Grammar of the Shot

Christopher Bowen

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781351803519
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

The newly-revised and updated fourth edition of Grammar of the Shot teaches readers the principles behind successful visual communication in motion media through shot composition, screen direction, depth cues, lighting, camera movement, and shooting for editing. Many general practices are suggested that should help to create rich, multi-layered visuals. Designed as an easy-to-use reference, Grammar of the Shot presents each topic succinctly with clear photographs and diagrams illustrating key concepts, practical exercises, and quiz questions, and is a staple of any filmmaker's library.

New to the fourth edition:

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• an expanded companion website at www.routledge.com/cw/Bowen, offering downloadable scenes and editable raw footage so that students can practice the techniques described in the book, and instructional videos showcasing examples of different compositional choices;

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• new and expanded quiz questions and practical exercises at the end of each chapter to help test readers on their knowledge using real-world scenarios;

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• updated topic discussions, explanations, illustrations, and visual examples.

Together with its companion volume, Grammar of the Edit, the core concepts discussed in these books offer concise and practical resources for both experienced and aspiring filmmakers.

Chapter One
The Shots: What, How, and Why?

• Cinematic Language Defined

• Choose Your Frame Size

• Typical Shot Names and Descriptions

• Master Scene Technique and Shooting Coverage

• Script Analysis and Breakdown

• Shot Lists and Storyboards

• Phases of Film Production

You can find moving images just about everywhere these days. New techniques for micro processing, wireless transmission, and screen display technologies allow us to access time-based visual media on our smartphones, tablets, and laptops. You can see motion imagery playing around the world in taxis, on airplanes, on billboards, on the sides of buildings, at bus stops, in the aisles of “big-box” stores, at malls, in museums, and, of course, on television and in movie theaters. So many kinds of moving images, made by so many diverse groups of people for so many different purposes, are available via these numerous outlets. And we, the receiving audience, somehow comprehend what all of these images are saying. We may not understand the spoken or written language in these “movies,” but we do understand, perhaps on an unconscious level, the inherent and intended meaning behind the use of this visual language: the grammar of the shot.

This use of visual communication – in our case, the worldwide cinematic language – forms the focus of this book.

Let’s say you want to make a short film, or a funny web animation, or you need to interview someone for a school project. You, the filmmaker, are in a position of great creative power. You get to decide what the content of your video will be and how you will show it to a viewer. Your visual expressions (the pictures that show your story) need to be presented in ways that your audience can properly understand and interpret. If you do not “speak” the right language (use the appropriate grammar of the shot), then your message may not come across clearly. Think of this book as an introductory lesson in the visual language of moving imagery. It presents you with some of the core guidelines, commonly used tools, and accepted methodologies found in the art and craft of visual storytelling.

As we are discussing the grammar of the shot, it may help to determine, initially, what we mean by “grammar‘‘ and, later, for the majority of this text, what we mean by “shot.‘‘ It should be understood that “grammar‘‘ in this sense of the word refers to the basic rules governing the construction and presentation of visual elements created for inclusion in a motion picture. These are the commonly accepted guidelines that describe how visual information should be displayed to the audience. Viewers (all of us who have grown up watching films, television, and web videos) have been trained over the years to observe, decode, and comprehend the various elements of the shots used in motion picture creation. In other words, we may not consciously acknowledge it, but we know what most images mean and how they make us feel. An adept filmmaker uses this dynamic between the shots and the viewer to tell better stories.

We will explore what basic types of shots are possible and what goes into their construction. We will also see what information and meaning the viewer can pull out of these shots when viewed in the context of your edited film. Remember that filmmaking is simultaneously a creative and a technical craft, and the extent of your success often depends on how well you communicate your vision to your audience. If you confuse them with faulty film language or improper visual “grammar,” then they will most likely not respond well to your work. The meaning, message, and audience engagement may be lost. If, however, you purposefully construct your filmed imagery, then more efficient, aesthetically pleasing, and appropriately manipulative visual communication can occur during the viewing experience.

To keep things simple, we are, for the most part, using generic terms for discussion and explanation. For instance, the terms “motion picture,” “motion imagery,” etc. refer to any time-based media piece, work, show, animation, film, video, project, or program that is made up of a series of individual images that, when displayed to our eyes very rapidly, provide the illusion of movement. The term “camera” will refer to any device (simple or complex, old-school or cutting-edge) that can record these moving images. The term “filmmaker” refers to any person undertaking the creation of any kind of motion picture. At times, camera person or camera operator will be used to refer to anyone who operates the camera device that is recording the moving images.

What to Show Your Audience?

It may seem counterintuitive, but in filmmaking, if you are not sure where to begin, it can be very helpful to start at the end. Ask yourself some key questions:

• What is your goal?

• What are you setting out to make?

• What kind of story are you trying to tell and how do you wish to tell it?

• Who is the target audience?

• What purpose does this motion media piece have?

• What tools and other assets will you need to make it?

• Where and how will it be shown and viewed?

Understanding what your end result should be will help to inform where you can begin, and it will lead to many more creative and logistical questions (well beyond those posed above) for you to answer along the way. Media production is often a costly and time-consuming endeavor, so the best plan is to actually have a plan. Our main concerns in this book are with the visual elements of your motion picture, so let’s begin your planning there.

Movies, television shows, music videos, commercials, and animations all rely heavily on their visual elements. For the most part, all traditional motion media products draw on the same basic guidelines within film’s visual language. There are, however, certain types of shots and visual imagery treatments that are associated with specific media pieces (news, game shows, documentaries, etc.). These days, you will find that there is a lot of sharing, swapping, and intermingling of pictographic elements, especially within the realm of short “infotainment” videos found all over the internet and social media streams. As such, you have to decide very early on in the creative process what is important for the viewer to see and how these particular recorded objects, actions, and/or events should be shown to the audience.

Developing a visual plan – one that incorporates both the overall style and look of your project and the technologies and techniques that can help you to achieve that look – will prove very beneficial. Cinematography is the film production term associated with the art, craft, and practices of developing this visual plan, style, and overall look of a motion picture project. The decisions of what to actually photograph and how to photograph it can be the result of input from many people involved in the filmmaking process – from the writer to the director, to the director of photography, actors or producers, etc. (see a list of common film crew members and their job responsibilities in Appendix B). Regardless of who is making these choices, someone is doing this, and for your initial projects it will most likely be you, the filmmaker.

Choosing Your Frame

The visual needs of your motion picture project can be guided by the script of your fictional narrative story (discussed later in this chapter), or are dictated by real-time documentary events, or driven by the content, style, and purpose of the show that you are producing. Knowing how you want to visually present your story can lead you to some of your first decisions regarding your visual plan: what camera and what lens will you use? In simple terms, these components work together to create your pictures. The lens, traditionally, gathers, focuses, and controls the amount of light entering the camera body. The camera body houses the light-sensitive “imager” (digital light sensor, emulsion film, etc.) that forms and records the image that you ultimately watch on a screen.

These two very important tools, the camera (referenced t...