Film Making & Photography
Camera
Shot Size:
1. Establishing shot (Location)
2. Master shot
3. Wide shot (Subject relation)
4. Full Shot (Head to toe)
5. Medium full shot (Cowboy)
6. Medium shot (Lower chest to head)
7. Medium close-up shot
8. Close up
9. Extreme close up
10. Inserts: It is not just about going extremely tight on a detail. Inserts can be
combined with POV shots. A first-person perspective or a third-person
perspective. .
Framing
1. Single
2. Two
3. Over the Shoulder
4. POV
5. Insert
Composition
1. Points/dots
2. Lines
3. Shapes
4. Space
5. Balance
Camera Angle/Height
1. Low Angle
2. High Angle (90 degree)
3. Dutch Angle
4. Eye level
5. Shoulder level
6. Hip level (Cowboy)
7. Knee level
8. Ground level
Camera Movement
1. Static
2. Pan
3. Tilt
4. Push In
5. Pull Out
6. Zoom
7. Camera roll
6 Ways to Edit Any Scene
1. Eye-line: The eye-line match is a great way to connect the dots between what
the character sees, thinks, or feels. When an editor cuts to the object of a
character’s attention. If a character notices something. We cut to what he
sees. The second shot is often a literal POV shot. This is common practice to
reveal what he sees. It is the character’s eyes that guide the cut. A common
form of the eye-line match is the shot-reverse shot. This is found in
conversation scenes. Inserts (a shot of a detail within a scene) are also often
prompted by eye-line matches.
2. Cross Cutting:
3. Split Edits: A split edit changes either the sound or image before the other.
This is either a J-cut or an L-cut. It helps smooth over a transition. The
technique is often used during dialogue scenes. Allowing editors to create a
more natural conversation, control the rhythm of dialogue as well as catching
reaction shots of someone listening.
4. Intellectual Montage:
5. Cut on Action: Cutting on action refers to cutting during a character or object’s
movement. When the out point of shot A corresponds directly to the in point of
shot B, it creates a more seamless transition. This technique can be used for
simple actions like taking a drink or shaking hands. Cutting on action to create
smoother cuts that feel more natural to the audience. And it is often found in
fight scenes.
6. Freeze Frame
7. Invisible Cuts: Passing
8. Subliminal Frame
9. Double cuts
10. Jump cuts
Scene Transitions
1. Fade:
2. Dissolve
3. Match cut
4. Iris
5. Wipe
6. Passing
7. Whip Pan
8. Smash cut
9. Push
10. Zoom
11. Luma key
12. Barrel roll
What determines a great video?
It presents a problem, need, or desire ---- and offers a solution.
It told a story
Structure the video
How to tell a relatable story within 30 seconds
Let us focus on telling stories
What emotionally moves people? (Funny, shocking, sad)
- What makes them laugh?
- What would surprise them?
- What would make them sad?
- What would make them tick?
The pacing of your edit – a shot list
Storytelling is the foundation of good filmmaking. Tip number one is find your ending
first. Figure out where your film or story is going to end and work backwards from
there. If I can have a goal and aim of where I want the last scenes to occur in the film
and I work backwards from there. It makes the entire story better. Because the whole
film feels like it is leading towards that ending rather than just aimlessly meandering
towards. Ending should be the strongest part of your film. It should be what you
spend the most time on.
Stop telling, start showing
Showing more moments rather than having people talk about what happens.
Your film needs to have a question and the rest of the film is trying to answer that
question. Be mindful of the two journeys in your film. Find out what makes your
character unique.
Visual Storytelling:
Composition/framing– 1/3 rules & center filming, leading line,
Lead space – if a character in the shot is looking to the left then next character
should be placed on the right. This means they are looking into the enter space
making a more natural.
Shoot for the Edit/Shooting a Sequence/ Shooting people in action
Start with a wide shot which gives your audience a bit of orientation and starts with a
bit of an established of where we are. The wide shot is often referred to as the
master shot because you can tell the whole sequence within one shot and dip in and
out of it within the edit. Taking one master shot means that you have a safety in the
cans before you move on to anything else.
