Filmmaking Basics
Page 5
Choosing a Camera
Several excellent camera options from Panasonic and Sony will give you a great start and make a solid investment for your filmmaking career.
Sicignano suggests considering the Panasonic HPX170. It’s affordable, rugged, and uses a tapeless workflow. The 170 is one of the successors to Panasonic’s DVX video camera, long a staple for indie filmmakers.
Panasonic describes the HPX170 this way: “... the solid-state handheld camcorder enables high definition and standard definition recording, the widest zoom lens in its class, … all in a lightweight 4.2-pound body.”
The HPX170 is fully solid state, with no DV mechanism (no moving parts). It records to P2 cards, for up to 64 minutes of continuous recording capability. P2 cards can be costly, but they hold an hour of footage and can be reused.
With a smaller budget, Sicignano says, you can consider the Panasonic HMC-150 or the HMC-40. These cameras record to SD cards, not P2, but are still quite versatile.
Sony makes the EX1R. This model comes with a larger half-inch sensor. The bigger chip makes it good for low light shots. It too is tapeless. Sicignano states that this is the camera the footage for the Michael Jackson This Is It movie was shot on, and it held up well in theater presentation.
Consider the HDSLR Camera
The camera that many industry professionals are calling a game changer is the HDSLR. Major players in this market right now are Canon and Nikon. The HDSLR is a hybrid video and still camera, basically a digital SLR camera capable of HD video. Canon’s most popular models are the 5D and the 7D. Nikon makes the D5000.
Sicignano says this is one of the cheapest camera options on the market, yet boasts a full frame sensor and interchangeable lenses to replicate a cinematic look and feel. SNL and House are just a few of the productions presently using HDSLR. Marcelo Lewin, of FilmmakingWebinars.com, uses the Canon 7D for all of his corporate video work, and despite the camera’s limitations, praises its effectiveness.
No doubt one of the game changing factors is the HDSLR’s ability to control depth of field. We all know how a great still photo can make the subject pop and push the background out of focus.
Traditional film cameras used on movie shoots can shoot with shallow depth of field, but the low end digital video cameras cannot. It’s always been considered a major flaw on smaller film projects using video cameras. No more. The HDSLR has changed that game.
With the HDSLR, Sicignano says, you need to build it out a little bit. There’s also a minor conversion step getting it into post for a Final Cut or Avid editor. But it’s a great option.
Capturing Good Audio
Don’t try to record your audio without a professional-level external mic. For good sound, you need to pick up your audio as close to the sound source as possible. Without getting the mic in the frame, of course. Any filmmaker will tell you - your audience may tolerate low quality video but they will not forgive poor audio. Poor audio means amateur work.
The Panasonic HPX170 is equipped with XLR inputs, which will allow you to connect an external microphone with professional (XLR) cables. In the camera, audio will record to the same P2 card as the video.
Sicignano suggests using a lavalier (lapel) mic, or trying the Sennheiser ME64 shotgun microphone. Sennheiser mikes are solid performers.
A boom pole is almost a necessity here to get that shotgun mic in close. You can rig a mic to a makeshift pole with gaffer’s tape if you can’t afford a boom pole.
Take audio capture a step further, says Sicignano, with an external recorder. The Zoom H4N is a four-channel recorder with up to an 11-hour capacity. The recorder has XLR inputs, so your external mic will plug directly into it. This is a career investment you won’t regret, says Sicignano. There’s one extra step involved in post, but it’s worth the clean sound you’ll get. Buy once, he says, and it’ll last a lifetime. The H4N works with all the digital video camera options, too.
On the subject of audio, the HDSLR camera has limitations. There are no XLR inputs, requiring you to buy an adapter (e.g. BeachTek) that accepts XLR inputs.
Camera Support
You’ll need a tripod for your camera. Most scenes call for a solid shot, without shake or jolt. Especially if you’re zooming, hand shake is just about impossible to avoid without a tripod. A solid tripod package includes the base and a fluid head for smooth panning.
The Manfrotto 504 is an exceptional tripod, says Sicignano. Libec also has a great line of inexpensive tripods. All of these tripods are fluid and versatile, and will work well in the field or in a studio production.
If you want a fast, nimble setup, Sicignano suggests an HDSLR camera and a shoulder rig, such as the one made by Chrosziel. The rig will actually work with all of these cameras, he says, and will give you run and gun capability when you need it.
Lighting
According to Sicignano, if you have a good DP (director of photography) on your team, you can create the film look of controlled lighting without external lighting products. Use a bounce board or reflector to kill shadows and harshness.
With a bit more effort you can use a diffusion screen. On an outdoor shot, for example, mount a 12’ x 12’ white diffusion screen (sheet or silk) over the shot to cut some of the light down.
