Introduction to Cinematography

7Storytelling in Scenes: Constructing the Scene and Working with the Director

Having explored the use of lenses to compose single shots in the previous chapter, this chapter looks at how they are combined in scenes. Learning to construct a scene is often given less priority than the technical side of cinematography, but there is little more important than choosing the shots to create a story. The chapter starts by looking at how genre storytelling can be used to either create or break stereotypes, and how concepts from film analysis and theory can be used to inform film production. The chapter then looks at how choosing shots is the core of the collaboration between the director and the DP, and how to make the most of what you each bring to ...