Entry 3- Cinematography

Today we starting learning about cinematography. 

-> Camera Position -> Camera Movement -> Focus -> Perspective -> Exposure -> Speed -> Framing 


Exposure 

Exposure refers to the amount of light the cinematographer allows to pass through the camera. Usually, the cinematographer wants the correct amount of light to be captured. i.e. to create a natural feeling. Sometimes they may need to manipulate the amount of light by adjusting the exposure. For example, when something bad is happening, a cinematographer may use dark exposure in order to create a sense of grim. A light exposure can be used when a person in heaven or in the middle of life and death, as it is completely "pure". 

Creating ideal exposure isn't that easy as some factors are uncontrollable. For example, a natural daylight cannot be turned off or the light cannot be manually dimmed, therefore you must either adjust the camera settings to create the exposure desired or move to a different location. Another possibility is flagging sunlight. If you shoot in a studio, then you have absolute control over lights.

Overexposure happens when too much light is reflected into the camera, rendering an image that is brighter than normal exposure. The sense of intense heat, threatening characters and a glowing or dreamlike quality can be created using overexposure. 
















Underexposure is the opposite: not much light enters the camera, thus creating a dark image. It is often used to show shadowy or mysterious characters and scary or hidden elements. 

Speed

Film speed relates to the number of pictures per second. 

Fast motion: Commonly used to create a slapstick, comedic feel or panic. People running sped up to appear faster.

Slow Motion: Commonly used to add comedy, dramatic tension or to emphasise the moment.

Comedy: The reaction of someone as something unexpected occurs

Dramatic tension: People running in slow-motion to escape an explosion

Emphasis: The antagonist and protagonist enter a room for their final showdown

Focus 

Focus refers to how clearly or sharply an object or person appears in a shot. Films in focus are Crisp, Sharp and Clear. Films out of focus are Fuzzy, Soft and Blurry. A pull-focus is a technique in which the object that is in focus change during a shot. When focusing on something, the idea behind the reason of focus should always be thought about. For example, is this character important for the film? Is this object important for this scene? (I.e the James Bond casino royale gun)

The depth of field refers to how “deep” or “shallow” the focus is between the front and back of a framed shot. The depth of field between the front and the back would be low if you want to focus solely on the object, but if you want to show everything in the scene, the depth of field would be higher. 

A low angle is a camera angle that looks up at a character. This is the opposite of a high angle and makes a character look more powerful. This can make the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the character. This can help the responder feel empathy if they are viewing the frame from another character's point of view.  

A high angle shot is a camera angle that looks down upon a subject. A character shot with a high angle will look vulnerable or small. These angles are often used to demonstrate to the audience a perspective of a particular character.  

A Canted shot is filmed with the camera partially or completely on its side. Canting creates a sense of disorientation, due to the forced viewing angle. It can be used to emphasise the lines inside a building or in a street scene. If the camera is moving while canted it can create a sense of dizziness. In addition, a canting shot can create a sense of confusion,  i.e character sees something weird and a canted shot is used to express confusion as she walks closer to it. 

Camera height is when the actual camera height is repositioned. Although a camera can be tilted up or down, when the actual height of a camera is altered it can create a new perspective for the viewer. A low camera height sometimes makes the scene more dramatic. A low camera height can also create a sense of crawling or the point of view from a small child. 

Camera Movement

Camera Movement is when the camera moves. A camera can be positioned in a static or fixed position, however, a camera will often move left/right or up/down to create a more dynamic shot. Horizontal turning left/right movement is referred to as panning. Vertical up/down movement is referred to as tilting. A tracking shot is one which follows an object. In this case, the camera may actually move on a truck, dolly or crane. A dolly/truck allows for fluid movement along the ground. A crane allows the camera to move up/down, left/right all at the same time. (Since our school doesn't have an actual machine to do a dolly movement, a skateboard might be a good idea to shoot a dolly movement. 

Perspective 

A perspective or point-of-view shot is one that is taken from the perspective of an actor or character within the film. It could be from the characters eyes or over the shoulder. Very common to suspense, horror. 

Today we also watched a short film. The film started off in a dream-like in a manner where the character was soaring through the clouds with wings. The BGM used was soft and heaven like, where lots of orchestral musical instruments are heard to be playing. His outfit is made out of silver armour, creating that sense of knight in shining armour, where he is all mighty. The silver also implies that he is valuable, as silver is a precious metal. Most of the shots were positioned so that the character seemed as if he was powerful. This meant that the camera was shot from a low camera height with a low to high angle shot. He then flies towards the sun and disappears into the brightness. Since brightness is usually connected to the term of happiness, viewers are also guessing that he's flying off to a better place. A woman then appears with a sudden burst of escalating bgm, where she is covered in a see-through the veil, starting directly towards the camera. The BGM indicates that she is precious, as those types of BGM are often used when something precious or valuable is being showcased for the first time. Viewers are then left to guess that she is staring at the man, and alluring him to come closer with her sensual arm movements. The way the camera is positioned shows that she is neither weak nor powerful, but the way she is wrapped in veil kind of signifies that she is trapped, compared to the man who is flying across the sky. The woman is then shot in an extreme long shot, where we can see her trapped in the veil right in front of the sun. The sun acts as a back fill light, allowing her to be even more mysterious and heaven like. This is kind of a foreshadowing event, which I'll explain soon. She is also positioned on the line of thirds, which is aesthetically pleasing to the viewers' eyes. The man comes closer to the woman, and the woman is then shot in a high to low angle shot, but in contrast, the man is shot in a low to high angle shot. After they kiss, the man flies off, and with the sudden sound of a buzz, he starts to fall down. I mentioned previously that the sun was a foreshadowing event, as Icarus, the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, fell down to his death after flying too closely to the sun. 

From this scene, we see him as a powerful man who is free and wild. 

We also watched the continuation of the scene. At first we hear the same buzzing sound that was made in the previous scene, but this time there is no orchestral music. This means that he woke up from his dream. We see a telephone like object with lots of aux holes, implying that the technology is more "advanced" in this time era. Also the main difference between the previous scene and this scene is the lighting. The lighting in the previous scene was light and more pastel-like, but in this scene it's all very stoic and monochrome. This makes the viewers know that the reality is not so much better than the dream. We then get to see the man, but this time he seems average. The dark exposure also makes him look more dreadful. The man takes 1/3 of the visual space, which shows that he is quite important, however, the way items are placed around him makes him seem trapped. He also seems quite nervous about being late through his tone of voice, showing that he's not really that powerful in real life. We then see some advanced technological stuff, where the bath is being filled by itself, the toast is being made, coffee is getting "served" and etc. As he gets out of the bedroom, he wears his coat in a hurry and does stuff without looking, which ends in a bad result. This action shows that he is not really organised nor is he diligent. 

That's all that we did this lesson.