Taking lighting to the next level, try the versatile Rosco LitePad. This LED light provides 6,000 degrees Kelvin, illuminates tight spaces, and comes in a variety of sizes. Try the 1’ x 1’ as a good general purpose light source. The price will easily fit many budgets. There are other LED brands that will provide stronger light but are also more costly. All of these LED lights provide soft light and work off batteries. Says Sicignano, technology has shifted the market to cater to independent filmmakers. And these lights throw no heat, so they can be handled without gloves and fear of burns.
Ready to Buy
His best advice - balance high quality and cost effectiveness. Your purchases should be an investment, something that lasts more than one shoot. “If you can’t afford it,” he says, “use your creativity.”
Total expense for these packages will run you approximately $3,300 to $5,600, depending on camera choice and whether you include the LED light in your package.
Director/writer/producer James Sicignano has nearly 10 years experience working with some of the top studios and industry professionals in the business.
Clients have included NBC, Universal, Paramount, ESPN, E! Entertainment Television, and Sony.
He has established a reputation for hard work, integrity, and commitment in his career as a producer. Able to adapt his production style to almost any situation from live concert to reality, features, commercials and music videos, he can instinctively make the right calls to make each project unique.
Sicignano adds his expertise to the digital cinematography sales team at Band Pro Film & Digital, Inc. in Burbank, California.
Here’s a link to one of James Sicignano’s productions.
Cinematography and Camera Composition
This is where you will make your story stand out from the rest of the pack.
Camera Stability
A stable shot is the mark of a professional filmmaker. Use a tripod.
Rule of Thirds
This is a basic artistic principle well known to photographers. Picture your screen or viewfinder with a tic tac toe grid on it. The grid lines should make nine equal boxes on the screen. The key features of your principle subject should be at one of the places where the lines intersect. Never in the middle of the screen. It’s more pleasing to the eye to have the principle focus somewhere other than dead center.
A quick Google search will give you lots of images you can use to illustrate this to your crew. Try drawing a grid on a piece of transparency, then drape it in front of a TV monitor. Turn on any news program. The news anchor’s eyes will always be on a horizontal line or at one of the line intersections, not in the center.
Framing Your Shots
With three basic framing shots, you can
compose most video movies and documentaries. These are the wide shot, the medium shot and the close-up.
Shot types range from extra wide to extreme close-up, and also include cut-ins and cutaways.
The cut-in shot gives us detail, a close-up of a character’s hand turning a doorknob before she enters a room, or a close shot of a nervous character’s sweating hands. The cutaway shot will show us something other than the subject for a moment. Maybe a shot of a moving car in between shots of the passenger talking to the driver.
Watch a few television sitcoms or scenes from a movie. You’ll see wide shots used as establishing shots, where the audience learns the location of the upcoming scene. A shot of an apartment house exterior tells us that the next scene will take place in someone’s apartment. A wide shot of a horse ranch tells us we’re about to see characters in a stable or corral setting.
Medium shots will be used for partial views of character dialogue, action, or body language.
Use your close-up shots sparingly. The close-up shot should be reserved for intense emotion. That won’t occur too often in a story.
When shooting a close-up, it’s acceptable to cut off a bit of the top of a person’s head. Don’t cut off the chin. Just another generally accepted artistic principle.
Camera Movement
Camera movement provides variety and drama in your shots. Stabilization is the key here. Use a tripod. Two principle camera moves are the pan and the tilt. Panning moves a camera from one side to another on the same plane. Tilting points the camera up or down from the normal horizontal view.
Two other common movements are the dolly shot and the trucking shot. For a dolly shot, the camera tripod is mounted on a track and the camera moves horizontally right or left. On a non-professional shoot, you can use a wheelchair, an office chair on casters, or any wheeled device that the camera and operator can sit on while someone pushes the device. Work to make the movement seamlessly smooth, and you’ll look like a pro.
A trucking shot moves the camera in or out in relation to the subject. Rather than zoom in or out with the camera’s focus, this shot moves the camera itself in or out.
Stabilizing your shots, and adding camera movement, will differentiate you from most other new filmmakers. Try setting your camera on a skateboard for some interesting shots. Move the board slowly across your subject from one side to the other. Place the board on a smooth surface, such as a tabletop or a ledge, and be sure the wheels are free of debris and nicks. You’ll want a totally smooth move.
Hold the camera firmly, or use gaffer’s tape (Resources) to secure the camera to the board. Duct tape will leave a sticky residue all over your camera and the board.
If you have a small budget, consider buying an inexpensive skateboard just for this purpose. You could even drill a hole in the middle of the board and install a bolt that matches the tripod-mounting hole on the base of your camera.
With some imagination, you can add a taller mount to the board for different angles and perspectives.
Try standing your tripod (legs closed) on the skateboard. Of course, you’ll need to hold it for balance, but it will give you the opportunity to do an arc shot of your subject, moving in a semicircle as your subject speaks. With practice, this can be a very effective indication of your professionalism.
