Lighting, sound, framing and camera movement.

Over the past 3 lessons, we have been studying the different key terms within lighting, sound, framing and camera movements.

During our first lesson, we went over the differences between low key and high key lighting. The difference being that fact that low key lighting is created with key and back lights and is used to create a sharp contrast of light and dark, and high key lighting is made up with more filler lights to produce a softer, more realistic image.

The three main light sources are;


key light- brightest and most influential light
back light- makes image look more rounded, counteracts the key light
filler light- used to soften harsh shadows

Different angles will also be used, such as:

Under lighting- The main source of light comes up from below the object, which tends to give a distortion effect, therefore often used in horror films.
Top lighting- The main source of light comes from above, highlighting the features of a character.
Backlighting- The light source if behind the object. May create silhouettes.


Over the next lesson, we learnt how to specify and categorize different sounds. Whether it's onscreen or offscreen sound (whether you can see the source of the noise or not) diegetic or non diegetic sound (whether the sound is including within the film or added afterwards) parallel and contrapuntal sound (whether the sounds fits with the image or whether they contrast) and sound bridges (music that carries on into two or more scenes, to connect them smoothly).

With framing, we learnt 8 different terms ranging from close ups, long shots and over the shoulder shots. Then moving on to the movements of the camera, from fixed positions (pan, tilt, dutch tilt and zoom) to free form positions (track, dolly, crane, rolling, handheld and steady cam). Although, the filming needed within our thriller will not be likely to contain most of these free form movements due to the price tag that comes with using them. But all fixed positions will be available to use, althought zoom can look a little amateurish. Below is a sum up of the nine shot types;


Close up- view of neck and face.
Extreme close up- small section of object
Medium/mid shot- head down to waist
Long shot- whole of body is visible
Extreme long shot- shows vast area
Point of view shot- shot through the eyes of the character
Low angle shot- puts character in vulnerable position
Over the shoulder shot- looks over shoulder of character.

Welcome to my AS Media Studies blog.

This blog will chart the progress of my foundation portfolio. On it, i will include the details of my research which will help me create my thriller opening.