Next I move in and shoot the mid shots (this shot size is similar to how we naturally
see people.)
I then get down to the detail shooting the close-ups (what happens within the
sequence itself). You do not need to run the action all the way through but run it for
long enough so there is plenty of overlap between each of the shots for you to cut in
and out in order to get from one side of the shop. (You can use tilt down or pan
across just to get us into a new sequence or a new section of that sequence)
One of the most important shots you could take is a close-up because it enables you
to get inside your character’s head. It also gives the opportunity to create mood
within your sequence when you are doing the mid shot or medium close-up.
Remember to pick up additional shots outside of your sequence because this can
add color to your story they can also get you out of trouble – these shots are called
cutaways and can give the audience more information about what is going on.
Start from wide to tight (Outside to inside) Does a slight pan or tilt to reveal the
subject.
Shooting a sequence – Wide/Med/Tight of Subject * These are primary shots (Shoot
at eye level) – Move in from wide to tight shots – Shoot cutaways of hands and face
* These are secondary shots– Record each shot at least 10 seconds – Over the
Shoulder – Cutaways/ Inserts
The 7 shot sequence Theory
(1×) Establishing Shot: Where your scene is happening
(2×) Wide and or Medium Shots: What is happening in the scene
(2×) Close up shots: These show the details what is happening in the scene
(1×) Abstract shot:
(1×) Unexpected shot
First thing we are going to do is film a quick like five to ten minute interview – and
then we will go film b-roll.
The 5 shot sequence Theory
(1×) Wide or Establishing shot
(1×) Close up of subject
(1×) Close up of action
(1×) Over the Shoulder
(1×) Creative
Do they have to be put together in that exact order? No, of course not.
Three-Over-One Rule
Story requires a beginning, middle and an ending
The 5 sequence film
- Getting ready to go for a walk
- Going out for a walk
- Getting to the park
- Playing at the park
- On the way home from the park
-
Video Setting for the Canon 90D
Mode Setting: M
Focus Setting: MF
Frame Setting: Menu – Video System (For NTSC)
24 frames – 25 frames – 50 frames – 100 frames
Audio Setting: Menu – Sound recording (Manual)
Exposure Triangle Setting- Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO Setting:
Shutter Speed- double the frame rate
Aperture – The lower (1.8)
Check your exposure meter. If it is lower than 0, increase the ISO, if it is more than
0, decrease it. But be careful here do not increase your ISO more than 800 it might
introduce grains.
White Balance Setting:
Auto – Daylight – Shade – Cloudy – Tungsten light – White fluorescent light
Focus Setting: Tab Q button – Choose your auto focus
Eye tracking – Spot – One Point – Zone – MF
Stabilization Setting: For stationary subject, you do not need stabilization. Menu –
Movie digital IS (Enable) – The lens also has stabilization built-in
Style Setting/Color-grading in camera: Picture styles are a preset that makes your
image more vivid sharp and crisp. If you are unsure of what to pick then leave it on
Standard. Portrait smooths out skin tone but gives you slightly less sharpness.
Landscape will give you more vivid blues and greens with much more sharpness
which makes it vivid. Fine detail is great if you really need the textures of your image.
Neutral will lower contrast and color tones giving you what we call a flatter image.
Why adjusting Picture Style is important? Dynamic range – You can see into the
shadow – your eye is able to look into the shadows. Camera with a larger dynamic
range is actually able to see into those shadows. If you expose for the highlights then
the shadows are too dark. If you expose for the shadows then the highlights are
blown out. Shooting in a flat profile gives you a larger dynamic range. Picture profile
can be installed into your camera. If you like muted colors but super sharp then you
maybe can use the neutral one and bump up the sharpness. I turn down saturation
and contrast to make it look more like a flat profile and that allows me to do some
very basic color grading really fast. Unfortunately, Canon 90d does not have a flat
picture profile. Basically the more flat the picture profile is the more dynamic range it
will have
Auto – Standard – Portrait- Landscape – Fine Detail – Neutral – Monochrome
Neutral Standard Neutral Blend Standard
Extremely flat What the eye sees Outside -
Keep contrast low
Sharpness (2) Sharpness (0) Sharpness (2) Sharpness (0)
Contrast (-4) Contrast (-1) Contrast (-4) Contrast (0)
Saturation (-4) Saturation (+1) Saturation (+1)
Color Tone (+1) Color Tone (+1) Color Tone (+1)
Exposure Metering Mode/Exposure locks:
In M mode – the exposure does not change. But in other mode the exposure changes as to
maintain the mid-tone. However, exposure can be locked by pressing * symbol in (Auto
mode) even its light change.
