinematography comes from using the camera and different techniques to represent a character's perspective. We've already looked at shutter angle and framing, this week we also had a look at the movement and eye-line of the camera:

BATMAN BEGINS




- Narrative and technical concerns with cutting away

We discussed in length the technique of cutting away from the main character. Nolan does this often in his films, in this scene from Batman Begins we see him using it to cut between Batman on the train, Gordon and the events on the ground and the people in the control station.

To me it has always seemed like a necessity in his films, where many different narrative strands are unfolding concurrently. It gives the audience a larger view of the proceedings and has a certain momentum in and of itself.

Patrick suggests that this could detract from the film overall though, as cutting away from our perspective character makes us take a more objective standpoint, distancing us from the character.