Visual techniques such as mise-en-scène, cinematography and film editing may be used in order to strengthen a story and create the right atmosphere in which the story is told. This study examines film design, with the aim to raise the knowledge and understanding of how motion pictures are designed in order to achieve a strengthened story and the right atmosphere. The visual techniques are studied with three methods; semiotics, compositional interpretation and my own interpretation. One of the most important roles for a cinematographer is deciding how a film will be presented visually, that is why this study analyses and interprets three films by the cinematographer Hoye van Hoytema with this following question – In which ways has the cinematographer worked with the visual techniques in the opening of the three chosen films? The study also examines how you can work with the visual techniques in one’s own interpretation. Therefore the study includes four short films I have produced. The result of the analyses of the films is summarised and presented in a table and my interpretation was displayed during an exhibition on the 15th January 2016 at Umeå University. The visual techniques show both similarities and differences in how they have been used. They are used in combination to enable creation of the atmosphere in the story in all of the chosen films. The importance of how to relate separate techniques to the story as a whole in order to draw conclusions on what the techniques might imply, is shown. / Visuella grepp som mise-en-scène, filmfotografi och filmredigering kan användas inom film för att förstärka en historia och skapa stämning i en berättelse. Studien behandlar ämnet design inom film med syftet att öka kunskapen om och förståelsen för hur spelfilm kan designas för att uppnå en stärkt historia och en stämning i berättelsen. De visuella greppen studeras genom tre metoder vilka är semiotik, kompositionsanalys och gestaltning. Filmfotografen spelar en viktig roll i hur filmen ska utformas visuellt, därför analyseras och tolkas tre filmer av filmfotografen Hoyte van Hoytema efter frågeställningen – På vilka sätt har filmfotografen arbetat med visuella grepp i inledningen av de tre valda filmerna? I gestaltningen analyseras de visuella greppen genom att själv pröva dem i tre korta egenproducerade filmer. Resultatet av filmanalysen sammanfattas i en tabell och gestaltningen visades på en utställning den 15:e januari 2016 på Umeå universitet. Det finns både likheter och skillnader i hur de visuella greppen använts i filmerna. Gemensamt för dem är att det är kombinationen av de tre greppen som skapar stämning i berättelsen. De enskilda greppen måste också sättas i relation till filmens handling och hur den ser ut i övrigt för att kunna dra slutsatser om vad greppen betyder.

Many people today have no idea that film editing is more than simply putting scenes together. Previous research also reveals very limited information about the editors line of thinking, the creative decision making, intuition and how they reflect upon their own profession. The purpose of this essay is to explore the film editors meaningful role in productions of moving image. We look at editors competence and characteristics and try to break down the hidden, magical touch they contribute with in an attempt to uncover the implicit and tacit knowledge they carry. Further we investigate what the differences between branches in the industry means for the editors. Six semistructured interviews were conducted with editors in the fields of television, motion picture and commercials. The findings indicate that the key elements of editing is creating narrative clarity and dramatic emphasis. Editing is also closely intertwined with music since it has similarities both in creation process and shape. The result shows that editors have profound understanding of film theory but use it only subconsciously. Instead intuition and experience-derived knowledge replaces theory. The result was applied on theories of intuition and experience after an empirical analysis in the hope of explaining what is demanded by the editor and how they develop their competence. Our study also highlight the need for more research in the field of editing.