Development of the teaching material for “Ｃamera ubiquity”

ITO, Toshiaki

Tokyo University of Information Sciences

E-mail: ito@rsch.tuis.ac.jp

Key Words: camera ubiquity, teaching material, education of audio-visual production

Abstract

　‘Camera ubiquity’ means the camera is present everywhere, omnipresent in the movie. This term reflects understanding that a viewpoint of camera can be present everywhere to take a film object (sequence) of every size, and from every angle. It is very important for film language as an unconscious principle or a tacit agreement respectively. But, this term is not only unknown in Japanese audio-visual education but also the meaning of its concept is still poorly understood. The author developed the teaching material (video) to enable better understanding of this concept. In addition, the author believes that popularization of the ‘camera ubiquity” concept should enable to deepen the understanding of essential communication qualities by which particular stories or themes are presented in audio-visual media. Popularization of the ‘camera ubiquity’ concept should improve the quality of education of audio-visual production as well as understanding of essential audio-visual communication qualities.

1. Research purpose.

　‘Camera ubiquity’ means the camera is present everywhere, omnipresent in the movie. This term reflects understanding that a viewpoint of camera can be present everywhere to take a film object (sequence) of every size, and from every angle.

The term ‘camera ubiquity’ is practically not used in the education of audio-visual language in Japan. On the one hand, terms like ‘imaginary line’ are very frequently used. On the other hand, the author has not known the term ‘camera ubiquity’ till quite recently. The author thinks that this term is not common in Japan now and would like to tell many people about the existence of the term ‘camera ubiquity’. Although the term ‘camera ubiquity’ is well known, simple and self-evident, the author thinks that its application should be helpful to understand audio-visual language scientifically and rationally. Therefore, The author developed the teaching material (video) to enable better understanding of the concept of ‘camera ubiquity’.

2. The meaning of camera ubiquity.

Recently, application of the word ‘ubiquitous’ has become very popular in Japan. However, such application is mostly symbolic or metaphoric. The term ‘ubiquitous computing’ means an environment in that computer can be accessed everywhere at every time due to the development of computer networks.

However, it is important to recognize that the application of ‘camera ubiquity’ in audio-visual language is fundamental. The author understand that the term ‘camera ubiquity’ means from the beginning a tacit agreement that ‘God is looking from everywhere”. The film language concept of ‘camera ubiquity’ is not known in the world. However, it can be thought that this principle and concept are accepted as to be self-evident by many film directors as well as spectators. This principle can be summarized as follows.

3. The meaning of narrow sense of ‘camera ubiquity’.

Principle 1. Camera can exist everywhere and also does not exist anywhere.

Suppose that there is a scene in which two characters A and B, two persons facing each other are talking. First cut – a camera is taking person A over the shoulder of person B. Second cut – crossing is performed, and person B is filmed from the direction of person A. At this time, the camera, which should have turned the lens to A in order to film the first cut, disappears suddenly from the screen in the second cut. However, a spectator who saw these two continuing cuts together did not say anything like "It is amusing when the camera which must be suited beside B cannot be seen if looking from the side of A." Third cut shows the whole room including A and B, but the camera is shown to be neither present in the side of A nor B. Thus, the camera can exist everywhere and also does not exist anywhere.

Principle 2. Existence of a camera is physically unlimited.

Even when the room is of a very narrow space where characters A and B, two persons facing each other, are talking, the position relation between A and B can be projected on the movie screen explanatorily enough from a transverse direction. At this time, the position of a camera is in the space outside the physical size of the room. In many cases, such a view becomes possible by removing a set wall of the room. However, a spectator of the movie either does not notice that the wall disappeared, or even if does he does not feel much inconvenience about it.

Next, suppose that the character A opens a door and moves into the next room. At this time, the camera moves horizontally, following up the figure along which A is walking just from besides, and runs through the wall section as it is (i.e. not escaping via the door space together with A), into the next room. There must be some spectators who experience a slight sense of incongruity due to such technique. However, it could be said that it is a widely understood convention in a movie.

4. Wide meaning of camera ubiquity.

Principle 3. A camera does not exist also for a performer.

A drama can be realized, as only characters A and B were present in the room. Their words and action become only their secret. They exchange secret conversation as well as words of love without being observed by anyone else. A spectator also understands that this is such a scene. The spectator of the movie does not sense any incongruity like “It is not only you who is in the room. There is present also a cameraman who is looking at you!" This is an important principle for telling a story of a movie. The same principle exists also on a stage of a theater. However, the world expressed by a movie offers much stronger feelings of reality than a stage of a theater.

Principle 4. Viewpoint of a camera is in agreement with the viewpoint of spectator's consciousness or a story.

Suppose that A begins a confession about things in the middle of the conversation with B. At this time, a camera takes this expression, calmly moving around A. Such camera work is often used in a movie. Why does the camera move in such way? What is moving there? At least, B does not walk turning around and looking at A. It is the consciousness of the movie spectator what is moving around A at this time. The consciousness of the spectator who has the love to A is surprised at confession of A, and wraps the surroundings of A gently. Thus, the principle of camera ubiquity that a camera can exist everywhere serves as a very effective expression technique when carrying out empathy of the spectator to the world of a movie-fiction.

Based on the principle above, an angle, size, and a perspective that are judged to be the optimal in order to tell a story, can be employed without any restriction.

In a TV studio, many cameras are simultaneously taking performers, being switched freely during recording. The principle of camera ubiquity works also here. However, as cameras should not take each other, their positioning in such multi-camera system is greatly limited. During filming of most movies, the position of a camera can be changed for every cut. For this reason, generally speaking, the expression of a movie is far free and more dynamic than expression of television. Especially, in a movie, a perspective can be excellently appropriate for each cut.

