Newbe Shooting Question

[krish]

Ok, so this might sound really naive but i have a question on shooting technique. When shooting a scene, a scene is comprised of many different shots. Do you plan every shot in a scene before hand and secondly how do you control the duration of the shot? if i want to shoot the close of a pair of hands opening an envelop invariably i shoot a little extra and find it hard to trim to the exact length in Vagas 6. I am pretty new to this so my applogies for asking such a basic question.

cheers,

-Krish

[ericyoung]

If you're new to directing, it's a VERY good idea to plan every shot. You can still depart from the plan if something better occurs to you on set while shooting.

If you have several shots (say different sizes or closeups of different parts of a person) you can shoot from the same angle, then you can do all of them at the same time before you have to move the camera setup to a significantly new angle and have to relight. Ie, you are shooting out of sequence to shoot more efficiently. A new camera setup and relight may take half an hour or more, so the more shots you can do without moving and relighting the less time you waste in the logistics.

Duration of the shot:
1 - Get them to do it faster or slower on another take.
2 - Speed it up or slow it down in the NLE.
3 - Edit it in a different way. Do you really need to see the whole opening, or can you cut to a closer shot at some point and cut out some of the boring wider shot? That'll speed up the action, and generally be more visually interesting.
4 - Do you really need the shot - if it's too slow and boring, find a way to lose it without confusing the audience.
5 - If you are finding it hard to operate Vegas, then find a friendly editor to do it for you. Or buy a good book about it, and work through the programme until you know it well enough to cut with ease. Watch films you love with similar scenes and work out the shots and how they were edited.

I'm sure others will chime in with more suggestions.

[limo991]

The 5 C's of Cinematography is a nice book on the subject. If you can get from cover to cover that is:)

[krish]

Thanks Guys, these are some awesome suggestions. I will follow your advise and will first get a good book on Vagas. I just got my dvx100b so am very exceited to comeup with a short film ( i sort of have a few ideas for shorts in mind) and start shooting. Currently I am experimenting with various camera settings.

On a slightly different note, if i have to shoot a music video, do i still use 24p or should i switch to a different setting? i know we all love the 24p Cinema look but is it appropo for a music video. Also for a music video i would think most of the shots could be done "hand-held" right or do i need something special like a steady cam or a dolly?

Sorry jumping all over here. Looking forward to your respose.

Cheers,

-Krish