In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, decor is used to create a futuristic look. Neil, the main subject, goes into a spaceship every once in a while to travel between the past and future to teach the viewer about something. Inside the spaceship, the decor is very clean and slick with round and clear lines and white lights. This look creates a very clean and futuristic or technologically advanced look that helps enhance the fact that Neil is going into the future or past with his spaceship.
Rear projection is not used in television as much these days, however I believe that I have found a clip where it is used, although it is a little difficult to tell. At 13 seconds into this video, rear projection is used to make the car appear like it is driving without actually needing to drive for many reasons. The director also made the camera move up and down to add more effects that make it appear as though the car is actually being driven.
Low-key lighting is shown in an interesting way in the photo below. In the television show Capture, there were teams of two and they were all trying to capture other teams, while also running from teams that were trying to capture them. In this shot, one of the team members is shown in low-key lighting because there is very dark lighting on his face and a very bright background showing contrast. It creates suspense in the show because he is in the darkness and doesn't know if he can escape the team trying to capture him, as well as get the team that he is going after.
This is another scene from Capture of one of the teams on the show. It is a great example of typage because just by looking at the picture, the viewer can tell what type of team they are going to be. They have their arms crossed which helps make it seem like they have bigger muscles and the lighting is very bright which makes them seem glamorous and better than others. In the television show, the team thinks they are better than everyone else and that nobody can capture them, which is shown through typage.
In the television show Modern Family, the characters are often put into straight in front of the camera and are talking towards the viewer through the use of frontality. The director makes it so that the subject talks either during or after a conflict between characters. The character talks about their opinion on the situation, which is usually a different opinion than the character they are arguing with so it creates humor in the show that only the viewer knows. Therefore frontality helps to create humor in the show.
Another shot from Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey shows good use of color in helping to enhance the mood of the scene. As can be seen here, Neil has a blue light shining on the right side of his face which matches the color of the background. Neil is talking about supernovas, with an animated one happening right behind him. As the camera focuses on his face, there is a blue light which helps with two parts of the shot. The first is that it makes the supernova appear real because it is shining on him and not just on an animated screen. Secondly, it adds to the mood of the shot because the blue color is used everywhere in the shot which creates a certain feeling inside of the viewer rather than just having a video of the supernova.
Contrast is used in this shot from Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey to show mystery and the unknown. Half of Neil's suit fades completely to black where it blends in with the outer space in the background, while the other half gets very bright. In this shot, Neil is talking about mysteries the world hasn't yet solved about the Earth and the lighting creates a greater feeling of mystery because there is such high contrast.
Shallow focus is used in this shot from Modern Family to make the viewer focus. The background is blurred out which makes the viewer focus on the two subjects arguing with each other. It makes the scene more personal because they are arguing and the viewer can't help to watch because the focus is specifically on them. The director did this on purpose because they did not want to viewer to pay attention to anything else, but instead to be focused on the arguing giving the viewer feelings that are uncomfortable.
This shot, from Capture, is slightly over-exposed to make the scene feel hot and tiring. The two girls are on a team together and have been running from another team of two that are chasing them, which can't be seen in this shot. By over-exposing the shot, it makes it seem very hot which shows that the subjects are struggling because they have to run in the hot weather. The viewer would never want to be in their position because it looks like an awful situation which is what makes the viewer pay more attention to the chase and get stressed out wondering if the subjects can escape.
Finally, a medium close-up is used in this shot from The Middle to enhance the viewers emotions. As can be seen on the subjects face, Sue is confused and angry at the man that she is talking to. Had this shot been further away, it wouldn't show her face that well and the viewer wouldn't feel the emotions as well, yet if it were closer than it would be too personal and the viewer may not pay attention to what the man is saying to her. However, by using a medium close-up, the director was able to show Sue's emotion and that creates emotion in the viewer as well because they can feel what Sue is experiencing at that moment.
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