level: Level 3
Questions and Answers List
Camera Angles/ SWAT codes
level questions: Level 3
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What are SWAT codes? | Symbolic codes Written codes Audio codes Technical codes |
| What are SWAT codes used for? | Deconstructing media, to allow us to see how it works. |
| What is an extreme close up shot? | A shot that is: very close to a character's face, to the point of being uncomfortable, used to show emotion, not common, and may only show part of the face. |
| What is a close up shot? | A shot that: is close to the characters face, shows from neck up, and makes you feel closer to a character. |
| What is a medium close up shot? | A shot that: shows only one character, shows chest up, and shows some emotion. |
| What is a mid shot? | A shot that: is used neutrally; doesn't have much meaning, shows multiple people, and shows from waist up. |
| What is a long shot? | A shot that: shows the characters whole body and some of the setting, shows the characters size and body language, and is relatively far away |
| What is an extreme long shot? | A shot that: is extremely far away, makes the character seem small, shows the vastness of the setting, and shows how nature can so easily overpower the character. |
| What is an 'eye level' angle? | An angle that: suggests equality between the viewer and the character shown, can show emotions, and is a neutral angle; it can be used without meaning. |
| What is a low camera angle? | An angle that: makes the character seem powerful, looks up at the character, and lets you see a bit of the ceiling/sky. |
| What is a high camera angle? | An angle that: makes the character seem powerless and small, shows a bit of the ground, and looks down at the character. |
| What is a canted/dutch camera angle? | An angle that: seems off balance/slanted, shows that something isn't right in the story, and shows that the character is weird/unbalanced/ confused. |
| What is an aerial camera angle? | An angle that: is shot from the sky, establishes setting/location, and shows the ground. |
| What is a point of view camera angle? | An angle that: shows a characters point of view, lets you see through a characters eyes, and may be accompanied with movement/breathing. |
| What is tracking? | The camera moving alongside a moving character. |
| What is panning? | The camera is moving while the character remains still. |
| What is zooming? | The camera moves towards the character/towards action (fights, etc) |
| What is Tilting? | The camera changes height (moves up and down). |
| What is dollying? | The camera is moving on wheels. |
| Objects have symbolic meanings based on: | What they are used for (e.g. knives are symbolic of death since they can be used to kill) Famous stories about them (e.g. snakes are symbols of deception because of the story of the Garden of Eden) |
| A character’s clothing, hair and make-up tells us about: | Their personality. How much money they have. The time period that they live in. The colours that a character wears can tell us is they are a good guy or a bad guy. |
| What does body language tell us? | Body language helps us figure out the mood of a scene as well as what characters are feeling. Body language includes: Posture Facial expressions Gestures |
| What does a story's setting show? | Setting is the location in which a story happens. The type of setting can set the mood and atmosphere. Setting includes other symbolic elements such as objects, and colour and lighting. |
| What does colour show us? | Colour is the most complicated and meaningful symbolic code. Each colour has its own meaning. There are set meanings for every colour but these can change depending on the film. |
| What does red connote? | Power, love, anger, danger, or violence |
| What does orange connote? | Warmth, sociability, exotic, friendliness, or happiness |
| What does yellow connote? | Sickness, madness, idyllic, insecurity, or obsession. |
| What does green connote? | Envy, nature, immaturity, ominous, corruption, or darkness. |
| What does blue connote? | Cold, isolation, cerebral, passivity, or melancholy. |
| What does Purple connote? | Fantasy, ethereal, eroticism, mystical, or illusory. |
| What does pink connote? | Innocence, sweetness, femininity, playful, empathy |
| What is a score? | Music that plays during a film, that sets the mood (upbeat or downbeat), and can be used to evoke emotions. |
| What is dialogue? | Speaking that occurs during a movie, conveys meaning and advances the plot, and can show you what a characters personality is. |
| What are sound effects? | Sound effects are the noises we hear in a film. The purpose of sound effects is to make the film seem realistic. Sound effects can also show us plot or explain a shot (e.g. breathing during a POV shot). |
| What is foley? | Foley means sound effects created on purpose by sound effects artists. Sometimes sound effects can’t be heard properly, so foley is added in afterwards. A popular foley technique is to use coconuts to sound like horses’ footsteps. |
| What are written codes? | Written codes refer to all of the writing in a film. This includes the title, subtitles, signs or even writing done by characters which is shown in the movie. |
| What are captions? | Captions are the sometimes called ‘subtitles’. They help us to understand what is happening in the film. The are useful when the characters are hard to understand or are speaking a different language. |