Notes on space in film

SPACE

• Deep
  • offers illusion of 3d depth on a 2d screen
  • no real depth in screen space, illusion is conveyed through depth cues
    • perspective - 1, 2, and 3 point (draw buildings)
      • perspective creates VANISHING POINTS and LONGITUDINAL PLANES
      • Audience's eye will be usually drawn to and on-screen vanishing point (
        • draw railroad tracks)
        • draw two vanishing planes, with actor on outside, then actor on inside, at VP. Compare the two.
    • size difference
      • separating objects/actors into FG, MG and BG helps create depth
    • movement
      • moving parallel to the picture plane:
        • objects further away will appear to move slower across screen
        • objects closer will appear to move faster
        • draw track runners to demonstrate
      • moving perpendicular to picture plane
        • objects appear to move faster the closer they are to the camera
    • camera movement
      • dolly in/out = moving camera closer or farther from the subject
      • draw scene with FG actor and two BG actors, then dolly in
      • FG actor will get larger faster
      • tracking shot - camera dollies left/right
      • with one FG and three BG actors, FG actor appears to move faster horizontally in screen space.
      • crane shot - camera is moved vertically up or down.
      • same FG/BG actor combo - FG actor will drop out of frame faster than BG guys
    • Textural diffusion
      • objects that are closer to the camera will have more visible texture
    • Arial diffusion
      • fog
      • must have objects affected and unaffected in both the same shot in order to be an effective depth cue
    • Tonal separation
      • light objects generally appear closer, dark objects generally recede
      • can also be reverse, depending on lighting and arial diffusion
    • Color seperation
      • warm colors generally appear to be closer
      • cool colors generally appear to be further away
    • Up/Down position
      • objects lower in the frame appear to be closer than objects higher in the frame (maybe because they appear more accessible?)
    • Overlap
      • overlapping objects in the frame create depth
    • Focus
      • blur vs sharp
• Flat
  • emphasizes the 2d aspects of the screen space
  • flat cues:
    • frontal planes and NO LONGITUDINAL PLANES
    • size consistency
    • movement
      • movement parallel to picture plane = good
    • camera movement - pans, tilts and zooms
      • help emphasize flat space because the relative distance between/size of objects does not change in the shot.
    • textural affinity
      • same amount of textural detail
    • reduced tonal seperation
    • reduced color separation (affinity of color)
    • reduced overlapping shapes
    • inverted depth cues
      • inverting or reversing depth cues can help flatten deep space
        • tone: placing brighter obis in the BG and darker ones in the FG
        • color: warm BG, cool FG
        • textural diffusion: make BG obis have more texture and FG ones have less
        • size difference: place larger objs farther away, and small ones closer.
• Limited
  • combo of deep and flat space cues
• Ambiguous
  • occurs when viewer is unable to understand the actual size/spatial relationships between objects in the frame
    • lack of movement -
    • objects of unknown size or shape
    • tonal and textural camouflage
    • mirrors and reflections
    • disorienting camera angles

• DEEP SPACE
  • dramatic
  • exciting
  • edgy
  • can be used to release tension
• FLAT SPACE
  • calming
  • comedic
  • disarming
  • can be used to build tension/claustrophobia and awkwardness
  • wes anderson!
• LIMITED
  • combo of both
• AMBIGOUS
  • mysterious
  • disorienting
  • chaotic