Forums » Cinematography

What are the 8 elements of film?

    • 38 posts
    November 4, 2022 3:18 AM PDT

    Our teacher at Uni mentioned about the 8 elements of film however the class was over before he could go into further details. Would any of you be kind to explain what are the 8 elements of film?

    • 397 posts
    November 4, 2022 3:30 AM PDT

    If we are talking about the eight technical elements that are involved in the production of films, these are the 8 elements:

    1. The film type – can be any of these three categories: realism, classical and formalism

    2. The shots – can be a close-up, full shot or over the shoulder

    3. Angles – can be eye level, high angle, low angle or oblique angle

    4. Colour – can be either saturated or desaturated

    5. Lighting – can be silhouette/black lighting, low key lighting, high key lighting or chiaroscuro lighting

    6. Sound – can be diegetic and non-diegetic

    7. Editing – can be thematic, associative, dialectic, classical, continuity or radical subjective continuity

    8. Mise-en-Scene – meaning the setting of a scene.
    There are many more details to explain around each of these 8 elements but I hope it helps!

    • 38 posts
    November 4, 2022 3:32 AM PDT
    Maura Nicolaita said:

    If we are talking about the eight technical elements that are involved in the production of films, these are the 8 elements:

    1. The film type – can be any of these three categories: realism, classical and formalism

    2. The shots – can be a close-up, full shot or over the shoulder

    3. Angles – can be eye level, high angle, low angle or oblique angle

    4. Colour – can be either saturated or desaturated

    5. Lighting – can be silhouette/black lighting, low key lighting, high key lighting or chiaroscuro lighting

    6. Sound – can be diegetic and non-diegetic

    7. Editing – can be thematic, associative, dialectic, classical, continuity or radical subjective continuity

    8. Mise-en-Scene – meaning the setting of a scene.
    There are many more details to explain around each of these 8 elements but I hope it helps!

    Thank you!