Spot
Exposure Compensation: Insurance against blown highlights
Your photos always coming out too light or too dark. Do you have a problem of
underexposed photos against a bright sky or blown out highlights against a dark
background? Why this happens and what is the solution in your camera to solve this
so that you do not have over and underexposure problem again. It is called exposure
compensation. Unless you shoot exclusively in full manual you absolutely need to
know how to use this.
When you look at a scene with your camera, your light meter measures the amount
of reflected light in the scene that is going into your camera. This gets shown on the
light meter which looks like this -3..2..1..0..1..2..3+. Zero is meant to show the right
exposure. Now if you shoot in manual, the camera does not do anything now. But if
you shoot in any of the automatic modes (A, P, Av, and Tv or manual with auto ISO),
the camera will try to get your exposure right by adjusting either the shutter speed,
aperture or ISO, depending on what mode you are in. For example, if you shoot in
manual with auto ISO, you set the shutter speed and the aperture and the camera
picks the ISO. When you point your camera around, the shutter speed and the
aperture do not change but the ISO floats up and down as the scene changes and
it is selected by the camera when you hit the shutter button. The exposure or
brightness your camera tries to achieve in your photo was agreed to by
manufactures as medium gray or 18% gray that is a gray that is a gray that reflects
18% of light. So if your exposure is too bright, your camera will try to darken the
exposure to hit 18% gray. If your photo is about to come out too dark, your camera
will brighten it. (Photographing a white page and a black page in aperture priority
where the camera picks the right shutter speed to get the right exposure. Notice that
the both photos come out as gray as the camera adjusted the exposure to hit 18%
gray.)
This is a great feature usually making your life as a photographer much easier. The
camera does not make the right decision. Some dark photos should be dark, some
light photos should be light. If you shoot into a bright sky or snow, the camera will
think the photo is too bright and dark in it and sometimes under exposing your
subject badly. (A bird on a treetop with a bright sky is a classic example.)
So a few scenarios to use exposure compensation are to help keep dark images
dark, light images light. And also when your subject and the scene are of different
brightness. Your camera is not always skilled at managing these scenarios.
So what do we do here? In fact, your camera has a solution for this built right into the
control exposure compensation (-/+ button). Exposure compensation is a mean for
you to tweak the exposure brighter or darker to get it right in case the camera’s
automatic exposure attempt.
The amount of exposure that you are adding or subtracting is shown on the light
meter. When you make it brighter the meter goes right +1..2..3.. When you make it
darker, the meter goes to left – 1..2..3..
How do you know when to use it and by how much?
With a DSLR, most common method is to take a sample photo. Check it on the back
LCD and adjust the exposure as needed. DSLR shows you optically what what the
sensor will see. Do not forget, every shoot check your exposure compensation dial.
Like on any automatic mode on a camera, you should use it in combination with
exposure compensation. That is because the camera tries to make every scene
medium gray. If the scene is bright it will try to darken it to a medium gray if the
scene is too dark it will try to lighten it to a medium gray. What you need to add
exposure to compensation for this
Forget Manual Mode, pros do it this way!
You have been told that real photographers shoot in manual and other modes are for
amateurs. That is not true. I am going to show you two modes that in many situations
are better than [Link] main setting that affect your photos brightness shutter
Speed, Aperture, and ISO. Manual is very precise. It is best use when the lighting is
controlled like a studio or you have lots of time to set up your shot. I use manual in
landscape photography as I can take my time and get the setting I want and the light
is very consistent as I am often pointing in the same direction. Majority of
Photography is done while walking around or looking for shots or moving around
your subjects or your subjects around you. In manual every time the light changes
you need to change your settings to get the exposure right. To rescue our semi-
automatic modes (Av and Tv).
