Last week I learnt about the multifarious world of Communication technology – new and old. But one type of communication that did slip my mind in the definitions of new communication technology was film and cinema.
A film speaks to the audience; it can communicate many different messages, beliefs or even values. If I was to look at some examples: The movie ‘Ferris Buller’s Day Off’ could communicate an individual’s love for life and spontaneity, Wall-e could communicate someone else’s disgust for how we treat a fragile planet. Any Paris Hilton movie could express a certain individuals vain aestheticism and the wide array of ‘Adult Film’ can exposes a lot about someone’s more explicit desires: it is obvious that cinema communicates effectively to an audience.
But it is not just verbal communication or acting skills that communicates a message in cinema. There are so many other ways an audience receives and interprets messages in film and this is precisely where cine-speak comes into the picture.
A cinematographer provides the audience with information about the film, they provide this information to let us know exactly ‘Who, how, when, where, why and what’ this film is about. To efficiently communicate this, each shot is placed in a specific sequence and filmed for a specific amount of time as well the use of as shot size, distances and angles and focus.
In cine-speak, a cinematographer may, for example, focus the camera on an individual in a crowd to communicate to the audience ‘This is who this film is about’. Similarly, sweeping shots of a city, country or landmark may be used to communicate ‘where this film is’. The list of techniques goes on and on, to provide a limitless supply of options to assist communication through film,
A good cinematographer knows that a film can be strategically planned, in every aspect, to attempt to maximise the effectiveness of communication and ensure that ‘Every shot drives a narrative forward’.
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