Being Cinematic

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Threads like these are why the cinematography forum on DVXuser is the best.

'What tripod should I use?' or 'how do I get this look?' threads are never this classy!

[Robert Eldon]

Perrone,

This is fantastic and very well presented. Thank you.

I would also look forward to your thoughts regarding shot size and the general motivation for using a Close Up versus a Medium shot, etc.

[craigbowman]

Perrone, since your covering all the basic textbook stuff can you use examples from your own work. In fact I'd like to see other cinematographers also use examples from their own work in the cinematography section. I'm just a simple producer who gets to be behind the camera from time to time and I have no problem showing examples of my stuff. Inspire all of us who fumble along doing the best we can under our non-existant budgets how you handle things. Lead by example. I know I'm always trying to improve whenever I can.

For example even on longer shots I try to explore the environment from more than one angle:

[PerroneFord]

Perrone, since your covering all the basic textbook stuff can you use examples from your own work. In fact I'd like to see other cinematographers also use examples from their own work in the cinematography section.

That's a good idea. Unfortunately, a lot of my work is corporate so I don't get to explore this stuff all that often for myself. However, I do have some pieces I could share.

[J.R. Hudson]

It's theads like this that bring a tear too my eye

[craigbowman]

That's a good idea. Unfortunately, a lot of my work is corporate so I don't get to explore this stuff all that often for myself. However, I do have some pieces I could share.

That would be excellent. The more visual sharing around here amoungst us all the more we can grow and develop. I got a lot of what I try to apply from the Hollywood Camerawork DVD series. So I know that understanding and applying the basics really has an impact on the look and feel of your shots.

So in looking for opportunities for deep staging, instead of this:



Use extras to help give the shot more emphasized depth and make your scene more like its part of the real world.



And then build them into the entire scene.

[Zak Forsman]

Another aspect of composition and blocking that is often overlooked is the role of EYE-TRACE: meaning, the point within the frame where the audience's attention is fixed. proper planning for eye-trace to match across edits results in a more seamless, fluid, invisible cut.

As an editor, I'm keenly aware of a top cinematographer's prep and planning for the handling of audience attention between shots. It's no accident. EYE-TRACE is most often fixed upon an actor's face. But it can and should move within the shot. The mindful filmmaker has visualized these markers and charts where the viewer's attention is at each intended edit point so they may synchronize it across each cut. After emotional continuity, it is one of the first considerations a film editor makes to execute a good cut.

The most beneficial tool, I imagine, is to extend beyond just storyboards and to pre-vis your film. This serves as an audition of the film's composition and editing, using EYE-TRACE to unify the two through subsequent revisions.

Now you better sit down for this part because I'm about to praise a Michael Bay movie. I was in a waiting room and of all things BAD BOYS 2 was playing. It was a morgue scene. If you have the opportunity to take this scene in, watch how carefully EYE-TRACE was managed. You'll often see the point of attention move within a shot especially as dialogue swings your attention from one character to another, but in perfect sync with the point of your attention in the subsequent shot.

SKIP AHEAD TO 4:45 and witness how matching EYE-TRACE connects across a good number of the shots to help guide the audience's attention across cuts within the same location but also as location changes with cuts to parallel action.

WARNING: Not Safe For Work - Nudity and Violence

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I AGREE

SKIP AHEAD TO 4:45

Any DP and director who are storyboarding and composing not only for each shot, but for the way in which they will connect, are operating on a level that warrants our study.

[Lammy]

Another aspect of composition and blocking that is often overlooked is the role of EYE-TRACE: meaning, the point within the frame where the audience's attention is fixed. proper planning for eye-trace to match across edits results in a more seamless, fluid, invisible cut..

Totally agreed with you here. It's the most telling sign to me between hobbyists, new filmmakers and the bigger boys.

Funny how the use of editing is inherently the unique about the medium.

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Good post indeed specially for those who are new to filmmaking.

This confusion that people usually experience is a proof of how competent these professionals are, who not just make beautiful images but make the technique behind invisible a true achievement of cinematic prouductions.

The key is to get in contact with every aspect of cinematic production, every technique behind the result, so our own analytical capability is raised and then we can discern, analyze and learn. With this in mind the statement that "is better to learn on a set than on filmschool" makes sense. Note that I'm not saying filmschool is worthless, I went to one, I made lots of movies, I read a lot about filmmaking and I learned and still am learning.

Filmmaking is a learning process spread across the entire span of our lives, true passion.

[DecadenceFilms]

Good thread.

Could you explain this a bit more?

The movie The Dark Knight, broke new ground by mixing frame sizes in a theatrical presentation. Since they shot to IMAX and 2.35 spherical, the director chose to show both sizes on screen rather than just extract a portion of the IMAX frame. A bold move that worked out beautifully

I don't really get why you'd mix the frame sizes.