If your subject is moving across screen - a walking person, or perhaps a running horse or a speeding boat - keep the moving subject back to one side of the shot, with more room out in front than behind. This is called lead room. It helps to create a stronger sense of direction and movement.
Avoid zooming in or out during the shot. Stop recording, zoom, then turn the record button back on. If you need to zoom during a shot, practice doing it very slowly and smoothly. The zooming movement in this instance should be almost imperceptible to the viewer.
Depth of Field
This is one feature that separates the pro from the amateur project. You know depth of field (DOF). The camera focuses on the main character, while the background is out of focus. This draws all attention to the character. No distractions from the rest of the shot.
A large DOF (deep focus) in a shot will emphasize everything in the shot with more or less equal sharpness. With a small DOF (shallow focus), the main character will be in sharp focus while the foreground and background are not in focus, and therefore not important to the shot.
Camcorders and many prosumer cameras can’t do this well. You need an adjustable lens to do depth of field. But with an inexpensive camera you can achieve some degree of DOF. Have your subject stand out a distance from the background, then focus on the subject. Now move the camera back away from the subject as you zoom in. This will create the look of DOF in some settings.
The 180 Degree Rule
The 180 degree rule simply means keeping the camera positioned on one side of an imaginary axis drawn between two characters in the shot. On camera, character A should remain looking to the right, and character B to the left, and not be seen to shift back and forth between right and left. They should not “cross the line.” Doing so disorients the viewer.
Try picturing it this way - your two actors are on the face of a clock, one at 12 noon, the other at 6 p.m. The camera can be positioned anywhere between noon and 6 p.m., but cannot cross the axis between noon and 6 p.m., and be positioned between 6 p.m. and midnight. Not in the same shot or scene. Again, switching back and forth confuses the viewer.
This core element in filmmaking sets the framework for continuity editing. Check here for an example.
Don’t Forget B-Roll
This is another detail that will set your work apart from many other new filmmakers. While you’re shooting your principle footage (A-roll) be sure to get B-roll. This will be the secondary or supplementary footage you’ll need in the edit. Used most often in documentary and interview taping, B-roll is used as a cutaway shot in place of having the audience see the camera zooming in. It can also disguise bits of unwanted footage, such as the subject coughing or twitching.
In film, B-roll is the close-up detail you’ll want, such as a hand reaching for a doorknob, or a hand removing the hidden key from under a doormat.
Edit Room in Your Footage
When you shoot, start the camera a few seconds before the action starts, and let it roll for a few seconds after the shot is finished. This is called edit room. It provides the editors with extra footage before and after the shot so they won’t cut off audio or visual. At times a shot may start or end too soon, and you don’t want clipped picture and audio. It’s a mark of sloppy production.
Stock Footage
The movie your crew is developing may need a shot of a jetliner taking off from an airport. The answer - stock footage. There are several reputable firms that offer both still shots and video clips online. You can set up an account and download what you need. Prices are generally reasonable. You can get a low-resolution photo for a dollar or two. Short video clips may cost $15 and up. Use them sparingly and your project will look more professional. Pay attention to color and lighting if you purchase stock clips. You’ll want them to match the rest of your movie as closely as possible.
Encourage your camera person to look for her own stock footage: shots of the school campus, the neighborhood, the outside of a local mall, street traffic, pedestrians, building exteriors. Shoot both wide shots and close-ups. Look for signage, such as a close-up of street signs, a school auditorium name plaque, a science wing dedication plaque, or a neighborhood welcome sign.
To keep the stock footage “evergreen”, that is, usable for a number of years, shoot groups of people from the waist or torso down. Keep faces out of the shots. Avoid anything that will date a shot, such as movie posters outside a theater.
Making the Difference -
Television Shows That Illustrate Camera Composition
Encourage your crew to observe their favorite TV shows from a filmmaker’s point of view. For example, compare two different shows shot in the same locale to se
e how cinematographers use different perspectives.
White Collar, on the USA network, is set in New York City. The show’s story centers on so-called white collar crimes that take advantage of the city’s culture, glamour and wealth. In exterior scenes the camera is often set low, creating a perspective of awesome skyscrapers looming behind the actors.
Another crime show set in New York, the CBS network’s Blue Bloods, takes a different perspective. Here we see the police dealing with a range of street crimes – murder, assault, robbery, even terrorism. The camera work here centers close in on the streets: police patrolling the sidewalks, chasing criminals down dark alleys, wrestling suspects to the ground. The images support a sometimes dark, gritty environment.
ProFile – Various Cinematographers
Art as Inspiration for Filmmakers
Cinematographers (the directors of photography on a film set) often use art as inspiration for their film work. You may be familiar with some of the art from your reading or school projects.
Consider the well-known painting “Nighthawks”, done by artist Edward Hopper in 1942. What mood does it evoke? What do you see/feel? An observer looking in at a lonely diner late at night, a few patrons, a dark, empty city street.