The 2 Ways To Film Stories

In the process of writing, shooting and editing a movie, filmmakers are faced with a choice. Do you want to tell the story in a way that is more objective and detached from the character, or in a way that is more subjective and replicates the character's point of view or emotions? Let's use this video to explore the different ways that camera, lighting, sound and editing choices can be used to create either a subjective feeling or an objective experience. This video is brought to you by Mubi, a streaming service that screens beautiful, critically acclaimed cinema from all around the world. Get a free month at mubi.com slash indepthcine. In cinema, the perspective that you create is incredibly important. It affects how the audience interprets the story, feels about the characters and the kind of emotions that they experience along the way. Although there are two perspectives, an objective one and a subjective one, there's also lots of middle ground between them and room for this to shift throughout the movie. There also isn't only one technique or way of creating a perspective. It is usually the result of a handful of different methods and ideas that are combined to create a point of view on the story. Let's start with objectivity. This is when filmmaking techniques convey information from an omniscient point of view, as if the shot is being observed by an audience member. There is little emotional emphasis attached to the perspective, as the camera passively observes the action from a distance. Most shots in movies are quite objective. To me, this feeling is best achieved by using a stable camera, operated off a tripod or dolly. If there is camera movement, it is usually because it's motivated by the characters themselves moving. I have another more comprehensive video on shot sizes, but basically wider shots like long shots or medium shots place the characters a bit further from the camera and therefore feel a bit more objective, like the camera is observing their actions from a healthy distance away. Positioning the camera so that it sits around the same height as the characters and making sure it's filming at a neutral angle without a tilt is another way of imposing a feeling of objectivity. Subjective shots on the other hand may try to place the audience in the shoes of the character on screen by using what is called a point of view or POV shot. This is often achieved by cutting from a shot of the character to a shot that represents what they would be seeing. Such as this sequence which cuts from a shot of a character whose eye line is a bit off camera to a shot of their perspective which mimics the same angle as their gaze. Or this sequence which mimics a person's point of view by using a macro lens to shoot the image through a scope that the character is looking through. This POV technique is also sometimes done by using a black mask or shooting through other devices like binoculars, a keyhole in a door, a telephoto lens of a camera or to recreate the perspective of looking through night vision goggles. Some movies like Enter the Void even lean on this POV technique so heavily that they incorporated the character blinking by cutting to a couple of black frames incredibly quickly to create this illusion. An entire genre of found footage movies has even been created around the idea of only using shots taken from the literal POV of a character who is filming everything. But there are also other camera techniques other than using literal POV shots that can be used to create a visual experience which is more subjective and focused on the character. Using a tight shot where the camera is placed physically closer to the actor during filming creates a more subjective, closer bond between the audience and the character than filming in a more objective wide shot. Shooting from either a low angle to make the characters appear larger than life or a higher angle that diminishes them is a way of imposing a feeling on the image. This usually makes the audience experience the shot in a subtly more psychologically subjective way where the camera makes the character feel stronger or weaker. Although it depends a lot on context, I often find that handheld camera movement creates a more subjective language. Perhaps this is due to handheld motion's connection to the documentary genre where the character may interact with the camera and is more aware of its presence. This handheld motion can also be combined with an over the shoulder perspective to make it feel like we are following in the literal footsteps of the character, again bringing the audience and the character closer together. Another type of camera rig that can be used to create a subjective feel is called a snorricam, which attaches the camera directly onto the body of the protagonist. This glues the audience onto a close up of the character so that we move with them in a subjective way. A good rule of thumb is that the more stylised and experimental the camera language is, the more it's usually trying to impose a feeling on the audience, get them into the mind of the character and therefore the more subjective it is. While the more naturalistic the camera's role is, the more it creates an observational, detached perspective that is objective. Sound is a filmmaking tool that also plays an important role. Objective shots have sound that presents more of a general recording of a space. We pick up on things like dialogue and any ambient sounds in the location, such as a room recording of broadcast sound from a TV that's on, while excluding special sound effects or audio that wouldn't naturally occur from the mix. Subjective feeling shots will often play with sound and may share the sound that the characters hear with the audience, in a similar way to how the camera uses a POV shot to share the perspective of a character. A good example of this is when the audience hears the same sound that a character is hearing in headphones or on a telephone. Another more extreme version of subjectivity is if the plot and filmmaking mechanisms dive into the mind of the character through what is called a mental subjectivity. This could be done by using a voiceover spoken by the character, by showing their dreams, using a shallow depth of field to evoke their memories, or even using visual effects or camera trickery to convey hallucinations that they may be experiencing. When the language of cinema takes on how the character is experiencing the moment, it is subjective. How quickly or how slowly scenes are edited also has an effect on how stories are told. Usually shots that play out in longer takes or scenes with very few transitions between shots, tend to mimic how we experience time in the real world and therefore usually feel more natural and objective. While rapidly cutting through many shots incredibly quickly has more of a deliberate emotional effect and can create feelings such as anxiety or tension, feelings that emerged artificially due to subjective editing. A final cinematographic concept that can be used to tell stories in different ways comes down to how cinematographers use light. Objective storytellers like to lean into using naturalistic lighting. This is when either only natural ambient light is used, or more often when the film lights that are used to add illumination to a shot are placed in a way that is motivated by the light in the shooting location. A good example of this is how when shooting interiors, big sources of light with a daylight colour temperature are placed outside windows, shining in to mimic the direction and quality of sunlight. While also adding a more cinematic contrast and increasing the levels of light inside the room. For more subjective stories, cinematographers can employ more expressionist lighting techniques. This may include using RGB LED lights or fixtures with coloured gels to add different unnatural hues of light to a scene. This use of vibrant exaggerated colour elevates stories out of the real world. To create a feeling or a tone that embodies how a character sees the world in that moment, rather than merely presenting the world plainly and objectively as it really is. One movie that uses both detached observational shots along with highly subjective moments and is one of my favourites is Lahane. This classic 90s crime drama is currently streaming on MUBI, the sponsor of today's video. MUBI is a streaming service that has a large hand curated selection of entertaining, award winning films. Not only are their selection of films great, but I also really like some of MUBI's features, like how they showcase the cast and crew behind each movie, include articles from their notebook section and have reviews from both users and critics. Apart from its captivating story and strong performances, Lahane also has some amazing stylised filmmaking techniques which really will make you wonder how they pulled off some of these shots. For a relatively low budget movie, it's super inventive and worth watching just to get a bit of cinematic inspiration. To check it out you can try MUBI free for 30 days at mubi.com slash indepthcine. That's mubi.com slash indepthcine for a whole month of amazing cinema for free. Please let me know down in the comments any other techniques or ways stories can be told. As always, thanks to all of you for supporting the channel by watching, subscribing and especially to all the loyal patrons. Otherwise, until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.