Visual Storytelling
A Character Looks Offscreen: What Do We Expect to See Next?
Follow an offscreen glance and the next image in a film scene. Learn to separate a character’s visible look from the connection you infer between shots.
Look closer.
Feel the film.
For the scenes that stay with you. Explore the images, sounds and small choices that make cinema worth looking at again.
The starting point / Visual storytelling
Why movie locations do more than set the scene
Look beyond the scenery to see how a film's locations, doorways, distances and familiar spaces can shape the way a story feels.
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Visual Storytelling
A Screen Inside the Film Creates a Second Frame to Watch
When a film shows a television or monitor, notice the inner screen, the surrounding room and the person watching. Three observations can open a richer scene discussion.
Visual Storytelling
When Focus Moves, the Shot Can Change Without a Cut
Watch a scene shift attention from foreground to background through changing focus, then describe what you saw without guessing how the shot was produced.
Visual Storytelling
When a Film Returns to the Same Shot, Look for the Difference
A repeated composition can make a small change stand out. Compare two appearances of a film image through framing, duration, action and sound.
Sound & Score
A Phone Call Gives a Film Two Different Listening Spaces
Watch how a film handles a phone conversation: who we can see, whose surroundings we hear, and when the scene chooses to cross between them.
Visual Storytelling
Watch the Hands During a Conversation
Study a small physical task during film dialogue and compare what the hands do with the timing and content of the conversation.