From the very first frame of picture or musical downbeat, our audiences need to know whether to laugh or cry. Viewers are an agreeable bunch, by and large, and are willing to do either, but the director’s intention must be clear. You don’t want your audiences rolling in the aisles while watching a story of starving children in Africa; and you certainly don’t want your viewers looking morose and sitting on their hands during what is supposed to be a rip-roaring comedy.

Directors of photography and videographers have long employed a range of tools to communicate genre. For one thing, framing and composition can be a powerful indicator. Shooting a close up? How close is close? Tight choker close ups strongly suggest a drama, while looser framing usually indicates more comic fare.

Lighting is another crucial element when communicating genre. Scenes illuminated with hard light and exhibiting deep hard shadows suggest a drama, suspense, or horror genre, while a flatter look with well-filled shadows seems more appropriate for lighter weight, humorous programs.

Shooters also utilize more subtle ways to help communicate genre, such as altering the camera’s shutter angle or frame rate. Program frame rates under 30 FPS, for example, communicate to viewers a fictional story often set in the past, while frame rates over 30 FPS suggest a more immediate context, as in most documentaries, news, and sports programs. Audiences read such subtle and unsubtle cues and (hopefully) respond in the appropriate way.

Genre may be communicated to viewers in subtle ways. A faster camera shutter, for instance, yields a sharper crisper look that most viewers associate with non-fiction, while the increased motion blur from a slower shutter suggests a narrative-type drama in viewers’ minds.

Given the many elements and influences, it is the look and feel of our images that are most critical in effectively communicating the correct genre to our viewers. Managing the look of a show may comprise a range of strategies. Deliberate overexposure, for example, by blowing out windows and highlights, can contribute to a sci-fi otherworldly look. Conversely deliberate underexposure increases the drama in a scene by lowering the black level and deepening the shadows. Compare this to a flatly lit scene with gentle shadows that effectively communicates to an audience: ‘Hey. This is a comedy. Please laugh.’

The ‘correct’ exposure is a function of storytelling and genre. The blown out scene in (3a) might be appropriate in a futuristic sci-fi context. The underexposed frame in (3b) adds drama to what would otherwise be a rather ordinary scene.

While many shooters consider white balance a routine mechanical process, the appropriate warm or cool color in a scene can contribute significantly to the effective communication of the visual story. Actors, program hosts, and news anchors, bathed in a warm glow, tend to be seen by audiences as ‘good’ guys, while talent operating in cool light may be seen as villainous, sinister, ‘bad’ guys. Color balance can be a powerful cue to audiences in how to identify with a particular actor or player in your story.

The style and amount of diffusion applied to a scene can likewise be a strong indicator of genre. In most cases we use more diffusion for dramatic programs, and less diffusion for news, public affairs, and sports. Keep in mind that the Master Detail setting in your camera can go a long way in communicating the appropriate look. Increased DTL may help non-fiction shooters communicate greater immediacy, while reducing DTL has the opposite effect, contributing to a softer more organic look in narrative productions.

Regardless of genre, the brash clinical look of CMOS-based cameras usually demands the use of some kind of camera diffusion filter. A weak Schneider Digicon or Tiffen Black Satin may be all you need to help elevate the mundane look of most news, non-fiction, and corporate programs, without imparting a soft artificial theatrical feel.

For dramas, the strength of in-camera diffusion should be increased, the enhanced look being wholly achievable these days without losing much, if any, sharpness or resolution. Given that today’s workflow often entails high compression downstream for web applications and streaming the appropriate camera diffusion filter is imperative for another reason: the tightening of the image, reduced noise, and high-frequency artifacts, can significantly improve the look and quality of the encoded program – the program, by the way, that most viewers will actually see.

Barry Braverman is a cinematographer and digital media expert. He is a frequent contributor to The Broadcast Bridge.