Name - Manoj Kumar

Course - B.A English Hons 3rd year

Subject- Literature and Cinema
Roll n. - 753

Questions:-  Explain the basic characteristics of shot composition as elucidated by James

Monaco.

How to Read A Film, First published in 1977,  this popular book of James Monaco has become a
source of film and media. Textlessbrtextgrait Looking at the film from many vantage points,
how to read a film: cinema, media, multimedia arts and crafts, sensibility and science,
exploring both media of tradition and technology. The standard theory suggested that the shot
was the film's word, the scene its sentence, and the sequence its paragraph. In the sense that
these sets of partitions are arranged in ascending order of complexity, the comparison is
largely correct; But it breaks under analysis. Assuming for the time that a word is the smallest
convenient unit of meaning, in the first place, a shot takes time. There are consistently
different numbers of images within that time period. Since each frame includes a potentially
infinite amount of visual information, as with the soundtrack. While we can say that shooting
a film is like a sentence, because it makes a statement and is sufficient in itself, the point is that
the film does not divide itself into so easily manageable units. The film shot is something like a
sentence, as it makes a statement and is sufficient in itself, the point is that the film does not
divide itself into so easily manageable units. While we can technically define "shot" as
technically a piece of film, the camera can move if the particular shot is pierced internally; The
scene can change completely in pan or track. Similarly, scenes, which were strictly defined in
French classical theater as a beginning and end whenever a character enters or leaves The
stage is more amorphous in the film (as they are in the theater today). The theory view is
useful, no doubt, but not accurate. Sequences are, of course, compared to scenes, but
"sequence-shot", in which a single shot is short with a sequence, is an important concept, and
no small units within it are sequential.

Shot's Composition:-  In production, a shot is a moment that the camera starts rolling until the
moment it stops. In film editing, a shot is a continuous footage or sequence between two edits
or cuts. A part of the film between two cuts. Shots are generally framed with a single camera
and can be of any duration. A shot in production, defined by the beginning and end of the
capturing process. Deep focus, close / medium / long shots etc. This will help students to know
how to shoot a film using different camera techniques instead of enjoying the film in front of a
television set or in a theater.
Difference types of shots:- It  is important to note that the following shot types are only
related to the subject size within the frame, and do not directly reflect which type of lens is
used to capture the scene. The choice of lens - and, thus, the camera's distance from the subject
- remains an artistic decision for the director and/or director of photography. With that list in
mind.
Extreme long shot: the extreme wide shot is used to show the subject from a distance or the
area in which the scene is taking place. This type of shot is particularly useful for establishing
a scene (see the setting of the shot in the article in terms of time and place), as well as the
physical or emotional relationship of a character to the environment and elements within it.
The character should not be viewable in this shot.
A long shot shows the subject from top to bottom; For a person, it would be head to toe,
though not necessarily frame-filling. The character is more focused than an extreme long shot,
but the shot still dominates the scenes. This shot often determines the scene and the location of
our character in it. It can also act as an instant shot instead of an extreme long shot.
Full shot frames character from head to toe, almost filling the subject frame. The emphasis is
more on action and movement rather than on the emotional state of a character.
Close-up (CU) The close-up is one of the most common shot sizes in cinema. It’s used when
you want to highlight the facial features of your character without any other distractions in the
shot. A typical close-up shows the character’s face from their forehead to their chin. However,
there’s room for some variation. An extreme close-up goes further, often showing nothing
more than the character’s eyes. Think of a classic Western in which two characters stare each
other down before a duel. This shot draws the viewer’s attention to facial features and
expressions that would be lost in a wide shot.  Close frames the character's face. One can see
even more detail in a close-up shot that tells us what a character feels like. A close-up evokes
emotional clues in the eye and you may see a twitch or a tear that you may have missed in a
medium shot. It is more intimate by its nature so the effect is often that the audience can feel
what the character is feeling. A close-up can also be used to show things such as the slipping of
a ring on a tapping foot or a finger, but these shots must be used sparingly and have a flow,
otherwise, they Can be jarring. Most importantly, they should mean something 4 the audience
will be looking for importance in anything you decide to show them.
A medium shot (MS) The medium shot or mid-shot is somewhere between a close-up and long
shot. A typical medium shot shows the subject from their head to their waist. It’s close enough
that we can still see their face, while also including some of their body languages. we might
use this shot when a character is carrying an object or pointing a gun. Or, if they’re sitting at a
desk, you can show them writing in a book, while avoiding wasting valuable screen space on
their feet or their knees. It’s also useful for when a character is moving through the frame
since it contains enough background information that the viewer doesn’t get disoriented.
An establishing shot is a shot in filmmaking or television that sets up the context for the scene
ahead, designed to inform the audience where the action will be taking place. It shows the
relationship between people and objects and establishes the scene’s geography. These kinds of
shots can do more than setting up physical space, as they are often used to reveal character or
plot information. Practically speaking, establishing shots are commonly wide shots, especially
at the very beginning of a film. Because the establishing shot is at the beginning of a scene, it is
also used to set a particular tone and mood for what the audience is about to see. The
cinematography and director might make additional shot choices or lighting decisions that
help to strengthen that tone or mood in the establishing shot. You can also show the passage of
time with establishing shots. 