5. Application and wide meaning of camera ubiquity.

Suppose that actors who perform characters A and B are talking by standing. When the height of the back of the actor who represents A is much lower than of the actor who represents B during actual filming, the actor A is frequently put on a stand, to make the heights of faces of A and B to approach. In the film studios in Japan, this method and the stand used for it are called “Sesshu”". They are so called because a Japanese actor Hayakawa Sesshu, who played in Hollywood, had to be put on a stand to be in the same screen frame during conversation with American actors of different heights. The purpose of this approach is to prefer the importance of the conversation between A and B for a story rather than the factual accuracy of the height difference between actors A and B.

Isn't the posture in which the meaning of a story is more important than factual accuracy, encoded in the application of the ‘camera ubiquity’ principle? It can be said that a real role of the principle called ‘camera ubiquity’ is to find out an optimal viewpoint to catch the real meaning of a film story

Thus, if the concept of camera ubiquity is expanded, it will approach extremely with the meaning of such technique as parallel montage that is used for raising the feeling of presence directly in a movie scene (see reference 1). However, The author still don’t have any evidence that the technique of parallel montage can corroborate with the application of the ‘camera ubiquity’ principle, or expansion of its concept. Maybe, some researchers would like to prefer a scientific point of view, and to give an appropriate definition and drawing to the discrepancy of such concept.

Anyway the author believes that such ideas should help us to better understand the essentials of film expression. It is important for a film to find out an appropriate way to present the meaning of its story to a spectator. For this purpose, every effective camera positioning as well as cut montage may be done. It is because doing such things is a real film making. Therefore, thinking about camera ubiquity should be an exact entrance to understanding essential qualities of film expression.

6. Development of the teaching material for understanding the concept of camera ubiquity.

The video teaching material was developed to understand the concept camera ubiquity. The author prepared a scenario for this teaching material as well as performed its supervising. Undergraduate students of the author’s class played in and produced the film (arts, filming, recording and editing). Another team filmed its making, i.e. action of film performers who played this drama in the university studio, in which a small room set was created for this purpose. The leader of students was Ms. Yumeko Mase, who wrote a scenario for the general drama part, acted a performer as ‘wife’ in it, edited these two scenes, and completed it in a postproduction.

This film as well as it’s making were filmed by a video camera. But, to make it easier to be understood, editing was made as follows. The film was cut using an aspect rate of 16:9, what was followed by application of film-like effects during an editing phase. Making was edited using a normal screen, with the aspect rate of 4:3. In addition, insert sequences were filmed in the green tract of the university. The work was done during the spring holiday in March this year (2003). Filming took 3 days, editing 7 days.

These teaching materials were previewed to many students. They tested whether they understood the meaning of the term ‘camera ubiquity’ correctly as well as the concept of camera ubiquity mentioned above after seeing the viddeo.

7. The significance of research on the concept of camera ubiquity.

As discussed above, camera ubiquity can be recognized as to be very important for forming a film language. However, present-day spectators neither study nor accept in advance such grammar or convention of a film language. But, despite of that they can easily accept as well as devote themselves to the development of a film story.

Though being an important concept, at least in Japan, there is a lack of discussion or interpretation concerning the term and concept of ‘camera ubiquity’. According to my knowledge, there is a lack of Japanese literature mentioning camera ubiquity (references 1 and 2 are examples of such literature). This term is not used also in professional filmmaking. Maybe, the meaning of this term is too self-evident to be seriously accepted by serious researchers. However, the author would like to tell many people about the existence of the term ‘camera ubiquity’. Although the term ‘camera ubiquity’ is well known and self-evident, its usage should help us to understand this concept scientifically and rationally.

In the real film making, it is extremely important to decide, what is the appropriate positioning of a camera for a particular part of a scenario, what is the appropriate camera angle for next part and so on. It will be appropriately followed by the work of production, lights and arts. A film director, who does not know about camera ubiquity, tries to choose an optimal cut rate for the expression of each scene, as well as optimal camera positioning and angle. If these ‘cut rate’ and ‘camera positioning (angle and frame)’ are appropriate, camera ubiquity is well matching, and the story is well accepted by the spectators. If camera positioning is inappropriate, the principle of camera ubiquity is not respected, and therefore the spectators feel that audio-visual expression is not natural, resulting in difficulties with telling stories or messages.

Finally, the author is going to provide a detailed analysis to make clear the situation about the formation of camera ubiquity. In addition, the author would like to introduce the term ‘camera ubiquity’ and its concept in the Japanese audio-visual education.

8. Conclusions.

From the discussion described above it can be concluded that ‘camera ubiquity’ is an important basic concept necessary for people who are trying to express stories audio-visually, to decide about appropriate cut rate or camera positioning. If the students understood well this concept at the particular level of their filmmaking education, they would be able to scientifically as well as rationally decide about cutting or camera positioning in a film.

Notes

1. Hase, Masato: Audio-visual culture in the 20^th century – turning rounds Edison-like return. Resume for the Report of the Audio-visual theoretical study group (‘Nijuseikino eizoubunka – ejisonteki kaikiwo megutte’, Eizorironkenkyukai-hokokusho). (Japanese) March 14, 2002.

References

1. Komatsu, Hiroshi: ‘Original film’(‘Kigenno eiga’), Seido, Co., (Japanese) 1991.

2. David Bordwell: On the History of Film Style, Harvard Univ. Pr.1998 （Japanese translation – Komachi, Masayuki, ’Eigano youshiki - sono youshikito renzokusei’, Kanae shobo, 2003.