How do film makers create impressions of power for characters?

1. Movie-Making

2. Your Task:
• You are going to complete the task in groups that I put you in.
• You will have a time limit for every task.
You have been contracted by New Line Cinema to make a re-make of Boy in the
Striped Pyjamas.
Your last film did not do very well and you are under a lot of pressure to create a
successful movie that is a faithful representation of the book. At the moment, you
are currently filming the scene we have just read.
You are going to film your interpretation in groups of four, using your phones and
editing the footage on the computers next class.

3. Tell me…
•What do directors do?

4. Directors: What are they doing?

5. They use camera lenses to visualise how each
scene is going to look.
They decide on the camera angle.

6. Directors: What is Martin Scorsese doing?

7. They tell actors where to be, where to look,
where to move to and how to act.

8. Directors: What are they doing?

9. They decide how to light a scene.

10. Directors: What is he doing?

11. …. and make the last minute decisions on sound.

12. Darth Vader and Princess Leah
have a conversation about her home planet.
In this scene:
Who has the power?
Why?

13. In this scene:
Who has the power? Darth Vader
Why? Because he is above her eye level,
she is also below the eye level of the guards.

14. What do these stills have in common?
Who has the power?
How tall is Yoda?

15. They are equal.
Yoda is about 3ft, the director had to make a lot of
adjustments to make sure Yoda and Luke are always the ‘same
height.’
The camera is always at Yoda’s eye level.

16. How will you use this information when filming
Father and Bruno?
In which still are the
characters more powerful?
Why?

17. In the following films stills…
In groups discuss: Who has the power?
How are the characters positioned?
Where is the camera?

18. In this picture, we don’t
see Katniss’ face, the
camera is over her
shoulder …
What effect does
this have?
When would you
use this in filming
your scene?

24. Some ideas…
• Powerful character is on, or towards the left.
• Powerful character is taller than the weaker one, or bigger. If people in
your group aren’t physically smaller, how can you position your camera
to make them seem smaller? Remember Yoda and Luke.
• Powerful character has some kind of furniture.
• Powerful character can move freely.
• Camera looks up to the powerful character.
• Powerful character is either in front, or perspective makes them seem
taller than they are.
Do you think this happens by accident?

25. Match the camera angles to the stills.
• Overhead Angle
• Low Angle
• Over the Shoulder Angle
• Close up of person or object
* For L-cut, you need to see it in
action…
• L-cut
1.
2.
3.
4.

30. Which technique….
1. Makes characters look small or
vulnerable?
2. Makes characters look bigger or more
powerful?
3. Gives a character’s point of view and
establishes empathy with whoever’s
shoulder it may be?
4. Takes us into the mind of the character.
This can make us feel extra comfortable or
uncomfortable about a character?
5. Creates the flow of the film and stops
conversations looking like a tennis match?
Low Angle
Close up Angle
L-cut Shot
Overhead Angle
Over the shoulder Angle

31. Which techniques are used in this scene from
Harry Potter?
What effect do they have?
Class Discussion….