Field size refers to how much the subject and its surrounding area appear within the camera's
field of view and is determined by two factors: the subject's distance from the camera
("camera-subject distance") and focal length. Lens. Note that the focal length of a lens is its own
angle of view (eg 'angle' in a wide-angle lens, which is "how much we see"), so the same idea
can also be expressed. The angle of the lens plus the distance of the camera-subject is the
camera's field of view. In this context, focal length values vary with each film gauge and CCD
size for optical reasons, but the viewing angle is the same for either of them, so with lenses for
different formats than their focal lengths Viewing angles are easy to compare. The same angle
of view always gives the same field size at the same camera-subject distance, no matter the
format you are using, but does not have the same focal length.  However, maintaining a
uniform field size at different camera-subject distances and focal lengths must be handled
with caution as it applies different types of perspective distortion to the image: wide-angle
lenses of a perspective. Extend, while long focus lenses compress a perspective. The famous
Dolly Zoom, taken with a variable focal length lens, is a vivid, smooth display to this effect.
Thus, it is more common in photography and cinematography to determine the size of an
image's area by changing only one of two factors. When shooting video or film with human
subjects, it is best to avoid cutting human subjects along the bottom of the frame at the natural
cut-off point (joints, neck). When the frame cuts off the subject at these positions, it feels
unnatural. Therefore, filmmakers use the following shot types because the brain understands
that the body continues below what it sees in the frame. It is a psychological term, called
closure, which refers to the human mind that demands a complete perception of the subject.
Field size (with a specific amount of perspective distortion) greatly affects the narrative power
of a shot. There are several standardized field sizes, the names of which usually vary by
camera-subject distance when changing lenses. 

Film making:- Filmmaking (or, in an academic context, film production) is the process of
making a film, generally in the sense of films intended for extensive theatrical exhibition.
Filmmaking involves a number of discrete stages including an initial story, idea, or
commission, through screenwriting, casting, shooting, sound recording and pre-production,
editing, and screening the finished product before an audience that may result in a film
release and exhibition. Filmmaking takes place in many places around the world in a range of
economic, social, and political contexts, and using a variety of technologies and cinematic
techniques. Cutting  between shots taken at different times or from different perspectives is
known as film editing, and is one of the central art of filmmaking. The length of the shots is an
important consideration that can greatly affect a film. The purpose of editing any scene is to
represent the way the scene is played by the visual "storyteller". Shots with a longer duration
can make a scene appear more relaxed and slow-moving while shots with a shorter duration
can make a scene immediate and faster.