Basic Filmmaking Techniques

The three most useful techniques I learned in this class are match cut, eyeline match, and the rule of thirds. Match cut creates the ability to create movies where audiences forget they are watching a movie, and don’t remember. Eyeline match allows the ability to transition smoothly between cuts. The rule of thirds creates visually pleasing shots that appeal to viewers. These are the three tools I use the most and follow strictly.

Match cut is easily the most useful and basic filmmaking technique. Match cut was first introduced in our class in DW Griffith’s An Unseen Enemy. As one of the older sister led her younger sister from one room to another, the camera cut while they were still in the same position. Match cut creates clean cuts between scenes and prevents distracting the audience with discrepancies between each shot. If things changed and characters “teleported” between takes, the audience would remember what they are watching is not real.

The second most useful technique I learned in this class is eyeline match. Eyeline match was introduced first in An Unseen Enemy as well. When the camera cuts from a shot of the older sister looking into a corn field to the younger sister and her boyfriend, the younger sister is in the line of sight from the first shot. By using this technique, a director can point the audience where a character is looking. If a character was looking one direction, but what they were looking at wasn’t in their line of sight, the audience would be confused about what was happening and what they were looking at.

The third most useful technique I learned was the rule of thirds. One of the films it was used in is Lang’s M. When Beckert sees the girl in the window, he is framed by knives in the d...

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...no thought, but I’ve taken core classes easier than this. I liked the unexpected challenge and the analyzing of film, although continuity errors in film drive me crazy now. I also see film as more than entertainment, it can be a means to escape, or a way to remind someone of the reality we want to forget.

The only thing I expected out of the class but didn’t get is a more technical side of film, rather than just film as art. I expected some of the workings of cameras or similar type of thing, such as in photography classes. The class did explore some technical sides while going through the history of film, but it helped me to see it as more of an art than I had thought before. I also would have liked more of how to build shots; adding depth, framing, composition. Overall I appreciated the class and the challenge, and I hope to learn more in Film 1 next year.