Av for still life, portraits, street photography and people – have the lens wide open to
get a nice blurry and smooth background. In aperture priority you can set that
aperture.
TV for action sports motorsports and wildlife- having enough shutter speed to freeze
the movement of your subject is critical or maybe you want a slow shutter speed.
In these modes if you happen to notice a blinking setting on your back LCD, it means
that the camera cannot keep adjusting the setting to balance the exposure. For
example, lenses have a minimum and maximum aperture. So once you hit those you
camera cannot go any further. In these scenarios, see if you can change the ISO.
What do you do in these modes if the images are still too bright or too dark?
Remember the camera is trying to get the exposure, exposure to be middle gray and
while it usually will do a very good job, it won’t always get it right. That is why where
exposure compensation comes in. In semi-automatic modes, you adjust the
exposure brighter by moving the light meter indicator to the right, darker to the left.
Use this to get the exposure just right. In case the camera’s choice is not perfect.
Remember the parameter that the exposure compensation wills change to change
the exposure is the one you are letting the camera manage. So exposure
compensation will adjust the aperture in shutter priority (Tv) but will adjust shutter
speed in aperture priority (Av). So make sure you have exposure compensation on a
handy dial if you have a spare dial on your camera.
When using aperture and shutter priority, there may be minimum and maximum
setting that you do not want to surpass. For example, in aperture priority (Av), you
may be fine letting the camera pick the shutter speed except you never want it to go
under a certain threshold to make sure your handheld photos are sharp. In a dark
venue, your shutter speed may go down to 1/10 or event 1 second. That is no good
handheld. What do you do? Many cameras allow you to set minimum and
maximums for your settings. So the camera does not pick something that does not
work for you. So you can set the minimum shitter speed at 1/100 or the maximum
aperture at F16 or the maximum ISO at 6,400.
Manual with auto ISO to the rescue you. You set the shutter speed to freeze or blur
the action. You set aperture to make the background blurry or in focus and just let
the camera pick the ISO to balance the exposure. Set the maximum ISO you are
comfortable with you are off the races. And I shoot in this mode all the time. I like fast
shutter speeds to freeze wildlife movement and I like a blurry background. I do not
care what the ISO in my photos. My image quality might be affected but the creative
aspects of my photography.
Remember there is no real or right mode on a camera. You use the one that is right
for you.
Shooting in manual with auto ISO
Most cameras have three different shooting modes. One is Tv (Shutter Priority): In
this setting you set the shutter speed, you set the ISO, and the camera picks the
aperture for you. ISO is the only setting that does not affect the creative aspect of
your photo. It does not affect how blurry the background is it does not affect how
sharp the image is it does not affect how much you have frozen the action.
Therefore
Get great photos in bad light
Why bad light is bad for photo?
Low light is usually reflected in the use of higher and higher ISO leads to noisy
images
Colors are muted in low light as our cameras are actually recording light reflecting in
from our subjects. In low light the light bouncing off. In low light our camera record a
lower dynamic range.
More light on the sensor (Three ways)
Longer shutter speed (use tripod, use a wider focal length, or stand far from the
subject, and turn on lens and sensor stabilization) *Light Reflector * Flash *LED
panel
Larger aperture
Brighter subject
The longer the shutter is open the more light that comes in improving the quality.
Doubling the duration of the shutter speed will double the amount of light. The longer
the focal length you use or the closer you stand to your subject the faster things
move around in the field of view. So use a wider focal length or stand far the back
from your subject and the movement will be less apparent. For example, the
movement will be less and less risk of blur in photo.
Get the perfect exposure every time:
ISO actually not changing the amount of light. It is a volume or gain knob on the
brightness of the photo added by your camera after the photo. One of the best
means of evaluating the appropriateness of exposure is the histogram which
graphically displays the brightness of the pixels in your image.